In this election cycle, how can I not check in to my political topics blog !! We are in the middle of an election that has never been equaled in history... to my knowledge anyway. It has everyone wondering what will happen in November... or on the road to November !!
I'm not sure the two party system is the best option for America anymore. Elections are very costly. I just heard this year that the primary systems are the product of the parties... and that made me wonder who pays for them !! We don't really need a primary, we just need a run-off if there is no clear winner... then everyone can keep trying all the way up to election day !! (Sounds good to me !!) If taxes are paying for all these elections, we need to reduce their frequency and costs... since we have to vote on Senators every two years, maybe that is enough... everything can be put on hold until the next election.
The debt is the most devastating element of our country's life... and it is affecting every other aspect of our daily operations... we have to reduce the weight of the debt until it is GONE !!
I have been on social service programs most of my adult life, and am no a recipient of early retirement funds... I know how quickly everyone likes to blame the poor, and the poor can never fight back. There are better ways to reduce the costs of government, including getting rid of subsidies for not growing crops, finding ownership pathways for housing (which turns it into an income source and an investment), use a revolving loan fund for the SBA instead of loan guarantees (which might be a good idea for education, too), invest in more small farms and businesses instead of the large ones... small businesses hire most of the workers we have (from what I have read), and reform the prison systems to create work and repayment programs instead of jail time for theft/robbery-related crimes.
We really need to start thinking differently... looking for things that cost less and work better.
The Bible teaches restitution for theft, which is why it seems more beneficial to create a supervised work program during the payment process and to increase the restitution as additional crimes are committed... the first time would be court costs and actual costs... the second time would be court costs and twice the actual costs, and so on. If the program is done right, there shouldn't be a repeat because skills will be learned in the process and drug issues that may have caused the thefts can be dealt with as well. Our prisons produce worse people than what went into them... so jail time is not the best answer.
In the (recent?) recession, I noticed that all the small banks died to "save" the big ones... that wasn't good. Small banks are more closely tied to their communities. They are needed to help finance things that big banks won't touch.
I have noticed in the past that big business seems to thrive on government funding of various sorts. I have always thought that government help needs to be reserved for the truly needy, including the smallest businesses, the smallest farms, and the poorest people. Big businesses have other options, small businesses and poor people have no one.
My tax proposal is based on sharing the 10% MAXIMUM sales tax among international commitments like the UN (membership fees) and growing global government needs -- 1%, and nationally among federal -- 3%, state -- 3%, and county -- 3% governments. I also realized that individual products can provide for individual programs, like gas purchases for transportation needs, medical purchases for healthcare needs, etc. By limiting the taxation to a sales tax, government authorities are forced to budget and their decisions are directly linked with the health of the economy. I think it would eliminate a lot of the surplus spending and graft that goes on.
I have shared some of these things in other posts, but it seemed like a good time to bring them up again. If the debt burden causes our economy to tank, in one way or another, there will need to be some budget changes. It is easy to blame the poor, and take advantage of the seniors and disabled persons, to promote abortion as a remedy, and limit access to healthcare, but I hope that other choices will be made.
Let me know what you think...
In Christ,
Deborah Martin
http://work2gather.us
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