I am running for President

It seems everyone is running for president. We have Obama, perceived as the second coming. We have Hilary finally making a bid for an office she practically held for eight years under her husband (yeah, he was the brains, sure). Let’s not forget John Edwards, still speaking about a need to cure poverty. I wonder when he’ll actually donate some of his money to do so. There is the Republican’s neo-Reagan, Fred Dalton Thompson, perhaps the highest rated candidate in election history to as of yet not even declared a bid! There is the cross dresser Giuliani who seems a little too tyrannical for my taste, though I do love what he did with New York City. Then there is McCain, a man who has virtually sold his soul for a chance at the presidency. Oh, I could mention Mitt Romney but why bother? And Al Gore? That is still up in the air, much like global warming.

With everyone running, and none really standing out, I’ve decided why not throw my hat into the ring. Every one of these contenders has no real new ideas. They aren’t willing to rock the boat, streamline a bloated system, alter spending, or attempt to make a lasting mark on the ol’ gal I call government. So here I am, ever the progressive, hoping that perhaps my little attempt at ego gratification might cause some of these unoriginal bastards to take notice, steal a few of my ideas, and lead America at least partly down the path she needs to go. So, without further ado, my

Presidential platform:
1) Dissolution of the Federal Reserve. This is a body that literally controls the economy yet there is no federal oversight, records are not released to the public of meetings until five years later, and it is the very organ by which our economy has decayed under since its inception.

Now what do I mean by decay? Well, the American Dollar of today is only worth 4% of the American Dollar in 1912. In other words, four cents. Many can argue inflation and I agree. Inflation brought on by the very body meant to preserve and nurture the economy.

The Federal Reserve weaned this nation off of the gold reserve and moved it over to fiat currency. To understand what fiat currency is, think of it like a promise: it is only worth something based on the individual offering it. In other words, there is no substance to its value save what it is given by the issuer. See, the gold standard tied currency to a set quantity. Value was derided based on a resource thus it could not be radically increased or decreased thus limiting inflation and recession. Under fiat rules, a government or government sanctioned body may produce as much currency as it likes with said currency’s value fluctuating due to government policy rather than actual value. A government may greatly deflate value by overproducing it (such as if a nation wishes to pay a debt at a much lower value) or stabilize it via policy. Government, rather than resource or business, determines value.

Some would claim that the gold standard wrecked the economy. Problem is, the rise of paper currency (tied to gold but much more vulnerable due to its value fluctuating with the price of the resource) would bring on inflation. The proper course would have been to switch the standard to something much more stable. Some possibilities include power production, digital gold, etc.

What we have is a system tied to consumer goods (how much you can purchase of something determines the value of one currency against another) as well as government need. Currency can be manipulated via interest rates (determining how business is conducted), government bonds (which are being more and more consolidated in foreign hands thus threatening our own control over our growing debt), and other nations’ willingness to manipulate their own currency in order to drop or increase the value of products in their own countries thus aiding their own businesses in making cheaper more competitive goods (i.e. China). We sacrifice control of our nation’s economy by basing it upon foreign, intangible ideas over solid resources.
I say do away with the Federal Reserve, tie our economy to something real, and take away the power of government to dictate economic strength. Government should be the arbiter, not the creator, of economic policy. Mediate, not dominate. Checks and balances. Leave economics to businesses.

2) Penal/Judicial Reform. Oh, the fun I will have with this. First, penal reform.
• No visits or communication privileges (phone, postal, internet) for inmates. This will prevent the influx of drugs into prisons as well gang communication (it does exist through the penal system). It will also help reinforce the knowledge of what they gave up in breaking the laws of society.
• All prisons must become self-sufficient. That means they must require no outside funding. In other words grow their own food, pay their own wages, upkeep themselves, etc. One means to accomplish this is to farm out convicts for construction work as well as beautification projects in the community. Also, they may be used in factories (time the unions saw a roll back; workers’ wages will remain good in a deal I have devised under corporate reform). Another is to cut extraneous costs: warm water, television/radio, gyms, and inmate wages (insane since they are being held on the tax payer’s dime, now we have to pay them to work!).
• Castration of all inmates. This will cut down on aggression and sexual assaults. If you believe castration doesn’t lead to a drop in aggression, I can point you to research on the effects seen in animals.
• Use of electroshock belts on all inmates. This was invented around a decade or so ago. Kind of like a shock collar only locked around the waist. It could put enough juice through you to leave you incapacitated. It was ruled cruel and unusual so thus it wasn’t allowed. Pardon me, but exactly how is a taser or the threat of a rifle any better? As to the pros of this device: Not only will it save money (less guards needed), reduce the threat of riots (trust me, one zap is enough to put them down), and remove the need for weapons, but it will also prevent escape (create an invisible wall around the prison so that the belt goes off when the inmate leaves the bubble; it will also be a tracking device).

As to judicial reform:
• Abolishing of jury system. The only ones who serve on a jury are the ones too stupid to get out of it.
• Appeals process cut to only one appeal. Must be within a year. No further appeals may occur unless new evidence is given.
• All criminal cases must come to trial within thirty days and last no longer than a month. Delays are not acceptable.

3) Campaign Finance Reform. This has led to a great deal of corruption in politics. With the need for larger and larger war chests to win elections, politicians are becoming more beholden to those who finance their campaigns rather than to those who vote them into office. The solution is to make all elections publicly funded. To lessen the economic blow, and to even the playing field, the campaign process will be limited to a mere two weeks to a month. Let the facts, rather than blurbs, determine who is fit to govern.

4) Replacement of Foreign Aid with microloans. Foreign aid is nothing more than welfare at the macro level. In giving money freely to nations abroad there is no incentive for them to build up their infrastructure and become self-sufficient. Some Third World countries actually factor in aid as an annual budgetary income.
One example of the failure of this policy is Lesotho. Over the past decade or so it has received millions of dollars to construct a highway among other projects. Nothing has been paved and the millions are gone.

It is time to teach these nations the value of money. In fact, giving this money to governments is foolish as economies flourish at the micro, or business, level. Give it to individuals as microloans (no interest) so that they may start up small businesses, set out on entrepreneurial ventures, etc. They are the future. Through them the economy will flourish, the need for specialized employees will grow, schools will arise, and an educated class will rise to help reform government. That is the way to save the Third World. Not simply throwing money at them.

5) Sterilization of welfare recipients. The problem is this very series of programs has gone from aid to entitlement. Individuals are not progressing and generations of dependents on the system are growing. The solution is not to create jobs funded by the government in order to give value to these payments. Microloans are one solution though these would compete with the banking system. A clear solution is the sterilization of those who receive payments for more than six months. If an individual is unable to support themselves then they do not have the right to make such personal decisions as to bring new lives into this world. We should have a value placed on children other than monetary. Children under the program would not face sterilization unless teen pregnancy cases. Then, should they seek aid for their children, these teen mothers would face sterilization as well. It is the only solution to slow the growing underclass. Common sense, rather than hope and charity, are the only way to hold back the tide.

6) Privatization of Postal Service. People, with DHL, UPS, and Fed Ex along with the internet it is time to move away from letters. The Post Office is more and more proving incapable of financing itself. Let private companies handle the burden.

7) Investment in alternative energy. Do you wonder who is funding terrorism and extremism abroad along with anti-American sentiment? Likewise, economically we are threatened by anything that causes transportation and electric rates to climb. We are beholden to many of those who would love to see us broken. Likewise, our environment is being threatened by the very engine that drives our lives. Time to not only strengthen our independence and drive, but to leave a planet that is habitable for our children. Fusion, hydrogen, and other fuels must be sought out.

8) English made the primary language. The fathers of our country foresaw the dangers of a multi-lingual society. It leads to segregation, manipulation, and persecution. A good example is LA/Orange Co. in California. Entire communities have grown up with xenophobic views of outsiders: Eastern LA (Hispanic), Garden Grove (Vietnamese), Diamond Bar (Korean), San Gabriel (Chinese), and Western and Northern LA (White). Those groups who do not understand English are beholden to those few who do, using them the combined numbers of their communities to wield as a solid constituency for good or ill. How do these non-English speakers fare in a society built around English such as in the judicial, economic, or educational settings that surround them? We cannot afford to hire translators for each and every language on Earth when the numbers of non-English speakers does not (currently) warrant that. Nor can we print signs on highways for those who learned to read in a non-Roman alphabet. There is a need to incorporate and aid everyone into inclusion into the system.

I want everyone to be a part of the system. I do not want individuals driving up fear amongst groups who cannot get their info elsewhere since they do not have the ability to read anything but what they are given or what they are told by community leaders with obscure ends. Each individual deserves the opportunity to step up and decide their own fate in the democratic system. We likewise need a means for all cultures in this country to communicate, to tear down the walls of misunderstanding, to integrate, assimilate, and truly become a nation of equals. We need a unified language for a single people. Otherwise we are only fostering separation and a house divided cannot stand.

9) Affirmative Action made illegal. I’m sorry this is nothing but discrimination by a different name. It has gone from helpful to the equivalent of an entitlement program. Giving something to someone on the basis of their skin or sex, rather than merit, is nothing more than detrimental to the overall rule of a meritocracy. Everything has a way of balancing itself out in the end. I believe this system became outdated a long time ago. If various ethnic groups feel they are being excluded from certain schools or businesses then do something about it other than asking government to help. Tutor your children if they aren’t getting the grades they should, seek out loans to start up businesses, take part in your community to clean it up. Stop asking for government intervention and start taking responsibility for your lives.

10) Abortions legal to sixth month. After that only if threatening the life of the mother. Come on, I’d rather have children wanted over children from broken homes, hated by their parent(s), or worse. The majority of people against this aren’t responsible for the upbringing of the child so unless you’re willing to adopt these children or dig into your (not my) pockets to finance educating the parents so they can get better jobs while the kiddies are at daycare, then shut up! It isn’t your choice and your belief that you can dictate your life choices on other people is not only selfish and shortsighted, but downright despotic. Would you like me to come into your house and tell you it is wrong to teach your children the belief of Creationism when it is antithetical to proven Evolutionary Theory, that churches should pay taxes since they are a business in my eyes (is not a minister being paid, a service being provided, property being used), or that women should be granted the power of the priesthood in the fairness of modern times? No? Then mind your own business. You think we’re going to Hell anyway so stop trying to save us. I think God would have stepped in if He truly believed us worthy.

11) Better border security. Now I believe in this simply because it is undermining to the rule of law to consistently give amnesty to individuals whose first act upon entering this country is to break its laws by sneaking in. There are thousands who have to wait years for the privilege and yet these largely uneducated and economically unneeded individuals are sneaking in. One can argue it is for a better life. I’m sorry. I’ve lived in LA where there is a large illegal population. Do you know what it is like to have a medical appointment and have to wait three hours beyond the reserved time because of the number of illegals in front of me using state funded medical care (from my taxes) to check on their third or fourth pregnancy? You go into certain neighborhoods and it’s like another country; no signs in English, having the feeling of being unwanted as the residents stare at you like an alien. These people are not assimilating and have no desire to. They have come for work and I laud that. I do not comply with the view that they carve out fiefdoms that are virtually independent.

A large part of the problem is employment. Illegals cannot work without documentation which they can only come up with through criminal methods thus encouraging the growth of a black market in identity theft and counterfeit federal documents. Likewise because they work for so little they are unable to upkeep property that they live in thus ruining property values as individuals live well beyond legal limits (I once saw eight people living in a one bedroom apartment). For those unable to gain legal work, many become criminals in order to survive. I understand the rational, but I prefer safer neighborhoods to food in your mouths. They come here for jobs and when they can’t find any then they turn to crime. Yeah, the American dream…if you believe in the movie “Scarface”!

Another problem is what many illegals have to do in order to sneak in. Many Chinese pay thousands to sneak relatives into America. The rub is these families do not have the thousands to pay. Their relatives become indentured slaves in order to pay their way over. Those sneaking them in, however, ensure that their debt can never be fully repaid making them into slaves in perpetuity. And the females…they are turned into sex slaves. I have been to many houses and seen what life is like for them. It is not the American dream I can assure you. Thus, we are aiding organized crime (the Chinese Triads being a major hand in illegal smuggling) by not tightening our borders.

Also, our weak borders make it easier for drug traffickers to slip in and for gang members/criminals to move to and fro at will escaping authorities.

I am not saying kick out the illegals that are here. That is not possible as they have largely become integrated into the economy. Those that are here should be granted amnesty but not the right to bring any relatives over from their home country. They must be punished somewhat for their crime. What I propose is something much more radical: militarizing the southern border as well as the coasts.

Now hear my plan out before you shout. Our southern border, as well as the west and south coasts, are too porous. It’s not simply illegal aliens we have to watch out for but also terrorists who might see an opportunity to sneak in. Catch and Release programs have proven ineffective and costly. Why worry about getting caught when you can simply try again? There is nothing to stop individuals from continually trying to sneak in with the chance for a profitable life.

It is time to put armed guards on the borders with the right to shoot one warning shot and then after to fire at any and all attempting to sneak in. All it would take is a few casualties to get the message across. As to the shores, sink any boat not willing to be searched. Part of the money needed to pay for this deployment would be given by Mexico as they have failed miserably at patrolling their side. It is time we view this problem for what it is: an invasion. Our country is being threatened by a movement, though started for ideal reasons, which is descending into dark territory.

12) FCC stripped of censorship powers. Why do we allow the government to censor us? I believe it is time for the family unit to step up and do their job, i.e. parents start parenting. If you don’t want your kids to do something then make sure they don’t. The use of government to take care of us has eroded the authority and cohesiveness of the once stable family. Take back your responsibility. I believe in freedom of speech.

13) Term limits for all elected offices. How is the President limited to eight years but yet some officials serve over fifty in office? This only leads to individuals becoming far too removed from their constituencies, creating a system of seniority, and preventing any fresh ideas from entering government. It is time we limit the time anyone can serve and encouraging more to enter the halls of Congress.

14) Legalization of drugs. This last three decades has seen billions wasted on an unwinnable war on drugs. Gangs have grown more powerful and battle one another over markets with more and more destructive firepower. This is Prohibition in the modern era. Back in the 1920s, liquor was made illegal. What it caused was a surge in bootlegging and the growth of organized crime (mafia). Violent crime was rampant as groups fought over territories. Sound familiar? When Prohibition was rescinded, the mafia saw a rise for no more than a decade before its power peaked and began to fall. I believe it is high time we learned from prior experience and rescind the criminality of narcotics. Tax them in order to pay for programs to rehabilitate. Gangs will lose their one profitable business and slowly fade out taking many of their violent problems with them. Prisons will actually see a drop in inmates due to the receding of drug crime. Look, people are going to do drugs whether we want them to or not. Just like when it came to alcohol in the 20s. Face reality, make it legal, and deal with the problem rather than making it illegal, trying to pretend it doesn’t exist on our street, and doing nothing but demonizing those who need our help!

15) Corporate reform. The sheer audacity of seeing executives pocket hundreds of millions of dollars for a years work is downright insane! It is even more insane when you see these same companies firing thousands because “there is a profit loss and they need to restructure”. Excuse me! No, it is time to step in and enforce a set of business ethics. First, the highest paid corporate official may only make ten times the wage of the lowest paid employee. This will encourage the growth of employee pay. Second, profit sharing be removed. It has only encouraged stock manipulation for a quick pay day. It is time to return to the pension system.

16) End of athletic teams in elementary and secondary schools. Likewise, end to athletic scholarships for colleges. Colleges do not exist to train athletes on the government dime to attain jobs paying millions of dollars in professional sports while being unable to read and, sometimes, not even finishing their degree.

Likewise, why the hell are coaches, over glorified college professors in sports, getting millions unlike their fellow faculty? I believe coaches should be limited to the pay of a regular professor, that school programs should be capped on what can be spent on college sports (which is not much), college scouts be banned, and athletic scholarships removed. If children want to be athletes then the professional leagues should return to the old system of financing minor leagues to train them for the majors.

As for elementary and secondary schools, I believe in the fun of sports; just not teams. Let neighborhoods and cities create their own little leagues. Imagine how that will bring communities together, something that hasn’t happened in a long time.
Government shouldn’t be funding a pastime like sports.

17) End of the Cuban blockade. Seriously, why is this even still going on four decades later? The only way to fight Communism is with Capitalism. The island has shown interest in allowing investment in their infrastructure, the same method used to liberalize the Chinese economy. Shouldn’t we be doing the smart thing and taking them up on the offer.

18) Flat Tax and a national VAT. The system we have right now is too ridden with loopholes that benefit the rich. It is time to simplify the system. Likewise, create a national sales tax that profits from consumption. It is the one true progressive tax that the rich can never escape.

19) Revocation of the "No Child Left Behind" Program. We do not want to be a nation of test takers. We want to be a nation of thinkers and creators. Schools need flexibility to discover what they need to do to succeed, not a rigid code that is useless in certain instances. Sure, some kids fail. But those that succeed are destined to be the future of our nation. Regardless of what we’ve been led to believe, not all are created equal. Some are faster, some stronger, some smarter. Not all are meant to succeed. We can try and that is all we can do. One cannot do the impossible and the belief in a 100% success rate is not believable. It is time we embraced the reality of a meritocracy and helped the cream rise. Not everyone was meant to be a scientist. The world needs janitors too.

20) Spend as you go. In other words, a balanced budget. Do we want a future for our children other than a mortgage?