OFBG for Prez '08!
To be posted on "Conservative" Saturday, July 7, 2007. The last post, the first three planks, provoked a pretty good debate on "Conservative". This one should too.
As a first (second) original post on Conservative, here is something which will give all of you an idea of my political beliefs. I am a non-Republican conservative. I've already driven a few members of LJ a little nuts with my comments over the last two or three years, and even drove a couple of them into the ground.
And now for my grand entry-----
I, OFBG, am declaring my (mythical) candidacy for the President of These United States, including California, in the year of our Lord, 2008, as an independent strict constitutionalist.
Under the cut, you will find planks 4,5& 6 of my platform. The first 3 planks and the discussion which followed are here: http://community.livejournal.com/conservatism/2634935.html
If you don't want to get into a big, multi subject debate, just pick the first sentence or plank with which you disagree, and raise hell, even if it's just about bad grammar.
Seriousness under the cut.
In the first Congressional session after my inauguration, I promise to ask the congress for legislation to accomplish the following critically needed reforms in federal laws regulating the judiciary, education and our tax system.
JUDICIAL REFORM
It's clear to me that enacting these reforms in federal law will not compel the states to follow suit. With that in mind, cases decided in state court and appealed to federal court, would have to be decided in federal court by the application of the standards of the state of origin.
Judges: We pay judges to exercise judgment--let them do it! Take the lawyers out of the jury selection process as they once were. Nothing in the Constitution requires their participation--only a jury of peers--fellow citizens and a lawyer to represent the defendant when the trial is in progress. Jury selection should be thought of again as preparation for the trial, not part of it.
Same with "expert witnesses"--if one side or the other wants one, the judge should pick him--without input from the lawyers. The way it is now, one side or the other has an "expert" that is paid to deliberately lie in court--under oath, by testifying as the defense lawyer directs. There is usually only one compelling, mainstream scientific principle on most subjects. If there is differences of opinion in the scientific community, judges are smart enough and it's their responsibility to recognize the problem and make sure all sides are fairly represented.
Eliminate jury nullification: Lawyers should never be allowed to dispute the validity of the law at trial. Such a tactic is only used by defense lawyers to confuse the jury. It should only be a subject for the appellate courts to decide, not a jury or a single trial judge.
Evidence: Valid evidence should not be thrown out because of the manner in which it was gathered or handled. If mistakes were made by police or prosecutors, penalize the mistake maker, not society by turning a criminal loose.
Sentencing: We should eliminate concurrent sentencing except for 1st offenders. The way it is now, career criminals (I know of the one in the example, a relative) have been sentenced for only one of the 30 burglaries he committed and was convicted of after he got out of prison for another string of crimes. The second strike should have no leniency. He made his bed--he should have to lie in it--with Bubba!
Third strike: Good program--should be extended to juveniles where their 3rd strike as a juvenile, if a serious crime, would always be handled by adult court and be eligible to be their first adult strike .
Appeals: Limit Habeas Corpus appeals arising from the trial, to whatever can be filed within a time certain after conviction, the time limit to be decided by legislative action. No further appeals unless there is new evidence. If a convicts lawyer found a dozen mistakes he wants to appeal, he should be required to file on all of them immediately, not one at a time, every 2-3 years, delaying justice for 20 or more years as it's now done. Justice delayed is justice denied to the criminal's victims and to society.
Rehabilitation: Rehab efforts should be made for 1st offenders only, and then only in the last year of the sentence. Before that, the best rehab is hard labor.(filling in the hole he dug yesterday and will re-dig tomorrow if nothing more productive can be found)
Tort reform: Loser pays should be enabled but only imposed if the judge or jury believes it’s warranted.
Real damages and compensatory damages should not be limited but punitive damages need to be eliminated from civil trials. Punitive damages mainly serve to enrich lawyers and their clients. If punishment is warranted, it should be doled out by prosecution in a criminal court.
TAX REFORM
From the Communist Manifesto:
The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie----
Numbers 2 and 3 of the list by Marx and Engels as to how to defeat capitalism;
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax,
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
In order to turn our situation around, I will work to remove the policies put forth by the Communist Manifesto, from the tax policy and laws of the United States of America, as well as any other counter-productive policies and laws now in force.
I promise to work to pass the flat tax with the following provisions: The flat tax with the first 150% ($30,000.00 for a family of 4) of the poverty level (just to throw a minimal number into the debate) being exempt for all taxpayers, from the tax. This should lend some equality to the system as well as relief for those with low income, because it would apply to Bill Gates as well as minimum-wage Boliver Shagnasty.
It must pass by superseding the 16th amendment with the 29th, embedding the flat tax in the Constitution, along with a requirement for a 3/5ths majority from both houses of congress to raise the rates. The amendment will have a requirement for congress to set the original rate at a level to produce revenue neutrality. If it's not embedded in the Constitution, whichever partys congress is in power will be able to take us back as many steps as they need to get re-elected.
I promise to work to pass the abolition of the inheritance tax. The value of an estate has already been taxed when it was earned. I can find no historical precedent where a successful society has taxed, a second time, what a person has earned for his family .
I promise to work to pass the abolition of the capital gains tax. Why, in a capitalist system, do we maintain the means to confiscate capital? Unearned income, "from whatever source derived"(quote from the 16th amendment) should be taxed as any other income. At this point in time, this would even mean a tax raise for the “rich”.
I not a great believer in the "Fair Tax"(national sales tax) because of its insidiousness. Most taxpayers would have no idea how much tax they're paying. Also, unless the 16th Amendment is repealed, the "Fair Tax" would be just another tax. We would still have the current income tax, probably at a very low rate at first, but easily increased by tax 'n spend politicians of both parties.
EDUCATION
During my presidency, education and many other current functions of the federal government, not authorized by the Constitution, will be eliminated in a gradual manner, and the taxing ability to fund those functions will be returned to the states, so that the states can fund the ones they deem to be necessary, .
Item 10 from the Marx/Engels list. "Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc."
The goals of Marx and Engels as well as those of Lenin, as pertains to education, can only be accomplished with centralized (federal in our case) control of our education system.
The first item of #10 has been accomplished in this country and I believe is being used to propel us toward Lenin’s’ goal as quoted below.
From Lenin; "Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness".
Which prepares students a generation at a time for this, also from Lenin:
Get control of all means of publicity and thereby: Get the peoples' mind off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and plays, and other trivialities.
Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance. Destroy the peoples faith in their natural leaders by holding up the latter to ridicule, contempt and obloquy. Always preach true democracy but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible. Encourage government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear with rising prices, inflation and general discontent. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a soft and lenient attitude on the part of government towards such disorders. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with the view of confiscating them and leaving the population defenseless." -- Vladimir Ilich Lenin
There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved at all in public education, not for funding and certainly not for regulation.
Most, if not all states do have the authority in their state constitution which is OK with me. My personal preference is for local control of school districts, with the parents, as voters, electing the school board members which will run the district and create the curriculum as the community thought to be needful, as would the majority of its patrons.
The states should be involved only to see that adequate funding is provided to the poorer districts and communities, but how the states actually run their education system should be up to their voters without any input from the central government.
As a first (second) original post on Conservative, here is something which will give all of you an idea of my political beliefs. I am a non-Republican conservative. I've already driven a few members of LJ a little nuts with my comments over the last two or three years, and even drove a couple of them into the ground.
And now for my grand entry-----
I, OFBG, am declaring my (mythical) candidacy for the President of These United States, including California, in the year of our Lord, 2008, as an independent strict constitutionalist.
Under the cut, you will find planks 4,5& 6 of my platform. The first 3 planks and the discussion which followed are here: http://community.livejournal.com/conservatism/2634935.html
If you don't want to get into a big, multi subject debate, just pick the first sentence or plank with which you disagree, and raise hell, even if it's just about bad grammar.
Seriousness under the cut.
In the first Congressional session after my inauguration, I promise to ask the congress for legislation to accomplish the following critically needed reforms in federal laws regulating the judiciary, education and our tax system.
JUDICIAL REFORM
It's clear to me that enacting these reforms in federal law will not compel the states to follow suit. With that in mind, cases decided in state court and appealed to federal court, would have to be decided in federal court by the application of the standards of the state of origin.
Judges: We pay judges to exercise judgment--let them do it! Take the lawyers out of the jury selection process as they once were. Nothing in the Constitution requires their participation--only a jury of peers--fellow citizens and a lawyer to represent the defendant when the trial is in progress. Jury selection should be thought of again as preparation for the trial, not part of it.
Same with "expert witnesses"--if one side or the other wants one, the judge should pick him--without input from the lawyers. The way it is now, one side or the other has an "expert" that is paid to deliberately lie in court--under oath, by testifying as the defense lawyer directs. There is usually only one compelling, mainstream scientific principle on most subjects. If there is differences of opinion in the scientific community, judges are smart enough and it's their responsibility to recognize the problem and make sure all sides are fairly represented.
Eliminate jury nullification: Lawyers should never be allowed to dispute the validity of the law at trial. Such a tactic is only used by defense lawyers to confuse the jury. It should only be a subject for the appellate courts to decide, not a jury or a single trial judge.
Evidence: Valid evidence should not be thrown out because of the manner in which it was gathered or handled. If mistakes were made by police or prosecutors, penalize the mistake maker, not society by turning a criminal loose.
Sentencing: We should eliminate concurrent sentencing except for 1st offenders. The way it is now, career criminals (I know of the one in the example, a relative) have been sentenced for only one of the 30 burglaries he committed and was convicted of after he got out of prison for another string of crimes. The second strike should have no leniency. He made his bed--he should have to lie in it--with Bubba!
Third strike: Good program--should be extended to juveniles where their 3rd strike as a juvenile, if a serious crime, would always be handled by adult court and be eligible to be their first adult strike .
Appeals: Limit Habeas Corpus appeals arising from the trial, to whatever can be filed within a time certain after conviction, the time limit to be decided by legislative action. No further appeals unless there is new evidence. If a convicts lawyer found a dozen mistakes he wants to appeal, he should be required to file on all of them immediately, not one at a time, every 2-3 years, delaying justice for 20 or more years as it's now done. Justice delayed is justice denied to the criminal's victims and to society.
Rehabilitation: Rehab efforts should be made for 1st offenders only, and then only in the last year of the sentence. Before that, the best rehab is hard labor.(filling in the hole he dug yesterday and will re-dig tomorrow if nothing more productive can be found)
Tort reform: Loser pays should be enabled but only imposed if the judge or jury believes it’s warranted.
Real damages and compensatory damages should not be limited but punitive damages need to be eliminated from civil trials. Punitive damages mainly serve to enrich lawyers and their clients. If punishment is warranted, it should be doled out by prosecution in a criminal court.
TAX REFORM
From the Communist Manifesto:
The proletariat will use its political supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie----
Numbers 2 and 3 of the list by Marx and Engels as to how to defeat capitalism;
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax,
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
In order to turn our situation around, I will work to remove the policies put forth by the Communist Manifesto, from the tax policy and laws of the United States of America, as well as any other counter-productive policies and laws now in force.
I promise to work to pass the flat tax with the following provisions: The flat tax with the first 150% ($30,000.00 for a family of 4) of the poverty level (just to throw a minimal number into the debate) being exempt for all taxpayers, from the tax. This should lend some equality to the system as well as relief for those with low income, because it would apply to Bill Gates as well as minimum-wage Boliver Shagnasty.
It must pass by superseding the 16th amendment with the 29th, embedding the flat tax in the Constitution, along with a requirement for a 3/5ths majority from both houses of congress to raise the rates. The amendment will have a requirement for congress to set the original rate at a level to produce revenue neutrality. If it's not embedded in the Constitution, whichever partys congress is in power will be able to take us back as many steps as they need to get re-elected.
I promise to work to pass the abolition of the inheritance tax. The value of an estate has already been taxed when it was earned. I can find no historical precedent where a successful society has taxed, a second time, what a person has earned for his family .
I promise to work to pass the abolition of the capital gains tax. Why, in a capitalist system, do we maintain the means to confiscate capital? Unearned income, "from whatever source derived"(quote from the 16th amendment) should be taxed as any other income. At this point in time, this would even mean a tax raise for the “rich”.
I not a great believer in the "Fair Tax"(national sales tax) because of its insidiousness. Most taxpayers would have no idea how much tax they're paying. Also, unless the 16th Amendment is repealed, the "Fair Tax" would be just another tax. We would still have the current income tax, probably at a very low rate at first, but easily increased by tax 'n spend politicians of both parties.
EDUCATION
During my presidency, education and many other current functions of the federal government, not authorized by the Constitution, will be eliminated in a gradual manner, and the taxing ability to fund those functions will be returned to the states, so that the states can fund the ones they deem to be necessary, .
Item 10 from the Marx/Engels list. "Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc."
The goals of Marx and Engels as well as those of Lenin, as pertains to education, can only be accomplished with centralized (federal in our case) control of our education system.
The first item of #10 has been accomplished in this country and I believe is being used to propel us toward Lenin’s’ goal as quoted below.
From Lenin; "Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness".
Which prepares students a generation at a time for this, also from Lenin:
Get control of all means of publicity and thereby: Get the peoples' mind off their government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and plays, and other trivialities.
Divide the people into hostile groups by constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance. Destroy the peoples faith in their natural leaders by holding up the latter to ridicule, contempt and obloquy. Always preach true democracy but seize power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible. Encourage government extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear with rising prices, inflation and general discontent. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a soft and lenient attitude on the part of government towards such disorders. By specious argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty, sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. Cause the registration of all firearms on some pretext, with the view of confiscating them and leaving the population defenseless." -- Vladimir Ilich Lenin
There is no constitutional authority for the federal government to be involved at all in public education, not for funding and certainly not for regulation.
Most, if not all states do have the authority in their state constitution which is OK with me. My personal preference is for local control of school districts, with the parents, as voters, electing the school board members which will run the district and create the curriculum as the community thought to be needful, as would the majority of its patrons.
The states should be involved only to see that adequate funding is provided to the poorer districts and communities, but how the states actually run their education system should be up to their voters without any input from the central government.