Jefferson: Blog

The 12 Most Necessary Steps To Fixing The United States Of America:

In No Specific Order...

1) End Obamacare. The Federal government is already spending more money than it has. Just like France, Spain and Greece over in Europe we can not afford cradle-to-grave socialism. The healthcare system we have isn't perfect. Everyone knows that and there are things we can do to make it better, to make it cheaper, but even the people who wrote Obamacare no longer want to live under it.

2) End the IRS. The income tax was always a bad idea in my humble opinion. We are wasting Millions of taxpayer dollars and thousands of man hours filling out tax forms, going to tax specialists and suffering through tax audits. The IRS Scandal, the IRS using it's power to delay and harass conservative organizations (for you liberals who support this idea, your party impeached Richard Nixon for less of exactly the same thing so I'd be rethinking my ideas on that one) is just more proof that the IRS, and the income tax, is a bad idea. We should move to a National retail sales tax (NRST) where we are taxed on what we spend, not on what we earn. There are issues that need to be figured out with the NRST, or the Fair Tax, which is a plan for an NRST, but the NRST can't be worse than what we have and there are other advantages. Tourists who come to the US would pay taxes to the US government with every purchase. Criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes, who don't pay taxes on what they make in their "Other" career, would suddenly pay taxes when they go buy a hamburger before going to work or buy "bling" to make themselves look good.

3) Take the power of collective bargaining away from all public unions - just the PUBLIC unions, not all unions. Politicians should NOT, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be allowed to negotiate with labor. The Politician has "no skin in the game." The politician has NOTHING to lose by giving into the union demands, this makes the union happy, the union throws it's support behind the politician who gave in to all of their demands, they raise money to support the politician's re-election campaign, provide manpower and votes for that politician. Once they get him reelected, s/he now owes them, guess what happens when they go to renegotiate the unions contract? By the time that contract begins to hurt anyone (like it is up in Detroit nowadays) so much time has passed, there is no way anyone remembers who's to blame. Even if the voters did remember, the politician has probably moved on or retired by then.

4) Begin striving for real energy independence. The US government should allow drilling everywhere within reason, on and off shore. Yes, The US is having a bit of an oil boom right now but it is IN SPITE of Obama, not because of Obama. The Federal government is still slow-walking issuing permits to drill in the Gulf of Mexico. Allow Fracking, yes, there MAY have been problems in the past but they have been fixed, even Obama's own EPA can't prove any harm has ever come from Fracking. And if energy independence isn't a good enough reason to allow the Keystone pipeline (That oil is going out. It's just a matter of how. Either through the US or from the West coast of Canada to China and would it not be safer in a pipeline than in a truck?) The US government should also name oil as a "national security issue." I'm not saying we should nationalize the oil industry but we should recognize the importance of oil to this country at least for next 20-50 years. We should set an export tax on all oil. One or two of out every ten barrels drilled, should stay in the US and be processed and sold in the US. That should bring gas prices down. Pumping and using our own oil would not significantly hurt the middle eastern nations who pump oil (they have two other buyers, China and India, who will happily keep them in business for decades to come) but at least we won't be sending money to our enemies.

5) Secure the Southern border. Right now this isn't a real big issue because the flow of immigrants has changed directions. There are no jobs in the US so all the illegals are returning to Mexico where things are actually BETTER than here in the US. We need to secure the border, not just to protect our jobs but also because it's an easy way for our enemies to enter the US and attack us.

6) End All foreign aid. Especially aid going to less-than-friendly countries. This would include all of the Middle East (except for Israel) most of N. Africa, N. Korea.... This would not include humanitarian aid where needed, of course. Stop giving them money, stop selling them weapons. While China and Russia are often less-than-friendly, we should stop aid to them simply because they don't need it. There are some who say China will overtake the US as the richest nation in the world here soon, do we really need to be sending them aid?? Seriously???

7) Term Limits on Congress. You want to stop the "old boy networks" in Congress? Do you want your congress critters actually doing what you want them to do? Put term limits on them. No one serves more than 12 years, Period. People should not be making Congress a profession.

8) Declare that we DO have a "Muslim problem". Bill O'Rielly got in a good bit of trouble for saying this on "The View" a couple years ago. Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg actually got up and left the set they were so disgusted by Bill's racism or whatever. But think about it, if the Muslim nations, their political, cultural and religious leaders are supporting the terrorists, if they are allowing the Islamic schools, the Madrases', to continue to turn young Muslim boys into terrorists, if they are not going after the terrorists backers and the terrorists in their own country, are they really supporting us? Are they really helping? If the people are supporting the terrorists, with money, with assistance, ladies and gentlemen, we DO have a Muslim problem and we should make it clear to these Middle Eastern and north African nations that we will hold THEM partially responsible should a terrorist attack be launched from their nation.

9) Rebuild the public education system. We are paying more per child, per year for our public education system than almost any other country in the world and getting nowhere NEAR the results. This partially goes back to the public sector unions as the teacher's unions are some of the worst. They demand more and more money, more and more benefits but we never get better results. Open up school choice. The government should give parents money to send their child to whatever school they decide is best for their child, whether a public school, a private school, a parochial school, home schooling or even group schooling.

10) Force the Federal government to live by the Constitution and force them to live within their means. In my opinion, it's a crying shame that the government of the richest nation on Earth is broke and being forced to borrow money from those who may one day be our enemies. Congress and the President MUST learn to live within their means and they must remember that the Constitution lays out what powers the federal government has and states clearly, that all other powers are left in the hands of the states and the people. In my opinion, the Federal government should not even be involved in some issues like abortion and healthcare.
I recognize that there are somethings we need the Federal government to do that our Founding Fathers could not have foreseen. The Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission, who set the rules for airplanes and broadcasting over the airwaves, respectively, are jobs that must be done at the federal level but the people and the government should be looking at these things and deciding "is this really something the federal government should be dealing with?" and if the answer is no, the federal government should stay the hell out of the way.

11) Reduce the minimum wage law. If you want to put more people back to work, let companies pay their employees what their work is actually worth. If you think flipping burgers is worth more than $2 an hour they offer, you can always go somewhere else.

12) End the Fucking Racism! And no, I'm not talking about folks on the right. I mean stop Affirmative Action. The NAACP and other such organizations were wonderful ideas in their day but like unions, they have accomplished most of what they set out to do. Institutionalized racism is GONE! Yes, there are still racists out there but there are LEGAL means of dealing with them now if they get in to a position of power. They can be taken to court, they can be sued, they can and will be fired by most national chains just to avoid the embarrassment and costs of going to court. Affirmative action is racist. It says that black people need HELP in order to get in to college, or to get a job. To me, it sounds like those who support Affirmative action are the racists. They're are the ones who believe black people NEED help. They don't. Like the rest of us, they should be allowed to succeed or fail on their own.

Well, it had to happen again... eventually.

I actually finished a story and managed to get it posted.

"Pie" is nothing more than a tiny little romantic flash story, not much more than intimate, romantic little sex scene.

It's my first story in a while, so I hope it gets LOTS of attention. E-mails with comments, criticisms or compliments are always welcome.

Thanks.

Well, my newest story, Solomon's Tower, has now been up for seven days. 719 downloads, 54 votes, has been added to 24 libraries and I have gotten e-mail feedback from.... Bill. Thanks Bill. :)

I know, I know, I always say "I write for myself. If other people enjoy my stories, that's pure bonus." And, no matter what I say here and now, it is absolutely true. But 700 people have read my story, fifty of them liked it enough to vote, and most of them rated the story pretty good, but only Bill had the time and wherewithal to fire off a quick e-mail?

Thanks again, Bill. :)

... Finally!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have FINALLY finished another story. It's already in the queue but to add a little suspense to your lives, it won't post until Saturday, December the first.

It's a short story, already completed and edited, called "Solomon's Tower" and is my first foray into the fantasy genre. No swords but some sorcery. I hope everyone will read and enjoy it. Votes and notes are always appreciated. Thank you.

Sorry for the delay, writer's block SUCKS!

This is in response to a rant put up here at SOL by an author who goes by Mark Gander. This blog entry will make a lot more sense if you read his rant first.

Mr. Gander,

Interesting theories you have there, sir.

You say "one must defy and defeat those injustices wherever they are found". Okay, so who gets to define what is just?

If not a government, if not the "compulsory institutions of the State" then who shall do it? The "voluntary ones(institutions) to which I have freely submitted myself"?

What if the values of your "voluntary institution" and mine, are different? Shall we go to war? Shall we meet in the parking lot of the local mall and have a duel? Fight it out with pistols or swords or bricks and lead pipes? I don't agree with much of what you say in your short little rant. If we can't agree on little things, how well we ever agree on the bigger things? So who gets to choose what is right? What is Just?

In your rant, you say that revenge affairs are just for when a spouse cheats. That it's okay for the wronged partner to have an affair so everything ends up equal. Both partners had sex outside of their relationship. Everything should be hunky dory. That's your opinion.

Others, may not agree. I would immediately divorce my wife if she had sex with another man - revenge sex be damned.

I read an article in the last few days about a female dentist over in Poland who was wronged by her boyfriend. When he, admittedly foolishly, came to her work with a sore tooth, she proceeded to put him to sleep and pulled all of his teeth. She felt that was just. Do you agree? I don't. Do you think the boyfriend agreed? The Polish government certainly didn't. They yanked her medical license and she now faces charges.

Of course, in your rant, you say that getting revenge isn't really getting revenge if you get caught and the female dentist obviously got caught since it's in the news. You tell your readers to wait until after collapse of the government. Wise advice.

The above arguments work as well for "fairness," which you also argue for in your rant. Again, who gets to define what is "fair?" My definition and your definition are probably significantly different.

A few examples, some say abortion is wrong. I say it's unfair. The mother gets to choose. The father doesn't get a say. The baby certainly doesn't get a say. One out of three people directly involved gets to make that decision. Yes, it's her body. But that baby is only half hers.

You say in your rant that the death penalty is "a highly political and prejudiced tool that punishes the innocent with the guilty." I say it's fair. You kill someone, we kill you back! You support revenge sex but not the death penalty?

You say you don't like governments but, isn't it true, that whoever gets to make these judgement call on what is "fair" and "just" becomes a government? They would be setting rules and standards for those around them.

How far do you wish to take your anarchy? You don't tell whether you're American, British, German, Russian or Japanese so I will have to use my own experience.

Are we just talking about getting rid of the Federal government? Or shall we do away with state and local governments as well? You talk about getting rid of the police - after all, they "often arrest people for self-defense while failing to get there in time to protect people from thugs." - In America, the police are not a branch of the federal government so I'm guessing you wish to do away with state and local governments also.

I have to wonder if you've truly thought through what you are calling for here.

If you get rid of the government, who will maintain the roads? Shall we go back to the way it was before World War One where there was a patchwork of roads, some paved, some dirt, some maintained, some not. This confusing web of roads was what inspired President Eisenhower to build the Interstate system that keeps most of America moving nowadays. If it isn't maintained, it won't last long and it's already deteriorating with maintenance. Patches of road will become so potholed that it will be practically impassable. Bridges will collapse. The locals might deem to take care of their own roads, but connecting to another town, while allowing trade, also allows problems from that town or city to flow into your city. No one wants that.

As traffic slows, and then eventually stops, between cities, between states, trade will become more and more difficult. You should be planning to grow and buy local because nothing else will be easily, readily, or cheaply available and God forbid you live in a city, a desert or on rocky ground where crops don't grow.

Speaking of which, as interstate trade and traffic breaks down, other things will break down. Why should the good people in what is now Arizona continue to provide water and electricity to southern California, including Los Angeles? Under your system, look for Phoenix, Los Angeles and Las Vegas to all become ghost towns as none of them could survive for even a short length of time without outside assistance. New York City would also empty as there just isn't enough land to grow crops and keep animals.

Anarchy doesn't work. You can't continue our way of life under anarchy.

In order for a civilization to work there has to be rules. Someone has to set, and enforce, those rules. The person or group making and enforcing rules become the government. This all grew quite naturally from way back when the cave men first started banding together into tribes and picked a leader, whether it was the oldest, the strongest or the best hunter, someone had to lead. That leader set and enforced the rules. He became the government.

Please ladies and gentlemen, do not flood me with e-mails on whatever your favorite political topic is - abortion, death penalty, whatever - The above rant does NOT necessarily explain, accurately or completely, my true opinions on these topics. I was making an argument against Anarchy, not for or against abortion or the death penalty. Thank you.