Many are Needed
First, some definitions are needed to begin this discussion because politics has construed the word “reform” to its own ends irrespective of its meanings. Here are some widely accepted definitions:
· make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices; "reform a political system"
· bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one; "The Church reformed me"; "reform your conduct"
· produce by cracking; "reform gas"
· break up the molecules of; "reform oil"
· a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses; "justice was for sale before the reform of the law courts"
· improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects and put into a better condition; "reform the health system in this country"
· a campaign aimed to correct abuses or malpractices; "the reforms he proposed were too radical for the politicians"
· change for the better; "The lazy student promised to reform"; "the habitual cheater finally saw the light"
· self-improvement in behavior or morals by abandoning some vice; "the family rejoiced in the drunkard's reform"
The idea or the words "fundamental change" do not appear among these definitions. Although not precisely the opposite of reform, no where in any of these definitions does it hint at fundamental changes. It speaks everywhere to changing the trappings that come after the fundamental basis of an initiative that has been accepted. Reform addresses processes, procedures, methods, paradigms, the how to, not changing the primary purpose as though it no longer has consensus.
Next, a few things in priority order that need urgent comprehensive reform:
Public Education needs many reforms. Very little that will be useful to children in their adult futures is even being offered to them today. The teaching methods and motives are perverse. The moral and intellectual integrity of teachers and administrators are poor examples for young minds. Inspiration and enthusiasm are rarely displayed or transmitted. Low quality performance and low achievement are routine; and excellence, analytical thinking, and forethought are mocked, if even mentioned. You get what you tolerate and we’ve tolerated indolence and dishonesty. Young people today are confused, incapable and feel betrayed and they have been. They’ve been offered very little that will help them become valuable human beings.
Government reform has never truly been attempted. Virtually none of the useless programs, departments, policies have even been evaluated by their objectives let alone discontinued. Many new, false or exaggerated programs have been initiated. All programs that encourage people to accept resources they have not earned, or are truly owed, must be stopped. And those government enterprises that are not constitutional, or add no value for all our citizens, must stop.
Taxation reforms must focus only on revenue collection, not commingled with wealth redistribution. Revenue collection must focus only on the collection of minimum equitable taxes with some reasonable amounts paid by all who derive any benefits from citizenship.
Immigration, citizenship, residency, and border security reforms must include clear, simple, fast, and equitable methods for foreigners to come here legally, and rigidly exclude and expel those who are not lawfully here.
Protectionism, free markets, unionism, subsidy and tariff reforms. If you cannot produce a competitive product or service sought after in a free market you should retrain and re-equip yourself to produce something desired at a competitive price without subsidies, tariffs or special protections. Anything less than open, fair and honest competition should not be tolerated among ourselves or from others.
Some other reforms, not prioritized include:
Legal and justice system reforms, like restoring speedy trails and penalizing those who fund, participate, process or bring frivolous law suits.
Reconsider and revoke unjustified antitrust exemptions, and a thorough review and denial of many religious and non-profit tax exemptions.
Current Human Services entitlements, they have future unfunded liabilities that by most estimates exceed 50 trillion dollars.
Government ownership and operation in competition with private enterprises is immoral and unconstitutional. National Public Radio, Public Broadcasting Service, National Endowment of the Arts and the Humanities, and substantial ownership in auto manufacturing, finance and insurance are examples.
Disband the Department of Education and stop inequitable funds and grants to public schools, fund all or fund none.
Federal subsidies to the journalism, media broadcast, or any activities where adequate private enterprise providers supply the demand in free, open and fair markets.
You will notice no where in my list is anything resembling the current Health Care reform attempt because stopping government provided health care and prohibiting governmental interference in acquisition of health care by our citizens, except for directing and contributing to the control of epidemics, should occur in governmental reforms listed as the number one priority.
30 October 2009
25 October 2009
A Law Passed with Exemptions,
A Bad Law
Why would a good law, a meaningful, helpful, widely applicable law, need to have any exemptions? If it needs to exempt or subsidize someone or something, then it’s a bad law.
Only poor or bad laws, designed to subsidize or shield ones political contributors, or penalize ones political enemies would have any need for exemptions. Maybe it’s just a poorly conceived law and badly written and extensive attempts have been made to improve it when it should have been scrapped and the entire reason for it revisited.
Good laws should address real needs expressed by the electorate, not needs imagined by politicians seeking political advantages.
Good laws are simple to write because they have a simple straightforward purpose, correcting a widely perceived easily understood wrong. No exemptions, subsidies, or credits are needed. Do something new or begin doing something differently that is important or helps all the people, stop doing things badly that just help your contributors and harm most others. If it is complexly written, it is by its very nature a bad law.
A 3,000, or 300 or 30 page law, is definitely a bad law. If the reason for a law and the description of the solution can’t be understood in writing in a few pages, then it’s not a real problem, or a real solution, or both; and it’s probably deceitful and corrupt, and in its true purpose, a bad law.
After all, how many new laws do we need? I’ve seen over 1,100 new laws per year attempted. That is pure idiocy. New laws truly made necessary by changes in human behavior couldn’t honestly exceed ten annually.
Incidentally, we can’t equitably enforce the laws passed last year, or last decade, or the last century. We can’t even provide surveillance of them; the solution, stop passing laws that cannot be enforced equitably.
Old laws, obsolete, no longer applicable laws most be removed from affect much more quickly and much more publicly. Even archaic laws used as device to catch criminals when no other legal way can be discovered, need to be eliminated. If the only way a criminal can be caught is because they don’t have a horse hitching post or a clean spittoon, then you have way more pressing problems than a new or an archaic law can fix.
A Constitutional Amendment making Congress delete twice as many laws as they pass for the next hundred years should bring the number of applicable laws down to a manageable number that infringe less upon our human rights, or they could do it because it makes good sense.
Why would a good law, a meaningful, helpful, widely applicable law, need to have any exemptions? If it needs to exempt or subsidize someone or something, then it’s a bad law.
Only poor or bad laws, designed to subsidize or shield ones political contributors, or penalize ones political enemies would have any need for exemptions. Maybe it’s just a poorly conceived law and badly written and extensive attempts have been made to improve it when it should have been scrapped and the entire reason for it revisited.
Good laws should address real needs expressed by the electorate, not needs imagined by politicians seeking political advantages.
Good laws are simple to write because they have a simple straightforward purpose, correcting a widely perceived easily understood wrong. No exemptions, subsidies, or credits are needed. Do something new or begin doing something differently that is important or helps all the people, stop doing things badly that just help your contributors and harm most others. If it is complexly written, it is by its very nature a bad law.
A 3,000, or 300 or 30 page law, is definitely a bad law. If the reason for a law and the description of the solution can’t be understood in writing in a few pages, then it’s not a real problem, or a real solution, or both; and it’s probably deceitful and corrupt, and in its true purpose, a bad law.
After all, how many new laws do we need? I’ve seen over 1,100 new laws per year attempted. That is pure idiocy. New laws truly made necessary by changes in human behavior couldn’t honestly exceed ten annually.
Incidentally, we can’t equitably enforce the laws passed last year, or last decade, or the last century. We can’t even provide surveillance of them; the solution, stop passing laws that cannot be enforced equitably.
Old laws, obsolete, no longer applicable laws most be removed from affect much more quickly and much more publicly. Even archaic laws used as device to catch criminals when no other legal way can be discovered, need to be eliminated. If the only way a criminal can be caught is because they don’t have a horse hitching post or a clean spittoon, then you have way more pressing problems than a new or an archaic law can fix.
A Constitutional Amendment making Congress delete twice as many laws as they pass for the next hundred years should bring the number of applicable laws down to a manageable number that infringe less upon our human rights, or they could do it because it makes good sense.
24 October 2009
Health Care Reforms I Want
1. Get the Federal government out and stay out of providing health care, (Veterans, military, prisoners, Native Americans, citizens, foreigners, anyone.) Federal Government policies and programs are the reasons for high and rapidly increasing costs, not the solution.
2. Get the Federal government out and stay out of health care insurance. The Federal Government isn’t competent enough to operate an insurance program, even a nonprofit one.
3. Reduce Federal taxes on each family by at least $10,000 annually. For those who pay no income tax, issue a $10,000 voucher to “head of household” good for health insurance only, paid for by cuts to labor appropriations for government employees taking the same percentage from each government department’s staffing.
4. Drop the phony so called “health care reform” initiative currently underway wholly within the Senate, House of Representative, and the Executive Branch. More the half of all frequent voters have no interest in being the victims of the intended and unintended consequences of those well-meaning, but uninformed morons. Did it ever occur to you to poll all of your constituents? It would be a good starting place to find out if something is truly needed.
If this travesty passes, there will be many new faces in national politics after the next election.
2. Get the Federal government out and stay out of health care insurance. The Federal Government isn’t competent enough to operate an insurance program, even a nonprofit one.
3. Reduce Federal taxes on each family by at least $10,000 annually. For those who pay no income tax, issue a $10,000 voucher to “head of household” good for health insurance only, paid for by cuts to labor appropriations for government employees taking the same percentage from each government department’s staffing.
4. Drop the phony so called “health care reform” initiative currently underway wholly within the Senate, House of Representative, and the Executive Branch. More the half of all frequent voters have no interest in being the victims of the intended and unintended consequences of those well-meaning, but uninformed morons. Did it ever occur to you to poll all of your constituents? It would be a good starting place to find out if something is truly needed.
If this travesty passes, there will be many new faces in national politics after the next election.
18 October 2009
What Are Our Values?
Ignorance Matters!
Humans try to do things. It’s just the way most of us are. The sick and dying even try to do useful things with their last gasps. These efforts are pursued based upon personal value systems adopted mostly by example, or from teaching, and some from learning by experience. Not all people seek to do good, some try to accomplish values that are evil, and a few have no humanity. Even the worst humans seek to do something, usually something terrible.
Most try to do something good according to their acquired values. They learn, teach, protect, destroy, plant, harvast, use, conserve, build, demolish, imagine, create, listen, understand, guide, think, organize, help, lead, contribute, read, write, amuse, entertain, etc. Achievement of these worthwhile accomplishments has been tested over the millennia and this wisdom has been passed along by cultures in their legends, teachings, religions, artifacts, records and institutions. Many have been codified in laws and religious writings. A few things are still being tested and it has not yet been determined if in the long run they are useful and good, not helpful, or destructive and bad.
For instance, most agree that to do something for a sick or crippled person that aids them in a necessary task or reduces their pain and suffering, is a good value. Protecting, feeding or teaching children is considered a good value in every culture known to me. Many of the tested rules of life are written into religious texts; the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, The Golden Rule, and many others.
Some are verbal legends passed from one generation to the next or among the members of a community, and believed to be good. These for the most part are dubious, not having wisdom or being applicable to significantly large numbers of people in normal life circumstances; like running and hiding when law enforcement officials stop near you in your community, or refusing to stop your vehicle leading the police on long pursuits that always seem to end badly, or pregnant woman eating clay for nutritional benefit.
Here are some ignorant values, unwise behavior, and foolish practices that are too widely held, for instance:
Taking or accepting things you have not earned or are not owed, from outright theft to accepting entitlement benefits by deceitful eligibility;
Lying for personal gain or to avoid punishment for dishonest behavior;
Benefiting from someone else’s crime, like buying stolen merchandise;
Cheating for personal benefit, like insurance fraud;
Taking advantage of or terrorizing the weak, crippled or mental challenged, for hedonistic gratification, psychotic amusement or personal gain, like tormenting a retarded child or brutalizing a helpless animal;
Any kind of deceitful malice, like concealing your intent to do harm until your victim trusts you, ganging up on an incapable victim, continuing to damage an incapacitated victim;
Cheating associates, clients, customers and friends out of goods or services promised them, or misrepresenting the quality or quantity of goods or services provided;
Justifying or participating in criminal behavior because it benefits a weak family member, or harms someone demonized by your peers or community, or both;
Imposing your personal wants and needs on those unwilling to participate or unable to resist, like women, children or the mentally and emotionally incomplete;
Entitlement mentality, others owe me for slights, bigotry, discrimination, or embarrassments, visited upon me, my family, my ethnic group, my city or my country, and they need to be made to suffer like me, as though a similar wrong and more bigotry produces justice;
Or, being inconsiderate, impolite or rude without cause.
It’s probably true that some of these behaviors are considered acceptable in some culture or sub-culture somewhere. Many are acceptable in ethnic sub-cultures in this country. I believe these ignorant, self-esteem destroying, vulgar, cowardly behaviors are destroying our culture and our country and need to be stamped out by social recriminations, increased imprisonment, and massive educational reforms.
Humans try to do things. It’s just the way most of us are. The sick and dying even try to do useful things with their last gasps. These efforts are pursued based upon personal value systems adopted mostly by example, or from teaching, and some from learning by experience. Not all people seek to do good, some try to accomplish values that are evil, and a few have no humanity. Even the worst humans seek to do something, usually something terrible.
Most try to do something good according to their acquired values. They learn, teach, protect, destroy, plant, harvast, use, conserve, build, demolish, imagine, create, listen, understand, guide, think, organize, help, lead, contribute, read, write, amuse, entertain, etc. Achievement of these worthwhile accomplishments has been tested over the millennia and this wisdom has been passed along by cultures in their legends, teachings, religions, artifacts, records and institutions. Many have been codified in laws and religious writings. A few things are still being tested and it has not yet been determined if in the long run they are useful and good, not helpful, or destructive and bad.
For instance, most agree that to do something for a sick or crippled person that aids them in a necessary task or reduces their pain and suffering, is a good value. Protecting, feeding or teaching children is considered a good value in every culture known to me. Many of the tested rules of life are written into religious texts; the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, The Golden Rule, and many others.
Some are verbal legends passed from one generation to the next or among the members of a community, and believed to be good. These for the most part are dubious, not having wisdom or being applicable to significantly large numbers of people in normal life circumstances; like running and hiding when law enforcement officials stop near you in your community, or refusing to stop your vehicle leading the police on long pursuits that always seem to end badly, or pregnant woman eating clay for nutritional benefit.
Here are some ignorant values, unwise behavior, and foolish practices that are too widely held, for instance:
Taking or accepting things you have not earned or are not owed, from outright theft to accepting entitlement benefits by deceitful eligibility;
Lying for personal gain or to avoid punishment for dishonest behavior;
Benefiting from someone else’s crime, like buying stolen merchandise;
Cheating for personal benefit, like insurance fraud;
Taking advantage of or terrorizing the weak, crippled or mental challenged, for hedonistic gratification, psychotic amusement or personal gain, like tormenting a retarded child or brutalizing a helpless animal;
Any kind of deceitful malice, like concealing your intent to do harm until your victim trusts you, ganging up on an incapable victim, continuing to damage an incapacitated victim;
Cheating associates, clients, customers and friends out of goods or services promised them, or misrepresenting the quality or quantity of goods or services provided;
Justifying or participating in criminal behavior because it benefits a weak family member, or harms someone demonized by your peers or community, or both;
Imposing your personal wants and needs on those unwilling to participate or unable to resist, like women, children or the mentally and emotionally incomplete;
Entitlement mentality, others owe me for slights, bigotry, discrimination, or embarrassments, visited upon me, my family, my ethnic group, my city or my country, and they need to be made to suffer like me, as though a similar wrong and more bigotry produces justice;
Or, being inconsiderate, impolite or rude without cause.
It’s probably true that some of these behaviors are considered acceptable in some culture or sub-culture somewhere. Many are acceptable in ethnic sub-cultures in this country. I believe these ignorant, self-esteem destroying, vulgar, cowardly behaviors are destroying our culture and our country and need to be stamped out by social recriminations, increased imprisonment, and massive educational reforms.
09 September 2009
Health Care Changes
New Demand, New Supply Needed
The current discussions and congressional bills say nothing about how more health care capability would be created.
If 40 million more people are added and get free medical care and unlimited insurance, how would the current number of doctors, staff, hospitals and clinics possibly match the new demand?
Apparently no one has thought about where from or how a 20 percent increase in demand will be supplied. It could take at least 15 years before you could increase the number of doctors to meet demand. It could take 6 years or more for a 20% increase in medical technicians, nurses and other staff. It would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to increase hospitals and clinics and all their medical equipment by 20 percent, and who knows how many years it might take.
If we want to make medical care more available and cheaper the supply must be made larger than demand. Medical care delivery must be expanded by about 30 percent. Otherwise, very high prices will follow the short supply, extremely long lines, and necessarily, rationing.
Everything in shortage is invariably rationed. Extremely short supply is always followed by rapid price inflation. Exactly the opposite outcome of what the well meaning, but uninformed profess to be seeking; reduced access and higher costs, and probably lower quality.
A surplus of medical services will markedly increase access and dramatically lower costs, and probably provide much higher quality.
I don’t think the President, Representatives or Senators actually care about access or costs at all. They just want to create another crisis so they can seem to fix it with a massive and expensive increase in government entitlement programs that gives them massive political power and intrusive influence over your life decisions and imposes communist style wage and price controls over more than 10 percent of this nation’s economy.
All under the guise of an eminent crisis that hasn’t changed much for 70 year, except for the steady decline in the number of citizens who can’t get health care to almost zero. And does nothing to make them capable of paying for the valuable care they’ve gotten.
Increase supply, discourage frivolous and excessive medical suits, and permit interstate health insurance competition; problem solved.
Oh you might say, “How does that give free health care and insurance to poor people?” It doesn’t, nor should it. It’s about improving health care. It’s not about increasing welfare benefits. Most of them already get low quality, rationed, excessively bureaucratic health care for free; which is about what it is worth. They don’t need improved access or lower costs.
THEY DON’T PAY ANYTHING NOW!
The current discussions and congressional bills say nothing about how more health care capability would be created.
If 40 million more people are added and get free medical care and unlimited insurance, how would the current number of doctors, staff, hospitals and clinics possibly match the new demand?
Apparently no one has thought about where from or how a 20 percent increase in demand will be supplied. It could take at least 15 years before you could increase the number of doctors to meet demand. It could take 6 years or more for a 20% increase in medical technicians, nurses and other staff. It would cost hundreds of billions of dollars to increase hospitals and clinics and all their medical equipment by 20 percent, and who knows how many years it might take.
If we want to make medical care more available and cheaper the supply must be made larger than demand. Medical care delivery must be expanded by about 30 percent. Otherwise, very high prices will follow the short supply, extremely long lines, and necessarily, rationing.
Everything in shortage is invariably rationed. Extremely short supply is always followed by rapid price inflation. Exactly the opposite outcome of what the well meaning, but uninformed profess to be seeking; reduced access and higher costs, and probably lower quality.
A surplus of medical services will markedly increase access and dramatically lower costs, and probably provide much higher quality.
I don’t think the President, Representatives or Senators actually care about access or costs at all. They just want to create another crisis so they can seem to fix it with a massive and expensive increase in government entitlement programs that gives them massive political power and intrusive influence over your life decisions and imposes communist style wage and price controls over more than 10 percent of this nation’s economy.
All under the guise of an eminent crisis that hasn’t changed much for 70 year, except for the steady decline in the number of citizens who can’t get health care to almost zero. And does nothing to make them capable of paying for the valuable care they’ve gotten.
Increase supply, discourage frivolous and excessive medical suits, and permit interstate health insurance competition; problem solved.
Oh you might say, “How does that give free health care and insurance to poor people?” It doesn’t, nor should it. It’s about improving health care. It’s not about increasing welfare benefits. Most of them already get low quality, rationed, excessively bureaucratic health care for free; which is about what it is worth. They don’t need improved access or lower costs.
THEY DON’T PAY ANYTHING NOW!
06 September 2009
Religious Ceremonies
And Public Property
Stop conducting religious ceremonies, practices, programs, and prayers and displaying artifacts and symbols on taxpayer owned, or financed, or at monetarily supported events or official activities.
That, as the Supreme Court has decided in many cases since McCollum v. Board of Education Dist.71 in 1948, Torcaso v. Watkins 1961, Engels v. Vitale 1962, Abington School Dist. V. Schempp 1963, Epperson v. Arkansas 1968, Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971, Stone v. Graham 1980, Wallace v. Jaffree 1986, Edwards v. Aquillard 1987, Allegheny County v. ACLU 1989, Lee v. Weisman 1992, Church of Lukumi Babalu Ave, v. Hialeah 1993; these acts amount to, ".... an establishment of religion,” a violation of the First Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment had the effect of applying all Federal laws and rights to all states and citizens.
The way that Christian prayers have been included in public ceremonies for decade’s amounts to unequal treatment of many other religions with hundreds of millions of believers that have never been invited, let alone scheduled, into ceremonial programs to exhibit their religious practices.
Equal treatment would add, for even a few of this nation’s major religions, an hour or two to any officially conducted public gathering. The United States probably is the most religiously diverse country in the world.
I’ve met US citizens from most of the world’s many religions; Christian 2.1B, Islam 1.5B, Hinduism 900M, Chinese Traditional (Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, Ancestor worship 394M), Indigenous-Shamanism 300M, African Traditional 100M, Sikhism 23M, Spiritism 15M, Judaism 14M, Baha’i 7M, Jainism 4.2M, and Shinto 4M; listed in order of their estimated worldwide believers.
I’ve not yet met believers from Juche (North Korean, 19M), Cao Dai (Vietnamese, 4M), Zoroastrianism 2.6M, Tenrikyo (Japanese 2M), Neo-Paganism 1M, Unitarian .8M, Rastafarianism .6M, Scientology.5M; all with lower numbers of estimated believers. There are thousands of recognized religions in the United States.
The point is it would be extremely difficult to invite their participation in planned and conducted public events, let alone include a few of the largest group’s prayers in the public ceremony. It would take hours to bless everyone and everything, display symbols, establish contact and summon the proper spirits. On these two bases alone it is impractical to include many equally, or exhibit their practices and artifacts without the benefit of publicly owned or operated facilities or public resources.
Many such assemblies are government events, (conference, meetings, training, ceremonies, etc.) The best practice would be not to bless these unholy government events with any sort of invocation. It’s completely unnecessary to sanctify these events with any religiousness, and somewhat despicable to even make the attempt.
The other religious part of the First Amendment says, “...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Citizens, visitors, resident aliens, and even convicted felons are all free to pray to their God, Gods, ancestors, spirits or whatever by themselves in un-conducted, non-ceremonial, non-coercive, unobtrusive and non-obstructive ways anytime and anyplace including public property.
Tax exempt churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, shrines, etc. are provided in nearly every community for the conducted celebration of ones religion. Nothing prohibits believers from going there to pray, or for scheduled ceremonial events, and the display of symbols.
Private property, owned, rented or leased, is unrestricted for the private exercise of ones religious beliefs, providing they do violate laws or the privacy of other citizens. They can even sacrifice animals if their state permits hunting or livestock slaughter, which I believe is every state.
So, religious believers rejoice. The United States has the most religious freedom of any nation in the world. You are free to practice privately and publicly, in inoffensive and sometimes offensive but legal ways, everywhere except using public resources and facilities in planned and executed governmental sanctioned events where attendance is required or coerced.
Stop trying to get your religion “established” as official, most right, largest, the light, the word, the way, or the one true religion. Not only is it illegal, but it is unwise to even seek to appear to have official governmental recognition. It harms your cause to clamor for "establishment" that should only come from the merit of good works.
Go practice your religion in this the greatest country on this planet, where you are guaranteed the right to the religious beliefs you choose.
And, prohibited from imposing them upon others, especially children, using any facility or event made available by the passage of laws that appropriate public resources.
Stop conducting religious ceremonies, practices, programs, and prayers and displaying artifacts and symbols on taxpayer owned, or financed, or at monetarily supported events or official activities.
That, as the Supreme Court has decided in many cases since McCollum v. Board of Education Dist.71 in 1948, Torcaso v. Watkins 1961, Engels v. Vitale 1962, Abington School Dist. V. Schempp 1963, Epperson v. Arkansas 1968, Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971, Stone v. Graham 1980, Wallace v. Jaffree 1986, Edwards v. Aquillard 1987, Allegheny County v. ACLU 1989, Lee v. Weisman 1992, Church of Lukumi Babalu Ave, v. Hialeah 1993; these acts amount to, ".... an establishment of religion,” a violation of the First Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment had the effect of applying all Federal laws and rights to all states and citizens.
The way that Christian prayers have been included in public ceremonies for decade’s amounts to unequal treatment of many other religions with hundreds of millions of believers that have never been invited, let alone scheduled, into ceremonial programs to exhibit their religious practices.
Equal treatment would add, for even a few of this nation’s major religions, an hour or two to any officially conducted public gathering. The United States probably is the most religiously diverse country in the world.
I’ve met US citizens from most of the world’s many religions; Christian 2.1B, Islam 1.5B, Hinduism 900M, Chinese Traditional (Taoism, Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, Ancestor worship 394M), Indigenous-Shamanism 300M, African Traditional 100M, Sikhism 23M, Spiritism 15M, Judaism 14M, Baha’i 7M, Jainism 4.2M, and Shinto 4M; listed in order of their estimated worldwide believers.
I’ve not yet met believers from Juche (North Korean, 19M), Cao Dai (Vietnamese, 4M), Zoroastrianism 2.6M, Tenrikyo (Japanese 2M), Neo-Paganism 1M, Unitarian .8M, Rastafarianism .6M, Scientology.5M; all with lower numbers of estimated believers. There are thousands of recognized religions in the United States.
The point is it would be extremely difficult to invite their participation in planned and conducted public events, let alone include a few of the largest group’s prayers in the public ceremony. It would take hours to bless everyone and everything, display symbols, establish contact and summon the proper spirits. On these two bases alone it is impractical to include many equally, or exhibit their practices and artifacts without the benefit of publicly owned or operated facilities or public resources.
Many such assemblies are government events, (conference, meetings, training, ceremonies, etc.) The best practice would be not to bless these unholy government events with any sort of invocation. It’s completely unnecessary to sanctify these events with any religiousness, and somewhat despicable to even make the attempt.
The other religious part of the First Amendment says, “...or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;” Citizens, visitors, resident aliens, and even convicted felons are all free to pray to their God, Gods, ancestors, spirits or whatever by themselves in un-conducted, non-ceremonial, non-coercive, unobtrusive and non-obstructive ways anytime and anyplace including public property.
Tax exempt churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, shrines, etc. are provided in nearly every community for the conducted celebration of ones religion. Nothing prohibits believers from going there to pray, or for scheduled ceremonial events, and the display of symbols.
Private property, owned, rented or leased, is unrestricted for the private exercise of ones religious beliefs, providing they do violate laws or the privacy of other citizens. They can even sacrifice animals if their state permits hunting or livestock slaughter, which I believe is every state.
So, religious believers rejoice. The United States has the most religious freedom of any nation in the world. You are free to practice privately and publicly, in inoffensive and sometimes offensive but legal ways, everywhere except using public resources and facilities in planned and executed governmental sanctioned events where attendance is required or coerced.
Stop trying to get your religion “established” as official, most right, largest, the light, the word, the way, or the one true religion. Not only is it illegal, but it is unwise to even seek to appear to have official governmental recognition. It harms your cause to clamor for "establishment" that should only come from the merit of good works.
Go practice your religion in this the greatest country on this planet, where you are guaranteed the right to the religious beliefs you choose.
And, prohibited from imposing them upon others, especially children, using any facility or event made available by the passage of laws that appropriate public resources.
02 September 2009
Save Taxpayer Money
Amend the Constitution
You could start with this part of Amendment XVII.
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”
Historically there has not been any interest in minor clerical improvements to the constitution. Changing how Senate vacancies are filled, since it’s amending an amendment, probably wouldn’t get much support. Because it saves a lot of state taxpayer money, but very little Federal taxpayer money, it won’t help foster a national movement. No Senators ox is getting fed and many would be gored. The two major political parties would hate it, and that’s another good reason to do it.
Here’s the improvement idea anyway. Stop filling vacancies by temporary appointment or special election. Stop filling them at all until the normal election cycle. This would mean no added out of sequence costs for the state missing a senator. Federal savings would be salary, benefits and some staff expenses for however long it’s vacant. If it’s vacant for retirement there would be very little, if any, Federal savings.
The missing state Senators' vote could be made by the governor of that state. The governors are elected by statewide popular vote just like senators. They are usually experienced executive decision makers, probably better judgment than most Senators.
The workload increase wouldn’t be that much. Most states have Lieutenant Governors who could fill in during brief interruptions to the governor’s schedule. Everything, including voting, could be done by computers or video conferencing, and television appearances can be done anywhere. Senators don’t do much else anyway and their staffs do most of the work.
Only loss would be some political corruption. The savings from statewide election costs would be tens of million in some larger states, many having revenue problems. Citizens would be spared added stupid political commercials, endless inane direct mail pamphlets just disguised appeals for political contributions, and out of sequence sanctuary disturbing phone calls begging for money.
Any Constitutional Ammendment that reduces state or Federal spending and puts representatives in closer contact with their constituents should be undertaken immediately.
You could start with this part of Amendment XVII.
“When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies: Provided, that the legislature of any State may empower the executive thereof to make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancies by election as the legislature may direct.”
Historically there has not been any interest in minor clerical improvements to the constitution. Changing how Senate vacancies are filled, since it’s amending an amendment, probably wouldn’t get much support. Because it saves a lot of state taxpayer money, but very little Federal taxpayer money, it won’t help foster a national movement. No Senators ox is getting fed and many would be gored. The two major political parties would hate it, and that’s another good reason to do it.
Here’s the improvement idea anyway. Stop filling vacancies by temporary appointment or special election. Stop filling them at all until the normal election cycle. This would mean no added out of sequence costs for the state missing a senator. Federal savings would be salary, benefits and some staff expenses for however long it’s vacant. If it’s vacant for retirement there would be very little, if any, Federal savings.
The missing state Senators' vote could be made by the governor of that state. The governors are elected by statewide popular vote just like senators. They are usually experienced executive decision makers, probably better judgment than most Senators.
The workload increase wouldn’t be that much. Most states have Lieutenant Governors who could fill in during brief interruptions to the governor’s schedule. Everything, including voting, could be done by computers or video conferencing, and television appearances can be done anywhere. Senators don’t do much else anyway and their staffs do most of the work.
Only loss would be some political corruption. The savings from statewide election costs would be tens of million in some larger states, many having revenue problems. Citizens would be spared added stupid political commercials, endless inane direct mail pamphlets just disguised appeals for political contributions, and out of sequence sanctuary disturbing phone calls begging for money.
Any Constitutional Ammendment that reduces state or Federal spending and puts representatives in closer contact with their constituents should be undertaken immediately.
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