"Speaking of lunacy, the saddest report from Iraq is that American soldiers showing signs of psychological distress and depression are being kept on active duty, increasing the risk of suicide. The Hartford Courant reports that even soldiers who have already been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome are kept on duty. This has led to an increase in the suicide rate -- 22 soldiers in 2005. And as I have reported before, the military is unprepared to deal with the flood of head cases coming back from Iraq. How many ways can we mistreat our own soldiers, while the right makes this elaborate show of devotion to 'the troops'?" - Molly Ivans
If this is where we are with out troops, just think of the hole the rest of our government is in. We have to hire a lawyer to sort out the legal system and the tax system. The average Joe does not stand a chance of being able to survive our legal system because he can barely afford to put food on the table for his children. Housing is up, wages are down, the country is at war with an unseen enemy, fuel costs are skyrocketing (this effects everything), and I'm gonna get $20 back on my tax refund. What an exciting time to be an American!
Don't misunderstand; I love my country and what it was described to stand for. However, it does not resemble anything like what I would like to see. I do believe that Murph's comments on a previous post are essentially correct.
"The system of governance set in place was a rather dramatic shift from the European concept. Radical as hell. Had a lot of good ideas in it, but it was flawed from the git go. It simply had way too many ways to be corrupted and manipulated, and attempts, (some successful and some not) began immediately. These documents were drafted by, primarily, the elite of the time that had their own self interest and agenda, centering around property rights and accumulation of wealth. After the civil war, the acceleration of manipulation of the constitution led to the Robber Barons of the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. They indeed did do much the same as we have happening today and became so excessive that there was a lot of popular uprising against their policies." - Murph
It is easy to think that you may have the answers to the many problems that we face in the U.S. today. I know I do at times. In my line of work, my job is to come up with solutions to problems. I review the situation, get input from others, and implement a solution. You would think this methodology would apply to our government, but it certainly does not seem to.
I am all for striping our government down and starting all over. There are a lot of good ideas, but just as many bad ones have gotten mixed in that are causing us more problems that we care to admit. Our eyes are closed to the damage that our government is causing worldwide.
What do I propose?
Well, for immigration we need to decide whether we are an open border country or closed. We might consider setting the number of different types of visas (already done, but doesn't seem to matter) we accept application for and allow per year. Stop charging for application because this is one reason why there are so many illegals. I'll stop there for now.
We need to remove lobbying and campaign contributions. Campaigns should be financed solely by taxes, so that every candidate gets equal access. And the incumbent should not have to campaign. He/she is already in the position and the job they do should be their campaign. If any official is accused of wrong doing there should be an investigation at which time the official has to relinquish their office and pay until they are cleared. Again, this could go on all day.
Though shall not kill, steal, blah, blah, blah. To me all of the above and many laws are common sense. Somehow we get into legal interpretation that goes beyond the original intent of the law.
Many religions believe that god gave us the right to make our own choices. Atheists believe this too. So why do so many of our laws take away our right to choose? And what do we do about the massive amounts of diversity?
Government should not include religion no more than the ability of an elected representative's decision making. "I vote yes because I believe we should help people." Or "I vote no because people should be able to make their own decisions", etc... But when we start saying someone can't get married because they are the same sex, or a woman can't get an abortion because as a Christian it isn't right, then we have gone too far. A marriage can be a legal agreement, or a religious rite. That is an individual decision. Same goes for abortion and a myriad of other subjects. I only pick on those two because they are prominent in our society.
A perfect example of how out of hand things are is the war on terror and the debate about torture. There is a simple solution to the questions about detainee treatment. Anyone that we hold up as a criminal under international law should thereby be subject to those laws. Otherwise, they should be subject to our laws. A fair trial, impartial jury, and everything else that goes with it. PERIOD!
I could go on like this for months. I should probably just write a book on the subject to express everything that no one will say. But, I will stop for now with one final thought.
Although it isn't expressed as such, Buddhism holds a simple tenant that should apply to all of us and especially government. Remove all reason for manipulation and you no longer have anything to hide. Our government desperately needs this philosophy. We should not have any secrets from the people or the world if we are indeed holding to good and honest intentions.
READ ON AND SPREAD THE TRUTH!!!!
