In response to We Are Lost II By Gerry Fern, a recently posted post, I say you dems are not lost, you simply need to quit being so angry and hateful!
The answer to your problems is not to piss away energy and valuable hot air trying to impeach GW but to forge ahead with a positive agenda for the country, and by that I don’t mean socialism, such as the govt take over of medicine (though I quickly admit, it needs improvement).
So what exactly do I mean? I’ve said it before and here ‘tis again, a few of my suggestions:
- Eliminate the oil depletion allowance tax credit.
The alternative fuels, biodiesel and ethanol, have strongly emerged onto the market, eliminating the need for an oil company tax break. Biodiesel production, for example, has grown from 500,000 gallons in 1999, to over 250,000,000 gallons in 2006 and will at least triple that in 2007. You democrats could actually make more money available to govt if you did this!
- Get all troops out of countries where they are not needed, such as Japan, Germany and especially France.
Attention federal government! World War Two is over!
- Require television stations to run campaign ads free of charge.
For decades, television stations have been required by the FCC to feature news and weather programming “in the public interest.” The same treatment for television campaign ads would take away a great deal of the need for candidates to raise such massive amounts of money.
- Eliminate agriculture subsidies.
With the additional product market provided by biodiesel and ethanol, farmers have no need to be paid not to grow produce.
- Explore the idea of a national initiative process.
Perhaps certain problems should be addressed by the voters directly because Congress is politically afraid.
- Require all foreign language television programming in this country to have English subtitles.
This is an English speaking country.
- Demand that the Fed return to a non-inflating currency. Period.
Economists are intimidating. But they have also failed. Our inflation over the last 80 years is embarrassing, costly, unnecessary. Only the federal govt benefits from inflation. You dems could stoutly and loudly defend the poor, the hardest hit by inflation by demanding the Fed to return to sound currency. It would be a glorious day for all of you, champions of the underprivileged!
Explore the idea of a national sales tax, completely eliminating the individual federal income tax.
This ties taxes to the economy giving government incentive to come up with excellent economic policy and all because of you! The repubs can’t do it alone.
Grim, I’m on board for most of your proposals, except these:
“you simply need to quit being so angry and hateful!”
I mostly just laugh at the right these days, although a couple of twisted dimwits like Bush and Cheney ruining the Constitution and getting our kids killed overseas tends to raise my hackles. If the Founders had taken your advice, there wouldn’t be any Constitution or United States.
“and by that I don’t mean socialism, such as the govt take over of medicine (though I quickly admit, it needs improvement).”
Call it what you want, I have had intimate encounters with the disastrous US health care system, and have read and heard at length about the ‘socialized’ systems in Canada and Europe from people who have actually used them. Once you get past the self-serving HMO, Big Pharma and AMA propaganda, you begin to see that ‘socialized’ single-payer universal health coverage for every citizen works much better than anything else anyone has come up with, and it’s cheaper. You may shuder at the idea of some government bureaucrat deciding on your health care, but it doesn’t work in practice that way, and we can always vote in people to change it. If you were a patient/victim of our bizarre for-profit health care system, you’d shudder more at the notion that someone you’ve never met and can’t vote out has control over whether you receive treatment or not and, God forbid, if you ever have any long-term illness, you would be at the mercy of these cruel little despots, cutting your insurance just when you need it most. I actually asked people at parties (makes me so popular) with private health insurance what they think about our system; 4 out of 5 can recite nightmares that would make you vomit, which I only hope isn’t the symptom of something more serious, if you’re depending on US doctors and their HMO overseers to cure you. Our system is run not for the health of the patient, but the profits of the health care companies and the doctors and hospitals. How obscene and criminal would come home to you if you’ve ever watched one of your family deteriorate because they couldn’t afford their drugs, no company would insure them, and they couldn’t get Medicaid.
“- Require all foreign language television programming in this country to have English subtitles.
This is an English speaking country.”
Please. This is not a big deal, and most foreign language programs already have English subtitles.
“- Demand that the Fed return to a non-inflating currency. Period.
Economists are intimidating. But they have also failed. Our inflation over the last 80 years is embarrassing, costly, unnecessary. Only the federal govt benefits from inflation. You dems could stoutly and loudly defend the poor, the hardest hit by inflation by demanding the Fed to return to sound currency. It would be a glorious day for all of you, champions of the underprivileged!”
As I posted in another thread, this would require a return to the gold and silver standard and that’s not gonna happen — we don’t have enough gold and silver to cover our Federal Reserve Notes.
“Explore the idea of a national sales tax, completely eliminating the individual federal income tax.”
I’m all for getting rid of the income tax, and imposing more tariffs and higher taxes on coporations. A national sales tax is fine, as long as it is done fairly (i.e.: a higher tax on luxuries, and lower or no tax on necessities.)
“This ties taxes to the economy giving government incentive to come up with excellent economic policy and all because of you! The repubs can’t do it alone.”
Come on, Grim — the Republicans aren’t even trying.
Comment by RS Janes — November 12, 2007 @ 7:27 pm
Dear RS, thanks for the thoughtful response. However, I don’t understand how ‘my advice’ would prevent a Constitution.
I certainly agree that our healthcare is bad, but the federal govt has proved itself incompetant, uncaring, wasteful, dishonest, and all the other things HMO’s are.
I say, first of all, to consider making hospitals not-for-profit. Here in the Holy State Of California, we have Kaiser which is non-profit. I’ve had excellent luck with them.
Secondly, I’d like to see the health care issue cut into smaller pieces and then approached for ideas.
again, thanks for your excellent response.
Sincerely, Grimmy
Comment by grimgold — November 13, 2007 @ 10:29 am