So I don’t have to blog it anymore on Face Book…
- Smaller government. Period.
- Term limits for politicians. No more careers in Washington.
- An unfettered Second Amendment.
- Controlled, legal immigration.
- Having the strongest military in the world.
1. Over government just submitted a budget for fiscal year 2015 for almost four trillion dollars. The president proudly proclaims that it is focused on creating jobs and narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor. (I know… two core responsibilities of the government.)
The budget accepts plainly that it projects a $564 billion deficit…if he gets the $651 billion tax increase he wants on the rich and if the economy recovers like his pixie dust says it will. If he doesn’t get that, but the budget is still passed, we’re looking at another $1.15 trillion dollar deficit for that year only. The interest on the debt alone–JUST THE INTEREST will be more than the defense budget ($496 billion) by 2020.
Oh, and that defense budget? It is roughly the same as last year but will fund 70,000 fewer Soldiers, fewer aircraft, lower housing allowances, but with higher health care co-pays. We’re carving out two (minimum) of our 10 active divisions and still have the same budget? Where are the savings?
Two thirds of this 3.9 trillion is Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. $2.6 trillion for just ONE YEAR for those three programs. Seriously? Our government has outgrown its usefulness and is now an obstacle.
2. Politicians: It has never been truer that you can tell when a politician is lying because his lips are moving. They ALL do. They say what they think you want to hear and then, once elected, do whatever their own warped ideology steers them to. None of them have the inclination to go for a term or two, make a small difference, make things a little better, and then go back to whatever small or family business they were doing before. Jefferson (I think) said we should be electing the unwilling among us.
Congress was supposed to be a service, not a career. There are people in Congress who have been there since I left high school and that is a long fucking time.
Think I’m making this up? The longest serving Congressman today, John Dingell has been serving continuously for over 58 years. That is longer than I have been alive. Looking at the list of longest serving, the top ten are all Democrats. 17 of the top 20 are Democrats. Charlie Rangel, that crook from New York: over 43 years. 71 of the top 100 longest serving are Democrats. That’s over 70%. These same clowns have been making our public policy since Gerald Ford was President. 15 of those 100 are STILL occupying office (since they stopped serving you long ago). How in touch can these people possible be with Main Street America? Right there is a well documented argument for term limits.
3. A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. Seems pretty simple but I’m not a constitutional law student. My interpretation says the federal government shall not have the ability to limit, control, or otherwise harness the right of the people to possess and brandish weapons. The amendment was put in place to provide for the security of the state against an over-reaching federal government. It does not specify and therefore cannot be implied that this means people who have guns have to be in “the militia”. It does not state that the weapons have to hold fewer than 10 rounds. It does not specify that it cannot possess a bayonet lug or have a folding stock. The Second Amendment is my justification by itself to be able to carry a concealed weapon.
4. Roy Beck did an amazing series of videos on immigration–legal immigration–and its impact on the American society, culture and resources. Here are the links. Spend 15 minutes watching them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfxRuY4EJ0A and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t976q6CeN8Q. Here is an updated version. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJGkbe2tisc
I’ll talk more on illegal immigration in another blog but these videos are a good foundation for realizing how our policy does not work and can never work. It will only hurt those we allow in and those who were born here.
5. The US military has saved countless millions from tyranny. In years past the threat of US military use has caused bad actors to change their course of action. The possibility of the US to use force was enough to stop mad men from carrying out their evil plans. I think our winning World War II by the method we used altered that. And I’m not saying we should not have bombed Japan. We did the right thing. But the horror from what we unleashed altered our psyche at the national leader level. We scared ourselves. I don’t think we would ever use them again (atomic weapons). But we had to have them and prove regularly that they worked on occasion to keep others in check.
Having the best military does not necessarily mean having the largest military. Look at North Korea. A million strong (active) and probably twice that (reserves) but they are still using artillery pieces from the 1950s. But we are a few more defense budget cuts away from giving away our military edge. A weak US military emboldens evil doers the world over.
I’ll do more on the military in another paper in the future. (Promise) I’m as tired and war weary as the next American. We spent our blood and treasure on a fool’s errand, and I was a part of it. I’m not agreeing with those idiots that cried “blood for oil” or “Bush lied, people died.” If it was blood for oil, why are we not swimming in Iraqi oil? Why did I have to pay $3.48 per gallon of gas today? But I do disagree with our current use of military power.
Our Soldiers (all branches) are not statesmen. We are not nation builders. Our primary function is to find, fix, and close with the enemy to kill them. We should invade, kill, destroy, then leave. No rebuilding, no peace keeping, no occupation. Our use of military power should be restrained until there truly is no other option, then unleashed without regard to world opinion about ruthlessness or brutality. When used, our military response should so shock the world as to cause recoil and awe.
In only this manner, will we begin to see fewer episodes of adventurism. If the bad guys truly believe that we can respond and will respond and that the end game includes their own personal death, they will start to think twice. Until we achieve that mindset in others, we will continue to lose our national treasure in wars of folly.