Political Goal Problems

        Last week I listed some political goals that we need to accomplish.  We must elect a like-minded President and representatives to Congress.  It will not be easy to achieve these goals as it has taken the liberal/socialist movement over 100 years to get us in our current mess.

        The first objective is for our country to go back to abiding by the Constitution.  Congress has to control the budget and money.  The President must enforce the laws and not legislate with executive order.  Both the President and Senate must appoint and confirm Supreme Court Justices who will enforce the Constitution without a political agenda. 

        Reducing the size of government is essential, but will be painful.  What does a private business do when its unprofitable?  The business increases sales and/or margins, or decreases expenses to be profitable.  The federal government never considers decreasing expenses, because legislatures from both parties, and the President, enjoy the power that comes with an inflated federal government.  

        This situation will never change if we elect a candidate who is part of the Washington establishment from either party.  They talk a good story, but will not act.  Electing someone with a good speech and slogan, but with no leadership or experience does not work either.  We have tried that and have one of the worst Presidents in history.  We need a PROVEN LEADER from outside Washington DC.  This individual could come from the private sector, the military, or a state governor.

        Getting rid of harmful and often illegal government regulations, like some of the Environmental Protection Agency policies, is relatively easy.  Any President worth his/her salt will repeal most of the executive orders from the last decade.  This will stimulate the economy and produce jobs.    

        Cutting the size of the federal government is the most critical change needed, and will not be an easy fix.  Departments like Energy and Education could be eliminated completely, as they both have done more harm than good.  Shutting down these two departments alone would save over $44.8 billion.  The problem is the unemployment it would create in Washington DC.  Over 30,000 workers would be laid-off, and this does not count over 90,000 contract workers. 

        When the private sector faces a problem of over-staffing a hiring freeze is put in place and people are offered early retirement.  A similar policy must be implemented in Washington. 

        Securing our borders, including building a wall, is easy if partisan politics are ignored.  Maybe we need some work programs for laid-off government workers and welfare recipients like FDR implemented, in order to get the wall in place.  This will take a real leader working with Congress to accomplish.

        Tax reform is also simple if we ignore all the special interest groups.  Corporate taxes must be changed to be competitive in a world market.  The Fair Tax or a flat tax will do wonders for the economy.  One negative is that the super rich will no longer have any loopholes to avoid paying tax.  Another negative is 90% of the I.R.S. employees will no longer be needed, creating another unemployment problem.       We can reduce health care costs dramatically by repealing Obama care and promoting major medal insurance and health savings plans.  There are two major problems to be confronted.  The first is that current Cadillac heath care insurance has to be phased out over time to give people time to build a balance in their health savings accounts.  

        The second problem is that the large majority of the claims processing today with first-dollar/claim insurance will be eliminated for both the insurance companies and the healthcare providers.  This is a cost savings that will improve the quality of health care, but puts many people out of work.  It will, however produce a business opportunity for accounting firms to provide this service at a much cheaper cost.  

        I do not have time to address terrorism, the military, trade, foreign affairs, welfare reform, and all the things dividing this country that I mentioned last week. 

        Our elected officials must use a common sense business approach to reducing the size of the federal government.  There will be people laid off in the government and insurance industry, but the economy will grow to fill that void. 

        I am sick of all the political correctness and partisan politics that divides our country.  We need to get back to the basics.  The solution is; enforcing the Constitution, decreasing the size and control of the federal government, and electing LEADERS who want to serve the people and not the political elite.  

Political Goals

We are in the thick of a Presidential campaign.  What do we want?  What should we be looking for?  There are a few simple solutions to the country’s most critical problems.

·        Abide by the constitution - Maintain the balance of power between the three branches and respect states rights. 

·       Reduce the size of the federal government –The Tenth Amendment gives us clear guidelines to reduce spending, balance the budget, eliminate the debt, and reduce government regulations.

·       Secure our borders – This will eventually help with the immigration problem, drug problem, and terrorist threat. 

·       Tax reform – The Fair Tax would be best but a simple flat tax with no deductions would be also work.  We must make the corporate tax competitive to keep American companies in America and also stimulate the economy. 

·       Health care – Repeal Obama Care, promote major medical insurance, health savings plans.  The poor will receive health care, and there is no need for insurance.

·       Keep the United States safe and in a world leadership position with a strong military and fair trade.  This does NOT mean giving money to every foreign power.

·       Welfare reform – We need to get back to God, family, county, and a strong work ethic.  We need to put people to work, not enslave them to welfare.  The present Progressive welfare agenda obviously is not working, and must be changed.

·       Political correctness is hurting and dividing this country. We must stop partisan politics, race, sex, religion, or any other special interest that divides the country, and work for the good of the country.

The economy and jobs are important and the above actions will fix this over time.  I have not mentioned any social or special interest issues.  Many will take care of themselves if we implement the above agenda.  Others need to be handled on a state, local, or personal level.  This is what our Constitution demands.

The objectives described above will sound great to most people, who read this blog, but they won’t be easy to accomplish and implementation won’t be painless.  I will address the problems next week. 

Iowa Debate & Caucus

I thought it was very interesting that Donald Trump pulled out of the Republican debate in Iowa.  Was it because of Megyn Kelley, did he think he was better off not participating, or did he think the fund raiser for veterans would do him more good? 

Was he mad at Megyn Kelly and Fox news?  I like Trump, Fox News, and Megyn Kelly, but I have to say Megyn Kelly was out-of-line as a moderator in a previous debate.  She was obviously looking for headlines by picking on Trump.  I expect this from the lame-stream media, but not Fox News.  I can understand why Trump might not want to participate in another debate with Kelly in the role of moderator.  Would he have participated if there had been another moderator that he felt would be impartial? 

Fox News backed Megyn Kelly, and insinuated that Trump was thin-skinned and acted in a juvenile manner.  Fox News was wrong on this one.  Megyn was out of line.  Defending her and attacking Trump was wrong.  There is no way Fox can say they had journalistic integrity in this issue.  Their stance is a strike against Fox’s “Fair and Balanced” slogan.

I was embarrassed for members of Fox’s The Five when they tried to hype the debate after Trump pulled out.  They all knew that Trump’s decision would hurt the debate and it’s ratings, but were trying to hype it anyway.  I understand they work for Fox, but it was pretty pathetic. 

Trump had done well in previous debates and was in first place.  Maybe he thought he was better off not taking a chance on his performance in another debate since he would be the target for everyone including the so called moderators.  Using a sports analogy, A football team does not throw passes that can be intercepted when they have the lead. 

Trump admits now that he probably made a mistake by not participating in the debate, but I can’t say I blame him.  One of the things I like about Trump is that he is  unconventional.  His second place finish in Iowa is probably good considering he was supposed to be a flash-in-the-pan, and if he lasted to Iowa, he was not expected to finish in the top ten.  Trump says he is happy with his second place finish in Iowa, but I don’t believe him.  It is kind of like having the second best poker hand.     

I have to laugh at the media when they say 40% of Iowans make up there minds who they will support in the last couple days.  I have lived in Iowa and have been involved with the caucus, and that is just plain BS.  Most people that attend the caucus know who they will support weeks in advance.  It is a cop-out by the media because they don’t have a clue what’s happening. 

It is true that one strong individual at a small caucus can and will influence the outcome for that precinct.  It is not like voting in a primary.  Sometimes the precinct result is determined by a coin toss.  Hillary won six precincts because of a coin toss.  Six out of six, what are the odds of that without fraud?

I do have to agree with what Cruz said after coming in first in Iowa.  “The media, the establishment, and big money will not elect the next President.”  The media clearly played a major role in electing President Obama.  Iowa caucus turnout set records.  Cruz, Trump and Rubio all received more votes than any other Republican candidate in history. 

It’s about time the people of this country stand up for their rights, and take this country back from the political elite.

Fool People

“It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled.”    Mark Twain

      The more I think about this quote, the more sense it makes.  It is not a joke.  The human personality defends past beliefs long after they should have been abandoned.  We hate to admit when we have been fooled.  Saying we were wrong, or saying we are sorry, or admitting we made a mistake can be worse than having a tooth pulled without Novocain.

   If any of you remember the TV series Happy Days, you will remember that the Fonz could never say that he was wrong.  His mouth could not form the word.  We all are like the Fonz to some extent. 

        Once fooled it is very hard to accept that we were so naive or stupid.  It is hard to question our knowledge, judgment, and intelligence that may have been wrong. 

        In my book, Business Fits, I have a chapter titled “Myths about Starting a Business”.  These myths about business are widely accepted as fact.  They are not true and can cause a business venture to fail.  

        In business, politics, and our personal life, we often continue down the same path long after we know it is wrong.  In business, we see many people continue with the same business system and management long after it is obvious that it has no chance of success.  Large corporations often get so top-end heavy with management that they have little chance to be profitable in the long run, but they won’t admit they were wrong and correct the situation.   

        Politics gives us some great examples of fooling or manipulating the public.  If a political ad presents a lie often enough, many people will accept it as true. 

        Our current education system seldom teaches civics, or accurate political history.  History is revised to fit the current political agenda.  The youth of our country accepts this altered history and agenda because they trust their teachers.  

        The climate change controversy is a great example of people not wanting to admit they have been fooled.  Some people say this is the greatest threat to our world.  Others think it is a hoax perpetrated for financial and political reasons.  History will show which is true, but there are people who will defend their position far beyond the facts. 

        Our federal government is the worst offender.  As President Reagan said, “Government is not the solution.  Government is the problem.”  The government continues to grow, hoping that government spending will of solve problems.  This only works in the short-run, and makes the long-run problems worse. 

        It is interesting that when the government spends money, the stock market does well for a while.  When government is reined in, the stock market normally takes a temporary dip.  As in business, government must control expenses in order to be solvent in the long-run.  People must be willing to wait for the long-term good of the country.   

        The federal government continues to add more departments and increase budgets for programs that have failed, because politicians don’t like to admit they have been fooled.   As a result, government growth is totally out of control.  It will be painful to admit we have been fooled by the Progressive movement, but if we don’t, the USA will eventually become a socialist country.

        We must admit we have been fooled or we will lose our

freedoms and children will not have the same opportunities we had.