Thursday, May 20, 2010

Fixing Our Country

My fellow Americans we have a great deal of many problems facing our country and while they look daunting we can correct these problems so our country can return to the path of greatness. When we take all these problems together as a hole it seems to be a very large problem that only a few people can correct, but that is an illusion. We have a bunch of small problems that have never been taken care that is giving the country the illusion that there is one big problem in country. While many are complaining about what is happening there is only a few who are actually trying to solve the problems facing our country and it would surprise the country who is actually trying to solve the problems. The following are the problems that I see and how I would like to see them solved.
  • Immigration
    1. We need to seal our borders to stem the follow of Illegal Immigration to our country
    2. Once the borders have been sealed and person current residing Illegally in our country will be required to identify themselves. Once they have identified themselves they will be required to perform the following:
      1. They will be required to pay a fine equivalent to the cost of Legal Immigration
      2. They will be required to learn our langauge
      3. They will be required to learn our history and at least 7 of the following events (The first four will be mandatory). After studying these events there will be a test of comprehensions on these events
        1. American Revolution
        2. American Civil War
        3. The Great Depression
        4. World War 1 & 2
        5. The War of 1812
        6. The Louisiana Purchase  
        7. The California Gold Rush
        8. The Mexican American War
        9. The Cold War
        10. Civil Rights Movement
        11. Woman's  Movement
      4. After completing the history test and paying of the penalty these Illegal Immigrants can obtain a limited workers visa
      5. Once the limited workers visa is obtained there will be a period of 5yrs that the Immigrant will need to obey the laws of our country. If the Immigrant is convicted of a felony during this period of time, they will be deported to their home country immediately upon conviction. If there is a family involved, the family will have a choice to remain in our country or leave.
      6. Upon completion of the 5yrs  period the Immigrant will become a naturalized citizen of our country
    3.  All Illegal Immigrants will be denied access to the public schools, public services, and medical treatments with the exception of live and death situation.
    4. All business that employ Illegal Immigrants will have all their business assets confiscated and the owners of that business will be placed in jail for a period of 2yrs
  • Taxation
    1. Eliminate all current taxes and replace with a consumption tax.
    2. All tax money that is collected will be sent to a State Agency established to collect the taxes sent to them by Businesses every two weeks.
    3. The State Agency Established for collecting taxes will then forward the portion of the taxes to the Federal Government that is their fair share. 
    4. The elimination of the Internal Revenue Service
  • Entitlements
    1. Social Security will be maintained at current contribution levels
    2. Medicare is to be phased out over the next 30 yrs
    3. Medicaid is to be phased out over the next 30 yrs
    4. Welfare is to be reformed to the following standards
      1. People may only collect welfare for 2 yrs 
      2. Welfare payments are to be no more the cost for minimum wage for a 40 hrs week
      3. People collecting welfare may only claim 2 children
      4. People on welfare will be required to actively search for employment on a weekly basis. They will also be required to contact their welfare representative with their progress and show the representative documentation of when and where employment was being actively searched for.
      5. People collecting welfare will submit to random drug testing, any person testing positive will be removed from the program for a minimum of 90 days from the time of testing positive. To regain access to welfare they will need to test negative for drugs
      6. All people collecting welfare must provide a valid address for where they live. All addresses will be collected into data base that all welfare representatives will check before any payments are released.
    5.  Unemployment will be reformed to the following standards
      1. Unemployment will only be available for 52 weeks
      2. Unemployment payments will not exceed  minimum wage for a 40 hrs week
      3. People collecting unemployment will be required to actively search employment on a weekly basis. They will also be required to contact their unemployment representative with their progress and show the representative documentation of when and where employment was being actively searched for.
      4. Unemployment will be equally funded by both the employer and the employee 
  • Military
    1. All military bases located in other countries are to be closed over 30 yrs phase
    2. Any foreign country that wishes for the United States to maintain the current bases located in their country will pay for at least 1/2 the cost to operate and maintain the base and personnel.
    3. We will provide all necessary funding to provide our troops with the tools and equipment that is required to protect our country
By fixing these few problems we can place the feet of our country back on the path to greatness. Once we place our country back on the path to greatness our work will only begin, we will need to remain alert to what our elected officials are doing while they representing the people of the United States of America.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Founding Fathers

I have to admit that until the last few years I have been under educated on the Founding Fathers and our countries history, but I have been taking steps to educate myself through the books that are available. These books have been very enlightening and my eyes have been opened to how far we as a country has strayed from the original intentions of our Founding Fathers. Now do not get me wrong, I am not an expert on the Founding Fathers and there is a lot yet that can be learned from them.

One thing that has jumped out to me recently is the Founding Fathers wrestled with how to keep people with virtue in all forms of Government. The Founders had great concern of what type of people would be elected if the elected positions would actually pay enough to survive live on. From my understanding the Founding Fathers did not want elected officials to be paid at or if they were it would be very minimal amounts. If I am understanding their intentions correctly they wanted elected officials to have to work to survive and not live off the people of this country. I also found it interesting that they only met once a year for a limited period of time, this forced the elected officials to spend the majority of their time at home where the people who elected them could discuss their views and problems with their own elected officials.

Lets fast forward to day and compare what I believe the Founders intended to today's government. We have elected officials very similar to what the Founders originally set up, the one difference is how our Senators are elected today. Originally the Senators were elected by the states legislators but now a days it is a popularity contest. Another difference from the Founders to today is that our elected officials are able to survive on the pay for the elected office they are using, which coincidentally allows them to stay in DC year around.

Now lets look at the people that are being elected to the offices of the United States of America. We have people elected that have not payed their taxes, people who have had questionable sexual contact with others, people who only pay lip service to their own religion, people who lack principles and values that reflect most Americans.

Essentially our Founding Fathers were correct in their concern of what would happen with people with virtue get elected to our public offices. We have people elected that willing look to how to bypass our Constitution and limit our freedoms. It is high time to return to what our Founding Fathers intended for our country.