Friday, October 12, 2007

no '08 run


It's official. I have decided not to run for the office of the President of the United States of America in 2008. I made this decision for several reasons but not because I think I couldn't do a better job than the idiot who is doing it now. Say what you want about past presidents, both Democrats and Republicans alike but this fellow we have now is an absolute moron. Which is one of the reasons I was thinking of running. Because it seems that the back-to-back elections of George W. Bush proved a point. America's collective reasoning is at an all time low. Here's my chance, and the chance of anyone else who isn't really qualified to run a nation, to become "a leader" or as he puts it, "a decider" in charge of guiding the course of American events. I mean if the public could be convinced that this fool is capable of running our country, then all I need is several hundred million dollars and I too could be come decider of the free world!

And Al Gore wins the Noble Peace prize today. Don't get me wrong, Gore has done more to break our national sleepwalking stance towards global warming than anyone else in the world. But he didn't do anything about it while in office; not even an elevation of CAFE standards to say nothing of the hundreds of thousands of children who died as a result of his administration's sponsorship of Iraq sanctions. Never mind working off his extra pounds, do you know how many lifetimes it'll take to work off that karmic weight?

Even Jimmy Carter who seems to be telling it like it is these days was a former oil sympathizer. He did try, with what seemed like real conviction, to tell the American people in 1979 that we were headed for ruin if we continued to consume everything, including oil, with reckless abandon. But six months later he had changed his tune. The Carter Doctrine was born and now we kill for oil. It seems that those who lead us officially, even those of them who are bright, do an awfully bad job of it while in office. So I'm going to skip the official position and stay sane, keep my soul and try and help from the outside.

What is it about being President or holding any political office that makes that person into a stooge capable only of pointing us in the wrong direction? I would argue it's mostly money. When corporations sponsor elections in almost the same fashion that they sponsor NASCAR races then this is what we get. Not leaders- intelligent, thoughtful, communicative people helping to lead our country- but corporate clowns doing what is in the interest of big business first and attending our needs when they get around to it, if at all. How long the American people will put up with this depends on how long they are willing to sit in stupor amid a mix of infotainment and propaganda that makes most of them thoughtless. Or as my friend Jim says of the situation, "a government of the stupid, by the stupid, for the stupid." In other words we have gotten what we deserve.

But enough! you say. Offer a solution and stop your bitching. OK! I answer here you go. How to fix the US government. Solutions offered with he help of my aforementioned friend Jim,

Number One: Publicly Fund Elections. The right to free speech does not include the right to yell "Fire" in a crowed thearter. It also does not include the right to completely corrupt our system of government. Tax the riches 1% of Americans who own 35% of everything in this country to fund all federal elections. If you don't make several millions dollars a year you won't feel anything, except possibly freedom. Congressmen and women get $500,000 a piece to run elections. Senators get $1.5 million. For a grand total of about $1.5 billion. Or less than we spend in a week in Iraq. By the way that number includes enough money to fund a mandatory minimum of 4 candidates per office. No more "two" party crap.

Number Two: No Incumbents. One term and then you run for a different office or become a private citizen again but once you've held an office you can not hold it again. No time for you to catch the D.C. disease of corruption.

Number Three: Public Housing For Representatives. If you get elected you serve like our soldiers do. You go to Washington and live in barracks with your fellow representatives. You go home 4 times a year to hear from your constituents but otherwise you serve like the men and women of our armed services. You take your meals with your fellow representatives and you bunk with everybody; Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Number Four: Spend What You Collect. Make it illegal to run a national budget deficeit. Representatives set our budget and then they adjust taxation to meet the budget. If representatives spend money, we pay for it and then we vote on better representatives if we don't like what they did. None of this 'taxing our kids' crap. We handle our national budget like a responsible family runs its own budget.

Number Five: Abolish All Income Taxation. Instead tax consumption. Exclude basics like housing and food but if you buy anything more expensive you pay more in taxes. If you save your money you don't.

Number Six: Dissolve the Federal Reserve: Put the US government back in charge of its money. No more debit creation as a way to make more money. Further support local currencies and a gift economy instead of one where the people creating items of value get poorer while the people printing money get richer.

Number Seven: Severely Restrict Corporations: Corporations aren't people. They have no souls, no conscience and no loyalty to humanity. They serve one purpose first and foremost- to make money. This usually happens at the expensive of all but a slim majority of the population. If a group of people wants to pool resources to build a bridge, fine, let them incorporate to do so. If a handful of corporations want to take over the vast majority of the agricultural industry then no, they should not be allowed.

That's it. Seven steps to a more democratic and fair republic. Hell the first three would go a great distance towards recapturing this country from those who would profit until its destruction. I'm sure there's more that could be done but maybe if we could accomplish these modest goals we could get leaders who didn't suck until they left office. We might create a system where they could offer real leadership while still in charge.

5 comments:

Matt said...

Sounds good to me! Did you make your plea for a consumption tax because of the Fair Tax initiative? Or did you come up with that on your own?

I think one term might be too short. I was thinking 1 term in the Senate and 3 in the House, to make their time equal, but you can't one position and then the other, as most do now.

Anonymous said...

While many who are invested in the current income tax system seek to demagog the well-researched FairTax plan, FairTax's theoretical underpinnings have been professionally reviewed, and its acceptance in the professional / academic community continues to grow.

Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown, because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible. Tom Frey, of the DiVinci Institute, foresees the coming collapse of the income tax system.

Here is why the FairTax MUST replace the income tax. It's:

• SIMPLE, easy to understand
• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
• FAIR, loophole free and everyone pays their share
• LOW TAX RATE, achieved by broad base with no exclusions
• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible
• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
• PRODUCTIVE, rewards, rather than penalizes, work and productivity


Its benefits are as follows:

For INDIVIDUALS:
• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish
• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions
• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"
• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices by 20%-30%
• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
• Every household receives a monthly check, or "pre-bate"
• "Prebate" is "advance payback" for taxes payable on monthly consumption to poverty level
• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection
• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry
• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates


For BUSINESSES:
• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"
• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices
• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S
• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers
• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes
• Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition
• US exports increase their share of foreign markets


For the COUNTRY:
• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
• Jobs return to the U.S.
• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.
• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"
• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"
• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases
• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business
• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow


It's well past time to scrap the tax code and pay for government the way that America's working men and women are paid - when something is sold.


(Permission is granted to reproduce in whole or part. - Ian)

nulinegvgv said...

i am aware of the fair tax idea matt but thanks for thinking me so clever as to have come up with it on my own.

jewishfarmer said...

You know, if it weren't for Stephen Colbert running, I'd have to write you in, Aaron ;-).

Sharon

Anonymous said...

running shmunning.... sigh

too late

nobody can be running on a platform like this

if you are an incredible liar and actor - spend 30 years screwing everyone to get to the top - get elected by the money

then ... once president - enact this

but wait - there is congress, senate, lobby, "checks and balances"

and if even that does not stop you - some lonesome sniper with a warehouse job certainly will

isn't that how Roosevelt died
LOL (in a sad tone)