Rxan, I too have gone back and forth on term limits, for the same reasons you mentioned. After fifty years of monitoring this fairly closely, I've come up with a radical solution I am sure everyone sane will disagree with. Which makes me like it even more.
Put a five year cap on every government job, elected or otherwise. All branches of government. Judges, Senators, Janitors, Presidents, Typists.
More people get to serve, learn how the government works. People in government get a chance to feel the pinch in their pocketbooks every time they see a budget increase. Power and information on every level can't be centralized and controlled for over five years.
This is the part most people would totally disagree with: Total transparency. Every visit by a corporate constituent, every expense, every vacation. This would include the military and intelligence departments. If you want to argue it would make their jobs harder, that's exactly the point. They've had a literal free ride since the end of World War Two. If they had to start reporting what they were doing and spending, we'd have a lot less of them working a lot more efficiently in a massive hurry. And what about the Chinese finding out what we're doing? Well, we'd have a lot less trouble with China and our other adversaries if we didn't have hundreds of our own secret agencies poking and prodding them every day.
Anybody can get recalled by a one thousand citizen petition followed by a vote.
No primaries. I believe this is a good first step toward the end of the party system, which I think is even more important than all the rest of the items we just voted on. Even lobby money becomes way less important when no candidate can hide behind his party affiliation or expect a colleague's support just because of his party.
Personally I’m a voluntaryist. I believe no masters. No government of any kind its all violent and abusive. Government is the enemy of humanity. And I’d be happy to discuss many things with you.
Well it sure is how I live but a lot of people need it so we don't fall and say some type of Anarchy and lawlessness….. But I hear you and I certainly know that the lack of professional integrity that they have makes it a mockery of the idea of government
I haven’t see a way to message you directly. Honestly we probably have a lot in common. I think for myself and you do too. I saw some of your bio. Maybe we wouldn’t take such issues with “vaccines” if they didn’t kill and mame so many people. We folks against such things have our reasons. I would like to chat with you out of curiosity. Peace Peace.
I don't think I've mastered the Direct Message thing. I had a lot of trouble with the salesmen in disguise messaging me so I had to shut it off, or try to. I know some people encourage group chats and such, but my site isn't big enough and I haven't figured out how to do it.
I have always personally assumed that the greatest enemy of Humanity is Humanity; but as Government is the institutional extension of Humanity, I agree it's a big enemy.
I've got no beef with a voluntaryist or anarchist. I've read your stuff and Larken Rose's pdf book and it all makes perfect sense to me. I might question how two anarchists can arrive at a mutually acceptable 'moral code' without a comprehensive philosophical or theological underpinning of some kind, but I'm certainly not saying it can't be done and anyway it's worth trying.
I have no problem with living under an imperfect and overly complex government, since I've been doing it for a while, but I draw the line at governments that use my taxes to kill and oppress others. I'm not thrilled about that, but as long as this present crew is around we are going to have problems.
Where we would probably disagree is that I see a clear end to this present madness through equal parts inertia, incompetence, and divine intervention; and you undoubtedly believe in the improvement and/or perfection of man through his own efforts--which I think is a worthy cause regardless of whether it works or not.
First, the DM salesmen in disguise are the one truly bipartisan constituency on this platform, so you have my sympathy there. It's done the same thing to so many people that I've talked to.
On the substance… i agree with what you should… you once replied to me we are our worst enemy I forget how it was worded it was better than…
But I agree the problems that we complain about, are largely brought upon by the way we Act and nobody realizes it.
I I don't believe in the perfection of man through his own efforts. Honestly, my entire publication is built on the assumption that it will never happen. Humanity is greedy, tribal, lazy, and self-deceiving, and it always will be. That's exactly why I write about incentive structures instead of villains.
Once I point out a single villain.. or any Villain at all… it's cheapens my point
If men were angels, we wouldn't need the guardrails Teddy R enforced and implemented 125yrs ago…
Since they're not angels 😇… the whole game is designing systems that produce decent outcomes from indecent instincts. I'm not trying to fix people. I'm trying to fix the plumbing so imperfect people can't quietly drain the whole house.
Your question about two anarchists arriving at a shared moral code… without a deeper philosophical or theological foundation is a genuinely good one, though.
I actually think it's the strongest objection to that whole school of thought. My honest answer is that most functioning moral codes in history were negotiated by people who disagreed about the foundations.
We rarely agree on WHY murder is wrong. We just agree that IT IS… and then we build from there. Whether that's durable enough without something underneath it, I don't know.
Like you said, it's worth trying.
As for inertia, incompetence, and divine intervention as the exit plan, I'll take any of the three. I'd just rather not leave all our chips on that table. Consider my work a hedge.
Glad you're here. This is exactly the kind of disagreement the comment section exist
Fritz, it is the radical solutions we need to possibly solve what has become tainted and soiled. Dirty, stinky mess. Just like the used water in a janitor's mop bucket.
I like it!
I have worked for the city, state, and federal government in a different compacity or that is who was paying my salary and “signing the check.” I heard things and saw things at the time. Didn't think much of it at the time. After all, I was just managing food at a public state university.
When I begrudgingly went to work as a consultant for the state's Medicaid system as a lifelong detractor of government, my first reaction was that I had severely underestimated how wasteful and dysfunctional and counterproductive the system actually was.
Much as I respect the thoughtful people that try to 'work within the system', my view as a cynical old man is that if you start swinging at the infrastructure of government with a big axe, you might be able to avoid the blowtorch later.
I too am "old and throwed" have been cynical for years with the direction the government infrastructure went. Alarms, bells and whistles, and flashing red lights . Year 2008 should have been one of them. Due to a horrific vehicle accident, I suffered a TBI, ruptured disks, broken neck, various and numerous bones broken in my ankle foot tibias (I don't know the names of lower leg bones anymore). C3 - C6 I have some titanium parts. Ya dig? Then out of both sides of my neck I have big bolts sticking out. Just like Frankenstein's "Monster." That last statement was government waste and spending. I have to get a laugh in here in there ha-ha! Lucky for me, I did get a hefty settlement for my body being mangled. Not as bad ending to my story. I struggled hard to recover better than expected, better than I was told I would be able to do. I taught myself how to play the piano again. How to play other string instruments again. To this day I have no memory of the accident. I just remember getting in the car and leaving the house. I was told afterwards that I was involved in a nine vehicle accident. I had to be removed by the jaws of life and flown by helicopter to the hospital. I was the worst injured person in the accident. The more I recovered the TBI just made me want to learn more about things again. I was like that as a child. I have researched Medicaid and Medicare. Companies they have contracts with. Why does the government overpay for medical devices? FOLLOW THE MONEY. WHO ARE THESE CONTRACTS WITH? I found the state of Florida. Florida has more fraud and waste. Whose backyard is that? Where are all these slick suit characters he seems to prefer company with from? I want to say Florida. Home of mar-a- lago. How the party ever hi-jinked and made off with the label conservative had a damn good ad man. The R party also had a fire and brimstone preacher blasting out the WORD back
Hey Nikki! First, I'm genuinely glad you survived. That was crazy to read… A nine-vehicle crash, a TBI, a broken neck, and then teaching yourself to play the piano and string instruments again... that's an incredible story of resilience.
I love that you can still joke about the "Frankenstein bolts" - says a lot about your perspective.
One thing you said really stood out to me: "Follow the money." That's exactly where I think more Americans should be looking. Always. And I've taken it one step further since I've started writing.. not just the money... The incentives.
Whether it's healthcare, government contracting, lobbying, or campaign finance, incentives (behind or in addition to the money) explain more than campaign speeches ever will.
Where I try to be careful… especially for my time working with these people in Washington… is not assuming it's unique to one party. I promise you. It isn't. And it's not one state either. Both parties created a system that rewards influence over accountability.
That's why so much of my writing focuses on fixing the incentives themselves rather than just changing the people operating within them.
Your curiosity after your recovery is something I admire. We need more citizens asking hard questions instead of simply accepting whatever their preferred side tells them.
It acknowledges their experience, validates their curiosity, and steers the conversation back toward your consistent theme of structural reform rather than partisan blame.
You're too bad that we can't somehow require that businesses keep opportunities for employment available as they make more money. Somehow require that businesses keep opportunities for employment available as they make more money. Let's globalization, technology, and now ai coming.. People better realize that relying on the government as a safety net for emergencies is fine because it's better than nothing but depending on them because there's no other options with something that no one wants even if they think they do... It's just like with my dummy is doing in New York or... trying to do... Government run grocery stores will be just like the social services officer at the DMV and you're going to ask them to take on a lot more responsibility for the government workers trying to take on. People never think about this part of the equation until they see it up close. My father was a regional manager Social Security until he retired. He did it for 30 years and then after getting itchy for about three or four months he took a job as the superintendent of the County social services and I met all of his employees of both places over my entire childhood and young adult life....
You point on number 6 is well taken. All 14 of the choices are important and action is needed for all of them. Priorities are important though as there are limited resources and time to address them all, at least in the beginning.
It's such a good thing to read that. I was really tempted to write a closing paragraph that explained.. after doing this, what I realized that is amazing is that there are no bad answers. Any of these would move the needle in a way that is considerable
Well said. I will be attending a small event next Thursday with my Democratic house nominee to discuss actions. Just to be clear, I am a registered independent, a former Republican. I have written down a proposal for him if you are interested in reading it and providing input. I would appreciate your input.
Thank you @QueenBonita !!!
Rxan, I too have gone back and forth on term limits, for the same reasons you mentioned. After fifty years of monitoring this fairly closely, I've come up with a radical solution I am sure everyone sane will disagree with. Which makes me like it even more.
Put a five year cap on every government job, elected or otherwise. All branches of government. Judges, Senators, Janitors, Presidents, Typists.
More people get to serve, learn how the government works. People in government get a chance to feel the pinch in their pocketbooks every time they see a budget increase. Power and information on every level can't be centralized and controlled for over five years.
This is the part most people would totally disagree with: Total transparency. Every visit by a corporate constituent, every expense, every vacation. This would include the military and intelligence departments. If you want to argue it would make their jobs harder, that's exactly the point. They've had a literal free ride since the end of World War Two. If they had to start reporting what they were doing and spending, we'd have a lot less of them working a lot more efficiently in a massive hurry. And what about the Chinese finding out what we're doing? Well, we'd have a lot less trouble with China and our other adversaries if we didn't have hundreds of our own secret agencies poking and prodding them every day.
Anybody can get recalled by a one thousand citizen petition followed by a vote.
No primaries. I believe this is a good first step toward the end of the party system, which I think is even more important than all the rest of the items we just voted on. Even lobby money becomes way less important when no candidate can hide behind his party affiliation or expect a colleague's support just because of his party.
Thanks for including me in this poll.
Personally I’m a voluntaryist. I believe no masters. No government of any kind its all violent and abusive. Government is the enemy of humanity. And I’d be happy to discuss many things with you.
Well it sure is how I live but a lot of people need it so we don't fall and say some type of Anarchy and lawlessness….. But I hear you and I certainly know that the lack of professional integrity that they have makes it a mockery of the idea of government
I haven’t see a way to message you directly. Honestly we probably have a lot in common. I think for myself and you do too. I saw some of your bio. Maybe we wouldn’t take such issues with “vaccines” if they didn’t kill and mame so many people. We folks against such things have our reasons. I would like to chat with you out of curiosity. Peace Peace.
I don't think I've mastered the Direct Message thing. I had a lot of trouble with the salesmen in disguise messaging me so I had to shut it off, or try to. I know some people encourage group chats and such, but my site isn't big enough and I haven't figured out how to do it.
I have always personally assumed that the greatest enemy of Humanity is Humanity; but as Government is the institutional extension of Humanity, I agree it's a big enemy.
I've got no beef with a voluntaryist or anarchist. I've read your stuff and Larken Rose's pdf book and it all makes perfect sense to me. I might question how two anarchists can arrive at a mutually acceptable 'moral code' without a comprehensive philosophical or theological underpinning of some kind, but I'm certainly not saying it can't be done and anyway it's worth trying.
I have no problem with living under an imperfect and overly complex government, since I've been doing it for a while, but I draw the line at governments that use my taxes to kill and oppress others. I'm not thrilled about that, but as long as this present crew is around we are going to have problems.
Where we would probably disagree is that I see a clear end to this present madness through equal parts inertia, incompetence, and divine intervention; and you undoubtedly believe in the improvement and/or perfection of man through his own efforts--which I think is a worthy cause regardless of whether it works or not.
First, the DM salesmen in disguise are the one truly bipartisan constituency on this platform, so you have my sympathy there. It's done the same thing to so many people that I've talked to.
On the substance… i agree with what you should… you once replied to me we are our worst enemy I forget how it was worded it was better than…
But I agree the problems that we complain about, are largely brought upon by the way we Act and nobody realizes it.
I I don't believe in the perfection of man through his own efforts. Honestly, my entire publication is built on the assumption that it will never happen. Humanity is greedy, tribal, lazy, and self-deceiving, and it always will be. That's exactly why I write about incentive structures instead of villains.
Once I point out a single villain.. or any Villain at all… it's cheapens my point
If men were angels, we wouldn't need the guardrails Teddy R enforced and implemented 125yrs ago…
Since they're not angels 😇… the whole game is designing systems that produce decent outcomes from indecent instincts. I'm not trying to fix people. I'm trying to fix the plumbing so imperfect people can't quietly drain the whole house.
Your question about two anarchists arriving at a shared moral code… without a deeper philosophical or theological foundation is a genuinely good one, though.
I actually think it's the strongest objection to that whole school of thought. My honest answer is that most functioning moral codes in history were negotiated by people who disagreed about the foundations.
We rarely agree on WHY murder is wrong. We just agree that IT IS… and then we build from there. Whether that's durable enough without something underneath it, I don't know.
Like you said, it's worth trying.
As for inertia, incompetence, and divine intervention as the exit plan, I'll take any of the three. I'd just rather not leave all our chips on that table. Consider my work a hedge.
Glad you're here. This is exactly the kind of disagreement the comment section exist
I sent you a direct message so you should have it in there any box look at the homepage and he will see a little arrow next to subscribe and follow.
Fritz, it is the radical solutions we need to possibly solve what has become tainted and soiled. Dirty, stinky mess. Just like the used water in a janitor's mop bucket.
I like it!
I have worked for the city, state, and federal government in a different compacity or that is who was paying my salary and “signing the check.” I heard things and saw things at the time. Didn't think much of it at the time. After all, I was just managing food at a public state university.
When I begrudgingly went to work as a consultant for the state's Medicaid system as a lifelong detractor of government, my first reaction was that I had severely underestimated how wasteful and dysfunctional and counterproductive the system actually was.
Much as I respect the thoughtful people that try to 'work within the system', my view as a cynical old man is that if you start swinging at the infrastructure of government with a big axe, you might be able to avoid the blowtorch later.
I too am "old and throwed" have been cynical for years with the direction the government infrastructure went. Alarms, bells and whistles, and flashing red lights . Year 2008 should have been one of them. Due to a horrific vehicle accident, I suffered a TBI, ruptured disks, broken neck, various and numerous bones broken in my ankle foot tibias (I don't know the names of lower leg bones anymore). C3 - C6 I have some titanium parts. Ya dig? Then out of both sides of my neck I have big bolts sticking out. Just like Frankenstein's "Monster." That last statement was government waste and spending. I have to get a laugh in here in there ha-ha! Lucky for me, I did get a hefty settlement for my body being mangled. Not as bad ending to my story. I struggled hard to recover better than expected, better than I was told I would be able to do. I taught myself how to play the piano again. How to play other string instruments again. To this day I have no memory of the accident. I just remember getting in the car and leaving the house. I was told afterwards that I was involved in a nine vehicle accident. I had to be removed by the jaws of life and flown by helicopter to the hospital. I was the worst injured person in the accident. The more I recovered the TBI just made me want to learn more about things again. I was like that as a child. I have researched Medicaid and Medicare. Companies they have contracts with. Why does the government overpay for medical devices? FOLLOW THE MONEY. WHO ARE THESE CONTRACTS WITH? I found the state of Florida. Florida has more fraud and waste. Whose backyard is that? Where are all these slick suit characters he seems to prefer company with from? I want to say Florida. Home of mar-a- lago. How the party ever hi-jinked and made off with the label conservative had a damn good ad man. The R party also had a fire and brimstone preacher blasting out the WORD back
Hey Nikki! First, I'm genuinely glad you survived. That was crazy to read… A nine-vehicle crash, a TBI, a broken neck, and then teaching yourself to play the piano and string instruments again... that's an incredible story of resilience.
I love that you can still joke about the "Frankenstein bolts" - says a lot about your perspective.
One thing you said really stood out to me: "Follow the money." That's exactly where I think more Americans should be looking. Always. And I've taken it one step further since I've started writing.. not just the money... The incentives.
Whether it's healthcare, government contracting, lobbying, or campaign finance, incentives (behind or in addition to the money) explain more than campaign speeches ever will.
Where I try to be careful… especially for my time working with these people in Washington… is not assuming it's unique to one party. I promise you. It isn't. And it's not one state either. Both parties created a system that rewards influence over accountability.
That's why so much of my writing focuses on fixing the incentives themselves rather than just changing the people operating within them.
Your curiosity after your recovery is something I admire. We need more citizens asking hard questions instead of simply accepting whatever their preferred side tells them.
It acknowledges their experience, validates their curiosity, and steers the conversation back toward your consistent theme of structural reform rather than partisan blame.
You're too bad that we can't somehow require that businesses keep opportunities for employment available as they make more money. Somehow require that businesses keep opportunities for employment available as they make more money. Let's globalization, technology, and now ai coming.. People better realize that relying on the government as a safety net for emergencies is fine because it's better than nothing but depending on them because there's no other options with something that no one wants even if they think they do... It's just like with my dummy is doing in New York or... trying to do... Government run grocery stores will be just like the social services officer at the DMV and you're going to ask them to take on a lot more responsibility for the government workers trying to take on. People never think about this part of the equation until they see it up close. My father was a regional manager Social Security until he retired. He did it for 30 years and then after getting itchy for about three or four months he took a job as the superintendent of the County social services and I met all of his employees of both places over my entire childhood and young adult life....
You point on number 6 is well taken. All 14 of the choices are important and action is needed for all of them. Priorities are important though as there are limited resources and time to address them all, at least in the beginning.
It's such a good thing to read that. I was really tempted to write a closing paragraph that explained.. after doing this, what I realized that is amazing is that there are no bad answers. Any of these would move the needle in a way that is considerable
Well said. I will be attending a small event next Thursday with my Democratic house nominee to discuss actions. Just to be clear, I am a registered independent, a former Republican. I have written down a proposal for him if you are interested in reading it and providing input. I would appreciate your input.
All right I'll get back to you today
https://sajadjafarpanah.substack.com/p/the-global-nexus-for-earths-future?r=8nlmq5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thanks for explaining all of this. Really interesting. Appreciate your work. !
I was going on a rant so I ended it. This crone who votes has some opinions.
You can still vote because I still want to talk about the changes so I'd love to have that discussion