Chicago's Inspector General

       The inspector General made some recommendations to the Mayor to achieve financial stability for the city.  I was not aware that such things fell within the auspices of his job.  No matter.  I am optimistic.  Not because some grandstanding appointee, politician makes idiotic statements.  Not because some of these ideas were clearly contrived simply to make the others appear sane by comparison.  (Yes, I mean the toll on Lake shore drive)  Not because of this flagrant wagging of the dog.
       I am optimistic because within minutes, both the media and the people were saying that this was clearly done for the reasons listed above.  The people of Chicago, despite a history of being assumed to be stupid, are becoming quite a bit harder to put one over on.  I will stop short of saying that the people are wising up; but at least they have become so jaded and suspicious of government that they see past the more obvious smoke screens. Making the few of us still working pay higher taxes and fees, only makes class warfare the norm. 
       What no one seems to realize though, is that there is only one way out of this financial mess.  You see the welfare economy we have put in place after WWII relied on constant exponential growth in order to function.  We allow our jobs to be outsourced, and the people who used to work in factories all transitioned to construction.  This is something we all should have seen coming.  The solution, you see, is to bring back manufacturing.  Also, unlike what the President and his cabinet say; building roads, schools and bridges are not real jobs.  The true wealth of America is not our schools roads and bridges.  Those are symbols of our (now former) wealth. 
       The true wealth of America has always been that each American was allowed to work as hard as they want, to achieve what they want.  Our wealth was that we built what the rest of the world needed and wanted.  The only road back to that level of prosperity is protectionism.  Our jobs are more important than Chinese jobs.  That is the way every other country works: by treating their interests as more important than anything else.  Why are we not doing the same?  It does no good for me to yell for everyone to "BUY AMERICAN!", because we would only be able to buy food then.  And we would need to check sources first. 
       We need to set ridiculously high tariffs on imported goods.  Completed or not.  We need to set in place a 51% ownership rule like every other country.  (All companies, or subsidiaries operating in the country must be at least 51% owned by citizens thereof.)  We need laws that protect the American worker.  Corporations only outsource because the law allows it.  Change that and we will fix our entire economy.  Then, and only then, can we help the rest of the world.

Agenda for America

       I will admit it freely.  I have an agenda.  Not a unabomber-manifesto type agenda.  Or a tea-party agenda.  Certainly not a socialist agenda.  I am a centrist.  By that I mean I hold x- number of reactionary /libertarian views, and an equal number of socialist views.  So they kinda balance out.  (example, pro gun, don't care if gays marry)  In other countries, such as the Nordic Socialist- democracies, they have names for that.  Here we do not.  My agenda is simple, and detailed below:
       Keep them from f-ing it up.  By "them" I mean politicians.  You see, I am quite happy with our current political climate.  An unpopular president, a congress controlled by the other major party, and a split supreme court, means nothing gets done.
       You may be asking, "Why is that good?"  I'll tell you my friends, right this way.  The eternal dance we call a representative democracy.  You see, better minds than ours devised a way that no one could mess up too badly in government.  They contrived a method by which our "king" rotates when he would ordinarily be consolidating power, and our other representatives can be ousted without war every few years.  Only Justices are lifers, and generally speaking, the only smart ones in the group.
       This post will ramble a bit, one out of every dozen will.  No I have not been drinking.  Ask my friends, I am much more focused when I have been.
       Equal opportunity bashing:  The president has asked for an extension of payroll tax cuts for another year.  3 for 3 as I recall.  For an idea he said was idiotic when another President did it.  (I know, bad grammar)  Secretary Clinton said we needed to keep our troops deployed overseas, and "Stay the course" if you will.  Again, its only a bad idea when someone else does it.
       Now for the righties.  Congressman Walsh, all around buffoon, held a press conference to explain why he wouldn't be attending the President's speech.  Apparently, he feels that the President is wrong, even before he speaks.  Now I will at least give the leader of the free world the chance to tell me an idea before I tell him he's wrong.  Especially if that were part of my job description.  But then I'm no congressman.  The audience apparently voiced some disagreement at this point and was told by the August Mr. Walsh that they were wrong.  Joe, (see you get no respect) when the people you invited, your base as it were, tell you that you are not representing their interests; and your damned job title is Representative, perhaps they are not the ones who are wrong, jack-ass.  Just sayin'.
       To the (ahem) neutral media:  Ron Paul is one of the Republican front runners.  Bachman is last in almost every poll.  Put Ron Paul on the television.  He may be boring because he never speaks before thinking, but he is a LEGITIMATE candidate.  Perhaps the only one.
       Never wanted to be this guy but here I am:  I was watching a vlog about how poor people who vote Republican are only voting that way because of the Republican promise to oppress minorities for the gain of whites.  For the record, it was narrated by a white male.  Presumably affluent.  That is like saying; "Any rich person who votes Democrat is clearly corrupt and expects a loophole in the tax code, since all Democrats want is communism."  (Note, that was for illustrative purposes only, I do not believe that) I will say this: "Try talking to one first".  I have been that guy.  Low income, Republican voter.  I was never promised anything, nor was it under the premise of oppressing anyone.  Although if a candidate promised world domination...
       It all starts with assumptions.  We assumed, up through the forties, that our way was better, and we were right.  We now assume we are no better than any other country, and our way is no better, and we are right.
       "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right."  -Henry Ford-