Political Manifesto for the 21st Century

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. (Declaration of Independence, 1776)

We affirm these self-evident truths, and declare that it is time to abolish our form of government, not by armed revolution, but by the election of representatives who will change it.

The Constitution of the United States allows for the people to elect their representatives every two years, and to elect every senator every six, and to elect the president every four. Each state constitution allows the citizens of that state a similar power to choose their government. Through electing representatives that represent our desire to preserve our government solely to protect the individual rights of everyone, we propose the following changes be made.

1. Limited government. Our governments are limited by the constitutions that form them. We need to enact a common understanding among the people of what those limits are and impose them on our governments. We need also to strengthen the already existing limits, overturning bad interpretations by our courts, legislators, and executives, and impose new and stronger limits on our governments which will forever ensure our individual liberty.
2. Dramatic cuts to spending. Our governments should spend our money procuring only those goods and services that will protect our rights.
3. An end to government charity. It is the role of our churches and the individual to supply charity to the poor, not the state. If the individual and churches cannot supply the charity, government could only do worse. Having government provide charity absolved the conscience and duty of the people from their proper role to love their neighbor.
4. An end to unfunded legislation. Any program that congress enacts must be completely and fully funded at the time of its creation. We will not enslave future generations to programs that we create but do not fully fund. Existing programs that are unfunded should be canceled or modified until they can be funded.
5. Dramatic cuts to taxation. Our governments should collect far less taxes than the people can bear. The people should be free to pursue whatever economic matter they wish without burden or undue influence due to taxes. Taxes should not be used to punish the rich or to mold society’s behavior. They should only be used to raise the necessary money to meet the spending requirements of a government that protects the rights of the individual. Any surpluses should be immediately refunded to the people in proportion to taxes paid, or used to pay off debts. Taxes should never be raised to meet spending; rather, spending should be cut to meet tax revenue.
6. An end to government debt. Our people have become more prosperous than any other people in the world. We do not need to borrow money anymore to provide for the needs of government. Paying interest on our government debts is slavery, not freedom. We are not free until we have paid off all of our debts. Any debt that we must incur should be paid off within a very short time frame, so that our debts are not repaid by our children.
7. An end to bureaucratic regulation. Any kind of regulation must be debated and passed by the legislatures of our governments, and no other way. No public official should be allowed to set policy that governs the life of anyone but their own employees. No court should dictate legislation. No executive should issue orders except to his troops and employees. Anyone exceeding these limits should immediately be removed from office by impeachment because they are a threat to our liberty.
8. An end to over-litigation. The laws of our country are unjust, in that they are used to punish those who have done no wrong with tort laws and allow the criminal to go free. Let our laws be simple and just so that we no longer have need of lawyers. Do not allow our constitution to be interpreted as giving shelter to the guilty or limiting the freedoms of the individual.

We boldly declare that freedom and liberty are dramatically different than tyranny and slavery. In a free society, government works differently than in an enslaved society. Our governments should be eternally fearful of the will of the people, forever locked in by the limits of the constitution which creates them, and ever subservient to the people, both the individual and as a whole.

We emphatically reject the tenets of communism, socialism, fascism, totalitarianism, colonialism, and every other form of government or political idea that sets one person above another, that limits the freedom of the individual for the “greater good”, or attempts to convince any individual that they have no rights or fewer rights than the rights man is endowed with by their Creator.

We boldly declare that in our society, the checks and balances in our government includes the individual, private organizations such as businesses or churches or political groups, and federated governments such as the local, state, and federal governments. By distributing the power to govern among these people, organizations, and governments, no one person or group of people is able to obtain much power over the rest.

We also declare that there is enough in this world, and to spare, if the individual is freed from the constraints of government to seek his own fortune in life. We also declare that the man who has obtained wealth is capable of providing charity to the poor, jobs to those who want them, and also to pursue the critical role of participating in politics to keep government constrained. We encourage all men, everywhere, to embrace their freedom, seek their own fortunes, and once having obtained it, spend their time and resources as they see fit in service to their fellowman, without the entanglement of government.

Money

One of the things we as average American citizens need to know about is money. What is money? Where does it come from?

Money is a medium of exchange. That is, it’s what you use to buy and sell stuff. It doesn’t matter what you use, as long as you can use it to buy or sell stuff, it’s money.

There are two types of money out there. The first and most primitive type is commodity money. This is simply money that is literally a commodity—a good that is commonly bought and sold. We are used to things like gold and silver, but other cultures at other times have used different things as money. Commodity money may be valuable in and of itself, like grain or salt, or it may have no or little intrinsic value, such as precious metals.

The other type of money is fiat money, or in other words, make-believe money. This is what most modern economies use for their money. It’s money that is money because people say it is money. There is no limit on how much can be created. The US Dollar is fiat money.

Now, fiat money isn’t necessarily bad money. There’s a reason why everyone switched from gold and silver in the modern era. There’s a reason why, after the switch, the world’s economies have grown much faster and much larger than ever imagined. But there is a danger to it, a very real danger we are facing today.

If you consider an economy, you must consider its money supply. That is, how much money is there, and how is it being used?

In any economy, if you have too much money chasing too few goods and services, the prices tend to rise. This is called inflation. It’s effects are particularly noticeable to the middle and lower classes because it means your salary buys less food, clothing, shelter, health care, and entertainment.

To those of us who aren’t good at working amortization tables, inflation can be a killer. You can quite literally lose your life savings during periods of inflation. Inflation hurts the poor the most because they are really bad at math. It also hurts those on fixed incomes, such as retirees, because they don’t really have a choice.

Deflation is the opposite of inflation. During deflation, too little money is chasing to many goods and services. During these periods, the prices tend to fall. It’s effects are particularly noticeable to the middle and lower classes because while prices are falling, we lose our jobs. See, as we stop buying so much stuff, because we expect things to get cheaper, we also put each other out of work. A factory that isn’t selling anything doesn’t have any need to employees, neither does it have need of raw materials.

You can tell deflation is happening because you have a strong urge to throw every penny you have in a bank, or under your bed, or some other place where it won’t earn much in return. People on fixed incomes are living it up, but jobs are mysteriously disappearing.

Deflation is doubly bad because it leads to a feedback loop on itself. Some deflation leads to more deflation. Even more deflation leads to even more deflation. It doesn’t really stop until the economy collapses or someone creates more money.

As an economy grows, there needs to be more money chasing the new goods and services. Otherwise, there would be deflation. On the other hand, as an economy shrinks, you need to decrease the amount of money out there to prevent inflation.

On the other side of the equation, if the economy neither grows nor shrinks, but there is more money, you get inflation. Less money in the same conditions gives you deflation.

At this point, economists start debating loans and bank accounts and savings and such. I won’t bother. We really can’t control who decides to do what with their money. We can’t really control what banks decide to do with theirs either, nor who is going to ask banks for loans or credit. This kind of activity is really a reaction to market conditions and government policy anyway.

The one thing we, the people, can control is how much money is printed each year. This has a direct effect on whether we experience inflation or deflation.

As we talk about the federal budget, we need to think carefully about how much money the government is printing. Unfortunately, the congress no longer controls the amount of money printed each year, even though the constitution gives them direct control over this. We have to trust the Federal Reserve to do the right thing and print just enough money to cover the economic growth for the year, but not so much as to cause inflation.

If we were to abandon the Fed, and simply have congress print the money, then congress could write a budget that would include the amount of new money that it decides to print that year, without borrowing a dime to fund it. This is a great way to balance the budget while spending more than we tax.

If the new money matches the economic growth, then we can actually have an economy without inflation or deflation or taxes. That is, we can spend, freely, as much money as the economy grows that year. In fact, we have to spend that much money or we risk deflation.

In our economy, this year, if we maintain a 3% growth rate (which is low), then that’s $426 billion. If we grow at a much faster rate, say 5% or 10% (which we would without any taxes at all), then we’d see $710 billion or $1.4 trillion in free money. That’s more than enough to cover our national budget.

“Birthers” and Obama and Victory

I’ll readily admit, I am one of those crazy nuts who actually believes that Barack Obama hasn’t produced a legal birth certificate showing that he was born in the USA. That makes me a “birther”, if you see things that way.

However, I don’t believe we who believe this should talk much about it in public.

In battle, you use what works against your enemy. You don’t use everything available, just what is readily available and what will get the job done. In engineering, it’s the same thing. There are lots of things you can do, but you have to choose something you can do right now and that is all but guaranteed to work.

If you believe Obama isn’t showing his real birth certificate, for whatever reason, you likely want him to step down and leave office. Barring that, you’d like to see his policies and politics thwarted at every turn. An illegitimate president has no right to execute his office.

If so, then your goal becomes to stop the man’s agenda. That means destroying the man politically. How is the best way you can do that? You use what works.

Obviously, the birth certificate issue could be a good weapon against Barack Obama’s policies and agenda. But there is a far better issue that is not only useful, but extremely powerful.

That weapon is his fiscal irresponsibility, his socialist attitudes, and his blatant arrogance and dishonesty. These are completely obvious to everyone, on all sides of the aisle, in between the aisles, and above and below them. No one thinks he is trying to do anything but bankrupt the country, no one believes he is anything but a died-in-the-wool red socialist, and no one believes he is anything but a dishonest, arrogant, child of a man.

These attacks are effective and devastating. Let’s use them again and again. Let’s keep using them until Barack Obama becomes the campaign issue—for fiscally conservative, pro-liberty, humble honest politicians.

With these kinds of politicians in place, what do we care if the president is a sworn enemy to the United States whose loyalties fall elsewhere?

Barack Obama has made the birth certificate issue moot. He has shown himself to be vulnerable to things far more serious than attacking his place of birth and citizenship credentials. Let’s move on from the weaker issue to the stronger one.

What Insanity Looks Like

A certain Spaniard named Cao fell in love with communism. Eventually, he discovered North Korea and thought that it was the perfect embodiment of all his ideals. After many attempts, he was allowed to become part of the ruling class there. He gave an interview with one Enzo Reale.

The interview is in two parts: part 1 part 2

I think all of Cao’s arguments for the North Korean state boil down to his thoughts on human rights.

In our mind, we believe human rights are rights that allow humans to be human. Things like speech, property ownership, life, etc… are all things that make us what we are.

However, in Cao’s mind, human rights are simply having enough food to eat, clothes to wear, and a roof over your head. In other words, to Cao, humans are cattle.

The problem with real human rights, the kind enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, is that people get these ideas, ideas that aren’t the same as everyone else’s ideas. There is disagreement. There is conflict. In fact, you have people that outright fight with each other, if not physically, than through politics or society or business.

The beauty of our system is that the fighting is actually good. Let ideas compete! Let people compete! Let them be the best they can be, and let them prove their value and worth on their own value and worth! We are all better for it. We are all better living a life where we strive to be the best we can be, to do the most with what we have, to strive to be like gods, and not like animals.

The sadness of the North Korean society is that someone has to feed the cattle, tell them where to go, and make sure they don’t sit out in the storm. These people are humans. But they don’t view the cattle as if they were equals, but instead, as if they were owned by these leaders. This is a society with slavemasters and slaves.

It boils my blood that people like Cao can live on this earth. Cao, instead of challenging us to rethink our ways, simply fled to North Korea, where he can live in safety and comfort as a cow.

Isn’t this what democrats are doing? When their ideas and policies and politics fail them, they fall back to force and deception to keep their power. How despicable.

How to fix America

By: Frosty E. Hardison

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best. Much like Akham’s Razor suggests that all things being equal, the simplest answer is usually the correct one – sometimes the simplest explanation is the right one too. After months of pondering these questions about the “pending” economic recovery, even during the Bush Administration, I have a few simple low cost solutions myself.

Education: Frankly, we have lost our way. If you take the time to research our public school system over the last hundred years, or even pick up a book or two by John Taylor Gatto (Amazon) you will understand how programmed the American sheeple have become in Amerika. Programmed to go to work in the factories, allowing government to think for them and take care of them. Yeah take care of them as slaves! What happened to self reliance?

Next, we have too many languages to cater to in public school. There should never have been more than one. Divisiveness is killing us from within. Learn it or leave it. Instead of teaching diversity – unite us as a nation. One language, one history and one science not junk science and unproven THEORIES.

You want to teach history? Have some of our soldiers go on a speaking tour with some of the History Channel’s documentary videos relating to the battles some of these soldier were actually in. You want to show the greatest level of respect for a vet? Have them teach about that war and allow our children to learn from real heroes. The benefit of learning history is that we hopefully have learned something from the past mistakes.

I am a Star Trek fan, which we will come back to, I would like to see our nation begin thinking beyond self and stop making politicians richer and making bankers richer – let us focus on the future of our species, our planet and space exploration. Let us unite as a nation and stop bickering about our differences. Let us speak one language (English) and have a second language increase our culture and experience to enhance us not inhibit us.

Let’s build Star Fleet Academy and train our brightest to learn truth by experience, experimentation and observation. Have them seek the truth at all costs and NEVER EVER allow a group of people ever stifle continued discussion of ideas like they are doing now to creationists. (Ben Stein) Let us learn and teach hypothesis and facts – and how to distinguish the two. Let us test ideas for accuracy and if a theory does not have all the answers – let’s keep looking!

The THEORY of evolution is a THEORY and still not a provable fact – it too has too many holes to be the stand alone explanation for life on earth. However, again the simplest explanation in the written record of events by those living at the time who witnessed it first hand cannot be thrown out with the bath water entirely. Get over it. Another historical fact is that nations in history that have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of human rights, laws and believe in the existence of a loving God, flourish and those who lose their moral compass soon perish. Call it God, call it whatever you want to – a society that believes in God and has a sense of good nature and morality – thrive.

Learn by example and emphasize producing repeatable results as a conclusion not some random test sample or basing our facts on a dating method such as radioactive decay that has an accuracy rate of +/-1 – 800 million years.

Economy: First off a simple question. How do companies make money? I mean boiled down to the basics… create a product or service in demand and sell said – right? Wrong. That’s only a partial right answer – to make money means turning a profit. To do that a company has to have revenues that are greater than it’s expenses and serviceable debt. Sure you can create a product or service but unless you make money (a profit) you’re out of business! A hundred and twenty years ago debt was taught as a bad thing to get yourself into. It was part of elementary education. Don’t borrow more money than you can pay back. Cash is king. You can’t borrow yourself out of debt. Common sense right? Look around you today.

According to creditcards.com (Link) the average household had 5 cards or more in 2008 averaging $10,679 – each.  Hello?

These are simple no brainer concepts no longer taught in public schools. This needs to change.

Also, I would like to offer a slight dis-agreement to Ronald Reagan’s “Trickle Down Economics” philosophy. Trickle down economics doesn’t work nearly as well as TRICKLE UP economics. I state that as a fact of spending habits in combination with Paretto’s Law of 80/20. Whereby 20% of the population own as much as 80% of all assets and wealth in America; while 80% are lucky to make the house payment each month. Continued out in extrapolation – 20% of the population have all they need and the other 80% are heavy consumers needing to spend their income on daily needs. Understand? With that baseline established….

May I offer the solution that if we can stimulate the 80% (major consumers) to be more productive they tend to spend 80% or more of their income on living expenses – which yes may include beer, cigarettes, cable and the basics of life, but let us remember that those industries are owned by the other 20%; so the money still flows north and up the chain then needs to come back down – like the water cycle. Whereas this last stimulus package the Obama-nation supported went to the 20% of wealth owners in America. The problem is conservative estimates suggest the stimulus money stayed right there. That’s $3.3 trillion that went nowhere but into the pockets and bank accounts of the wealthiest people in the world. (Stimulus went where?)

Ergo – this is the very reason we have not seen a fast economic recovery. The banks and big business owners that this last stimulus money went to never made it into the creation of jobs, never got spread around throughout the economy – it did however go to line the pockets of senior executives in just about every echelon of big banks and businesses. Billions of dollars in tax money went to pay bonuses and 6-7 figure incomes. Where do you think that money went? Did you see any of it? Where is your bailout? We covered earlier that these 20% need not spend their money as much as the 80% do right? I mean when you’re making millions of dollars and your house payment is a mere 2 – 10% of that – you get to save more of your money in off shore bank accounts – right?

The best way to jump start the economy is simple, stop the pork in Congress, stop allowing lobbyists to bank roll government officials, stop giving bankers any stimulus money to manage, demand an accounting for the money they already have accepted and spend that money on getting rid of the Federal Reserve, re-establish fair lending laws making 12% the maximum interest rate any bank, credit card or contract can charge. Lastly, stabilize the money supply with platinum, gold, silver, copper or aluminum.

Next? Get rid of the income tax for a sales tax. The nation will make more money with a sales tax on the US GDP than with an income tax anyway. By getting rid of the Federal Reserve we can allow banks to borrow from the US Government and pay interest there where the cost/expense of credit go back into our nation’s economy, not the world bank, bank of London or some other country like China.

Finances: How do you fix finances? Again look at history. In the late 1920’s the nation of Germany had hyperinflation. The government had printed so much paper money that it became valueless. Sound familiar? It took thousands of Marks to buy a loaf of bread. (Germany 1924) The U.S. is headed that direction if we don’t get the Federal Reserve off our backs and overhaul our Congress.

An old saying suggests that when you are in a hole the first step to getting out is to stop digging. We need to turn the tables on banks that offer credit cards at 30%. We need to put the caps back and since the average persons credit rating is held so high as a measurement of worth in this country, make the credit bureaus a lot more accountable to accuracy.

The first and cheapest solution to fixing our nations finances is making the money stable and backed by something of value. Again we have to get rid of the Federal Reserve printing more and more worthless paper that is no longer worth anything more than an idea. I don’t know about you, but I have had enough of the tax and spend by both sides of the house and senate. One of the first signs of a government getting out of hand is once they have a spigot installed on your wallet. Once that happens all accountability goes out the window and they have total power. The founding fathers knew this – which is why the direct tax was prohibited as a fact in the U.S> Constitution (Article 1 Sec. 9 lines 4 & 5) Didn’t we learn anything from the Magna Carta? Once taxation was taken away from the king – the king lost all control. I could go on here about Rothschild and the Napoleonic war and how his hired man rushed the news of victory to Rothschild who spread the rumor that England had lost only to buy nearly everything for pennies on the dollar the next day when the market collapsed. I’ll save that story for another rant, I mean another day.

The key point is your money is losing value daily. The reason is our paper dollar is not backed by tangible assets any longer. That needs to change. What good is it to have a million dollars in the bank, and in 10 years have two million – with less buying power? That’s the erosion of your retirement, your savings and taking away the need for savings – period.

Healthcare: We need to get government and lawyers out of the healthcare business. A free society needs to have the choice of competition in medicine – or we will surely die of the cure instead of the disease. “Government governs best when it governs least.” That is a quote from Thomas Paine which still holds true today. (Thomas Paine). I tell you a key to getting politicians out of our healthcare system is to mandate that politicians have to use the same healthcare and stand in line like the rest of us – with no chance of favoritism being given to them. What’s good for the nation should be good enough for these public servants.

I like this quote too:  “It would be a better place if the guy telling us nothing can be done would get out of the way of those of us actually already doing it!” I find this a particularly fun quote as my wife and I used to teach finance classes and when it came to fast growth stocks and negotiating with creditors… we heard all kinds of excuses of why it wouldn’t work from people that had never tried it. Then I showed them I already did it. Yeah, lead follow or get out of the way. If you’re not a part of the solution you are part of the problem. If you want to tell me how to fix something – be prepared to back it up with proven results.

You want to fix something – go back in time when it was working – and learn from the mistakes we’ve made in taking from some to give to others.

If lazy people wish to be lazy – let them reap what they sow. But don’t sit there and punish me because I want more for my family out of life than to live in a mobile home and be a beer drinking redneck. I have not gone to college for 12 years and taken all the classes I can to be more than just the sum of my parts – only to have my go getter attitude taxed so that some lazy fool can get his welfare check and cigarettes. I did not sign on for that in life.

And that my dear reader is how we can fix America before it becomes Amerika.

God help us.

Frosty E Hardison

Frosty E. Hardison is a graduate of Colorado Technical University with a degree in Business Administration. An MBA honors student with a 3.83 GPA, Frosty is most recognized for standing up against the Al Gore film “An Inconvenient Truth” being shown as a stand alone “science film” in his daughter’s science class in January 2007. He specializes in data research and analysis as well as work flow/production efficiency. For questions, see his website.

Candidates Welcome

I am more than willing to post any content from any candidate who wants to see limited government. You don’t have to be a republican or a member of any party.

If you want to run for office, let me help you by spreading your message here.

If you’d like my support, please don’t hesitate to ask.

I think this is the ideal year to run as a fiscal conservative from any party. The progressives and liberals from both sides of the aisle are very vulnerable. If we storm the capitol now, we can restore fiscal sanity and maybe even put into process constitutional amendments to ensure government can never grow again.

Legalization of Drugs

I think I’ve finally come to a turning point in my political philosophy.

When we discuss the legalization of drugs, we have to think of the various possibilities. For any substance out there, we can handle it in one of the following ways.

(1) Complete ban. Under this scenario, we completely ban the manufacture, distribution, possession and consumption of the substance. If we catch you with it, you’re going to jail for a long time, and we’re going to take away everything you hold dear.

The effect of the complete ban is two-fold. First, there is, obviously, less of the production, distribution, possession and consumption in public. This kind of stuff is driven underground. This implies that there is also, overall, less consumption. However, it is not completely eliminated, and indeed, can never be completely eliminated. What people do in private, they can never be discovered.

The other effect is the druglords. Driving these things to the black market gives a tremendous economic opportunity to those who operate without the law. They don’t have to pay taxes, adhere to proper regulations such as weights and measures and proper labeling. They don’t have to tell us who works for them or how their company is structured. We don’t even get to collect the B&O tax from them. With this new-found economic benefit, these drug lords become pretty powerful. If they are allowed to grow in power, their power may challenge the power of the state itself. We see this happening in Mexico and other countries.

(2) Heavy taxes. In this scenario, the production, distribution, possession and consumption of the substances are completely legal. However, there is a stiff tax on it. The tax isn’t so high that a black market can thrive, but it is almost that high.

We put the high tax on the substance for two reasons. One, to limit the quantity. By raising the price, fewer people will be able to even afford the substance, and what they can buy is in limited quantities. Two, to help fund the state coffers.

We shouldn’t let the tax revenue be the driving force behind the taxes though. At a much lower tax level, we can potentially raise much more revenue. The problem is that this implies that a whole lot more consumption is going on. So we don’t want to maximize tax revenue. We simply want to limit consumption.

Under this scenario, we should also regulate the production and distribution of the substance. Make sure that whatever is manufactured is labeled appropriately. This will help the final consumer get what they paid for. This should also help people make better decisions about how they will partake of the substance. Perhaps we may even see some responsible consumption.

We may also regulate the advertisement of these substances. Make it so that they don’t entice people who don’t already partake of these substances to experiment with them. We may also require people who buy these substances to sign a release form that indicates that they are very likely to damage themselves if they partake of the substances, and that they will be held responsible for whatever they do under the influence of those substances.

The best part is that the black market is eliminated.

(3) Free market. In this scenario, we don’t tax the substance any more than we tax anything else. It participates in the free market at its natural price.

I don’t like this because the consumption under this method will be highest. In some cases, the bad substances are actually cheaper to make than good substances of a similar kind. For instance, alcohol could be manufactured more cheaply than a good soda, and if that were the case, the poor may choose to consume alcohol over  soda.

(3) State controlled sales. In this scenario, the state controls the manufacture, or distribution of the substances.

The biggest problem with this is that the state can never make as much money as the people could. That implies that simply adding a tax to the people doing the same work will give us more revenue.

Also, state-run businesses work to a far lower standard than typical businesses. We cannot expect more professionalism if the employees are not concerned about natural market forces.

Given the above scenarios, we choose the option that gives us the best result. Obviously, that result is (2) Heavy Taxes. In this spirit, I join the political ranks of those who want the legalization of harmful substances.

However, we are still left with a problem. What do we do with people who don’t choose to be responsible? These would be people who drink until they get drunk and drive. Or mess up their minds with harmful substances.

In these cases, we make it a crime to be in public in an altered state of mind caused by harmful substances. Or rather, to be in a state of mind that is a danger to the public. We punish people according to their crimes against society. A harmless drunk walking the streets isn’t a problem, but a brawling drunk or an obnoxious drunk is. Obviously, if that drunk gets behind a wheel, then they become a physical danger to everyone.

People who have proven that they can’t be trusted in free society where these substances are available should be locked up for the rest of their lives. They can pay for their own imprisonment by making license plates. But if they can clean up their act and responsibly live in a society with these substances available, then they should be re-admitted to society.

People who have damaged their health with these substances should also be locked up. If your brain is damaged because you baked it on drugs, you cannot participate as a functioning member of our society.

I-960, Adios!

Tim Eyman called it. The legislature, controlled by democrats, have completely repealed I-960. (link)

I-960 had two important parts. The first part required that every tax increase be approved either by 2/3rds of the legislature, or by a majority of the legislature and a majority vote of the people. Of course, there is no way Washington State is going to approve even higher taxes, so the legislature simply repealed I-960.

I-960 also had a “sunshine” clause that required legislators to honestly assess the real cost of taxes and show that to the people. They got rid of this as well, since sunshine is always bad for a democrat.

I want you to do something a little different this year.

First, support the opponent to the democrats from your district with money, time, and your free speech. Make sure that whoever runs against the democrats will pledge, unequivocally, to not only reinstate I-960, but propose it as a constitutional amendment. Make them tell you, loudly and clearly, that Washington State needs a smaller state government, and that they will actually cut spending by eliminating programs that we don’t need.

Second, support I-1053 at http://www.voterswantmorechoices.com/ with your money and time.

We need a legislature that supports our initiatives. The democrats are not worthy to serve us because they consistently and predictably overturn our initiatives.

Social Security Double Tax

Social Security, in 2010, is now bankrupt. Yep, there is not enough money going in to support the money going out.

Of course, the Social Security program isn’t going away. No, no, no! Why, the federal budget Barack Obama proposed is going to take even more money from our pockets to support the program.

It’s too bad, really. We should have seen this coming the first time it became apparent that this Ponzi Scheme was not going to be solvent in the long run.

But Social Security was never about giving money to old people, or ensuring that everyone has a nice retirement account.

No, it was about taking cash from the American worker to spend for reelection campaigns. The cash flowed from our pockets, through the Social Security Administration, through Congress, and out to political supporters of whoever was in office.

Social Security is already failed. There is NO WAY we will ever see the money. I’ve received a letter from the Social Security Administration telling me that before I retire, unless something drastic happens, I cannot expect even 75% of my money to be there for me.

We have a choice. Either we can continue to pay into Social Security with a double tax—once from the Social Security tax and twice with the income tax—and perhaps prop it up a little longer. Or we can shut it down TODAY.

I vote we shut it down TODAY.

I feel sad for all the people who depend on their Social Security check. But unfortunately, there is no money in the program anymore. Just like all the poor people who were taken in with a Ponzi Scheme, there is no way to make restitution to them.

The best course of action is to come clean, announce what has really happened, and have the American people, the most generous people in the entire history of the world, step forward to help the elderly.

After all, we trusted the federal government to run the system, and look what they did. Shame on them for lying to the retirees.

Pre-primary

Tea Party people, listen up.

If you’re going to take on the Republican Party to eliminate its progressive proclivities, you have to organize yourselves. Get behind a single candidate, finance him, and then have him win the Republican Party primary.

In order to do so, you have to choose a good candidate to get behind. At the very least, give everyone a say in who the candidate should be, with the understanding that whomever is chosen, they will be the person you support.

How do you choose a candidate? With a pre-primary.

You don’t have to be terribly organized to get a pre-primary going. Here are two ways.

One, get leaders of the tea party movement into a room. Have them nominate potential candidates. Then duke it out until you have a vote. Keep voting until one of the candidates gets a majority vote. That will be your candidate. By voting again and again until someone gets a majority vote, you ensure that the candidate you choose at least represents a majority of the people. You also give a chance to Dark Horse candidates, candidates that normally wouldn’t have won a straight-up race but do a better job representing the majority interests than any other candidate.

How do you choose leaders? There are several ways to do this. Have them come with endorsements. Every hundred endorsements earns them a vote at the table. This way, people who are endorsed by a large number get more say than those representing a few people. These endorsements should be signed by people who believe in smaller government and a return to constitutional values. Anyone, republican or democrat, libertarian or whatever, should be allowed to sign, as long as that’s what they represent.

Allow the nomination convention to boot out people they feel don’t belong. This is a drastic measure, but if someone is causing a problem or if it’s clear that they don’t represent people who want smaller government, then don’t allow them to participate.

These kinds of meetings are what republican leaders and democratic leaders all over the country do, except there are far fewer participants and much more smoke. You don’t have the luxury of following behind some aristocratic party leader.

Once you’ve chosen your candidate, announce it far and wide. Tell the tea party people that you need money, volunteers, and support. The more money you get before the primaries, the better chance you have of winning.

Dear Representative,

Dear Representative,

As you come to debate and pass the budget for the federal government, may I draw your attention to several uncomfortable facts.

1. We are working our way into slavery through debt.
2. We are over-taxing our economy, and paying for it with unemployment and poverty.
3. We are paying people not to work in the economy with socialist policies, rather than paying people to protect our fundamental, unalienable rights.
4. We are unlikely to ever  see a dime of the Medicare and Social Security taxes we are paying today because these two programs are no longer solvent.
5. Article 1, Section 8 lists specific things that Congress can do, and nowhere is Congress allowed to do anything more.

I suggest a budget dramatically different from any budget we’ve seen in a hundred years, and completely opposite of what President Obama is proposing.

First, I’d like to see dramatic, deep, and painful cuts in spending. All socialist programs must be ended, immediately. Any money that is spent that doesn’t directly implement one of the few items in Article 1, Section 8 must immediately be removed from the federal budget. The only programs that the federal government should finance are the military and judicial systems.

Second, I’d like to see the tax code dramatically simplified and applied equally to all Americans. No longer should we tax the “rich” at one rate and the “poor” at another rate. Let everyone pay the same rate. Taxes discourage the behavior they tax. We can no longer afford to tax behavior that produces wealth and jobs.

Third, I’d like to see the federal government stop borrowing money immediately. We are not in an expensive war. We cannot borrow our way to prosperity. Shut down the Fed, and have congress print enough money each year to cover economic growth. That money can be used to replace tax revenue in financing the federal budget.

Finally, I’d like to see regulation by bureaucracy end immediately. Only those laws passed by congress, in accordance with Article 1, Section 8, should have any effect. All other regulations and laws should be immediately revoked. This will dramatically decrease the cost of doing business in America.

The above reforms are only dramatic because we have pursued a course of socialist policies for the past hundred years. Federal budgets before this turn towards tyranny were dramatically leaner and much more disciplined.

We can have a federal government that doesn’t need to enslave ourselves and our posterity to massive debt. You can be the voice of reason, and you can work with others to see that government spending is dramatically cut, today.

Sincerely, Jonathan Gardner