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Should we put more money into National Defense which provides highly skilled jobs which feed universities, trade schools and help support communities as well as giving our country a readiness for response to adverse actions. Following is a link for a potential threat that we cannot oppose with the technology and strategies currently in use.
My feeling is that our priorities should be:
1. National Defense because nothing else matters if we cannot defend our country which is the stated target of several entities who would like to subjugate or destroy us. We are the prize trophy.
2. Economy because we cannot sustain any kind of program or develop anything unless we can pay for it. Our economy supports our national defense, education, social programs and anything else which betters us culturally or supports our standard of living
3. Education because we need people who can analyze and vote in a manner which sustains or improves our country.
4. Programs which provide or improve our standard of living and contribute to the rest of the world. We can not do good for others if we do not take care of ourselves.
The military spending has some benefits which go unrecognized in allocation of funds during budget challenges which will alway exist. Our military working with people in the countries where they are present to help those people better their lives is but a small portion of priority 1 and 4, but it is significant in making the world a better place for everyone except the bad guys.
I think that we can enhance our country's chances for survival if we do more to hold our government accountable. We obviously do not have the time to do that while we do what we need to to make a living and take care of our own responsibilities. I am going to start on a very sketchy rough draft of a suggestion to tie retired and current politician's pay and benefits to the country's performance. It upsets me that these people go out and do their self benefitting deals, enjoy their power and get paid regardless of how badly they damage our country and the little people get held accountable for their actions.
I wasn't paying attention at the time, but I checked on the Contract with America and it seems like another good direction for us to go. The government is growing at a rapid rate and maneuvering in a manner to keep free of restraints. We need to pay attention or we will pay a price for our apathy.
FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.
It is a start and a decision to kick back and let the politicians do what they have not done in the first place or we would not be in this mess is doing more of what doesn't work and that will not work.
This is for country, not for party.
The healthcare reform is a prime example. In my own experience I have known doctors who came to America from Canada because they were able to earn based on what they did. I know of a lady whose doctor father and nurse mother retired four years ahead of their schedule in the UK because they were so fed up with the UK medical system. Several doctors do not want to work on medicare because it is more trouble than it is worth to them and a good friend of mine who does is often at the office early and late so that he can take good care of his patients and then complete his paperwork requirements. Do we really believe that there will be a large number of people going through all of the time, work and commitment to become medical professionals if some beauracrat or government committee is going to be able to govern what they can do with their position?
I am a hippie capitalist who enjoys doing good things for good people at a good price, but I do believe in a restrained capitalist system.
“I work for nothing but my own profit—which I make by selling a product they need to men who are willing and able to buy it. . . . we deal as equals by mutual consent to mutual advantage and I am proud of every penny I have earned in this manner.” -- Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand
This does not seem like this is where we are taking our country. It feels more like Penalizing Success to Reward Failure and that does not develop winners which have taken our country where it has gone in the last 200 years. Let us challenge our people and take pride as we improve the country we have and give our following generations a better country than we inherited. I am very greatful for the incredible, but far from perfect country which my Canadian mother came across the border so that I would be born in the USA even though I had citizenship because my father was born in Long Beach, California.
The cartoon on the right is out of the '30s because there was a fear of the runaway spending by Roosevelt
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