Posted on 03/01/2011 10:49:05 AM PST by garycsr55
I feel the need to get a few things off my chest, even if nobody's listening, so here goes.
1. Collective bargaining has no place in the government sector. People who work at the taxpayer's pleasure are already very well compensated (usually, as always, there are exceptions). These folks generally have pensions, health insurance, vacations, full-time positions and JOB SECURITY. They also receive compensation commensurate with their duties. All unions are out there for (in modern times) is to line the pockets of corrupt union officials and corrupt politicos.
2. Why keep pushing for government funding of high speed rail? We already pay out huge subsidies at taxpayers expense just to keep Amtrak operational. If we add high speed rail into the mix, it will be DECADES, if ever, before it can show a return on the investment. Public transportation systems throughout the United States struggle to remain solvent, usually at the expense of subsidy from the government sector. If high speed rail is truly wanted, let investors form a corporation and build an industry from it! Why do you think so many privately owned rail companies have stopped passenger rail service? Because it's NOT profitable for them, that's why. They turn their profits by moving FREIGHT!! And freight moves fast enough currently. High speed rail for moving freight would cost more than it's worth, otherwise existing privately owned rail companies would already be building it!
3. Obamacare? If Mr. Obama really cares, let this unwanted, insupportable law die. Already many companies, and apparently, even some states have been exempted from this law. I find this to be reprehensible. Apparently, some of these exempt companies (oh, and let's not forget UNIONS) were outspoken supporters of the legislation, but two-faced as they are, now expect the rest of us to be held to a separate standard. Is this the America we all want to live in?
4. The budget battle. What a laugh. This is no battle, it's a joke. Mr. President, you're supposed cuts are so trivial in comparison to the new, costly proposals you put forth as to be laughable if it all weren't so sad. While the House of Representatives has addressed several key issues, most notably entitlements, I KNOW that their budget is so diametrically opposed to anything the White House and Senate will support that NO budget is going to pass quickly enough to stop a government shut down. ARE YOU PEOPLE in government paying attention to what's going on in the rest of the world right now? of course you are, but still you persist in allowing your progressive agendas drive you to the exclusion of protecting our concerns at the borders and abroad.
5. Speaking of the borders. It's common knowledge that our borders, both northern and southern, are so porous that no one determined to cross over to commit heinous acts would be stopped. You pay lip service to how our anti-terrorist forces have stopped many incursions, and that's true as far as it goes, but will you stop the next one? That's questionable at best. The Border Patrol is under--funded, under equipped and undermanned, yet you appear to be making little effort to correct this problem. Construction of barrier fences have practically stopped if not completely been stopped. And of course, no fence in and of itself will stop the crossings. This is proven daily by the crossing of people seeking jobs, illegal drug traffic and slaves (don't try to deny the slave trade--if you do you're outright lying). We are pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Rather than doing what the government has historically done (don't try to deny this, I'm a Vietnam vet and I remember), don't discharge these troops. Instead use them to bolster the man-power of the Border Patrol. If need be, MAKE THEM MEMBERS of the Border Patrol by transferring them. Secure the borders before something worse happens!!
6. The second amendment. Gun control. While I acknowledge the necessity of regulating the possession of firearms for the protection of the public, this does not mean you should take firearms out of the hands of responsible citizens. Some looneytunes are always going to slip through the cracks. This is an unfortunate truth. The solution, at least in part, is better screening. Of course, no amount of restriction is ever going to stop the criminal element from getting access to illegal weaponry. This is just an unfortunate fact of life. Get over it. Taking weapons from law abiding citizens only serves to increase the number of VICTIMS of crime. Don't go bemoaning the number of accidental shootings. Compared to the the number of fatal traffic accidents, those occurrences are miniscule. Should we ban automobiles, too? Yeah, I know my arguments are trite. That doesn't make them wrong.
7. Unemployment and jobs. The unemployment rates are an outright lie. You are deliberately omitting those who have stopped being counted by the unemployment rolls because their benefits have run out. You don't count the unemployable, like people who are disabled but have not yet managed to get approved for disability. I shudder to think of the number who are in the appeals process whether or not they have legal representation. There's an entire legal industry out there dedicated to collecting from the backpay of those folks. And you progressives (when it's politically expedient) are well known for bemoaning the plight of the homeless---I feel badly for the homeless myself. I've been homeless so I know exactly what it feels like. But, those folks aren't counted by the Unemployment numbers either. Oh, I'm not criticizing those in the legal profession mentioned above, either. The Social Security's rules making determinations have forced this to happen. Disabled people have been left with no other option. There are members of the Senate who are very good at helping the disabled get approved, but their offices are swamped with pleas for assistance. The number of situations they're able to address are understandably limited. Also, the number of people in the penal system are not counted in unemployment figures. As far as jobs go---sure, there's lot's of low-skilled, part-time jobs out there. These pay mostly minimum wage, and people's hours are tightly controlled to keep them on a part-time, low or no benefits basis. Skilled jobs are rapidly being moved out of the country, such as the auto industry moving to Mexican locations, taxing advantage of cheap labor and low taxes. Our government goes merrily along, increasing costs of operation through oppressive taxation and regulation of heavy industry. Other types of jobs are leaving for similar reasons. A few years ago, the country experienced a boom in jobs from companies that provided call center support in a lot of areas. These jobs certainly may not have been glamorous or exactly high paying, but they did provide good, steady employment to a lot of the under-employed. Now these jobs are shifting rapidly overseas. How many times have you called a company for customer assistance and had the phone answered by somebody who could barely speak English, calling himself Robert, Michael, Steven or Patrick, when you know good and well his name is probably Achmed, Osama or maybe even Paco? All these jobs lost because government regulation, taxation and cheap foreign labor have encouraged jobs to leave. The only really good thing I've heard coming out of the Obama administration (and this has been put forward by most recent administrations, both Republican and Democratic) is rebuilding our infrastructure. Thus far, very little of what's needed to be done, has been done. Come on, stop paying lip service to this and get busy handing out these contracts and putting people back to work! This is one expenditure where the government can justify making the expenditure. Those jobs could truly be looked at as an investment because people employed this way would be making a true living wage and PAYING TAXES to help fight the deficit!
8. The DEFICIT. Go ahead, keep on playing games with the non-existent budget. You're apparently happily driving the country into insolvency. Oh, wait, we're already insolvent. All you've done at this point make specious arguments and throw out ideas that won't even take effect until this administration is history. And, as always happens because the next administration will be of the other party. Trillions of dollars worth of deficit spending. These numbers are so large that the average person can't even wrap their mind around them. I have to live within my means or I get never ending calls and letters from collectors or run the risk of having my utilities turned off, being evicted or losing my ability to keep us fed. Does the President have to deal with, say, the Premier of China calling up to say, "Hey, Mr. Obama, this months payment is late. We're going to repossess the U.S.S. Enterprise if we don't get a payment by the 23rd"? I kinda doubt it. You know, if I can't quite make it this month, I'll probably have to sell something. It's happened before and will probably happen again. A few months ago, it got so bad we had to sell our wedding rings to get by. Bet Mr. Obama doesn't have to do that.
How about alleviating at least some of the deficit by taking a page from a notable Democrat--The ONLY President who EVER put paid to the federal deficit-Andrew Jackson. Do what he did--sell of some of the federal lands that are just sitting idle. I know that it's never going to be enough, but any start is still at least a start. Stop sitting on your backsides on the Alaskan oil fields. I've seen what those lands look like. The whole concept on preserving their 'Pristine Beauty' is almost laughable. Not even the argument about not disrupting the habitat of caribou carries any weight when I've SEEN the pictures of them warming themselves up by rubbing against the pipeline. This of course, would have the added benefits of providing good jobs, increased revenue from taxes, increasing our domestic oil reserves and reduction of dependence on foreign oil.
Stop dithering around about developing alternative energy. Start providing investment incentives to companies willing to put up solar panels and windmills--perhaps on some of the thousands of square miles of land the government has standing idle. These two technologies are already proven. Yes, they can be somewhat unsightly to some people and some environmentalists will argue they destroy habitats, but come on, get real. I'm sorry, but people ARE more important than the local spotted sand lizard.
Start building nuclear plants again. You know perfectly well that the technologies now exist to keep them both clean and safe. Stop lying to the American people. Start drilling for off-shore oil reserves. While it's true that there's a real danger of environmental damage in the event of an accident, tighter controls on drilling, construction and pumping procedures should serve to alleviate the majority of the danger. It could be less dangerous ultimately than the danger of spills from tankers already plying our waters. You could even sponsor the construction of underwater and underground pipelines to help reduce the danger of tanker spills.
And ALL of these suggestions mean JOBS as well as increased tax revenues. The number of jobs that could be developed might even require us to IMPORT labor to keep up. I can imagine a country where Mexican nationals would actually be WELCOMED, provided they enter the country through legal channels.
There is no real, good reason that the United States can't increase the GDP or the GNP, except for government getting in the way of domestic industry.
9. Start going through the legislation of the last 20 years or so. Look for the pork barrel spending that's been attached to various legislation, and ELIMINATE any items that are still receiving funding. Take a hard look at entitlement spending. The Social Security Administration needs to be restructured. It's not impossible to guarantee or elderly and disabled that their needs will be taken care of, but there's got to be a stop put to 'borrowing' funds meant to provide for these programs stops. And for God's sake, stop lying about the existence of a 'Social Security Trust Fund'. It doesn't, and never has existed. Instead, actually CREATE a Social NEEDS Trust Fund. Start ensuring that ALL the money withheld from payrolls actually GO to the Fund, instead of into the GENERAL FUND the way that money currently does.
10. Education. I could go on for hours. Get the federal government out of micro-managing education. Encourage private schools. Start making sure that Politics stays out of the classroom, with the exception of Social Studies classes. Start encouraging the teaching of the basic needs of our kids. Science, Literature, History and Math. Start testing TEACHERS to be sure they are COMPETENT to teach our kids and start DISMISSING the ones that aren't qualified. Our kids are bright enough to pass any test put to them when they get actual instruction in the subject matter instead of being taught 'How to Pass 'THE TEST'. Encourage the use of extra-curricular activities as a reward for good performance in school. Make the basics of education the priority. Then encourage the study of music and art once the student has achieved competency in good old reading, writing and math. Start bringing physical fitness back into schools. Keep kids too busy with the business of learning---actual LEARNING, not memorization--so they don't have TIME to use drugs, get pregnant or any of the other non-productive activities they frequently engage in now. INVOLVE PARENTS!!! Back in what my granddaughter so eloquently called "The olden days" (yeah, it's trite, but it's still cute), we actually knew that an "F", "D" or even a "C" in a class would get my folks immediate, undivided attention. Parents used to be actively engaged in their children's education. In recent years, parental involvement in their children's schooling has been actively discouraged. This practice, as any GOOD educator will confirm, needs to STOP immediately. Children cannot be expected to study properly unless their parents take an active roll. OUR KIDS ARE NOT JUST SMALL ADULTS!! They lack the maturity to be self-guided through life. Parents have been encouraged to abrogate their responsibilities concerning their kids. IT DOES NOT TAKE A VILLAGE TO RAISE A CHILD!! It takes involved parenting. It DOES take a village to see that our kids are kept safe from harm. It DOES take the active involvement of the community to help steer kids into constructive activities. Community involvement is essential in helping ensure that ANY criminal element be kept away from our youth. Criminal activities in or near our schools should be swiftly, decisively dealt with. Criminal activity will only vanish from our schools when educators and parents band together to stop it. Our kids MUST learn that there will be serious consequences for any type of involvement.
Because they're politicians, not statesmen.
Because democrats own the unions and are communists who hate business and capitalism.
I feel the need to get a few things off my chest...
_________________________________________
A few things, you say? 2500 words is “few things”?
lolol
God help you if ever you feel the need to get a whole lot off your chest.
It took 50 years of Liberalism to get us here it will take at least 25 of conservatism to get us back to as good as we were 50 years ago.
You just signed up today and posted this waste of bandwidth.
Welcome newbie.
Suggestion, maybe you should try reading what is discussed on here and learn something.
Most of what you wrote we already know, or is not important.
Are you even a real person as compared to one of the new software posters.
3 words: PRIVATE SLUSH FUNDS
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.