These words that I write, they keep me from total insanity. -Charles Bukowski

Feb 24, 2010

Admiyo, allow me to retort...

First of all...classical liberalism is the idea of limited government, free enterprise and all the ideas that form the core of what should be the conservative movement. Its simply another example of corrupting an idea to mean something completely different than what its intention was.

Liberalism, as an idea, may not be the enemy that I think it is. However, government is. They have continued to chip away at our liberties and our pocketbooks. George W. Bush made it a point to chip away at our liberties in the name of safety, and Barack Obama has made it his mission to chip away at our pocketbooks.

Everyone thinks that the bailouts were needed because of the "too big to fail" crock. A free market economy, allowed to function, with limited government intervention would have sorted through the wreckage and guided itself out of the recession. Meaning that the banks/airlines/or any other business that were weak and had made poor decisions would have been bankrupted, while the strong businesses that had made good decisions would have weathered the storm and absorbed the market share of the recently deceased competitors. All of which would not have cost taxpayers a dime.

And yes, the argument can be made that all those companies would have laid off so many workers and then there would have been catastrophic consequences. I would think that the other companies, to include upstarts into business, would have at least partially filled the void and created new jobs for those out of work. The other half of my argument is, when did Americans become so dependent on their government that they would actually think that it is the realm of the Federal government to provide you with a job?

I think you are correct in part, that a balance is needed. However, the swings back and forth are not what this country needs. A balance is one thing, a pendulum swing from one end to the other is something completely different. Spending any amount of time traveling this great land will reveal a glaring inconsistency in liberal thought. Most people want the government in their life as little as is humanly possible. Most people would like to have as little of their earnings as possible taken by Uncle Sam.

And finally, in regard to your last admonishment that I can either run for office or work on the campaign of someone I believe in. The latter half is true. I could work for those candidates I believe in, except there's one problem. I have a full time job. I donate to political campaigns, I keep up with politics, and I vote in every local, county, state and federal election that comes along. That's about the best I can do, given the fact that I have to support myself and ensure that I'm not living off the government tit.

Could I really run for office? I don't think my employer would be very happy about me taking a few months off to pursue another job. Nor do I think that the thousands of dollars required (on a local level) or the millions of dollars required (on the state or national levels) are falling from the sky. So let's be serious. The only people in this country are the wealthy, or political operatives that can get the party and its resources behind them. And since we are only getting that sort of person in office, the results are a government that is firmly detached from its constituents and beholden to whatever interest it is that got them elected.

As far as presidents go...I skewered every president that has served since I've been writing this. So far that's just GW and Mr. Obama. Both of whom, are huge disappointments. As presidents so often are, or in the case of my lifetime, always are.

Bush put this train on the track and Obama is shoveling coal into the fire as fast as he can.

When will someone out there realize that what's happening in this country is hilarious because it can all be traced to one thing. Government. Make no mistake, I don't wish an overthrow of the government. Not hardly. But anyone who has seen the government working for the past 8-10 years knows this. Anything that the G gets a hold of, they fuck up. Its as simple as that.

Define Insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

American insanity: Looking to the government for solutions when the government cannot even manage to spend less than it takes in.

Balance that!

Another Brick In The Wall...

I used that title because I wanted to convey what I think is a dangerous trend in this country that has been going on since 9-11-2001.

Chipping away at our liberties, one by one they fall.

Until they're all gone.

Its depressing, and reversible, but I don't really know if Americans have the heart, or even the attention span required to combat this shit storm that is being heaped upon us by our government.

Illinois is broke and is contemplating an income tax increase. Well that's wonderful. So how about the next time I run up my credit cards, or buy a house I can't afford I just force the state to pay for my irresponsibility. That would be nice. But only the government can do that.

Then the Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom is now weakening the Miranda law.

Our government is pretty much out of touch, out of control, and completely ludicrous.

But I'll leave you with a simple quote that, in my humble opinion, explains most if not all of it.

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened."

– Norman Mattoon Thomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America.

Maybe its about time that American's, since we would never knowingly adopt socialism, reject liberalism.

Just a thought.

Later,

I love you Mom...

Can You Believe It...

Just a note to all my vet buddies out there.

THE MILITARY ACTUALLY PAID ME THE RETROACTIVE STOP LOSS PAYMENT.

Yes, the other day I received $2625 deposited into my checking account.

The only real complaint I have is that they didn't tell me what it was.

I just got paid, no explanation, no receipt, no notification.

Until about a week later...so I spent that week trying to figure out where this cash came from and if I would be defrauding the government by spending it.

So my advice to all of you would be. Get those old enlistment contracts out, get those DD214's ready and go to this website and get your F-ing money.

That's all for now, I'm still in shock.

Remember there is a deadline to apply!

Later,

I love you Mom...

Feb 23, 2010

My Two Step Plan For Fixing Politics...

Why am I writing this? Because politics is a favorite subject of mine. I've tried to avoid writing about it, sometimes successfully, but not always.

But I got these ideas the other night in a bar. (Where most really good ideas come from.) I don't know if you could call them ideas, just more strenuous restatements of things that have already been said. In any event, I present them now for your skewering.

First and foremost I think that America has created a political class that has one thing and one thing on its mind and that is reelection. Most senators and representatives in our state's legislatures and Washington are career politicians, hell there are even village presidents and mayors that are career politicians. Anyone remember King Daley the First who said when asked about presidential aspirations, "Why would I want to be president, I'm already mayor of Chicago. We've created an American aristocracy. Which if memory serves, the founding fathers didn't want.

These assholes care little about making things better, they don't really want any part of hard decisions because they are liable to get you booted out of office, and they have absolutely no interest whatsoever in anything other than protecting their own cushy jobs.

Solution: Term limits. Simple as that. Regardless of office, regardless of level of government. You get two terms at whatever it is, and that's it. Then you go back to work like the rest of us. Maybe that way we could get a couple guys in there that actually wanted to change some things and make a difference. Remove from these pricks the desire to get reelected to these amazingly cushy, do nothing jobs. They can be senators for 8 years and that's it. Reps for 4 years and that's it. No more Strom Thurmonds or Ted Kennedys who are in office longer than half their constituents have been alive.

Protect the people who run for office's regular jobs the same way they do the military. You go off to be a senator then your employer has to keep your job for you, or at least take you back at the same level when you come back.

Second Problem: F***KING money.

Dirty, ratty, nasty money. Wait, I'm a true blue, American born, Capitalist pig. And I'm damn proud of it. But even I have to admit there are some things that money just shouldn't be a part of. We could debate which ones till my ears fall off, but right now we don't have that kind of time. So let's just say that we all accept the premise that politicians in their present construct, have no choice but to be beholden to wealthy interests that finance their campaigns. There's really no way around it. He who has the gold makes the rules. Or in a politicians case, he who has the gold is the douche I have to suck up to and obey otherwise he keeps his gold. Or even worse gives it to someone else.

So how do we get money out of politics?

Solution: Publicly funded campaigns.

I know, I hate the sound of it too. But hear me out. Wait, this isn't a really new idea. So here's what it is...

A few bucks is added to everyone's tax bill. Say $10.00 Then some of that is put into a federal kitty, some into a state kitty, some into a county kitty, and finally some into a local kitty.

Now that's all the money that there is to campaign with. The campaigns are tightly controlled. No more bullshit ads that no one wants to see. The only thing you can do is put up websites that put your information out there. Every candidate is thoroughly investigated by a newly created government agency know as the CIA II. Or Candidate Investigative Agency, the II is just to distinguish them from the spies.

Candidates are no longer allowed to call your house. Matter of fact robocalls from any politician and/or interest group should be punishable by death.

Candidates will be required to attend and answer questions at open town hall meetings and their answers will be televised in their entirety, and transcripts will be available for all to read.

Debates will be held once a week for 8 weeks where a single issue will be debated. The debates will be proctored by military drill instructors. (To keep bullshitting to a minimum) In fact, any candidate that strays from the question in any manner or gives a fluff answer will be immediately and publicly chastised and reprimanded. Questions will be answered and those answers will only cover what was asked. No attacks or barbs can be directed at the other parties in the debate. YOU ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT THE ISSUES.

Aspiring politicians will have to present detailed plans, with step by step directions, and cost estimates (that are vetted by someone who at least took a freshman accounting class.) for what they would like to accomplish while in office. Obviously, they must be prepared to answer questions about this plan of theirs.

Aspiring politicians will not be allowed to accept anything of value from any person or entity because all their needs will be met by the government while they are campaigning. If they lose, they immediately return to their job. If they win, their job is held for them (just like military reservists.)

Also, I think the Presidency should become like a tournament. Something similar to the NCAA basketball tournament. It would definitely liven politics up, plus just think of the office pools it would generate!

Each state holds its own tournament to see who is going to be competing for the presidency from their state. Whoever wins that goes to the regional. Midwest, Northeast, South, Southwest, Northwest and West. They are divided into two divisions, 3 regions in each. The three winners of each region compete and one comes out of each division. Now we're down to two.

Those two run for president!

I don't care what you say, at least this way politics wouldn't be such a fucking drag. There would be some fun in there, there would be regional rivalries, there would be state rivalries, there would be some insanely lively debate, and I bet something like this just might get more that 20% of the eligible voters off their ass. If for no other reason than the fact that they've got money on this game!

Now I know there are probably a million holes in my argument here. Purposefully so. I want to hear what everyone thinks. Tell me I'm stupid, tell me I'm an asshole, tell me I'm wrong.

Just don't tell me the way things are is A-Okay...

I'll bet you 14 trillion dollars you're wrong!

Later,

I love you Mom...

The 24 Inch Gauge...

 Like I said in my last post, I joined a lodge of Freemasons. Immediately upon starting the process you start to learn things. A lot of diff...