What You Won’t Hear At Tonight’s Debate » Presidential Kabuki Dance
What You Won’t Hear At Tonight’s Debate
October 22, 2012 by Bob Livingston
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Tonight is the final installment of the Kabuki performance called the American Presidential debates. While the ideologues, talking heads, spinmeisters and party hacks get all hot and bothered over what is said in their efforts to reinforce the false left/right paradigm, what is not said – and, in fact, never discussed in the two single-party choreographed gab fests inaccurately called debates — is much more telling.
So here is my (partial) list of things you won’t hear — but should — from the mouths of one or the other of the two puppets vying for the “highest office in the land.”
Despite what we’ve been saying for months, Presidents do not create jobs in the private sector. We can advocate policies that either get government out of the way of job creation or stymie job creation. We can foster an environment that is friendly to job creators and encourages job creation. But there is no way I can say of a private sector job, “You didn’t build that; I did.” I would like to tell you that I can make you a job, but I would be lying. Such honesty would be refreshing but no doubt misunderstood by the voting public, which has come to believe in an all-powerful government.
On my first day in office, I’m going to give a copy of the Constitution with Article I, Section 8 highlighted to each of the 435 members of Congress and tell them that any legislation that does not fit into the parameters of the 17 enumerated powers contained therein will be vetoed, even if it means reducing the power and perks I would enjoy as President. The Presidency has essentially become a four- or eight-year monarchy.
The Founders purposely divided government into three branches (and further divided one of those branches in two) in order to keep it out of the hands of a despot, an oligarchy or a plutocracy. As James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 58: “An elective despotism was not the government we fought for; but one in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among the several bodies of magistracy as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others.” In Federalist No. 10 he wrote: “[T]he great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachment of the others.” The Congress has abdicated its authority to the President on the issues of legislation, the Federal bureaucracy and, more importantly, war powers.
The National Defense Authorization Act and the USA Patriot Act are unConstitutional and violate the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th Amendments and should be repealed immediately. I will do that. Self-explanatory.
Government is too big, too oppressive and too totalitarian. I’m going to do all I can — within the bounds of the Constitution — to reduce the size and scope of government as quickly as possible. Some of the things I do will be unpopular, but I will do them without concern for my future political prospects. A number of Federal agencies could and should be eliminated immediately. Many of them duplicate functions and overlap. These could be scaled back immediately with no impact on government services that people have to come to rely upon. The Department of Energy, formed into its current iteration under President Jimmy Carter in 1977 to formulate a comprehensive national energy plan, is a failed entity that should be immediately abolished. Other failed and bloated entities include the Environmental Protection Agency and the departments of Homeland Security, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Commerce and Interior. Some of the functions of these agencies could be rolled into other departments; some would be delegated to the States where they belong. Unaccountable Federal bureaucracies lead to wasteful programs like the $27 million spent teaching Moroccans how to make pottery. Think for a moment: In 2000,
President Bill Clinton submitted a budget of $1.8 trillion. The Federal government’s 2012 budget was $3.7 trillion. An immediate cut of $1 trillion would put the United States at 2006 spending levels. Do you recall seeing vast numbers of Americans going wanting in 2006?
We should not be talking about how we’re going to “pay for” tax cuts. That is the wrong conversation. We should be talking about how we’re going to relieve the individual tax burden and eliminate unConstitutional government, including the Federal Reserve. Income taxes are not about funding government. As Ben Bernanke has shown, the Federal Reserve can print money to infinity. The Federal government does not need income taxes to function. Income taxes are simply dossiers on American citizens. The unConstitutional and not-Federal Federal Reserve should be shuttered, and we should return to sound money.
Our meddling in the Mideast has made things worse, not better. I will bring the troops home beginning on day one and re-evaluate our defense needs and protect our borders. The United States has been meddling in Mideast/Persian/North African affairs for more than 75 years. Can anyone honestly say that our campaigns of political intervention, in which we have set up puppet governments and brought them down again, and/or bombing and war campaigns have made Americans safer? The U.S. military should be used for national defense, not Pax Americana or nation building. U.S. troops should not be patrolling and being killed on the borders of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria while U.S. borders go unprotected.
I will immediately end all foreign aid programs. America should not be propping up dictators or providing military defenses for other countries. It does not fall within the Constitution.
I know this is not going to make me any friends in Washington – and, in fact, will make me many enemies — but the way to begin removing control of the Congress from special interests is to repeal the 17th Amendment. I will make this my priority from day one. When Senators are appointed by the State legislators — and subject to removal by the same — they are beholden to the people of their States, not special interests. That’s what the Founders intended and what the system should return to.
We are both rich guys. Neither one of us really understands what you in the middle class go through each day as you struggle with your job, try to keep your clunker running, balance your checkbook, get your kids to school, go to PTA meetings, coach Little League, take care of grandma’s health needs, help her buy and take her medicines, etc., because we have servants who help with that stuff. But I vow to meet with you as often as possible in your cities and towns so I can hear your concerns rather than continue to insulate myself within the halls of power where I am constantly told by staff how wonderful I am. Self-explanatory.
We both have accounts in the Cayman Islands. We do this because, just like you, we want to keep as much of our money as possible. So we hire armies of expensive accountants to find tax shelters. This is proof our tax system is broken. Once we close the Fed and return to sound money, some form of taxation will be required. I will work with Congress to reduce and finally eliminate as many taxes as possible and make the tax system friendly and fair so that people like you who can’t afford expensive armies of accountants to help you find tax shelters can keep more of your money just like us rich guys do. Self-explanatory.
If we don’t get a handle on the Federal government, spending and inflation are going to send our economy into hyperinflation. Politicians try to hide this because it allows them to continue spending with impunity which makes it easier for them to line their pockets. Because our government has become a fascist corporatocracy, the prospects of any fixes are not good.
What I will try to do will be met with much resistance. So you should prepare for hyperinflation by stockpiling food and water and weapons and ammunition and gold and silver as quickly as possible. The elites would never say this; therefore, few will be prepared when it comes.
What You Won
