Sent: Saturday, February 08, 2014 12:30 PM
Subject: Tea Party plan of action
I hope someone will read this and respond. I also hope it will stimulate.
As far as an overall agenda, the closest I have found to a Tea Party platform is at http://www.teaparty-platform.com/Tea_Party_Movement_Platform.html .
The web page lists 10 general themes as the platform:
1. Eliminate Excessive Taxes
2. Eliminate the National Debt
3. Eliminate Deficit Spending
4. Protect Free Markets
5. Abide by the Constitution of the United States
6. Promote Civic Responsibility
7. Reduce the Overall Size of Government
8. Believe in the People
9. Avoid the Pitfalls of Politics
10. Maintain Local Independence
My Comments --
Platforms, such as the 10 points listed above are well and good—but from reading them (and the descriptive paragraph following each), I do not get a sense of what I can do to further these goals. Is anyone working to turn these 10 points into a clear plan of action? Just as the current Republican Platform sound good to many—simply stating a platform of principles does not cause it to become a reality. Somehow, if we are to restore our nation, we must take the various steps necessary to achieve our goals—and that is not to say that people are not doing anything—but is what we are doing sufficient to win the war?
The Progressives and Communist Party have established not just a clear agenda, but have also developed a network that has been moving those goals forward—essentially every one of them being to undermine our Republic.
The Tea Party is involved in opposing Agenda 21, gun control, amnesty, destruction of dams, and multiple other issues—all of which are good. But, do we have a plan of action—something we can read or distribute as to how we are going to overcome the enemies of the freedoms conceived by our founding fathers and founding documents? If so, I have so far been unable to find it. Thus, in my audacity (to steal a term from Obama—or perhaps Bill Ayers), have attempted to outline various points and issues for direct attack if we are to win this war to restore this nation—this is just one man’s ideas. Thus, without further involvement by others, my thoughts below are just more words that will go nowhere. However, it is my hope that the comments below will stimulate something progressive (but not in the sense of the Progressive Movement) for which myself and others can be more constructively involved.
Below is an outline. I am sure it can use a lot of editing and even as I write this I can think of many issues that I have not included. You may disagree with comments, the comments may be inadequately expressed, and many issues you believe critical for a turnaround may not be included (but should). The idea is to develop a plan that will lead us to the point where in a single election we can gain a majority in State legislatures, governorships, Congress and the Presidency to in a brief moment in history make sufficient corrective measures as to turn this nation 180 degrees to a healthy direction for the future. We want to restore a republic, not create a democracy subject to the whims of the mob—to do this will involve a carefully crafted plan of exactly what we want to achieve and how to do it without leading us from one tyranny to another—or one can of worms into another.
A. In our local community, establish a nucleus of people desiring to create a unifying agenda to restore this nation. Stay on target (to develop a unifying agenda) while seeking to expand local influence, participation, and networking with other communities regarding the same purpose. Thus far, I do not see that the local Tea Party (or any other Tea Party) has taken on the task to create a unifying agenda to restore this nation. If I am incorrect, please enlighten me—otherwise, if you are like minded, let us meet and start the process.
B. We in the Tea Party must acknowledge our complicity in allowing government to trample on our freedoms. We each have the same 24 hours in a day, and if we spent the lion’s share of that time over the years pursuing our pleasures and producing to support family and pleasures—instead of being proactive to stop the Progressive move to destroy our Republic, then we are complicit. And, bear in mind that productive people have only limited time—after work, family, and leisure—to dedicate to civics. To achieve our ends, we must establish local networks that work to transmit the information and determine reliable representatives so that within the minimal time available the average citizen can make an informed decision as to the direction he wants the government to move and who is a reliable representative to help make that happen. Such is no easy task and also a never-ending task.
C. Promote a healthy vision for America – For too many these days, it seems like what I refer to as the “Island Mentality” has taken hold of vision of reality for all too many. By “Island Mentality” I refer to the idea that the more aggressive people who come to an island grab up all the good land and opportunity and the others are left with little to nothing. The United States should be a nation where all can prosper and find happiness—not just the upper crust few. What must change for those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder to succeed? Many in the Tea Party movement look upon those who live off the various government “welfare” programs are simply lazy or worse. This is narrow minded thinking that will cause our efforts to fail. Commensurate with the New Deal, the War on Poverty and its offshoots that created opportunities for people to become dependent upon government was a process of legalized crushing of what had made America unique and to prosper. Our faith, our values, public decency, educational system, work ethic and opportunity, private property rights, tax structure, and sheer government oversight and regulation have been and continue to be eroded by the same forces of political manipulation of government that have created the enslavement of a large sector of the public on government programs. We cannot solve the problem or promote a healthy vision for America without viewing the overall picture. If we do so, we can imagine how things could change if we reversed so much that the so called “Progressive” government has done. With a reversal of government interference, the hopelessness and despair that leads to our youth in the inner cities turning to gangs, drugs, and prison can be reversed. We must stop our government and mass media from promoting the fiction that science has proven that our existence is merely a chance occurrence, and all of existence (including ourselves) is void of meaning or purpose. We must stop our government systems from force feeding its political correctness and uninspiring curricula to dumb down our children. We must eradicate the minimum wage restraints which kill job opportunities for our youth and those lacking sufficient skills—and we must remove the myriad of impediments to entrepreneurship and legitimate free enterprise. We must remove the counterproductive and onerous restrictions on the development owner occupied private property and we must revise the method of tax assessment on owner occupied private property so that the less advantaged are not discouraged and economically prohibited from improving and exercising their creative abilities in regard to their homes. In an America of restored values and opportunity, we can paint a picture of how those most victimized (though many Tea Partiers may currently view them as good for nothing opportunists) can find purpose and become contributors in society where they have been mere consumers/takers. The following points outlined below can collectively bring that vision of a nation to a where all can prosper as a reality.
D. We need to promote the reality of how counterproductive our current government is to a free and prosperous society. Currently 40% of our gross domestic product is consumed by government. If counterproductive elements and waste was removed, the cost of government should be around 10%.
What is productive? Well, agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, healthcare, real estate, media, marketing of products, essential government services (including military), utilities and beneficial services all fall in the category of productive elements. Roughly, 30% of the fruits of the productive elements of society are consumed by 30% who are unproductive or perform counterproductive work. I would classify unproductive services as including 80% or more of what government currently does and spends money on. Much of the cost of healthcare, manufacturing and construction is involved in counterproductive efforts due to unnecessary government regulation and litigation. The industry created to deal with tax issues is primarily counterproductive and due to an overly cumbersome and complex tax system. Increasingly, the time of productive people is consumed with the business of dealing with complexities and requirements to comply with government policy I would suggest is reaching a good 15% of our productive energy.
Now think about it, say 30% of the able bodied work age population is either not producing, or working at some societal counterproductive enterprise. Say we cleaned house and that 30%, instead of being a drain of 30% of our production, actually became self-sufficient by becoming productive elements of society. By this alone, U.S. production would increase 30% and government’s need to tax productive elements would decrease by 30%. Also, with reduced regulation and complexity of taxation, and additional 15% of one’s productive time could be freed up for either leisure of increased production. To put this in simple mathematical terms, let’s say we are dealing with a population of 100 people and the original 70% who are productive produce an average of $50,000 a year. 70 people x $50,000 = $3,500,000 gross product. Cost of government is 40% of the gross product, $3,500,000 x 0.4 = $1,400,000 with $350,000 of that being necessary to provide needed government services and $1,050,000 providing counterproductive government services. As productive people must forfeit 40% of their production to government services, this leaves them with 60% of $50,000 or $30,000 net income.
Keeping things simple, say over time the change in government policy opened opportunities and incentives such that the 30% who were counterproductive became normal contributors to society with an average production of $50,000. We would now have 100 people at $50,000 or $5,000,000 gross product and the cost of government (since we would no longer be paying for counterproductive services) would shrink to 10% of GNP or $500,000. Now, the net for the productive worker would have increased to $45,000 (a gain of 50% over the previous $30,000 net) without the original producers expending any additional productive effort. To top it off, with reduced government regulation and complexity, the productive elements would not have to expend that additional 15% of their time dealing with government complexity and could either enjoy more leisure or use the time more productively.
The above is really conservative as in reality the productive element (those who provide the goods and services society really needs) is far less than 70% of the able bodied adult potential workforce, so in reality, if able bodied people had improved opportunity and developed their abilities – it is likely that the average producer could work half as much to enjoy the same lifestyle as they currently do. It would be good to escape the rat race and live lives of both productivity and leisure.
E. Promote a clear understanding of our form of government—a Constitutional Republic—and the distinction between that and other forms of government (as demonstrated in the YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDS1OHk7Lf8&feature=related). The public needs to understand how important it is to preserve our Constitutional Republic and how democracies throughout history self-destruct.
F. Promote a clarity that when either industry or religion (or both) is combined with government that tyranny will result. History is replete with examples of how when religion or industry is combined within the power-structure of government that tyranny results. That is why our founding fathers did not create a religious federal government, while ratifying the First Amendment which provides for religious freedom. That is why the founding fathers created a Constitution that allowed for a free enterprise system to prosper—and to be regulated internally only to the extent as to promote unfettered interstate commerce (this clause has been severely misconstrued since the 1930’s to the detriment of our nation). When the U.S. Constitution was ratified, several States still supported a state religion and this was not considered a violation of the First Amendment. What is a violation of the First Amendment would be for the federal government to support or promote a specific religion or religious system. Yet, our early government published and distributed Bibles, held church services for many years in the house of Congress, and endorsed and promoted use of the Bible in public education. Many of our founding fathers expressed clearly the need for a religious and moral people in order to sustain the Republic they had created—but promoting faith and knowledge of the bible was not (and should not be) considered establishing a national religion.
At the same time, we must exercise caution to ensure that our federal government does not nationalize any religious system nor nationalize industry – as our nation will collapse into tyranny. The Progressive movement has made significant headway on eroding these two issues—by promoting (in fact mandating) a brand of atheistic secular humanism that is based on pure faith and belief (and as such is certainly a type of religion) unsupported by scientific fact or historical evidence, and our government, via the abuse of the Commerce Clause and other recent laws are usurping control of industry. We must resist and reverse these trends as they are taking this nation into tyranny.
Government—to the maximum extent commensurate with promoting the general welfare must maintain a healthy separation from industry and not establish a national religious system. But yes, to survive, it must be supportive of efforts to promote healthy values, and faith commensurate with a healthy, free and productive society.
G. We must exercise caution with regard to the United Nations and foreign entanglements which would compromise the integrity of our nation. While we must be involved in the sphere of interaction with other nations—their goals are often incompatible with our Constitutional form of government. Our nation was founded on certain principles of freedom and liberty. What we as a nation are aspiring to achieve is a self-governed nation—governed by the general public to promote the general welfare, and not governed (as unfortunately our nation has largely become) by some by some political or economic elite. Many of the current projects (such as Agenda 21, gun control, Kyoto Protocol, etc.) will undermine our sovereignty as a nation, causing the United States to become bound by a power (the United Nations), which is composed primarily of nations that oppose the values of the United States. While seeking to promote good relations with other nations, the United States must not allow itself to become subservient to the United Nations or foreign interests that are in opposition to our ability to maintain our purposes and national sovereignty.
H. Promote a clear understanding of the difference between a politician and a statesman—which is roughly the equivalent to the difference between a conniving scoundrel and a person of sound principle and integrity. Expand this to promote the distinction between a campaign to promote clearly explained plan of action and that of political campaigns designed to use any means necessary (including lies and disinformation) to gain the votes to win an election.
I. Promote a clear understanding of the principle of self-government and the impact of district population in an election (believed by our founders to fall in the range of 30,000 to 50,000 people) in order to ensure a minimum representation for the common people in the government. Explain how the American colonies learned about the principles of self-government and how too small a population or too large a population would undermine the ability of the common people to select a person who would truly represent their interests. Especially, as the number grew large, exceeding 50,000 and as typical in current elections in the range of 700,000 or more—the ability for the public to select a candidate is almost entirely circumvented by the machinery of partisan politics and money.
J. Promote a clear understanding that under the current environment, the machinery of partisan politics and money control the majority of the legislative process, hence laws are passed and become law that would never have been endorsed nor is to the benefit of the general public.
K. Develop clarity regarding the responsibility of our federal government to promote the GENERAL WELFARE, and how the general welfare has been sacrificed to promote minority special interests. While it is the responsibility to provide reasonable protection of minority interests, this is not to be accomplished to the detriment of the majority—as is being done by our current government laws and programs.
L. Provide a clear understanding that while certain services are of necessity to be provided by government, that in general any service provided by government is less efficient and much more costly that if those same services were provided by charities or private industry.
M. Consider the vast majority of the 47% as defined by Mitt Romney, not as opposition, but as potential compatriots in the battle to restore our republic. Have faith that with adequate enlightenment (being shown the facts in a suitable manner), that most of the 47% will become fellow supporters of our movement. Explore in detail to show how the Progressive impact on government has been robbing (especially at the lower end of the economic scale) people of the factors that give life purpose and enjoyment: their faith, their values, opportunity for a quality education, work opportunity, and the potential to enjoy the creative benefits of owner occupied private property.
N. Work to develop a proactive media presence – to combat the ignorance and disinformation promoted by government schools, the mass media, and the politics of peer pressure. We need to encourage (and help direct) any amongst us and our youth who have an interest in the media, especially video production as we need to fill the vacuum created by the mass media. We desperately need to develop cinematic material that will reach and entertain the masses while steering them to the meaning and hope that could be theirs if and when we achieve 1) a turnaround in regard to government, 2) facts to promote and encourage faith and meaning in life, 3) parental choice to promote the competition that will improve public education, 4) a regained free enterprise environment necessary to provide jobs to our youth, unskilled and to stimulate our nation’s industry, and 5) restored and improved private property rights that encourage the poor to become creative in developing their owner occupied private property (void of public support or sub-prime loans).
O. Promote a clear understanding of the real life battle to undermine and destroy our Constitutional Republic—laying out the avenues of attack on our faith, our education, our media, our free enterprise system, etc.
P. Promote the legitimacy of the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God and our Creator as described in our Declaration of Independence. If faith and sound principles can be scoffed at in the public forum with impunity—we have little hope for a restoration of this nation. Use modern science and historical evidence to show that a faith in the God of the Bible is extremely reasonable considering all the facts (in fact chance evolution and Darwinism are based on pure faith and have essentially zero scientific credibility), and that the founding principles and moral foundation of this nation (which have been essentially demolished by the Progressive movement) actually work, while the agenda of the Progressive movement can be shown throughout history to have failed again and again.
Q. Get Specific to show how our Constitution has been undermined and the will of the people circumvented.
a. Explain the importance of the two branches of the federal legislature—Senate representing the interests of the States, and the House representing the interests of the common people—and how this has been undermined by the Progressive movement:
i. Apportionment Act of 1911 froze the House at 435 members – causing it to negate the ability of the common people as it pushed the numbers game to a level where the machinery of partisan politics and money reign supreme over the interests of the common people. Solution: ratify Article the First (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_the_First) or similar Amendment to preserve representation within reasonable bounds. And yes, the passage of Article the First would necessitate about 6,000 House members to represent the common people. Such a number is workable and would make it harder for the political machinery to bypass the will of the common people in the creation of legislation.
ii. Primary Election Process – this has evolved to effectively circumvent the power of local, state, and national conventions selecting candidates for public office. While seemingly more democratic, in actuality it transfers influence from the common people to that of partisan political machinery and money interests. Solution: abolish primary elections.
iii. 17th Amendment to the Constitution – This seemingly good amendment which changed the method of selecting Senators from that of the State Legislatures to a statewide general election by the voters—actually undermined our federalist system—causing the States to lose the power to protect their interests, while shifting the selection of Senators—not to the will of the common people—but to the machinery of partisan politics and money interests. Solution: rescind the 17th Amendment.
iv. Federal Reserve Act 1913 – This law circumvented the Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5 of the Constitution in regard to regulating the value of money. Prior to this, the U.S. Dollar was not subject to the manipulation made possible through this act. For example, if someone placed a dollar under their mattress in 1800, that same dollar would have been worth about 8 percent more in 1913. However, since the Federal Reserve came into play, the value of the U.S. Dollar has depreciated each and every year (a hidden but real tax on our savings and wages) such that a dollar placed under one’s mattress in 1913 would only be worth about 2 cents today. The Federal Reserve operates seemingly independent of any branch of the federal government. Solution: The ramifications of the Federal Reserve are very complex, but need to be evaluated, brought under control, solutions proposed, analyzed and something done in a timely manner to bring the U.S. Dollar not just under control, but to stop it from continued devaluation and being a hidden tax on the common people.
v. Commerce Clause - Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 – “Congress shall have Power To...regulate Commerce...among the several States....” Abuse and misconstruction of this clause has provided the basis for most of the growth of federal agencies, regulations, and bureaucracy that squelches our freedom and free enterprise system. This clause was inserted in the Constitution to the original purpose of the commerce clause was to eliminate trade barriers among the States protect the States from the abuses experienced under the Articles of Confederation—which allowed individual States to form trade alliances to benefit some states and harm others, create their own tariffs and otherwise hinder interstate commerce. Starting in the 1930’s the Executive branch of the federal government took un-Constitutional license with the Commerce Clause as it assumed the authority under that clause over any form of business that could be construed to have an impact across State boundaries. Most of our federal government has been constructed, based on this destructive falacy. See article by Walter Williams: http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/wew/articles/03/abuse.html. Solution: Amend the Constitution as to provide clarity as to the limitation of the federal government in regard to interstate commerce (i.e., protect States from hindrances to interstate commerce) and rescind the laws and regulations built upon the un-Constitutional foundation of the abuse of the clause. This alone will significantly reduce the size and influence of the federal government.
vi. 14th Amendment, Section 1 – “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” This was inserted to protect the children born to freed slaves. It was not intended as a method for illegal immigrants to create “anchor babies” of their offspring born in this country while they were here illegally. Note: the amendment states “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Illegal aliens are still under the jurisdiction of their home country. Just as children born to embassy employees while residing in this nation do not become U.S. Citizens, neither should the children born to illegal aliens. Solution: Provide a legal clarification (probably best in an Amendment) that children born in this country do not acquire U.S. Citizenship at the time of birth unless at least one of the parents is a U.S. Citizen at the time of the child’s birth.
vii. Judicial Appointments, Article III, Section 1 –“The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour...” Good behavior is not the same as a life appointment. It is the responsibility of federal judges to uphold (not revise) the Constitution. Much of the destruction of our nation has been through an activist judiciary that has circumvented the clear intent of the Constitution (as historically supported by founding documents, such as the federalist papers) to establish new law and new rights not included and never intended by those who drafted and those who ratified the Constitution and its amendments. Solution: impeach and convict (throw out of office) radical judges who fail to properly respect and uphold the Constitution. Rescind the decisions that were made by an activist judiciary.
viii. Oath of Office – Elected and appointed government officials increasingly disregard the U.S. Constitution in the performance of their work. Solution: impeach and convict (throw out of office) government officials who disregard the Constitution in the performance of their duties.
ix.
R. Minimum Wage – The public needs to be educated to the fact that any minimum wage law is counterproductive. Its inception was to provide a method to discriminate against racial minorities and has been effective in doing that—with a growing sector of the poor and young permanently unemployable because their job skills are insufficient to justify the ever-increasing minimum wage. Minimum wages are a form of price control that is detrimental to the free enterprise system and to the employees. Establishing minimum wages should be un-Constitutional and was only accepted by the Supreme Court because of a court packing threat during the 1930’s. Solution: Pass federal legislation or an Amendment clarifying our freedom to sell our labor on the open market, free of government regulation via the imposition of a minimum wage.
S. Public Education – Our nation’s founders recognized the importance of public education. The Northwest Ordinance further provided land for the specific use for the benefit of public education in the developing territories.
a. Public Education in the United States grew to be a model to the world until the combined forces of government and government employee (teachers) unions usurped local control of public education. Each year, under the guise of fixing the problem, government run schools becomes more expensive and the quality of the output decreases as the government monopoly crushes. Government run schools in general do not promote an enthusiasm for the students to learn and are increasingly oriented to indoctrination rather than promoting thinking, reasoning and problem solving. In much of our inner cities and impoverished areas, the government schools are disastrous for the children who are victimized in the process. The situation is a crisis, as a single generation of inadequately educated youth can destroy the future of this nation. What the unions and government have done to public education is a crime against this nation. It should be a violation of law to tax the public to acquire funds for public education and then give parents only one option to use those funds: have their children attend a government operated dumbed down politically correct school. The pro-rated share of funds per students should be made available for the parents or emancipated minors to choose the school of their choice to attend. Solution: Instill open competition in the educational community via parental choice in education for K-12. To promote the general welfare, the federal government’s role would be to promote States acquiring sufficient funds per student to defray tuition costs at an educational institution and at the same time prohibiting States from mandating the choice in schools (so long as the school of parental choice provides the basic academics and does not promote a philosophy of life incompatible with the U.S. Constitution—such as Sharia law).
b. Higher Education – The cost and quality of our colleges and universities have been on a decline since the government got into the act of providing student loans, starting with the Higher Education Act of 1965. Since then the cost of higher education and enrollment has skyrocketed and the benefit to society (of providing adequately educated people for the nation’s needs) has diminished. Increasingly, students are saddled with enormous debt for an education that is in many cases worthless in preparing for the challenges of life. Solution: Get government out of the student loan business. Most of the curricula of higher education (especially at the associate and bachelor degree level) does not require further educational material than is found in existing books or via the Internet. There is no legitimate reason that higher education costs what it does and promises what it fails to deliver other than because of government loans and government interference. Government needs to get out of the higher education business.
T. Owner occupied private property – an American Dream has been to own one’s own home – “a man’s castle” as the adage went. Owning your own home should bring with it pleasure and freedom of expression. Unfortunately, expression incurs government intrusion and increased taxation. Government increasingly takes the joy out of owner occupied private property—especially for the creative do-it-yourselfer or person who cannot afford to do other than sweat equity.
Sound building codes are to be supported, but just as sound traffic laws do not require monitoring of each vehicle to make sure the drive does not veer into the oncoming lane and create a fatal accident – neither do we need the type of code enforcement that effectively robs the homeowner of his/her prerogatives and freedom of creative ownership. The current situation involves zoning, impact fees, code enforcement, and a property tax structure that may not restrict the wealthy, but does impact the lower echelons of the economic ladder tremendously. Where once a person could purchase a piece of property and through the purchase of materials and sweat equity gradually build a residence—not so anymore. For the poor, rentals and government housing are the only options—at least in the cities and most of suburbia.
The situation is wrong, it favors the wealthy, it hurts the less advantaged. It is wrong that a person who owns some property and wants to improve it can spend after tax money for materials and expend personal labor to improve the property, only to have their property taxes increased permanently after the work is completed.
It is wrong that people are so restricted in what they do to improve their own property that even a simple replacement of roof shingles requires a permit, and more extensive improvements or modifications much more is involved and can quickly become cost prohibitive due to government fees, requirements and taxes for the less advantaged.
One and two story single family dwellings are not rocket science and safe building requirements can be enforced without the level of government intrusion that currently exists to effectively render actual ownership to the government.
U. Basics of Legislation – Legislation is way out of hand. Essentially lobbyists and Congress act independent of the common people to dream up and make laws that are in their interests, but not the best interests of the general public.
a. Laws should be standalone and clear (not co-mingling unrelated issues) – and the laws should be brief and readily understandable by anyone with a high school education.
b. Laws should be specific and not require the creation of or use of existing federal agencies to provide the implementing regulations.
c. Earmarks and addendums not related to the basic law should not be allowed (these are typically added as a bribe to get votes for a bill).
d. No member of commerce should be allowed to vote for a bill that he/she has not read and clearly understood (this should be an impeachable offense).
e. No law should be submitted for a vote by Congress until the general public has had a reasonable opportunity to read it and provide its response.
V. Lobbying – The current system of lobbying is blatant corruption, bypassing the common people to render services to special interests—to the detriment of the general welfare. Under a system where adequate representation for the common people is restored, there should be no need for lobbying—and any lobbying that was done should legally be required to be conducted in public—with access and foreknowledge of such by the general public.
W. War on Poverty – The government’s war on poverty is a farce. Reaching out to help the homeless, destitute, and the addicted has been proven not to be a function that government is capable of effectively help alleviate. Instead, government programs promote dependency, instead of promoting a cure. The book, THE TRAGEDY OF AMERICAN COMPASSION by Marvin Olasky provides a wealth of data on the saga of reaching out to help the disadvantaged and the negative impact of government efforts. If we truly want to help the poor, we will shift our concerns from trying to improve government handout programs that ensnare and entrap people into dependence – and instead focus on the real problems that promote despair and dependency: government and the mass media promoting a meaningless reality that undermines faith, morality or purpose; lack of healthy educational opportunities the stimulate the students and provide meaningful curriculum to prepare them for the opportunities available to them; lack of work opportunity due to minimum wage laws eliminating work opportunities for the least skilled and the young, and government regulations that restrict and cripple the free enterprise system; government policies in regard to owner occupied private property that effectively deny the possibility for the poorest and severely restrict creative development for other than the wealthier elements of society. If we want to eliminate poverty, we need to promote a free and expansive society—that promotes competition in education, an unfettered free enterprise system, and private property rights that inspire the poor to endeavor to pursue happiness.
X. Religion, Faith and Values – government policy is to promote a warped version of morality called “tolerance” which is actually the opposite: it is intolerance of any point of view other than promoted by the politically correct elite. It is such tolerance that gives government the mandate to circumvent the will of the majority to please the few minority activists that take umbrage with the long held traditions and values of the majority—and characterizing those values as completely unacceptable. As government (largely via the misguided judicial system) promote the will of the minority over the majority—government is not just undermining the values that promote a healthy society—it also is promoting a secular religion that undermines traditional religions—in direct violation of the principles of the First Amendment.
Y. Mass Media – We want a free media, at the same time freedom of speech is not synonymous with an unlimited license to pollute the popular values of a community. Again, the First Amendment is to promote freedom of speech—it is not a license to degrade a society’s faith or moral core beliefs. In a properly functioning federalist system, a community like San Francisco could openly promote the various homosexual lifestyles, while a community like Sutter County could opt for the promotion of homosexuality to be kept out of the classroom as well as the public media—providing an atmosphere where sexuality is a topic for consenting adults in the privacy—not as a public topic demonstration. Since the Motion Picture Production Code (http://www.artsreformation.com/a001/hays-code.html) was discarded in favor of the current rating system, the fodder of the cinema as well as television has degraded to the point unsuitable as viewing in the opinion of many—or should I say void of any redeeming value other than that to degrade public morals and public decency. Frankly, for viewing on my television and local cinema, I would appreciate a return to the Motion Picture Production Code, while a city like San Francisco could opt for either the current rating system or no system—a no holds barred pure licentiousness viewing agenda.
Z. How are our representatives selected? In our republic, it is the chosen representatives (Senators, House Members, and President) of the electorate who are charged with governing the nation. By what method are they selected? In the absence of the type of community involvement through town halls, churches, etc. to hash out ideas and get to know people who are chosen for their good reputation—we have increasingly a system where the greatest qualification is a driving ambition to get elected and a willingness to do anything, say anything to get elected. In the process, we so often get the marginal or sub-marginal candidate, someone who you would not true or value as a friend—yet may end up brokering what becomes law for his or her personal interest. A sad state of affairs. This is what you get when we lose the vehicles (active town halls, open dialogue in churches, etc.) to establish good people to represent us. Especially in modern society, where so much is demanded of parents to maintain their lives, free time to be involved in civics is at a premium—so, if the common people are not involved in the process some local method of establishing credibility and platform for candidates must be established—and be subject to accountability to maintain its credibility. Perhaps, something like the Tea Party can become such an instrument. If so, it has a long way to go to establish credibility across the board with the public and provide a path that does not entangle itself with the corrupting forces of any political machine.
We need a platform (such as the 10 point program outlined at the start of this email) as well as a plan of action/attack as the outline of the points A thru V below attempt to suggest as a beginning attempt at addressing the issues while seeking to address issues that impact the entire community—not just those enunciated in the 10 points of
AA. Community Civic Forum – Do we share common values? Do the founding principles, properly applied to the modern environment truly promote the general welfare? Can we establish a public forum so that representatives for the House can be selected that truly represent the common people – and not the special interests of some partisan political camp that serves its own purposes to the detriment of the general welfare.