The train is off
the track. The American economy is stuck
in a rut and the social fabric is coming apart at the seams. Our political leadership is full of
self-serving blowhards and unprincipled weasels only interested in stuffing
their own pockets. We have become
accustomed to politicians who routinely lie, cheat, and steal - and get away
with it. They say all the right words,
and then do all the wrong things. They
eloquently tell the public what it wants to hear, then do whatever the most
generous campaign financial supporters and lobbyists tell them to do. They don't give a damn about the people who
voted for them until the next election comes around. Then they lie to them again. Even worse, voters don't seem to care.
That is
unacceptable. Nothing will change until
we start holding our elected representatives to higher standards. The ideal candidate for public office is a
person who is honest, ethical, competent, and does not suck up to any special
interest group. Is that too much to
ask? Apparently it is, because it
certainly disqualifies Hillary Clinton, who is the personification of the
sleazy politician yet seems to be the overwhelming favorite in the Democratic
Party. That is beyond
comprehension. We survived her
husband. But now the country is in more
serious shape. We may not survive
another president with no principles, no scruples, no conscience, and no real
interest in the people they were elected to represent. That last person on earth we need in the
White House is Hillary Clinton.
There are more
than smoking guns where the Clinton's have been involved. There are detonated bombs all around the
world. Scandals over the years are too
numerous to count. From the miracle
commodity trades to the pardoning of wealthy criminals to the fraudulent
foundation to the email infraction and dozens in between, the Clinton's make
Barack Obama look like a saint in comparison.
All of Obama's lies, his destruction of American prosperity, his
weakening of our national security, his repudiation of our founding principles,
and his imperial assumption of dictatorial power are certainly more than bad
enough. But at least he did not leave an
obvious trail of unmistakable corruption wherever he went. Hillary does.
The woman is a congenital liar.
She trumpets her experience. What
good is experience if none of it did anything good for our country?
The Democratic
Party must have someone in their party who has some integrity and ethics, even
if they are proponents of the big government, centrally controlled, overly
generous welfare state that has caused our country to stagnate and
polarize. If they have not sold out to
any special interests and truly believe what they say, they would certainly be
more qualified than Hillary Clinton.
Perhaps former Virginia Senator James Webb, Delaware's Jack Markell,
even Elizabeth Warren. The Democrats
would do the country a great service by finding someone with some real
substance and running them instead of the same old fraudulent, megalomaniacal,
corrupt liars they typically send up.
As regards
Republican candidates for office, they need to leave their religious convictions
out of it. Pandering to evangelicals is
not going to get anyone elected. America
must preserve freedom of religion, not be a society ruled by religion. Abortion and gay rights are done deals. Get over it and move on. Economic policy, social polarization,
national security, individual liberty, fair justice, and equal opportunity for
all Americans are much more important issues.
It would also be
encouraging if Republicans could do a better job of getting their real message
out, of convincing people they are not the mean and evil monsters the Democrats
propagandists claim them to be. Responsible
Republicans with good ideas do exist. Paul
Ryan, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Ben Carson, Bobby Jindal, Mitch Daniels, Nikki
Haley, Carly Fiorina, Allen West and some others might have some things to say
people might agree with if only they listened.
It is time for Americans
to stop deciding who to vote for based on issues that no longer exist but are
kept alive by professional agitators with a vested interest. That includes racism, gay rights, and women's
rights. Those battles are over. The challengers won. Unfortunately, those who make their living by
keeping the discussion and turmoil alive will not let them go. Those efforts are not helping anyone in
America today.
It is past time
for American political leaders to use the political process to address the
major issues facing the country. Those
include -
1. Our national security is being ignored and
the country is becoming vulnerable to foreign aggression.
2. The educational system is teaching our
children victimology, not preparation for adulthood. Something is very wrong when only 18% of
eighth graders have any real knowledge of American history or understand how
our democratic system of government is supposed to work (National Assessment of
Educational Progress released last week).
3. Our welfare system is misguided. A safety net for those who truly need it is
required of any civilized country, but welfare in America encourages dependency
and penalizes work.
4. Entitlements are out of control as spending
on social security, Medicare, and Medicaid is in the process of bankrupting the
country. Each one must be reformed to
make them financially viable.
5. Tax reform is overdue as the current system
is based on unfair loopholes for politically connected special interests.
6. Private Enterprise and Free Markets are under
attack. Democrats over-regulate and
promote economic growth killing policies. Republicans under-regulate and
facilitate fraud. Regulation of business
needs rationalization and restoration of fair competitive markets, not
straight-jackets imposed by people who don't even understand how the economy
works.
A growing
problem in America is the increasing divide between the top and bottom of
American society. The rich are getting
richer while the middle class and poor are going nowhere. This divergence is not due to
capitalism. Capitalism is based on
private enterprise and free markets.
Each has been severely compromised over the last twenty-five years by
the growth of big government bureaucracies and political favoritism. Cronyism and revolving doors between Wall
Street, The White House, the Halls of Congress, Ivy League institutions, policy
institutes, and lobbyists has resulted in the expansion of federal government
intrusion into commerce and industry as well as interference in the competitive
marketplace. Rules and regulations
imposed by a government bought and paid for by the wealthy, connected powerful
elite favors the big businesses and influential organizations at the expense of
small business.
For those who
believe the mega-wealthy benefactors of big government are all from the
Republican Party, think again. Over the
last 25 years the presidency and the Senate have been controlled by the
Democrats the majority of the time, while the Republicans controlled the House
of Representatives. Both political
parties get their campaign funding and lobbyist favors from big business, the big
rich, and other big special interests. And
both parties reward them.
Consequently, both
parties are responsible for the policies that have produced the breakdown of
American society - the violence of the inner cities, the failing education
system, the disintegration of families, and most important, the dependency on
big government. Maybe the disastrous
social experiments were originally good ideas, but they have grown out of
control and now create more problems than they solve. The policies were Democratic Party ideas, but
the Republicans have not done much to oppose them. The point is those policies don't work. They make the problems worse. Why would America want to double and triple
down on the same destructive policies that created the problem?
Another problem
America faces is the changing structure of the economy. Whoever is president needs to pick members of
his/her Council of Economic Advisers to focus on how to adapt our economy to an
environment where technology and global competition are reducing the number of
traditional jobs available. I don't have
the answer, but I am confident that just throwing more money at worthless
education and imposing foreign trade constraints will not solve the problems. I am certain, however, that restructuring
education with more relevant curriculums and removing government imposed
unnecessary regulatory costs and restraints on small business would help.
These are all
important issues. America is running out
of time to get back on course. Continuing
politics as usual will kill the golden goose.
We need leaders that will restore traditional American principles and
values of hard work, personal responsibility, and pride in what we do. We need to restore competitive capitalism by
encouraging small business rather than burdening it with obstacles to
overcome. We must re-establish efficient
free markets that allow the incentive of financial reward to stimulate
creativity and entrepreneurship rather than allow the oligarchs of the
megabanks and mega-businesses to control the economy. That would include laws that make sure the
big boys go bust when they screw up rather than bailed out by the government at
the expense of American citizens.
Those goals
cannot be achieved by sending the same tired old corrupt gasbags back to
Washington, DC every election. Current
government policies are not helping anybody but the folks who are already
rich. Meanwhile, the middle class
struggles to maintain their living standards and those at the bottom of society
live in constant fear without hope. America
needs to get a grip. We need new leaders
and new ideas. Every voter needs to dig
deep down and vote responsibly. People
like Bill and Hillary Clinton have defrauded the American people long
enough. Please don't let it happen
again.
