Enough is Enough

[Mike Eddy]

I went and did advance voting this morning. I've been stewing about it for weeks, since I have a problem seeing any good changes coming regardless of who wins the presidential contest.



This last three weeks has been a complete eye opener for me regarding how BADLY our government has been run, not just during the last 8 years but for the last 20+ years. When you look at the issues in this perspective, you realize that the blame can't be heaped upon just one party in our country, but on both parties. In Washington, partisanship and greed rules, irrespective of what the country needs. "It's their fault" is the spin from both sides when they are confronted with the issues, which neither party has any intention of fixing. In the mean time, me and millions like me loose their shirts on their retirement accounts, which we have to depend on because the government run program we have paid into for our entire lives goes down the drain. At the same time, the local politicians are running up our taxes like there is no tomorrow, basing it on fictitious evaluations of our properties that are so far out they aren't even in the atmosphere anymore, and building grandiose structures for everything from unneeded Court Houses to Prisons.



If these guys worked in the industry I work in, they would be out on their butt for this kind of performance.



This is what has been bugging me - how do we as individuals send a message that we're tired of this crap?



What I did was, this morning when I went into the voting booth, I voted AGAINST EVERY INCUMBENT, REGARDLESS OF PARTY who was on the ballot, both national and local. I couldn't do it for President, but EVERYONE else, from Congressional to Dog Catcher, if they were incumbents and running opposed - they took the hit. Didn't matter if I had supported them in the past, didn't matter which party - they don't get my vote anymore. My vote is the single and most powerful thing I have to send these incompetent idiots a message - and so is yours and the millions of us who do vote. If the guy you vote in screws up, get rid of his ass the next time and keep going until there is someone in that office you can follow!



This is a personal thing with me, and I know it won't amount to much by itself. But if millions of us did it from now on - so much for the polls and so much for the pundits, so much for the "strategies" and the spin. It would certainly change the paradigm and reshuffle the deck as far as politics are concerned. It would also send the message; "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH - GET RID OF THEM ALL." It's time to start over.





Finally, it made me feel GREAT, even if it was just for a minute! Try it - you'll like it, too.



Mike in Georgia

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Thats My Plan also................................



BF

 

[Rich Stern]

Great way to make a statement!

 

[David Munaretto]

My presidential platform will shake the very underpinnings of the political machine, which is designed to graduate local politicians to regional politicians to national politicians. If we have to make this sacrifice to improve the well being of America, so be it.



I believe in simple statements, backed by action. So here is my platform: While in office, we will become a country that is focused on scrutinizing its own behaviors and fixing them, to the benefit of the American taxpayer.



My first act as president will require full transparency to every American household. You will receive an annual statement that specifies what you paid in taxes. Not federal income taxes, a statement that estimates all taxes - federal, state, county, local government; income, property, grocery, sin taxes, fees for garbage removal, all of it. Every nickel here and dime there that our current system is designed to grab. While cash payments make this a challenge, I believe that we can achieve 80% accuracy, and the result will be enough for the citizens of this country to demand change.



Which is the second part of my plan.



We will invest in restructuring to eliminate the "gray" areas - those services that are provided across more than one level of government that as a result of being provided in duplicate, triplicate, or quadruplicate, cost our tax payers money. We will evaluate a) whether they should be provided at all and b)which level of government should provide these services.



Moreover, we will look at the political system as a whole, which is basically comprised of four separate bodies of government that have the authority to independently levy taxes to our citizens - Federal, State, County, and Local government. At a minimum, constraints will be implemented to ensure consistent behavior and expectations are set as to the authority, processes, and responsibility of these governing bodies. The more likely scenario is that so much "gray" area will be identified that at least one level of municipal government can be eliminated completely. I believe that it was appropriate to have federal, state, county, and local government when we needed to ride a pony from one end of the country to another to make good decisions. We no longer live in this era. Our goal will be to define a more efficient model for delivering appropriate services to constituents.



To achieve this, we will identify and standardize best practices for delivering services, and mandate these practices be implemented across common bodies of government. We will create uniform process, policy, and procedure designed to maximize the value of $1 in tax revenue. Further, we will take the best in class technology solutions that have been developed to minimize costs and maximize value and release them as opensource projects that can be leveraged freely by other governing bodies.



During this period of reevaluation, we will invest internally first to selflessly inspect and optimize how we serve the american tax payer. We will invest strategically on foreign soil, but only to protect the civil liberties of our constituents. And secondarily to fixing our own problems.



This is my vision for the presidency; to create a system of full disclosure to the American taxpayer, to eliminate waste, to reduce disparity at common levels of government, wipe out the overlapping services between different governing bodies, to establish best practices and make implementing these practices cost effective, and to do all of the above with the singular objective of requiring less of American income to run the country.



You can write me in this November - my name is David Munaretto, and I won't be eligible to run the country until 2010. But wasting enough votes on me legitimizes this platform, which ultimately is about our livelihoods.



You can forward this to your friends for consideration and feedback - we have just over 4 more years to refine this strategy - my email is [email protected].



If this were a chain letter (and you could probably start this as one - just forward it to 10 friends and tell them they'll have 100 years of bad luck if they don't forward it to ten friends - this is probably a true statement), we could make a point in November and influence behavior in Washingon now to begin implementing these strategies. While the net effect is that it could cost me the Oval Office, I'd rather see results than continue down a path of taking as much as 50% of household income to deliver mediocre value to the citizens of the best and most capable country in the world.



David Munaretto

 

[Bruce Moore]

Thanks for voting Mike. And it makes no difference, but I completely agree with you.



BruceM

 

[Edward Lea.]

There you go, now that's an american speaking his voice. Way to go and it is a great idea. Try and imagine for a minute the media scrambling around completely clueless if a hugh amount of incumbents went down. A ton of junior senators and rep's with the parties scrambling like hell trying to get them all rounded up and in the party line. Man I would pay to watch that.

 

[Kenny Guess]

Makes sense to me Mike......I plan on doing the same. kenny

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Well said David. One simple way to reduce tax spending on the state, city and county level would be to start with is to stop paying these workers while they stop for breakfast in the morning. Not sure if it is everywhere or just harford county, but every 7-11, wawa and such are full of these workers who have punched in and are being paid for these stops. You figure 15 mins a day, 50 weeks out of the year. That is 62.5 hours per employee per year of free time and waisted tax dollars.

Think about that, 62.5 hours per year, per person? For local govt waste, thats what 3,4,5 billion a year wasted? That does not even include naps, lunch or other breaks. But they demand overtime if they have to plow snow?

The system is broken and it needs fixed. Vote them all out, and lets start over. Lets change the rules on them for a change.

BF

 

[Mike Eddy]

Bruce



Do a web search and see if you can figure out how many days Congress is actually in session. I believe it's around 90 days per year.



Then look at their saleries, pension, and health care benefits. Add in that they keep their war chest when they retire, and it works out to organized crime!



Mike