Well, back in Tallahassee after a nice exhausting flight. My flight from San Francisco was cancelled due to weather. I found a new flight, from San Francisco to LA, LA to Tampa, Tampa to Tallahassee. From 4:00 pm Thursday to 9 am Friday. Honestly though, I am one of the lucky ones, because I got home at all. My thoughts to all those people stuck in Denver, London, or trying to go to any of those places.
So of course, it's only 9:00 my time, but midnight here. Anyways, it's that time of year, time for all the people to gather for their winter holidays, so here goes the well wishing.
To the Christians, Merry Christmas! To Jewish people, Happy Hanuka, and to the Muslims, Eid Mubarak on the New Moon. To everyone, I hope you have a happy holiday, no matter what you are celebrating, even if it is just celebrating being off of work and with your family. Because, no matter your beliefs or nonbeliegs, that's what any holiday is really about. Just spending time relaxing after a long year and being able to hang out with your family.
So if you are one of those people who are working, hope you get some time off soon. To those soldiers abroad and away from your families, happy holidays and stay safe.
12.23.2006
12.20.2006
Rep. Virgil Goode (R - VA) I Have a Suggestion...
Stop whatever you are doing. Go to the library. Pick up a copy of the American Constitution. Turn to Amendment 1 (ratified 1791). Actually you know what? How about this, just read this quote, I'll do the leg work for you.
Thank you. Now, please go back to the Hill, and resign, for you have given proof that you do not uphold nor love the constitution that allowed you to be elected in the first place.
Why the anger? Representative Goode recently made these comments. I'll list a few below.
Good, I respect you for that because I happen to believe in the constitution. You don't like the Quran, fine. You want to swear on the bible because you are a Christian, that's great! Freedom of Speech, and Freedom to Exercise your religion. But then you go swiftly downhill. What was this in response to?
Oh, so you want your religious freedom protected, but not anyone else's? Wow, thanks King George/Ahmedinejad/Holy Roman Emperor/Spanish Conquistador. Here's a problem with your logic. Keith Ellison is a Muslim. Therefore, swearing on your Bible means as much to him as swearing on a used Kia means to you. So what if you lie when it's not your holy book? The point of swearing on a holy book is that exactly. It is your holy book, and you would not disgrace it by swearing on it as a lie, it is meant to keep a certain amount of truth on you. More power to him if he's saying that.
Rep. Goode goes on to say we need strong immigration reform or else we will have too many Muslims in this country, and too many Middle Easterners. Wow, so an openly racist and close minded man is going to just blurt something like that out? I suppose the Native Americans should have had the likes of him when the French, Spanish, British, Irish, Italian, Polish...you get the picture. America is "the world's melting pot" so back off Mr. Representative. White Christians aren't the only people who have done good for this country. Remember the guy who invented peanut butter? Go berate your mom for ever feeding you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because it was helped along by someone with darker skin than you.
I'm sorry to tell you Mr. Representative, "In God We Trust" is a fairly solid tenant of Islam too. And they think it's the same God. Insha'allah (God willing) accompanies almost any statement they want to come true. Oh and those ten commandments? Also a belief of Islam, and Judaism. You know, ethnic Jews are from the Middle East, right representative? Where is Jerusalem, and the desert Moses wandered around for 40 years? Nevada? Or do you hate the Jews too, since they don't believe in your new testament?
Extremism in any form is a horrible thing to push. Whether you are extremely prejudice, extremely Christian, extremely Muslim, extremely Jewish, extremely alcoholic, extremely partisan; little, if any good comes from that. There is no room for peace in extremism, only subjugation.
Representative, you are a disgrace to the Constitution that you swore to uphold. If an Atheist was elected to congress, and wanted to swear on the life of his first born son, let him. Make someone swear on something that is important to them, not something that they consider of little value.
The people who voted in Keith Ellis did the most American thing they good. I doubt the majority of them were Muslim. They voted him in for him, not his religion. That is how you are supposed to vote. If we elected Representative Goode's model, we would not be any different than any other oppressed country.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Thank you. Now, please go back to the Hill, and resign, for you have given proof that you do not uphold nor love the constitution that allowed you to be elected in the first place.
Why the anger? Representative Goode recently made these comments. I'll list a few below.
In it, Goode wrote, "When I raise my hand to take the oath on Swearing In Day, I will have the Bible in my other hand. I do not subscribe to using the Quran in any way.
Good, I respect you for that because I happen to believe in the constitution. You don't like the Quran, fine. You want to swear on the bible because you are a Christian, that's great! Freedom of Speech, and Freedom to Exercise your religion. But then you go swiftly downhill. What was this in response to?
Spokesman Linwood Duncan said Goode's letter was written in response to complaints his office received about Minnesota Rep.-elect Keith Ellison's request to be sworn in using the Quran.
Oh, so you want your religious freedom protected, but not anyone else's? Wow, thanks King George/Ahmedinejad/Holy Roman Emperor/Spanish Conquistador. Here's a problem with your logic. Keith Ellison is a Muslim. Therefore, swearing on your Bible means as much to him as swearing on a used Kia means to you. So what if you lie when it's not your holy book? The point of swearing on a holy book is that exactly. It is your holy book, and you would not disgrace it by swearing on it as a lie, it is meant to keep a certain amount of truth on you. More power to him if he's saying that.
Rep. Goode goes on to say we need strong immigration reform or else we will have too many Muslims in this country, and too many Middle Easterners. Wow, so an openly racist and close minded man is going to just blurt something like that out? I suppose the Native Americans should have had the likes of him when the French, Spanish, British, Irish, Italian, Polish...you get the picture. America is "the world's melting pot" so back off Mr. Representative. White Christians aren't the only people who have done good for this country. Remember the guy who invented peanut butter? Go berate your mom for ever feeding you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because it was helped along by someone with darker skin than you.
He added, "The Ten Commandments and 'In God We Trust' are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Quran.
"My response was clear, 'As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, the Quran is not going to be on the wall of my office.' "
I'm sorry to tell you Mr. Representative, "In God We Trust" is a fairly solid tenant of Islam too. And they think it's the same God. Insha'allah (God willing) accompanies almost any statement they want to come true. Oh and those ten commandments? Also a belief of Islam, and Judaism. You know, ethnic Jews are from the Middle East, right representative? Where is Jerusalem, and the desert Moses wandered around for 40 years? Nevada? Or do you hate the Jews too, since they don't believe in your new testament?
Extremism in any form is a horrible thing to push. Whether you are extremely prejudice, extremely Christian, extremely Muslim, extremely Jewish, extremely alcoholic, extremely partisan; little, if any good comes from that. There is no room for peace in extremism, only subjugation.
Representative, you are a disgrace to the Constitution that you swore to uphold. If an Atheist was elected to congress, and wanted to swear on the life of his first born son, let him. Make someone swear on something that is important to them, not something that they consider of little value.
The people who voted in Keith Ellis did the most American thing they good. I doubt the majority of them were Muslim. They voted him in for him, not his religion. That is how you are supposed to vote. If we elected Representative Goode's model, we would not be any different than any other oppressed country.
12.17.2006
Side Effects May Include...
Dizziness, Drowsiness, Fatigue, Kidney Failure, nausea, Diarrhea, Constipation, Acid Reflux, Sexual Side Effects, loss of taste, inability to make decisions....you should not use if you are or may become pregnant, have liver or kidney disease, lung disease, mild absentia of the senses, depression, suicidal thoughts....people who are using this should not drive, make love, drink, operate heavy machinery, or light machinery for that matter. However all and all, your headache will be gone.
I'm sure that's a little exaggerated, but one thing is not. Commercials for pharmaceuticals these days spend half the commercial talking about how it will fix one problem, and the other half talking about the problems they may cause. I spend a lot of this page talking about Governmental affairs, or things abroad, but this is a huge issue as well, and I suppose it includes the FDA which is a governmental agency.
Why is it that the FDA will never approve natural remedies that are fairly safe for you, that help do things man made drugs do, but without nearly as many side effects? Why is it that pharmacy companies have to look for drugs that can possibly have worse side effects than what they are supposed to treat? Why is it that a prescription can take 150 dollars, but then the generic version that uses the exact same formula is 50 bucks? Why is it that pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars courting Doctors, and then doctors push the drugs because Merck or Vioxx gave them a trip to Bermuda?
I don't know the answers, but the questions scare me. I suppose my dislike for the big pharmacy companies is another reason I'll never be voted in to office.
I'm sure that's a little exaggerated, but one thing is not. Commercials for pharmaceuticals these days spend half the commercial talking about how it will fix one problem, and the other half talking about the problems they may cause. I spend a lot of this page talking about Governmental affairs, or things abroad, but this is a huge issue as well, and I suppose it includes the FDA which is a governmental agency.
Why is it that the FDA will never approve natural remedies that are fairly safe for you, that help do things man made drugs do, but without nearly as many side effects? Why is it that pharmacy companies have to look for drugs that can possibly have worse side effects than what they are supposed to treat? Why is it that a prescription can take 150 dollars, but then the generic version that uses the exact same formula is 50 bucks? Why is it that pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars courting Doctors, and then doctors push the drugs because Merck or Vioxx gave them a trip to Bermuda?
I don't know the answers, but the questions scare me. I suppose my dislike for the big pharmacy companies is another reason I'll never be voted in to office.
12.15.2006
Marhaba
I've been doing some more sight seeing on msnbc.com, and nothing really has changed. People still call for the US to just leave the Iraqis to kill each other. People still call Americans idiots, and people still think that Iraq was better under Saddam's rule.
For all who think that, I would like to recommend a book. It's called Mayada: Daughter of Iraq. Check it out some time and realize why Saddam was a cruel man who needed to be removed from power. It is a story of a single mother who lived and worked in Baghdad running her own printshop. Her printshop was one of the better around Baghdad. One morning when she got to the office, she was arrested for printing something against the government, a crime she was innocent of.
Read her story, and know that there are hundreds of thousands who have a similar story to tell. There is a saying, "It is always darkest before dawn"
Iraq was dark under Saddam's rule, and it is darker now. Perhaps it will get darker yet, but just remember, the sun rise is a beautiful thing to watch.
For all who think that, I would like to recommend a book. It's called Mayada: Daughter of Iraq. Check it out some time and realize why Saddam was a cruel man who needed to be removed from power. It is a story of a single mother who lived and worked in Baghdad running her own printshop. Her printshop was one of the better around Baghdad. One morning when she got to the office, she was arrested for printing something against the government, a crime she was innocent of.
Read her story, and know that there are hundreds of thousands who have a similar story to tell. There is a saying, "It is always darkest before dawn"
Iraq was dark under Saddam's rule, and it is darker now. Perhaps it will get darker yet, but just remember, the sun rise is a beautiful thing to watch.
12.14.2006
Home Sweet Hotel
Well, everything Wednesday went pretty well. Actually, surprisingly well! My flight from Houston to Denver was uneventful. However from Denver all the way to Sacramento I experienced the most turbulence I have ever seen on an airplane. Spilled my coke on my lap...but on the plus side I was all by myself on the last row of the plane. So, this meant I could lay down all the way across the chairs and sleep the entire trip. I woke up as they were pulling in to the gate!
Now we get to try it all again next Thursday when I fly back to my real home in Florida.
Today's Topic of Conversation, now that I can spare a few minutes:
Here is something that bothers me to no end. As I have stated in previous posts, I have very little but contempt for the way our Congress runs.
Why is it that it is 2006, and already people are nominating themselves as "presidential hopefuls"? That's like going to your grandpa as he sits on his death bed and saying, "Hey, can I get that cool pistol you have? I know you'll be dead soon...and I just wanted to call it first."
It also reminds me of those teenagers who jump onto forums and say, "FIRST POST!!!!!!!11! LOL" and then nothing else of any value. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish?
You have two years left to do your job, and already you're campaigning for a new one? Jon Stewart made a quip about it in his book.
"Now that you've won your election campaign what's next? To plan for re-election!"
Honestly it makes no sense to me at all. How are you going to have time to fix issues while you are trying to campaign at the same time? That's like going in as a burger flipper and going up to the manager saying, "I would like to be the manager, don't worry about those burgers burning in the back ground..."
If I made my presidential career path via being a congress man, I would do my job and then say, "Look what I did. If you like what I've done and what I continue to do, vote for me." Not, "Hey, look what I'm gonna try to do as president! Don't worry about the promises I made to get in the senate, I can do so much more in the presidency!"
Now we get to try it all again next Thursday when I fly back to my real home in Florida.
Today's Topic of Conversation, now that I can spare a few minutes:
Here is something that bothers me to no end. As I have stated in previous posts, I have very little but contempt for the way our Congress runs.
Why is it that it is 2006, and already people are nominating themselves as "presidential hopefuls"? That's like going to your grandpa as he sits on his death bed and saying, "Hey, can I get that cool pistol you have? I know you'll be dead soon...and I just wanted to call it first."
It also reminds me of those teenagers who jump onto forums and say, "FIRST POST!!!!!!!11! LOL" and then nothing else of any value. I mean, what are they trying to accomplish?
You have two years left to do your job, and already you're campaigning for a new one? Jon Stewart made a quip about it in his book.
"Now that you've won your election campaign what's next? To plan for re-election!"
Honestly it makes no sense to me at all. How are you going to have time to fix issues while you are trying to campaign at the same time? That's like going in as a burger flipper and going up to the manager saying, "I would like to be the manager, don't worry about those burgers burning in the back ground..."
If I made my presidential career path via being a congress man, I would do my job and then say, "Look what I did. If you like what I've done and what I continue to do, vote for me." Not, "Hey, look what I'm gonna try to do as president! Don't worry about the promises I made to get in the senate, I can do so much more in the presidency!"
12.11.2006
What A Week
This week was our Christmas party with the company I work with. Last week I spent trying to make sure that everything was caught up and I was ready to go. My flight was supposed to go from Sacramento to Dallas TX. Last minute I found out I needed to go to Houston afterwards.
So, I tried to change my flight, but upon doing some research I realized that it would be cheaper for me to buy two one way tickets and just miss my original return flight than change it. So I contacted Expedia, and told them not to change my ticket. The lady said to me, "No problem, it hasn't even been touched yet!"
The next day I get to the airport and when I go to check in, the lady tells me I have no flights, and I owe them 700 dollars. At this point I had 30 minutes to get to my flight. I was livid.
So, after her telling me that it was not the ticket, but me that was wrong, I asked for the supervisor. The supervisor tells me the same thing, and that she is doing me a huge favor by getting me on the flight that I had already booked, and in the process taking away the seat I had reserved next to my girlfriend. What a pleasure American Airlines. Luckily, a kind man who got my original seat switched with me.
So, I tried to change my flight, but upon doing some research I realized that it would be cheaper for me to buy two one way tickets and just miss my original return flight than change it. So I contacted Expedia, and told them not to change my ticket. The lady said to me, "No problem, it hasn't even been touched yet!"
The next day I get to the airport and when I go to check in, the lady tells me I have no flights, and I owe them 700 dollars. At this point I had 30 minutes to get to my flight. I was livid.
So, after her telling me that it was not the ticket, but me that was wrong, I asked for the supervisor. The supervisor tells me the same thing, and that she is doing me a huge favor by getting me on the flight that I had already booked, and in the process taking away the seat I had reserved next to my girlfriend. What a pleasure American Airlines. Luckily, a kind man who got my original seat switched with me.
So, we get to Dallas, and wait about 40 minutes for the shuttle to the hotel we are staying at. We finally get to the hotel, and everything goes pretty smoothly. We have a few drinks and go to sleep at about 2. The next morning I wake up and go to the meeting while my girlfriend watches my sister's baby. (Who also works for the same company)
Afterwards, there is a fairly uppity party, the kind where the appetizer is one ravioli filled with duck, and the dessert looks like a peppermint house filled with cool whip. On the plus side, there is an open bar with premium liquor.
The next morning (after about four hours of sleep) I wake up at 5:40 to get on the 6:00 shuttle to the airport for my 7:00 am flight. Well, I miss the bus, and have to wait for the 6:20 bus. He calls to find my gate, and finds out my flight leaves at 6:45. After a gut wrenching ride in a van with no seat belt (which I don't advocate, but it's always weird protocal in public transportation) I go to check in to my flight at the self check in. Lo and behold, my flight says that I leave at 1:35 pm to Houston International. (I was supposed to go to Houston Hobby, about 1 hour closer).
So I go to the lady, and she says, "Well sir, your flight actually leaves at 9:00 am, to Houston Hobby". So...I woke up early for? No worries, my girlfriend's flight leaves at 9:35, and so when she gets to the airport we hang out for a bit, which is always nice.
My flight leaves, and I sleep all the way there. When I arrive at Hobby, I go looking for the budget rent-a-car bus. One hour later, it arrives and delivers me to the rental center. My luck is the stuff of legends. Either I'm finding the most wonderful girl in the world, or an awesome job, or I'm having travel arrangements that make you belive in God, if only to believe in the Devil's hand.
"I'm sorry sir, even though you reserved this car through your company, with your company's credit card, we can't rent this to you as you are under 25"
So, back to the airport. Go to Enterprise. Rent the car out of my pocket. Back to another rental station. Now, I finally have a car, and it is about 1:00. So I drive to the hotel, after a short stop for lunch. I thought I had checked into a La Quinta, but apparently I only looked at them because they had no reservations for me. On to the Days Inn.
"I'm sorry sir, check in time isn't until 3:00."
"Do you have a couch I can sleep on?"
"...?"
Let's just wait and see what happens on Wednesday.
12.01.2006
If I Was President
Well this is my presidential bid, and though I talk a lot about Iraq and Iran and other political things, most of that will be resolved by the time I get into office.
Today I'm going to give a little preview of some of the things that will be important to me, if I was president. Now, being that my run is 19 years away, most of these ideas are relatively unrefined, and some of them may seem more or less feasible as time moves on. Some may even become implemented before hand.
First, my list of priorities and why.
1.) Education. You cannot have a strong country without an intelligent work force. I do not agree with just passing someone through school to the point that people to this day are graduating high school with little ability to read. The American education system is a complete joke. I dropped out of High School and got my GED, and in the 5 years that I have been out of school I have learned more than my education from Junior High upward. (And in my last year of High School, I was in English III Honors, History Honors, and Gifted classes, all of which were complete jokes.) We have got to get an education system that is on par with European schools.
2.) Technology and Science development. It is extremely important that we get back on top of this list. I am a 100% patriot to America (the ideals), and there was a time when we were number one at everything, I want us to be number 1 again. With improvements in education, we will begin producing more intellectuals to help us in this field.
3.) Military. Though I may seem like a militant person, and this makes me seem even more so, I do not like war. I do not like the thought of little girls and boys going through the things that happen in war. It bothers me to think of our soldiers so far from home near the holidays, and it breaks my heart for the families who are spending their first Christmas knowing their loved ones are not coming back at all. But I believe a strong military is important, and I believe that a country needs a strong military to have a strong backbone in the international view. Time and time again we fight a war while playing catch up. We did it in WWII, and built a massive force. Then we let them all go and Korea popped up, and we had to start it all over again. We saw it happen in Iraq this time around, Clinton had shrunk our military and now they are really feeling the strain of it.
4.) Taxes. I think our tax system is far too complicated. This is an extreme point of view, but I believe in doing away with income taxes, and moving to everything on a sales tax basis. Yes, I know the cost of things would increase. But you would never have to file taxes again. There would never be the case of that person who never files income taxes and gets away with it for 10 years. It would also solve the problem of illegal immigrants never paying taxes, they would pay taxes every time they bought anything from a cup of coffee to a new car. With this I would also want to include a provision for people who make less than a certain amount to be exempt from these taxes, as in anyone in the poverty range. This could be accomplished by either keeping you receipts and mailing them in every quarter for a refund, or by some other means. I know that this is a very touchy subject and it has only recently been brought up to me, but initially I like it. It is one that will take a lot of work to make right, but if it did it would save money, time, and the government wouldn't be sitting on your money for a whole year while you couldn't do anything with it. Accountants would not be too happy with this one, as well as the rich people who set up tax shelters to avoid paying taxes.
But honestly, I don't want the rich people to vote me in, I don't want Chevron, or Time Warner to vote me in. I want the real people to vote me in. From under the poverty line to the upper middle class. If I anger that fraction of the country, I'm sorry, you have enough money to deal with some upsetting stuff, take a vacation and cool off. If it angers a millionaire, but makes a single working mom happy, I consider it a victory.
Other priorities would be:
*Speeding up the process in congress.
*Making people understand that the right to a speedy trial, as guaranteed, does not mean letting people stall you in court for 10 years because they have more expensive lawyers.
*I believe that a president should write his own speeches.
I would set up a team to find as many inefficiencies as they could in the government in six months time, and spend the next 3 and 1/2 (to 7 and 1/2) years fixing them. We have an incredibly inefficient government that wastes money by the truckload.
Another priority would be to talk and listen to the people. Not just the lawmakers, not the media, not the polls, but the people themselves. As the leader of a country you have to stay in touch with the people who gave you that power. That's why some lawmakers have Chevron on speed dial, and other special interest groups.
I know that people say "Well, this is what all politicians say! It's great until you get into office, then it all disappears!"
I agree, and that's why I am starting so early. Without using the normal politicians way of $1000 dollar dinners and fundraisers. I'll give you 19 years to get to know me and my intentions, using the internet, op-eds, and anything else I can find that will reach the common Joe and Jane Doe, Main Street America.
Another very important belief of mine is that a President should lead closer to the middle. At this point we spend 4-8 years going one direction, only to spend the next 4-8 years trying to go in a completely different direction and undo everything the previous Administration did. We need a leader who will lead the country, not just his side of it. 4 steps one way and 4 steps back just leads you to the beginning, with no real progress. A leader who knows how to compromise, and give the people what they want.
I know this means I just lost a ton of votes. The extremists of any side, whether it be religion, or partisanship, will not vote for me. My thought on that is if you have 20% hardcore conservatives and 20% hardcore 'liberals' that leaves 60% of the people who may side with one or the other, but are still close enough to the middle to see the good something like this would do for the country. As before how I have stated my hatred for labeling, I am not going to only worry about the Christian vote, or the White vote, or the Black vote. I appeal to the American voter. I believe that there are enough out there, whether you be any race creed or religion, who will see the good in this. This country should be lead by someone who represents the people who live there, not the upper 10%, but the majority.
Maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe it will work. I look forward to hearing all the feedback in the world to this, because as the countrymen I want to lead, you help shape my platform, not a company, not a lobby group, but the people who win the bread of this country and form its backbone.
I care about you all, because you all are, as was once said, "My Fellow Americans"
Today I'm going to give a little preview of some of the things that will be important to me, if I was president. Now, being that my run is 19 years away, most of these ideas are relatively unrefined, and some of them may seem more or less feasible as time moves on. Some may even become implemented before hand.
First, my list of priorities and why.
1.) Education. You cannot have a strong country without an intelligent work force. I do not agree with just passing someone through school to the point that people to this day are graduating high school with little ability to read. The American education system is a complete joke. I dropped out of High School and got my GED, and in the 5 years that I have been out of school I have learned more than my education from Junior High upward. (And in my last year of High School, I was in English III Honors, History Honors, and Gifted classes, all of which were complete jokes.) We have got to get an education system that is on par with European schools.
2.) Technology and Science development. It is extremely important that we get back on top of this list. I am a 100% patriot to America (the ideals), and there was a time when we were number one at everything, I want us to be number 1 again. With improvements in education, we will begin producing more intellectuals to help us in this field.
3.) Military. Though I may seem like a militant person, and this makes me seem even more so, I do not like war. I do not like the thought of little girls and boys going through the things that happen in war. It bothers me to think of our soldiers so far from home near the holidays, and it breaks my heart for the families who are spending their first Christmas knowing their loved ones are not coming back at all. But I believe a strong military is important, and I believe that a country needs a strong military to have a strong backbone in the international view. Time and time again we fight a war while playing catch up. We did it in WWII, and built a massive force. Then we let them all go and Korea popped up, and we had to start it all over again. We saw it happen in Iraq this time around, Clinton had shrunk our military and now they are really feeling the strain of it.
4.) Taxes. I think our tax system is far too complicated. This is an extreme point of view, but I believe in doing away with income taxes, and moving to everything on a sales tax basis. Yes, I know the cost of things would increase. But you would never have to file taxes again. There would never be the case of that person who never files income taxes and gets away with it for 10 years. It would also solve the problem of illegal immigrants never paying taxes, they would pay taxes every time they bought anything from a cup of coffee to a new car. With this I would also want to include a provision for people who make less than a certain amount to be exempt from these taxes, as in anyone in the poverty range. This could be accomplished by either keeping you receipts and mailing them in every quarter for a refund, or by some other means. I know that this is a very touchy subject and it has only recently been brought up to me, but initially I like it. It is one that will take a lot of work to make right, but if it did it would save money, time, and the government wouldn't be sitting on your money for a whole year while you couldn't do anything with it. Accountants would not be too happy with this one, as well as the rich people who set up tax shelters to avoid paying taxes.
But honestly, I don't want the rich people to vote me in, I don't want Chevron, or Time Warner to vote me in. I want the real people to vote me in. From under the poverty line to the upper middle class. If I anger that fraction of the country, I'm sorry, you have enough money to deal with some upsetting stuff, take a vacation and cool off. If it angers a millionaire, but makes a single working mom happy, I consider it a victory.
Other priorities would be:
*Speeding up the process in congress.
*Making people understand that the right to a speedy trial, as guaranteed, does not mean letting people stall you in court for 10 years because they have more expensive lawyers.
*I believe that a president should write his own speeches.
I would set up a team to find as many inefficiencies as they could in the government in six months time, and spend the next 3 and 1/2 (to 7 and 1/2) years fixing them. We have an incredibly inefficient government that wastes money by the truckload.
Another priority would be to talk and listen to the people. Not just the lawmakers, not the media, not the polls, but the people themselves. As the leader of a country you have to stay in touch with the people who gave you that power. That's why some lawmakers have Chevron on speed dial, and other special interest groups.
I know that people say "Well, this is what all politicians say! It's great until you get into office, then it all disappears!"
I agree, and that's why I am starting so early. Without using the normal politicians way of $1000 dollar dinners and fundraisers. I'll give you 19 years to get to know me and my intentions, using the internet, op-eds, and anything else I can find that will reach the common Joe and Jane Doe, Main Street America.
Another very important belief of mine is that a President should lead closer to the middle. At this point we spend 4-8 years going one direction, only to spend the next 4-8 years trying to go in a completely different direction and undo everything the previous Administration did. We need a leader who will lead the country, not just his side of it. 4 steps one way and 4 steps back just leads you to the beginning, with no real progress. A leader who knows how to compromise, and give the people what they want.
I know this means I just lost a ton of votes. The extremists of any side, whether it be religion, or partisanship, will not vote for me. My thought on that is if you have 20% hardcore conservatives and 20% hardcore 'liberals' that leaves 60% of the people who may side with one or the other, but are still close enough to the middle to see the good something like this would do for the country. As before how I have stated my hatred for labeling, I am not going to only worry about the Christian vote, or the White vote, or the Black vote. I appeal to the American voter. I believe that there are enough out there, whether you be any race creed or religion, who will see the good in this. This country should be lead by someone who represents the people who live there, not the upper 10%, but the majority.
Maybe it's just a pipe dream, or maybe it will work. I look forward to hearing all the feedback in the world to this, because as the countrymen I want to lead, you help shape my platform, not a company, not a lobby group, but the people who win the bread of this country and form its backbone.
I care about you all, because you all are, as was once said, "My Fellow Americans"
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