Our Democratic Republic

                    I am sitting here this morning watching a session of our House of Representatives on television. They are obviously debating, but whom? It’s an almost empty house. There’s nobody there except a handful. I have always been taught that a debater needs a debatee—someone to debate, someone to listen. The Congressional Record certainly doesn’t listen, and I find it difficult to believe our representatives read everything printed within. What is all the talk other than, for the most part, political PR? It’s certainly not a real debate. What good is an empty house? It sure doesn’t beat a full house, now does it?

To paraphrase the late Winston Churchill, one of the greatest, if not the greatest, leaders who has ever lived, who is quoted to have said, “A democracy is one of the worst forms of government there is, but I can’t think of any better”, ours, the democratic republic of The United States of America, appears to be a prime example. On the whole, speaking in general, our citizens, the electorate, who are responsible for deciding who our representatives will be and, therefore, the direction of our nation, frequently don’t vote; and, those who do, vote based on uninformed opinion and prejudice with little or no knowledge of the real facts involved or where our country is going. It would appear they have little time or interest. As a consequence and/or in conjunction with this, the representatives who are elected fail to represent the people who voted for them, representing, rather, those who seduce them with campaign contributions, bribes, and special favors, effectively passing control of our nation from the people to a shadow government of huge multi-national corporations and very rich and powerful elite, i.e. an oligarchy of the Corporatocracy and Power Elite, which really governs us.

          There is no doubt about it. Our Founding Fathers were brilliant. They were geniuses. But none could see three hundred years into the future nor should they be so expected. Times now are as different as day and night from times past. It is time for an update. It is time for a change. We need to amend our Constitution, bringing it forward to the present. It is past time to rid ourselves of our shadow government. Only Americans should rule America and that should be a rule by all Americans—not just the rich and powerful here and abroad.

          In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

A Nation of Law

‘You know? I absolutely abhor being controlled. I may be wrong, but I suspect you do too. I think we all do—it’s our nature. As a matter of fact, there are times when I perceive that someone is trying to control me when I will purposely do just the opposite even if it might not be in my interest—even if it hurts; my wife says I’m stubborn. On the other hand, there is a “right and wrong” about things. I don’t mind following rules that help us all to live together in peace and harmony with one another if it is the “right thing” to do. I remember the prosecutor on Law and Order, that famous television program, saying that your freedom ends and mine begins at the tip of our noses. For us all to live in peace, and we must, we must never forget that. We need laws—all kinds of laws; to provide rules of order that we may live our lives in liberty and happiness with equal opportunity for all. We are a nation of law and we must obey them if we want to survive.

There is a beauty in this, at first, not readily apparent. We are a democratic republic “of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Abraham Lincoln reminded us of this in his speech at Gettysburg after the Civil War. In our democracy, all of us—every qualified citizen— has a say in the creation of these laws through our elected representatives. Today, we have a population approximating 320 million people with 320 million opinions differing in one way or another (You have heard it said,”Even my wife doesn’t agree with me all the time”). The beauty of our system is that, although the majority prevails, the minority is protected from the tyranny of a majority by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights contained within. The majority of us cannot oppress the minority. We have a legislative branch of government to create the rules by which we are governed, an executive branch to execute them, and a United States Supreme Court to insure their adherence to our Constitution.

This is absolutely wonderful! But there is a problem. The system is smudged and failing. It is broken. We have an electorate which, for the most part, is either misinformed or uninformed, complacent, fails to participate, and wants to stay that way, and a legislative body, the majority of which has “sold out” to a Shadow Government by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite, aka an oligarchy of multinational corporations and the very rich and powerful world elite, a president whose motives appear questionable (the Democratic Party is touted as a party of the people—not Wall Street), and a supreme court which certainly hasn’t helped, calling a legal entity, corporations, people with the right of free speech. The result is that we are losing our democracy and our sovereignty as a nation. Rather than a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, we are going in another direction and we won’t like it when we get there. We are on our way to a world government by corporations and world elite.

This new world trade agreement is just one more step. And how do I know? I know; You know; We know, what they have done in the past. Now, it’s a secret. Although it’s certainly understandable why negotiations of a trade agreement would be behind closed doors, it is not understandable that we can’t read it (and amend if necessary) before it is passed. We the people need to see this—no fast track, no TPP, until we do. Really! It’s in our court—we the people. It’s past time for us to stop “sucking our thumbs”.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

I Say Again

I begun this as a comment for Facebook but have changed my mind because of its size. I’m sure that, over time, I have said these things before; but, in light of comments I, from time to time, continue to hear from others, I say again.

You can say this either way. The Social Security Fund invested its surplus funds in the United States Government by buying government securities for which they receive interest; or, you can say, the government of the United States borrowed the Social Security surplus collections, securing them with interest bearing notes or securities. Either way, the government did not steal the Social Security fund's money. Their investments will receive interest and be repaid when due as is every other government security. Surely one would not expect the fund to invest in lesser secure investments. As bad off as we may seem, no other institution in the world has better credit than the United States of America. Ours is the reserve currency of the world. That very well may change; but, for now, that’s just the way it is.

You are absolutely right, Beth. The Social Security fund is not part of our national budget. Neither does it in any way affect our deficit or our debt unless you want to consider the fact that it is a creditor.Social Security is a stand-alone fund.

Last, but certainly not least, the Social Security fund is not going broke. Those who say different are mistaken. Yes, in a few years, the income to the fund will need to be adjusted as will all our budget plans as conditions change. We should have already done so except for those in Congress who lack the political courage to step up and take care of business where and when it is needed—their own personal interests taking precedent over those of our nation. Of course, other reasons are due to their political chess games—also not in the best interest of the nation.

Yes we have a huge national debt. It shouldn’t be. But it is; and you can blame almost all of it on the Republicans—their personal greed and their political games of chess. If they can bring us to the brink of bankruptcy, they can force us to get rid of Social Security, Health Care, and other safety net programs. Yes. They are coming after our Social Security. They have told us as much.

When Jimmy Carter left office, our national debt was less than one trillion dollars. That is as close to zero as any of us is going to see in our lifetimes. When George W left office, our national debt was around ten trillion dollars, an increase of 1,004%; and, on top of that, he left us on the edge of a global financial crisis and  one of the potentially deepest depressions in world history—that after inheriting a nice and comfortable budget surplus from our DINO president William Jefferson Clinton. You remember him. Think NAFTA. Think the repeal of Glass–Steagall which, among other causes, led to the financial crisis. Think etc. but I digress. The fact is, we wouldn’t have had most of the additional debt leading up to the eighteen trillion dollars we have now if Bush would have kept us on track with the spending level he inherited.

But I want to tell you something else. Our country isn’t broke either, unless we choose to continue in that direction. There is enough gross domestic product produced in this nation every year to pay off our debt over a reasonable period of time and still have the other programs we need for the welfare and security of our nation and our people. It will require that our people be paid fair and reasonable living wages and that everybody pays their fair share of taxes, including top wage earners and corporations, It would also help immensely if our Department of Defense and intelligence agencies were to implement auditable accounting systems with integrated data bases and fair pricing. Certainly, fair and more reliant pricing by our defense contractors would contribute. Cost overruns range from the sublime to the ridiculous. We can do this if we really want. If we want to continue as the leader of the free world, we must.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

Brilliance In Three Parts

I just received an email, printed below, bearing the above title to which I am compelled to respond. It is one I have read before but, until now, have left unanswered. Thoroughly disgusted with receiving frequent propagandized political emails that mislead and misinform the public, I can no longer contain myself. Unfortunately, the thought process from which the writer’s conclusion is derived is pejorative in nature reflecting either lack of knowledge, intellect, intent to deceive and mislead, or all of the above. In either event, the stated or implied conclusion(s) is/are incorrect, i.e. .rubbish based on half-truths. The email reads as follows:

Part I

                        A. Back off and let those men who want to marry men, marry men.

B. Allow those women who want to marry women, marry women.

C. Allow those folks who want to abort their babies, abort their babies.

D. In three generations, there will be no Democrats.

                                    I love it when a plan comes together; don’t you?!

My response: Homosexuality has been around forever and practiced regularly, the institution of marriage notwithstanding; and the practice of abortion has been practiced on a regular basis since the time of the caveman and woman, the law notwithstanding. As they traveled from one place to another (Do you remember? They were nomads.), they could only take what they could carry. What do you think they did with the extra babies they produced along the way? Guess what? We still have Democrats.

Part II: 10 Poorest Cities in America  (How did it happen?)

City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level

1. Detroit, MI 32.5%

2. Buffalo, NY 29.9%

3. Cincinnati, OH 27.8%

4. Cleveland, OH 27.0%

5. Miami, FL 26.9%

5. St. Louis, MO 26.8%

7. El Paso, TX 26.4%

8. Milwaukee, WI 26.2%

9. Philadelphia, PA 25.1%

10. Newark, NJ 24.2%

What do these top ten cities (over 250,000 pop.) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

Detroit, MI - (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1961

Buffalo, NY - (2nd) hasn't elected one since 1954

Cincinnati, OH - (3rd) not since 1984

Cleveland, OH - (4th) not since 1989

Miami, FL - (5th) has never had a Republican mayor

St. Louis, MO - (6th) not since 1949

El Paso, TX - (7th) has never had a Republican mayor

Milwaukee, WI - (8th) not since 1908

Philadelphia, PA - (9th) not since 1952

Newark, NJ - (10th) not since 1907

Einstein once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'

It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats... yet they are still POOR.

My response: Books are written on the subject of poverty; its causes, effects, and solutions, are readily available to those who really care to access them. Time and space precludes in-depth analysis here; but, in brief, it is said that most Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point in their lives between the ages of 25 and 75. It is also important to note that poverty rates are persistently higher in rural and inner city parts of the country as compared to suburban areas such as those in the cities listed above. You have the percentage of poverty levels for the cities listed above. In November, 2012 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that more than 16% of the population lived in poverty, including almost 20% of American children, up from 14.3% (approximately 43.6 million people) in 2009 and to its highest level since 1993. In 2008, 13.2% (39.8 million people) lived in poverty.

Starting in the 1980s (the beginning of the Reagan era) relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations. California has a poverty rate of 23.5%, the highest of any state in the country. Poverty is continuing to increase since, consistent with increasing inequality in income and wealth. I’m not going further, but I’m trying to point out that these percentages are average percentages for the nation and, in the case of California, for that state. The percentages for the cities indicated above reflect the higher percentages of poverty within their inner cities. The higher concentrations of poverty within our inner cities exists for a variety of reasons affecting the averages for their respective cities. Poverty hasn’t one iota to do with their people being led by Democratic administrations. Any declaration to the contrary is false and misleading. The only exceptions will occur in cases of corruption which has nothing to do with any political party. There is enough of that to go around on both sides.

Part III:

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.

You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.

You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.

You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.

You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.

You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

~Abraham Lincoln

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a closer look at the American Indian."

~Henry Ford

My response: God Bless Abraham Lincoln. I love you Mr. President, but please tell me. Who wants to do these things? What idiot wants to destroy the rich, weaken the strong, discourage thrift, pull down the wage payer, incite class hatred, take away people’s initiative and independence, doing for them what they could and should do for themselves?  No one has a monopoly on idiocy, rich or poor; but, as one of those born of the poor, I certainly don’t. And I believe neither do the members of the poor. Rather than sit around forming erroneous opinions from your delusions of grandeur (You do believe you are better than them, don’t you?) why don’t you be honest with yourselves and ask them or, better yet, see how they live and determine for yourself if you really think they like their way of life.

Mr. Ford: You are absolutely right. For the most part, we murdered, i.e. euthanized the American Indian—a proud and independent people; they refused to be dominated by us, preferring to die rather than submit to slavery. Those remaining, we lied, cheated, and stole from them. Only recently, we sold one of their holy lands in Arizona to a foreign country for mining. Looking to the government to take care of them did not make them happy and prosperous. This, in my opinion, comes under the topic of corruption to which I referred, above, confirming my position on this email.

Let me end with this thought. There is a knowledge, the absence of which when missing from one’s view, leaves only confusion–the knowledge of God. No picture is complete without Him. This nation, this planet, produces enough every day that everyone can live a happy and prosperous life for all if we will only give up our greed. We will continue to have a middle class. We will continue to have our rich. Those who are worth more should have more; but, they don’t have to have it all. In the same vein, we should do everything in our power to alleviate the poor, impoverished, and underprivileged. We can’t afford not to. On our present course, that of the Corporatocracy and Power Elite, we are going to self destruct. You can take that to the bank, presuming that it still is there.

 In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

Trade Agreement

          Today is the day “the lord has made” or “the lord” hopes so; and I’m not talking about the Lord who is our God. I’m talking about “the lord” who rules over us politically—our Shadow Government by the multinational corporations and world elite. This is no conspiracy theory. These trade agreements are a real conspiracy, happening before our eyes—reducing our nation more and more to just another state within a world government—the loss of our democracy.

 I don’t ask you to believe me. I ask you to see for yourself. Look it up. There are many books on this subject. Check out www.globalresearch.ca. Open the article, Bilderberg 2011: The Rockefeller World Order and the “High Priests of Globalization”. Read the article in Wikipedia, Bilderberg Group. Read about the development of the European Union and how the nations involved had to subordinate their laws to those of the union effectively reducing them to the status of a state. Read “between the lines”. Now, with the involvement of the Pacific Rim countries of Asia, the Trans Pacific Partnership, the TPP, their goals will be just twelve more steps toward success—a world government. If we the American people allow these trade laws to go through, we are fools. Their name notwithstanding, these laws are part of a large chess game—they are about the domination of our country by the multi-national corporations and world elite.

          This is not about partisanship, i.e. Republican vs. Democrat. This is about the interests of the people of our nation—all the people; and I don’t believe the loss of our democracy is in our interest. Multinational corporations should not have the right to govern us. Beware of all this secret stuff. In my mind, trade is a sub-issue of these treaties. The real issue at stake is our sovereignty. Before we vote for it, let’s see it. Seeing is believing. Secrecy corrupts.

          In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

The American Voter

I never cease to be amazed by the thinking of the average American voter. Their intellectual level notwithstanding, their resistance to the process of learning and reasoning, for the most part anyway, is exceeded only by their lack of knowledge and naïveté. Oh well. Perhaps I just answered my own question. Perhaps the latter is the result of the former—do you think?

To my way of thinking, the Presidency of the United States of America is one of the highest executive positions in one of the largest and most important institutions in the world, i.e. our country; and members of our Congress serving in our House of Representatives and the Senate are its board of directors. You don’t get a greater, more responsible, CEO position than that; and neither do you get a greater, more responsible, Board of Directors. Not only is it past time for those holding those positions to start acting like it and responsibly fulfill those responsibilities; but, also, it is past time for the people of our country to come to their senses and elect people to those offices who are honest to the core, loyal, qualified, competent, and willing to serve for the good of the people, the nation, and ultimately, the planet. I hope I'm not expecting too much from them.

When you vote for people in these extremely important high echelon positions, this is no game—you are voting to hire them. You are not voting for the class president at your high school or for the local dog catcher. These people can mean life or death for you and your country. In their handling of issues such as international relations, war and peace, or the ecology, they can mean life and death for the planet. Think of your grandchildren and succeeding generations.

That your grandfather was a Whig, your father was a Whig, and/or you have been a Whig all your life is not a valid reason to vote for the Whig party. In all honesty, it is a reason derived from ignorance. That the candidate has beautiful hair, a wonderful personality, or drinks your brand of whiskey is on no consequence either. The question is how good an executive is he? What kind of manager will he be? Can he manage people? Will he get results for you? Is he honest, or will he lie, cheat, and steal from you? Where is his financing coming from? Does the candidate or those who finance him represent your interests and those of the country? For that matter, will he even show up for work? Some don’t, you know. The point is, as a voter you must study, think, and analyze—get the facts. It should not be necessary to remind you that you won’t find them in the constant battering of political advertising, propaganda, and brainwashing to which you will be constantly exposed on a daily basis, spewed out to influence the ignorant.

Election Day is coming. November of 2016 will be here sooner than we think. It is imperative that we diligently prepare for that day; and, when it arrives, we should go to the polls and vote rationally and intelligently. It is imperative that we vote for those candidates who represent our own interests. Who represents yours? Are you poor? Are you working or unemployed? Are you homeless? Are you in need of healthcare you can afford? Are you on Social Security? Are you disabled? Are you on Food Stamps? Are you middleclass? Are your jobs being outsourced to foreign countries, to slave labor? Or, on the other hand, are you in the top 1% of the people, those taking in the highest income and holding the most wealth among us–those on the top end (the receiving end) of the income inequality picture—those whose interests are represented by our Shadow Government, the Corporatocracy and Power Elite who finance our elections and have taken over our government. Chances are that you are one of the 99% of us. Who represents you? You know who represents them.

In either event, what is any of this discussion worth if you don’t get out and vote, intelligently fulfilling your constitutional responsibility as a citizen and protect your interests? One thing you can count on–you can take it to the bank, the Corporatocracy and Power Elite will be there. They’re paying for it. Think of them like a cancer. You may not see them; but, trust me, they are there. If you don’t stop them, one day it will be over for you. It will be over for our democracy.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.