Transparency in Government Pipedream

We are fast approaching the mid-term elections the the standard crop of usual suspects facing a batch of fresh faced hopefuls all with a message of change, control, reigning in, and transparency of our out of control government.

You want total transparency in our government? Control? Force the people we send to Washington to be completely accountable for their EACH and EVERY action!

How?

Single item bills.

People have tried for years to gain the line-item veto and it has been declared invalid and maybe even unconstitutional. So, let's try and end run and make it illegal to attach random, non-related items to a bill. Make each bill passed be a single issue with nothing else attached. No dairy cow abduction research money attached to a military spending bill.

Force a balanced budget amendment as well.

This will bring about a era of fiscal responsibility like we've not seen for ages; if ever!

I would like to see our law process go a step further to a forced reduction in length of verbosity to define a new law. The fewer words used to write an issue, the less confusion and a massive reduction in loopholes. I can hear you asking, "Well, how would they get Healthcare passed in only ten pages?" Simple, they don't. Our government has NO business providing healthcare to it's citizens. Allow insurance to compete across all borders and the costs will come down. Let the states provide industry and medical over site to handle fraud and abuse of the system from both sides.

Yes, I know it is a pipe dream. Politicians are used to running this country using the "system" and straight up subterfuge. You want to fix this country? Fix the system.

I see a potential problem here...

There are going to be record numbers of people on hand for this "historic" moment.  I won't go down the obvious path on the care and feeding of racism here (Yeah, the President is of mixed race - get over it.) , but rather I see a potential problem for America.  A HUGE issue.

This crowd is going to be so large that it is going to be impossible to control or police.  And I don't say that because I expect rioting to breakout or people to behave badly.  But a crowd of that size, a city that full of people, a population so immense that it is not only impossible to control or police - is also going to be impossible to protect.

This has got to be a terrorists version of the perfect storm.  To set off a bomb at the Inauguration of PE Barack Obama would guarantee any terrorist of any stripe instant notoriety. A coordinated attack at multiple points around Washington DC would cause mass hysteria and potentially kill thousands of Americans if not tens of thousands. 

And God help us if that happens because the left wing pacifists who believe that they are in control of this country would do two things: First - Blame the Bush administration for not doing enough to protect the People. They would have "obviously known about it and kept it quiet".  The second is that they would do nothing.

Pray people. 

Pray.

My but they are getting bold!

Illinois governor taken into custody - CNN.com

Our government, for the most part, is so corrupt that this isn't even all that shocking. I do believe, however, that this man was emboldened by the fact that the Dems were large and in charge and truly believed nothing would happen to him. What else would explain the level of bravado that he displayed while "selling" the seat in the Senate?

I think that you could find similar levels of corruption throughout Federal, State, and Local governments - maybe not as blatant but right up there. We know they exist in business and even in many charitable organizations. And I don't think that party affiliation has anything to do with it, the level of corruption comes down to one common factor: Simple Greed.

Greed has played a part in our lives since time immemorial, and I also believe that it is getting worse. There are levels of technology that are allowing us to expose greed and corruption that didn't exist even ten years ago, but I also believe that this has little to do with the number of cases being brought before the public.

One of the factors is that America (and the world to a large extent) has lost its sense of shame. People are no longer ashamed of their actions, they are only embarrassed and angry that they were caught. There is a prevailing sense of anger by the perpetrators are they are being unfairly charged and "scapegoated ", after all everybody is doing it and its just a little bit off the top. Nobody is truly getting hurt. Right?

Wrong, everybody pays. It undermines the trust of the American People and makes us cynical to the point that life actually begins to lose its luster and simple joy.

GM recently admitted that it had violated America's trust. And in pledging to do better they are hoping to win us back over to their side. But, my question is, why was our trust lost in the first place? They made cheaper, less reliable automobiles in order to try and make a profit. That profit was compromised by the American dream, by the greed of the employees and the mis-management of the company by her executives. And now they expect, and truly believe, that they are too important to be allowed to let die. This is wrong. They can die, and should be allowed to do so; they will be replaced by somebody making a better product with better management skills.

I recently had an email back and forth with a citizen of the web who has strong socialist beliefs. His/her belief is that a person should be paid on how physically hard a person works and that all CEO/owners check their stock and then play a game of Mine Sweeper and head to the club for the day. I fully and whole heartedly disagree with this belief. I think that a person should be rewarded on their skill sets and their willingness to improve themselves. A person who's only job is to man a shovel or is responsible for simply (and in many cases these days: automatically) torquing a set of bolts should not be compensated to the tune of $70,000 to 100,000 dollars a year (cash and benefits). These are no-skill required jobs that can be filled by ANYBODY in America. A CEO on the other hand has a higher and more specialized skill set that allows for oversight of the entire company and is then compensated at a higher level.

Now, I don't necessarily agree that they should be compensated millions of dollars regardless of how a company does, nor receive millions in compensation with the proverbial "golden parachute" when they are terminated for poor performance. But, this is not for the Government or the American People to decide! This is for the Board that the CEO reports to to control. That is a simple business decision that indicates the professional acumen of those making the decisions at the top. I, personally, would expect to be compensated for the quality of the work that I do.

Now, not all issues are directly under the control of the leaders of any business. The economy is a volatile and living thing that has its ups and downs. There are other factors that affect any business, but it is the responsibility of the managers to respond to those situations in a manner that will best allow for the health of the business. Allow that business to carry on and still make a profit. And the larger the business, the harder it is to "re-tool" and roll with the changes that are thrown at it. You don't turn an ocean liner like a sports car. But, there are tools available to industry that, again, with proper management will allow these businesses to succeed.

This is not the first recession our country has weathered, nor will it be the last. I would also venture to say that it is not the WORST we have encountered either. If you listen to the news you hear phrases like "last ten years" or "last five years". They are comparing this downturn to the early Seventies, but won't know if it is worse or not until it is over. And you can trace the causes of this downturn to one simple, root cause: greed.

Simple Greed.

Make these leaders who have taken us here pay for their own messes. Pray that they learn their lesson. America will survive. We will have to tighten our belts, but we will survive.

American's are a resilient People.

Socialized "National" healthcare at its finest...

 

'Hospital deceived me on the death of my beauty queen wife' | Mail Online

You'd think after our recent Democratically sponsored failed social experiment, there would be no question about the future of a nationalized health care plan.  But, people keep saying we need affordable healthcare, that everybody should have FREE healthcare.

There is no "free", people.  Everything costs and somebody has to pay.  Why should we be separated from our hard earned dollars to support people who refuse to work?  Who refuse to pull themselves up and out of their situation?

I am not totally opposed to our welfare system as I know that everybody needs a hand UP sometime.  But it should be that, a hand UP not a hand OUT!!!  Heck, I have used food stamps for a short while to help feed my kids during a spot of trouble; but as soon as I had that first paycheck from my new job I headed down to the welfare office to let them know I no longer needed their help.  But we have an entire generation of people who believe that they are OWED something.  And this generation is perpetuating the myth to their kids.

Wrong.

Look at the people who are demanding the government do something about any given situation.  This is NOT the governments job - this is not a "nanny" state.  The government should be there for initial response to serious emergencies and then make sure that we are not unfairly hammered by industry (like insurance) during the correction.  And people who refuse to obey the governments warnings to evacuate are on their own, the government owes them nothing.

I digress.

We should be running, screaming, away from ANY attempts at socialization or nationalization of any part of our economy or infrastructure.  The governments only job should be to over see that the public isn't being raped by the private companies providing the goods.

Why do we need leaders in government?

 

Tom Brokaw came aboard Monday's Late Show to promote his book, Boom! Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today, but soon chided David Letterman with some historical context after Letterman forwarded standard liberal claims about how the America of 2008 is in a “horrible” state thanks to the awful President George W. Bush, and when Letterman fretted about government inaction on global warming, Brokaw embarrassed the late night host by pointing out how he's a big carbon-producer since he drives a big vehicle and flies executive jets.
On the terrible state of the nation, Letterman contended “everything...has gone so lousy in the last eight years” so “things are horrible in ways they shouldn't be horrible.” Brokaw pointed to his book about 1968, and delivered a friendly lecture:

Let me remind you that forty years ago this year, Doctor King was killed, Bobby Kennedy was killed, we had the Chicago riots, 16,000 people were killed in Vietnam, Lyndon Johnson decided not to run for re-election, the Kerner Commission said we are two societies -- one white, one black, separate and unequal -- we had urban riots and in the fall we had as cantankerous and as contentious and in many way as mentally violent an election as we've ever had...

Similarly assuming the present is the worst ever, Letterman complained: “People are all talking about, 'okay we're going to change the emissions by 2035, by 2020.' That's too late. I mean, it's a hundred degrees now!” Letterman pleaded: “It's got to come from the government. They have to lead us.” Brokaw agreed, but then made the host uncomfortable:

BROKAW: The government has to lead and those of us who drive -- uhh uhh -- big carbon-emitting vehicles or fly in airplanes that have only two passengers on them-

LETTERMAN: Alright, alright, that's fine Tom.

NewsBusters.org | Exposing Liberal Media Bias

The above is from Newsbusters.org about a back and fourth between Tom Brokaw and David Letterman.  And while I like what Tom Brokaw had to say ( I really don't know about his politics, but this was fine), but it was Letterman's comment that really stuck in my mind:

Letterman pleaded: “It's got to come from the government. They have to lead us.”

They do?  Why?  Are we not capable of making our own decisions?  Are we not adults?  Are we going to destroy our lives if we are not told what to do, when to do it and how to go about doing it?

That is ludicrous!  The whole American Dream and History of these United States are littered with free thinkers and those who dared to implement what they dreamt.

The Government is there because of US, The People, to represent US, The People, to put forth our thoughts, dreams, desires and to facilitate the running of the country.  Not to run the country.  Not to lead the people.

It is a Government OF the People, BY the People, FOR the People.  Any other way is to destroy America as we know it.  Socialism in any way shape or form will destroy us.

 

"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -

it only guarantees equality of opportunity."

- Irving Kristol (1920-)