"Okay, I personally am now waiting for someone to counter this madness coming out of Washington. If it's you, I think now is the time to start your rallies. This [spending] is obscene...."
In order to gain the support of the general public ([formerly known as the] middle class):
* 1. Have the IRS audit every Senator and Congressman [Representative].
* 2. Audit the top five officials of the Forbes 500.
* 3. Demand that every newspaper print the lists of any short pays. Also demand the spending on this freakin' "stimulus" plan be printed under the heading "Pork."
* 4. Demand that the border be sealed and that any legislation "to create jobs" or for any Federal funding be for American Citizens only.
* Reinstate the call to verify citizenship.
* Impose major fines and jail time for those hiring illegals.
Spell out the differences between "citizen," "national," and "alien"—in other words, please let us citizens know what we are getting by being citizens, because "We the People" has been so misinterpreted, now even true patriots are ignorant.
* 5. Investigate Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd on sweetheart deals with Freddy Mac and Fanny Mae. (Indeed, since this was written in February 2009, Majority Leader hopeful Dodd is now finding himself on the hot seat.)
Almost 150 years ago, well before his presidency, Woodrow Wilson, with whom I am not most often likeminded, saw how very undemocratic the legislative committee system was—yet no real reform has yet to be forced upon the branch. The problem must now be faced:
Those senior Senators and Representatives on all monetary/ banking and housing committees should be kicked off the committees, in the least. It's the rules that allowed the greedy to bring on this mess—we must punish the corrupt and the unintelligent at the head first.
Roll call votes for each member to be placed on any committee.
Term limits on all Congressional subcommittees—for both elected official and staffers. The on-the-job training and accumulated knowledge one builds the longer one deals with some type of topic cannot be matched, experience has shown, for the incremental odds one will be corrupted serving on such committees. If you are a keen, bright person, one can serve the country on any committee upon which one finds oneself.
Before we set national term limits on the Congressional offices, let us see how reigning in committees solves the problem. The individual states, as allowed under Amendment 10, may set limits.
6. After stimulating the economy with an influx of more FHA and VA home loans, plan to eliminate both artificial housing sector stimulants within ten years. Instead of these little benefit nuggets we give to servicemen after the fact, let us simply pay them better while in the service.
* 7. Investigate Acorn; disallow any Federal funds.
The fundamentals of a democracy are its free and fair elections. They must be guarded vigilantly.
* 8. Audit and make available the financial records of the States of California, New York, and wherever that are asking for Federal money. Since they cannot manage the states, impose the same rules this pathetic administration applies to the banks it bails out.
In fairness, this Administration has tied certain rules to the monies—rules that most conservatively run states find counter-productive to their long-term financial success and are thus declining the bail-out.
* 9. [Threaten] an embargo of trade with Mexico until it seals the border with the U.S.: simply: illegal drugs will stop entering our borders, or we will consider this an act of biological warfare.
Being that the Federal government has failed, or, at least, is not effective enough, Congress shall abstain from interfering and will bar the Federal courts from in any way blocking two states or a coalition of states from sharing National Guard troops for the purpose of sealing our borders from illegal aliens and alien products or in a natural disaster, as agreed upon by the governments of those states.
Re-examine NAFTA. The benefits of an expanded trade cooperative are obvious but did not materialize for the United States. Why? Fix the treaty and continue.
The health and wealth of Mexico, Canada, Puerto Rico and all areas near us are very important—should the treaty not be salvable, it is up to our Government to keep this in mind. Re-examining NAFTA, citizenship, and immigration should not go off on the tangent of racism, ethnicism, or any kind of backlash.
Illegal immigrants will be sent back and their ill-gotten gains—all possessions they have in America—confiscated. As effectively done in the Eisenhower years, the Mexican illegals will be placed on ships which will deport them to the southernmost ports in Mexico.
A nation with swelling unemployment must first seek to re-employ its own citizenry. As such, during swells of unemployment, such as our current situation, immigration will be sharply curtailed. Exceptions can only be made where certain skills and talents not readily conveyable to own own populace are needed; in such situations, immigrants of good standing with such abilities are allowable. "We the People" means "We the People here."
The citizenry, at all times, reserves the right, and should always exercise the right, to selectively choose the people it invites in—what races, nationalities, beliefs, and abilities these people have are valid reasons for discrimination as the majority of the citizenry so choose them. Being a citizen is the greatest gift we can instill on a foreigner. After a person is naturalized, then the governments cannot discriminate against him.
* 10. Announce that the United States does not recognize Terrorists as being entitled to any rights given to enemy combatants of sovereign nations, and the Geneva Convention does not apply to them. Also reaffirm that the rights guaranteed in our Constitution (including the Bill of Rights) are for American Citizens. Yes, again with the "We the People."
11. Except at times of war or severe national crisis, public participation is encouraged and socially expected—but shall not be by demand, as some localities are requiring their schoolchildren.
12. Being that 435 was an arbitrary stopping point, roll back Congress to 400 members—with the Speaker having an extra vote on the rare ties. The election of the Speaker will be by open roll call vote.
So that the Government can "feel the pain" of its populace, with current national unemployment at 8.1%, immediately pare back all House and Senate staffing by 10%.
13. For the continued fairness to the rural and suburban areas, if with a bicameral legislature, each state may apportion the vote of one of its legislative houses by county/ electoral district (AK)/ parish (LA), or established, longstanding subdivisions, as was standard pre-1960s. In this case, the 14th Amendment will not trump the 10th Amendment. It did not trump the Federal Senatorial apportionment, why should it trump the states?
Reynolds v. Sims, though in reaction to the racism, was un-American. Was it effective in helping to undermine racism? Yes—but we must admit that the problem of racism in state governments is not the issue. In fact, one undesired of this ruling was urban sprawl. The unfairness now is rural v. urban, with the rural being the underdog.
The extension of this reversion to localities can be considered, though having a bicameral legislative council in a county or municipality would be costly. Some localities may wish to pursue a fair but weighted unicameral council; if the American people so want to extend the reversion, (i.e., repeal Avery v. Midland County), the locality's new legislature set-up should be voted in with the majority of the locality's citizens, with a recourse for its citizens to change the set-up in the future, in some well-defined, practical process.
14. Any attempt by the Congress to grant the District of Columbia voting privileges in either or both chambers is unConstitutional; members voting for it should be swiftly censured. That members would even consider moving on such a clear violation of our national charter should greatly worry all Americans on where their representatives' judgement will be on more indistinctive matters of law.
A simple admendment to the Constitution specifically authorizing such voting privileges must be written by Congress, passed, and sent to the States for ratification.
One solution is to
a. Realign the boundaries of the District, placing more of its residents back into Maryland. (Indeed, the urbanized border areas between Maryland and the District is now quite indistinct.) In compensation, the District should include Arlington National Cemetery and the Pentagon areas of Virginia—most of which was ceded by Virginia to the new District, but recanted on. Virginia could be compensated with national park land adjacent to its border with West Virginia, with West Virginia being compensated by park land adjacent to Garrett County, [western] Maryland. Each area would retain its current geographic size, but more residents of D.C. would be placed in a state.
b. A properly worded Amendment granting District voting priviliges in the House only— with the District's delegation "in no event more than [that of] the least populous State" could be supported.
c. Realization that a an b combined are not a perfect solution, and as the District would still not have full representation, including in the very germane Federal taxation, the consideration of a discount on the District's Federal taxation of up to 50% should be entertained.
† 15. The American people hereby realize and admit freely and honestly that the current Social Security plan is but a Ponzi scheme and that Medicare was a half-assed attempt at socialized Medicine, a dam across half a stream, slowing cost rises for a select few at the severe detriment of the many, who made to pay rapidly rising costs.
Social Security will return to only what it was originally intended: a supplemental insurance to the acquired, individual retirement of a former worker. We as a nation can do no more.
As insurance, a cap on the amount of earnings on which it is imposed is arbitrary and unfair: that the fortunate should not pay their whole earning's percentage because they are fortunate is inane. This country, if anything, fights for the underdog, not the top dogs.
A simple admendment to the Constitution specifically authorizing such Social Security—i.e., the forced saving of individuals for the future— should be written by Congress, passed, and sent to the States for ratification.
16. Recognize that the sectors with which this country faces its greatest cost and quality issues are woefully run through corporatism: education, healthcare, banking, and law. These fields are run by boards of professionals with more clout than their counterparts in Mussolini's Fascism.
Phase out all public scholarships and grants. Establish tax-exempt educational accounts that citizens may use for their own and dependent's educations.
Establish school choice—let competition improve our schools.
Review requirements (school and training) for all healthcare professions—and cut them to the bare requirements. If a medic with six wekks training is good enough for army soldiers, it's all right for first line civilians. The essential is to train professionals to know when they don't know and should refer.
Establish what procedures and operations are ordinary and which are extraordinary. The latter must be paid wholly out of pocket or with supplemental insurance by the individual.
A bank may only be run within one Federal Reserve District, unless a state chooses not to have banks operating in its territory serving other territories. The holding company of the bank must also meet these criteria—no skirting this requirement. The megabanks that have been forming in the past twenty years, truly national or at least multi-regional, are in part responsible for the current state of our economy.
As The Constitution begins with a preamble, establish new laws with their intent spelled out at the beginning, so that judges cannot invent intent.
Put an expiration date on all new laws. They can be renewed by a simple up-or-down vote in Congress.
Review all current statutes; methodically pare down the legal burden of the citizenry. Strive to make the laws understandable with legal help.
17. Enforce the antitrust laws. Any company that has over 50% of the business of an area or sector (after ten years in existence) should be forced to either divide or venture into a new area.
These failing corporations that we must bail out because they are too big to fail: no company should be too large to fail. End corporate dependency—bust up these companies we are bailing out.
The salaries of the officers and board members of corporations must be approved by a general vote of the shareholders; any raises cannot go into effect until after the approval of the shareholders. Such votes should be monitored by an impartial organization.
Walmart and Microsoft, large monopolies now sapped of innovation for the commonweal, must be broken up.
18. The public airwaves should be returned to its citizenry. The number of stations a single compnay or group owns in total, and within each market, needs to be pared down.
Although cable channel packages will remain available, so will there be a reasonable unbundled choice: at least have the choice to buy channel per channel without penalty.
The people will also have the option to buy software unbundled—and to have current software versions be service and repaired.
19. Examine our laws and systems of transportation and distribution.
Eliminate any bias against railroads.
Ban long-haul trucks as inefficient means of distribution.
Instead of airlines merging, let them pair up with railroads.
20. The undue influence of certain foreign powers on American policies ends now.
21. The United States Postal Service (USPS)—the responsibility of the Federal government to provide the delivery of packages and messages—is flagrantly outdated.
The USPS should be privatized—each person should have the right to have his/ her own mailbox used by whatever delivery companies he/ she sees fit. Conversely, the Federal government shall establish a registry for citizens to determine what compnaies and individuals may not post to their mailbox, much like the "Do Not Call" list. The Federal and state governments shall enforce this provision to be funded with a percentage tax on all deliveries.
At the very least, all bulk mail ("junk" mail to most) should be immediately required to be sent at the regular postage rates—here's one for the environmentalists.
22. Recognize animals and plants as property—nothing more. That view served well this nation (and the world) for centuries. The insistence that animals (and plants) have feeling, have souls is the fodder of theologians, not the state. Wanton animal cruelty will be punishable. Animal cruelty for research and to save human life is allowable. Unless endagered, no law should regulate eating meat.
No importing exotic pets. Only licensed zoos and botanical gardens—the people and their environment cannot afford this unnatural hosting.
When everyone in this country, and then everyone in the world has enough to eat, enough to drinks, a good shelter, and nominal health, we may re-examine this animal and plant rights issue—but not a moment before.
23. The credit card industry must be better regulated. As the 13th Amendment has been traditionally interpreted to declare "causing or threatening to cause financial harm to [using financial control over] any person" an illegal form of peonage (debt servitude), there must be set a maximum percentage assessed on loans. This cap should be regularly adjusted to "move" with inflation/ deflation.
Not only must some people be protected against their own nature, many must be protected against life circumstances that lead to debt overload. As such, a cap must be placed so that these people can at some point pay off what they owe. People need hope: rational hope is predicated on one day being without debt.
24. Raise the personal exemption on everyone's income taxes to the poverty line. By law, the exemption and poverty line will be the same.
This will spare a good percentage of Americans from even having to file. Adjusting to infaltion, the exemption level of the 1940s has not kept pace.
With less filings, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can devote more time to the "big" cases—where the cost to prosecute might actually be profitable for the government coffers.
Without fearing the IRS, more people will be unafraid to raise their voices on issues.
