questionall:

Let me start by saying that the likelihood of me ever being able to run for president is almost zero due to the fact that our country has been bought and sold to the highest bidder for over 4 decades now.  I am poor - in monetary value at least.  But I am well educated and having lived as 50% of the country lives I’m in a unique position to understand and articulate what the majority of the country needs and wants.  They have simply become to disillusioned to believe it will ever happen and so have turned their back on voting - they intuitively sense that their vote means little compared to the money of the banks and corporations. Given this, the idea that an average American, even a well educated American would ever be able to run for office is an impossibility.  However, I believe my ideas will ring true for those who are not in the top 10% and I feel the need to put them out there, as a thought experiment, a way to see where we could be, if fascism were squashed and the needs and rights of the people were put first.

If I were elected President of the United States, the first thing I would do is issue and executive order that would nationalize the Federal Reserve thereby putting the power to make money back in the hands of congress, which according to the constitution is where that power belongs.  This would also have the effect of erasing 50% of our debt.  How you ask?  Because we the people pay interest to the privatized Federal Reserve to use our own money!  50% of our national debt is interest we owe to the Federal Reserve, interest that in reality, we should not owe.

Next, I would issue an executive order that all mortgages and student loans are immediately considered paid in full.  How?  The 700 trillion in bailouts to the banks!  We are already paying for those debts the banks should not be allowed to continue profiting from their fraud.  All those who have been made homeless due to the banks fraud would be helped to find a suitable home, free and clear, if the home that was foreclosed on was no longer available.  This is the only fair thing to do considering all of the tax payers will be paying for these bailouts for years to come. Also, it would cause a boom to the economy when people can take their money and buy items that they want.  When people have extra money to spend, that will create more private sector jobs, increasing the economy even more.

Next, I would close all our military bases in all countries that do NOT want our presence.  I would bring all our troops home and end all the wars.  If our corporations and banks want to control the resources of these countries, let them hire their own mercinaries and deal with the governments of these other countries.  Our military is NOT to be used to insure their corporate profits.

Then I would order a true, in depth investigation of all the banks and their heads and their regulators.  We need the truth about the fraud and insider trading that caused the 2008 collapse and that has continued, apparently unabated around the world, in the LIBOR scandal.  Once evidence is gathered, prosecutions would begin. These people have destroyed others lives and wealth and they should be punished for what they’ve done.  

Next, congress would need to put all the regulations that they gutted back in place so that banks and corporations can no longer run amok.  Our country was prosperous for most when these regulations were in place.  Once the deregulation began, the fraud and the destruction of our economy began as well.  We must break up the monopolies in the financial industry, the media industry, and dissolve the mega corporations into smaller entities.  We cannot continue to allow bankers and businesses to control our government for their benefit while the people of this country continue to suffer.

Congress would then need to allow the taxes on the wealthy to go back to 40% for those making over 1 million.  All tax loopholes for corporations must be closed so that businesses making billions in profits actually pay taxes instead of being issued refunds.

We would then need to invest in real infrastructure updates which would put millions to work at good wages.  

By doing just these things, we could greatly improve life for over 50% of the country.  We could pay off our debt almost immediately and then we could look at true universal healthcare and real social reforms to help those who have so little.  At the same time, we would have the funds to invest in renewable energies so that we can stop harming the environment.  We can enforce with, much harsher penalties, our anti-pollution laws so that perhaps it will be in the companies interest to comply rather than just pollute and pay the penalty.  

These are just for starters.  And some would require that congress cooperate and do their part.  But the people have the power to make sure their representatives act in their best interest.  Political pressure from the masses has great power if we organize and are willing to use it.  We could have a country that meets the needs of all it’s citizens very rapidly if we had the will to do so.

Of course, this makes the assumption that any American could run for office, which right now is simply not the case.  We need to have a constitutional amendment that declares that businesses and corporations are NOT people so as to overturn Citizens United ruling and we need to have publicly funded elections so that we can keep the wealthiest individuals from buying our elected representatives.  But, if someone ran on the above tenants, I would vote for them in a heartbeat.  How about you?

Part 2 -

I’ve decided to keep up this discussion and turn it into its own page.  So if you miss an installment, you can go to my site and read everything on the page or just the parts you may miss.  This is part 2.  I ended last time with the idea of a constitutional amendment that would declare corporations non persons and money NOT freedom of speech.  Now I would like to tackle some other ways to decrease the deficit, increase business and the growth of jobs.  

First, we end the War on Drugs!  We lost - anyone who studies history knows we were doomed to failure from the start.  Alcohol prohibition didn’t work and had to be repelled and now it’s time to do the same with drugs.  Right now the only people profiting from the war are violent criminals and money laundering banks.  That needs to change.  If we legalize the growing and selling of marijuana not only do we create a new and profitable business avenue but we create many avenues since hemp can be used to make cloth, rope, paper (which will cut down on the loss of forests), and other items.  When it is sold for recreational use a luxury tax can be added (just like alcohol or cigerettes) and a health tax as well.  The luxury tax can be used to pay down the debt and the health tax would go towards universal healthcare.  The same could be done with other drugs and the making of those drugs could be regulated so that harmful or unknown chemicals are not added.  With just this one change, we could be completely out of debt and have plenty of money for better universal healthcare.  Also, by legalizing these drugs, we could release and expunge the records of millions of non violent offenders whose only crime was getting caught with or using “illegal” drugs.  This brings me to the next huge change which congress would have to authorize.

We must stop the privitization of prisons and anything else that is bought and paid for with tax payer dollars.  Privatization of prisons leads to long sentences for minor crimes because the company’s make money for every prisoner held.  This is NOT a good thing.  As tax payers, we should only want to take off the street those who are truly a danger to others and those who have truly caused harm.  We could literaly release half of our prisoners by legalizing drugs and then releasing non violent offenders.  But the way things are right now, that would cut into the corporate prison profit - and you know that the politicians won’t allow that until we demand that they do.  Data has shown repeatedly that the government has the lowest overhead and has a stake in making sure that things are done properly because they must answer to us.  Corporations have no such incentive.  Government should be running the prisons, government should be running the food stamp programs, government should be overseeing the Medicaid programs - NOT private for profit businesses.  I don’t pay taxes to make these corporations richer!  I want my tax dollars to maintain and improve infrastructures and to help those in need and to provide things to all our citizens in the best way possible.  Privatization is the exact opposite of what our tax dollars should be spent on.

Between just these few things we could get rid of our national debt, reduce the prison population by half (which means we would be spending about 1/3 what we do now because no profit would be going to corporations), and have plenty of funds available to create a true universal healthcare with a public option.  

Of course, we know why it hasn’t happened - the corporations buy our politicians to make sure that they keep or increase their profits - which is actually destroying our economy and our government.  If we want our government to do the right thing, we must do some radical things - put our differences aside, organize on a national level, and demand they do the things that are in our best interest.  The politicians and corporations have proven that they will NOT do this on their own.  It will require all of us standing together and demanding that our rights not be infringed.  Are we there yet?  Are we ready to make the stand required?  Do we have the courage to do what is right even in the face of an immeasurable force?

Part 3

     Today I’d like to address the issue of national security, domestic spying, and drones.  Let me start by saying that I believe the entire drone killing program is completely unconstitutional and because of that I would put an end to it immediately.  Congress would need to pass legistlation to ensure that drones are never again put into play, especially in the United States and against our own citizens.  There is nothing secure about allowing one person, any person, to create a kill list and then use the military drones to carry it out without regard to the innocent people in the area.  Not to mention the fact that there is no way to know if the people targeted are actually guilty of anything - they are no longer alive to defend themselves against whatever they were accused of.  This is nothing short of murder and it is beneath the United States and the office of the president to engage in such behavior.

     As for national security, there are many things that must be addressed and changed.  For starters, all documents that are not truly a matter of national security need to be immediately released to the public.  Not everything the government does is a about our security and for democracy to be a real thing we must know what our government is really doing and then hold them accountable for their actions.  Next, we as citizens must realize that we have been manipulated into being so fearful that we are willing to accept these brazen infringements upon our liberties.  We must stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated and realize that the banks and corporations, through the government, are using this fear to keep us under control sot that we will not know what is really going on and they can continue to destroy our environment, our economy, and literally our lives.  We can overcome this fear if we accept the fact that we can never be perfectly safe and that to exchange our liberty for security is just a merage - we are no safer than before 9-11 but we are far less free.  Congress will need to end the patriot act - and all other acts related to it and defund the whole mess.  We need to show the courage our country has shown in the past and face the future with our freedoms intact otherwise, the terrorists win.   

     All domestic spying programs that involve spying on our own citizens, collecting their data indefinitely, and doing so without a search warrant issued by a judge will be immediately ended.  The information centers housing the existing data will be completely deleted.  This is another program that is completely unconstitutional and the present government knows it, they just believe the ends justify the means.  I disagree and believe most of the citizens in this country disagree as well.  If they have reason to suspect a citizen, they can take that information to a judge and get the appropriate warrants.  The idea that the government should be able to simply collect personal information about whom ever they want, from where ever and by whatever means they want, and then hold on to that information for as long as they want is in direct violation of the fourth amendment and it will come to an end.  If I were elected President of the United States.

     Next time I’d like to discuss the issue of corporate control, how to end it, and where we will go from there.