The Rebellion against the Evil Galactic Empire

Well Folks, More and more of the old republic is being swept away. This is not about democrats and republicans either. I look to the elephants and the asses and there is nary a difference. Maybe they are all asses with long memories for perceived slights and selective amnesia where history is concerned. Regardless, the more the federal government does, the less responsive it is to the voters. We do not matter. We have been divided and conquered. Unfortunately, many people vote on the basis of a single issue. Many times, the vote is cast based on personality, looks, or for some other superficial reason.

There is nothing wrong with capitalism, individual liberty, or individual responsibility. These things always work without fail. They are immutable. It is when government meddles with these things that they falter. I am trying to decide now whether I need to defend the statement I just made. I don't think I will right now. If you are intellectually honest, you will see these things for yourself. If you are deluded in any way, then I don't know that anything I write can help you.

Now::

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

The above is excerpted from the Declaration of Independence. To attempt to do as it says will brand you a traitor to the government of the United States of America. What I wonder is are we at the point where this is all that is left to us? I truly hope not. To avoid a rebellion and bloodshed at some future point whether near or far, the following things must happen. I will list the very basics and then go into detail.

The Basics.
1 - Change the political system so that it stops rewarding behavior by the elected members of the government that is detrimental to the health of the country
2 - Realize and effect changes that remove governmental responsibility for individuals.
3 - Realize and effect changes that will require a minimal knowledge of the candidates stands on the issues before allowing a vote.
4 - Realize and effect changes that shift most of the power back to the state and local governments.
5 - Realize and effect changes to the tax system that eliminate the IRS and enforce fiscal responsibility upon the government.

I imagine I can come up with more, but what we have is a good beginning.
Now, the details.

1) Currently, our politicians are controlled by special interest groups. You may be a member of one or more of those groups. How responsive is the leadership of that group to you? How much do you depend upon others to form your opinions for you? Our political leadership tends to be organized into parties. Over time, these parties are so polarized that if a congressman agrees with 7 out of 10 positions established by the party, he is ostracized by the party as not being a true democrat/republican/martian/etc. I propose eliminating ALL group funding of candidates. The elected officials are elected to serve 'We the People' not any group entity. I propose eliminating political parties as recognized entities within our political system. The elected officials are to serve 'We the People' and not any political party. The current system of political parties and special interest groups tends to use human nature in such a way as to damage our country. Donations and gifts, legal and illegal, pour in to the individual members of congress making them beholden not to us as individuals but to them as groups. Another interesting thing that goes on is in the forming of legislation. A proposed bill does not have to be about a single thing. In other words, a bill can have multiple things in it. Lets say that there is a proposed bill to restrict smoking in workplaces. Within that bill may be wording that will also allocate money for a park in Utah. Also within that bill is wording that will allow certain types of wire tapping without a warrant. This proposed bill is the 'Clean Workplace Air Act.' That title gives no clue as to the park in Utah or the wiretapping does it. This 'bundling' of acts is bad in multiple ways. The legislative process loses transparency. Legislators can claim to dislike the bill and yet vote for it or vice versa because of myriad things in it, and no legislator is pinned down on his real positions on the issues. I propose that the legislature not be able to bundle proposals under a single bill. This will have the effects on the process of transparency and accountability.

2) Currently, the federal government is taking more responsibility for your own well being than it ever has in the past. It wishes to do even more. Question the motivation. I am sure there are many who mean well. But heed me when I say this!! ANY piece of legislation will eventually be perverted to it's worst possible usage. (I can demonstrate this quite easily. Take the separation of church and state. It was placed into existence to prevent our government from saying ,"All American citizens must belong to and practice religion X." It has been twisted to mean no government employee is allowed to express any religious view or tendency while on government property or while conducting government business. Those government employees are United States citizens with rights regarding freedom of expression. If a judge wants the 10 commandments hung in his courtroom, I don't see the problem as long as a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, or Scientology judge can hang their own versions. I won't get offended. The presence of such an artifact does not constitute the establishment of a religion by government. Now if I am a Muslim and the judge uses that against me, then there is an issue.) Government now taxes us heavily to provide education and retirement benefits. It wants to tax us further to provide medical care. It wants to bail our entities out when they make bad business decisions. These are all noble minded things. The problems with these things are legion. 1 - They diminish peoples Independence and make us rely on government. 2 - They can be used to coerce and virtually enslave. Unfortunately, Social Security and government schools are already here and to eliminate it all would be very painful because these things have already brought fundamental changes to our society that are almost impossible to reverse. The way to get around this is to force government to privatize education and social security, but maintain certain oversights. Give the individual the ability to direct the tax dollars for his social security and his children's education. The government's oversight on schools should not take into fact any sort of ideology, but only objective standards. Math, Literacy, Objective History, and Objective Science. Ideology should be left out of schools and taught in the homes. Social Security is more problematical. The issue is that the money you pay in is in no way related to that which you will receive. The fact is that any private business that operates in the way that Social Security operates would have it's owners brought up on fraud charges. What is going to have to happen is the age for getting benefits is going to have to slide up in the same way that lifespans have increased. When the average age of death was 61, a 65 year qualification was logical. If the average lifespan is now approaching 80, the entrance age for full benefits needs to slide on up to about 75 - 80. Another component of this mess is with the government policies on illegal aliens. I propose that in order to be born a US citizen, your parents must be US citizens at the time of your birth. I propose that Social Security and Medicare benefits only be available to US Citizens. The illegal alien population places an enormous strain upon our infrastructure. I realize that our businesses need them for jobs that the average US citizen won't do, but there is no reason why these people cannot be here legally via work visa. Currently, our government is selling our great grandchildren into slavery to finance massive bailouts of companies that have made poor decisions. Many of these poor decisions were encouraged by government. I propose this - let businesses succeed or fail on their merits. Government should have no role in selling or marketing a product.

3) Currently, I can vote in an election without knowing a thing about the candidates or their positions on the issues. I would be voting on charisma or looks or some such superficial thing. As others have pointed out, THERE IS NO RIGHT TO VOTE IN A FEDERAL ELECTION. I propose this solution. There should be a quiz given at the polling place about each candidate and each piece of legislation on the ballot. You can vote in any section in which you score a grade of 80 out of a 100. If you fail a section and want to vote, you can review a summary on that section that details the candidate and their positions or details the proposed legislation. You may then retake the test on that section. If you pass with a grade of 85 out of a 100, you may then vote on that section. It is a great responsibility to vote. You should know who and what you are voting for and why.

4) The framers of our government intended the federal government to provide for a common defense, a court system to arbitrate issues between states and of constitutional legality, and perhaps be in charge of certain infrastructure that is too big in scale for the states to handle. All other things were to be given to the states and local governments. Why was this?? Local governments tend to be more responsive to the electorate. Instead, the federal government has taken more and more unto itself and responds poorly to the electorate. I propose that most powers be reverted back to state and local governments where our voices are much louder.

5) Our tax code is obscene. No one person can know it in it's entirety. Many parts of it are open to interpretation. It is so complex that even the agents of the IRS often cannot state what it all means with any certainty. Let us realize the following truths. 1) - Corporations and collective entities do not pay taxes. Only individuals pay taxes. Any 'Corporate Taxes' are passed along to you the individual in the sale price of the product in question. 2) - Our tax system is progressive. This means that the more successful you are, the more you pay - not only in absolute terms but also in proportions. I believe in an absolute flat sales tax on goods sold to the end user. Yes every one of us would pay 20%, 30% etc. on everything we buy. It seems awful doesn't it?? I got news for you. You are already paying it. Half of it is already embedded into the price of the goods you buy. If the Corporate taxes and the taxes on goods between businesses are removed, then the prices will fall to reflect the savings. A tax on consumption is the only truly fair tax. If the millionaire consumes much more than the person making 30K a year, he will be taxed on that consumption. If this consumption(sales) tax is enacted and the rest of the income and embedded taxes are eliminated, then the IRS can be virtually eliminated. This will also have the effect of eliminating sneaky tax increases.
If the federal government is reverted back to the limited role that was envisioned by the framers, then it's budget needs shrink tremendously. In any case, the fact that we pay over half our income to the federal, state, and local governments is obscene to say the least.


There are many more things to address. A few of these things are government intrusion into matters of individual morality, trade policies that put our industries at a disadvantage, and a legal system that punishes beliefs instead of or in addition to actions among it's other faults.