G
Guest
Guest
so I figured I would be the entire thing up. This is the full body of the blog I referred to in the drunk driving and immigration threads:
My inbox has been quite full in the past couple of weeks because of my recent blogs. I am by no means an extremist, racist or any other ist label you would like to throw on me. What I am in someone who believes that frank, honest discussion and debate about issues that are important to society needs to happen. Take out the politics and deal in the hard truths and facts of the matter.
In that spirit, and in response to some of the messages I have received, I will offer you my views on some of the nations current problems, some small, and some major. I would than ask each of you comment and get a frank honest discussion about these issues going. Tell your friends about this blog and let everyone know that it is open to any comments, as long as they are civil and done in a way as to not attack anyone else personally.
Immigration. My views on this have been laid out many times before in other blogs, so I will condense them down here. I believe we are fighting a two front immigration war, and as good war historian knows, a two front war normally spells disaster. We have the internal battle which is burning within our borders, and then we have the battle of the borders themselves. My personal opinion is simple. Lock down the borders first. The only way to win the battle within the country is to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from coming. If we make it so hard for them to get in, they will stop trying. I am totally for a zero admittance policy, just to get the situation under control. Yes, I know, I hear it all the time: "We all come from immigrants." My response: just because it worked in the past does not mean it works today. Just ask an African-American if they would like to hit the rewind button 150 years back. Once the borders are sealed up, if you are an illegal who is caught in the country, do not pass go, do not collect $200, you are out, period. I don't care if you have a family here, kids here or anything else, they can go back with you. This "we are a country build on immigrants" crap has to stop. You are also put on a government list which denies you access back into the country, even if you try it by legal means. Sorry, you had your chance, and the first act you did when you got here was break a law.
Violent crime / drugs. I think you have to lump these two issues together, because I think they are so interwoven. Gangs control most of the drug trade in this country, as well as most of the illegal guns being used in the violent crimes as well. I want to point out, this is not a race issue. Whites do commit violent crimes and sell drugs and are gang members too. I think you have to look at the top. The dealers are where law enforcement needs to concentrate the effort. Yes, that is easier said than done, but it needs to be done. The first step is mandatory 20 year prison with no possible parole for anyone convicted of dealing. There are no exceptions, no please, nothing. The only way to make a statement and to make things change is to come down hard on people (see the new NFL personal conduct policy as an example). And I am not just talking about the hard drugs (crack, heroin, cocaine) but also the "casual use" drugs (weed, E, meth). You deal and you are done. What about the user you may ask? 2 years away, bye bye. I have no tolerance for people who break the law knowingly. I am not one of these "put them in rehab and their life will change" people. Lock them up, let them rot away in prison for a but, then their life will change. The hippie years are over, and its time to move on.
Drunk Driving. Anyone who has known me since high school knows where my views on drunk driving come from. I believe that alcohol (along with cigarettes) should be outlawed. But I am also a realist, and know that will never happen. So my solution for drunk driving: First offense – you car (or the car you are driving at the time) is impounded by the police and sold at auction to help pay for increased police in the area, your license is suspended for 5 years and you are required to attended AA meetings. Second offense: 10 year prison term with no parole.
Abortion. This one will be short and sweet. I am completely anti-abortion unless it is in a situation where the mothers life is in danger.
Education. Oh, all you teachers out there, get ready to yell (sorry Kate), but I think one of the biggest problems with the educational system in this country is the teachers union. Now, for full disclosure, I will let you know that my ex wife is a teacher, as was her mom, so before you give me the "we do things after school" speech, I know. I know you have to grade papers and stay for meetings and all the other things that go along with being a teacher. And I also know about the continuing education you have to do, the classes you have to take in the summer and the others things that go into the profession. And you know what my response to that is: so what? To advance or be good at any other profession, you have to do the same thing. Any job with responsibility will require you to do things outside of your "normal working hours" without pay. But you know what those jobs don't have? They don't have 2 months off a year, they don't have a week to a week and half off for Christmas and another week off in the spring. And more importantly, those jobs base your pay and raises on merit. You want to improve the educational system in this country? Tie teacher pay and raises to the performance of their students. But that will never happen thanks to the unions. I can tell you what is not the answer. Pouring more money into a broken school system. Now, I know am not totally dismissing the students or parents either. Their needs to a national movement to get the parents involved in their child's education, and the students need more incentives (other than college) to excel in school.
The government/politics and taxes. Once again, in the effort of full disclosure. I will state that I am not associated with any political party. I think politicians by nature are dishonest and unreliable and are only looking out for what will win them their next election. And I would like to start there. You want to clean up government, get rid of scandal and get people to really start trusting Congress and the President again? I will give you the two word solution: term limits. All the way up through the mid 1940's, Congressman were statesman and patriots. They did not see being elected as a career, but as an honor to serve their people for a short time, then return to life. Somewhere in the 50's, Congress became a business, and you were not longer their to do the business of government, but the business of politics. It was no longer about serving your area, but about not screwing up so bad that you would not get re-elected (although, today, I am not sure what you have to do to not get re-elected). Its time to dump the career politicians and get people to serve their state and communities rather than their political parties. Senators (who are elected every 6 years), get one term. The House (elected every 2 years) gets two terms. That's it. Then you are done. Then they can concentrate on actually running the government properly instead of worrying about the next fundraiser. And how do you run the government properly? Well, I am glad you asked. First off, stop the foreign aid. How about we get our country back in shape before giving Zaire $300 million to build a water plant. Next, clean up the social services program. We are not a welfare state, as much as some people would like for you to believe. Make individuals take responsibility for their lives instead of relying in the government to do it. And I am not just talking about the government subsidized housing projects, but also big business. Loose the tax code completely and move to a flat 15% tax on everyone. No more big tax breaks and loopholes for the corporations. Dump the IRS and make it simple. No payroll taxes, you make 30,000 a year, on April 15, you write a check for $4500 and you are done. You make 5 million, you write the check for $750,000 and done. Some of you might say "You will not have enough money doing it this way" Oh really? Well, let me put a number in your head. Exxon just announced they made a $38 billion (that is with a b) profit last year. Under the flat tax plan, they tax liability on that profit would be $5.7 billion. That is just one company. Think about all the other billion dollar profit companies there are. Now wasn't that simple? And now let's simplify Congress. Lose the committees and sub-committees. Take out the 50,000 page bills and leave it up to the whole congressional body to vote on everything. No more sliding that $30 million cabbage farm onto the back of the army appropriations bill. Draft the bill and once is drafted, its done, closed. Then you do a straight up and down vote. Everyone needs to remember that our Government was not set up to run our lives, but was set up for us to run it.
I am sure I will have other things that pop into my head and will add them as they come to me.
My inbox has been quite full in the past couple of weeks because of my recent blogs. I am by no means an extremist, racist or any other ist label you would like to throw on me. What I am in someone who believes that frank, honest discussion and debate about issues that are important to society needs to happen. Take out the politics and deal in the hard truths and facts of the matter.
In that spirit, and in response to some of the messages I have received, I will offer you my views on some of the nations current problems, some small, and some major. I would than ask each of you comment and get a frank honest discussion about these issues going. Tell your friends about this blog and let everyone know that it is open to any comments, as long as they are civil and done in a way as to not attack anyone else personally.
Immigration. My views on this have been laid out many times before in other blogs, so I will condense them down here. I believe we are fighting a two front immigration war, and as good war historian knows, a two front war normally spells disaster. We have the internal battle which is burning within our borders, and then we have the battle of the borders themselves. My personal opinion is simple. Lock down the borders first. The only way to win the battle within the country is to stop the flow of illegal immigrants from coming. If we make it so hard for them to get in, they will stop trying. I am totally for a zero admittance policy, just to get the situation under control. Yes, I know, I hear it all the time: "We all come from immigrants." My response: just because it worked in the past does not mean it works today. Just ask an African-American if they would like to hit the rewind button 150 years back. Once the borders are sealed up, if you are an illegal who is caught in the country, do not pass go, do not collect $200, you are out, period. I don't care if you have a family here, kids here or anything else, they can go back with you. This "we are a country build on immigrants" crap has to stop. You are also put on a government list which denies you access back into the country, even if you try it by legal means. Sorry, you had your chance, and the first act you did when you got here was break a law.
Violent crime / drugs. I think you have to lump these two issues together, because I think they are so interwoven. Gangs control most of the drug trade in this country, as well as most of the illegal guns being used in the violent crimes as well. I want to point out, this is not a race issue. Whites do commit violent crimes and sell drugs and are gang members too. I think you have to look at the top. The dealers are where law enforcement needs to concentrate the effort. Yes, that is easier said than done, but it needs to be done. The first step is mandatory 20 year prison with no possible parole for anyone convicted of dealing. There are no exceptions, no please, nothing. The only way to make a statement and to make things change is to come down hard on people (see the new NFL personal conduct policy as an example). And I am not just talking about the hard drugs (crack, heroin, cocaine) but also the "casual use" drugs (weed, E, meth). You deal and you are done. What about the user you may ask? 2 years away, bye bye. I have no tolerance for people who break the law knowingly. I am not one of these "put them in rehab and their life will change" people. Lock them up, let them rot away in prison for a but, then their life will change. The hippie years are over, and its time to move on.
Drunk Driving. Anyone who has known me since high school knows where my views on drunk driving come from. I believe that alcohol (along with cigarettes) should be outlawed. But I am also a realist, and know that will never happen. So my solution for drunk driving: First offense – you car (or the car you are driving at the time) is impounded by the police and sold at auction to help pay for increased police in the area, your license is suspended for 5 years and you are required to attended AA meetings. Second offense: 10 year prison term with no parole.
Abortion. This one will be short and sweet. I am completely anti-abortion unless it is in a situation where the mothers life is in danger.
Education. Oh, all you teachers out there, get ready to yell (sorry Kate), but I think one of the biggest problems with the educational system in this country is the teachers union. Now, for full disclosure, I will let you know that my ex wife is a teacher, as was her mom, so before you give me the "we do things after school" speech, I know. I know you have to grade papers and stay for meetings and all the other things that go along with being a teacher. And I also know about the continuing education you have to do, the classes you have to take in the summer and the others things that go into the profession. And you know what my response to that is: so what? To advance or be good at any other profession, you have to do the same thing. Any job with responsibility will require you to do things outside of your "normal working hours" without pay. But you know what those jobs don't have? They don't have 2 months off a year, they don't have a week to a week and half off for Christmas and another week off in the spring. And more importantly, those jobs base your pay and raises on merit. You want to improve the educational system in this country? Tie teacher pay and raises to the performance of their students. But that will never happen thanks to the unions. I can tell you what is not the answer. Pouring more money into a broken school system. Now, I know am not totally dismissing the students or parents either. Their needs to a national movement to get the parents involved in their child's education, and the students need more incentives (other than college) to excel in school.
The government/politics and taxes. Once again, in the effort of full disclosure. I will state that I am not associated with any political party. I think politicians by nature are dishonest and unreliable and are only looking out for what will win them their next election. And I would like to start there. You want to clean up government, get rid of scandal and get people to really start trusting Congress and the President again? I will give you the two word solution: term limits. All the way up through the mid 1940's, Congressman were statesman and patriots. They did not see being elected as a career, but as an honor to serve their people for a short time, then return to life. Somewhere in the 50's, Congress became a business, and you were not longer their to do the business of government, but the business of politics. It was no longer about serving your area, but about not screwing up so bad that you would not get re-elected (although, today, I am not sure what you have to do to not get re-elected). Its time to dump the career politicians and get people to serve their state and communities rather than their political parties. Senators (who are elected every 6 years), get one term. The House (elected every 2 years) gets two terms. That's it. Then you are done. Then they can concentrate on actually running the government properly instead of worrying about the next fundraiser. And how do you run the government properly? Well, I am glad you asked. First off, stop the foreign aid. How about we get our country back in shape before giving Zaire $300 million to build a water plant. Next, clean up the social services program. We are not a welfare state, as much as some people would like for you to believe. Make individuals take responsibility for their lives instead of relying in the government to do it. And I am not just talking about the government subsidized housing projects, but also big business. Loose the tax code completely and move to a flat 15% tax on everyone. No more big tax breaks and loopholes for the corporations. Dump the IRS and make it simple. No payroll taxes, you make 30,000 a year, on April 15, you write a check for $4500 and you are done. You make 5 million, you write the check for $750,000 and done. Some of you might say "You will not have enough money doing it this way" Oh really? Well, let me put a number in your head. Exxon just announced they made a $38 billion (that is with a b) profit last year. Under the flat tax plan, they tax liability on that profit would be $5.7 billion. That is just one company. Think about all the other billion dollar profit companies there are. Now wasn't that simple? And now let's simplify Congress. Lose the committees and sub-committees. Take out the 50,000 page bills and leave it up to the whole congressional body to vote on everything. No more sliding that $30 million cabbage farm onto the back of the army appropriations bill. Draft the bill and once is drafted, its done, closed. Then you do a straight up and down vote. Everyone needs to remember that our Government was not set up to run our lives, but was set up for us to run it.
I am sure I will have other things that pop into my head and will add them as they come to me.
) I also believe that if one wishes to hyphenate, so be it- Though I think "American" should probably come BEFORE the country of origin...