douglaschick23's Blog

Watching and listening to John McCain on the campaign trail, shadows that of a doddering old fool that is out of touch with a world. With his comments on the war, economy, healthcare and fuel prices, raises the question; “Which America does he live in, the America of the powerful and privileged, or the America that the rest of us live in?” He admits he doesn’t know anything about the economy, you know the very thing that collapsed the Soviet Union. He has no personal experience regarding healthcare, as tax dollars has been paying for his healthcare since the day he was born in a naval hospital. His only real calm is his military experience is Vietnam. It wasn’t his military superiority that elected him Senator, but the pity of being a POW.

Fear of terrorism is what re-elected George Bush, and John McCain is “Capitalizing” on the same fear to elect him. Can America survive 8 more years of foreign / corporate lobbying and the fleecing of the American people? I don’t think so. We need a president that protects America’s interest first, and the rest of the world’s investment into corporate America second. Allowing internal and external markets to take over our sovereign nation is the same as opening our doors to the enemy.

 When unchallenged, character is the easiest of all attributes to fake. When faced with peril, bravery, courage, and honesty can only be proven with actions, not words. But how quickly character abandons a politician during an election year. I am embarrassed that this is what our country has been reduced to; politicians that will say and do anything for one more term, begging for just one more chance. They over promise, and under deliver, or deliver nothing at all. I read that members of the congress and senate only work 2 days a week, and spend 3 day raising campaign money, not just during an election year, every year.  The fear of having to enter into the private sector job market and compete with the rest of is justifiably frightening.

George W asked for one more chance because he said he wasn’t finished. Now the Clinton’s are back also asking for another chance. With oil, insurance, and pharmaceutical companies on the right, god only know what the left has to offer us. A vote for the same old family of politicians is a vote for the same lobbyist and special interest groups.

Every four years we have a chance to make a choice that is best for us and our country, but we become

influenced by the promises of false prophets. Wolves in wolves clothing. Liberal wolves blame conservative wolves and conservative wolves blame the liberals. And the only voices they really listen to are from the special interest groups the fund their campaigns. 

The Unchallenged Politician will say and do anything to be elected, because they know that once they are in, we can never get them out again. I believe that the only way to make these career politicians stand by their promises is to remove the ones that do not produce results. Once enough career politicians are fired and replaced, the new ones and remaining ones will find a way to work together for the better good of America.

The largest healthcare benefactors are employee’s of the government. The same government leaders that say that National Healthcare is socialism enjoy the privileged benefits of free healthcare for not only themselves, but for their families as well. The same people that say the government can not manage healthcare efficiently run the government. No one knows themselves better then they do. So why should we vote for the same people that say they can not efficiently run a national program? 

Government leaders are now saying that healthcare should be taken out of the company and purchased by the individual user. Does this also include government employees? The United States is the largest employer in America. They have the largest healthcare plan, and it is paid for by the tax payers. (I do not mean the military. Soldiers that fight in wars should undoubtedly receive free healthcare for the rest of their lives.) They say that a large portion of Americans have healthcare, but they do not exclude the national healthcare package for government. They say we can not afford national healthcare for the people, but we can afford it for them. 

Oligarchy (Greek Oligarkhía) is a form of government where political power effectively rests with a small elite segment of society (whether distinguished by wealth, family or military powers). The word oligarchy is from the Greek words for "few"  and "rule". Compare with autocracy (rule by one person) and democracy (power in the people).

If my tax dollars, (and I pay a lot) If my tax dollars can not pay for mine and my families healthcare, why would I want to pay for yours.  

I am not a liberal, I am a conservative. My friends that still support the Iraqi war; stubbornly say it was the right thing to do. For whom I ask? Not for the 500,000 dead Iraqi’s, and certainly not the over 3000 dead American’s they gave their lives for people that would wish us all dead. McCann says that we will be in Iraq for 100 years, and that seems to be the conservative pledge. I will not pledge my tax dollar or give support to those that intent to spend money that I have not made yet. Having to choose between giving my tax dollars to Americans verses Iraqi’s, Saudi’s, or China, I think I will select my people first. If you want your money to go overseas, I will not stop you.

My friends that still follow their conservative party lines see nothing wrong with giving privilege to pharmaceuticals, oil, and insurance conglomerates, even though they are in middle-class tax brackets that are burdened by the seemingly endless hunger for more. Supply and demand is perhaps one of the most fundamental concepts of our economy and it is the backbone of our free market nation. It is those principles that made us the strongest country in the world, but something has changed, and we are no longer the richest nation. We now depend on countries like China to buy our debt. A communist country that was once a sworn enemy must by our debt to protect their economy? Lobbyist and special interests are no longer American born, but they are a threat to America.

Voting for a President is much more than voting for someone that shares, (or say they share) my ideology. The 20% devalue of the U.S. dollar, reduced my ability to pay my bills also by 20%, and subsequently I am left with less impulse purchasing dollars. With a choice of the remaining Presidential candidates, I have to select someone that is best for my tax bracket, not a candidate that is best for someone with a much higher bracket, or lower. Mike Huckabee says that he doesn't have a degree in math, he has one in miracles? We do not need miracles to save America, just honest people that are good at math.

I am no fan of the democratic mind-set, and probably never will be, but how poor a job has George Bush done that I must consider a democratic to save America?

Douglas Chick
DouglasChick@gmail.com

I have heard so many people say, “It doesn’t matter who is President.” and I must admit, I’ve said it too. Clearly it does matter, because look at us now. When down to two candidates, what are our real choices? Here are my Top 10 priorities: 

1. Responsible Government Spending? You can not spend money we do not have. I do not want my children paying off debt to China, (or any other country) for a war or stimulus plan that did not make a difference to America.
2. A budget with no deficit? If you present a budget that includes a deficit, then it is not a budget, right?
3. I want my social security deduction to be applied correctly, or eliminated!
4. Healthcare: Employer healthcare at one time was to lure good employees with good benefits. Some how it has turned into a crippling burden on the employer. We pay our leaders to lead; they can broker an individual healthcare plan to relief the burden from U.S. businesses. …at the very least.
5. The War in Iraq: I don’t know why we are there, and I do not want my tax dollars applied to people that pray for my death on a daily basis. Let their God sort out their fate. Bring our soldiers home, or ship them to Afghanistan.
6. Accountability: Why is it that the middle class are the only ones accountable for their actions in this country?
7. Support our Soldiers: When our soldiers return home they should be given the care, respect, and support to get back to their lives. Supporting the troops mean the people that fight the wars, not the politicians that start them.
8. Fuel independent Nation: Without fuel independence we will always be at the mercy of the greedy.
9. Environmental responsibility: If you vote for an oil man for President, do not blame him for high fuel costs, or global pollution. I drive an SUV gas hog, and I complain that gas cost is too much, and pollution is too high. My next car will be a fuel efficient one.
10. Sub-Prime bail out? Who will the government actually be saving with a Sub-Prime bail-out? Foreign investors are hit the hardest from this failure, will the government bail out foreign investors with U.S. tax dollars borrowed from China?

These are the answering I am looking for in a Presidential candidate.

What are yours?

Douglas Chick
DouglasChick@Gmail.com

The Democratic primaries have turned into a battle between Barack Obama and Bill/Hillary Clinton. Obama needs a second speaker on this team to be the bad guy and say whatever we wants and not be accountable. If I were Obama I would pick the comedian Lewis Black. Lewis could drop 40 pounds, slug down 100 cups of coffee and shout angerly at reporters, like Bill Clinton is doing for Hillary. Man, I have heard of the beast with two backs, but Bill and Hillary are the beast with two mouths.