NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #6, “WHERE HAS AMERICA GONE?”

NOTES ON A SHABBY CUFF #6, “WHERE HAS AMERICA GONE?”

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the United States is losing ground under the present administration.   The president is following the playbooks of Saul Alinsky, Cloward and Piven, to a T.   Those plans, carefully couched in non-threatening language, show the path that we are following and the ultimate destination is near-oblivion.   Now, having said that let’s gather the remaining patriots together, do some constructive legislating, and turn the country around.   Predictability may be dull for some folks, but knowing what your country will do in almost any given situation, can be a great comfort.   Right now, with our armed forces being converted into a compliant quasi-military unit for the pleasure of the imposter-in-chief in the White House, and not truly knowing which way they will turn when push comes to shove, is disturbing to me.

There was a time, once, when being an American was something to work to attain, if you were foreign-born and came to this country as an immigrant.  Now, under the present administration, it appears likely that our system of immigration is going to be shoved aside in favor of what can only be called amnesty for millions.  Personally, I call it outright stupidity, and unlawful…but then, the present administration has no use for the law, especially the Constitution, seeing it as an impediment to getting what they want done.   Members of Congress, and even this administration, like to say that we are a nation of laws…so long as it benefits their cause, and when it doesn’t, oh well, the president has a pen and a phone and he can make laws, ignore laws, and choose which parts of which laws he will follow.   In case you don’t know, making law is the job of the Congress, but they don’t seem to have had the backbone to enforce that part of the US Constitution.

Another thing that is a question for me…why do we import so many things that we used to make here…and made them better than anyone else?  Walking through one of the stores of the largest retailer in the world, and my guess is that you know who that is, it was difficult to find products that were made in America.   Why is that you might ask?   Let’s see about that.   First, greed plays a big part in the selection of products, both on the part of the consumer as well as the maker.   If you are a maker of a product, and it can be made overseas for less, then you will put a bigger share of the profits in your pocket.   If you are a consumer, you pay less for that foreign-made product and you get to keep more of your money in your pocket.   See how that works?   There is another aspect of this, and it also affects both the maker and consumer, and that’s taxes.   We have one of the most, if not THE most, convoluted and punishing tax systems in the world.   There are so many loopholes in it, due to sharp manipulations by tax attorneys, political groups and even foreign interests, that it looks like Swiss cheese…to them.   To the average taxpayer, however, it looks like quicksand.   It needs a complete change, not just cosmetically, but from top-down and bottom-up.  

Some years back, then-Representative John Linder came up with The Fair Tax.   It was a total of 135 pages, eliminated all the loopholes, and it was FAIR!   It was so logical and fair that everyone who read it knew immediately that it would never get enacted!   We now have some new, fresh, faces in Congress, and it would be in their best interests, and America’s, to enact The Fair Tax as soon as possible and repeal the 16^th Amendment to the US Constitution.   Income tax, which is the basis for our present tax system, punishes people and businesses for doing well.   That’s just plain stupid and, in this case, you CAN fix stupid by enacting The Fair Tax.   Just imagine taking home your entire paycheck with NO deductions.   April 15^th would be just another Spring day.   The Internal Revenue Service(and that’s “service” like what a bull does to a cow) would be a thing of the past or, at the very least, a much different sort of tax agency.

Give the incoming Congress a chance to get their feet wet, sure…but don’t let them become complacent, or compliant.   Make sure they know that they are there to carry out the wishes and will of the people…those same people that put them in there can also vote them out.   And, on that subject, how about strict term-limits for all members of Congress, like we have for the person in the Oval Office?   That might straighten out some of those that think they have a “career” in Congress.   Just sayin’, that’s all.

Larry Usoff, US Navy Retired    www.AirHumanityRadio.net