For and Against -- just a few

 I'm FOR the Green Amendment which means I'm for protecting our environment -- You don't shit where you eat.  Regardless of what you think, we won't exist much longer unless we clean up and protect our air, water and soil.  That means sacrifice.

I'm FOR the protection of wildlife.

I'm AGAINST corporate money in our elections -- any amount of money.  One person, one vote.  Corporate money means that corporate management gets extra votes.

I'm FOR public schools and public libraries.  

I'm FOR standards, in almost everything.  Establish agencies that create those standards and keep them up-to-date.

I'm FOR National Parks and Forests.  There are many things more important than making money.

I'm FOR consequences.  I'm also FOR forgiveness and recognition of reform.  So, I'm FOR minimum sentences for most crimes including misdemeanors.  I don't believe that punishment deters but I think criminals have to pay for their crimes.  Crimes against children, elders, the disabled, the homeless, animals and other groups that may have difficulty protecting themselves should have more severe consequences.

I'm AGAINST corporate ownership of residential property.

I'm AGAINST foreign ownership of residential property.

I'm FOR limits on ownership of residential property.  I haven't worked out details but an individual should not be able to own more residential property than they can live in.  Maybe once a quarter, so 4 residences or one property per offspring, so if there are 6 kids, 8 properties; one for each living parent and each living child.  But, the property has to become the child's when 25.

I'm FOR term limits for federal elected officials.  Maybe 3 7 year terms; that's 21 years of service; a career, total, not switching positions.  And, I'm FOR a Citizen's recall mechanism whereby Citizens can petition for removal; not just constituency but Citizen's from everywhere because most elected officials sit on committees that affect the entire country.

I'm FOR exile as a sentence for elected officials who commit high crimes and misdemeanors and treason; permanent exile.

I'm FOR the death penalty for crimes against children and other groups with shaky protections and for particularly gruesome crimes.  Acknowledging that punishment does not deter crime but death removes the worst criminals from existence and prevents them from future crimes.

I'm FOR Universal Healthcare with a comprehensive roster of coverage that cannot be denied.  The base of funds would be a combination of employer, patient and public funds.

I'm FOR limiting wealth by taxing income - and assets - above a certain level.  We've seen the result of extreme wealth preventing Citizens from having more and influencing those without ethics.

I'm FOR defining a basic decent American life and preventing anything from preventing that from developing.

I'm FOR limiting welfare and other public assistance by time, amount and criteria.  More on that later.

I'm FOR immigration with a clear, well-defined process, criteria and assistance including steps for assimilations

I'm FOR strict laws, criteria and consequences for coyotes and other for-profit facilitators of illegal immigration.

I'm FOR changes in the oaths of office for federal elected officials and daily repetitions of their responsibilities.  A pledge of allegiance to the flag is, clearly, insufficient.

I'm FOR minimum national income tax that cannot be eliminated by any means.  If you're a Citizen, you need to contribute to funds to run things.  However:

I'm also FOR exemptions of the minimum national income tax for everyone under the age of 18 and over the age of 65, permanently.  A child and a senior can become wealthy without paying into the tax base unless or until their circumstances change.

I'm also FOR the acceptance of the tax burden of family members by other family members and tax reform to follow those exchanges.

I am also FOR holding parents and adult children of family members who are unable to care for themselves responsible for up to half of the expenses of their family members; the rest of us are not entirely responsible for their family members. 

You can use the Contact form at the very bottom for comments, if you don't have a Google account which is required by their selfish comment form.

This Will Be An Unpopular Post

and will probably surprise some people.

We are quickly approaching elections and some people have voted already.  I enjoy the ritual of going to the polls, in person, on election day which used to be a holiday but maybe only in California where I lived so long.

I have been getting voluminous texts, emails and phone calls related to the elections, mostly from democrats but also from republicans.  I'm neither and I'm not interested in what they have to say because none of them have been saying anything for a long time that I find useful or decent.

They both spend all their time discrediting each other and name calling and asking for money.

I thought common sense and decency are that we need to get money out of our elections.  I don't see that happening anytime soon.  Politicians are, for the most part, not creative thinkers.  Since 2 parties dominate, they mostly preach party line which means they aren't thinking at all.

I worked in public service/employment most of my adult life, in multiple communities in 4 states.  The real work of governance is with the paid staff who make everything happen but politics has been interfering with that for decades.

But, this post is not about that but about elections and about one thought that I have that would change everything.  One party should NOT control the entire government.

I get texts and calls from everywhere in the country assuming that I'm a democrat.

BTW, I intentionally do not capitalize the parties because I don't they either of them deserve the distinction.

Our government is for the entire country and ALL Americans.  Our elections have devolved into a contest between 2 ideologies neither of which intends to work for the entire country and ALL Americans.  That's not Democracy, nor is it decent, nor is it right, nor is it Constitutional.

All Americans deserve everything our Constitution grants us but many in our government, on both sides, want to divide us.

I, personally, don't care, at all, about either party.  Neither has done anything for me in decades.  The government used to work for all of us as much as is possible.  That hasn't been happening for a long time because the 2 parties has been working against each other; fear mongering and hate mongering.

While I may not agree with what some Americans think or want, I think they and I should both be able to live as we want without hurting anyone else.  I don't care that there are red states and blue states.  People should be allowed to vote however they want even if I disagree with them.  Yes, I'm aware that some of them don't think I should be allowed to vote as I want.  They don't have the same ethics that I have.  That's where our Constitution and Laws come in.

I only recently discovered that the secret ballot is not part of our Constitution but is part of State's Law.  It's a safe guard against the infantile, hateful retaliation that some "people" might inflict on others.

I don't care what people in Texas want, or in Virginia or Florida or Oregon or Mississippi; I don't live there.  

I'm quite liberal about most things but conservative about some things. As I've been saying, I think we all should have as much as we want as possible as long as we each understand that applies to each individual.  There should never be anything, other than do no harm, that forces anyone to live the same as everyone else.

I don't think it's good that a party controls our government.  I think, once we're out of this mess, that we need to ensure that a single party not have control.  I think we need to have new amendments to reduce the influence of political parties among other safe guards to a diversified government.

I don't think the democrats are our saviors.  I think the republicans have been taken over by hateful old men who want to control everybody else but not themselves.  I think both have succumbed to big money and can't be trusted.

So vote however you want but I'm not going to live according to what you want and our Constitution allows each of us to live as much as possible as we each want.

I'm a person before I'm anything else and I'm neither a democrat nor a republican and NEVER will be again.