John Quincy Adams On Immigration

In honor of what is turning out to be the most closely analyzed transitions in the history of the American presidency, I am happy to share a piece I have been working on here and there since before the election got into full swing. As we wait to see where the chips will end up on everything from taxes to trade to immigration, I offer an in-depth analysis of a well-known writing from former President John Quincy Adams when he was serving as Secretary of State and provided his views on immigration to a German member of high society who was contemplating a move to the new U.S. nation in 1819.

Click here to read John Quincy Adams On Immigration.

Remember That America Is Bigger Than Any One Person

When an election does not go your way, it can definitely create an aura of uneasiness and uncertainty. This can especially be the case with a presidential election, and more so when it is an election that will not only change the party of the sitting president, but place into power a new president with some pretty different views than the sitting president. As someone who tends to not be a fan of change, I can definitely understand how people on the losing side of this election are feeling right now.

What can be even scarier about the outcome of a presidential election is if the two-term president that is outgoing is the only president you have ever known or can remember. Such was the case for me when Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s three-term Republican presidency changed hands to Willy Jeff Clinton. Yes, I know that seems nothing like what the youth of today in America are facing now, but at the same time, hind-sight definitely eases in your mind today about what may have been perceived at the time as the potential for uncertain, drastic change.

But what has made this country the greatest democracy in the history of this planet is its ability to be pulled in different directions across the political spectrum and still bounce back, only to pulled the other way again, back and forth, back and forth, for generations, and still remain the most solid democracy in the history of our species.

With the exception of the War Between the States, following every presidential election, the fabric of our society has endured, and the framework of our democracy and the peaceful transition of power have remained. We may be a nation divided in principle, but our similarities still outweigh our differences, and with the exception of the most extreme on both ends of the political spectrum, to paraphrase our sitting president, we are all still on the same team.

Keep in mind that had this election gone the other way, the supporters on the opposite side of the fence from you would be feeling the same uncertainty that you are, which is also the same uncertainty that the losing side of the presidential elections in America have been feeling for 240 years. Yet, here we are, still the greatest democracy in the world. There will be another presidential election in four years, and then again, four years after that, and so on.

While you may not have experienced it personally, these presidential elections have occurred 60 times. 59 of those times, people on the losing side have been faced with uneasiness and uncertainty, yet the nation and society have prevailed, democracy has won out, and four years later, another election was held. Sometimes, the sitting president who caused all that uncertainty and uneasiness remained in power, and other times, that president was voted out of office.

The extreme fringes of society have been there over the course of those 240 years, and they will always be there, but remember all you have been taught about this country, its framework, its checks and balances, and its rule of law. This will mark the 27th two-year period since 1901 that the presidency and both houses of congress have been controlled by one party, yet, we’re still here. We got through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Great Recession, and the Cold War, and yet, we’re still here.

As Donald Trump takes office, just like every single president in the history of this country, he will be subject to a system of checks and balances that will keep him from unilaterally imposing his will on the people of this country. Now, I understand that a lot of you worry about things like gay marriage, legalized marijuana use, and immigration, but keep in mind that one thing the President of the United States cannot do, despite being the single most powerful person on the planet, is circumvent the law. He cannot wake up one morning and decide that a particular group of people, or activity is illegal. He must work within the legal system and our government’s framework to change the law if he wants to accomplish any single act on his agenda.

And that is exactly how it should be – as the constitution was designed – is it not?

Now, I know you are saying to yourself, what about all of those presidential orders that Obama signed that Trump can overturn? Well, that is the problem with a president acting unilaterally, isn’t it? That is the problem with a president deciding that something should be and then acting outside of the congress and the will of the people and just making something so. Because they are not laws passed by congress, they can be overturned. This is why you should have opposed presidential orders, even when the guy issuing them was someone you agreed with, because as we have now seen, maybe one day the guy issuing the presidential orders will NOT be someone you agree with.

But, as scary as this power Trump has to overturn Obama’s presidential orders might be, this is exactly how it should be. This is why laws need to be passed instead of presidential orders being signed. This is why Obama should not have taken the easy route and ruled by decree, but in fact, sought to work with members of congress from both parties to pass laws instead. This is also why we should, as a nation, come together to ban the presidential order. Maybe now that Trump’s the one issuing them, all of you more liberal leaning folks will join me in that feeling.

And while Trump can walk into office on that very first day and rip up each one of those presidential orders issued by presidents past, what he cannot do is walk into office and start ripping up laws that have been passed by congress.

With all of that being said, there is also another check and balance in place that you might not be thinking about, the career politician. Despite the presidency and both houses of congress being controlled by one party, as you saw in the Republican primary process, not everyone within the Republican Party is 100% in agreement with Trump on everything. Embedded, entrenched career politicians like McConnell are going to fight Trump on things like term limits because they want to remain career politicians. This will give them leverage to work against our incoming president and to keep him in check. People like Paul Ryan and John McCain, just to name a couple, will fight Trump when they know it is the right thing to do. I, for one, will do the same. And I know there are millions of conservatives out there who will also do the same.

Just because there are Republican majorities in both houses of congress, you will not see all of the members of both those houses of congress throw their hands up and not stick to the political process. This has never happened before, and it will not happen this time, either.

Everyone in office, every Republican, every Democrat, every Independent, is bound by the constitution, and that has not changed. Trump does not have the power to change that, either.

Also, Trump is going to be surrounded by cabinet members that, despite being chosen by him, still have a duty and an obligation to uphold the constitution. Trump will appoint people that will be the best suited to serve in these positions, and they will also serve as another check and balance.

And finally, while yes, there are some crazy extremists nut-jobs out there who voted for Trump because of their own agendas, most of the people who voted for Trump are extremely reasonable people, and while they were very supportive of Trump against Hillary Clinton, they will also be just as critical of President Trump. I count myself among those people.

And, I imagine that a lot of you who are die hard Hillary and Obama supporters, or are perhaps even further to the left than that, were raised by some really amazing people who are Trump supporters. Do you think that those people would allow things to get so far out of hand that the very fabric of our democracy and society would be threatened?

All I am saying is that while we are most definitely faced with uncertainty and uneasiness about our next president, it is no different than the uncertainty and uneasiness that the country faced 44 other times in our history. Stay aware, stay vigilant, and stick to your principles, but also, have faith in the 240 year history of the greatest democracy on the face of this planet which has proven time and time again that our system of government is far stronger than the person sitting at that big desk in the Oval Office.

Photo via Pixabay

Why The GOP Is Destined To Lose Yet Another Presidential Election

Hey, Old Man Savastano, where have your long-winded political rants been this presidential election cycle?! I know, I know, but to be honest with you, dear reader, after seeing the presidency go to The Messiah again back in 2012, I was exhausted with the whole process. I must admit, however, while I may have been more quiet than usual this time around, the volume of political press I consume on a daily basis has not subsided, nor have my opinions on what I have been reading.

I must also readily admit, my friends, that while I happily sent in my annual donation to the Grand Ol’ Party as recently as 2011, in the years since, I have become more disillusioned than anything else with party politics, overly-entitled American non-taxpayers, paying a butt load in taxes, and the general direction of the country as a whole as we move from praising and rewarding hard work to condoning then glorifying sloth. I feel that, as a nation, we are moving from hard-working, proud superpower to sitting on our asses with our hand out, whining, and making sure nothing we say ever offends a single solitary soul somewhere else in the world, including our enemies who would like to kill us.

So, why am I so disillusioned? What is the source of my silence? I think it should be obvious to anyone even remotely following American politics today. I am just so exhausted by the divisiveness, the unintelligible rhetoric, and above all, the lack of integrity, reasonability, and personal responsibility. While I may be looking back through vintage 1984 Reagan-colored glasses, I think folks on both sides of the aisle would agree, there was a time when there seemed to be a lot more reaching across that aisle going on. I know all you libs say we conservatives always remember things as more positive than they actually were and that, in fact, everyone has always triple-bolted their front doors, has always had alarms on their homes, and slept with a shotgun under their bed, but I find it hard to believe that American society has always been this divisive, especially since I seem to remember it differently firsthand.

But, beyond just an increased divide, we are living in a strange time where each side has grown so accustomed to combating the other that even when there is a chance for common ground, our politicians find a way to disagree. They seem to disagree, no matter what, even when it seems to go against their core principles. It’s like that friend you have that likes to argue so much that even when you agree with them, they flip and take the other side, just so they can argue with you. Granted, that argumentative friend is usually a screaming liberal, but in today’s political scene, this is happening on both sides.

Want proof? How about the fact that we have a Republican-controlled congress that has increased spending by passing a budget that is larger than the last Democrat-controlled congress. Come again? Yes, that is the Twilight Zone theme song you hear.

Or how about the fact that all of you anti-war, peace-loving, negotiate at any cost instead of dropping bombs, man, liberals out there sure seem to tolerate HisHighness Barack Obama using drones to kill U.S. citizens and a whole mess of civilians in other countries without uttering a peep. While I am sure you still cling tightly to your angst for that warmonger Bush, I really hope you aren’t still blaming him for the collateral damage that happens during the airstrikes authorized by your Messiah. I’m just saying that if you were out there protesting Bush and the killing of innocent civilians, you should still be out there right now, protesting against your Nobel Peace Prize-winning love-of-your-life that has a kill now ask questions later list of people who get vaporized the second they come into the crosshairs.

So, when you have a Republican-controlled congress increasing spending and a liberal Democrat President with a Nobel Peace Prize that has a standing order to rain death from above, even on U.S. citizens, I think it may be time for all of us to pause and to take a look at just what politics in America has become today; divisive, and quite frankly, insane.

When The Messiah does something I disagree with, all I hear is that I am a racist for not agreeing with him. Once Hillar-ious is in office and I disagree with something she does, I will immediately be labeled as a sexist. When I complain about having too much of my money stolen in taxes, I am labeled as an elitist and a racist. When I believe that we should enforce the laws of the land, including our immigration laws, I am labeled as a xenophobe and a racist. And when I try to explain to all of you liberals out there that the word “free” always comes with a cost somewhere down the line, whether the “free” is referring to healthcare, childcare, college, food, or cell phones, I am labeled as a classicist who hates the poor. Oh, and a racist.

So, maybe, I’ve been quieter this time around because I am tired of every single time I oppose any little thing that any liberal does, I am immediately labeled with some form of –ism and told that my deplorable beliefs do not have a right to exist.

Or, perhaps, my silence has to do with the fact that while Trump is still getting my vote, it now has much more to do with voting against Hillar-ious and the perpetual liberal spending machine than voting for him. It’s not like you are going to see me spewing out article after article in which I proclaim Taco Bowls is the greatest thing to happen to America. About the best I could muster would be to say that he is still a better choice than Crooked Hillary and the rest of the liberal political machine that has us spending towards oblivion. Either way, it is still very much a Giant Douche vs. Turd Sandwich election.

Nonetheless, I will say I am still desperately wanting to see if an actual businessman can get us out of this $20 trillion mess, or at worst, try a little something different in Washington for once other than politics as usual. I’d have preferred a Romney or Forbes, but at this point, I’ll take what I can get.

Then again, maybe I am sitting silent, not wanting to rock the boat too much as I dare to dream that we have a chance of electing a president whose tax plan will reduce my income tax bill by about $7,000 a year, as opposed to a president whose tax plan is going to add insult to injury by adding $189 a year to the already 27 cents of every dollar I earn that I don’t get to take home.

Then again, maybe my silence stems from the fact that it’s now been about five years or so since I began referring to myself as a fiscal conservative instead of a Republican. Either way, nothing has made me feel more like an independent or third party sympathizer than this damned election. And to quote Lieutenant Commander Cole, Virgil Cole, “Frankly, sir, I think we’re going to lose this one.”

And it’s not that I am sore loser. It’s more so that I simply cannot see how, given well over two years time, the Republican party could not come up with viable enough candidate to give Hillar-ious a run for her money.

The GOP, and its members, knew exactly what needed to happen to win the 2016 election the second the 2012 election was officially declared over and lost. The party needed to produce an experienced candidate with just the right combination of political insider-ship and anti-establishment credentials that appealed not only to conservatives, but also to independents and the soon-to-not-be-a-minority-anymore voter. It needed someone who could provide the necessary experience and fortitude to address the concerns of those who believe social safety nets are direly necessary as well as those who are sick and tired of paying vast amounts of their hard-earned money to pay for social safety nets they themselves seem to never use despite suffering their own financial hardships from time to time. It needed to offer up a candidate that made the right people feel secure in their government programs and the right people feel secure in their optimism about capitalism and entrepreneurship.

Above all, the GOP needed to produce someone that a majority of America felt was a reasonable person who could compromise when needed, but could also be stern when it was time to stand up for what was right. It needed to run someone who we all felt would do better on transparency and hypocrisy and misleading or misjudging on the facts than the current Oval Office occupant. The Party needed to produce someone who was more willing to work with those on the other side of the political spectrum, and more willing to listen to the needs and wants of the America people.

For a party that seems to not go thirty seconds without praising Ronald Reagan and his electability during the 1980 race, the GOP sure seems to not have much of an understanding of just what made Uncle Ronnie electable to vast amounts of Americans that year, and again in 1984. Because when I look at the establishment candidates that were ultimately produced this election cycle, I sure don’t see that Reagan-style mass appeal. Little Marco was probably the closest, but it is obvious the GOP could not produce a single person who appealed to its base as well as the boarder American audience.

And because the party could not produce a viable candidate for the base, the base went out and found its own candidate. And while the party is quick to stand up and point fingers at the actual voters, and not the party itself for the reason conservatives ended up with such an unpopular nominee in the end, I would argue that it is, in fact, the party’s inability to produce a single stellar presidential candidate that is the reason Republican primary voters revolted against every single establishment candidate.

But, at the same time, primary voters themselves still bear some responsibility. When voting in a party primary, you should not only be considering a vote for someone you like, but should also be considering a vote for someone who stands an actual chance of winning the general election. It is quite clear that far too many Republican primary voters were not taking this into consideration during this election.

Every conservative, especially those who consider themselves Republicans, should know at this point that one of the most important influences on American politics and elections moving forward will be the Hispanic vote. Yet, primary voters really could not have picked a person more reviled by that group of people than Taco Bowls. Some of these folks may ultimately still vote against Hillar-ious because of their more conservative or religious views, but a nominee calling their family members still in Mexico murderers and rapists in blanket statements sure isn’t going to sway those voters to vote against Hillar-ious.

And while religious rhetoric might play well throughout the heartland and in select homes, it sure does not have mass appeal any longer to the independent voters that sway elections. As a party, the GOP really needs to learn this. Everyone has a right to his or her religious views and I’d never fault someone for sharing them, but candidates must understand that a shift in religious values has occurred, and their religious beliefs must be soft enough to appeal to the growing population of non-religious people in this country.

All of these reasons combined, regardless of how Taco Bowls ends up fairing, or regardless of whatever other skeletons jump out of his closet between now and the election, are why the GOP is destined to lose yet another presidential election. And unless the party makes some serious changes in the candidates it produces, it’s going to lose in 2020, too.

Now, before you paint me as a bleeding heart liberal turning his back on his values, I am more conservative than most on a lot of things, but I also know that you can’t win an election without appealing to a broad swath of the American public on a broad array of issues. Sadly, it seems that neither the GOP nor Republican primary voters, however, were able to wrap their heads around that. And that lack of foresight in electing a nominee that could actually win the general election, was the last puzzle piece needed in Hillar-ious finally realizing her goal of becoming the most powerful person on the planet.

All of that being said, there are very few things I have seen in life that make me roll my eyes and shake my head in disbelief more than the fact that our next U.S. President is going to be that woman, Ms. Rodham. Not because she is a Democrat, but because she is a liar, schemer, conspirator, opportunist, hypocrite, and even worse, probably cannot legitimately understand why half of the country can’t stand her. There is nothing worse than a horrible person who thinks everyone hates them because of everything else besides their own actions.

If you had asked me back in the 1990s why Hillar-ious stuck with Willy Jeff through all his womanizing and sexual assault allegations, I would have told you it was because it was her road to the Presidency. Mark my words; I have no problem whatsoever with a woman being the President of the United States of America. I just wish it wasn’t going to be that woman.

Where do I begin when it comes to Hillar-ious and what is wrong with her being the President? Well, for starters, unlike our next Commander-in-Chief, I do think Benghazi was a big deal – for many reasons. The clandestine nature of the covert arms mission in Libya, which was funneling Libyan weapons stockpiled by Gaddafi to anti-Assad Syrian rebels without the knowledge or consent of the American people, is one. The fact that our government left its citizens who were either knowingly or unknowingly supporting that arms mission to their own devices when their lives were in danger, despite the fact that we have this unbelievably huge and costly military, is another. The fact that for hours upon hours, our people over there sought help from their government and without a doubt, all of the phones in Washington, D.C. went unanswered “at three in the morning” that night is yet another. And of course, the fact that our Secretary of State not only lied to the American people about the nature of the deaths in Benghazi, but turned around and told that same lie directly to the faces of the family members of the Americans who died on her watch, is one of the biggest ones. But perhaps my biggest issue with Benghazi is the fact that despite us all knowing what happened, and who is at fault, it is not a big enough deal to the American people to keep the person in charge of the entire fiasco from becoming President.

Spend a little time reading about the actual facts surrounding the email scandal, and what is more troubling than a private email server in the basement of a home being used to handle national security information, classified or not, or the deleting of tens of thousands of government emails, are the tenets of what the FBI jokingly called an investigation. Who else in America besides a Clinton gets investigated by the FBI then has every key member of the investigation granted immunity, and to top it off, gets to dictate to the FBI what evidence can be reviewed, when it can be reviewed, as well as the point at which that evidence is to be destroyed so it can no longer be used when new facts come to light at a later time. Also, there is no doubt that Crooked Hillary lied to save her skin on this one. Even that weasel Comey admitted that. And it’s already coming out that key members of the investigation were shocked when no charges were filed. 

Anyone else who had perpetrated the same actions as Ms. Rodham did throughout the use of the server and the ensuing cover-up would have landed in jail. There are members of our military who sit in jail right now for far less. So, when Taco Bowls says that Hillar-ious oughtta be in jail, he’s not being a misogynist, he’s basically stating that if any one of us commoners had committed the same acts, we’d be behind bars. He is also referencing the fact that if he were President, unlike HisHighness did with Eric Holder and the Fast and Furious fiasco, people who committed crimes would go to jail, not end up running for higher office instead. I must say that I agree with that stance.

And if this all was not enough to keep that woman, Ms. Rodham, out of the Oval Office, take into consideration the fact that while serving as Secretary of State, even though she promised otherwise, Crooked Hillary had people on-staff at both the State Department and the Clinton Foundation at the same time. You definitely don’t get interests more conflicted than that! Now, take into consideration that it is apparently clear that donations to the Clinton Foundation got donors access to the State Department, as well as favors from that State Department. Also, take into consideration the hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Clinton Foundation that came from nations that condone the stoning of women for adultery, don’t consider rape to be rape, and will happily toss gays, lesbians, and everyone in-between off the roofs of buildings, all the while, with the Clintons barking about how they are the ones who care about these people, not their deplorable opponent and his supporters. 

Finally, take into consideration that the Saudi government has been providing support to ISIS, as the latest round of WikiLeaks emails suggest, and that the Clinton and Obama camps knew this full well, but obviously, kept it from us. All things mentioned here considered, it really makes me wonder what the hell is wrong with the American people that they would allow this type of behavior from someone they are about to elect as President. Especially, while criticizing every move the other candidate has ever made, ever.

Then, to top this all off, you have the entities and professionals in this country who still somehow manage to call themselves news agencies and journalists while so blatantly favoring one party and one candidate, even during the debates. It seems that while every single past incident in Taco Bowls’ life has come under close scrutiny by the media, that same media seems to pretend that the entire Willy Jeff presidency, of which Hillar-ious was heavily involved, never even happened. Well, at least any of the negative aspects of it, that is.

The Clinton presidency was filled with things like the Clinton Healthcare Plan of 1993, also known as Hillarycare, which led to litigation surrounding secret backroom meetings and cost taxpayers untold millions, but luckily never came to fruition; as well as TravelGate, the scandal in which Hillar-ious wanted to award unfettered travel contracts to Clinton friend Harry Thompson, which resulted in her reporting members of the White House Travel Office to the FBI and getting them fired when they refused to comply with her wishes. As Wikipedia states, “Hillary Clinton gradually came under scrutiny for allegedly having played a central role in the firings and making false statements about her role in it.”

And we cannot forget about FileGate during which close Clinton friend, Craig Livingstone, who was long accused of not being qualified for his position as Director of White House security, was accused of improperly accessing the FBI files of folks who were obviously political enemies of the Clintons. Naturally, everyone involved was acquitted and it was brushed under the rug.

And, of course, let’s not forget about the granddaddy of Clinton scandals, Whitewater. Special Prosecutor Ken Starr was appointed because Hillar-ious was refusing to release documents surrounding Whitewater, a real estate venture during which Willy Jeff supposedly forced an illegal loan to be made to his business partners while he was governor of Arkansas. It was this investigation, at a cost of $80 million, that led to the discovery of the Oval Office intern blow jobs, that infamous blue dress, and a sitting President, who was also a lawyer, lying under oath in a deposition and, even worse, directly to the American people. Hillar-ious avoided indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Starr investigation by repeating, “I do not recall,” “I have no recollection,” and “I don’t know” a total of 56 times while under oath.

And yet, here we are, ready to put these people back in the White House for presumably another eight years.

Consider, also, the fact that from 1988 to 2024, a span of 36 years, for 28 of those years, or over 77%, one member of two families will have occupied the Oval Office if Hillar-ious gets her way and serves for eight years. While we can debate all day long the intentions of the Founding Fathers on things like guns and religion, it is obvious that our entire system of government was designed to prevent the likes of this two-sided oligarchy from happening, yet here we are.

So, while this election is a contest between what the American people have obviously deemed to be the lesser of two evils, it is also still very much a contest between the two party establishments that seek to give us yet another eight years of oligarchy. On the Democratic side, the oligarchy is firmly in place, but on the Republican side, you at least have a candidate that has definitely proven that he does not answer to the establishment.

But, ultimately, in the end, I would argue that all of these things I have presented so far do not matter one bit when we boil the situation down to the true reason why people actually vote for a candidate. And that is…what’s in it for them. If I vote for Taco Bowls and he wins, over the next four years, I get to keep $28,000 of my money that will otherwise be sucked up into the wasteful, fraud-ridden welfare machine that our country has become. If I vote for Taco Bowls and he loses, not only do I not get to keep that $28,000, Hillar-ious is going to want me to pay an additional $756 over that same four-year period. Given that scenario, whom would you vote for? If you didn’t say Taco Bowls, then I admire your convictions, though I think you’re nuts!

And this, my friends, is what we can boil all of politics in America down to today. What’s in it for me? If your parents came here illegally, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you or your family relies on those checks from the government, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you’re making less than $15 an hour, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you can’t afford health insurance, and I don’t mean you’ve just been raked over the coals with increased premiums by Obamacare, but genuinely are deciding between health insurance and food, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you can’t afford, or simply don’t want to pay for college, you’re voting for Hillar-ious. If you feel it is the government’s job to take care of those who do not want to take care of themselves, you are voting for Hillar-ious. And, if none of these things apply to you, you are voting for Taco Bowls because more likely than not, you’re one of the dumbasses going to work everyday so you can pay for all of these free things for other people while still having to pay for them yourself, or you are one of the crazy bastards who would rather be working instead of living off the government.

So, like so many other Americans, I am going to vote for the candidate that is going make the most sense for me financially. I believe that is what most of us are going to do anyway. For me, that’s Taco Bowls because I am a producer and a taxpayer, and sadly, no matter what comes out about him between now and the election, it still couldn’t possibly be any worse than the things Ms. Hillar-ious Rodham has done while already in office.

Photo by Maret Hosemann via Pixabay

What If This Is What Happened...

Overheard on Jefffrey Epstein’s Lolita Express somewhere over the Southern Atlantic in 2002:

“I’ll tell you, Bill, here’s what we do – It’ll be yuge! – So what I’ll do, if Hillary ever decides to run for president – it’ll be great – I’ll run as a Republican – I’m a billionaire so everyone will think I must be Republican – They’ll all believe it – I’ll go crazy – I’ll go nuts – I’ll whip them into a frenzy over immigration, over China, over Mexico, over the economy – I’ll play the middle – fight both parties – No one will suspect a thing! I’ll scare the hard core Republicans and get them out to vote - win the nomination – Get this! – Then, I’ll get even crazier – Say even crazier things – Practically throw the election – Everyone will believe it! – They’ll think I’m just being me – my crazy self – And that I just couldn’t control myself – couldn’t keep my mouth shut! – They’ll totally believe it! – People will get scared – They’ll be really afraid of me starting nuclear war or something – Like I’m going to start nuclear war when I have a bad day! – They’ll totally think it! – They will be scared that no matter what Hillary’s done in the past – no matter how crazy liberal anti-American she was growing up – no matter how many laws she breaks or lies she tells coming up – she will win! – She’ll win because I will scare them all so much – And they’ll have to vote for her – I mean, they’ll have no choice – It’s either me or her – No one else will stand a chance – It’ a two-party system! – What are they gonna do? – With the supporters you guys already have and the people so scared of me being crazy – She will win no matter what – I’m telling you, it’ll be yuge! First woman President – you’ll be her First Lady! – I’ll loose – say the election was rigged – bitch for a bit, then go back to making money – Doing what I do - I’ll be more famous than ever – Maybe even get a TV show or something – Amazing shit! – I am telling you, it will work – People will believe it – No one will suspect a thing – It’ll do wonders for my business – You guys will be back in the White House! I guarantee you it will work!”

Photo by Khusen Rustamov via Pixabay

Concentrate On Your Personal Economy

I was deep in thought when I came to the realization that given all of the information available to us today, we easily can become overwhelmed. While there was a time in history when people starved for knowledge and there was great excitement at obtaining a new book or other item to read, today there really is just too much information out there.

Think about the likelihood that you could actually watch every episode of every television show that you wanted to watch in today’s world of satellite, cable, and made-for-streaming “television”. It would be impossible. There is just not enough time in a lifetime to watch it all. The same is the case for all of the great content there is to read out there.

I can readily admit that I am addicted to reading as much about business, the economy, healthcare and politics as I can. My inbox is filled with newsletters and articles that I read every time I am out walking or have a few spare minutes to glue my eyes to that little screen I carry around in my pocket.

But, in the end, I always struggle with the return on investment of my time. Granted, I am learning a great deal every day, and remain fairly well updated on the goings on of the world, but would my time be better used in some other manner? I often tend to feel that could be the case.

The area where I question the time I spend consuming content the most is politics. Sure, I can tell you much more about what is going on in politics than the average American, which sadly, isn’t saying much, but what is the ROI of all that time I spend keeping current on the subject?

Does being up-to-date on the political landscape make a difference in my life? Can I make a difference at all by knowing what is going on? Does being aware make it any easier to swallow the circumstances that are provided to us by the politicians and the immense political machine that the American government has become? Realistically, while I struggle with the answer, it seems to be a resounding ‘no’.

And this is what really got me thinking that day. For as much time as we all can spend reading about politics and politicians, how does this knowledge actually reflect upon our own personal economies? Not the U.S. economy, or the economy in the state we live, but our actual personal economies – our own little financial empires, however big or small, that can be effected by changes in Washington as well as something as personal as changing a job or whether or not we buy a new car.

All of the politicians in Washington and the state capitals try to influence our votes by telling us to ask ourselves if we are better off now than we were “x amount of time” ago. These politicians then try to either take credit for, or blame others for, the state in which we find our own personal economies at the given time. And while things like the Affordable Care Act and tax increases or whether or not mortgage loan interest remains tax deductible can all have an influence on our personal economies, there is no one bigger influence on them than ourselves.

Stop doing your job and see what happens to your own personal economy. Do an amazing job and get more business or a promotion and see what happens. Buy a brand new house or car that you can’t afford and see what happens. Each of these things will have a far bigger impact on your life than whether a Democrat or Republican is president or who is controlling the congress.

As someone who has spent a good deal of his time reading about politics and politicians, I don’t necessarily recommend putting your head in the sand, but I do recommend not getting too caught up in the political rhetoric that ultimately in the end will not have nearly the effect on your own personal economy as the financial decisions you make.

Paying more attention to your financial decisions and taking the time to better understand how they will affect your own personal economy will yield far more ROI on time invested than any other effort you can undertake.

Photo by Charles Thompson via Pixabay

Buzz Is Hermain Cain Stands A Real Chance In 2012

"There's nothing behind the voice or the message. The administration is in free fall. The country is in a state of anxiety and the administration doesn't have a handle on it all."

This is a recent quote from Herman Cain, a former chairman and deputy chairman of the Kansas City Federal Reserve and the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza.

When Herman Cain walks into a tea party event, he is greated with excitement, and you can even hear people say, "It's him, it's him." Cain has a radio show in Atlanta, does quite a bit of public speaking, is the author of "They Think You're Stupid" and is the first of many potential 2012 presidential candidates to form an official exploratory committee.

Cain has started his possible campaign by attending a number of small gatherings around the nation, last year speaking at 40 Tea Party rallies, and recently attended the Tea Party Summit in Phoenix.

Cain is looking to focus on national security, a fair tax, domestic energy, and repealing and replacing what he calls "health care deform".

When asked about being a long-shot candidate for 2012, Cain says, "Bill Clinton, another long-shot candidate. People would be nuts to think that a long-shot candidate didn't have a chance to win. He also points out that our current president was a long-shot candidate as well. "He was able to knock off the Clinton machine, that's what I call it, because people got excited about a fresh face and a fresh voice."

Cain's rise to political fame actually came in 1993, when during the Clinton health care reform push, he confronted the then-president at a town hall meeting in Kansas City. Cain tried to explain to President Clinton that his proposed mandate that all employers be forced to provide health insurance for all workers would actually cost some people their jobs. President Clinton tried to explain to Cain that government subsidies would help small businesses to meet the health care mandate and not have to lay workers off due to health care cost increases. Cain responded by saying, "Quite honestly, your calculation is in accurate. In the competitive marketplace it simply doesn't work that way."

Cain supports replacing our current federal income tax system with a federal sales tax. He also believes replacing federal income tax with federal sales tax will help stimulate the economy.

Cain credits Sarah Palin for the success of the Tea Party movement and its impact on the 2010 midterm elections, and says that he sees the influence of the Tea Party growing as we move into the 2012 elections.

Many sources agree that Herman Cain is a candidate to learn more about today so you will know who people are talking about when it comes time to vote in November 2012.

Who's Runnin' In 2012?

The field of Presidential hopefuls for 2012 is starting to take shape. While many of the expected big-name candidates are still doing their dance of acting like a shy girl on prom night, some of the more colorful candidates are already well on their way with their campaigns.

One such candidate is Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey, a self-proclaimed vampire that not only drinks the blood of his girlfriend and mistresses two times a week, but says "Certain criminals, instead of being put in jail, they should be brutally tortured and impaled. Upon them being found guilty of their crimes I'll beat them, torture them, dismember them and decapitate them." Sharkey adds, "I won't be bullied, I won't be blackmailed. Criminals and terrorists will fear me along with corrupt law enforcement officials. I will not tolerate crime or terrorism."

Game over! Can I have my ballot now? My decision is made! I see The Impaler has read my platform on crime, punishment and keeping the peace! Well, I must admit I adapted it from Vlad Tepes, Prince of Wallachia's platform, but a good idea is a good idea, right?

When asked about his chances of winning, Sharkey comments that basically with as bad a candidate as Sarah Palin is, and with how much people hate her, he's a much lesser evil in comparison.

Another notable candidate that has already filed his application to run for President in 2012, is Miami Beach resident Raphael Herman. Herman has run for mayor of Miami Beach six times and claims that fraudulent election results are the only cause of his six-time losing streak. Most notable about Herman is that he is not a naturally born U.S. citizen. When asked about the President having to have been born in the U.S., he claims he has evidence that President Barak Obama was actually born in Kenya and will use that evidence to cite precedence when he is elected President. "I was not born in America. I was born in Israel, but you see [President Barack Obama] wasn't born in this country either. I have his birth certificate."

Deonia "Dee" Neveu, a mother of five from Virginia has also filed her paperwork for her presidential bid. She seems to be wanting to point out to Americans who are misguidedly looking for a President with a wealth of experience that the constitution doesn't actually call for any type of political experience, and in fact, believes that the constitution was written so that any American could give becoming President a shot. "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself," says Neveu. "I don't want to live in the White House. "I would like to use a part of the White House to host fundraising events for America." Well, at least she has more political experience that our current President did when he began his campaign, right?

A reformed heavy drug user (from California, of course) who has found God, Mosheh Thezion is also running for President in 2012, though he is saying right up front that he doesn't like how he looks when he smiles, so we can expect not to see any smiles on the campaign trail. "They'll just dig it up anyway," said Thezion. "I hate politicians who lie. I tell the truth, I have nothing to hide, why would I want to hide something?" Seems like Thezion equates smiling to lying, doesn't he? I bet he was a huge fan of George the Great Satan Junior! Thezion follows up his statement that he used to use "pounds and pounds" of marijuana, cocaine, meth and alcohol before "giving up his sinful ways" by saying, "I grew up a loose liberal which is why I'm a conservative today." As I have always said, a liberal is a conservative that either hasn't hit rock bottom in their liberal ways, been the victim of a crime, or simply come to their senses yet.

Thezion also says that he will "abolish the Internal Revenue Service" and "pay off the entire national debt, permanently." I like how that sounds. Maybe I can get vampire guy to agree to the same financial policy.

Rounding out our cavalcade of interesting Presidential hopefuls is Rutherford B. Hayes, not to be confused with the 19th president of the United States by the same name. Rutherford says, "The current administration is engulfed with socialists, communists, and marxists as well as insatiable condescending egos." Yes, and birds go tweet!

We've still got a long way to go before we start widdlin' down the pack and see if the vampire, Israeli, inexperienced mom, or guy with the same name as the 19th President, can give the likes of The Master & Commander, Mrs. Once Rodham-Clinton Now Just Clinton, The Lady Who Really Liked To Say The Word Maverick Last Time, and clear great choice Mitt Romney a run for their money. Either way, maybe we shouldn't be so closed-minded when it comes to platforms, America. Just because you're a total nut job doesn't mean you shouldn't be setting U.S. policy. I mean, hell, we let Pelosi do it, and The Impaler isn't nearly quite as frightening....

Unchecked School Administrators

Well, here we go again with school...

Shiba Pillai-Diaz is a middle school teacher in New Jersey. She decided to decorate her classroom’s bulletin board with an American theme. So, she put up an American flag, a poster of the Declaration of Independence and portraits of several U.S. Presidents. Wanna hear why she had to take the bulletin board down?

There were enough parents and spineless school administrators who listened to those parents, that’s why!

What was their complaint? Well, one of the pictures of the U.S. Presidents was George W. Bush, the current sitting President, and whiny parents said that if this teacher was going to have a picture of George W. Bush up, she should have a picture of John Kerry up too, to be fair.

She was given a choice...put John Kerry up on the bulletin board, or take the whole thing down. So, when we put up pictures of the Presidents of the United States of America, do we now need to include the current Presidential Candidates as well?

According to these parents and this teacher’s bosses, we do. So, is this where we are at in America? Our teachers cannot put up a picture of a sitting President during his re-election without putting up pictures of the people running against him?

Now, hold on a second...understand what you just read? I said “people,” didn’t I? Yes, there is more than one person running against George W. Bush in this election, but there was only an outcry for John Kerry’s picture, not an outcry for pictures of each of the Presidential Candidates. What do we call that, boys and girls? We call that hypocrisy.

Parents claimed it was unfair for the teacher to put up just Bush’s picture and whined for Kerry’s picture. They did not, however, whine for pictures of all of the candidates...just their candidate. Why did they want Kerry up on the bulletin board? They said it was to be fair, but I must call them on the fact that it is just because it’s their candidate, not because they are looking for something to be fair.