Monday, May 27
Types of Government
Some governments are run by one powerful person or a small group of people in a country. These types of governments are called authoritarian because the people must serve the government. Because of this, authoritarian governments frequently do not respect the rights of individuals. Sometimes, an authoritarian government may give the appearance of being something other than authoritarian. For example, they may hold elections, but those in control of the government will make sure they keep the actual power. Before the United States was founded, most countries were ruled by authoritarian governments.
Nicolae CeauČ™escu was the dictator of Romania from 1965–89 (image courtesy Biography).
Democratic Governments
Not all governments are authoritarian. In some countries, the people decided that the government should serve the people instead of the other way around. These governments are called democracies. There are many different kinds of democracies; most are responsible for creating an environment that promotes the common good. The common good is the idea that governments can try to make decisions that help most of the people in the group. Within a democracy, who is authorized to make decisions, in what ways the government is responsible to the people, and the kinds of choices people have vary widely. In most democracies, the ideas of rights and liberties is important. A right is something a person should have access to just because they are human. A liberty is a form of freedom that no government should take from an individual. The rights a person has simply because they are human are called, “natural rights.” Democratic governments tend to respect individual rights and liberties to a greater degree than authoritarian governments. At times, democracies may not respect the rights of a minority group because they are designed to follow the will of the majority.
The Durant City Council is a representative democratic government body (image courtesy the City of Durant).
The US Constitution begins with the phrase, “We the People” to make clear that the people of the United States are where the government’s power lies, and that the government exists so that we can govern ourselves.
Students demand equality in Oklahoma, 1963 (20246.38.84.5, John Melton Collection, OHS).
Some governments are organized according to a set of rules that must be followed. The rules explaining how a government must operate are called a constitution. A constitution can also include protections for individual rights and liberties for all people, including minority groups. Governments that follow their constitution and laws closely respect the “rule of law.” Governments that follow the rule of law offer more protection for individuals because the decisions governments make have to be based on the rules. Another thing the rule of law introduces is the idea that there are some areas of life where the government cannot interfere. This idea is called “limited government.”
One way to understand “rule of law” is to think about your favorite sport: it has rules, right? You want to make sure the rules of the games are enforced fairly to all teams. This is also true of governments.
Another idea that some democracies consider important is the idea of equality. Many democracies will include in their constitutions that all people are equal and include rules to ensure that the people that run the government treat each person as having equal worth.
Monarchy
A monarchy is ruled by a hereditary leader, such as a king. Monarchies can be absolute, constitutional, or ceremonial. An absolute monarch controls the entire government; an example of this form of government is Saudi Arabia. A constitutional monarch has power and serves as the executive, but the constitution limits this power; Monaco has a constitutional monarchy. In a ceremonial monarchy, the monarch has very little power and performs ceremonial duties; Great Britain is an example of a ceremonial monarchy.
Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdul-Rahman al Faisal al Saud founded Saudi Arabia in 1932 (image courtesy History Today).
Dictatorship
A dictatorship is ruled by a group of people selected by one person. The people who run the government are responsible to the dictator and no one else. The country of Turkmenistan under Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is a good example of a dictatorship. While the country has a constitution, a parliament, and elections, Berdimuhamedow is able to make changes to the rules as he wishes whenever he wants.
As of 2022, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is the authoritarian leader of Turkmenistan (image courtesy Reuters).
Oligarchy
An oligarchy is ruled by a smaller group. There are many different kinds of oligarchies. In many places, the military holds the power. This type of government is called a stratocracy. Currently, Thailand is a country under military control. Another kind of oligarchy, a plutocracy, is where the wealthy are in control. During the Renaissance, the city-states on the Italian peninsula were often plutocracies. The country of Iran is a theocracy, which means that the country is controlled by a group of religious leaders. Another kind of oligarchy often practiced is rule by one political party, such as the Communist Party in China.
The Communist Party of China is a kind of oligarchy (image courtesy The Diplomat).
Parliamentary Democracy
A parliamentary democracy is a form of democracy in which the people elect a legislative body called Parliament. The executive, usually called a prime minister, is selected from this group. Often, parliamentary democracies will have many different political parties, and the parties will have to cooperate in running the government because no one party has a clear majority in the body. India has a parliamentary system.
The chambers of the British Parliament are well known (image courtesy CNN).
Presidential Democracy
A presidential democracy is where voters select both their representatives in the legislative body and the executive. For example, in the United States, voters choose their representative every two years, electors who select their president through the Electoral College every four years, and their senator every six years.
George Washington served as the United States’ first president (image courtesy of the White House).
Participatory Democracy
A participatory democracy is a form of government in which people have greater responsibilities than voting for representatives. This could include serving on advisory boards, commenting on policy changes, or proposing legislation. A specific kind of participatory democracy is called direct democracy. A direct democracy is a government run by all the people of a place. Most of the time, other types of governments will include elements of participatory democracy rather than organize the entire government around the idea that everyone should be involved in making day-to-day decisions.
A town hall meeting is a kind of direct democracy (mage courtesy New York Times).
Wednesday, January 4
Venezuela and Socialism
In the 1950s, Venezuela was the fourth wealthiest country in the world. Today, Venezuela is poorer than it was prior to the 1920s, its infrastructure is deteriorating, and its economy has been shrinking since the turn of the century. Hyperinflation (out of control price increases) has left the currency worthless and made it almost impossible for Venezuelans to afford basic necessities. Millions have fled the country’s inhospitable conditions.
This brief takes a closer look at Venezuela’s past and present social, political, and economic circumstances, the role socialist policies played, and how this relates to conversations within our own government. Understanding the history of such an evolution is an important way to keep similar tendencies from reaching other shores, including our own.
In what was once Latin America’s richest nation, over 75% of Venezuelans are living in extreme poverty. According to a September 2021 report from the National Survey of Living Conditions, created in 2014 to make up for the absence of official data, the percentage of Venezuelans living in extreme poverty rose from 67.7% to 76.6%. This is a reversal of the improvement in previous years after the government started cash transfers and relaxed price controls. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the crisis in Venezuela that had already been ongoing for years; before the pandemic, the UN World Food Programme estimated one-third of Venezuelans struggled to get enough food to meet the minimum nutritional requirements.
The U.S. State Department announced in September 2021 that it was sending $247 million in humanitarian assistance and $89 million in economic and development assistance to aid “Venezuelans in their home country and Venezuelan refugees, migrants, and their host communities in the region.” This includes $120 million from the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration; and $216 million through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), bringing total U.S. humanitarian, economic, development, and health assistance for the Venezuela crisis to more than $1.9 billion since 2017.
Emergency shelter;
Access to health care, water, sanitation, and hygiene supplies;
COVID-19 support;
Protection for vulnerable groups including women, children, and indigenous people;
Assistance to democratic actors within Venezuela;
Integration support for communities that host Venezuelan refugees and migrants, “including development programs to expand access to education, vocational opportunities, and public services.”
As of early 2022, more than 7 million Venezuelans in Venezuela are in critical need, and almost 6 million have fled to 17 countries across the region. READ MORE...
Sunday, August 14
Gambling With Our Money
- Do any of the countries have great militaries?
- Do any of the countries have great economies?
- Do any of these countries have great technology?
- Are any of these countries exploring outer space?
- Do any of the countries help other countries with their wars and/or natural disasters?
- Are any of the countries Global Leaders?
- Do any of these countries have the same freedoms as the US has?
- Do any of these countries have the quality of life that the US has?
Tuesday, August 9
Relax... Don't Worry...
Dan Bongino took Rush Limbaugh's spot on talk radio and moved from NYC to Florida and is a regular guest on FOX News... Today he was interviewed on FOX News as a result of the FBI's raid of former President Trump's home in Florida... claiming that Trump took classified documents when he left the Whitehouse, knowing that his defense would be, I declassified them before I left office... but they did the deed anyway.
Dan was LIVID, to say the least and while he said that he was a conservative and therefore a Republican but not because of the current Republicans in Congress because they are a DO NOTHING group of politicians and need to immediately be removed. Dan said the GOP now TALKS BOLD AND BIG but when it comes to action, they accomplish nothing.
Dan Bongino pretty much reflects my sentiments about all of the Congressional Republicans except for Lindsey Graham and a couple of others that FOX News interviews regularly...
The Democrats play dirty but piss, bitch, and moan when others play dirty against them...
The Democrats lie and really do not feel guilty about their lies as they continue to make these lies daily...
The Democrats are moving closer and closer to a Socialistic form of government where the government provides you with everything -- just like the movie/show STAR TREK...
The Democrats have mainstream media covering the ASSES, networks like CNN, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, PBR...
If this is the kind of government that you want... then have it... and, the reason that I say this is because HISTORICALLY all socialistic governments FAIL...
History always repeats itself whether we like it or not and regardless if this is what some of want or don't want...
In order to have a socialistic government, two things have to happen.
First - the government must insure that it can collect taxes from the WEALTHY in order to pay for the socialistic society... USA millionaires and billionaires already have their money shelter away from taxes in the Grand Caymans.
Second - the government must insure that ALL BUSINESSES will be willing to pay their fair share of whatever... or be taken over (OWNED) by the federal government... then the government can manage the business any way they like.
Do you really think first or second will happen in the US of A?
Right now, about 70% of what we receive is considered to already be SOCIALISTIC in nature, such as:
- Public Education
- Public Transportation
- Public Parks and Recreation
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Unemployment Insurance
These programs already cost the country so much money that we are ASSHOLE deep in debt with CHINA owning ONE-THIRD of that debt... can you imagine that China owns 1/3 of our debt?
What do we do when they DEMAND their money back?
Friday, January 21
Socialism
Many people wonder what heaven is like -- so many, in fact, that philosophers and scholars over the years have hypothesized about how heaven on Earth can be achieved. The term "utopia" was coined in 1515 by British writer Thomas More. Utopia describes a perfect place or society, where everyone is equal socially and economically.
The political and economic theory of socialism was created with the vision of a utopian society in mind. Contrary to other economic systems, there is no real consensus on how the ideal socialist society should function. Dozens of forms of socialism exist, all with differing ideas about economic planning, community size and many other factors. Despite the variations in socialist thought, every version advocates the benefits of cooperation among the people, steering clear of the "evils" of competition associated with capitalism.
True socialists advocate a completely classless society, where the government controls all means of production and distribution of goods. Socialists believe this control is necessary to eliminate competition among the people and put everyone on a level playing field. Socialism is also characterized by the absence of private property. The idea is that if everyone works, everyone will reap the same benefits and prosper equally. Therefore, everyone receives equal earnings, medical care and other necessities.
As we've learned, socialism is difficult to define because it has so many incarnations. One of the things socialists agree on is that capitalism causes oppression of the lower class. Socialists believe that due to the competitive nature of capitalism, the wealthy minority maintains control of industry, effectively driving down wages and opportunity for the working class. The main goal of socialism is to dispel class distinctions by turning over control of industry to the state. This results in a harmonious society, free of oppression and financial instability. Some of the other forms of socialism include these goals:
Guild socialism: Based in early 19th-century England, workers' guilds (similar to unions) were responsible for control and management of goods.
Utopian socialism: Advocates social ownership of industry and a voluntary, nonviolent surrender of property to the state. Implemented in communities like Robert Owens' New Lanark.
Christian socialism: Developed in England in 1948, this branch was born from the conflict between competitive industry and Christian principles. Christian socialist societies are characteristically led by religious leaders, rather than socialist groups.
Anarchism: Opposes domination by the family, state, religious leaders and the wealthy. Anarchism is completely opposed to any form of repression and has been associated with some radical events, including assassinations in Italy, France and Greece. U.S. President William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist.
Market Socialism: Often referred to as a compromise between socialism and capitalism. In this type of society, the government still owns many of the resources, but market forces determine production and demand. Government workers are also enticed with incentives to increase efficiency.
Agrarianism: Form of socialism that features the equitable redistribution of land among the peasants and self-government similar to that in communal living. Agrarian ideals were popular in the rural United States well into the 1900s, although increasing government control deterred their growth. READ MORE...
Thursday, January 13
CAPITALISM: A Giant AMWAY Pyramid Scheme
Our free market enterprise system has been specifically and uniquely designed to keep a majority of people from moving up the financial ladder from the standpoint of any financial gains they have received over a given year are offset by inflation and the devaluation of the dollar.
- 1%
- 9% are multi-millionaires
- 10% are high/medium millionaires
- 10% are low millionaires
- 30% are high hundreds of thousands
- 20% are medium hundreds of thousands
- 16% are low hundreds of thousands
- 3% are $50,000 to hundreds of thousands
- 1% are less than $50,000
- Engineers design products with built in obsolescence
- then companies sell us warranties in case things go wrong
- advertising encourages us to buy shit we don't need
- new fashion designs each year
- new car designs
- elementary thru high school only prepares us for college not to go out and work
- college prepares us for grad school not to go out to work
- grad school prepares us for a PhD not to go out to work
- Once employed with our college degree, very little of our college classes prepared us for the job
- Education from 1960 to 2021 has been dumbed down...
- Debt helps
- Lack of knowledge helps
- Domestic turmoil helps
- Early retirement programs help
- Inflation helps
- Internal conflict helps
- Wars help
- Pandemics help
- COLLEGE is designed for us to make more so we can spend more
- Companies will teach us what we really need to know
- Advertising will teach us to spend more than we really need to spend
- Engineers will design products that need to be replaced prematurely
- Insurance companies try to get us to be insurance poor
- Business is designed to take you money and give you less and less in return via a product
- The more we have people trying to take your money the less money we will have to grow our wealth and move up
Friday, August 20
A Conservative Liberal's Opinion
- What the Democrats are doing is not just WRONG but economically FOOLISH...
- What the Democrats did in Afghanistan tells our allies that the USA cannot be trusted...
- What the Democrats are doing by allowing illegal aliens to enter the USA shows a complete disregard for our laws...
- What the Democrats have done when it comes to defund the police is idiotic but moronic as well and shows a complete lack of judgement and insight...
- What the Democrats have done with Critical Race Theory has and will continue to increase the bitterness and divide that already exists between blacks and whites in this country...
- What the Democrats are doing by using Capitalism to pay for Socialism is irresponsible given that no socialistic country has ever been successful...
Thursday, June 10
The WOKE Left
- If the US wants to become Socialistic... that's fine
- If the US wants to become Marxist... that's fine
- If the US wants to destroy competition... that's fine
- If the US wants make the wealthy pay... that's fine
Friday, March 26
Take Care of Me
I WANT OUR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT TO TAKE CARE OF ME...
I want FREE housing
I want an increase in Social Security
I want FREE education
I want a guaranteed income
I want the wealthy Americans to share their wealth
I want the police to be defunded
I want the black people to always be given the advantage
I want an end to white privilege
I want only black law enforcement personnel
I want the conservative voice to be permanently censored
I want our government to control all businesses
I want businesses to be forced to employ workers
I want our military to be substantially reduced
I want an end to petroleum crude oil and natural gas
I want an end to gasoline cars
I want an end to interstate speed limits
I want illegal drugs to be legalized and taxed like alcohol\
I want white pregnancies to be aborted
I want it to be illegal for black females to have an abortion
Thursday, March 25
Socialism NOW....
CAPITALISM is an economic and political system in which the country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than by the government...
- free education
- free healthcare
- free housing
- free food
- free clothing
- free transportation
- free entertainment
- free recreation
Fixing America
After living almost three quarters of a century, I have developed the realization that American Democracy IS NOT a good form of government because it places the control in the hands of an intellectually ignorant public who has no idea what is best for them and could easily be persuaded to cast their votes in such a way that it eliminates their ability to have freedom of choice without fully understanding what they have done to themselves. The American public is mentally lazy and politically and economically void of any kind of intellectual commitment to acquire a working understanding of what needs to be done.
We should have a government where the general public has NO CONTROL at all like what is found in a Dictatorship or Communism. Americans need to be told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it or else they will make bad choices.
After living almost three quarters of a century, I have come to the realization that Capitalism and our Free Market Enterprise system is COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE for Americans. Capitalism has allowed 20% of the population to live a wealthy lifestyle while the remaining 80% live a lifestyle that is substantially less than what they deserve.
- We don't need athletes that are multi millionaires
- We don't need actors/actresses that are multi millionaires
- We don't need musicians and singers that are multi millionaires
- We don't need CEO's that are multi millionaires
- We don't need physicians that are multi millionaires
- We don't need public officials that are multi millionaires
It is the responsibility of THE WEALTHY to not just take care of their family but the rest of the population. Their wealth should be shared with the rest of the population. If they don't want to share their wealth, then they don't need to earn it... but, if they do earn it they should share it.
OUR GOVERNMENT should control ALL CORPORATIONS AND BUSINESSES on behalf of the rest of the population... and OUR GOVERNMENT should not allow the population to have CHOICES and FREE SPEECH.
SOCIALISM and quite possibly COMMUNISM is the only form of government that should be allowed in the United States so that it can take proper care of its citizens.
Wednesday, March 24
Isolationism
The United States has no business inserting itself in the politics of countries of which we do not approve believing instead that AMERICAN DEMOCRACY is the only and best governmental system in the world... that is to say that COMMUNISM, a DICTATORSHIP, and SOCIALISM is simply wrong and not productive for a thriving economy.
The government of CHINA is COMMUNISTIC and the economy of China is thriving and will, in a few short years, be greater than the economy of the United States. Not only is the economy thriving but the military of China, its Army, Navy, and Air Force is much bigger than the United States.
Russia is a semi Socialistic/Communistic country and while its economy is not as large as either the United States or China, it is still a bustling economy that is getting stronger by the year. It also has a fierce military that would not be easy to defeat.
So, Communism as well as Socialism as well as a Democracy are all three viable forms of government and one form of government is no better than any other form of government, except for individual freedom and there seems to be more individual freedom in a Democracy than in the other 2 forms of government.
The United States has been involved in the politics of global countries for over 100 years and the rest of the world has had enough of United States involvement. We need to stay the hell out of the business of other countries.
- free healthcare for all
- free education for all
- special privileges for minorities
- free housing for all
- guaranteed basic income for all
- basic clothing allowance for all
- guaranteed daily meals for everyone
The United States should take care of its own people before it tells other countries around the world how to manage their affairs and govern their people.
Tuesday, February 9
Wednesday, January 20
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE: Star Trek Was SOCIALISM
STAT TREK was about a UTOPIAN world in the future where there were still hundreds of countries on EARTH but only ONE GOVERNMENT: The Federation of Planets...
Can you imagine China, Russia, North Korea, the Middle East, Europe, South America, Africa, Australia agreeing to be controlled by ONE GOVERNMENT?
- There was no JEALOUSY
- There was no ANGER
- There was no HATRED
- There was no RACISM
- There was no EXTRMARITAL AFFAIRS
- There were no WARS BETWEEN COUNTRIES
- There was NO DIRTY POLITICS
- There was NO BIASED MEDIA
Everyone from EARTH was considered an EARTHLING with NO COUNTRY AFFILIATIONS[...
There was UNIVERSAL HARMONY...
BROUGHT ABOUT BY THIS BRAND OF SOCIALISM...
And, the American people bought it... hook, line, and sinker...
Friday, January 8
Breaking Down Capitalism
Saturday, November 21
Where Do Our Taxes Go?
Information provided by USA TODAY...
Biggest tax spenders
Total spending by the federal government in 2018 was $4.22 trillion. But some programs actually raised money, such as leases for the Outer Continental Shelf, which lowered the total 2018 outlay to $4.11 trillion.
The majority of tax dollars helps to fund defense, Social Security, Medicare, health programs and social safety net programs such as food stamps and disability payments, along with paying off interest on the national debt.
Here’s how it breaks down.
- Social Security: $987.8 billion or 23.4% of total federal spending
- National defense: $631.2 billion or 15% of total spending
- Medicare: $588.7 billion or 14% of total spending
- Health: $551.2 billion or 13.1% of total spending
- Social safety net programs: $495.3 billion or 11.8% of total spending
- Interest on debt: $325 billion or 7.7% of total spending
Tuesday, November 3
Recently Wondering
Not only will the Democrats win the Presidency but they could win control of the HOUSE as well as the SENATE and if that is the case, AMERICA will change... and, in my opinion will change for the WORSE not for the BETTER... but again, this is one's perception...
- A Civil War between Political Party Supporters will take place throughout the country
- Washington, DC and Puerto Rico could become States which will submit Democrats to the House and to the Senate
- Legislation towards severely limiting the Second Amendment will be passed
- Legislation towards opening our borders to unlimited immigration will be passed
- Legislation towards tearing down the border wall will be passed
- Legislation toward expanding the Supreme Court will be passed
- Legislation towards preventing Republicans from ever gaining a majority will be passed
- Legislation towards free college education will be passed
- Legislation towards a guaranteed income will be passed
- Legislation towards going GREEN will be passed
- Legislation towards redistributing law enforcement monies will be passed
- Legislations towards paying black reparations for slavery will be passed
- Legislation towards reducing the military will be passed
- Biden will fall ill and Kamala Harris will become President
- Russia will take advantage of a Liberal President and Congress
- China will take advantage of a Liberal President and Congress
- North Korea will take advantage of a Liberal President and Congress
- Trade deals will be negotiated that do not favor Americans
- NATO will no longer trust America's Military Support
- Terrorism will no longer fear America's retaliations
- A college education in America will be damn near worthless
- America's NATIONAL DEBT will increase beyond its ability to pay back
- The worth of the American Dollar will decrease
Tuesday, October 6
Socialism Lives
Thursday, October 1
GREED: America's Downfall...
My reason for attending COLLEGE was personal and selfish: I wanted a better job and more money...
Little did I know that this was the foundation of our economic free market enterprise system... to continue to make as much money as one can arrange over a lifetime of work and use that money to buy bigger and better THINGS over one's lifetime of work...
As one gets older and wiser and accumulates more wealth, one learns to shelter that money away from taxes even though one knows that taxes are used to provide services to those who are not wealthy and support our government's growth.
- education
- transportation
- highways
- parks and recreation
- welfare
- medicare
- housing
- unemployment
- social security
DATA FROM 2020 |
Tuesday, September 1
Another Morning in East TN
STINK BUGS ARE LIKE POLITICIANS |
However, for some of us here in East TN, the end of summer does not just mark the return of public education and a gradual decline of the heat, but the return of STINK BUGS.
According to TN State University, brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB) is a invasive pest of fruits, nuts, vegetables and ornamentals. The bug was first detected in Allentown, PA in 1998 and has since spread across the United States. The bug was found in Tennessee during 2008 and has since become an agricultural and nuisance pest in parts of the state. Seasonal cues trigger stink bugs' search for winter quarters; the shortening days and falling temperatures sending them scuttling for cover. If they sheltered beneath tree bark or mulch, it would be one thing. But they prefer sharing your home over winter, piling into cracks and crevices by the thousands.
- So what, if America goes Socialistic... America already has Socialism
- So what, if America's wealthy gets higher and higher taxes... that will never apply to me
- So what, if Democrats increase Medicare/Social Security... that will simply benefit me
- So what, if the Stock Market goes down and down... I have enough money in savings
- the wealth gap
- gender equality
- racism
- education
- illegal drugs
- immigration
- crime