Okay, with lots of disappointments come lots of swirling thoughts. My morning devotion is about taking hold of the good thoughts and throwing out the bad ones so that i cannot be taken hostage by negativity. Aptly timed, in my opinion!
So i was thinking: what if i ran for the office of President of the United States of America? Hmm....
First, i've never cared for politics in general, though i see them as a nearly-necessary evil.
Second, i've never considered that i would be any better as a politician than anyone else.
However, i now understand something: if the people who believe politicking is a problem in our country continue to sit on the sidelines, we will continue to get political figures who love to play the political system. Is that how we get better? I think not.
So, my platform would be as follows:
- you can have your abortion, but don't ask for help paying for it. There is a simple solution to an unwanted pregnancy: don't have sex if you can't afford a baby. Sure, that sounds harsh, but mostly, i believe America is divided because women and men are afraid the conservatives are going to take away the right to abortion. Maybe our country will come to that, but it should be a majority vote. All i'm saying is, the American people should not have to pay for abortion if they don't personally have to obtain one.
- you can have your religious views, but don't force them on the majority. Not everyone who lives in this country is a Christian, but the majority still is. That might change, but for now, Christianity is the reason our country has been so successful and the deterioration of our country is largely linked to declining morality (all moral issues are of God, by the way, because without God, we could not know the presence or absence of good/evil).
- you can receive help from the government if you need it. Those systems are in place for the benefit of those who need it, and i couldn't in good conscience abandon those programs, but there has to be a limit. We cannot continue to subsidize women refusing to get married. We cannot continue to subsidize men refusing to grow up and take responsibility for their actions. We cannot continue to encourage women to have baby after baby with no job, no husband, no way to feed it or clothe it or house it, and send the message to the young men of this country that they can have their fun and step aside because "we've got this." If a woman and man can't take care of the children they already have without a handout, perhaps those men and women should have their reproductive rights interrupted. That, the government can pay for. I have seen this system first-hand. I am not operating on misinformation or bias. The basic system of getting something for nothing has never built a strong person or a strong nation. It has to stop.
- you can have a job and pay taxes, and your reward will be that you will earn exactly as you work. If you earn little, you will be taxed little. If you work hard and earn more, you will be taxed more. But the bottom line will be the same for everyone: flat tax. No penalty for getting ahead. No penalty for earning more. Just fair taxes. Remember, if you make $12,000 and are taxed at 10%, you will pay $1,200 in taxes and if you make $200, 000 and are taxed the same, you will pay $20,000. So the wealthy will still pay more than the poor, but it will be FAIR. Part of this would be tax incentives for continuing education, which would allow for greater opportunities for the individual (and our nation would be benefited by this as well). Then, we can offer incentives to the wealthy who support the charities that support our country. Otherwise, fair taxes and fair deductions.
- we need a defense. Period. Peace is a grand ideal, but it doesn't work because there will always be enemies, opposition to peace, and the willingness of others to commit violence in order to gain what they are after. So, we need the ability to defend. We also need the ability to go after something that could cause a bigger threat, so we need to be able to be proactive. Military men and women make so little money, put themselves in danger (and many lose their lives!), and live apart from their families for months and years at a time. They live in conditions we would never consider supporting if we had to "walk a mile in their shoes." And they do it for a love of country, for the promise of continued freedom. I would support our military and not handicap them.
- lastly, we need an educational system in which parents are equally responsible for a child's learning. No longer can we afford to ask our teachers to be the social skills teacher, the playground monitor, the bully-buster, the referee, and the drill sergeant, only to ask them why our children aren't learning their math facts or their history lessons. No one person should have all that responsibility and so little support. Parents should be required to invest time and energy into their own child's education. A system should be built to encourage this.
Basically, those are my issues. Some are likely polarizing, as would likely be the case with any candidate. But mostly, i think we need to remember that the "common good" needs to be our focus. Not all the way to one side or only 49% of the people get represented every 4 years. Balance.
So i was thinking: what if i ran for the office of President of the United States of America? Hmm....
First, i've never cared for politics in general, though i see them as a nearly-necessary evil.
Second, i've never considered that i would be any better as a politician than anyone else.
However, i now understand something: if the people who believe politicking is a problem in our country continue to sit on the sidelines, we will continue to get political figures who love to play the political system. Is that how we get better? I think not.
So, my platform would be as follows:
- you can have your abortion, but don't ask for help paying for it. There is a simple solution to an unwanted pregnancy: don't have sex if you can't afford a baby. Sure, that sounds harsh, but mostly, i believe America is divided because women and men are afraid the conservatives are going to take away the right to abortion. Maybe our country will come to that, but it should be a majority vote. All i'm saying is, the American people should not have to pay for abortion if they don't personally have to obtain one.
- you can have your religious views, but don't force them on the majority. Not everyone who lives in this country is a Christian, but the majority still is. That might change, but for now, Christianity is the reason our country has been so successful and the deterioration of our country is largely linked to declining morality (all moral issues are of God, by the way, because without God, we could not know the presence or absence of good/evil).
- you can receive help from the government if you need it. Those systems are in place for the benefit of those who need it, and i couldn't in good conscience abandon those programs, but there has to be a limit. We cannot continue to subsidize women refusing to get married. We cannot continue to subsidize men refusing to grow up and take responsibility for their actions. We cannot continue to encourage women to have baby after baby with no job, no husband, no way to feed it or clothe it or house it, and send the message to the young men of this country that they can have their fun and step aside because "we've got this." If a woman and man can't take care of the children they already have without a handout, perhaps those men and women should have their reproductive rights interrupted. That, the government can pay for. I have seen this system first-hand. I am not operating on misinformation or bias. The basic system of getting something for nothing has never built a strong person or a strong nation. It has to stop.
- you can have a job and pay taxes, and your reward will be that you will earn exactly as you work. If you earn little, you will be taxed little. If you work hard and earn more, you will be taxed more. But the bottom line will be the same for everyone: flat tax. No penalty for getting ahead. No penalty for earning more. Just fair taxes. Remember, if you make $12,000 and are taxed at 10%, you will pay $1,200 in taxes and if you make $200, 000 and are taxed the same, you will pay $20,000. So the wealthy will still pay more than the poor, but it will be FAIR. Part of this would be tax incentives for continuing education, which would allow for greater opportunities for the individual (and our nation would be benefited by this as well). Then, we can offer incentives to the wealthy who support the charities that support our country. Otherwise, fair taxes and fair deductions.
- we need a defense. Period. Peace is a grand ideal, but it doesn't work because there will always be enemies, opposition to peace, and the willingness of others to commit violence in order to gain what they are after. So, we need the ability to defend. We also need the ability to go after something that could cause a bigger threat, so we need to be able to be proactive. Military men and women make so little money, put themselves in danger (and many lose their lives!), and live apart from their families for months and years at a time. They live in conditions we would never consider supporting if we had to "walk a mile in their shoes." And they do it for a love of country, for the promise of continued freedom. I would support our military and not handicap them.
- lastly, we need an educational system in which parents are equally responsible for a child's learning. No longer can we afford to ask our teachers to be the social skills teacher, the playground monitor, the bully-buster, the referee, and the drill sergeant, only to ask them why our children aren't learning their math facts or their history lessons. No one person should have all that responsibility and so little support. Parents should be required to invest time and energy into their own child's education. A system should be built to encourage this.
Basically, those are my issues. Some are likely polarizing, as would likely be the case with any candidate. But mostly, i think we need to remember that the "common good" needs to be our focus. Not all the way to one side or only 49% of the people get represented every 4 years. Balance.
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