Let's Fix our Country...

I know how to fix the country. All of these ideas will help to fix economy, solve the debt, end the deficit, and put America back on track to prosperity. 1) Legalize marijuana in all American territories. Regulate it. Then tax the heck out of it. I propose a 90% federal sales tax and a 6% state sales tax on marijuana. 2) Ban all lobbyists. They use money to puppeteer elected officials, causing the average American's voice to be drowned out. 3) Make all unions non-profit organizations who are banned from using member money for the purposes of lobbying or to support any candidate, committee, or PAC. 4) Make it a federal crime, retroactively, for an elected official to use insider knowledge for profit. (i.e. using knowledge of an upcoming bill to inspire certain stock purchases or sales, using government programs that make once worthless land into rich property [See Harry Reid's portfolio...]). 5) Term limits for all elected officials. The founding fathers never intended for public service to be a lifetime career. 6) Only those elected officials who reach their term limit are eligible for pensions and benefits after their final terms. IMMEDIATELY stop paying full salary pensions PLUS full benefits to former Congressmen, Senators, and others who were voted out. (This would include Jimmy Carter's incredible pension as well as George Bush's (41). ) 7) Stop ALL ethanol subsidies. This limits the amount of corn available for food, both for human and livestock consumption. When you limit supply, demand requires prices to rise. Food prices rise as a direct result of ethanol subsidies. 8) Stop with the "blend" requirements for fuel. There is ZERO conclusive proof that these "blends" do anything other than drive up the cost of fuel. Go with one blend. Lower the cost of fuel. 9) Reopen and reissue the expired leases in the Gulf of Mexico. THEN, open off-shore drilling on the continental shelf. BP disaster? Ok, let me ask you this. Is a leak easier to control at 100' depth in the ocean...or 5,280' depth? 10) Approve the already cleared, researched, and properly prepared-for 'Keystone Pipeline' project. On July 6, 2008, President Bush announced that he was opening the coasts of Virginia and California to further exploration. Seemingly within minutes, gas plummeted. (Gas was back down to $1.84 +/- when Bush left office...). The sheer announcement of exploration panicked OPEC. The election of kowtowing Obama relinquished that fear. 11) Apply the Texas legislative schedule to the federal government. Texas' legislature meets something like once every other year. If the feds met once a year, and were required to work in their home districts the rest of the time, they would be far less likely to pass stupid laws and would be more motivated to get things done...especially since they would be in their home districts, hearing far more from constituents than from lobbyists. 12) Close the borders. Make the discovery of illegal immigrants employed by your company devastating to your bottom line. Make the attraction to break our laws to come here less attractive. 13) Once the borders are closed, modify and pass the Dream Act. (Read on, conservative...I have not sold out. But, I am a realist. ) In the new Dream Act, there is a sunset date on registration for the program. Here are the details of the program: -Within 6 months of passage, all illegal immigrants must register with the program. -One able-bodied member of each immediate family must register for, and complete, either 5 years of Military Service; a Masters Education Degree in a Math, Science, or Arts program with a commitment to work in low-income schools for 5 more years; earn a degree in the field of healthcare and commit to 5 years in high-need areas. -All adult members of the immediate family must complete 1,000, hours of community service within 2 years of registry (any real community service such as mentoring, reading to children, assisting elderly, etc.) -All members of the immediate family must learn English. -All members of the immediate family must take an oath of loyalty to the United States of America. If you do not register within 6 months of the passage of the program, you are ineligible. Any illegal not registered under the Dream Act within that 6 month period will be deported. If you don't have a deadline, the flow of illegals to take advantage would be overwhelming. Close borders first! THEN, require those here the option of serving this country to stay on permanent VISAs (not citizenship), or they can leave voluntarily. 14) If Congress fails to perform its duties in any calendar year (i.e. not passing a budget, creating a deficit, etc.), all members will be fined 50% of that year's salary, and will work, without pay, until such duties are completed. 15) If the President signs into law a bill that puts the nation in long-term debt, he/she will forfeit one year's salary up until he/she signs a bill that covers that debt. This would include the pension due the President after his/her term. 16) All Higher Court decisions must refer only to US law and the US Constitution. Referring or using the laws or dictates of foreign nations is not to be done and is grounds for impeachment as a Judge or Justice. These 16 steps would be painful, but mostly to the moochers who live off the taxpayer and dictate to us how to live.

Health Care Reform Update

If you, no matter which side you support, would take time and listen to the pundits and the politicians weigh in on this topic, and would consider both sides without bias, it is clear which side is correct in this matter.

Before I explain why I think one side is correct and the other side is destructlively wrong, let me pose a series of questions. These are rhetorical, but if you would like to leave a comment with your answer, please feel free.

1) When has the US Government EVER created a series of programs and beauracrasies that made the government larger, but more efficient?

2) Do you REALLY think that giving the IRS more jurisdiction and power is a good thing for the American family?

3) How much money should successful people be made to forfeit in the name of redistribution?

4) Why do people that don't work and don't strive deserve to be taken care of off the backs of the people who do work?

5) If the bill was so fantastic and so wonderful, why the talk of circumventing rules and procedures to cram it through?

6) How in the world is a federal government takeover of the student loan program, taking the power to lend away from banks and private institutions (except one) part of health care reform?

Just some questions to ponder.

Now back to the opening ideas of this post. Let us look at the arguements for and against this plan. Look at the differences in the wording of the responses of each side. This is where I confirmed my belief that this fiasco is going to destroy our country, and not from Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck, or even Mark Levin.

As I read and watched the arguements from both sides, I found a trend and a pattern. This pattern showed me which side was telling us the truth and which side was using strange forms of double-talk straigh out of Orwell.

On one side, you have people citing facts and programs actually in the bill. They explain how the downside of the plans in the bill will potentially destroy the economy, kill jobs, and potentially kill the very people the bill is advertised to save. This side speaks in facts, reality, and with a passion for our country.

On the other side, you will hear a lot of platitudes and wishful thinking. You have leaders in the Congress selling the plan as a way for struggling artists, writers, and musicians to quit their jobs they keep for insurance benefits and pursue their dreams. It is a way for potential entreprenures to quit day jobs and eliminate the risks to their families of being uninsured. They talk in lofty dreams and utopian ideas. They talk about how there is only one way to fix the problems in the health care system, meanwhile ignoring some of the biggest problems that are really there. They will tax everything under the sun, except for things they like, such as the Botox tax and taxes on plastic surgery. Despite the political alliance with the American Medical Association, which is just a political group and not an actual representation of medical personnel, actual doctors are not involved in the bill. Lawyers are. There is no tort reform included because why would lawyers limit their own income streams?

As any person will tell you, our system has flaws and does need some work. We need to find a way to lower the cost of an Aspirin in a hospital from $50 a pill. Band-aids need to cost less than $25. Yet, this bill will do the opposite. Costs for the average person will skyrocket.

This bill disallows the practices of insurance companies denying pre-existing conditions. However, it does nothing to protect the insurance company from abuse. Let's say you have no insurance but have a heart attack. Your spouse can call and purchace insurance en route to the hospital to cover the ambulance ride and the treatment for the heart attack. And the insurance company would have to, by law, cover you. I am sure that will lower insurance costs, right?

This bill will also force, legally arm-twist, all Americans into purchasing insurance. There are many people who prefer to pay out of pocket for services instead of deal with the hassle of filing claims and et cetra. For a relatively healthy person, it's more cost effective to pay $2000-$4000 in medical bills on the rare occasion they need services, than to pay $750-$1000+ a month every year, plus their deductibles and co-pays. There will be fines levied against those who do not purchase a government approved plan.

Which brings me to my next concern. What the heck is a "government approved plan?" Some group of senators, along with their lobbyists and SEIU friends, are going to determine what qualifies as an "approved" plan? What if my current plan doesn't meet their arbitrary standards? Do I have to change it, despite Obama's repeated promises that if I am happy, I can keep my plan? If a body of people cannot efficiently get a letter from West Virginia to Virginia, cannot find an efficient way to bill and receive taxes, and cannot find a way to market the census without wasting millions to hire Ed Begley and create a SUPERBOWL ad, I just cannot believe they will find a way to create a fair and efficient mandate on what makes for a "government approved insurance plan."

This bill is so far-reaching and creates so many beauracrasies. It grows our federal government exponentially. It will make everyone who purchases insurance see huge spikes in their rates. It will force companies to drop benefits packages because it will be too expensive. This bill will force the single-payer option on us because it is designed to bankrupt every single insurance company out there. Once the government is completely in control of health care, as Obama and many democrats have said is their end goal, then there is no going back. This bill will force our country into the same failing health system that Canada, the UK, and Cuba have. People will die sooner waiting for the most basic of needs. Minorities will see a drastic decline in their numbers because the most resources will be sent to the higher priority neighborhoods. This bill will KILL AMERICA.