If I were elected to the highest office of the land, this would be my agenda:
o Enact a flat-rate tax system at 15%
o Reduce the size of government by half:
-- Eliminate most Federal social programs, allowing appropriate programs to be privatized.
-- Federal workforce: complete and total hiring freeze (military exempted) until the reduction in government size is realized. Openings in the Federal government may only be filled by existing employees. Due to bullet above, there should be a spectacular pool of employees to pick from. However, we will continue to keep employees on ½ pay while we work through next bullet.
-- Private sector needs to buy in that it will take time to filter Federal employees into gainful employment, develop (yes one) a new agency tasked with outplacing Federal employees (including, eventually, themselves).
o The government shall henceforth be prohibited to acquire any new monetary debt of any kind. Funding of our national defense shall take priority over all other considerations, followed by appropriate infrastructure.
o Atone to the Constitution: a blanket "lawsuit" brought before the Supreme Court to review all Federal laws, policies, and procedures for their constitutionality. Elimination of anything found not to be constitutional.
o Senators restricted to no more than 15 years in office, two terms plus the possibility of serving out 3 years of a term by appointment.
o House Representatives restricted to no more than 15 years in office, seven terms plus the possibility of serving out 1 year of a term by appointment.
o Energy: Aggressively pursue domestic oil, particularly in contested areas (such as offshore) before international entities such as China acquire and utilize it. The Federal Government shall no longer purchase any foreign sources of energy. All Federal restrictions on nuclear energy shall be removed.
o No bill voted on by either house of the Legislature may exceed the word count of the original, non-amended United States Constitution.
o Healthcare: tort reform, medical savings accounts, interstate insurance competition, income-adjusted disaster assistance program.
o Social Security: Phase out, replaced with matching funds, tax-incentive retirement programs. Income-adjusted disaster assistance program.
o Aviation: Individual airlines will no longer be restricted on security measures regarding who boards their airplanes or with what. They will, however, be held directly and exclusively responsible for damage to any property, private or public, done by one of their airplanes no matter what happened to cause said damage. Damage costs are immune to bankruptcy protection. Airlines based in other countries must have an in-country sponsor who will assume 75% responsibility for their partner's damage. International companies without these partners may have their planes escorted away from our airspace or shot down.
o Return to the gold standard with a new currency (the Bradbury?) Valuation of previous U.S. Dollars will be made and creditors will be issued the appropriate Bradburies instead. It may be necessary to negotiate an appropriate issuance with major creditors, should they wish to participate.
o Any country deemed to be a hotbed for our enemies, be they terrorist training grounds or outright enemies themselves, will be given six months written warning that unless that circumstance convincingly change, their territories will assume 2000+ degrees.
o Withdraw from the United Nations. Terminate their lease on any properties within the United States. Purchase, for fair market value, any properties within the United States owned by the United Nations. Seize any properties not sold to the United States after three years.
o Applications to become a state of the United States can be found on our state department website. Designers of the application will have five pages, front and back (I am generous) 8.5 x 11 inch paper restricted to 12 point font. Only serious applicants will be considered.
o Henceforth, after the completion of this reorganization and realignment, everything signed into law and/or ratified by the Congress must be reviewed 10 years to the day and voted upon for renewal or will expire. This includes all agencies, spending bills, laws, policies, motions, treaties, or any other business transacted by the Congress.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Sunday, December 06, 2009
Punks at the Bus Stop.
I have seen several boys reach the point in their lives where they want to be young men. There are many virtues in this time of life, many things to celebrate, and a great deal of life to look forward to.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a propensity to emulate those parts of manhood that they are discouraged or outright forbidden to express.
The reasons certain behavior are discouraged or forbidden are obvious. They are generally disrespectful, rude, or even dangerous to others (and to the man himself). We (most of us) tell our children not to drink, smoke, or do drugs. We tell them not to cuss, get ahead of themselves physically (whether by athletic or intimate standards), or to dress stupidly.
We do tell them to behave, strive, challenge themselves, be good at school (their pale imitation of work that is later to come), be smart with money, choose friends wisely, and to slow down and enjoy life instead of rushing to the expected climaxes.
Yet they are not treated as adults. For one simple, clear, reasonable, logical, and terribly frustrating (for youth) reason. They're not adults. They're going to be, and we have precious little time to teach them before they go out on their own and assume legal responsibility for themselves.
So while they try (with varying degrees of effort and success) to strive, be good, and all whatever else their nagging parents said (skating carefully past the more important things on the do and don't lists), they figure the missing link, the way to be a man (or an adult, for the "ladies" growing up now show more bold and shocking behavior than would have been expected before, and are losing their chance at blanket distinction) is to do those things we reserve for ourselves. That if they can master those things, they are adult.
Where in here do I condemn the behavior of adults? I don't. We're adults. It's tough to be an adult all the time, to work hard whether at a remote location or within the home we have. It's draining, effort-packed, often dreary work. There are few compensations. Many of which fall on the "adult" list. Adults need to cut loose once in a while in order to avoid being homicidal maniacs (and even then we don't always succeed, for details see the abysmal coverage on your news outlet of choice).
What youth refuses to understand (and adults must continue to strive to relate this point) is that those things on the "adult list" are earned, and that pursuing those things on the discouraged/forbidden list is much like any other indulgence: it must be paid for. We adults pay for those indulgences with our hard work, effort, and behavior.
Side note: this is one of the reasons we detest those adults who do not pay for their indulgences. Another post for another time.
We parents are not infallible. We often do under-reward youth. We must walk a careful line between protection and oppression and we often stomp confidently across it. We also cuss, drink, stay up late, eat the wrong foods, and watch or listen to the wrong entertainment. This is not good behavior and it does not mean we are adults, nor does it mean we are going to be treated like adults or considered adult by others. This is not the part to emulate. We also have money to spend on our toys, time to choose what we want to do, and partners with which to be intimate (hopefully). These are things we have earned and continue to pay for with our "blood, sweat, and tears".
Message to youth (though you may not be capable of comprehending it, I will continue to try): if you want the things we have, you must do the work we do. If you are not capable of doing the work, there is good reason you cannot have the things. Trying to take them out of turn will earn you the same kind of treatment we reserve for each other when things are taken out of turn. Also, don't emulate the worst in us and expect to be treated like the best of us.
Unfortunately, there seems to be a propensity to emulate those parts of manhood that they are discouraged or outright forbidden to express.
The reasons certain behavior are discouraged or forbidden are obvious. They are generally disrespectful, rude, or even dangerous to others (and to the man himself). We (most of us) tell our children not to drink, smoke, or do drugs. We tell them not to cuss, get ahead of themselves physically (whether by athletic or intimate standards), or to dress stupidly.
We do tell them to behave, strive, challenge themselves, be good at school (their pale imitation of work that is later to come), be smart with money, choose friends wisely, and to slow down and enjoy life instead of rushing to the expected climaxes.
Yet they are not treated as adults. For one simple, clear, reasonable, logical, and terribly frustrating (for youth) reason. They're not adults. They're going to be, and we have precious little time to teach them before they go out on their own and assume legal responsibility for themselves.
So while they try (with varying degrees of effort and success) to strive, be good, and all whatever else their nagging parents said (skating carefully past the more important things on the do and don't lists), they figure the missing link, the way to be a man (or an adult, for the "ladies" growing up now show more bold and shocking behavior than would have been expected before, and are losing their chance at blanket distinction) is to do those things we reserve for ourselves. That if they can master those things, they are adult.
Where in here do I condemn the behavior of adults? I don't. We're adults. It's tough to be an adult all the time, to work hard whether at a remote location or within the home we have. It's draining, effort-packed, often dreary work. There are few compensations. Many of which fall on the "adult" list. Adults need to cut loose once in a while in order to avoid being homicidal maniacs (and even then we don't always succeed, for details see the abysmal coverage on your news outlet of choice).
What youth refuses to understand (and adults must continue to strive to relate this point) is that those things on the "adult list" are earned, and that pursuing those things on the discouraged/forbidden list is much like any other indulgence: it must be paid for. We adults pay for those indulgences with our hard work, effort, and behavior.
Side note: this is one of the reasons we detest those adults who do not pay for their indulgences. Another post for another time.
We parents are not infallible. We often do under-reward youth. We must walk a careful line between protection and oppression and we often stomp confidently across it. We also cuss, drink, stay up late, eat the wrong foods, and watch or listen to the wrong entertainment. This is not good behavior and it does not mean we are adults, nor does it mean we are going to be treated like adults or considered adult by others. This is not the part to emulate. We also have money to spend on our toys, time to choose what we want to do, and partners with which to be intimate (hopefully). These are things we have earned and continue to pay for with our "blood, sweat, and tears".
Message to youth (though you may not be capable of comprehending it, I will continue to try): if you want the things we have, you must do the work we do. If you are not capable of doing the work, there is good reason you cannot have the things. Trying to take them out of turn will earn you the same kind of treatment we reserve for each other when things are taken out of turn. Also, don't emulate the worst in us and expect to be treated like the best of us.
Processed Pork Product
The bottom line is that we don't like spam because of its unsolicited intrusiveness. It has neither explicit nor implicit permission to be thrust before us, forcing us to determine whether it is indeed spam or not.
Here are some examples of explicit and implicit permission.
If we sign up for a newsletter, particularly from a store or outlet we enjoy, that has products we want, we have given explicit information for them to send us their advertising. We want it. We've asked for it.
Most of us (the vast, thinking majority) recognize that value must be given in return for effort. We want something from someone else, we must pay for it one way or another. Sometimes we perform work in return, sometimes we barter for something of value we have to offer, sometimes we pay in a representative currency. There are undercurrents here that explain the absence of a free lunch even when someone else is paying for it, and the disparity of our current tax system, but I shall draw myself back to the topic at hand:
We recognize advertising pays for something we don't want to pay for directly, such as a website with information we might not have paid for directly. News is important, or game clues, or clever sayings, whatever. However most websites and their information are not things we would sacrifice our money for directly perhaps by joining the site and paying for the information.
So, the website allows advertisers, hopefully people whose products we do think are worth paying for, spending our hard earned currency on, to use some of their space. This is implicit permission. We are actively going out and looking for something we recognize as "for free" with the understanding that what makes it free is the fact that someone else is paying for our potential attention. It may not be so much voluntary (though that is debatable, perhaps another time) because we are unlikely to find what we want without some sort of advertising attached, but it is implicit permission nonetheless.
Spam acquires neither of these permissions, but by aggressive tactics finds where it can thrust itself in front of us without our consent.
Here are some examples of explicit and implicit permission.
If we sign up for a newsletter, particularly from a store or outlet we enjoy, that has products we want, we have given explicit information for them to send us their advertising. We want it. We've asked for it.
Most of us (the vast, thinking majority) recognize that value must be given in return for effort. We want something from someone else, we must pay for it one way or another. Sometimes we perform work in return, sometimes we barter for something of value we have to offer, sometimes we pay in a representative currency. There are undercurrents here that explain the absence of a free lunch even when someone else is paying for it, and the disparity of our current tax system, but I shall draw myself back to the topic at hand:
We recognize advertising pays for something we don't want to pay for directly, such as a website with information we might not have paid for directly. News is important, or game clues, or clever sayings, whatever. However most websites and their information are not things we would sacrifice our money for directly perhaps by joining the site and paying for the information.
So, the website allows advertisers, hopefully people whose products we do think are worth paying for, spending our hard earned currency on, to use some of their space. This is implicit permission. We are actively going out and looking for something we recognize as "for free" with the understanding that what makes it free is the fact that someone else is paying for our potential attention. It may not be so much voluntary (though that is debatable, perhaps another time) because we are unlikely to find what we want without some sort of advertising attached, but it is implicit permission nonetheless.
Spam acquires neither of these permissions, but by aggressive tactics finds where it can thrust itself in front of us without our consent.
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