Election Time - My thoughts on the last Presidential Election

• Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear -- kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor -- with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.
• A Soldier Speaks: Public Papers and Speeches of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur

General Douglas MacArthur stated:  “History fails to record a single precedent in which nations subject to moral decay have not passed into political and economic decline.  There has been either a spiritual awakening to overcome the moral lapse, or a progressive deterioration leading to ultimate national disaster.” http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Douglas.MacArthur.Quote.4070

            In Medieval Europe no one voted except the kings.  In colonial America only landowners voted.  After the Revolution, states gradually let those without land vote, but many had religious and literacy test. http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Amend.html  In 1870, the 15^th Amendment let former slaves vote.  In 1920, the 19^th Amendment let women vote.  In 1924, American Indians could vote in Federal Elections.  In 1964, the 24^th Amendment let vote those who could not pay a poll tax.  In 1965, the Voting Rights Act removed literacy tests.  On JUNE 22, 1970, President Nixon extended the Voting Rights Act to let 18-year-olds vote.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregon_v._Mitchell The Supreme Court, in Oregon v Mitchell, limited this right so the 26^th Amendment was passed in 1971 to confirm it.  President Nixon stated March 24, 1970: “In other area, too, there were long struggles to eliminate discrimination…Property and even religious qualifications for voting persisted well into the 19^th century-and not until 1920 were women finally guaranteed the right to vote.”  On August 24, 1972, Nixon said; “For the first time in the 195-year history of this country, men and women 18 to 21 years of age will have the chance to vote.”

            The President of the United States is a king (for a time) within his sphere, though he may not exercise his power effectively.  That is why the founding fathers created the three branches, so no man could be KING.  A King has absolute power.  No President should.

            This is the problem we face.  Does the average citizen actually know who they are voting for?  Does the average citizen understand what the president can and can’t do?  Does the average citizen know what Congress can and can’t do?  A president can veto any bill sent to his desk, but congress can easily over-ride that with sometimes as little as a majority vote, other times it takes a 2/3rds majority vote.  George Bush Sr. was made out to be such a liar because he increased the taxes.  Well, it was never him that increased taxes, it was Congress.  It also seems that the public somehow thinks that Republicans raise taxes on the lower and middle class yet give huge tax breaks to the wealthy.  It doesn’t work that way.  A tax raise is a tax raise, it affects everyone, only difference is, the rich and wealthy can pay accountants and tax specialists to cut the corners, and use loop holes that the average American citizen doesn’t about.

            The average citizen also seems to think that the president has power over the price of things, such as gasoline….  The president doesn’t have power over the price of gasoline.  Maybe he can help put a few new regulations in place, that can help just a little, or when he releases some of the gas reserves we have in storage, but it doesn’t help all that much.  Congress, for years on end voted against alternative fuel vehicles.  Even back in the 60’s there was capabilities to build natural gas vehicles, or build electric vehicles, but except for personal use, Congress voted them down.  It wasn’t until a few years ago that Congress gave the go ahead to manufacture and sell alternative fuel vehicles.  Why?  Well, for years Congress made huge amounts of revenue from the oil companies for the sale of oil and gas.  Finally Congress has come around and made it legal.  So the oil companies have actually shot themselves in the foot.  I for one am tired of their prices.  So, once there are some really good alternative fuel vehicles available, which means the assets to recharge them, if electric, or a means to fuel them if they are natural gas type, I’ll be getting one.  And that’s probably going to be the case with most people.  So once that hits, the gas and oil companies, which is really only one with a monopoly over the market anyhow, will lower oil and gas prices drastically.

            I feel that it is unfair to say that Mr. McCain is just parroting President Bush.  First of all, I’ll tell you one thing he’ll do differently that President Bush… he won’t fold under pressure from the extreme left.  Mr. McCain will keep Congress in check, like a President is supposed to, and he’s going to kick all civilian leadership out of the war.  He’s already seen this movie, back in the 70’s… he didn’t like it then, and he doesn’t like it now.

            We are talking about a man, who when he was told he would be released from the North Vietnamese prison camp, refused to leave, unless every POW, in that prison was returned, as well.  In exchange for this show of courage and bravery he was tortured and placed in solitary confinement for years. What has Mr. Obama done to show that kind of honor or courage?

            Mr. Obama talks about hope and change, but has yet to tell the American people what any of that means or how to go about accomplishing it.

            Mr. McCain is straight-forward and brutally honest when talking about our great country.  He isn’t a real politician; he’s a fighting man, with battle-proven leadership skills.

            I feel that Mr. McCain is *exactly* what we need, for the next years… maybe even the next 8.

            But, our president is the leader of our country whether we are citizen or soldiers, so, we are duty bound to follow him in either instance.  Whether we voted for him or not.

            Also Mr. Obama wants to pull us out of Iraq.  Well…this isn’t the right answer.  We need to stay until Iraq is ready to run itself.  The public didn’t complain much when we’re still in Germany, Japan, or Korean.  It takes time to get a country up and going strong after it loses in a war and the established Government that was, is no longer.  If we stick to our guns, soon Iraq will be on its feet fully.  When that happens we will have a valuable ally and a useful trade resource for cheaper oil and cheaper gas.  Yet Mr. Obama wants to pull us out and leave the job unfinished.  If we leave then Iran will try to fill the power vacuum left by our premature departure.  It takes time.  It might even take longer then the project 2013.  At least Mr. McCain understands and has said that that is a tentative timeline depending on the status of the Iraqi government meeting their requirements on the security of their country.  Mr. Obama says we will pull out regardless.  We’re making major progress here and we need to complete the job.

            Mr. Obama at the same time he says we are pulling out of Iraq wants to expand the war in Afghanistan, and is even talking of pursuing invaders across the Pakistani border.  When we invaded Iraq it was not an ally but Pakistan is.  What are we doing if we invade Pakistan, do you think they are going to just lie down and let us in there?  If we do that we are trading one war front that we are now winning and making progress, for another war which we haven’t even started with a country we are currently allies with but won’t be if we invade.  What is the proper choice here?  Democrats and the general public call President Bush a WAR MONGER….well….what would you call Mr. Obama????

Mr. Obama may be a smart man, but I don’t think he is the right man to be president.   Obama refuses to render honors to the National Anthem, and pays only lip-service to the Pledge of Allegiance.  He has called the American Flag a “symbol of oppression”, and until it became a big issue during his campaign he refused to wear the same lapel pin that *all* of the other candidates wear, giving the excuse that he “doesn’t want to be seen as taking sides” (if he’s running for President of the United States, he’d better DAMN WELL BE ON OUR SIDE).  He has –on record- commented that all American forces are doing, in Iraq and Afghanistan, is “bombing villages, and killing civilians”.

            Mr. Obama has no military experience which to me is a necessary requirement to be Commander-in-chief of the most powerful military force in the world.  Mr. Obama is saying things to the public that they want to hear.  He wants to pull out of Iraq and says that we will be out of here within 16 months of him becoming president.  It takes time to move a force this large.  You can’t just have everybody and everything move at the same time to the same locations.  It took us over 2 years to fully pull out of Vietnam and we didn’t do nearly the same kind of infrastructure build up there as we have here.  We didn’t have nearly as many armored vehicles there as we do here.  Do we just leave these things to our enemies to use against us when they bring the war to our door step?  He is only promising people what they want to hear by saying that he will start pulling out troops his first day in office and it just won’t happen that fast.

            Mr. Obama believes in massive increases in government intervention and spending which by definition must involve greater increases in taxation (theft), deficit spending (debt incursion), and/or inflationary monetary policies (Federal Reserve money printing), and therefore greater increases in rights-violations, specifically private property.

            As opposed to having the free-market take care of energy, healthcare and other vital industries, Mr. Obama would rather have the government control these industries.  Well, this leaves one question – at whose expense?

            In regards to healthcare, who will pay for universal (socialist) government provided healthcare?  Who will be forced, involuntarily, to finance the healthcares of other people, against their will?  The American taxpayer that’s who.

            People talk about Mr. McCain’s health as if that is the major issue about electing him.  What about President Roosevelt?  If he was running today would we vote for him?  He led our country out of the Great Depression and led us through most of World War II.  He was one of our greatest president’s. 

           

            545 human beings out of the 300 million of our population – are most emphatically NOT directly, legally, morally and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plaque this country.  You’re responsible for your own damn problems.  The Federal Government’s true responsibilities are few and well enumerated in our Federal Constitution.  Anything else they do is stuff they’re really not supposed to do, but nobody’s stopping them from doing it (ever seen a street protest demanding dissolution of the Department of Education?). 

Systemic government reform for us requires cultural reform, and this reform is now under way.  Restoration of liberty and virtue in our nation is gradually taking place through a more enlightened public, but beneficial change seems to take a lot longer than detrimental change.  It is almost like gaining weight.  Putting on the pounds is a whole lot easier then losing them.

            Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them thinking the public doesn’t know the difference.  Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, then why do we have deficits?  Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, then why do we have inflation and high taxes?  They really don’t want you to know the truth. 

You and I don’t propose a federal budget.  The President proposes the budget.  You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations.  Only the House of Representatives does.  You and I don’t write the tax code.  Congress does.  You and I don’t set fiscal policy.  Congress does.  You and I don’t control monetary policy.  The Federal Reserve Bank does.  Note that the President is not in this circle. 

One hundred Senators, 435 Congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court Justices – 545 human beings out of the 300 million of our population – are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plaque this country.  One of those cannot do it alone! 

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.  In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered but private central bank. 

I also excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.  They have no legal authority to do anything.  They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.  I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.  That politician has the power to accept or reject it. 

No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he and he alone will cast his vote. 

A CONFIDENCE CONSPIRACY – Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault when in reality it is and they know it.  They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.  What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall.  No normal human being would have the gall of a SPEAKER, who stood up and criticized G.W. Bush for creating deficits when in fact it’s the House under the leadership of that Speaker who originates spending bills. 

The President can only propose a budget.  He cannot force the Congress to accept it.  The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes.  Who is the Speaker of the House?  In the current case, Mrs. Pelosi.  She is the leader of the majority party.  She and fellow Democrats, not the President, can approve any budget they want.  If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto. 

REPLACE THE SCOUNDRELS – It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million voters cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted – by present facts – of incompetence and irresponsibility to the people of this great country. 

I can’t think of a single domestic problem, from an unfair tax code to defense overruns that is not traceable directly to those 545 people.  When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise power over the federal government, and then it must follow what exists is what they want to exist. 

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.  If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.  If the Soldiers are in IRAQ, it’s because they want them in Iraq. 

There are no insoluble government problems.  Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power.

Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exist disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people and they alone, are responsible.  They and they alone, have the power.  They and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses – provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.  We should vote each one of them out of office if they do not return a Government of the People, By the People, and For the People.  They will clean up their mess.