What are They Teaching?

Preventative disclosure - I am registered No Party Affiliation (NPA and Proud!) in Florida and have been for some time - as in decades. As such, I get calls from both sides seeking to sway me to one or the other. Failing that, they at least want some money. I have not given a dime to either party for quite some time and do not intend to fuel their hate and anger machines now.


As the election draws closer, the number of fund raising calls from both sides keeps increasing. And the alarmist noises being made by those fund raisers gets more alarming. This week I got a call that set me to wondering just what these callers have been taught.

This one came from the Republican Senate Campaign Committee. It could just as easily been the Democrats. Both sides are the same. It went something like this (I am not making this up):

Caller: Hi. I am calling on behalf of the Republican Senate Committee. In November, Americans head to the polls to vote in the most important election in American history. We need to elect more Republican Senators to help get rid of Nancy Pelosi.

Me: Umm. You do know that Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House and 100 Republican Senators could not remove her.

Caller: Right. That is why we need to elect more Republican Senators.

Me: And you do know that Senators have no voice in who is Speaker of the House, right?

Caller: Yes. Because the Democratic majority....

Me: Not to be rude, but do you understand how Congress is structured? I mean you do know that the House of Representatives elects the Speaker and the Senate has no say at all.

Caller: Yes, I know that, and that is why we need more Republican Senators. All 435 Senate seats are up for election...

Me: There have not been 435 Senators since Rome burned. Want to try that again? No, wait. Let me explain. The House of Representatives currently has 435 members, all of whom face election every 2 years. The Senate is currently 100 members and only one-third of them face election every 2 years. So, what are you asking me for?

Caller: We need to raise money to elect more Republican Senators.

Me: Out of curiosity, who is the minority leader of the US Senate right now?

Caller: Michael Steele?

And so on. This call lasted quite some time, since I asked for a supervisor who was even less well informed. They could not name any Congressional leader except the false queen Pelosi and seemed somewhat baffled that Senators could not unseat her. They could not name the Republican candidate for Senate here in Florida, even though they were trying to raise money for him.

The answer to "Who is the GOP Senate candidate here in Florida?" was, "Oh, wait. I can't remember the name. Tea Party endorsed. I know that...."

What bothered me about this call was the fact that these callers have no idea how our government is structured. None. They don't know the difference between the House and Senate. They have no clue as to who is running or who is currently in office. This is not a lack of briefing by their employers. This is a lack of proper education in basic American civics. It is a lack of basic knowledge about who sits in leadership posts in our government.

I learned this stuff when I was in elementary school. It would be do easy to blame the schools or teacher's unions. And they should be brought to task for this. But the real culprit here is the failed 2 party system we have. The Democrats and Republicans don't want voters to know how it works or who is in charge. If the voters knew the truth about how horribly twisted and corrupt the system has become, no incumbent would ever win re-election.

So what are they teaching in the schools? Keep in mind that we just send billions to school districts across the country to help them meet their budgets. And while that money is controversial (what isn't controversial these days?) what is more aggravating is the lack of any kind of requirements or conditions to get the funding. So what do we get for our billions?

Not civics or any education on how our government works. No real explanation of our rights and freedoms. No teaching about how a bill becomes law or why a bicameral legislature is more representative than a unicameral form. Nope. We get more nonsense self-esteem claptrap. More "everyone is a winner" stupidity. Another round of "everyone can do anything."

And that is how a political fundraiser has no idea how the political system works. And that is why our elected officials are simply embarrassing. That is why the ballot has become a "hold your nose and vote," process. If you think this generation of self serving narcissistic elected failures is bad, wait for the next one.

One of the few things that is bipartisan is that narcissistic self righteousness. Look at Eric Cantor and Alan Grayson. Two members of the Parliament of Whores we call Congress. One from each of the corrupt parties. Yet, they are almost the same person. Totally convinced that they are right and everyone else is too stupid to see that. Both talk to the people like we are 4 year olds. Neither has a clue about the reality of life on "Main Street," and neither actually cares.

That is just 2 of the 535 self serving corrupt entities that occupy Capitol Hill. Those 2 are just examples of how bad our Congress really is. Sure. Obama's poll numbers are dropping. And well they should. He is not doing what one could call a great job. But Congress? Their numbers would embarrass Spiro Agnew. So few people hav favorable view of Congress that it is entirely possible that all of the favorable view results came from employees of Congress.

Well, I think we need to do some unemploying. Starting on November 2, we need to get rid of all of the party hacks and whores that are in Congress now and elect anyone that is not an incumbent. They cannot possibly be worse than the corrupted, self serving, overly entitled batch we have now. And where possible, not from one of the 2 failed parties.

If anyone can be blamed for the mess we have now, it is the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. As the phone call pointed out so effectively, they actually don't care about the governing part of the deal. All they want is the winning. For them it is just a game. Well, we are the umpires and it is time to send them to the clubhouse permanently.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

No Party Affiliation

Today's Miami Herald brought some interesting - if incorrect - political analysis of the growing numbers of voters registered to neither party. As someone who has proudly been No Party Affiliation (NPA and Proud!) for over 15 years, I could not help but laugh at the pathetic attempt to pigeonhole truly free thinking independent voters by not only the press but the 2 corrupt old parties as well.

In the article by Lee Logan of the Tallahassee bureau of the decidedly Democrat leaning Herald, it is reported that the number of unaffiliated voters is growing more rapidly than either Democrats or Republicans. Since anyone in Tallahassee is most likely part of the autocratic Republican-Democrat Junta that has run the state of Florida like a fiefdom of corruption for decades, Logan's article has to be taken with an Everest size grain of salt.

Phrases like, "...while Democrats struggled to maintain their hefty registration edge over Republicans," don't seem to square up with the later phrase, "..the Republican share of the electorate has declined slightly.." This tells me that the article itself is coming from the Republo-Crat regime and not an objective look at all. In fact, I think it is fair to say that the Herald along with every other media outlet in the nation is in the same situation. They have all tied themselves to one party or the other (yes, Fox, you too) and can't seem to grasp the concept of truly independent voters not held under the sway of the Donkey or Elephant.

In the article, both parties try to claim the "No Party Affiliation" voter. Democrats say that these voters are going to start to appreciate all of the spending and taxing soon since it is saving jobs, blah, blah, blah. At the same time, the GOP claims these voters since, "these non-affiliated voters in their behavior are Republicans."

See the problem? Neither party (nor the press) can come to grips with the simple and obvious fact that more and more voters are sick of their prattling nonsense and ineffective blind ideology. They cannot seem to grasp that we want a government that serves all of the people and not just the majority money folks. The media seems to be totally incapable of even processing the idea that voters can no longer be pressed into simple molds to make reporting easier. Pundits rely on the same tired party line nonsense and refuse to accept that both parties have failed.

And that is the issue in a sentence. Both parties have failed. They have failed so big and so blatantly that it is almost impossible to tell them apart. Sure, they sound different on TV, but look at what they do. Both parties serve only themselves and their major money sources. Never doubt that. The people they elect only serve the parties and never the people. Every action (on inaction) is designed to either win the next election on embarrass the other party.

One look at Congress confirms this. Until 2007, Republicans ran the Congress and Democrats obstructed. Since 2007, it is reversed. No changes, nothing new. No deliberation, no compromise, no honesty. Just pathetic games. Senate minority leader McConnell has made it clear that nothing will pass without a filibuster for the sake of a filibuster. This includes GOP sponsored legislation. Oddly, when the GOP ran the Senate, they complained that the Democrats were obstructing. Now the GOP says it is the "will of the people," which explains the Democratic majority. More Democrats were elected to the Senate so Republicans could stop everything. Makes no sense anywhere except on Capitol Hill.

Same in the House. 6 years ago, the false queen Pelosi was minority leader and she complained about the use of parliamentary tricks to push through legislation that was not going to pass otherwise. Now that she has taken her throne and scepter, she uses those exact same tricks, like the recent use of reconciliation. Seems that when she is in charge, the tricks don't look so bad.

Tallahassee is far worse. The Republican controlled legislature has refused to work with the governor because he chose to run for Senate as an independent. And in Florida, the rift is so wide between the parties and so blatant, that the Republican House Speaker doesn't even bother to make up reasons for it. He pretty much says that the business of the people is on hold because they are mad at the governor for not playing party politics.

All of this party line garbage is why the number of NPA voters keeps increasing. Because the 2 parties are like old, worn out hookers. They just keep selling out and selling out, but fewer people are interested in what they are selling. Both parties are corrupt and self serving. Neither has a clue about the will of the people. Both have adopted hard partisan lines that neither will ever soften or negotiate. It has become all or nothing on both sides.

There are no moderates, no crossover votes, no compromises and no meaningful debates. Just the same tired old junk from the same tired old hacks. It is beyond time to send them home. On November 2, we, the NPA voters can do just that. Send them home, en masse. They have failed and failed badly. It is time to fire them - with no regard to party. They are all bad.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com

Let Them Eat Nothing!

Acting en masse in a genuine Marie Antoinette moment, the US Senate has once again set a new low point for partisan politics trumping the needs of the people. And this time both sides seem to have gone out of their way to be particularly dishonest about it.

Yesterday, the Senate - along mostly party lines (duh) - failed to vote cloture and allow a real vote on a bill to give small businesses a large tax break and access to an additional $30 billion in SBA loans. This is a bill that, until yesterday, had pretty solid bipartisan support. In fact, the bill itself reads like a Republican concept, based on their accurate position that small business needs more attention from the Obama administration.

Republicans have been correctly hammering Obama and the hopeless Dems in Congress since day one about the need to give small business a break and let them create jobs. So what happened? Well, surprise, surprise, surprise. Partisan election year politics happened.

Look at the reason given by Senate Minority Leader McConnell. He complained that Republicans could not get enough amendments added to the bill. Let me say that again - Republican Senators blocked an opportunity to help small business because they could not add enough amendments to a bill they had already said they liked.

To be fair, Senate Majority Leader Reid did limit them to 3 amendments, which is silly to start with. However, many of the ideas that Republicans wanted were already in the bill itself. Democrats are easily guilty of overplaying the power hand on this and not working more to resolve what is - at the end of the day - a stupid procedural dispute. And the Dems are wrong for once again fearing that Republicans might try to add an amendment that they don't like.

However, Senate Republicans should be ashamed for once again putting election year politics ahead of the needs of the people. This was not about the bill itself. Or paying for it. Or if it is needed. Both sides agree that the bill is needed. This is about the ongoing GOP strategy of not allowing any progress on the economy so that they have a campaign issue.

Democrats are doing the same thing. Would a tax break really be on their agenda in a non-election year? The folks that brought you mandatory health care? Of course not.

Once again, the Senate proves to be an almost pointless body that has degenerated into nothing more than an endless campaign stop for a very spoiled and uncaring 100 plutocrats who put themselves and their corrupt political parties above the people that elect and pay them.

So, small business, no soup for you! McConnell and Reid are too busy making sure the soup is all theirs. The only small businesses these guys care about are the ones that they use to hide their own money. Next time a smarmy Democrat talks about job growth, remind them that they killed job growth over petty partisan nonsense. And the next time some self-righteous Republican blabbers about how small business creats most of the new jobs, remind them that they killed that job machine to further their pathetic ambitions.

Better yet, come November, vote the entire stinking lot of them out. If they were employees, they would have been fired already. The United States will be a much better place without this collection of tired corrupt career party hacks. On November 2, vote for anyone but the incumbent. Your nation will thank you.

To drive home that message, I am offering T-Shirts with this message:


As a capitalist and a free market person, I am selling them for both profit and with the intent of donating to those candidates that are willing to step outside the parties and declare a concern for the Constitution and the people.

You can order them here: http://www.itisnotagame.spreadshirt.com