Political Joke

With the elections fast coming up I thought that I would give my view on some of the baggage we have acquired in our political model.  I think our fore fathers had quite a few good ideas and somewhere along the way we have lost the plot.  I know it is not just me and a lot of people don't say it out loud but sometimes we vote for a person because there is no one else on the ballot that is as bad in out opinion, not because we think this is the guy that is going to take America forward but the others will do even a worse job.  The best of two evils really.  Now the first thing I have to talk about when we talk about anything political, if you did not vote, shut the f%#* up.  This is the most basic right that we have.  This is what led to the American Revolution, it is the first and most important freedom we posses.  The Constitution gives us rights, but not until the Constitution was voted for was it passed and recognized.  Do you realize that less than half of the population voted in the last election?  How can you not vote for the people that represent your interests, your interest in War, your interest in Finance, your interest in Human Rights.  Brief lesson on how are system works, we do not vote on everything directly so we elect people that we feel will represent our opinion.  Voting is a very selfish act and that is all right because it is your vote.  You vote for someone according to what you think is important, not what someone else thinks is important.  If you feel the most important thing in America right now is the color of the flag and you think we have it all wrong well then vote for someone who wants to change the colors to green yellow and purple, because if you dont vote then it will not happen, and if you don't vote and the colors stay the same, then you need to shut the f%&* up.  

Now that I got that out of the way let me tell you a few things that I feel are pretty important.  Let me find a candidate that is willing to reform a politicians pay packet.  I will say that I do not have a problem with the amount they make but I do expect them to earn it.  I do have a problem with them making that same amount of money for the rest of their lives even after serving only one term.  I have heard a few state they are willing to work under reduced pay, if you want to impress me tell me you will throw out the pension, tell me that you want to revise the pension and compensation for the entire legislative, judicial, and executive branches.  

Big business has entirely too much to say in our political process.  Lobbying, c'mon what good can come out of that.  I think that any politician that entertains a lobbyist is opening himself up to corruption.  Our process, as I stated earlier, is that we (the People) elect so that we have someone that will represent us and vote in our proxy on important issues.  I would like to state the obvious (obviously not to our judicial branch though because of corporate personhood, which I will talk about in a second) a business is not a breathing, feeling, entity.  They do not get a vote and they do not get to influence the people we put in to represent us.  Lobbying needs to be outlawed completely and quickly.  What is up with corporate personhood.  I not only don't believe that business should be recognized as a person but I disagree with the reason also.  This need to be thrown out with lobbying quickly and without hesitation.  We have lost the plot, it is not "We the people and businesses" together in perfect harmony.

We have to stop trying to be the police of the world, it is not our job.  We need to take a step back and reflect.  There was a time that being an American was revelled and would leave people in awe.  If we got involved in another country it was a last resort.  We did not send out our troops lightly.  If we did the world took it that there was something terribly amiss.  When we sent our boys out it was so highly supported that most of the population wanted to go to, there was something so wrong that the entire nation thought it best that we got involved and the entire nation was willing to put on a uniform and fight.  I do want to separate something here, for our military to work a soldier has to follow orders, they don't get to decide what battles they like or dis like, they don't get to decide which wars are just and which ones are not.  A soldier has to have faith that the civilian community has made the decision to go to war because it is what needs to be done. A soldier does have the right of opinion, but not the right of decision.  I was a soldier for 20 years and I still believe this.  But I believe it is now time we take a step back and re evaluate our foreign policy.

Our forefathers said some pretty deep stuff that has proven to pass the test of time.  Some of it you would think was said yesterday.  Here are some to think about.

"If ever time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin."
Samuel Adams

"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security."
Benjamin Franklin

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote!"
Benjamin Franklin

"Now more than ever before, the people are responsible for the character of their Congress. If that body be ignorant, reckless and corrupt, it is because the people tolerate ignorance, recklessness and corruption. If it be intelligent, brave and pure, it is because the people demand these high qualities to represent them in the national legislature.... If the next centennial does not find us a great nation ... it will be because those who represent the enterprise, the culture, and the morality of the nation do not aid in controlling the political forces."
James Garfield, the twentieth president of the United States, 1877

"The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."
Patrick Henry, American colonial revolutionary

"The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers."
Thomas Jefferson

"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

I find it amazing how so many of these quotes could be written yesterday.  I will have to say that my list of important things is not all inclusive but it is some things that need to be addressed and I have to say it "There I said it".