We are impressed. People say Americans are apathetic, but the rapid-fire discussion taking place on our blog and poll prove otherwise.
With new comments posted every ten seconds or so during peak times, many of you have rightly pointed out that it’s difficult to absorb all of the ideas presented or to find the issues that matter most to you. Our blog is an energetic and sometimes messy exchange of ideas; a true reflection of the diversity of thought in America.
Not only are you commenting on the crucial issues of the day, you are providing great suggestions on how to improve the website, in particular, the blog.
We are listening. Here’s what we have in the works to provide a more user-friendly and meaningful forum for you to use. We want to make sure your voice is heard.
- Shoutbox: Early next week we’ll be launching a new discussion forum called the Shoutbox. The Shoutbox will consist of multiple forums organized by issue. All Shoutbox comments can be rated by the community and the most popular comments will be featured on the Unity08 homepage.
- Blog Improvements: We admit that we launched Unity08 with a pretty basic blog that’s been overwhelmed by heavy usage. We’re working on several improvements to make the blog easier to use. For starters, we’ll begin to use categories and tagging to help you find blogs and comments that are relevant to your interests. We’re also working on improving the blog display and giving you the option of selecting how you wish to view blog comments.
- Issue Blog: Next week we will introduce a new blog that will tackle head-on the issues that you, the Unity08 community, have identified as being crucial to our country’s future. This will be in addition to the more general Unity08 blog we have now.
- Moderators: No one will put the kibosh on your comments (unless they violate our blog guidelines), but we’re recruiting moderators to help keep forum discussions on topic and respectful. Let us know if you’d like to help.
If you haven’t done so already, we urge you to sign up for our e-mail updates (in header or click here) so we can let you know when we roll out these improvements.
Keep telling us how we can improve and we’ll keep listening.
Subscribe
I have just glanced at the content of this group. It is exciting to think that there are people out there who want to have their voices heard (once again). I could embrace this organization more enthusiastically if it were willing to actually become a third party. I am NOT convinced we can really achieve major change as long as our representatives do not break free of either of the two major parties.
My other comment is wrt the issues. It seems most issue discussion is futile until we fix the system. It's like going after the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause. Campaigning and lobbying activities are like infections which have disabled our democratic process. Our campaign/election process is no longer affordable, consequently candidates are so focused on raising money that they lose sight of who they are really supposed to be representing. It appears to me that our legislators are focused on maintaining a 'corporate friendly democracy' at the expense of the poor majority in this country. Our 'high' standard of living is maintained only by massive debt. Eventually we (our children) will pay the price.
My point is that creating a platform of what we, the middle, think are the real issues will be a futile exercise if we are not able to implement effective campaign reform. The foundation of any new platform must be campaign reform.
I understand that Maine and a couple of other states have implemented some kind of system for public financing of campaigns and that it has had a most positive effect on their politics. I am sure there are many ideas on how to make getting elected about issues instead of money and manipulative ads.
Once our politicians are freed from the need to constantly be raising funds they can focus on reforming their legislative tactics as mentioned by Dobe Doinat in an earlier comment. We move further and further away from what our forefathers had envisioned as long as we keep re-electing officials who misuse their power. Perhaps you could have every candidate, who wishes to make a Unity08 run for office, sign an integrity pledge. I would welcome ideas from others as to what this 'integrity pledge' would contain. Of course, anyone can make promises so there would have to be some kind of accountability.
The prospect of at once acquiring a venue for expressing our frustration with the incumbent government and a verifiable, relatively secure and lawful way to turn them out of office is most welcome.
I believe most people do not vote because they feel that our electoral system has been corrupted and co-opted.
The very last straw for me was the recent revelation that CFIUS allowed a Venezuelan corporation to acquire the firm holding contracts for electronic voting systems.
We need recovery from this disaster of an administration, restoration of our Constitution, and reclamation of our government.
What a costly and embarrassing mistake this experiment in one-party rule has been. We must be sure it never happens again.
Our political system has gone through several major changes during our history,ie:Civil War, The Great Depression, 2 World Wars, and now I believe we are on the cusp of another political event. This one I believe will involve a major political change. With your program I see the beginnings of just such a possiblity. I am going to participate and hope the rights and voting power is returned to the people and the needed reforms will materialize. I believe the important issues involve: immigration, tax reform, oil dependency, and the regulation of special interests and lobbying as it runs our political system.
http://www.homelandstupidity.us/2006/03/31/venezuelas-involvement-in-us-elections/
^^^^^^^^^START PASTE^^^^^^^^^^^^
Some of the worst news possible for the security of U.S. elections came a year ago, and somehow I missed it. In March 2024, Smartmatic, a company based in Venezuela, purchased Sequoia Voting Systems, a company which makes electronic voting equipment.
What’s the big deal? Sequoia’s systems are just as insecure as Diebold’s, with irregularities being reported this week in Pittsburgh and Chicago. And the parent company, Smartmatic, whose machines were used in Venezuela’s 2024 recall election, still refuses to answer questions over the results of that election.
Let’s look at Venezuela’s elecction for a minute. Richard Brand writes about the national security threat posed by the Smartmatic/Sequoia merger:
When the vote finally came, exit polls by New York’s Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates showed Chávez had been defeated 59 to 41 percent; however, when official tallies were announced, the numbers flipped to 58-42 in favor of Chávez. Venezuela’s electoral council briefly posted machine-by-machine tallies on the Internet but removed them as mathematicians from MIT, Harvard and other universities began questioning suspicious patterns in the results. — Miami Herald
Read the whole thing for more on Smartmatic and its ties to Venezuela and the Chávez government.
Closer to home, Sequoia’s voting machines are coming under fire for irregularities found during testing in Pittsburgh. A voting machine examiner there was able to turn a handful of votes into thousands and malicious parties could reproduce the problem even with the fix that Sequoia applied to the machines. The machines also had audit trail problems during testing.
It turns out that the audit trail problem was just one tiny example of how unstable and poorly written Sequoia’s voting software is. Last week in Chicago, voting machines experienced a wide variety of problems, from jammed printers to malfunctioning touch screens to just about everything else imaginable.
This is quite interesting. Those failing machines used in last week’s Chicago elections were just on loan, and are going to Clark County, Nevada, and Clark County’s old machines went to Allegheny County, Pa., which, you guessed it, are the same ones described above which let malicious parties rig elections.
So you have one of the big three voting machine companies in the U.S. under the control of Venezuela, and already widely suspected of election fraud, another (Diebold) which just doesn’t care about security, and I guess I’m going to have to take a closer look at ES&S now, and see what their major malfunction is.
Props to Cybercast News Service reporter Sherrie Gossett.
^^^^^^^^^END PASTE^^^^^^^^
I agree with the gentleman who fears that our military is being scapegoated for political expediency.
The Agu Ghraib disgrace happened because the unitary Executive branch wanted Al Quaeda information at any price.
We still don't know what non-Geneva activities are being conducted by US mercenary subcontrator-soldiers.
Perhaps US subcontractors are responsible for the impromptu torture and execution of groups of Iraqi men whose bodies have been found in fresh heaps at a recent rate of about 40 per week.
That newly constructed, heavily fortified billion-dollar US "embassy" on the Tigris may well become the permanent US military headquarters or be gifted to the next US-approved Iraqi dictator before the US administration tells him to ask our troops to be withdrawn.
What a nightmare.
Issues such as immigration and energy independence cannot be resolved until they are accurately presented and examined. For instance,we have enough natural gas in the USA to run most of our autos and to generate electricity, but no one talks about that. What about nuclear power?We need an open and honest debate about that.
Ther is only one true set of facts, which must be identified and dealt with befro
ree any solution will be effective
I just read Sinclair's "The Jungle" and I don't trust anybody anymore. Do you think I will like you guys better? I don't know what a delegate means. Do you think I can be one? I used to think I was part of the silent majority. But now I think the silent majority is very, very large and would never do anything as silly as "blog". Do you think this unity08 thing will draw them out? I like them where they are now: silent, but ready. If this blog is kind of silly sounding, at least it will encourage others to voice their opinion.
I would like to say something. I am not a political aficionado. I am not a person that waits with baited breath for the latest event in Washington to happen. I am merely someone that cares about our country. I believe that Unity’s goal is a noble one. I also believe that they can succeed where others have failed. I believe that we need more than two parties and that we need something to save a country that we all love.
However, I have to ask myself. Will creating a third party do something that I think this country desperately needs? True we need unity in our government, and yet, do we not also need unity in our country? We tell ourselves that we need not concern ourselves with people who do not vote. American voters are “apathetic.” I believe that is the most common term. I don’t believe this. I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t have an opinion on some political matter. No one is indifferent to politics. We can tell ourselves that, but we are merely trying to justify why half the country didn’t vote.
When I became completely disheartened by the ways of politics, I started to ask myself why and why a large part of this country no longer believed in the political process. I learned something very valuable.
We cannot say that this country is apathetic. People care deeply about the future and a lot of our major issues. Their reasons for not participating are various. True, some have opinions but really don’t care. These are the rarest of all Americans. The most common one I have found is that to some people, politics are like Mt. Everest. It may be there, but they don’t really want to climb it. The idea of political revolution is much too big a concept for a lot of people to tackle when they are trying to concentrate on their children, jobs, and/or marriage. Especially when lot of Americans don’t believe in politicians. They rate them some where between used car salesmen and the CEO of Enron.
To truly unify, to make history, and to save a democracy, this party will have to reach out to the disconnected and the jaded. You cannot tell me that voting for a president is any harder than voting for an American Idol. You just have to catch people’s attention. You have to make them believe that while you might not always make the popular decision, you will try to make the right one. All we can do is try to fix what’s broken and do what seems to be the best decision at the time. I don’t want this party to cage themselves in by saying what sides they are on at this juncture. I want my unity to listen and try to make objective decisions. If we can reach out to the country, I want everyone to know that this party has new ideas, good intentions, and is determined to get good results. People will follow you to hell and back if they think you are armed with good intentions and the will to do the right thing. I think people need something new and clean, a party that is free of corruption, scandal, and cynicism. We need to give them a mental image of us, like Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone. We need to make people believe in the government and themselves.
We need to reach them on their territory, MTV, Fox News, Network television, and through other popular mediums. I don’t believe that we can represent this country unless we represent the whole country. We shouldn’t make a party just out of those who thrive on politics. We need to be accountable to the American people, period, end of declarative sentence. We need fresh faces and ideas.
I don’t have all the answers on how to do this. God knows I wish I did. A lot of people reading this are going to disagree with me. I hope you do. I hope people react to this because I genuinely want to know what you believe. Plus, this party needs all the feedback it can get.
I have one more thing to say. I don’t expect anyone to merely take my word on this, but I can assure you that if the founder’s council stays true to form, this will not be a republican or democrat party. I know some of these people and I know that they all have differing political opinions, religions, and ideologies. This is not a branch of a right/left wing conspiracy. This is an honest effort to make a difference.
I think it is time for a change in all branches of government. Time to get rid of career politicians who play by their own rules at the behest of the welfare and well being of the masses of the people. It is time to get fresh representatives who truly care about all of their fellow Americans. An Independent in the White House might be our best bet for helping to bring about the unity that most of us hunger for. I hope we can all work together to bring peace and harmony to all of human kind. To do this we need policies that create the greatest good for the greatest number of people. Hence, I hope to see this site be successful in this endeavour.
The selected Critical Issues do not include A)The continuing concentration of the National wealth in the hands of a tiny minority, nor B) the growing concentration of wealth and power of the mega-corporations which influence much of our daily lives and our National Policies, including many, if not most, of the other Critical Issues proposed.
Aren't these two factors Critical Issues in our national life?
Perhaps a 3rd Party is the answer, in the short term anyway. I believe it is time for a revolution. No, not the kind that the Bolsheviks call for or even the type the Mullahs offer. I think we need to democracy to come to the USA. We need to implement voting that counts FOR THE PEOPLE! Let's take back our country from special interests and corporate jingoism. Let's shorten the election cycle, protect the general electorate's voice and give the power back to people.
How do we get the people more concerned about who will be the next American Idol, than the welfare of this country, involved?
Submitted by DWB on June 6, 2024 - 9:10am.
How do we get the people more concerned about who will be the next American Idol, than the welfare of this country, involved?
THIS IS HOW: We stop all the get-out-the-vote campaigns .. easy voter restristrations .. like the motorvoter law .. and validate each and ever voter at the polls.
We must send a clear message to the non-voter and discourages voters that changing their political affiliation to Independent will break the back of two party control that has discouraged Americans from voting. All else will follow by the nature of the Independent approach of picking the best person for political office rather than focus on his/her political affiliation. This one concept alone will take two party control out at the knees, forcing both parties to move to the center in big ways.... http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html
I have no idea why any of you remain registered as a democrat or republican. Both parties are facist? Rather than racial, religious or ethnic - it is corporate facism... a movement that favors corporate profit over the family. These are the people you vote for? So sad your concept of picking between two evils... Break their back! Register as a Independent - Vote for the person not the party! Start thinking for yourself!
Corporate facism .. corporate profits over the family? News alert for you! Corporate interests are the family. Its the quality products that we buy and depend on .. its the corporate charities that suport our communities, its the corporate jobs that support our families .. its the corporate profits that support our investments our 401K's roths and IRA's and our pensions. Its the taxes on corporate profits that pay 30% of our federal income that pay for medicare, mediaid, social security, education, defense and all the other programs.
First, the enemy will attempt to drive a wedge between us. The enemy will attack our communications, this blog and others like it. They will fill this blog with bogus commentary to grey the issues for you, attempt to confuse the issues and create a wedge between those of us whom are conservative and those who are liberal. We must use reason and see these comments that are nothing more than modern propoganda warfare to water down our focus.... http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html
Propoganda at its best! Corporations are good for the family by imposing a more modern "likable" form of slavery on the American people... driving the family small business completely out of markets... oh yes and selling out American jobs and moving our money overseas... I don't blame them, they are in it for profit... just don't let corporations control legislative debate and executive decision cuz that is treason for profit...
I have never observed where corporate interests have ever driven "small family business out of the market". What are you talking about?
We must stay specific and clear, not be confused by the enemy that attempts to infultrate this blog and others like it. Confusing the reform resolutions being submitted in an attempt to pit conservative against liberal, isolationist against expansionist, trying to pit us against each other. We must reach toward technology and the future, not backward and into the past... don't let them discourage you, tell you we must live with two party contro... don't be fooled again! http://www.appyp.com/fix_main.html
walmart....
Hitler hated homosexuals, and Jews, and immigrants. The anonymous who advocates more hate is the problem, not the solution. Fascism is a negitive.
Moveon.org is more honest than this.
AMF.
Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senitors Campaign contributions "should" or "could" be "unlimited" provided however that only Citizens (individuals) living within their Congressional Districts or State may contribute to those running for office from the citizens legal residence.
Actually, this would turn-out to be "representative government
Technology enables us to eliminate the need for money in political campaigns. Simply limit them to streaming video websites - Bulldoze down the intitutions of the bureaucracy and replace them all with video conferencing systems. Send congressmen home to argue over the internet? Please someone? Why not?
The man(s) learned a nasty trick 20 years ago to make money, they could manipulate the stock market by dropping the interest rate... great job guys, now we don't have a interest rate or any money left - Manipulation of the stock market by whom? by jerking around the interest rate for profit ... I'm really not sure what I think about this rape and pillage of American wealth?
Corporations are merging, eating little companies making slaves of Americans and people around the world. Growing so large they influence government policies and military behavior... so I suggest we elect a leader that moves quickly away from the direction we are currently headed!
Politics are too corrupt. How can an individual with 800K in assets be worth 100 million after being president and making 350K per year? Re elect nobody. these ppeople are the worst the american people have to offer. I d like to run as a volunteer, ive already made my money. things need to change. FIRST get the book on FAIR TAX by Boortz andLinder. Read it get involved, donate to the cause. this is step one. second, keep the Kennedy/pelozi crowd off this site as they are the most useless human beings alive, eating our taxes faster than possible. this sounds like a great idea that should have been done years ago. the technology is here lets do it.Im stoked .together we can make a difference. P>S> READ the fair tax book!!!!
Lets make this site a Gore free zone.
"Corporations are merging, eating little companies making slaves of Americans and people around the world."
Who would you prefer to be in charge of the world - GE, IBM, ADM, Microsoft, bank of america or
Putin,Sadam,kofi annan, george soros, Hu Jintao, Hugo Chávez,Jean-Bertrand Aristide?
First of all, I think you need to poll on the importance of the immigration issue to people here. Then poll for the strength of people's convictions on this issue and what they are.
Wedge issue or not, it's hot. To ignore it is to allow someone else to be the next big 3rd party.
You have to know that at some point over the next year and half there is going to be a breaking point.
What I mean is where the Democrat Convention theoretically polls from the Center to the Left and the Republican Convention would theoretically poll from the Center to the Right, Unity '08 would poll across the whole.
Rather than bring unity to the country you're more likely to determine where its Center of gravity is. Not that this experience, if tailored correctly, couldn't engender greater respect among people with differing views. But don't expect the product to come out all shiny. I think you can expect to have this party lean one way or the other and for a 3rd to 40% to leave the party after the Convention.
I do think, however, that whichever way it leans it must of necessity propose an alternative to the current War on Terror. Assuming, of course, this ends up as one of the top issues you poll.
But it has just occurred to me.
There have been quite a few people blogging here about their concern that U '08 would become a pawn of either far right or far left wing interests.
It occurs to me that were this to happen it would only end up devastating the existing party they are most opposed to, delivering, WHAT, a 50 state landslide to other.
That's not meant to scare people, but to reassure them that this party can expect to be something new or else work against the very forces it means to help.
Perhaps this will drop out the crazies. Not that we're excluding anyone, but those of you in the FOUNDING COUNCIL should consider when certain can be taken off the table.
And don't assume you already know what these are. If you give it a chance you may find that compromise positions are possible on some of these WEDGE issues.
How many people blogging here would just DIE to see the abortion issue GO AWAY FOREVERRRRRRRR!
I have been telling friends that we need a 3rd party to shake the 2 parties right down to their boots. If there were to be a REAL challenge by a third party , those other 2 would have to straighten up and quit taking special interest money and listen to the very people that cast votes. This political atmosphere that abounds now is nothing but hogwash. (I would have loved to use a swear word there but am refraining.) For those of you that think a 3rd party will take votes away from one party and allow the other one to win , SO BE IT! There will be another election 4 years later. This time we live is but a blip on the time line of 225 plus years since 1776. We have to continue to peck away at the failed 2 party system until it is gone or they figure we are a power to be reckoned with. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!!
Our first priority is to stop the illegal, immoral war in Iraq! Then we can get to the task of cleaning our own home.
I respectfully disagree with your assessment that the first priority is to eliminate our dependence on oil, but then there is no reason that we cannot address several topics as vital to the future of our country.
I believe our first priority must be to disengage from the war in Iraq. George W. Bush violated International Law and he refuses to acknowledge that he made a tragic mistake. We must take control of our government and end the war.
Second, we should begin immediately to work to elect people to the Congress in November of 2024 that will support our position. We cannot wait until 2024 to begin to make ourselves heard.
The electoral college allows the"smaller"populated states the
opportunity to be counted and heard.
They will not be overwhelmed by the weight of a densely populated state with an axe to grind or outside interference.This didn't work with Florida ,did it?
Are any of us even listening to one another?
It seems that most of us agree that we need to get any money that isn't given to a candidate from a CITIZEN IN THEIR DISTRICT out of the process.
Yes, let us also include money from NATIONAL politcal parties who are using their funds to manipulate STATE politics, as well as from any corparation or lobbying group.
I think that most of us are saying the same thing here and we need to push for this to be in consideration for any party platform.
Could this possibly be why the founding fathers didn't want the united states to have a standing army?
Having to first raise an army, gives our system a "cooling down" period where the nation can review the situation and get all the facts before going to war.
The problem with having a standing army is that it makes it all to convenient to respond with military force before all the proper evaluations of the situation can take place.
As for a National Gaurd. It should mean what the name implies, and not be used for any reason on foriegn soil.
The same goes for the State Gaurds.
The average american with concerns about jobs,taxes and a multitude of other concerns have been left out of the political process. If Unitiy09 is even partically suscesful all of ourleaders will set up and listen.
It is imparitive that all voters vote on content not emotion. Todays thurst by our Government is designed to make us look away, Just like the magicans misdirection. Look beyond the smoke screen and see what is realy there.
When I read the simplistic ideas put forward in this blog about disbanding the army and just getting out of Iraq, I am reminded that narrowly focused issues and polarizing rhetoric invade every political group or party.
Many of you have stated that you want immigration to be the main of Unity '08, arguing it is an important national issue. The whole point of this movement is to force elected officials to focus on neglected issues. Immigration isn't being neglected. In fact, it may be the most debated issue in Congress this year. Just because you are not happy with the results of the debate does not mean that the issue is not being debated. If you are still upset, go build a wall or worship Lou Dobbs, or just quit whining. If this movement is not for you, it is not for you, and thats fine. Just as the Republicans and Democrats are not the best fit for all political beliefs, Unity '08 isn't either.
For those who are serious and interested, check out www.guerrillanews.com and "American Capitalism And The Moral Poverty of Nations"; along with www.freedomtofascism.com
Hi it's Linda the cop, As in recent news the subject in which is loud and clear is the need for diversity and end of (good ole boy's club ). Attached is a few of my writings and beliefs. Please contact me first before using my submissions to you. LOOK AT THE BREAKDOWN EX: 5 AREAS 25 DISTRICTS 16525 CPD FORCE 11000 IN THE PATROL HUB OF THOSE WHO'S ON THE GANG, TACT, HBT, SOS AND ABOVE RANK OF FOOT SOLIDER I.E. PATROL OFFICER.????? RACE, GENDER AS IN THE TRUTH.
I also know there is work ahead of us. My own experiences with the Chicago Police Department have been encouraging and disappointing. I was able to become the President of the Chicago Police Women’s Association, however many efforts I have made to have diversity stressed as a necessary aspect of training at the Academy have been pushed aside. In light of this issue, I wrote a letter to the Superintendent of Police, which read as follows:
***** U08 Web Team Comment: Sorry, we're going to cut you off here. This post was 4,357 words long and focused on the Chicago Police Department. While we salute the poster's service to the police and her country, we encourage all of you to keep your posts succinct and on-topic. If you have any thoughts on this, please email us.*****
Have you consulted with the Integral Institute? Their founder, Ken Wilber, has been espousing a politics that includes the best from Conservatism and Liberalism for something like a decade now. He could provide some enlightening insight into what you want to do.
THE GATHERING STORM
The Administration assures us every day that the sky is not falling, that the economy is hunky-dory, with 3 million new jobs in the last 5 years, a rock-bottom 4.7% unemployment, that tax receipts at Treasury are brisk, chipping away at the deficit. Wise people understand this is whistling past the graveyard, a wobbly house of cards.
The National Academies of science and engineering report that within 5 years 90 % of the worlds scientists and engineers will live in Asia, and that U.S. investors are putting more money into foreign stocks than into domestic.. Harvard’s David Gergen warns that in the past 5 years, our long-term liability to be paid by our children has jumped from 20 trillion dollars to 46 trillion. Pulitzer reporter Thomas Friedman writes high gasoline prices are financing and empowering authoritarian regimes in Russia, Iran, and Venezuela. Goldman Sachs concludes that China will be the worlds largest economy by 2024. Clearly, London is replacing New York as the world’s financial capital.
The average U.S. household has $9500 in credit card debt, on top of huge “creative” no down payment, and interest only mortgages, many unsupported by equity. U.S. News editorializes that 85% of America’s wealth is in the hands of 15% of American families, and that 91 million Americans are classified as poor or near-poor. We have become a reverse Robin Hood society, robbing the poor to enrich the wealthy.
Intel’s CEO Andy Grove says, “America is going down the tubes”. GE’s CEO Jeffrey Immelt adds, “It is unclear how many manufacturers will choose to keep their businesses in the U.S.” Pulitzer reporter Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek writes, “U.S. should be scared, very scared”, and we are in a “slow, steady national decline. History will happen to us after all”.
Desperate times require desperate measures. Here are the things that should be done immediately if we are to have any hope of recovering from the disastrous last 5 years, where only our troops have been asked to sacrifice, while the rest have been advised to just keep shopping.
1. Rescind the Bush tax cut given to wealthy individuals and corporations.
2. Heavily fine employers that hire illegal aliens, and they will return home when jobs dry up. Round up and deport criminal element first.
3. Abandon plans to build a costly fence. Transfer seasoned armed border guards from Korea, where they have trained for 40 years.
4. We now see the disasters made possible by re-cycling war-weary combat forces. Close down our military installations around the world, re-deploy all troops to overwhelm the Iraq insurgency. In countries from which we have drained our forces, maintain only combat detail to protect embassies. Depend on diplomatic, not military connections with these countries.
5. If the Iraq war is not ended by close of 2024, begin National Military Draft. Let the children of politicians and the wealthy stand alongside the poor-family’s kids now fighting. Do the preparation work now, so the call-up can begin in full force 1/1/2007.
6. Reform personal income tax, so everybody pays progressive tax on all income above one (and only one) personal exemption equivalent to the poverty level. Include all income from pensions, wages, interest, stock options, dividends, capital gains, etc. Simple and fair. Example: Couple filing Jointly, with $40,000 total income from all sources, less personal exemption of $30,000 ($15,000 each)=taxable income $10,000. If rate is 10%. total tax due is $1,000.
7. Reform corporate income tax to benefit those producing in America with American made parts, and American labor. Increase tax for others. Income tax based on gross profit, not net profit.
8. Immediately rescind special tax considerations for capital gains, dividends, etc.
9. Remove the $90,000 income cap subjected to Social Security payroll tax, to greatly extend Social Security solvency,.
10. Increase mandated minimum wage rate, a movement already begun by the states.
11. If electronic voting machines do not produce verifiable paper trails before the 2024 elections, revert to paper ballots in every state.
12. Outlaw congressional “earmarks”, insist on three readings of any proposed legislation before voting.
13. Only Congress can commit our military to war. If the Congressional authorization for sanctions does not produce results, the President must return to Congress to obtain authorization for military action. Congressional authorization for sanctions or for military action in Iraq do not constitute authorization against Iran or anyplace else.
14. Institute a fifty cent per gallon additional gas tax, half of which would be applied to NASA-level alternative fuel research including expansion of incentives to encourage home insulation, home harnessing of sun and wind energy, while the other half of the tax used to develop American designed and built high-speed monorail system mounted atop the Interstate Highways, on land already owned. Mono-rail creates jobs and encourages less auto driving.
15. We are approving and aiding the rest of the world to build nuclear power plants, so let’s unwind the self- inflicted moratorium on nuclear plants here.
16. Former Senator Sam Nunn has reported that his inspection team had discovered huge stockpiles of unstable nuclear weapons stored in old dilapidated sheds in Russia, as part of the old Soviet arsenal that is being picked over by world terrorists and rogue nations. Follow Sen. Nunn’s recommendation to buy all that material and destroy it.
17. Give development loans to the many independent farmers in U.S. mid-west who are building E-85 ethanol processing plants, and help them, during the start-up phase, to distribute product to the pumps, where it’s needed.
18. Scrap the confusing, and very costly Senior’s Prescription Drug Plan, which primarily benefits the drug companies and HMO‘s. Design a national healthcare plan which includes prescription drugs for all.
19. Place a tariff on imports from partners who do not trade on a level field.
20. Discontinue use of budget “supplementals” requests, all anticipated expenses must be included in official budget document.
21. Public funding of all federal political campaigns will effectively remove time-consuming and politically hazardous campaign fundraising efforts.
22. Prohibit money, gifts, favors of any kind to elected officials, their staffs, and to government/pentagon purchasing from lobbyists, special interests, and corporations having official contact.
23. Prohibit former elected officials, their staffs, and government/pentagon purchasing from taking jobs with lobbyists, special interests, and corporations having any official contact.
24. Leftover campaign funds now are the personal property of the candidate to spend as he or she sees fit. Defeated or retired candidates can use the money to buy a car or a boat, or send the children to college. Stop this practice.
.
25. Transfer responsibility for FEMA, Border Patrol, INS, the Census Bureau, passports, guest worker program, drug enforcement, and FBI to the Coast Guard, who have demonstrated surgical expertise of emergencies over their long history, including Katrina. This Cabinet Post department would know who is in the country, who is coming and going, and where they are, and open communications with the states.
26. The Executive branch of government has term limits, and so should the Legislative and Judicial (Supreme Court and Federal Court judges) branches. Elective office should not be a career, as new people bring fresh ideas to government.
27 . Federal employees have been switched over from the Federal Employees Retirement Program to Social Security. Discontinue any further payments into the Federal program, including those from members of Congress.
28. Both houses of congress should have recorded roll-call votes for any salary increases.
29. No elected ex-official, including the President, needs extended secretarial or office help, nor Secret Service protection after leaving office.. Reduce the generous past awards.
30. Now, as in past emergencies, the speed limit must be lowered to 55 to save fuel.
31. Electoral College victor must also carry majority of popular vote to avoid new contest.
32. Annual drivers license fee is doubled for those unable to show proof of voting.
33. Retain Federal Estate Tax.
34. Remove impediment to third parties getting on ballot, and into debates.
35. All incoming cargo containers inspected at sea by trained American inspectors, on specially equipped American built ships. Inspection paid by shippers.
Gerald W. France
jfrance1st@yahoo.com
I will not support any candidate that voted for the unprovokded invasion of Iraq. I hope Unity08 will not support such a candidate - if it does, I'll not be a part.
I am concerned that Unity08 seems most interested in getting the federal government involved in more issues rather than fewer. The choice of issues is almost irrelevant. The problem with putting even more decisions in the hands of the federal government rather than removing social issues from its agenda has been addressed by many. My favorite essay on the subject is from Thomas Paine.
In "Common Sense", Thomas Paine carefully made the point that government and society are two fundamentally different things. Since I cannot improve on Paine, I urge anyone who has a serious interest in these matters to read or reread "Common Sense." It is not obscure or out of date. But I'll try to give a fair summary.
Government's primary function is to curb the selfish motives that cause some folks to disregard the liberty of others. Those selfish folks might steal, force others to do their bidding, or even take another's life. To curb that kind of behavior government must do what most people think of as negative. Government must punish or threaten to punish.
Even in the seemingly benign area of providing infrastructure the basic power of government lies in punishment. Government decides that roads must be paved and, having no resources of its own, levies taxes. What if some citizens do not agree that roads need paving? Government must threaten punishment or punish in order to collect their taxes, anyway.
Society, on the other hand is the nurturing force. Through societal organizations or as an individual I can give alms or support or any number of other positive things to whomever I please for whatever reason pleases me. Such giving is positive for me and (I hope) positive for the recipient.
Contrast societal alms giving with a government welfare program. The resources for a government welfare program are gathered through threat of punishment if the "donor" doesn't choose to "donate". The decision as to who may receive government welfare necessarily restricts the categories of recipient. This often generates rancor among the non-recipients who then threaten the power of the vote in order to gain inclusion in the recipient category since, invariably, they see it as their "right."
These distinctions between government and society lead me to advocate minimizing the activities of government.
These distinctions also tell me that government must never be given the authority to set "moral" values: to determine what behavior is moral and what is not. For, then, the fundamental negative nature of government comes into full and frightening play. There is then governmental punishment for immoral behavior. And the definition of immorality becomes a partisan issue.
No, government must be restricted to making only "practical" laws. Laws against stealing are "practical" laws, not "moral" laws. A community in which stealing goes unpunished is simply unworkable. It takes only one thief in a community to bring chaos. True, most religions have pronouncements against stealing, but that is coincidental rather than a fundamental reason to have formal, government administered punishment for thieves.
I hope that most Unity08 members understand the difference between Government and Society and will treat whatever issues are considered important in light of the differences.