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7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #4 Gay Marriage

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
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on Thursday, 26 April 2012
in Politics

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

 

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues. It is alarming to

see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues. Clearly, emotions have clouded

the rational judgment and logic of these individuals. It is good to be passionate about what you believe

in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society

and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

 

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their

positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues. There are many clearly established laws that

relate to the issues being debated. While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel

about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their

ability to change established laws is somewhat limited. Further, these issues are irrelevant when it

comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

 

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year,

and to which they attribute too much importance.

 

Issue #4: GAY MARRIAGE

 

Gay Marriage—Yes, I think traditional marriage is between a man and a woman, but do I really

care if gays and lesbians get married? Hell, no. Am I a little uncomfortable with the whole idea

of gay marriage? Absolutely, but who am I or who is anyone to deprive two people of being

together? If they’re in love and want to spend their life together, have at it. You know the only

people who win here—the divorce attorneys. There’s absolutely nothing to suggest that gays

and lesbians will have a lower divorce rate. I suspect they’ll be just like the rest of America

when it comes to the success rate of marriages.

 

I guess there is some mistaken belief that if we outlaw it, people won’t be homosexual anymore.

That’s quite a fallacy. It’s still going to go on whether they can get married or not. You mean to

tell me that politicians will support a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage and think

it will pass but yet they can’t seem to get a balanced budget amendment put together. Really?

Let’s get some priorities straight first.

 

Let’s make it legal so maybe we don’t have to see the marches and rallies anymore, so it’s not

so in your face all the time. Once they get the right to get married, there won’t be any need to

be so public about being homosexual. They won’t be waving their flags and all that stuff. They’ll

live life just like everyone else, the opponents of it will soon forget about it, and everyone will

just move on to bigger and better things.

 

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

Read 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

 

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Top Facts about My Newest Novel…The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Thursday, 26 April 2012
in Writing

Top Facts about My Newest Novel…

The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance

 

Fact 1.

It’s a western—That’s right, a western. I’ve always been a fan of TV westerns—Bonanza,

Gunsmoke, The Big Valley—and the old western movies—The Magnificent Seven and The

Good The Bad, & The Ugly—so I decided to write one. They’re not really in style anymore, and

honestly I don’t know of any author that still actively writes westerns or even when the last

western novel was published. I’ve tried to craft my own unique mystery/thriller element to this

western, so it’s not as simple as the gunslinger rides into town, there’s a shootout in the street,

and so on. No, there’s much more to this western than that, and there’s much more than meets

the eye.

 

Fact 2.

The Maynwarings—The book is called The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance and centers around

the Maynwaring family—Barron and his wife Eleanor and their children, Mary Catherine,

Breckenridge, Houston, and Stokes. It just so happens that the Maynwarings have a massive

ranch (some say the biggest in the entire west) and pretty much have business interests in

everything—timber, mining, hotels, mills, banking. Of course, they’re also very influential in the

political realm as well.

 

Fact 3.

The Greenbrier—The Maynwarings make their home at The Greenbrier Ranch. The Greenbrier

mansion is a twenty thousand square foot complex built of sandstone mined from their own

quarries. The mansion is three stories tall with an intricately-carved, white columned porch on

the front, high arches and windows to each side, and columned balconies along the second and

third floors. A massive silver dome and cupola adorn the roof and sparkle brilliantly even under

overcast skies. The road leading to the mansion is paved with cobblestones and lined with gas

lamps and white oak trees imported from the Appalachian Mountains. It truly is a magnificent

place befitting the family and their massive empire.

 

Fact 4.

Carson City, Nevada—The story takes place in Carson City, the capital of the state of Nevada

which became the 36th state on October 31, 1864 during the Civil War. Nevada joined the

Union to help Lincoln’s re-election just days later though many Nevadans were torn between

supporting the Confederacy or joining the Union. The massive wealth created by the discovery

of the Comstock Lode, the first major US discovery of silver ore, near Carson City in 1859 was

actively sought by the Confederacy, which hoped it would help turn the tide of the war. Carson

City was established in 1858 after a group of settlers led by Abraham Curry sought to break from

the Utah Territory and the Mormon influence of the territorial government in Salt Lake City.

Carson City ultimately became the commercial center as a result of the Comstock Lode and the

influx of miners and speculators to the area.

 

Fact 5.

Barron Maynwaring, United States Senator—Barron never wanted to be Senator for the battle

born state of Nevada, hoping the territory could keep out of the Civil War. He had, in fact,

supported the state joining the Confederacy, as he believed in states’ rights and limiting the

intrusiveness of the federal government. When many of his friends from the newly formed

state legislature approached him about representing Nevada in the United States’ Senate, he

had initially been reluctant to get involved in the political system. Ultimately, however, he

decided that he had too much at stake financially to let someone else dictate their future. He

had helped to shape the territory and Carson City, and he felt it was his obligation to help shape

the future of the state as well as protect his family’s interests. So, he traded part of his duties as

rancher for those as Senator.

 

Fact 6.

Mary Catherine Maynwaring, Carson City Solicitor—Mary Catherine is Barron’s outspoken,

cunning, highly intelligent, and controversial yet charming daughter. Despite the overwhelming

odds against a woman attending college then law school, Mary Catherine successfully graduated

at the top of her class from a prestigious university, a feat almost impossible for a woman in the

1850s. After returning to Carson City, she worked for the circuit court for two years and was

then appointed district attorney for Carson City by the territorial governor. She has a passion

for the law and wants to see justice done at all costs. She doesn’t take no for an answer and

isn’t afraid to challenge the status quo or go against powerful interests when someone has been

wronged or someone has broken the law or when corruption needs purged.

 

 

Fact 7.

You will have to wait until the end of the summer of 2012 to read it.

 

 

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7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #3 Pornography

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Friday, 13 April 2012
in Digger Cartwright

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues.  It is alarming to see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues.  Clearly, emotions have clouded the rational judgment and logic of these individuals.  It is good to be passionate about what you believe in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues.  There are many clearly established laws that relate to the issues being debated.  While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their ability to change established laws is somewhat limited.  Further, these issues are irrelevant when it comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year, and to which they attribute too much importance.    

 

Issue #3: PORNOGRAPHY

 

·       Pornography—It appears that certain political figures want to have a war on pornography.Well, here again is someone’s personal belief trying to legislate morality for everyone else.If you don’t like pornography, don’t look at it or watch it—just like if you don’t like alcohol.If you’ve got some kind of religious or moral objection to it, that’s all right, but don’t try to shove your views down the throats of everyone else, particularly if it isn’t hurting you.If your neighbor’s unemployed, forty-year-old virgin kid is watching porn in the parent’s basement every day, what should you care?Why should you or anyone try to legislate pornography out of business?How’s it hurting you?I’d say the opponents of pornography are probably just sexually frustrated individuals who want everyone to be as equally miserable as they are.

Porn is a huge industry, and it isn’t going to go away even if politicians legislate against it.  It would merely become an underground industry and life would go on.  If you outlaw it, are you really going to put someone in prison for porn?  Do you see the absurdity of it—putting people in prison for porn but letting murderers go free every day?  Get real.

How about this to chew on—you know how we win the global war on terrorism?Let’s drop porn magazines and DVDs in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and anywhere else there may be terrorists.We’ll never hear from them again.That’s how we end the war on terror. 

 

To read Diggers take on stupid issue #1, read this:  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

To read Diggers take on stupid issue #2, read this:  7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

 

~Digger

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7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #2 Separation of church and State

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Thursday, 12 April 2012
in Digger Cartwright

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues.  It is alarming to see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues.  Clearly, emotions have clouded the rational judgment and logic of these individuals.  It is good to be passionate about what you believe in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues.  There are many clearly established laws that relate to the issues being debated.  While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their ability to change established laws is somewhat limited.  Further, these issues are irrelevant when it comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year, and to which they attribute too much importance.    

 

Issue #2 : SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

·       Separation of Church and State—Let me start by saying that America was founded on Christian values.  If you don’t like that fact or if you are offended by it, go somewhere else.  I’m really tired of people saying we can’t have the word ‘God’ on our money or in our pledge of allegiance or the school kids can’t mention God or we can’t have nativity scenes on public property.  If you don’t like that we celebrate Christmas in America you can suck it.  Don’t go trying to force your religion on me or tell us that we have to recognize your religion or this or that.  This country was founded by peoples seeking religious freedom.  The Puritans who came here and settled in New England were Christians; they pretty much formed the basis of democracy in America.  Our Founding Fathers were Christians not Muslims or Buddhists or anything else.  It is insulting to me as an American to have anyone say we can’t say a prayer before school or before a public meeting.  If you don’t want to participate, you don’t have to.  No one is forcing you to participate. 

Oh, and let’s remember why the Founding Fathers wanted a separation of church and state. They didn’t want to remove the influence of religion or God from our lives or our government.  They just didn’t want our government controlled by the church.  Only extremists would believe that we should remove ‘In God We Trust’ from our currency or that we should take out ‘Under God’ from the pledge of allegiance.  If we spiritually emasculate ourselves and our government, we will forget what has made this nation so great.  If we appease the people who favor political correctness when it comes to this, we’ll forget our values and those values that we important to our Founding Fathers—love of country and love, faith, and trust in God.  I certainly don’t want public gatherings to turn into worship service or school kids to be forced to pray, but I don’t want God totally removed from our country as some would have it and make our nation completely secularized.    

 

If you'd like to read about Issue #1, click here: 7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion.

If you'd like to read each blog post as we publish, consider subscribing to the blog and you'll receive each new blog post in your inbox.

 

~ Digger

 

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7 Stupid Issues in America Today - Issue #1 Abortion

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Wednesday, 11 April 2012
in Digger Cartwright

7 Stupid Issues in America Today

Americans and the media regularly debate a host of social, moral, and religious issues.  It is alarming to see the emotion that many individuals have invested in these issues.  Clearly, emotions have clouded the rational judgment and logic of these individuals.  It is good to be passionate about what you believe in, but such passion is a detriment when trying to work to solve the problems of America and society and often leads to divisiveness and animosity towards those with opposing views.

The debates seem to intensify during each election cycle when the politicians are grilled on their positions and beliefs on some very divisive social issues.  There are many clearly established laws that relate to the issues being debated.  While it may be interesting to see how politicians or candidates feel about these issues in helping decide who gets your vote, their positions are largely irrelevant as their ability to change established laws is somewhat limited.  Further, these issues are irrelevant when it comes to solving the greater challenges of America and restoring our greatness as a nation.

To me, it seems like there are seven stupid issues that people talk about, particularly in an election year, and to which they attribute too much importance.    

 

Issue #1: ABORTION

·         Abortion—Really?  Roe v Wade clearly established laws on abortion in 1973 that supports a woman’s right to have an abortion up to the point of viability which is about twenty-eight weeks.  Yet nearly forty years later, we’re still talking about this.  Why must we as a society still be bombarded with people wanting to make abortion completely illegal?  Are these people claiming to be God and know exactly when life begins?  Give me a break.  These are the same hypocrites that accuse pro-choice supporters of playing God and ending life.  Guess what, folks, if you make it illegal it will still happen.  We’ll go back to the days of coat hangers in dark alleys or unsafe practices that jeopardize the woman’s life.  And I’m willing to bet that those people who are against abortions would be singing a different tune if their daughter or sister got raped or molested and got pregnant.  Hmmmm…interesting, isn’t it? 

 

But don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should be more liberal on abortion.  It shouldn’t be a convenient means of birth control which is what would happen if the abortion laws were more liberal.  More and more people are broadly favoring a woman’s right to chose within the current legal framework while only a small percentage are abjectly opposed to abortion.  Let’s quit debating this on a national level.  To those who want to make all abortions illegal, guess what…that isn’t going to happen.  It would be political suicide for your elected Congressman or Senator to vote to restrict a woman’s right to choose.  And even if by some stretch of the imagination legislation were passed to ban abortions, the Supreme Court would probably strike it down.  Roe v Wade isn’t going to be overturned, so let’s quit talking about this issue and move onto more important matter. 

 

Look for Issue #2 coming soon!  

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~Digger

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Solution #8 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #8:

 

 

Vote Them All Out and Start Over—Well, this idea is pretty simple. What we’ve got in

Washington, D.C. right now isn’t working. So, let’s get rid of all of them. Wipe the slate clean,

and start all over. If you’ve been in the federal government before, whether elected or not, the

people just shouldn’t vote to you. If we keep electing them, we’ll just get more of the same as

former members of the Congress or of the government will come out of the woodwork to get

back into some position of power. Each and every seat in the Congress belongs to the American

people, not one individual or any particular party. We don’t have peerages in America where

you get a seat if you have a certain hereditary advantage. The American people need to wake

up and smell the roses. The people in Washington aren’t working for you. They’re working for

themselves and they will do or say whatever it takes for self preservation—for keeping their

seat and position. The media is biased and is going to push certain candidates who support a

particular agenda. Let’s educate the American people about how they’re being taken advantage

of by the politicians and their special interest financial backers and lobbyists in Washington.

Let’s find some good, hardworking American citizens and taxpayers to run for these seats

and let’s get them elected. Let’s tell the media to start reporting the news and not trying to

make the news so that the voting population can be informed about the candidates, their

qualifications, and their goals for America. Let’s get people elected to the Congress who aren’t

career politicians or lawyers but who are interested in saving America from the self destructive

path that we’re being led down.

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Solution #7 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #7:

 

 

Make Congress Like Jury Duty—This is a pretty revolutionary concept. Let’s make serving in

the Congress like jury duty. If you meet certain qualifications (education, citizenship, etc.) and

if your number gets called up, you’re going to be the congressman or senator for the next two

years or six years, respectively. If this system is good enough to determine a person’s fate in

a court of law, why wouldn’t this work in running our country? Your number gets called, and

you’ll be expected to show up in Washington to serve your term. While in Washington, these

people can be housed and fed as part of the package, given a per diem and salary as previously

discussed, or a combination of this. I think it would bring more common sense to Washington

and make the Congress more like our Founding Fathers had envisioned. And, it does away with

endless campaigning that diverts time resources from the candidate and billions of dollars that

could be better spent elsewhere on campaigning. There are millions of American citizens and

taxpayers who have good ideas that could help our country. However, politicians are always

telling us why our ideas won’t work and why their ideas are the best. Does anyone else find this

 

insulting? It sounds like the members of the Congress are intellectual elitists—you know, the

kind of people who know better than you and who, therefore, should do the thinking for you.

America has massive problems ahead. Let’s get some new ideas and new people from all walks

of life working together to solve these challenges. I think we would be surprised at how much

more efficiently and effectively the Congress would be.

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Solution #6 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #6:

 

 

Eliminate Riders and Amendments to Bills—Why should any bill put forth in the Congress get

amended to include legislation not in any way related to the original bill? Shouldn’t each and

every single bill get voted on by itself without riders or amendments? Shouldn’t the merits of

the bill itself be the chief factor in determining whether it passes and not because there was

some rider that got some votes to ensure passage? I think the majority of American people

would find this abjectly wrong. That’s why we have bills that are thousands of pages long and

that never get read by members of the Congress. It should be fairly simple—the proposed

legislation should fit on less than two pieces of legal paper. The Bill of Rights didn’t need much

more space than that. Do we really need these complex documents that no one seems to read

or understand? Absolutely not! Riders are simply another way that members of the Congress

slip in pet projects for their district or state that may not stand the muster of a vote by itself.

This needs to change. Obviously, the members of the Congress are too lazy or too busy or too

stupid to read the entire bill. But then again, would you want to read a thousand pages of

lawyer language? Simplification is the key. If the everyday man or woman can’t understand

what’s going on, why should we entrust members of the Congress who have admitted to not

reading the bills to know any better? Let’s try this: Put each bill on two pages. Post the bill

online for public review for at least thirty days prior to a vote. Let the people review it and if

they have questions or concerns or objections their voices can be heard online or via telephone

calls to their elected officials.

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Solution #5 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #5:

 

 

Balanced Budget Amendment and Massive Restructuring of the Federal Government—Not

only does this help to stop the profligate waste of taxpayer money in the federal government,

it would devolve many powers that have been usurped by the federal government back to the

states. After all, it’s easy to spend other people’s money, and the Congress is pretty good at

that. First, we need to substantially reduce the size of the federal government by restructuring

departments to reduce overlapping programmes and eliminating a number of departments,

agencies, and programmes. For example, the Departments of Education, Energy, and Housing

& Urban Development, just to name a few, could be permanently eliminated with education

being devolved to the states. Second, once the federal government has been restructured and

cut to a more manageable level, the Congress can develop a balanced budget rule with caps on

spending increases. The Congress would then have to work within the framework of how much

revenue has been generated to fund government departments and programmes. With less size

and scope of the federal government and limitations on spending, members of the Congress

 

would be forced to be more judicious when it comes to spending and would be required to

work within strict guidelines. Thus, the Congress wouldn’t be debating endlessly about deficits

and raising the debt ceiling. Not only is a leaner, more efficient federal government in the

best interests of the American taxpayers, it is also an effective means of streamlining incessant

budget debates over bloated departments. What taxpayer wouldn’t agree that tightening the

purse string is a good idea, particularly when it comes to members of the Congress who control

spending and don’t seem to care how much they spend?

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Solution #4 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #4:

 

 

Cut Congressional Pay, Benefits, and Time Congress is in Session—Members of the Congress

certainly wouldn’t like this, but let’s remember nearly 50% are already millionaires. If we can

take out the graft from lobbying and cut the pay and benefits and retirement, maybe we can get

some people elected who are actually interested in solving America’s great problems and not

just looking to fatten their bank accounts at the expense of the American taxpayers. Congress

should be part time and they should be held to account if they aren’t able to get the job done

in their allotted time frame. Let’s look at this scenario. Let’s say the Congress is in session

from January through March, the month of June, and again in October and November up to

Thanksgiving. Perhaps we should make it that all members of the Congress are paid $30,000 per

year for this part-time service or a per diem. The rest of the time, they need to go back to the

districts they represent and their jobs. If you work for someone else, your employer must hold

your job for you while you are serving in the Congress. While you’re back home, you’re going

to be hearing a lot from the people of your district and you’re going to have to explain to them

what was accomplished while you were in Washington, D.C. With this scenario, no one is going

to be getting rich from public service. Isn’t that how our Founding Fathers envisioned this? Isn’t

that, in fact, how they did things? In the early days, members of the Congress received a small

per diem of $6.00. They didn’t start getting paid a salary until 1855. Who’s going to accomplish

more—the Congressman only making $30,000 per year and having to work the normal job as

well or the Congressman who makes $174,000 per year and does this for a living with more

benefits from lobbyists? I think more gets accomplished by someone who isn’t financially

motivated for being there. If you’re going to serve as a Congressman and only make $30,000,

you’re probably there because you want to be there and you feel you can make a difference.

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Solution #3 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 27 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #3:

 

End Lobbying—Here’s a simple way to look at this issue: Lobbying=Corruption. Here how it

works. Congressman Doe or Senator Smith decide to retire and go to work for XYZ Lobbying in

Washington. Since they know a lot of people in the Congress, they have access to them to talk

about issues and problems; they can bend their ear and get the inside track as to what is going

on in the Congress. So, XYZ Lobbying is hired by the Anti-Widget group to get legislation passed

in the Congress to outlaw widget manufacturing. Senator Smith then schmoozes with members

of the Congress to try to influence their vote on the anti-widget bill. This may involve nice

lunches, trips, tickets to events, and so on. Oh, of course, it’s not that flagrantly obvious. It’s

usually disguised some other way so that it doesn’t come across as graft but that’s what we’re

talking about here—using money to influence the Congress. It happens each and every single

day.

 

There’s no money in politics; the money is in the graft. Lobbying corrupts the integrity of the

Congress and its members and is nothing more than good, old fashioned vote buying. Poor Rod

Blagojevich is going to be spending the next 14 years in prison for trying to sell the Illinois Senate

seat vacated by Obama when he was elected President. I’m not defending what he did by any

means, but if we’re going to put him in prison for that we need to start investigating the entire

Congress. What he did goes on everyday in Washington and every member of the Congress

 

has been lobbied for something. Let’s not be hypocritical about this. Every Congressman and

Senator should renounce lobbying and support legislation to ban the practice. Does anyone else

think it suspicious that most of the members of the Congress end up millionaires? Maybe that’s

why they’re not willing to ban lobbying.

 

Your Turn:

 

What do you think:  Is solution #3 something that can happen in our country?

 

Please comment!

 

~Digger

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Solution #2 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
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on Friday, 23 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #2:

 

Strong Third Party—I have long argued that America needs a strong and viable third party. I

 

thought we came close to that with Ross Perot back in 1992. We need a good, solid third party

that’s made up of the centrists in both the Republican and Democratic parties, the moderates as

they are called, like the Libertarian party. If we had ten or twenty Libertarians in the Senate and

eighty or a hundred in the House and the rest of the seats were fairly evenly divided, it would

force compromise to get anything done and limit the ability of extremists in each party to force

through damaging legislation.

 

Let’s look at the United Kingdom. They’ve got three major parties: the Tories (Conservatives),

the Labour, and the Liberal Democrats. The Tories have 305 seats out of a total of 650 seats

in the House of Commons. Labour has 253 seats and the Liberal Dems have 57 seats. The

other parties have about thirty seats or so. As you can see, no one party won a majority to

form a government, so the Tories decided to work with the Liberal Dems to form a coalition

government. The Tories can’t get anything done without the help and support of the Liberal

Dems, who don’t always side with the Tories. It makes for an interesting working relationship

and lots of compromise. Wouldn’t this be a good thing in Washington, D.C.? It seems like a

lot more would potentially get done for the American people and less time wasted in bickering

between the two parties. Sadly, the two main parties aren’t going to let a third party be

successful and will work against any third party candidate. And it seems like the media is against

third party candidates as well. When was the last time you heard CNN or Fox News or CBS or

NBC or ABC mention a Libertarian candidate? I seem to recall as well that Ralph Nader when he

ran for President with the Green party wasn’t even invited to most of the debates. Why doesn’t

the establishment and the media want a viable third party?

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10 New Ways to Deal with Illegal Immigration

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
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on Wednesday, 21 March 2012
in Digger Cartwright

The issue of illegal immigration continues to be a major problem in the United States.  In 2008, I proposed ten ways to deal with illegal immigration.  Since then, the problem has become worse and little has been done by the federal government.  Therefore, I’ve come up with ten new ways to deal with illegal immigration.  If you didn’t like my last set of proposals, you probably won’t like these any better. 

·         Run the Gauntlet—Let’s give the illegals from Mexico a sporting chance to get here and gain citizenship.  We’ll make it like American Gladiators.  Let’s build a twenty foot high concrete wall surrounded by barbed wire and a moat filled with alligators or water moccasins.  On top of the wall we’ll have armed guards.  If you can make over the wall alive and both feet touch the American soil, you’re in.  If not, thanks for playing.

 

·         Mass Deportation—Let’s start checking ID’s ever chance we get.  Suspicious Americans could begin witch hunts to turn in people suspected of being illegal based solely on ethnicity.  If you don’t belong here, you get sent back to where you came from. 

 

·         Militarize the Border—We have over 28,000 troops guarding the border between North and South Korea.  Let’s bring them home and all the troops we have stationed everywhere else and militarize our border with Mexico.  Good luck getting through that.             

 

·         Auction off citizenships—We can establish a quota of the number of citizenships we want to auction off each year for each country.  Mexico may get 20,000.  The highest bidders get the citizenship so long as they pass a background check.   

 

·         Drastically Cut Student Visas—Students who attend school in the United States then don’t leave contribute to the growing illegal population.  We don’t need to be educating these people at the expense of our own taxpayers and citizens. 

 

·         Annex Mexico—Let’s annex Mexico as a territory and open it up for massive real estate development, tourism, and industry once we’ve sent in the military to crush the drug cartels.  We’ll then have access to about 12 billion barrels of proven oil reserves and opportunity to wean ourselves from foreign oil.  We’ll make the territory exempt from EPA regulations, etc., and it is easier to guard the border between Mexico and Guatemala and Belize than the U.S./Mexico border.  

 

·         Indentured Servitude—We should offer citizenship to those who wish to immigrate here in exchange for seven years of service to the military or individuals or businesses.  Upon discharge from their indentured servitude, they are granted citizenship. 

 

·         Prohibit Illegals from Accessing Public Services—Let’s see, if they can’t get a driver’s license or identification card, they can’t get a job, rent an apartment, get utilities, etc.  Make sure they can’t put their kids in our schools and use taxpayer funded services.  No use to stay if they can’t survive here.

 

·         Expand Worldwide Investment in Mexico—Let’s promote investment in Mexico.  If other countries and businesses invest there, the Mexicans won’t want to come here.  There will be plenty of jobs there for them to support their families.  Employers can build factories there and pay substandard wages to be able to compete with China.  They won’t need to come here seeking work and many of them that are here will return home.

 

·         Open the Gates—If we aren’t going to get serious about illegal immigration, let’s just open the gates and tell them to come on in; the more the merrier.  Just make sure they pay their taxes… 

 

There is no one solution to this problem.  Any solution must address many aspects of the complex challenges posed by illegal immigration.  If we’re not going to get serious about addressing the problem, let’s move on to solving other problems.

 

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Solution #1 to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Tuesday, 20 March 2012
in Politics

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

Today, I'll expand on solution #1:

 

·         Term Limits—Our Founding Fathers did not envision a system in which we had career politicians.  Serving in the government was an honor, but it was a short-lived responsibility.  Our leaders back then were planters, lawyers, tradesmen, businessmen, first and foremost.  They were politicians second.  They served their country then went home and back to their careers and business.  Were there some career politicians?  Yes, but nothing like the number of career politicians that we have today.  Term limits today would take away power in the hands of a few senior senators and congressmen who control powerful committees that make laws, develop budgets, etc.  Serving in the Congress should not be about amassing power because you’ve been there the longest.  Serving in the Congress should be about doing what is best for America. 

 

If you’re a newly elected congressman, the first thing that is going to happen when you get to the Capitol is that leaders from your party are going to say this, “You’re going to vote for this, this and this, and we’re going to put you on this committee and you’re going to do this.  If you don’t do what we tell you to do, you’ll be put in the icebox and never get anything for your district.”  The Congress shouldn’t work that way.  Each and every elected representative should be on equal footing with everyone else there.  Term limits would bring fresh blood and new ideas into the government on a more regular basis and perhaps do away with bitter, long running rivalries between certain personalities on opposing parties.  If the President of the United States has a term limit, why shouldn’t the members of the Congress also have a term limit?    

 

What do you think?

Do you see it?  

Do you see other solutions?

Please comment and join the conversation.

 

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8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

Posted by Digger Cartwright
Digger Cartwright
Robert “Digger” Cartwright is the author of several mystery stories, teleplays, and novels including The Versa...
User is currently offline
on Monday, 19 March 2012
in Digger Cartwright

8 Solutions to the Dysfunctional Political System in America

 

We all know that the current atmosphere in Washington, D.C. can be described as dysfunctional.  I’ve been giving a lot of thought to ways that our dysfunctional political system could be fixed.  Here’s what I’ve come up with.  

 

·         Term Limits—Our Founding Fathers did not envision a system in which we had career politicians.  Serving in the Congress should not be about amassing power because you’ve been there the longest.  Serving in the Congress should be about doing what is best for America.  Term limits would bring fresh blood and new ideas into the government on a more regular basis.      

 

·       Strong Third Party—We need a good, solid third party that’s made up of the centrists in both the Republican and Democratic parties.  If a strong third party deprived the other two parties of a majority in the Congress, it would force compromise to get anything done.  Why doesn’t the establishment and the media want a viable third party?   

 

·         End Lobbying—Lobbying=Corruption.  There’s no money in politics; the money is in the graft.  Lobbying corrupts the integrity of the Congress and its members and is nothing more than good, old fashioned vote buying.  Does anyone else think it suspicious that most of the members of the Congress end up millionaires?  Maybe that’s why they’re not willing to ban lobbying. 

 

·        Cut Congressional Pay, Benefits, and Time Congress is in Session—Congress should be in session from January through March, the month of June, and again in October and November up to Thanksgiving.  Members of the Congress should be paid $30,000 per year for this part-time service or a per diem.  The rest of the time, they need to go back to the districts they represent and their jobs.      

 

·        Balanced Budget Amendment and Massive Restructuring of the Federal Government—First, we need to substantially reduce the size of the federal government by restructuring and eliminating a number of departments.  Second, the Congress can develop a balanced budget rule with caps on spending increases.  What taxpayer wouldn’t agree that tightening the purse string is a good idea, particularly when it comes to members of the Congress who don’t seem to care how much they spend?

 

·      Eliminate Riders and Amendments to Bills—Shouldn’t the merits of the bill itself be the chief factor in determining whether it passes and not because there was some rider that got some votes to ensure passage?  It should be fairly simple—the proposed legislation should fit on less than two pieces of legal paper.  The Bill of Rights didn’t need much more space than that.  Do we really need these complex bills that no one seems to read or understand?       

 

·       Make Congress Like Jury Duty—If you meet certain qualifications (education, citizenship, etc.) and if your number gets called up, you’re going to be the congressman or senator for the next two years or six years.  If this system is good enough to determine a person’s fate in a court of law, why wouldn’t this work in running our country?  I think it would bring more common sense to Washington and make the Congress more like our Founding Fathers had envisioned. 

 

·         Vote Them All Out and Start Over—What we’ve got in Washington, D.C. right now clearly isn’t working.  So, let’s vote all of them out.  The people in Washington are working for themselves and will do or say whatever it takes to keep their seat.  Let’s find some good, hardworking American citizens and taxpayers to run for these seats and let’s get them elected.       

 

I think we can all agree that we need solutions not just lectures and excuses from politicians. 

 

Robert Frost once said that,

“Freedom lies in being bold.” 

 

We need bold solutions to our problems, and that necessitates a better working relationship between the parties in Washington.   

 

~Digger

 

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