ACCOUNTABILITY - IN AMERICA

 

Democracy 'should' be easy. Theoretically within the foundation of a democratic-social- system everyone has individual freedom to live their life as they choose. We have autonomy: to start a business or don't - seek career advancement in a business started by someone else or don't - continue with the family farm or don't - push our talents toward singing or writing or building or medicine or teaching or...don't...

Sounds simple enough - in theory...However, respect for individual freedoms via democracy or a republic government structure has had a rather shaky progression throughout recorded time.

But first, fellow-travelers while We-The-People and our print and video Press toss around words like "democracy" and "democratic" - U.S. citizens do not have a democratic-form-of-government. Like 159 other countries the United States is a Republic. In a Democracy [like Canada] the rule of a 'majority' of voters/citizens prevails. In a Republic [like Germany or France] voters/citizens elect representatives who pass laws, so the rule of 'law' prevails. Are our lawmakers in the Congress, Senate and Executive branch accountable?  You bet. Another republic to which our United States has been compared is the Roman Empire. 

In 753 BC the city of Rome itself according to historical-legend [via stories, myth, songs & poems] was founded by twins Remus and Romulus who were reportedly the offspring of Mars the god of war. [War huh, oh swell. Thank you 'not' dear, Mars.]  Anyway, Rome began as a monarchy with Romulus the first king. During his rule the city expanded to encompass a greater region now known as Italy. After the death of Romulus, governing evolved away from a monarchy to that of a republic. Though - only - a republic for an elite class who were allowed to vote. This early republic was certainly not for servants or slaves. 

In this thriving republic from 509BC to 306AD numerous ambitious Roman, upper-class proceeded to create a military machine that bullied the rest of the known world for centuries. Rome's military might prevailed until along came forward-thinking emperor Constantine who had a vision. [My theory: conquering and dominating nation after nation was costly in soldiers and finances...Hence, somewhere between the 312 AD Battle of the Milvian Bridge and 476AD Rome's military decline was an engineered metamorphosis.]  Constantine [the Great] embraced Christianity! So intently that he went from emperor to pope and senators became cardinals and equestrians became bishops.  Abracadabra! The Roman Empire transformed from controlling people who feared for their lives to the Roman Catholic Church, controlling people who feared for their souls... B-u-t that's just me.

Meanwhile back in North America, over several decades our Republic has been steered toward an engineered metamorphosis too by some unaccountable members of Congress and the Senate and Presidents due to conduct 'unbecoming'. [Even our revered 16th President, Abraham Lincoln at one point promised several coveted postal appointments in exchange for some needed Congressional votes...] Regardless of the governing label [republic or democracy] every link, every layer and every policy literally all of it depends on one single element...ETHICS. 

Reading the Declaration of Independence and the entire U.S. Constitution, we can't help, believe the founders had the best of intentions. However, in the decades since, Main-Street-voters have trusted too many of the wrong people for too long. Our early developing republic [that elected George Washington its 1st President] with each additional state, became an encumbered system that became a compromised system. Compromised principles with patchy accountability grew so entrenched over the centuries that even people elected to public office determined to make changes were converted or marginalized. When ethical conduct is compromised, covered up, justified, excused, ignored -and- when standards are systematically eroded - then fair and balanced governing decays. Who's to blame? Everyone. All of us. 

11th President [D] POLK ADMINISTRATION 1845-1849 **The [elected] Managers for 'our' Affairs of State have too often been able to push their own agenda because influence and law-making authority rested entirely with them. Few may remember James K. Polk, but they should. Polk had an ambitious concept for American expansion westward that clashed with Mexico. What is now the states of Utah, Nevada, California, New Mexico and Arizona was, prior to 1846, northern Mexico. But a declaration of war in which we prevailed effectively reduced Mexico from an area of 1,781,069 square miles down to 761,606! How is that for being 'neighborly'...Do you think Mexico remembers that land grab? Did American voters have that same ideal? Nope...Expansion west could have been accomplished up, over and around Mexican territory and without the loss of 38,283 civilian and military lives from both countries. 

**1857 saw a highly divisive decision by the Supreme Court that ruled articles of the U.S. Constitution did not extend citizenship to people of African descent and thus they could not enjoy the same rights and privileges the Constitution conferred upon American citizens. That decision is considered the worst in the Supreme Court's history, widely denounced as overt racism and creating the very division that led to the Civil War. Can we just thank the major contribution made by resilient African abductees for their economic impact toward America's growth since 1526!  And - thank their patient descendants for waiting since 1867 for the rest of us to acknowledge their inventions, artistic gifts and scientific research..."Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!"

15th President [D] BUCHANAN ADMINISTRATION 1857-1861 **Loyalty to a political party philosophy is expected and admirable but taken to extreme tends to serve the reverse. James Buchanan is to have remarked; "Slavery is an issue of little importance." Which would only make sense unless you were not an enslaved person. Far from accountability or considering any northern states' sentiment as a moral human rights matter, President Buchanan supported all slave states as important to the economy. Sadly, accountability can also depend heavily on a narrow perspective.

1896: The National Bureau of Criminal Identification was formed by George Koestle  [of the Cleveland Police Department]. Koestle was an enthusiastic follower of the growing field in forensic science adopted by police departments all over the world. By 1908 President Rosevelt saw the merits of the new science and appointed Stanley Finch, Chief Examiner in the Department of Justice to oversee a Bureau of Investigation, hiring 60 investigators known as Secret Service Operatives. Working in tandem with the Treasury Department, that also had detectives - investigations in general soon were out of control. The Birth of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — FBI 

By 1936, Congress had a better handle on several runaway investigations renaming the agency Federal Bureau of Investigation/FBI. The director appointed to run this newly chartered agency was J. Edgar Hoover who oversaw details of day-to-day operation from 1924 to 1972. So much so that ironically, Hoover compiled meticulous files of his own on thousands of prominent people in entertainment, business and politics...Hmmm, accountability ? 

**By the turn of the 20thCentury, less than 400,000 indigenous people had survived genocide, stolen land, ignored treaties and broken promises. And from 1860 to 1900, about, a dozen presidents had knowingly or thoughtlessly authorized a disgraceful series of cruel and careless decisions that led to the displacement of hundreds of nations causing some to no longer exist. Accountability? Oh, m'gosh we can't say we're sorry often enough or loud enough...Forever! And besides precious lives we also lost valuable wisdom about nature-animals-plants-weather/the environment! "So Very, Very Sorry."

25th President [R] MCKINLEY ADMINISTRATION 1899-1901 **Using justification to free Cuban citizens oppressed by Spain's colonial rule, in 1898 President William McKinley went to war with Spain. McKinley's sights were set on the nearby, strategically located island. However, he had to be satisfied with acquiring Puerto Rico and the island of Guam for America's spoils of that war, because Cuba had no intention of letting America replace Spain. Loss of life for both sides was estimated at 6,838 mostly military. 

33rd President [D] TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION 1945-1953 **Before the end of WWII there was the [OSS] Office of Strategic Services. It's then department head Lawrence Houston convinced President Harry Truman to eliminate the OSS and replace the department with an agency that could function on a broader more secret level thus offer greater protection for American citizens. Allowed to draft the Secret Agency Act, Lawrence Houston was not only architect and new Director of the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] he designed this federal body to be exempt from 'any' oversight by Congress or the Senate or the President. Houston also created several company facades behind which CIA [clandestine] activities could be, were and still are hidden. There's a reason Syria and Iran took the United States off their Yaida-Night invitation list...Obviously Iran has a long-memory too. [See Working Without A Net: HISTORY IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com) ] 

34th President [R] EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION 1953-1961 **War heroes with political ambitions were almost politically unopposed. However, the respect, obedience and discipline ranking officers could count on in their military careers didn't always translate well for their civilian efforts. Subterfuge and defiance were too often the norm from career politicians and bureaucrats who understood the governmental-maze because they created it. Regardless - what the commander-in-chief authorized made him accountable. Profits for the U.S. United Fruit Company were at risk after a new government in Guatemala began a redistribution of farmland to peasants. Mysteriously that new government was replaced...Skewed intelligence or not - reports of attacks by dissident USSR planes still didn't give Dwight Eisenhower moral authority to engineer an Indonesian regime change...Back to Cuba, at first Fidel Castro was welcomed in DC, but quickly considered "too independent". There also followed a change in leadership in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Then too, a visitor from outer space might be surprised [since we liberated France in WWII and they were the reason we won the War of Independence] to discover, we meddled with a paramilitary operation supporting South Vietnam against French colonialism. Imagine that... 

35th President [D] KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION 1961-1963 **Historically Kennedy is 'credited' with averting WWIII. The Bay of Pigs, however, might have been a non-starter, if anyone in DC had set aside their ego long enough to work with Castro. By dismissing Fidel, Russia moved in to fill a governing void for the novice rebel. As administrative coach and advisor the U.S. could have kept the island from becoming isolated with its citizens trapped in a steady decline of national poverty. Meanwhile in South Vietnam what began a decade before as a rebellion against French colonialism under Eisenhower burst out of control with China an allied supporter of North Vietnam's claim on the entire region. Total battlefield deaths from 1955 to 1975 [not including thousands injured] was 1,353,000 civilian and military on both sides. 

37th President [R] NIXON ADMINISTRATION 1969-1974 **As accountability goes, too often ego with an inflated view of authority replaces ethics. In this regard - President Richard Nixon's desperate ambition to be president from his time as Eisenhower's Vice President to his bitter loss against Kennedy - earned Nixon the greatest public fall-from-grace. Exposed for his part in authorizing the break-in at the Watergate Democratic offices was not due to the FBI, but by the Washington Post newspaper, that ultimately forced Nixon's resignation. As well, Nixon too complied files on people he considered his 'enemies' using his authority over the FBI and the IRS as weapons.

43rd President [R] BUSH W. ADMINISTRATION 2001-2009 **Initially it looked like the 9-11 terrorist attack on the New York twin towers, the Pentagon and downed United passenger Flight 93 would define President George W. Bush's presidency, but from an accountability perspective there's a great deal more. For much of President George Bush's two terms his V.P. Dick Chaney wielded a great deal of influence and was a major architect that pushed the lie "weapons of mass destruction." The bold lie told around the world in an open United Nations General Assembly to justify the invasion of Iraq. As well the location of Osama bin Laden was known only weeks after the attack on the U.S. but to justify spending millions on a dual war supporting troops and private contractors [until Barach Obama was elected President] the man behind the attack [somehow] remained illusive.  But, America did get yet another policing agency; Homeland Security, that added an additional 240,000 more people to the Federal payroll, with absolutely no chance of securing the homeland.  Another curious component to George Bush's Presidency was his "No Child Left Behind" education initiative, which managed to create just the opposite effect. When President Bill Clinton took office America's public school standing in the world was 6th. By the time Bush left office America's standing had dropped to 17th. Further, funds that should have gone to education and maintaining or updating aging infrastructure was siphoned off to a created war.

44th President [R] TRUMP ADMINISTRATION 2017-2021 **This brings my tyrranid to President Donald Trump. For the 2016 Election, America's choices for president were either: Hilary Clinton [former Secretary of State who dismissed any accountability for the embassy deaths under her watch in Bengahzi and how 300 confidential emails ended up on the personal laptop of Anthony Weiner a convicted sex-offender] -or- Donald J. Trump [a mouthy, untried corporate CEO]. Because - during the Democratic Primary Campaign Bernie Sanders had accumulated a following that equaled Hilary Clinton's it was a shock when [somehow] Hilary became the Democratic Nominee. My theory as to 'how' Trump was elected President #44 was due as much to thousands of Sanders' followers voting against Hilary as for Trump. The creation of Opportunity Zones was commendable, but that was overshadowed by his dismissive council of others and adolescent name-calling.  Then in 2020 Trump's arrogance sabotaged his 2nd term reelection bid when he refused to debate Joe Biden. After the election poor judgement followed by even more arrogance, fueled misguided people who stormed the Capital January 6th, 2021. Though--besides no accountability on Trump's part--how was it that in DC a city packed with police, local, military and federal none were authorized by Pelosi or Schumer for crowd control as thousands assembled?  Just asking...

45th President [D] BIDEN ADMINISTRATION 2021- to present **Our dysfunctional 118th [R] Congress sputtering the word impeachment wastes time digging into Biden's political and financial history that is irrelevant. This Congress doesn't need to go back any farther that Biden's collection of Executive Orders signed his first two days in office. Has President Biden disregarded his Oath of Office by not following immigration laws already in place, that allowed 10+ million illegal immigrants to invade the United States, most of whom we know nothing? And besides President Joe Biden no one else seems accountable, certainly not the Secretary of Homeland Security. Certainly not the Secretary of Transportaion ignoring aging infrastructure for roads, bridges, shipping ports/supply-chains and airports... Certainly not John Kerry still pushing for a green-environment mostly via EVs, wind and solar subsidies. Did Biden skirt the Supreme Court ruling on student loan forgiveness? Has Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary been accountable for government spending that shot inflation up causing an increase in interest rates - that also ballooned our national debt? Was the lack of ability and/or action on the part of President Biden and his Secretary of State responsible for allowing Russian aggression leading to another war? 

All people seeking any public office need confidence, but when confidence is overtaken by ego that imbalance can seriously impair good judgement. Does a rematch between Trump and Biden make sense? I object to both candidates for the same reasons - they're both too advanced in age and neither one has been in the least bit accountable...

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award-winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist.

Patchwork Publishing, LLC 

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misMANAGEMENT - IN AMERICA

Dear George,

Watching America from your 'cloud' you'd be appalled and thinking you crossed the Delaware on a brutal cold winter day for nothing...The MisManagement that has evolved since you 'retired' from public office is at best a marvel of stumbling ineptitude, to at its worst open corruption...

Through centuries - thousands of years really, 'we' -- the folks who grow food, who make useful tools, appliances and vehicles, who build houses, offices, bridges-etc., who do scientific research, who teach or who heal -- have been conditioned to believe in the value of leadership and that we needed leadership. All that self-appointed hierarchy from the heads of churches to royalty that spread across the globe like a persistent rash -- who lead us [conscripted] from our content lives farming and building and inventing - to war after war after war...Why? Not for 'us', but for themselves. Leadership in most of those [sometimes years] of wars, in the trenches were rare and if they were after victory was declared they became a king, or emperor. 

But who fought in all those wars and paid for all those wars with all those taxes--'we', 'us', -- and twenty-three years into the 21st Century 'we' are still...Why? Not for 'us', but for 'them'...Those who make the rules for 'us' but different rules for themselves. This latest government shut down is a prime example. If the government shuts down then 'everyone', I repeat 'everyone' except those in the Congress and the Senate must go without a paycheck! Why? Because 'they' voted that rule for themselves.

Why isn't our modern-day leadership standing shoulder to shoulder with 'us'? There is no true royalty except in an arbitrary 'label' as such. The only place in modern society where a hierarchy functions well is in the military where specific duties and responsibilities must be clear - otherwise we're all peers. The president of the UAW is still drawing his full salary [including benefits & expenses] $4,000+ each week while his union membership must live on $500 each week!

*These song lyrics [Hall & Oates "Rich Girl"] apply; "It's easy to hurt others when you can't feel pain." 

If we replace the 'word' leadership with management - the entire responsibility of 21st Century governing and the responsibility of 'us' [We The People living on Main Street] takes a Paradigm Shift.

Yes, we're busy; finishing school, starting careers and businesses, getting married and raising a family - but on our 'to-do' list with those responsibilities IS the supervision of the people we 'hire' to manage, we are 'their' employers, we pay their salary. 1.] national security/military/with bases in key state locations & one policing agency [not 43], 2.] national transportation/air traffic, roads and bridges that cross state lines, 3.] national communication/postal system, 4.] national energy/power grid, 5.] a national healthcare system [like Congress has had since 1959], 6.] basic national education standards... And that's it! 

The rest must return to and remain with each state which according to our Constitution are Sovereign - though they don't function that way. From each dollar we earn about 20% goes to DC while 5% goes to your state. If it was the other way around, we'd have a significantly smaller central government which is what the Founders intended. 

The first U.S. Government Shutdown that I experienced was when my husband had an overseas contract and we were living on the Greek Island of Cyprus, 1994 to 1996. Our Cypriot friends and associates had never heard of such an event and asked us how a government can stop? We wondered that too... Why is so much so partisan? Why do we have a system that only hears half of the elected voices half the time? We absolutely need both/all. 

*As a result of conflicts between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress over funding for education, the environment, and public health in the 1996 federal budget, the United States federal government shut down from November 14 through November 19, 1995, and from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996.

First, Education should never, ever be underfunded. But education gets sacrificed [along with teacher salaries & school maintenance] routinely nearly every single budget year [federal & state] which is why internationally American education ranking went from 6th in the world in 1993 to 17th by 2001 - then down even farther by 2018 to 27th... [Research for that post was depressing & infuriating.]  Working Without A Net: EDUCATION IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com) 

Soooo, our Congress and Senate and executive staff have great pensions and healthcare and protected salary when there's a shutdown [political temper-tantrum] ... But no one else does. Why is that? Working Without A Net: HEALTH-CARE IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com)

AND for some reason [reason seems to be missing] basic mathematics and economics isn't followed by those we vote/hire to 'serve' in public office. Why? Gosh another good question... Since you and I can't spend more than we earn [for very long] without running into serious debt then perhaps bankruptcy - why people in elected office think those finance rules don't apply to the national budget is alarming. A healthy, functioning free enterprise economy, provides jobs -and- funds social programs...But it's not a bottomless bucket and especially when business keeps getting strangled by arbitrary regulations.

For some reason our national debt is subdivided into two segments. There's intergovernmental debt and public debt. Intergovernmental debt is owed by the U.S. government -to- itself, while public debt is owed by the U.S. government to external entities. Those 'external entities' are foreign countries/investors like China and Japan and others. Additional public debt is held by U.S. Banks, foreign banks, the Federal Reserve, states and local governments, mutual funds, pension funds, insurance companies and savings bonds. [Bonds were sold heavily to support WWI and WWII] But 20 years in Afghanistan [Iraq] only made money for contractors, draining taxes that should have gone to education, social security, Medicare and steadily aging infrastructure. Working Without A Net: INFRASTRUCTURE IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com)

Awww but there's an election in one year Fellow Travelers.

Let 'us'--We The People who live in the real world on Main Street stop thinking in terms of needing 'leadership' and start thinking in terms of us as employers hiring 'management'. 

We need competent 'managers'. We need people with impressive resumes who have proven management experience. We don't need people who promise or lie or exaggerate. Our laws for 'Truth In Advertising' need to be applied to all politics. And all publicly filled 'management' positions shall be temporary with Term Limits. Serve two terms then return to your former career. And 'we' need to quit voting for/hiring people based on their slick sales pitch. 

Then once 'hired' [only once a month] we track their voting record, and absentee record and email or call their offices to remind our manager[s] they are passing legislation for 'us' not them...If 'we' don't make that effort - what we are seeing now with runaway immigration, organized looting and retail theft and governing dysfunction will not only persist - it shall get worse. Just saying... 

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is a former journalist and award-winning mystery, suspense novelist.

Patchwork Publishing, LLC

Sherrie’s Substack | Sherrie Todd-Beshore | Substack

 

    

A THIRD PARTY...IN AMERICA

 

Quietly, but steadily a third-party influence has been growing and evolving for the last 30 years. 

The shake-up in voter options that began with Ross Perot's bid for the 1992 Presidency didn't end with his abrupt retreat - far from it. Perot's earlier efforts to lead America's Executive Branch of our [three-tier] government lit a flame that offered an alternate perspective. Suddenly the aperture view for Main-Street was able to see opened wider. 

*Where IS this third-party?  It's the growing number of Registered Independents, hidden in plain sight. 

This voting block has expanded to comprise close to 40% of all registered voters. People who were once tethered to either a straight liberal ideology or straight conservative ideology found a greater balance and breathing room by embracing the best of both. This is forcing more and more people seeking public office to realize they can't count on following only liberal or only conservative poling numbers to gauge their popularity. 

But even nonpartisan fact-tanks like the Pew Research Institute struggles to make [factual] sense of statistics when there is also statistics within statistics. For example, within the Republican Party there are those who lean toward some liberal policy ideas and in the Democratic Party there are those who lean toward some conservative policy ideas. It may appear contradictory, but regardless of registered voter designation, Main Street still has [for the most part] two choices, so Pew [and others] labelling Registered Independent voters as either Republican-Leaners or Democratic-Leaners isn't as accurate as they report. 

*Confused? That's entirely understandable...

I spent [daze] all over the World-Wide-Web gathering the kind of information I thought might help me/you/us - make sense of the massive, volcanic social shift between the 2016 federal election, the 2020 mid-term election and several state elections. My statistics soon had statistics too, because over the years, due to circumstances [increased immigration, eroding public school education standards, with arbitrary tweaking of social programs and industry standards] changed like the weather! 

VOTING BY MAIL...Do we truly know 'who' is voting? The numbers vary slightly, but to date an estimated 5,000,000 asylum seekers have crossed into the United States over the last 29 months. Yikes!

In the mix of people truly persecuted in their home country due to: race, religion, nationality, social group or political opinion - we also have identified terrorists, criminals like the mentally insane, rapists, thieves, as well as unaccompanied minors from orphanages, then Russian, Iranian and Chinese spies and organized cartel members...Nice huh... Except - of those who applied for asylum as a defense against deportation only 39% met even a basic definition: Asylum is available to individuals who cannot or will not go back to their home countries because they do not feel they will be safe. That's less than half folks! Actually, less than that because for the fiscal year 2022 overwhelmed immigration judges only decided 52,000 cases... 

Even being ridiculously generous and allowing for half of the estimated 5,000,000 who not only qualify, but 'also' make formal application - that still does not account for 2,500,000 others. So, where are they? And - somehow have they been miraculously registered to vote? 

With the level of computing technology available today, why are so many deceased individuals still showing up on voting lists? Disturbingly, it's far too easy for illegal immigrants to assume the paper-identity of a former citizen no longer living. Either due to staffing shortages, negligence or indifference, numerous cities and towns in counties in too many states do not maintain accurate demographic records. All utility companies certainly do, so perhaps dithering officials with antiquated record keeping systems can update their demographics from utility customer lists before printing any ballots prior to elections. Just a thought...

LEANERS vs INDEPENDENTS... By defining a certain percentage of voters as Democratic-Leaners or Republican-Leaners -- are those worried about the unmistakable swing 'away' from set dogma to open options of a middle ground selection -- seeking to marginalize the Registered Independent voter as inconsequential?  It's easy cake for either a Democratic or Republican political candidate seeking reelection or a first term to appear at organized rallies of other Democrats or Republicans. Not - so easy if a rally must be held in constituencies with a 3/3 or unknown mix. Gosh, someone might ask tough, uncomfortable questions or not cheer at your over worked, tired sales pitch. Wow, someone seeking a public office might actually need to be informed, accountable and answerable... Imagine that!

According to USA Facts, the number of eligible voters over the age of 18 in 2022 totaled 255,457,000 [M]. So, Fellow Travelers, if we tap into that number at 40% - that's about 114,955,965 voters [give or take] who are anything except inconsequential and anyone/everyone seeking to 'serve' in any public office should heed that fact. 

*Critically now, greater than ever, those who are Registered Independents need stay their chosen course. 

Even better, recruit other friends, family and neighbors to amend their citizenship alliance away from either--or, to independent. If every citizen was simply registered to vote with no party affiliation required, the original governing purpose in the forming of this republic by the founders would return.  Once upon a time our Congress and Senate was made up of individually elected representatives from designated districts according to population. [Much simpler of course because neither adult females nor adult slaves could vote].

 However, as America's early decades came and went - with other countries abolishing slavery - it was the debate over slavery that initiated the rise of the Democratic Party [January 1828 to argue slavery should be left to the states] The 13th and 14th Amendments of the brand new ratified constitution that kept the debate a moral issue ultimately produced the Republican Party [1854] to halt any further expansion of slavery into the territories of newly formed states.

13th Amendment  Section 1 Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. 14th Amendment Section 1 All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. 

Sooo, why not have zero party affiliation with all naturally born and legalized citizens allowed to vote in any leadership primary? An interesting change occurred after I became a Registered Independent [20years ago]. I stopped focusing on only specific party candidates and began to focus on all candidates. When I did that, I discovered I wanted to vote for the most competent candidate [regardless of party] instead of the candidate I hoped would do the least harm from a narrow list in a single party. Imagine that, competence?

Dare we imagine a long overdue shake up to the dysfunctional partisan status quo of federal, state and civic governments - IF - every voter exchanged their Democrat and Republican registration to Independent? That might be exciting. That also might return America to a government of the people, by the people, for the people...

Sherrie Todd-Beshore is an award-winning mystery-suspense novelist and former journalist.

Patchwork Publishing, LLC

CHARM SCHOOL IN AMERICA

 

President Washington...Hello again wherever you are...

And, by George, wherever that might be, my guess is you've stopped shaking your head at the stew later generations of bureaucrats and elected 'public-servants' have made of your hard-fought Republic - and you've run for the brandy!

"We The People" feel like running for some brandy too - but truly there isn't enough spirits on the planet to help us cope with how massively disappointing the decades of people in public office have been... 

So substandard are the parade of people in local, state and federal public office that I only need the fingers of both hands to count those who 'aren't' so ambitiously blind - they are willing to see their homeland literally sold out for personal ambitions. [See:  Working Without A Net: VOTING IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com)

TAXING THE RICH...One million [US] dollars just doesn't buy what it once did! How amazing is that?  So in this 21st Century who is considered 'rich'? Certainly none of the politicians who are calling for greater taxation of 'the-rich'. Since the vast majority seated in our Congress and Senate have become millionaires - many times over - are they paying their fair-share... And - who are the 'rich' the politicians routinely vilify? A high percentage of the 'rich' did not inherit wealth. They are self-made business owners who worked 24/7/365 at great risk over several years to get their idea/business/invention off the ground. And - if those who are now 'rich' had not done what they did - you and I would not have been able to apply for work at the companies we now take for granted. [See: Working Without A Net: RICH IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com)

Inflation: between 2015 and Covid the cost of nearly everything suddenly took a giant leap from costing

in the millions to the billions then to the trillions! Why? But, besides that 'inflation' never goes 'down' [per say] it just gets recalculated based on productivity and wages. A simple example: a 9oz box of crackers mid-way, 1980 [with an inflation rate of 11.6%] was $1.59. Mid-way, 2023 [with inflation--supposedly--down to 4.4%] the price of those crackers varies between stores shelves and online at $3.88. Is anyone minding our grocery stores for price gouging...

Debt-Ceiling: Are they serious? There is no ceiling! In fact there's no roof either because there's no fiscal accountability. [Term Limits - Term Limits - Term Limits.]

Budgets: lets' take a peek at waste and mismanagement - though you may need to be seated with a brown paper bag close by...Just the 'estimated' fraud claims against Medicare alone have risen to between 50 and 60 Billion a year. [Of all the agencies that need an increase in staffing to investigate it's Medicare not the IRS.] Then there's an actual 778 Billion dollars of over-payments, waste and cost over-runs paid by the Pentagon since 2019! And these are only two Federal Budget items that our illustrious legislative members can see for themselves thanks to the stats diligently collected by the Manhattan Institute. However, before you review the website of the Manhattan Institute you're may need another brandy...

INNER SPACE: First let us take a look at weather,  4+ billion years of unsettled weather that is, with asteroids and meteorites and volcanos and earthquakes...All of which Earth is still experiencing. So, Climate Change? Earth's climate has 'never-not' been changing -and- warming - and cooling - and warming - and cooling - and... [We could likely save the planet sooner if our "Climate Czar" John Kerry, wasn't flying his jet to interfere with unsuspecting farmers in other countries like the Netherlands and Ireland. Apparently there's a quest to reduce cattle and pig production--because--they 'fart'! I guess none of those huge dinosaurs farted...]

Anyway...My very first semester of my very first year of geology my professor explained the impact of the 5 [previous] major Ice Ages. Between those ice ages were major warming trends at which time global water levels rose significantly. Plant life flourished and so did animal life - like dinosaurs. Believe it or not what is now the North American mountain chain affectionally known as The Rockies, [formed from central Alberta to northern New Mexico] was once an impressive stretch of scenic sandy beach that ran from northern Alberta to southern New Mexico. [See: Working Without A Net: "GREEN" & "CLEAN" IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com) and Working Without A Net: FOSSIL FUELS IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com) 

Why can't the herd of PhDs at NASA turn their creative attention to 'this planet' and it's environmental issues like an efficient cost effective system of recycling paper, glass and plastic - and - reducing greenhouse pollutants due to poor forest management that causes out of control forest fires - and -  develop an expanded water reservoir network system so more rainwater is stored for increasing electrical needs and mitigate drought cycles - and - cultivate a global reforestation program...Just asking for a 'friend'...

CITIZENSHIP...Also, speaking of this planet [I've said this before] Earth is 'our-home'. No matter how many rockets are sent to the moon or to Mars or to outer space, Earth is it folks. This planet is 'home' to all of us, we are 'all' citizens of here... 

THE FOOD PYRAMID... If our Climate Czar wants to be entirely ESG then the 'only-simple-food' has an Earth source - in dirt. Even our animal protein gets their nourishment from grasses, seeds and other vegetables grown in dirt...So - very sorry but if anyone cares to read the list of ingredients [if you can pronounce them] on the packages of Twinkies, Froot Loops or Cheetos you'll know why none of them should be included... This means - if anyone needs to drop a few or several pounds then eat all you want of only-simple-food. You'll be able to recognize them because most come ready-to-eat in their own packaging like - apples or bananas or carrots or cucumber etc...

VIOLENCE & MASS SHOOTINGS...We are what we watch. If young[er] impressionable minds watch only Reality-Programing [that is scripted for ratings] or only one maybe two news networks [that is also scripted for ratings] or video games with guns and movies/television with guns--then--why this country continues to see [real-life] gun violence and death repeated every-single-day is not a mystery. Bullying is not addressed in our schools, but then neither is respect or common curtesy -so- suicides among our young should not be a mystery...Kids are pulled from homes with dysfunctional parents [who often grew up with dysfunctional parents or foster parents] then the 'rescued' kids are placed in foster-care and moved from foster home to foster home until they age out at 18 on their own -so- homelessness should not be a mystery... Working Without A Net: PRISON REFORM IN AMERICA (workingwithnonet.blogspot.com)

WE THE PEOPLE: are [according to our Constitution] supposed to be in charge. However, every time 'we' ask our local - county - state -or- federal representatives to 'do' something, 'change' something or 'fix' something ---- they too often feel compelled to comply- too often by creating another new department in order to 'do' or 'change' or 'fix' whatever it is/was 'we' complained about...But they only comply if/when there's more money in it - as in future taxes by increasing their 'budget....So - fellow travelers every time we 'ask' the people we elected/hired to 'do' something we give up more of 'our' authority and when we don't make the people who work for us answerable, we allow the bar of our own standards to drop lower... 

THE 2024 ELECTION...Our freedom requires diligent effort - like weeding a garden - to maintain, daily.  I'm encouraged by the quality of 'some' of the people seeking election and reelection, but only because I've been tracking their careers and/or voting records. This is 'not' brilliance on my part. Anyone can research the people who seek our vote/trust. So please, for your sake/future - don't accept any more Charm-School-Sales-Pitches from people in public office...They 'are' accountable - then after they are elected they remain accountable. The authority of Public Positions is temporary and 'borrowed'. All authority is borrowed from 'us'--"We The People"...

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THEATRE IN AMERICA

 

Dear George Washington, though you were about 100 years apart in age , I'm sure you heard of the playwright, William Shakespeare  and, the first few lines of the famous monologue from his play "As You Like It". I vent to you George, because lately those lines have been stuck in my head like the lyrics of a song that won't go away...

 All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
 And one man in his time plays many parts, 

SO, Fellow Travelers is our life on Planet Earth one giant soap-opera?  Is the person who robs a bank only 'playing' the part of a criminal in 'this-life' then plays the part of a schoolteacher in the next life then a pilot in the life after that?

IF there is life-after-life then answering that question with a "yes" is easy. If--the answer is yes what are the lessons from so many lifetime experiences? Is a corrupt mayor or prime minister absolved of their conduct because they were only playing-a-part to further the 'plot' for how other people's lives evolve? Hmmm...

Because I've struggled with this notion since January my blog postings have been stalled. [Those who typically follow my blogs wondered 'where' I was.]  

Anyway--moving beyond Shakespeare's insightful monologue, what I finally came to terms with was a premise somewhere in the middle. And what helped me 'get-there' was the Parable of the Talents. Talents a few thousand years ago was a form of currency... A father sent each of three sons out into the world with the same amount of money as a test. One son spent his talents/money foolishly returning home broke, a second son horded his talents/money so returned home with exactly the same amount he left with, but the third son took a risk with his talents investing his money that also benefited others and he returned home prosperous. The lesson of this parable [that I made a mess of interpreting] is to recognize opportunity then share it. What we share comes back 10-fold. 

Okay. Today Talents has a different definition, or does it? A 'talent' is still something that can be turned into a means for earning income. If you have a talent for mathematics or science or sculpting or acting or medicine or hair styling or sewing or welding or anything, you have an obligation to develop that talent, that ability, and share it with others so others may benefit too. Of course--not everyone has the same talent. An engineer shares bridge building ability with a farmer who can cross a river to cultivate more land and grow more wheat to supply a baker who feeds the engineer. [My example is quite simplistic, but we do need each other since everyone has different 'talents'.]

Regardless of our talent, we will be tested. Everyone is tested. Someone born into poverty may be tempted to fall down a rabbit hole of selling drugs or mugging people - or - they can choose to overcome poverty and start a small business, finish college or specialized training no matter how long it takes. Someone else born into wealth and privilege may struggle to find purpose and instead of using their opportunity to share or work to help others, slide into a life of waste. Someone may be born into a life somewhere in between then face a serious health diagnosis and struggle not to allow themselves to become a 'victim' - but inspire others to rise above health or handicap and point their energy in a positive direction. 

Why then has literally all news mediums [print, digital and network] spent so many hours and so much space on the thief and indolent rich and the chronic depression of someone ill? Why...? Theater! Apparently 'only' crime, crisis, and casualties deserve air-time or print space.

 Herd Stupidity...If "all the world's a stage and men and women merely players..." has a 'script' been written for us via fate and destiny?  Or -  could we set a course for this planet's future on a steady, productive path that offers the most opportunity for the most people most of the time? 

Regardless of our ancestors' birthplace--either somewhere in the Americas [South & North] or Europe or Africa or Asia or Oceana, every single one of the 8 billion humans on Planet Earth are all one single species...Only one! Ohhh, there is between 5 and 6 thousand cultures with various languages and dialects, but every last one of those 8 billion people were all born warm blooded vertebrates. The outer 'upholstery'/skin varies, but the skeletal structure remains basic. 

Even more exciting [or annoying] all of those 8 billion people have 8 billion opinions...With that, why the hell are there still so many people who even try to attempt influence over this human mass? Personally, I'd want to stay out of their way.

SO--I see Herd-Stupidity in terms of the Herd of other humans who have risen [like curdled cream] to the top of notoriety in order to seek public positions of leadership.

 For literally thousands of years various 'forms' of leadership [from self-appointed 'royalty' to others with grand titles like emperor, or governor or duke etc...] have typically made a fine fiasco of the vast majority of cultures they attempted to lead by control. The most effective leaders [like Mahatma Gandhi and George Washington] let people lead themselves. Gandhi and Washington were [rare] examples of effective coordinators and delegators, much like the conductor of an orchestra. 

An orchestra conductor does not need to know how to play every instrument--the conductor merely needs to coordinate all strings and brass and percussion, so they play together in harmony. 

Divided - there is no orchestra. That said, what if tomorrow all of America's voters were Registered Independent?  How would that change the next election script? Anyone and everyone could vote to select a candidate in the round of Primaries. With no clear idea of who was more liberal or more conservative polls couldn't influence so intently. Would people seeking public office need to work harder to earn public office - and actually 'serve' to keep it?

From A Distance...After several inches of new snow falls, everything is covered by a clean blanket of white. Also, looking out through the widow of an airplane everything below appears neat and tidy. All the roads look clean and farm fields seem organized and perfectly geometric like every farmer used a T-square to lay out crops in the fields. However, after the snow melts, we can spot those weeds and the peeling paint on patio furniture. After the plane lands and we return to ground level our homeless citizens come into focus. But how were these citizens cast in these parts? 

What is puzzling, in America of plenty, is the cultural neglect that systematically created our homeless population that has grown [far] out of proportion to the prosperous culture thriving around them. Granted, 1 million dollars doesn't buy what it once did [like seven years ago] but county, state and federal budgets waste precious funds on trends and special-interest projects. 

The number of homeless in 1990 was 228,621 by the end of 2022 it was 582,462. Historically, between 1950 and 1960 homelessness had declined to the point that researchers were predicting its virtual disappearance by the 1970s. Instead - in the 1980s homelessness increased rapidly and drastically changed in composition. Thousands of our returning Vietnam Veterans didn't get follow up emotional or medical care and states severely cut budgets for social programs once targeted to mental health, affordable public housing and English language immersion with job training for new immigrants. 

From the summer of Woodstock [1969] began decades if 'free-love' that created an increase in drug addicted single moms. However, instead of helping those moms so their children could remain with them, state run social service departments too often removed children from birth parents and placed them in foster homes. Sometimes kids in foster care were adopted, but more often they grew up in foster care, moving between several homes as they aged. When foster kids turned 18 [with none of the family support system most young people have] they age-out on their own. Recently, more and more states have modified their 18 and you're out policy. But bridge programs still aren't national with group homes to help foster teens transition from care to independence, so this change has been slow. Regardless, the previous 4 decades that lacked any of those policies generated thousands of dejected, desperate young people who became criminals or lost souls who scrounge in dumpsters and sleep on park benches or in doorways. 

I'll bet none of our homeless citizens ever considered any future plans to include 'no-fixed-address' in their high school yearbook. 

How do we get better 'parts' for those 'cast' as homeless? Call and write your mayor, governor, state legislator, federal senate and congressional representative...Public people [whose salaries we pay] who want to keep their 'leading-role' on the public 'stage', will be pressured to listen.

Without a government for a year, Belgium shows what happens to politics without politicians - The Washington Post

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