Political Snake Slithers Across the Map

The Orlando Sentinel continues to massage my ego by publishing another of my rambling letters.  Hopefully it will make some difference.  They actually changed the wording more than usual., but the essence of my outrage was conveyed.

A little background;  The Orlando Sentinel  published an article last Thursday regarding our wonderful leaders in Tallahassee and their determination to maintain gerrymandering and  "government by cronyism".  They all love gerrymandering  because Lord knows they couldn't be elected by a normal cross-section of Floridians.  They have to hand pick their districts to get as many like minded "mouth breathers" as possible.   Even though the public voted by a super majority (over 60%)  to end gerrymandering here in Florida the legislators have done everything they can to thwart the will of the people.  Now that the courts are looking closely at their records, there may be "hell to pay" because they "lost" their records (imagine that !).  

Anyway, here's the letter;

    Regarding the article “Leaders in Legislature

admit destroying redistricting records”

in Thursday’s Sentinel: The will of the people

in the Fair Districts amendments was that

gerrymandering must stop.

Our leaders in Tallahassee seemed to have

thought that since they didn’t agree with the

amendments, which were passed by more

than 60 percent of the voters, they were

entitled to do everything they could to prevent

it from being implemented.

Now they have come under the scrutiny of

the courts. They aren’t sorry for what they

did, but they’re terribly sorry they may have

been caught.When such an abundance of

effort from our political leaders goes toward

thwarting the will of the people, they should

be stripped of all power.

These political games the parties play must

stop. Let the courts showno mercy to their

excuses regarding “lost” records. This frame

of thought from any existing or potential

leaders must be squashed.

Charles E.Marshall Clermont

In my Humble Opinion !!  

That's Seventeen Trillion with a T

     
A Black Hole 

     Although I know we have calm waters regarding the national deficit right now, anyone would admit that the issue will come up again.  Probably sooner rather than later.   Shouldn't this be discussed before it becomes another political football game?

      I know there is an entire school of thought from the far left that argues the national deficit doesn't matter at all.  "The government controls the supply of money and it's their job to propel the economy no matter the total $$ figure required to do so", they argue.  "In the end it all comes out in the wash."   There is another school of thought from the far right Tea Party that anguishes over every single penny and they warn;  "The  end is near if we continue to spend the way we do and interest rates start to spike.  We'll be handing over our country to our creditors- the Chinese".  So, who's right?   I think probably neither one.  It just doesn't make sense that continuing to issue debt in the name of government progress can go on forever (as far as I know they have not discovered an eternal supply of capital backed by nothing) but it also doesn't make sense that the government should refrain from any influence over the economy with its abilities to control the money supply and interest rates when the situation requires it, even if Chinese creditors are calling us morning noon and night.   I am very concerned about the deficit as my blog titled "USA Titanic" elaborated  http://chuckmarshall.blogspot.com/2011/04/usa-titanic.html   (if you're interested in reviewing ! ) but I don't think shutting down the government does anything but rally the Tea Party around their latest "flavor of the month" politician willing to do their bidding no matter the consequence.  It serves NO other good.  It wastes resources and hurts the economy and it fixes nothing as we go on spending money that doesn't exist.    Which brings me to my next point;    "Why is it always impossible for Obama and/or the federal government to issue cuts in their operations in the way any private business would thus nipping the entire deficit argument right in the bud ?"   It's not a point of contention if there is no need to raise the deficit in the first place, right?   This would take the wind out of the sails of the Tea Party and would certainly shore up some badly needed bi-partisan legislation between the intelligent Democrats and the intelligent Republicans.

     Private business is efficient precisely because it removes fat when it is required.  If it doesn't, it will go bankrupt.  The same should be said for the nation but we have no mechanism to correct the government because they control the supply of money.   Their solution is always to print more money (essentially) by raising the deficit.   Right now all we have is the hysterical Tea Party forcing the issue therefor the public is not tuned into the severity of the situation.  Because the Tea Party is so shrill, they've lost the audience with their drama.  I agree with the Tea Party (yes, I do!) that the deficit is a problem that needs to be fixed.  It is a black hole of debt that is slowly sucking our economy and our society into an abyss even our children may have to deal with.     I suggest the next time this debate erupts that the Democrats come up with a solution other than raising taxes.  They could to this with a total overhaul of the federal government including merging departments, technical advances, layoffs, wage cuts and benefit cuts such that the required money will be found.  We won't even have to throw old people off of cliffs !    I know the right will argue that the Democrats would never do anything like that because the bigger the government the better for them, but I am a hopeless optimist with a modicum of faith that there are still a few endangered species left in DC that have a wise mind and a sincere concern for the American people and not their own power and influence.   Hope springs eternal !  

In my humble opinion.

"L'âge de l'incompétence"

There was a great article in today's paper by local opinion columnist, Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel.  In the article he elaborates how the state government is fighting the federal courts to be allowed to ban a Doctor from advising his or her patients on the dangers of guns.  The column was very effective in communicating the question;   "Are they all just plain dumb?".  First of all, I have never had a Doctor mention anything remotely close to how I handle guns in my home.   That would be, in my humble opinion, a very odd conversation;

 "So, Mr. Marshall are you careful with guns in your house at this point because I see you have younger children that might be inclined to grab your guns and fire them in an inappropriate way- like towards each other or themselves ?"  "Well, Doc... I am very careful with my guns, thank you very much,  but thanks for advising on that point.  I'm also very careful to look both ways before crossing the street when my little ones are in tow and I have forbid them from playing in traffic".  

That's just weird.  So, anyway, our genius state government wants it to be illegal for such an oddball conversation.  They have already made fools of themselves regarding the law which was shot down by the courts as totally unconstitutional, but now they've gone so far as to spend $97,000 in legal fees to fight the federal courts over this same issue.  Our local schools are not busing students that live closer to their school than 2 miles because of budget cuts, but our wonderful leaders in Tallahassee make sure the citizens of Florida are solidly behind banning personal conversations between Doctors and their patients.

In a previous blog I elaborated on what our times might be called, and I think I've decided.  I vote for "The Age of Incompetence" or say it in French and it sounds even better  "L'âge de l'incompétence".  Say it  with scorn and arrogance the way a Frenchman would and just as our leaders deserve.  One for the history books, folks.

In My Humble Opinion.

President Obama's Bubble

I hate to break it to the President but it's not just Fox network that is seeing his inability to lead our country.  The launch of the Affordable Care Act has been so disastrous only a bubble encased chief executive could be so benign regarding the ineffectiveness of its launch.  Not only are people unable to sign up, but hundreds  of thousands are being dropped from their coverage due to the new law.  Many times on the news I've watched as Obama promised back in 2010 that nobody would have to lose their coverage if they like their health insurance.  This was an impossibility as soon as it came out of his mouth.   Nobody, not even his royal highness, can prevent  a private enterprise in the United States from doing whatever it wants with the coverage it offers.  If Obamacare causes them to change their approach to who they cover, it's absolutely out of his control and really none of his business.  Once again, the President and his Democrat cronies are  surprised that he was not elected King, but President of a nation of  free thinking individuals and companies that are able to make whatever  decision is best for them and their shareholders.   This is all regardless of his noble speeches and promises to "help" all of us little people out here.

How ironic that after the Tea Party makes an ass of themselves shutting down the government and nearly driving our country into credit insolvency that  the President and his beloved Obamacare prove themselves to be the disaster the Tea Party was warning about from the beginning.   The Tea Party Right ?!  I wouldn't go so far as to exclaim admiration for them but it is looking more and more like they weren't totally off-base.  At the very least their shrill hysterics regarding the probable failure of the "affordable care act" look to be somewhat justified.  (that is not an endorsement of their tactics).   I never supported Obamacare and I especially dislike the lack of bi-partisan support such a far-reaching law had in Congress, but I was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt until it proved itself the disaster the right was predicting.  Well, it didn't take long.  It seems to be the sooner we come up with alternatives to Obamacare, the better.

Wake up Mr. President.  The  press cannot protect you anymore from you and your administration's incompetence and there is no good witch of the North that can wave a wand and make the bad stuff go away.   Establish some alternatives and show us some leadership.  It's not too late for you to deliver on at least one or two of your many promises, but the clock is ticking.

In my humble opinion.

A Case for Independents - No More Closed Primaries

For nearly 70 years the United States fought the communists based on the belief that having only one party to choose from for leadership was not only unfair but also victimized the entire population.  When you have no choice in an election then it’s not really an election but would be more accurately referred to as a tally.  The communist system finally failed but the American party system goes on and on and continues to rob the people of true representation by cornering us all into choosing between two parties.  While having a choice between two is certainly better than one, being twice as good as the Communist system is hardly something to celebrate.    

For the 40% of all Americans that identify themselves as  Independents  there is no choice for us here and we are forced to choose between the Democrat or the Republican way of thinking no matter how odious such a choice is.  We are much like the Russians standing in line with blank faces, placing votes for candidates that had no opposition.  Today we independents are being robbed of our constitutional right to fair representation because the candidates to choose from were pre-selected for us with none of our input due to the closed primary system.   Even worse (and woe to us all), they are being pre-selected  by the extreme wings of each party as the more moderate Republicans and Democrats have left their party in disgust.  

As children, in preschool we learn  to take turns on the playground and  that we will never be able to have all of it to ourselves.  Similarly, we learned not to expect that we should always get our own way because  compromise is often necessary in life.   Our congress enjoys no such maturity and their inability to see eye to eye on most issues has cost our country dearly.    A business or private interest that operated with such a selfish lack of foresight and immaturity would have long ago gone into bankruptcy  for its inability to negotiate as a reasonable organization.    The roots of this impasse spring from the Republican and Democratic parties' choke-hold on our government through Gerrymandering, closed primaries, and  financial monopoly. 

The  parties have lost their right to any political advantage over non-party or minor party candidates because of their inability to come to agreement, compromise, and secure a prosperous future for all Americans.  Their loyalty to their party has proven to be more important than any allegiance with the American public, much in the way the Soviet communists were more inspired to maintain communist power rather than Russian liberty or freedom.  It is time for the American people to demand an end to all political advantages given to the major parties so that Independents have more of a say in the selection of our leaders and the operation of our government.  Perhaps then we will finally see real work and effort to secure the safety, security and happiness of our country as our leaders focus on representing their American constituents not their Republican and Democratic constituents.