Actually PLP, our thoughts are problee not all that far apart on what needs to be or should be done to right the listing ship we know as the US of A.
I too am a fan of return to the confines and constraints of a national government based entirely on the framework of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, which at this point would be revolutionary in itself !
The fed was never intended as originally outlined by the constitution to monitor nor address every facet of American life, though today that's exactly what it does. The fed was initially confined to address issues of national impact, protect the nation and leave most ancillary issues to be addressed by the individual states governments.
What we have today is a government moving dangerously ever closer to a point that is frightening to me personally. The fed is now capable of out and out subversion of the rights outlined in the constitution and are capable of spying on us for no more than someones "say so" as a seemingly valid reason for such actions, arresting and imprisoning those not in agreement with the decisions it makes even without the constitutional protections of habeas corpus or due process, and intent on controlling every facet of our lives in the process.
The concept of taxation without representation also seems to have unfortunately returned with a vengence upon the very shores where that concept was denied and fought against initially ! I say this because it seems though we citizens in good faith elect officials to head off to DC in our stead, once they get there they seem to totally abandon the concerns of the constituants who installed them there and choose to head off in whatever direction they instead choose even when in doing so they totally violate the concerns of the voting public and the trust these same people imbued them with in having elected them in the 1st place.
I have no misguided idea that I hold any firm answers to the solutions we need to put things aright again, but I do feel as if I at least have a few clues and as I've stated here several times before, they are :
1. Return to a completely Constitutionally based form of federal government !
2. Implement term limits to all elected officials. No more legislators for life BS !
3. Remove the perks federal legislators currently hold in regard to being able to bypass the retirement plan every other citizen here is forced to live within in their old age and make them all subject to the same Social Security pay outs as everyone else. If they were forced to share the same outlays every other citizen does, I bet they might actually manage to find a reasonable solution to the current problems with that system, but with themselves currently assured a much better deal than we get, they really don't seem concerned about resolving the issues that face 99% of all other Americans in their old age.
4. Dissolve the IRS and implement a federal sales tax instead. No more tax shelters or any such BS! If you make $20k or $20,000,000 the only tax burden should be in the amount of $$ you spend. This would take away sooooo much national angst experienced every April, dispose of a complete level of govermental bureaucracy, and once again make taxation a fair propostion since people would only be taxed on what they spend, not what they make.
This would by nature also address the huge amounts of money now made in the illegal areas of our society that currently go untaxed : illegal drug trade, gambling, prostitution and all the people who live under the taxable radar by working for cash. While everyone spends $$, not everyone is taxed and it certainly isn't currently done so in a fair and reasonable fashion either even when taxes are paid!
5. Bring our military home and stop all the international policeman BS. It hasn't worked so far and shows no signs of improving, so why keep putting ourselves in the way of such harm and continually risking the lives of Americans in doing so? It only seems to make more enemies than friends internationally and as such seems all in all seems totally counterproductive and far too expensive both in dollars and lives for what would seem reasonable for the return we receive.
6. Use the military to secure and enforce our existing borders. Invaders are unwelcome and those who choose to face the force and might of our military in attempting such an invasion should be able to expect (at the minimum) imprisonment and deportation, but certainly not limited to physical harm or death as a result of such efforts. The only people on American soil assured of the rights of the Constitution should be legal or legalized citizens .... PERIOD !
7. Close the borders to further immigration until such time that we get a handle nationally of the rampant immigration problems we now face.
8. Focus the windfall of $$ the fed would have by NOT paying out billions and billions of dollars to other countries all over the world for military base leases and ancillary expenses for procurement of supplies for the military in these countries and redirect these funds towards education of our children.
The American schools have become much more akin to socialized day care and very little real education is taking place anymore. We've slipped ever lower in the international standings in the overall education our children receive and as the richest nation on earth that's an absoltely shameful thing !
9. Stop the misguided and extremely costly war on drugs BS. Legislating morality has never worked and never will. While it could be said such a move would lead to a more anesthistized America, I disagree. Many people use drugs for many reasons and always will, legal or otherwise and some with Darwinian results.
People too weak to control their own lives and addictions will eventually dispose of themselves if left to their own devices so why should we pursue and jail them at such a great expense to the public ? If money is to be spent on the drug problem within our society I think it could be best spent on education and rehabilitation with far better overall results than from imprisonment.
Just a basic framework of my thoughts on these issues and far from everything I'd like to see occur here, but I think the above ideas could at least go a long way towards putting us on the right path
