Tag: government

VP: Does it Mean Anything?

therightliberal2 Comments

Being Vice President of the United States seems like a big deal. I mean, by the title, it seems to be the second most important job in the US. But is it?

No. It really is not to be honest.

Let’s think about how much power Joe Biden has. If there is a deadlock in the Senate, he has the tie-breaking vote. But because everyone knows which way he will vote, there never ends up being a need.

Nowadays the VP doesn’t even show up to the Senate, they always elect a President pro tempore. So what else are the VP’s duties.

Well really not anything. They are the first up in the line of succession so they need to keep up on all the goings on just in case the President becomes unable to serve. For the most part they go around campaigning and enjoying a nice pay check and some media coverage.

But I think there is a role for the VP, and Joe Biden does a good job of it.

Biden is really an average Joe (lots of pun intended). Listening to him talk in an interview is like listening to a local politician talk about Washington. And with the general population growing more and more uncomfortable with intelligent politicians (just look at the GOP field) it is good to have someone who can converse with the general voter.

To be honest, if there was to be a huge disaster in the US, I would want Biden to talk to the people, because he would be honest and to the point. He does not seem to be too motivated by the politics of Washington (most likely because he is not involved) and he understands Americans.

Dick Cheney was quite the opposite. While Biden comes off as a goofy and  an average guy, Cheney was the evil Sith Lord who was pulling all the strings in the executive office.

And that was the problem. Cheney was never supposed to have the power he had. The VP should not be the one controlling the country, they should be the one at the local bar getting to know the people. They should be the ones who go around the country campaigning because they have nothing better to do.

Cheney had so much power that he could not even be called VP. He was more Evil Overlord of America. Cheney is a very smart man who saw opportunity in the VP position. He realized that Bush was so weak that he could take over control of both the White House and much of the Senate.

So to answer the title of this blog, yes, the VP position CAN mean something. Chances are it doesn’t, but there are certain pairings of President and VP that turn it in to a meaningful post.

But for the sake of the country, let’s keep it meaningless. Let’s fill it with down to earth people who are able to stay attached to the real world instead of becoming entwined with the mysterious world of politics. Let’s have more Joe Bidens.

“Occupy Wall Street”

therightliberal2 Comments

Currently there is a movement to protest the actions of the economic top 1% of Americans called “Occupy Wall Street.” Not just a verbal movement, an actual protest in New York.

Chances are you haven’t heard about it, and I believe there is a reason for that: News corporations don’t like covering protest unless things are on fire and the police are involved.

Now I could write a book on how much I despise the choices of most news organizations, but instead I want to focus on what Wall Street has done to this country.

It all goes back to greed. Traders on Wall Street work for companies, and at the helms of those companies are CEO’s. I have nothing against CEO’s in general, more the ideas that their job title in general seeks to accomplish.

They want power and money. They want their shares to boom and then they want to create more shares which will boom some more. Yes, there are some advantages to this system of market (Yay Capitalism!), it encourages competitive businesses and seeks to advance our markets.

But what is the cost? Well, I think we are seeing the cost right now. Wealth in America is incredibly concentrated, with the middle class shrinking at shocking rates. These trends are due to the greed that has been encouraged through our system of economics.

The whole goal for most Americans is to get rich. Children are encouraged to choose jobs that will make them wealthy when they grow up. But then we reach the problem of having such an elitist society that money passes from hand to hand, instead of from hand to hands.

Don’t get me wrong, I love money. I love the finer things in life, from food to fast cars, probably more than many people. But what I want to think about is greed and how much money we really need as individuals. Go and buy that nice car, that nice house, that perfect vacation. But in the mean time, think about what you can buy for others with what you have.

And now we come back to the Occupy Wall Street protest. Thousands of people have been protesting, not just in New York, but in major cities across America. They want the top 1% to look and listen to what is happening in America. They are not asking for the wealthy to give up their lifestyles, all they are asking for is less greed and more sympathy.

We are a country, we are supposed to look after each other (to what degree can be debated all you want). Corporations (who are not people by the way) and the CEO’s (who are people) who run them need to get their priorities in line and start supporting the country that gave them what they have today.

The Buffett Tax

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As some people worry about the money they spend on gas or groceries, a group of Americans sit back and watch their money flow in.

I do not mean to insinuate that millionaires and billionaires do not work hard because most of them do. However, I see no argument that their lives are anywhere near as hard as those who are living paycheck to paycheck.

Warren Buffett has over the years called for higher taxes for America’s uber-rich, and now it seems he might get it.

Obama is looking to propose the “Buffett Tax,” a new tax on wealthy Americans that would work to keep some of the wealthy from avoiding taxes and increase the rates that they pay.

Although it would only affect about 450,000 Americans, the tax could very much benefit the economy, which as we all know, needs all the help it can get.

I look back at the arguments I have heard on why the rich should not have higher taxes; they don’t deserve it, it wouldn’t really help, it’s not fair. But none of those arguments make sense to me.

Taxes are not a punishment, they are just a fact of life in a society like ours. If you enjoy the country you have then you better accept the idea of taxes.

Taxing the top 0.3% of Americans (which this would do) a higher amount could really help. And on top of it, the bill wouldn’t actually raise taxes, it would just eliminate some of the Bush tax cuts, which I think we can see did not work judging on where are economy is now.

I hope that this bill can get through Congress during their Dec. meeting on deficit reduction. I think that this could be a helpful bill, but on top of that, it just makes sense.

The World (as we know it) is Coming to an End [[Pt. 1]]

yrreskrapLeave a comment

It’s very hard not to get sad when thinking about the world and how horrible a place it can be. It’s very hard to remember the other lives that are being abused today, when my life is so easy. It’s very hard when you know you can’t fix these problems that plague society. It makes my blood boil.

Right now, people are living in fear. In fear of their government, in fear of their people, in fear of disease, in fear of something.

Burma, Southeast Asia, 2007.

Monks are holy and sacred figures, the symbols of peace and humanity in Burma. They are religious leaders who focus on the tranquility of life and don’t involve themselves in politics, that is, until the summer of 2007.

The political standing of Burma is corrupt, savage, and inhumane to put it lightly. The government, an organization of people meant to protect the welfare of their fellow Burmese, has caged their people and censored the news. Their goal was to disband people, to prevent civilians from joining together because two people are stronger than one, and 100 people are stronger than 10. Nobody speaks in fear of being taken by undercover government officials. Their voices aren’t heard. The people are mute. The people are afraid. The people are waiting for an answer, for a solution.

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