Quiet

Normally, I post a lot about politics here. I find stupid things the American government is doing/has done and I mock it, explain it, reason for or against it. I've been strangely quiet during this election cycle because I simply cannot believe what is going on.

The Republican process has been an unmitigated disaster. Few of the 14 people are remotely interested in being presidential, they just want to be the President. Carly Fiorina pretty much staked her entire campaign on false information, and couldn't change it when that information was proven, categorically and unequivocally, false. Jeb Bush would seem like a lock, but negative name recognition and a poorly run campaign have done him in. I don't know how Ben Carson stayed so high in the polls for so long; the man is a doctor who, apparently, doesn't understand how the human body works and lies about his past. Chris Christie? The people in his own state don't like him, how is he going to convince the rest of the country to vote for him? Cruz? Please. The guy sways so hard with the prevailing Republican wind that it is hard to figure out what he's really for or against. Rubio doesn't know how to do his job nor does he understand that voting is a key component of that job. And Trump? Don't even get me started. He offends women, offends every race, offends most religions, has no clue how to be inoffensive, and is a bloviating blowhard. Can you image that man trying to negotiate with the leaders of any other nation?

On the Democrats side, it has been calmer. Only four candidates started out, but only two really mattered. Clinton's campaign may wind up derailing itself due to the entire email server fiasco. She also took Sanders lightly until he came up and punched her in the face, politically speaking, with a virtual tie in the first caucus. His brand of social democracy has a lot of people on his side, mostly youths, and harkens back to the great social democrats of the past, like FDR. What happens if Hillary is convicted of a crime here? Can she still run for office? Could she be the first President to serve office while in prison? Who knows. Of course, there are some who are coming out and saying what she did was not unusual, like Colin Powell. It seems to be much ado about nothing, but we'll see.

As an unaffiliated voter who swings right on some topics and left on others, I literally have no clue who I might vote for. Of the presumptive nominees, I see myself voting for None of the Above. But that would be throwing away my vote, so I'll have to do some heavy research and see who has the better voting record (since either side will lie and claim they are for/against something; you have to look at their actual voting record (or lack of it, in Rubio's case) to see what they really do) on topics I find important.

And I won't even get started on the Iowa caucus, where hand-writing the person's name on a slip of paper, or standing in groups in an auditorium, seems to be the "height" of political savvy. If I was Sanders, in particular, I would want a recount with how close that was. The news I watched showed people fumbling about, hand-counting, and flipping coins to decide winners. This is absurd.

So, just know that my silence is speaking volumes -- when normally I would be explaining, arguing, or otherwise teaching about the topics, the fact that I'm so dumbstruck with what is going on that I have nothing to say, says a lot.

Mid-Term Elections 2014

The mid-term elections are just a month away. I have a suggestion for every voter, regardless of party affiliation or conservative/liberal leanings: do NOT vote for any incumbents. The incumbents of both parties have proven they cannot do the job for which we hired them, so show your disapproval by voting as many of them out as possible.

Our founding fathers did not think that anyone would want to serve for longer than a term or two, so they didn't put term limits into the Constitution. And, for the first 150 years of our country, the number of people who served more than two terms was very small. However, in the mid-20th century, people started to realize that politics could be a lucrative career. Priorities shifted to spending more money to get in, and stay in, Congress.

Since the 1950s, we see incumbents slowly dominating all of the elections until today we see about 90% incumbent success rate. This has led to cronyism, graft, and the further widening of the political divide until you have the worst Congress in history, one that had the majority party saying they refused to work with the current President and would block anything he or his party put forward. Both sides lie with impunity. They pass laws that make no sense when they do work, like shutting down the government, but allowing themselves to keep getting paid.

So, I say enough. Let's show our displeasure by voting them out. Both sides. My proposal is this: simply look at the length of time a person has been in office. If they have served more than two terms (or this will be their third term), DO NOT VOTE FOR THEM. If you can't find it online, call their office (easily found in a quick websearch or through going to congress.gov and searching for the person in question).

You may be asking yourself about now, 'Who am I going to vote for then?' Easy: anyone except an incumbent. You can easily find liberal and conservative alternatives in other parties (for example, the Green party leans liberal and the Libertarians lean conservative). Many races have multiple Republicans and Democrats running -- pick one that hasn't been in office before.

Once this is done and we've kicked as many incumbents out of office as possible, we should press our Congressmen to enact a Term Limits law to keep what is currently happening from ever happening again.

It's time for our government to fear its people once more.

#revolution

Related topics:

http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/07/congress-must-go.html
http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/09/i-have-revised-my-set-of-rules-for.html
http://jmc-omniverse.blogspot.ca/2013/02/congressional-reform.html

Congressional Rules (Revised)

I have revised my set of rules for Congress.

A member of Congress:

1. Shall be paid a Salary equal to the American Median Income + 10%. This amount cannot be raised or changed by Congress in any way.
1. Must make public and easily accessible any and all Income made in addition to their Congressional salary, including any stock and bond transactions, gifts, gratuities, honorariums, speaking engagements, book deals, campaign funds/contributions, et al.
2. Shall only have “free” health care provision while in office.
3. Must make public and easily accessible all travel expenses while in office. Only those that are for official government functions and reasons will be paid for by the government. Campaigning, fundraising, vacations, travel for family members, and any other travel deemed to not be for official government purposes will not be reimbursed by the government. (UPDATED)

[Solves the problem of Congress being paid well more than the average person (current Congressional salary: $174,000/year; current median income: about $45,000/year), making it a job that, once earned, no one wants to leave, but it is still valuable enough that those who want to serve the people will run for office.]

[Provides incentive to Congress to make sure laws enacted are beneficial to all income demographics.]

[Solves the problem of Congress members getting rich via alternate means while in office.]

2. Must spend a minimum of 12 days out of every month in their home location.
1. Congress members must maintain a residence in their home during the entire time they are in office.

[Solves the problem of Congress spending all of their time in Washington, D.C. and losing touch with those whom they are supposed to serve and represent.]

3. Cannot serve more than two consecutive terms in office, and no more than three terms total.

[Solves the problem of lifelong public jobs, cronyism, and the “good ole boy” club mentality. Forces Congress members to have to live under the laws they create.]

4. Must vote in a minimum of 90% of all Congressional votes. If a Congressman does not vote in a minimum of 90% of voting opportunities, the House or Senate will immediately begin the process of removing the Congressman from office.
1. Voting and abstentions will be documented per Congress member.
2. Votes cannot be delegated to another member of Congress.
3. Votes cannot be made anonymously.
4. Abstained votes will count as a non vote toward the 90% minimum requirement.
5. All voting records will be made public and easily accessible.

[Solves the problem of Congress members who are granted all the perks of a government job without the accountability of actually doing the job.]

[Solves the problem of a lack of accountability for votes.]

[Solves the problem of the public not being able to find out how their representative votes on any issue.]

5. Cannot enact any law that does not include all members of Congress.
1. Any existing law that excludes any member of Congress will be immediately and summarily changed to include all Congress members.
2. The Laws of the land will be applied equally to all, regardless of position or status.

[Solves the problem of Congress exempting itself from laws that affect all other citizens. I.e., being able to trade stocks based on their inside information of which laws will pass/won’t pass.]