Sunday, October 12, 2008

Bring Back Tar and Feathers!


Back in the early days of our country elections were rough. Candidates would hold large drunken parties and use the power of drink to persuade the voters.  Voting was held at county courthouses so candidates had easy access to the voters.  James Madison saw the potential problem with this and refused to get involved in that type of campaigning.  He felt that the elected official would then be tempted to side with legislation that helped his friends rather than all of his constituents.  James Madison, the fourth president and "Father" of our constitution, lost that election.  But clearly he had great foresight into the problems of elections and politicians in general.  What Madison and other founders greatly worried over was money.  They felt that taxing the population would bring large amounts of money under the control of the Federal government and this would lead to corrupt government.  A general tarrif was favored instead. Wouldn't a national sales tax on all goods be more efficient and less prone to excess and cheating than our present system? Wouldn't a tax board comprised of middle class citizens be more efficient and less prone to excess and cheating than the billionaires who currently are in charge?

Why is Hank Paulson telling the Fed and the American people that banks need more money, that Goldman Sachs needs more money? OUR MONEY!  The man was given $700 million upon his departure from Goldman Sachs and now he wants the Fed to bail out that same company?  Hey Hank, how about giving them back that $700 million?

We spend obscene amounts of money in Iraq and Afghanistan. Money we can no longer afford. We need to put that money to good use right here at home where Americans can no longer afford their own homes. What is wrong with this picture.  

In the Revolutionary War era tax collectors and cheaters were tarred and feathered.

I nominate Paulson.  Who's with me!


Enough is Enough

With the presidential election just a few weeks from now, ask yourself the question that Ronald Reagan asked, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?"  In this case it's eight years ago when Bush stole the White House from Al Gore.  The Republicans have had pretty much a free ride since 2001.  This does not excuse the Dems, who are just as much to blame for the state we are in as we head to November.

So, under Republican leadership we hae:
The stock market has collapsed
We are in a no-win war in Iraq
Afghanistan has fallen into a terrible mess
Osama Bin Laden is still on the loose
New Orleans is still in almost total disrepair
Dick Cheney tells us defecits don't matter 
Abu Ghraib
Jack Abramoff
$1.8 billion of Halliburton charges to the US government "disappeared"
Illegal wiretapping
Searches and seizures without warrants
Tom Delay
Alberto Gonzales
Valerie Plame
Guantanamo Bay

Is that enough?  And the weak kneed Dems have done nothin to stem the tide of corrupt ineffectual government.