Drug Addicts, Alcoholics And Voters

The majority of the American voters behave exactly like drug addicts or alcoholics.

Republicans and Democrats (we) have all but destroyed the America my generation grew up in.

The manufacturing base is gone, jobs are gone, benefits are gone, the middle class standard of living has been in steady decline for decades. More people are on food stamps and welfare today than ever before and the rate is spiraling out of control.

Presidents who have sworn an oath to enforce our laws openly declare in signing statements and political rhetoric that they will not enforce laws they don’t like…and Congress, the Supreme Court and the “news” media? Asleep at the wheel. Presidents start undeclared wars and no one bats an eye anymore. Presidents have American citizens killed without trail or due process and no one says a word. The President can now tap all of our communications and have our homes searched without a warrant. The President can now have you and I detained indefinitely (IE forever) without trial. The king…I mean the President can shut down television, radio and the Internet any time he declares a national emergency. Congress, the Supreme Court and the “news” media never do a thing to stop it. Worse than that….we the people don’t either.

Free markets are gone. The dollar has lost more than 95% of its value since Congress let the Federal Reserve “protect” its value. The 16 trillion dollar national debt will never be paid off in our lifetime and we keep running it up 1.5 trillion a year. Bankers and insurance companies gamble with our savings, retirement accounts even the value of our homes. When their gambles pay off they keep the profits. When their bets fail the American people cover their losses. We are told by Republicans and Democrats that we have to bail them out, they’re too big to fail. Former employees and lobbyists of these banks fill the Executive administration and the halls of Congress. The Federal Reserve secretly gives untold trillions of our dollars to foreign banks. And the President, Congress, the Supreme Court and the “news” media, like us, don’t lift a finger to stop it. We just keep voting for the Republicans and Democrats who make all this happen year after year.

All of this and dozens of more things I (You) could list are the direct result of the pervasive corruption in both the Democrat and Republican parties.

And yet we continue to vote them into power. Like an alcoholic reaching for another drink or a junkie picking up his needle and spoon we embrace what destroys us.

And when I vote independent, somehow I’m supposed to understand that I’m the one wasting my vote?

I’ll drink to that.

The National Debt Train Wreck

Below is a letter I sent to my congressional representative, Diane Black.

Dear Representative Black,

I share your concerns over the mounting national debt as most Americans do…finally. I have been voicing this concern to my representatives for over 15 years. For over 15 years I have been telling everyone I know there is a national debt train wreck coming and “we” are responsible for it. The electorate is ultimately responsible because we have spent the currency of our citizenship (our vote) very poorly for decades; naively clinging to what divides us rather than embracing what unites us. Our representatives, with few exceptions, are responsible because they are blinded by party loyalty, ambition or greed.

There is only one solution to our debt crisis and it is a very simple idea; a balanced budget amendment. Recent history has proven that nothing short of the iron-clad force of law will stop the insanity of spending beyond our means. Passage of a balanced budget amendment will be difficult. Difficult because most of our elected representatives remain, for reasons stated above, blind. Balancing the federal budget will require deep cuts in Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security reforms; stop using it as a congressional slush fund. Republicans are quick to mention the necessity for social spending cuts but sightless to the reality of unsustainable levels in military spending.

Democrats rigorously defend out-of-control domestic spending while Republicans rigorously defend out-of-control military spending. I favor deep cuts in both as I believe most Americans do. I resent the snares of contentious rhetoric from both parties intended to aimlessly divide the American people.

The GOP must have a budget plan that includes deep cuts in military spending to reduce the national debt and gain credibility with the American people. Sadly, most of us have learned to listen for what politicians are not saying in our search for the truth. Paul Ryan’s budget is lukewarm. As written it will not balance the federal budget for 26 years and contains no significant defense spending cuts.

We can’t afford the wars we are currently engaged in. More importantly we cannot afford the ideology and policies that drag the United States into these conflicts. Most politicians today ignore the prophetic warnings to stay out of foreign entanglements and wars from our founding fathers and more recently, Dwight D. Eisenhower. A sound defense policy requires we maintain the strongest military in the world with a 20-40 year technological advantage over other nations. We can accomplish this for a fraction of our current defense budget.

The policy of borrowing billions of dollars from other countries while spending billions of dollars to provide security for other countries has to end; this is a case study in fiscal insanity.  

The neo-conservative ideology that assumes we should and can shove democracy down the throats of other nations is unconstitutional and financially unsustainable. It leads to mission creep as we have seen in Afghanistan and blatant military adventurism in places like Iraq and now Libya.

The Bush doctrine of preeminent war is also unconstitutional and in my view, immoral. I remember watching an estimated one million Iranian citizens on television flooding the streets of Tehran in a demonstration of genuine compassion for and solidarity with the American people after the 911 attacks. George Bush’s administration along with the 107^th congress destroyed this historic opportunity to build a lasting friendship with most of the Arab people in the world overnight with the invasion of Iraq. We will never know what fruit that friendship could have produced in the ashes of a war we started for reasons that never existed.

It’s very fashionable this political season to say one’s motives are rooted in a genuine concern for the country we will leave to our grandchildren. It’s a little hard to believe when it comes from politicians that spend more time seeking campaign contributions than they do representing the American people. Their words are hollow and promises empty.

Our great country will not survive the partisan politics that has created a 14 trillion dollar national debt. I will be praying for you and our country.

Respectfully,

Paul Stewart

How'd We Get Here?

President Clinton was a good president; I used to think so too.

President Clinton signed two pieces of legislation into law that would become the root cause of the housing market collapse and the economic crisis in 2008; the Gramm–Leach-Bliley Act (aka Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999) and the expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act. No news organization or media outlet I am aware of is currently connecting the dots between both of these legislative events and the fallout in 2008. Some news/media outlets will point to one of these two events. Not surprisingly left leaning news organizations point to the Gramm–Leach-Bliley Act and right leaning news organizations point to the Community Reinvestment Act. But no mainstream news media organization possess the integrity to cite both as root causes of the 2008 economic crisis and subsequent recession.

President Clinton is still revered as a great president on the economic front due to a fiscal surplus during his tenure and being the first president to actually make a payment on the national debt since Eisenhower. By themselves these two achievements are noteworthy and if the subject is quickly changed it is easy to assume that Clinton was a very good president in his handling of the economy. However, when the future impact of the Gramm–Leach-Bliley Act and the expansion of the Community Reinvestment Act are fully considered this is comparable to elevating the arsonist to the position of Fire Chief. These two pieces of legislation set the wheels in motion that would all but destroy the housing market and cause the greatest recession in more than 75 years. Because the damage would not be felt for 9 years, Clinton is given a pass by the short sighted mainstream media.

IE: it’s ok to shoot somebody as long as the bullet takes 10 years to get there.

Sources:

Gramm–Leach-Bliley Act

Community Reinvestment Act