Let’s Get Together

A Discussion of Healthcare

The threat of nuclear war notwithstanding, one of, if not the greatest, problem facing our nation today is our division within, the division of our people and our nation—a threat to our democracy and our very sovereignty. Yet, sad to say, our leaders refuse to do anything about it, ostensibly preferring to pursue their personal interests instead.

But let us think about this. Are we really as separated as it looks or, is this being perpetrated upon us? I submit that if we think more deeply, we will see the real truth of the matter just below the surface. I believe that the truth is found in the beginning of the second paragraph of our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….” I believe we all want this; and, in this we are all united—we are one and all together.

There are other truths that go right along with Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, one of which is that this earth belongs to all of us. We all have a right to its resources, the fruits of our labor, and equal opportunity to the full extent of our abilities. Although we are all born equal under the eyes of God and under the law, it is patently obvious, however, that we are not born equal physically. Some are born more gifted than others, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Accordingly, those whose abilities are limited have a right to share also from the fruits of those more able and more gifted. To whom much is given, more is expected. Our separation begins here and increases in proportion to our self interests and misperceptions which we all have to one degree or another. It is in this light I view Health Care, Social Security, Unemployment, and Taxes in accordance with one’s ability to pay. Just as sloth and laziness, the unwillingness of those who are able to work, is unacceptable, so also is the concept of “survival of the fittest and let the devil take the hindmost”.

Personally, I’m an old man. For all you young people who don’t know it, I have one of the best healthcare plans in the whole world. I have Medicare which pays 80% of my medical bills and a supplemental plan which pays the other 20%.  For that, I pay an annual deductible of $150 and monthly premiums combined of approximately $250. You, too, could have just as good a plan and choose your own doctor—really. The insurance is called “single payer” and the program is already up and running—if only Congress would represent your interests instead of that of the insurance companies.

Of course, you would have to pay more. My cost is cheaper because of all the years I have already paid in, but it should be significantly cheaper for you than you pay now. Just eliminating the insurance companies from the picture should save billions of dollars (Many are talking about leaving anyway). Also, look at the monumental savings to small business and large corporations as well. Even Congress would find relief. To those who cry Socialism, I say it’s not true—just not so. It’s only single payer—the government only pays the premiums. The providers would still run the system.

A very important point that I don’t hear discussed elsewhere has to do with the administration of the system. It should and must be a stand-alone, pay as you go system apart and separate from our government operating budget just as now is Social Security. It should be paid in full at the end of each fiscal year and not affect our annual deficit or debt. The amounts businesses are now contributing to employee healthcare should be added to employee wages. To finance the program, I suggest that in this particular instance, to minimize its impact on the people, a wise government would create a non-deductible adjunct to the corporate income tax—no payroll taxes, etc. A good time to do this would be when we reform corporate income taxes.

Let’s all get together and go in the same direction. Let the entire people share in the fruits of our productivity.

This is also discussed in my blog of October 22, 2016.

 In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com.

Dear Mr. President

There is something I don’t think you quite understand. As the leader of the arguably greatest, most powerful empire (and democracy) in the history of civilization, you no longer have the right to be your own person. Being on call during every minute of the day or night; and, having your every thought and word subject to the review, judgement, and affect upon others throughout the world, you no longer have the right to eat, to sleep, or even the discretion to speak your mind at will. Truthfully, the only rights remaining to you are to breathe, to relieve yourself, and to die—and only then if absolutely necessary. If you will think deeply and wisely about this ostensibly outrageous statement, I think you will find more truth in what it is saying than fiction.

The position you hold is one of grave responsibility; and, if you really want to honestly, honorably and successfully fulfill it, you must comprehend your responsibility not only for the welfare and security of those who voted for you, but also to everyone else you represent and/or your words and decisions affect throughout the world—your personal affairs and business(s) to no avail. Anything less is unacceptable. The best interests of the people of the United States of America and the world are in your hands.

I hope you will accept this message constructively as intended. I will post it on my blog, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, and Facebook.

Thank you.

Respectfully,

Ronald Miller

Illegal Immigration

There are those who forgot more about the subject of immigration than I will ever know; and, therefore, I will leave to them any discussion, in-depth, of the subject. It is, however, patently obvious to most that the subject of illegal immigration is in the forefront of issues before us today and one of the most contentious. Illegal immigrants are taking our jobs, putting people out of work; or they are running up our tax bills thru their use of our schools, utilization of health care, non-payment of taxes, gangs, drugs, crime, and so on, causing us to have to build a great wall costing us billions of dollars (which will ultimately be paid for by Mexico some Sunday after some Tuesday)—or so all this is said.

Before we go any further, let me remind everyone who reads this that there is not one thing under this subject which is not the responsibility of our Congress (Ref. Article I, Section I of our Constitution). They are responsible for the legislation; they are responsible to provide the financing for its execution; and, ultimately, they are responsible to insure it is being enforced. Further, it is my belief that we should not allow any law to be on the books for which adequate financing is not provided and we do not enforce. If either is withdrawn, the law should be cancelled. In either event, what we have now is pure neglect.

This having been said, let’s discuss the wall, a subject in the forefront of the “news” these days. Because of the campaign promise of then Presidential Candidate Trump, the wall is now erroneously portrayed by the media and the politicians, as well as the President as “the issue”. I contend that the wall is not the real issue, regardless of what “they” say. The real issue, the real problem, is illegal immigration. The wall serves as only one of several, if not many, means to solve the real issue, “illegal immigration”. The wall is just one means to an end. Unfortunately, and I think, unwisely—it is ill advised financially, politically, and diplomatically.

President Obama and others stated on national television that approximately forty percent of illegal immigration was caused by people overstaying their visas and they could not be tracked—forty percent, mind you. We can track a calf with mad cow disease to a barn somewhere in the backwoods of Wecando and we can’t track someone who overstays their visas? Malarkey! If we can’t track these people, it’s only because we don’t want to. We don’t want to spend the money or some other reason such as an employer who wants to keep them on the payroll, cheap labor, etc. But I digress.

There are undoubtedly other sources of illegal immigration and points of entry than Mexico and overstays of visas. Those coming from and thru Mexico are less than half of the total; and yet we want to literally waste billions of dollars building a wall that will at best exacerbate the tensions and polarization that already exists among our people as well as between our nation and the country of Mexico. Does this really gain the respect of our foreign neighbors and allies? Do we really want to shut down our government for this? Is this really leadership? Or is this whole thing just plain dumb and second class?

What we really need to do is write legislation, a reform bill, to which we will all agree to conform; yes, including E Verify (and whatever else I may have left out) and enforce it. And we should do it now. If a multibillion dollar transnational corporation spread out around the globe can efficiently and successfully manage their affairs, there is no reason, absolutely none, that our government can’t do the same and just as well. This is another one of those many subjects at hand which we have talked and studied to death. We know exactly what needs to be done. Let’s quit talking about it and do it. Let’s do it now.

Let me know what you think. In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Who Am I?

        I first published this blog, below, on August 9, 2013. Some of you may recall. I am publishing it again because I think its message is so important to understand. Today, our people as a nation are the most polarized we have ever been since the Civil War—all due, in part, to the differences in our world views, our perceptions of events, our character—the most important issue, in my opinion, currently facing the leader(s) of our nation. That blog is as follows.

Who am I? Who are you? For that matter, who are we? I’ve been thinking about this for a long time and have developed a theory. I’ll share it with you and see what you think. Let’s suspose—I know; the little red line just came up on my computer, telling me I misspelled the word, suppose. In passing, let me explain that I have this very dear friend, a lawyer, whom, over the years, I have come to love and respect very much. He’s from Georgia; and, when discussing or explaining an issue, he likes to say, “Let’s suspose……..”. So, therefore, please forgive my digression and indulge me while we suspose.

Beginning at the very beginning, let’s suspose that for every unborn individual there is, somewhere in Heaven, an individual spirit just waiting his turn to be born. For the sake of illustration, let us imagine in our mind’s eye, that spirit as a glass of water, clear, pure, and transparent–with no color whatsoever, either in the glass or the water—it’s perfect. Now, along comes a man and a woman who each, respectively, drop a sperm and an egg into the water. The sperm fertilizes the egg and they, combining their respective genomes, become one, the beginning of a person–the water in the glass becomes slightly colored. The “glass of water with the egg” spends nine months in the woman’s womb, the experience of which slightly changes the color of the water.

Then the baby is born, coming from the warmth and comfort of the womb into a cold and not so comfortable world. Again, the color of the water is changed. We now have a new human being with his own DNA, looks, physical condition, personality, and character–the color of his water. But, we can’t stop here, can we. Life goes on.

Next comes the nurture of the new baby. He may either be breast fed or bottle fed, diapered and changed. He is affected by every aspect of his environment down to the smallest: the volume and tone of the voices around him, language, temperature, light, darkness, and on and on and on. He is constantly learning–from what he hears and perceives even more so than from what he is told. Every effect lends itself to the ever changing color of his water–his character. The baby is constantly learning to walk, to talk, to speak, to read. He becomes educated. He grows up, and he continues to grow mentally and physically until he is finally a mature person with his very own personality and character–his very own color of water. Let us suspose the color of his water is now yellow. That is our new person, you or me.

To help us understand further, let us suspose there are two more persons with their glasses of water. Their beginnings, their environments, their nurtures, their experiences, their exposures, and their educations–all these in one way, to one extent, or another (most probably even in the womb) are different. In our susposition, we now have three persons, three distinctly different characters, three colors of water–let’s say red, yellow, and blue.

It has been said that we are all three persons. We are how we see ourselves; we are how others see us; and we are as God sees us. You don’t have to agree with me, but think about this for a moment. Let’s suspose the person in the glass with the yellow water is talking to the person in the glass with the blue water, what does he see?  I submit to you, he sees himself as yellow, and he sees the other as green. I further submit to you that, when the person in the glass with the red water looks at the person in the glass with the blue water, he sees himself as red and the other as purple. Now, let’s ask one last question, and I’ll quit. When the person in the glass with the yellow water is talking to the person in the glass with the red water about the person in the glass with the blue water, how will they view each other’s perception of that guy in the blue water?

Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? What color is your water? Let ‘suspose.

Ronald Miller

mtss86@comcast.net

Our U.S. Supreme Court

Please, let me hear from you if you disagree; but, my understanding of the duty and responsibility of any justice of our Supreme Court is to interpret the constitutionality of those laws brought before them with absolute objectivity absent of any and all personal, political, and religious prejudice and opinions—their only concern being to determine if the law in question, the law under consideration, is compatible with the Constitution as written by our Founding Fathers. They are not trying the original case before them. They are not deciding who is guilty and who is not guilty. Whether or not they believe in abortion doesn’t matter. Neither does their views on gay marriage or beliefs on slavery or anything else. The only reason they are reviewing any case before them is to determine the constitutionality of the law being applied. Ultimately, in the final analysis, the members of our Supreme Court are the sole protectors of the very foundation of our sovereign government—the law. They are appointed for life. They must be perfectly objective and responsible. Yes. This is the strict interpretation of the law regarding their duties. There is another interpretation which allows for adapting our Constitution to changes in times, technologies, etc, beyond which everything else I have said above is true.

In the last year of President Obama’s administration, a vacancy occurred on the Supreme Court due to the death of Justice Scalia, and President Obama nominated Justice Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to fill the position. In an unprecedented move, Senate Republicans under Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to consider Judge Garland’s nomination, waiving the Senate’s advise and consent role under the Constitution. In conjunction with this, “dark money” sources spent millions of dollars in opposition to his appointment (this is all a matter of record and readily available through Google). Now comes Republican President Donald Trump who appoints his candidate, Neil Gorsuch. To make a very long story short, this same “dark money” spends another ten million dollars in support of the Republican candidate (again, this is all a matter of record and readily available through Google).

Is this the way our democratic republic is supposed to be governed? Is this really in the interests of our people or is it in the interests of the providers of all that “dark money”? Judge Gorsuch refuses to respond to questions as to who is behind all this sordid financing (and he doesn’t have to—he isn’t required), but can you really believe he will be as objective and impartial in his judicial deliberations, if he is appointed to the court, in light of all this? Do you really believe you will get honest government under our Constitution from his decisions?

Let me know what you think. In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Healthcare for Americans

More and more, as every day comes and goes, I grow increasingly angry. Old, ugly, poor, disabled, and unemployed, I have little to do but study my Bible and listen to the news. News—what news? Day in and day out, all I hear are commercials (mostly commercials), political propaganda, gossip, argument, and bickering, lies, and misinformation—very little real news—mostly that which builds up ratings. To properly serve the people, our nation needs a new, honest, and efficient news media to replace what we now have, now controlled by a half dozen or so financial magnets throughout the world. Just to point out two minor, if not petty, examples, they even address members of the House of Representatives as Congressman. Their proper title is “Representative” They don’t address Senators as Congressman (which they absolutely are every bit as much—just read Section I of Article I of the U.S. Constitution). Also, take note of how often you hear the expression “you know” on the air. Why do you need to hear this kind of “crap” when the only reason you are watching informational television in the first place is because “you don’t know”—you want to be informed. However, that’s not why I am writing this. I digress. I want to talk about Healthcare.

Before I go there, however, I want to admit that this piece is long, about 2,000 words. But I promise you it will take much less time to read than the hours I took to study and write it. I haven’t written it to assuage my ego. I have written it because I care and am intensely concerned about what happens to my country. I am not a Republican. I am not a Democrat (my present registration notwithstanding). I am an American, and I care deeply about the American people, our democracy, and the sovereignty of our great nation as well as our leadership throughout the world. If we are to survive as the leader of the free world, we are going to have to get our economy under control, i.e. jobs and prosperity for our people (including the reduction of income and wealth inequality), our people educated (currently a national weakness), National Healthcare with Universal Access for all, Social Security update of financing, Tax Reform, Reduction of our national deficit and payment of our national debt, Reunification of our people, and much more not the least of which is Immigration Reform. I ask you to take the time to read this. I don’t know it all by any means—I’m certainly no genius; but I know what I am talking about. Read this. Please, and if you so choose, share it.

I said above that I am angry—very angry—with all the lying, bickering, and argumentation I see and hear on television every day. The confusion and dissent is mind boggling; and, to make matters worse, almost all of the arguments deal with symptoms rather than the real problem, wasting literally millions if not billions of dollars of taxpayer money and time in the process. One of many subjects argued is national healthcare.

Let me tell you this, and you—all of you—will agree: Each and every American in this country needs and/or, at some point in their life, will need access to healthcare. Also, a majority of you believe universal access to healthcare is a right. The need for universal access to healthcare by the people is neither the problem nor the argument. Really—the question, the real problem, THE REAL ISSUE, IS HOW TO PAY FOR IT. Not new to the American people, we always want the service, but we want someone else to pay for it. Think about it. Be honest with yourself. We fought the Revolutionary War and it took years for George Washington to get the money to pay for it, finally ending up getting a Jew, Haym Solomon, to secure financing. Check it out for yourself. Search for Haym Solomon in Wikipedia.

So, how can our nation secure universal access to HEALTHCARE FOR ALL?

This is a very complicated subject, so what I am going to tell you may not be in the right order, but I’ll try. Also, we need to understand a few underlying facts:

Being able to have access to healthcare doesn’t guarantee one the ability to attain it. It must be paid for.

Some claim the Affordable Care Act, i.e. Obama Care, is about to go broke. It is about to implode, becoming unaffordable. I believe they are right. It must be replaced.

Some believe Medicare is on the verge of “going broke”. That might happen; but only because our Congress (The House and Senate) fail to provide the necessary funds. They put this law into effect; and, as also true in the case of Social Security, immigration, education, etc., they refuse to do their job and provide the necessary financing—an absolute fact, a shortcoming throughout our government.

This is a dangerous game they are playing with our people and certainly not in their interests. It’s all about politics and more and more for the rich and wealthy. As it has been for some time, payroll deductions for Medicare are insufficient to cover costs, leading to increases in the national deficit and, consequently, the national debt. Healthcare is one of the most expensive, if not the most expensive, programs in our national budget today (next comes Defense [I believe that is true]).

This having been said, I have carried health insurance all my adult life even though, except for the birth of our children, I have had almost no need—until I become sixty and begun having serious problems with my heart. I have now been the beneficiary of the Medicare Program, for twenty years; and I can tell you it is the best coverage I have ever had. I was on the verge of death several times, and Medicare came through—smooth as silk—every time with no problems.

So what am I saying? I’m saying that we don’t have to argue, spit and stutter, wasting thousands of hours and billions of dollars politicking to do that which should be our utmost priority, the prosperity and well-being of our people—all our people (not just the rich and elite). We have in place right now a system which will provide for the healthcare of all our people—Medicare. We can start tomorrow (or April 1—the first of the month) with only a few additional adjustments to accommodate the increased volume and financing.

HOW WILL WE FINANCE IT? Everybody has to know there is never something for nothing. Nothing is free. There are a number of ways, but I think there must be some fixed rules:

Keeping in mind that our Social Security program is the most efficient and cost effective government program in effect in our nation today with the lowest administrative costs and self funding, contributing neither to the national deficit nor the national debt, we should establish our National Healthcare Program with Universal Access for All on the same basis. We can discuss the method of taxation; but, whatever, it must fulfill certain requirements:

At the end of each fiscal year, all expenditures from the fund should be paid in full—there must be no deficit, no debt.

All ages, cradle to the grave, must be covered.

The tax should be a single (one) tax in order to provide transparency and auditability. I suggest a retail national sales tax or a progressive income tax based upon one’s ability to pay.

There must be rigid enforcement of the law with stringent penalties for any and all fraud and deceit, including drug and tax evasion violations.

Employers now providing employee healthcare benefits should be relieved of the responsibility for all employee healthcare benefits and transfer those benefit payments to employee wages.

All present employee payroll deductions for Medicare benefits should be discontinued to be replaced by taxes determined as per above.

All Social Security and National Healthcare funds must be removed from any and all national budget considerations in the future. I suggest general provision for these funds be incorporated in our Constitution if at all possible, hopefully eliminating any future discussion of the rights of the people concerning them.

The subject of Socialized medicine comes to the front. Those who insist that national healthcare of this type is Socialized medicine are just plain wrong. They are in error. This is no more such than many other things we do and have been doing throughout our history in this Democratic Republic of ours.

Probably the best place to begin is a brief discussion of the free market—what it is and what it isn’t; and, what an economist (any economist) tells you notwithstanding, generally speaking the only place you will find a free market, in this country anyway, is on a blackboard (OK—a whiteboard) in a college classroom. In these days of international corporations, monopolies, interlocking directorates, government control, it is a rare day when any market is free and unencumbered (not controlled) in one manner or another—Socialism or Capitalism.

In keeping with the subject of Universal National Healthcare, we constantly hear those on the Right advocate the need for a free market in healthcare wherein the public have the choice to choose their doctors, hospitals, health insurance, etc. That really puzzles me. I just heard yesterday some of these same people talk against the posting of prices by, or for, doctors, hospitals, medicines, etc. This would constitute a free market? Hardly, how is this informed choice in a free market? If you will, think about this. You are sick—very sick. Maybe you are even on your back in an emergency room—probably in a hospital. How are you going to choose a hospital? Where or who is your doctor? Can you buy your drugs at your pharmacy and bring them to the hospital? If you think you can, you better check. Also, I think you might be surprised by the difference in prices. Think about it. Do you really think that free market Capitalism is the real answer to your healthcare? I’ll tell you folks, it’s nothing but a myth. Its reality is laughable.

Let us take a minute and talk about insurance. Have you ever read an insurance policy? I have. I studied insurance in college (closer to one hundred years ago than to the present); but I must be honest with you. I would rather do almost anything than read an insurance policy—especially when there are multiple policies as in those cases when one is selecting between different policies. So, again I ask you. Is this the free market you want; or when you are sick or have an accident, would you not just rather call your family doctor and/or go to your local hospital where you know you will get good service?

Of course, for a variety of reasons not the least of which is abuse, there must be such things as reasonable copays and deductibles, but I submit to you that Single Payer Healthcare with Universal Access for all is the way to go for our future and we should adopt this national healthcare just as soon as possible.

In closing this out, I ask you to think and consider one more thing, Socialism. That word is a pejorative, a word that strikes bitterness in the heart of those who hear it. A pejorative is a word that upon its utterance makes people mad as hell. I ask you to not let this get to you. The national healthcare suggested here is not Socialism. It is no more Socialism than the Medicare program. Just like under Medicare, the people serving you are private businesses and you choose your doctor in conjunction with whom you choose your other providers, hospitals, imaging services, and so on. This is not Socialism.

Let me know what you think.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Should President Trump Be Impeached?

Watching C-Span’s Washington Journal this morning, I viewed an interview with Mr. Norman Sullivan, co-founder/coordinator of RootsAction.org, “a new online initiative dedicated to galvanizing millions…” i.e. an independent initiative or lobby “to defend the public interest”. Their statement is that “Our country faces a far-right Republican Party regime that is largely a subsidiary of corporate America and a Democratic Party whose leadership is enmeshed with corporate power”—an absolute fact I have been raving about for quite some time now. One of their immediate initiatives is “Impeach Trump Now”, the subject of this discussion. Other initiatives are: “Yes to Carbon Tax, But Do It Right”, “Tell NPR to Call a Lie a Lie”, and “Cancel the F-35”—listed here just for your general information.

Let’s get down to it. Should President Trump be impeached? Absolutely not! Particularly, at this point in time (he has only been in office a little over a month), we don’t dare to even try to impeach our duly elected president. As I wrote in my blog on February 17^th, in my opinion, the American people haven’t, as a nation, been this divided since the beginning of the nineteen hundreds when we were overrun with riots and rebellion.  As we speak, the most urgent and immediate problem before us today is the reunification of our people. We must come together again. Our nation is regressing; and, if we don’t come back together, we will no longer have a nation as we now know it. If we impeach President Trump now, it will be the beginning of the end. Count on it.

Listen up, folks. President Trump legally won his election for the presidency on November 7th, 2017. Everything we know about him now, we knew then. Very little, if anything, has come on the scene since.  We did our very best to convince those on “the other side” as to why they were wrong and we were right, and we lost. That’s how it works. Therefore, we owe it to President Trump and to those who voted for him to let things play out according to law—short of the occurrence of a national tragedy, of course. As is said, “Right is right, and wrong is wrong”. They won the election; we lost. It is my firm belief that if President Trump is impeached at this time, our nation will never come back together again. Those who elected him must first come to see the error of their ways; or, conversely, we come to see ours.

Let me know what you think.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Leadership

Before the inauguration of Donald J. Trump as President of our great nation on January
20th, I would (and did—more than once) have told you that the greatest problem confronting our nation was the loss of our democracy and our very sovereignty to the Corporatocracy and Power Elite ruling us through a Shadow Government of lobbyists, campaign contributions, bribery, etc. Be sure. That hasn’t gone away; that problem is just as great as ever. But, today, a greater, more immediate problem has jumped to the head of the line.

The division of our people, always a factor in our democracy, has literally exploded. More than ever, we are at each other’s throat. Arguably, we have not been this divided since the riots and rebellions at the beginning of the twentieth century. Today, however, there is a difference—a difference absolutely terrifying. Almost everybody has a gun. We have more guns than people.

What do I have to say—what can I say—to convince you that our greatest, most urgent, most immediate priority today is the unification of our people as a nation. Our nation cannot survive as we know it if we cannot remain unified. You have heard it before, “A nation divided cannot stand”; “All for one and one for all”. We need a leader, a leader who can lead; a leader who recognizes that this is not about him; a leader who recognizes that this is not about financial gain, a leader who recognizes that this is all about our people—all our people, the very survival of our nation.

What is a leader? Is it someone who tells others what to do, where to go, and when? Maybe, but I say this. In the final analysis, a leader is one who leads and others follow—not because they have been ordered to do so, but because they wish to do so. A leader is admired (even loved), respected, has integrity, is trustworthy, and knows what he is doing. He leads based upon what he knows—not what he feels. His people are proud to follow him. Chaos, confusion, and dissension are not part of his repertoire.

This nation has some tremendous challenges ahead, not the least of which is the direction we want to follow—not only where but how to get there. To be perfectly candid, this same old crap of reversing directions every four or eight years is not only stupid and myopic, but financially prohibitive. But, whatever we choose, forward or backward, we need a leader to take us there, and all the people (not just the Corporatocracy and Power Elite) should and must be the beneficiary. And, right now? We ain’t got one.

Let me know what you think. 

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Slavery

There has been a lot of “water over the dam” since man secured his food by eating berries from vines, fruit from trees, and hunting animals with a spear or bow and arrow; since he made his knives and tools from stone; and since he built his houses from the limbs of trees or lived in caves. There has been a lot of “water over the dam”, indeed, since he invented money, progressed from bartering, and begun buying and trading his production with that of others. But, from that very “long ago” beginning, it took relatively little time at all for man to learn to make a living from the toil, (the blood, sweat, and tears) and productivity of others—slavery.

As men came together and developed into tribes, they warred with each other, took captives, and enslaved them. This is when man learned the art of stealing the productivity of others to fill his own needs and desires, to build his own wealth—eventually, his empires. In one way or another, he has been doing this or trying to do so ever since with impunity.

Outlawed around the world, effectively, in one way or another, slavery is all around us. When I think about this subject, my mind is always drawn first to the building of the railroads across our nation, the importation of Chinese labor, their slave labor wages, and the capitalistic Robber Barons who grew rich from their blood, sweat, and tears. I look today at globalization and the movement of our manufacturing jobs to countries around the world where labor, relative to our wages and conditions, is paid with pennies on our dollar. One can call that what they wish, but I call it slave labor. Who can compete with that? I look today at the declining standard of living of our nation’s middle class which has remained almost stagnant for the past thirty-five years while the top one percent of us grow increasingly and unashamedly wealthy.

Oppression of the weak by the strong and the wealthy has always been with us; but, although it may change its ugly face as generations come and go, it never ends. It’s called survival of the fittest, and let the Devil take the hindmost. Those on the right call it liberty. I call it inequality and oppression of those less fortunate. There are many reasons why the weak and poor among us are such as they are, not the least of which are that they were just born that way; they were just plain unlucky; or, perhaps, they made poor decisions, or didn’t work hard enough, were lazy, etc. On the other hand, there are reasons why the strong and wealthy are where they are. They, too, may have been born “that way”, i.e. intellectually, socially, gifted, etc. They, also, may have been just plain lucky, i.e. in the right place at the right time, or worked hard. I choose to believe that they were blessed by God. I also believe, as is said in the “Good Book”, “To those whom much is given, much is required”.

Right is right and wrong is wrong. To believe in “Survival of the Fittest” and “Let the Devil take the hindmost” is wrong—“Dead wrong”. In the end, we are all still God’s people.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Shoe on Other Foot

When President Obama took office in 2009, the Republican Party treated him abominably—their behavior was outrageous, to the detriment of our people and our country. Not only did they leave our nation with a national debt of Ten Trillion Dollars (When President Reagan entered office in 1981, our national debt was less than a Trillion Dollars) and a budget deficit of One and One Half Trillion Dollars, they left us with a crash in the financial markets and the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. To cap that off, they publicly announced their intent to make sure President Obama would fail in his presidency and be a one-term president, the well being and success of our nation or our people notwithstanding. All this was on top of President Bush having entered office eight years earlier with a zero dollar deficit. In fact, he really didn’t inherit a budget deficit. He inherited a budget surplus—there was no deficit.

Have you ever watched a railroad train running down the track at one hundred miles per hour? Have you ever seen an ocean going ship moving full speed in the water? Have you ever thought about how long it takes to stop at those speeds? If you overspend your annual budget by twenty-five or thirty percent, how long would it take you to get back in balance again? Do you really think you could stop overspending and get back in balance all at once without completely wrecking the economy of your household; or, likewise, President Obama could eliminate our national deficit on the spot without throwing our whole economy (and maybe that of the whole world as well) into complete collapse? That’s where the additional Ten Trillion Dollars (President Obama’s portion) of the debt came from which brought us to the current status of our debt, just below Twenty Trillion Dollars. As of the end of 2016, President Obama “slowed that train and that ship”, reducing our national deficit, to less than $600 Billion. Had he followed President Clinton in office, he would have inherited a surplus instead of a deficit and, arguably, we would be looking at a completely different picture right now.

On Friday, January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump will take office as the forty-fifth President of the United States of America. One of the most unpopular presidents to ever enter office, elected in one of the most hyped up elections in recent years, he is entering office under a cloud of hatred and disdain to preside over the most divided electorate since the Civil War. The shoe is on the other foot. Accordingly, many of those who voted Democrat in this election want to treat President Trump as they were treated during the eight years they were in office. Although we should object and vote against legislation which is clearly not in the best interests of our country, I believe two wrongs don’t make a right. President Trump was duly elected by our people according to the law of the land; and we should let our democracy, the will of the people, play out. We should give President Trump a chance. We should “let our light shine before men” even if he can’t.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

President Trump’s Executive Order—7 Nation Ban

Any accountant will tell you, “Debits on the left. Credit’s on the right”. Write them down! On the left are Debits, i.e. Assets, Benefits, Gains. On the right are Credits, i.e. Liabilities, Losses, Negatives. President Trump’s Executive Order, a 7 nation ban, a 90 day suspension, if you will, of refugees into our country within his very first days in office has proven to be a major mistake of governance from any way you look at it—a mistake in judgement, a mistake in strategy, and a  mistake in leadership.

What did we the people lose as a result of his executive order? The answer is a whole lot. Of “the various people who have, in fact, committed terrorist acts in this country, from 9/11 on, none of them came from any of the seven countries that are the subject of the president’s executive order”—that quote coming from Jerrold Nadler, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York’s 10^th District, in an interview with CNN on January 28^th, 2017. In effect, this means that any risk from terrorism by the individuals affected by this ban was minimal if at all (Given the friction raised by the act that may no longer be true, however).

Second, given the risk involved as evidenced by my first statement above, in light of past history, how much more security did he achieve by a suspension of only 90 days? What did he really achieve by his order? Let me tell you. He achieved division—division of the people of our country and division from our allies. Aggravation, alienation and division are not positive traits of leadership. Rather, they are traits of poor management—not good business.

To date, the score is: Gains—0; Losses—1.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

The Election Is Over

The election is over. It’s time to cut the crap. Let the games begin. And, as you are just beginning to see, they most certainly have. To those who voted for Donald Trump, those who sincerely wanted change, as someone once said, I feel your pain. I, too, want change; but, as I have written in the past, Donald Trump is not the solution to our problem. His way, shock, confusion, upset, and disorder are not what we need. Even now—already, at the very beginning of his administration, you are able to see the truth of what I am saying in real time as the results unfold hourly. Emotionally and intellectually, he is incompetent to be our president. Even his own party doesn’t want him. But Enough! As I said, the election is over! Let us sit back and enjoy our popcorn and cream sodas as we watch the evening news, contemplating the demise of our nation.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Illegal Immigration

Much has been said during the past election campaign about illegal immigration, how illegal immigrants negatively impact our economy by taking jobs from American workers, and the severe burden these immigrants place upon local economies for which they, arguably, do not pay taxes. This problem is said to be so bad that our President Elect, Donald Trump has promised to spend billions of dollars to build a wall along our Mexican border and, American Mexican relations notwithstanding, force Mexico to pay for it. Let’s think about the logic in this.

President Obama told us on national television that approximately forty percent of illegal immigrants were caused by immigrants overstaying their visas; and, even worse, we don’t know who or where they are and can’t track them. In my view, this is so ridiculous it would be laughable if it weren’t so serious. In fact, it’s absurd. We can track a calf with mad cow disease to a corner of a stockyard half way around the country in the mountains of Montana and we can’t track an illegal alien overstaying his visa when we have his passport on file. I wish someone would explain this to me. It seems to me that solving this visa problem would save millions of dollars over the cost of building a multibillion dollar wall and wrecking international relations in the process.

It is my belief that there is or are logical reason(s) for (or behind) this, not the least of which is the eternal struggle of business interests for cheap labor; but, for now, I’ll postpone discussion of that perspective for one more moderate. We do not follow up or track individuals overstaying their visas due to a lack of money. Our Congress is failing to provide the funds necessary to provide sufficient staffing, computer, and data base support to enable the Department of Immigration to enforce the law. We frequently hear of Congress passing a law only to experience the withholding of funding by the losing minority; or, on the other hand, perhaps the lack of funding is the result of the effect of budget sequestration. I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine; but, with today’s technology, I can’t for the life of me, with all this uproar about illegal immigration, understand why we don’t take immediate steps to take immediate control over forty percent of the problem of illegal immigrants—a relatively quick fix, if you will, of a significant part of this alleged national threat.

Why does everything our government does have to be an exercise in frustration? What’s the problem? What are we going to do about it? When? If our real interest is in the good of our country and our people, special interests notwithstanding, why?

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Xenophobia

Xenophobia, a strong antipathy or aversion to strangers or foreigners.

As I recall, it was in Alexis De Tocqueville’s book Democracy in America, published in 1838, in which (to paraphrase) I read that in the beginning there were three civilizations in America. There was the ruling class, the white Caucasians from Europe, the Native Americans whom they murdered, and the Blacks whom they enslaved. Our murder of Native Americans is a subject for another venue for another time.  Slavery has been an institution of man since time in memorial and continues through today—we read about it in the book of Genesis re Joseph in Egypt, thousands of years ago and, here too, another subject for another time; but the chronic mistreatment of our black population over the course of our nation’s history is indisputable. It is an abomination and inexcusable. The very culture of the black people in our country today is the direct result of our neglect and mistreatment over the years, i.e. lack of education, poverty, social morays, etc. We brought this upon ourselves. I do not argue otherwise. I must, also, point out that we have with full knowledge, forethought, and conscious intent, through our elected representatives over the years, molded our nation’s demography as one of multiethnicity, exacerbating the cultural and political differences we are experiencing today.

As we have addressed our racial problems over the years, however, to the extent we have addressed them, we have done so from the myopic perspective of what the white man must do, i.e. changes in white treatment toward blacks—changes in white behaviour. Without any doubt, some, if not many, white attitudes toward blacks must change! Black lives do matter! However, so also do white lives matter. All lives matter. There are those black attitudes toward whites that must change as well. In fact, attitudes must change by all of us toward Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners, Indians—all peoples of the world. There is no place in our society or in our world for xenophobia of any kind in any way, shape, or form—all lives matter! Whether you believe in God or not, the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself is absolutely imperative if we are to have any peace on earth ever. For that matter, if we are to continue to exist at all.

This is not a matter of opinion. We have no real choice. We must make peace with one another in this country. We must make peace with one another in the world. Hate has been a major motivator of peoples throughout history. We have graduated from weapons of rocks to spears, swords, knives, guns, and on and on to those we have today. Now we have the nuclear bomb. Just over the past one hundred years alone, all other countries notwithstanding, our nation has been involved in one war after another. As to when or where the first nuclear bomb will fall can only be left to the imagination. War is no longer a viable option. On the one hand, nations all over the world are “in debt up to their ears”. Conventional war is unaffordable. On the other, nuclear war is self-destructive. We must make peace with one another, domestically and internationally—black, white, brown, yellow, olive. There is no longer room in our world for xenophobia. We must learn to live with each other at home and abroad. We can choose to live or we will die.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

The Greatest Reward

In these times in history and, also, our lives when we are living in fear and trepidation, we realize that life has no purpose, and all is meaningless and of no value without God. Whoosh! You may say. Where did that come from? It’s just a thought—a thought that just might come to you some day when you are being “wheeled” into Hospice with only weeks, or perhaps hours, to live.

In his commentary on Christian rewards, chapter 6 of the book of Matthew, William Barclay tells us, “If a man takes his own way, he drifts farther and farther from God; the gulf between him and God becomes ever wider, until in the end God becomes a grim stranger, whom he only wishes to avoid. But, if a man all his life has sought to walk with God, if he has sought to obey his Lord, if goodness has been his quest through all his days, then all his life he has been growing closer to God, until in the end he passes into God’s nearer presence, without fear and with radiant joy—and that is the greatest reward of all”.

Oh yes! You’re absolutely right. I haven’t always fit that mold either; but, trust me; Hospice is just around the corner for all of us. Just a thought.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Dear Mr. President

(Addendum to my letter of November 8, 2016)

In my original letter of November 8, to you, I suggested the two most important priorities which, in my opinion, confront you as you enter office. In this addendum, I would like to respectfully continue my suggestions for your consideration. I should say, also, that my letters are posted to my blog, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, and I will, also, be copying my Representative, Ted Yoho, and Senator, Bill Nelson.

Third, our economy is out of control. For the past thirty-five years, we have been led in the wrong direction; we are rapidly going downhill; and, the light at the end of the tunnel is a train. I’m sure you know: Our middle class is in trouble. The “poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer”. Most everyone is in debt up to their ears and our government debt in beyond belief. Free markets are a fantasy and morality has become more and more a thing of the past. You must know this—it’s true.

We the people, through our government, must regain control over our economy. To this end, I’m going to break this down into segments. I beg of you that you read this with an open mind and consideration. The good of our nation is at stake. We must gain control over our national debt, the accomplishment of which can only be done through increased revenues, i.e. taxes, and decreased spending—obviously. In so doing, however, we must be ever mindful not to slow our economy in the process. Reforms in taxation, i.e. revenues, and spending must be done in light of the propensity to consume by the populace, and ability to pay by the taxpayers. To whom more is given, more is demanded.

I must call to your attention that the financial crisis of 2008 would have led us into a deep depression even greater than 1932, all our bailouts notwithstanding, if it had not been for the safety net programs of the New Deal of the 1930’s and the Great Society of1965, i.e. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. I firmly believe that. If one were to calculate the money pumped into our economy by these programs, I’m sure my belief will be confirmed. Accordingly, I believe Social Security is imperative for the future of our country. Less it fail, we should reform it immediately—just as soon as you enter office. It is the least difficult and one of the most important of our safety nets. The amount of the benefits to be paid should be at a livable level, and they should be indexed every year for changes in the cost of living. Because this fund is administered on a “pay as you go” basis, it does not run a deficit; and, therefore, does not contribute to our national deficit. We should reform it first because it is the easiest and simplest to do.

Next, we need to reform our nation’s healthcare programs, and we should do so immediately. Employee contributions to Medicare notwithstanding, our healthcare (including Medicare) are one of the greatest contributors to our deficit and national debt. We should replace all healthcare programs, with perhaps the exception of veteran’s healthcare, with a single program of universal access single payer, Medicare for all. As we have studied this subject to death (figuratively), it should not be that difficult to assimilate. We did so with Medicare in 1965 within a year and we were starting from scratch. It should be on a stand-alone basis as is Social Security and “pay as you go” so as not to affect the national deficit in the future. The cost savings to be realized should, in and of themselves, come close to eliminating our present deficit. For simplicity, transparency, and control, we should use a single tax to finance it. I believe it would be very wise to devise a tax with the least impact and administrative cost on the American people, but transparent.

Next, we need tax reform—real reform. We should have a progressive income tax, the fairness of which will be based on ability to pay, and the wealthy must pay their fair share. Accordingly, tax returns should be simplified that the average taxpayer and small business owner can readily calculate and submit their own tax returns, the tax preparer lobby notwithstanding. If they want to exist and sell their product and services in our country, corporations must be made to pay their fair share of taxes as legislated. Corporate inversions should be outlawed as well as the “hiding“ of money and other assets at foreign locations.

If corporations and businesses in the United States of America refuse to honestly and conscientiously pursue and perform their business’s primary purpose to exist, that is, to produce a quality product or service for their customer(s), be loyal and faithful to our country, fair and caring to their employees, and honest with their stockholders, they should be disenfranchised—their corporate charters cancelled. In this regard I will tell you that one of the major problems within our nation (and, I think, the whole world) today, is the irresponsibility of business getting too big for their pants (as my mother used to chide me). Profit has replaced production and service for the people as the real purpose of a business. The real truth is, however, that profit is an expense of doing business, just as is rent, insurance, the electric light bill, etc. Profit is only the purpose of the lender, the investor. A business exists only to serve—a tool of the people. In our speculative economy, business is laboring under the delusion that we are here to serve them rather than they serve us. They are wrong—dead wrong; and, if we let them continue in the direction in which they are going, they will destroy us. But I digress.

Continuing with the subject of taxes, the corporate welfare in our tax system is abominable. In many instances, subsidies are needed here and there as incentives to aid governmental objectives; but, today, our tax system, especially corporate welfare, has gone wild. It is outrageous and irresponsible that our Congress hasn’t corrected the problem already. I won’t try to go into this any further here as, in all candor, I’m just not qualified; but you have people at your disposal much higher paid than I who are qualified. You and I both know it has, as in most everything else, already been studied to death. We just need to do it. Restoration of fair taxation of the rich, elimination of corporate welfare, the establishment of Medicare for all, and the elimination of waste and fraud in government (of which we have been talking for the past sixty years) will go a long way toward eliminating the national deficit and the paying down of the national debt.

There is more, Mr. President—just a few quickies. For the last (I don’t know how many) years, we have talked about our need for the Department of Defense to have an auditable set of books. For every excuse that comes down the pike, we have failed to do so. The books and records of our Department of Defense remain unauditable, they don’t balance, databases aren’t integrated, and billions, if not trillions, of dollars in money and materials are unaccounted for annually. I submit to you that if our largest transnational corporations can balance their books (which they are required by law to do) for management, cost accounting, and tax purposes, the Department of Defense can also. This is one of the many accomplishments you can do to set this country right again.

And, for now, last, but most certainly not least, I want to talk about education. Here again, I’m not an expert; but, thanks to a wonderful G.I. Bill, I know a little bit, and I’ve seen a few streetcars go by. Education is one of the most important and essential services government can provide. In the long run, education is absolutely essential to our very survival (In order to save another thousand words or so, please trust me on this one; but, if required, I think I can prove it). It is essential for social order; it is essential for economic order; and it is essential for our prosperity. We need an educational system that begins at Pre K and ends, minimally, at an undergraduate level in college, including community college and/or vocational training, depending on the election and needs of the student, the cost of which should be paid wholly from taxes on the people. One more thing, and perhaps the most difficult of all, this education must not be optional. Every citizen, bar none except for the mentally or physically incompetent, must be required to avail themselves of this opportunity. The objective is that every citizen must be trained for a vocation of some sort when he or she graduates from the program—every citizen must be qualified for a job; and they will be given job preference over non-citizens at that time. It will be said, “We cannot afford such a program.” I say to you, If you want for us to be the greatest country in the world, as well as the leader, we cannot afford not to.

I lied. I want to say one more thing, less I forget. We have a problem in the management of our nation’s affairs which I believe we must address. I’m going to address just two examples, the Internal Revenue Service and Immigration, problems which, admittedly with my limited knowledge, I believe are really ridiculous and uncalled for.

We are told that the Internal Revenue Service has an outstanding balance of approximately $380 Billion dollars; and, yet, they are so understaffed that they don’t have the people to collect them. Why? They need to have the resources to collect these taxes. I’m guessing they aren’t allowed those resources because of politicians who are failing to pay their fair share of taxes.

President Obama said on television that half or so of illegal immigrants within our country are here by overstaying their visas. We have been told that there are eleven million of them, so we are talking of five and one half million illegals having overstayed their visas, and we don’t know who or where they are. Why? We can track down a cow in Timbuktu behind a cowshed, but we can’t follow-up on an illegal alien? Nonsense. Building a wall won’t help solve this problem. My guess is that, here again, the INS has an insufficient budget to allow them to do their job, viz. their computer systems are obsolete and outdated.

Mr. President, these are the most important things you can accomplish which will bring our people together, most of them at least, and “make our country great again”.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

Donald Trump,

Our President Elect

There can’t be anyone who objects more to the election of President Elect Donald Trump than I. I have said so many times, if not in my blog, on Facebook and to my friends and acquaintances. In a “hooded” booth with fear and trepidation, I voted for Hillary Clinton only because of the influence I hoped would come from Bernie Sanders and her agreement with him. Also, Senator Sanders would be in line for chairman of the budget committee. My vote for her was for what I believed to be the lesser of two evils. As I have said previously, one would prove to be a disaster and the other, Donald Trump, a catastrophe. Again, I chose what I believed to be the lesser of two evils.

Before I go further, let me speak of another view in conjunction with this election and my perspective on the matter. I hear people speak: “I am a Republican. I have been a Republican all my life. My grandfather was a Republican, my father was a Republican, and by gum and by golly, I’m a Republican. I have heard essentially the same beliefs expressed by Democrats to which I say, “Rubbish”—absolute “Rubbish”. Neither party is the same party today they were yesterday. The Republican Party of today is far different from the Party of Lincoln. The Democratic Party of today is far different from the party of the New Deal, the party of the people. People who think this way are tantamount to dead men on the voting rolls. Some people might call them the voting dead. They voted based upon the past—certainly not the present, certainly not their own ideas or beliefs. To those, therefore, who adamantly proclaim, “I am a Republican”, “I am a Democrat”, I adamantly proclaim, my registration notwithstanding, “I am an American”. By gum and by golly, “I am an American” It’s long past time for the American people to get their heads out of the sand, become informed, and support their interests—not their grandfather’s, not their father’s, not necessarily those of the parties, but theirs, their interests.

What does the foregoing have to do with the purpose of this writing? I am unhappy with this election. Not only am I unhappy with who was elected and his selection in general, I am unhappy with how this election is being accepted by the public even though forty-three percent of the people didn’t even vote.

We are a nation of law based upon a Constitution which establishes rules for the selection of our president. We the people elected Donald Trump within those rules and he deserves the right to see those rules followed thru. We asked for him. We elected him. Now he deserves for us to give him a chance. There will be 2018.       

What’s your view? In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off.

The People Have Spoken

The election is over! The people have spoken; we have made our bed; and we must sleep in it. We have no choice. We must now move forward. The momentous task immediately before us is to heal the separation of our people—to effect reconciliation. To that end, our president must lead us in the direction we the people, want to go—not where our shadow government of the Corporatocracy and Power Elite want us to go, and not necessarily where he wants to go. We must “take back our country”. We the people must prevail. It is no longer about him. It is about us. If he fails or refuses to do so, our nation will be in peril.

In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller. www.sageobservers.blogspot.com

  

Open Letter to Our Next President

Congratulations on your election as, Leader, Chief Executive Officer, and Top Manager (all in one) of the greatest country in the world, and arguably, leader of the free world, for the next four years. That, under our Constitution, your position as our President will not be that of a dictatorship and must have the patriotic support of our elected representatives in the Congress as well as the people, your challenge is monumental indeed.

In the next approximately three months before your inauguration, you will be planning your appointments and recommended solutions to the many problems confronting our nation today. It is to this end that I write this letter. I believe the very sovereignty of our democratic republic is at stake; in light of which I would like to suggest what I believe are two of the most critical issues before us today, none of which were emphasized during the campaign. I will write more at a later time.

I was born at the very beginning of the Great Depression and I and my family would have been homeless without the love, affection, and generosity of other members of our family. In short, I have seen a lot of streetcars go by; and I have never seen this country as divided as it is today. I do not believe our country has been this divided since the Civil War, over one hundred fifty years ago. All our other problems notwithstanding, this is the largest and most important issue. In spite of how things might appear, our people are crying, if not begging, for a leader who will bring us together. Under present conditions (you know what they are) with which we are confronted, I must remind you that what you do must include ALL THE PEOPLE—not just the wealthy and influential. With all due respect, if you are unable to unite us, we will all lose and lose severely.

Second, and also a threat to our very sovereignty, the Corporatocracy and Power Elite have taken over our nation, and govern as a Shadow Government, controlling us through lobbyists, campaign contributions, bribery, and intimidation, even to the point, in many instances of writing the very laws that come before our Congress, effectively usurping the best interests and welfare of the American people. The American people are being slowly but surely (not so slowly at times) reduced to serfdom. Immediate action must be taken to reverse this direction and return our government to “We the People”. I submit to you that “Citizens United” must be reversed. We must take money out of our election process. Corporations are legal entities; they are tools to serve, provide for, and facilitate the needs of people, but they are not people. Man created corporations. Corporations did not create man. Almighty God created man.  I also suggest that all corporations chartered within the United States which function across state lines be charted by the Federal government rather than by states. I could go on and on about the ruthless profiteering, lack of patriotism, disregard for employees, and so on by the Corporatocracy; but I will stop here. Suffice it to say, our corporations must be taken in hand; they exist to serve us—NOT rule over us. Again, with all due respect, if you are unable or unwilling to do this, we will all lose and lose severely.

I have more to share; and, therefore,will follow-up on this later, Mr./Mrs. President. In the meantime, this is Ronald Miller. www.sageobserver.blogspot.com.