An Appeal to American Voters from a Political Independent

 

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.