I recently interviewed myself.  Here is the fifth question I asked.

5. Are any of your novels going to be a series and are any of your characters going to make

additional appearances?

 

Well, each book so far has been self-contained. There’s nothing that carries over into future

books. The Versailles Conspiracy does leave the door open to a sequel, and in fact, I have that

on the drawing board. I think it’s still a couple years out based on my current schedule. There’s

something very endearing about Feltus Boone La Mont from Murder at the Ocean Forest. I’d

like to bring him back for additional books, but there’s nothing in the works right now. There’s

no possibility for a sequel to The House of Dark Shadows. There will be additional books in The

Maynwarings series down the road. I really like the characters in that and I think there are a

number of possibilities for additional books. Right now, however, I’m working on a series called

Gems & Jewels. I’ve planned out four or five books in the series. My plan is to work on one of

those each year until they’re done then come back to potential sequels or series of other books.

Look for the first installment of Gems & Jewels sometime in early to mid-2013. Right now, I just

have so many ideas and outlines that I’ll be busy writing for a long time.

 

You’ll see all of the Maynwarings in future books set in Carson City back in the Old West.

Lieutenant Wickland will definitely be making additional appearances. He’s going to have a new

partner in the future books, so that should make it interesting. I never really planned on doing

anything further with Murder at the Ocean Forest, but everyone really likes Feltus, the house

detective in that one, so I’m pretty inclined to bring him back. I’ve got some ideas for that, but

there’s nothing planned for the immediate or foreseeable future. While I’d like to bring him

back, there are other more worthy projects in the works. Honestly, I suspect it may be three or

four years before I get around to bringing him back in anything.


~Digger

 I interviewed myself recently. Here is the fourth question I asked and the answer I received. 


4.  Are any of your books based on a real-life experience?

 

No, none of the storylines are based on any real-life experiences. I get asked that question a lot.

I guess most writers write about something they know or get their plots from real life. I’ve got

a pretty vivid imagination, and I don’t lead a very exciting life, contrary to popular belief. Most

of my experiences are all business related, which don’t necessarily play well into my mystery

novels. I don’t model my characters after anyone. I know a lot of writers do that. I just get

a vision of these people and events in my mind and let it go from there. I mean, I don’t know

anyone that got murdered lately, so it’s sort of tough to write about that from experience.

Contrary to popular belief I wasn’t around back in the 1800s, so I didn’t have any personal

experiences to draw from when I wrote The Maynwarings: A Game of Chance.

 

Now, I will put references to real places or things in my novels. For example, I think Blenheim

Ginger Ale has shown up a couple of times. It’s my favorite ginger ale, so I try to work it in when

I can. I love giving companies and products I like a plug in my books. The Ocean Forest Hotel

was a real place in Murder at the Ocean Forest; I didn’t have any personal experience to draw on

with that hotel, so I had to rely on research, photographs, interviews with people, etc. The Ritz-

Carlton Atlanta figures into The House of Dark Shadows. I’ve been to that hotel, so I can use my

experience there to describe the place and all that. I’ve been to the Dunes Club in Myrtle Beach,

so I can draw from that experience in The Versailles Conspiracy. But being at these places just

helps to describe them. No real life experience at any of those places was the basis of the plot

or anything like that.

 

I’ll also put in some quotes that I like that I’ve heard over the years from friends. I think my

favorite is ‘It may not be what you want, but it’s all you’ll ever want.’ And of course, my friend

Sam, to whom The House of Dark Shadows is dedicated, actually coined that term in reference

to a business situation in which I found myself many years ago. So, I do take some things from

real life and insert them into the books from time to time, but plot wise all that comes from my

imagination.


~Digger

I interviewed myself recently. Here is the third question I asked and the answer I received.

3. When did you decide you wanted to write books and why?

 

I’ve always been an avid reader. I started reading mysteries back when I was in middle school.

I know that one of the first books I read was Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie. I think today

it’s called And Then There Were None. That’s probably still my favorite mystery book of all time.

I read that and then I got hooked on reading mysteries. I read everything from Agatha Christie

to Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn series to the Perry Mason books to Sherlock Holmes to Edgar

Allan Poe. I guess I just liked trying to solve the mysteries. I tried reading other stuff over the

years but couldn’t get into the science fiction or the romance or anything like that. Other than

mysteries and literature and some historical books or bios, I just couldn’t get into anything else.

 

What started me into writing was I didn’t like the end of some book or another. I don’t even

recall which one it was at the moment, but I didn’t like the author’s ending. So, I decided that I

would write a different ending to it. And I did. I started off when the next to last chapter ended

and went from there and wrote the ending that I had envisioned. I like to think my ending made

it a little better. It certainly made me happier than what the author had done. And that was

really my first taste of writing. I suppose if we looked back at that effort, it probably wasn’t as

good as I had in my own mind.

 

So after that I thought that I would give my hand a try at writing a short story or two. Well,

my first short story just got a little longer and a little longer. It was a murder mystery, a family

feuding over money, someone got killed and all the characters had dark little secrets. I’ve never

actually gone back and looked at that, but here again I suspect it wasn’t as good as I thought it

was.

 

I spent a lot of time in my youth dabbling in writing—short stories then screenplays. Yeah, I

decided that I wanted there to be more episodes of shows that I liked, everything from the

old TV Batman to Mission: Impossible. So, I came up with some storylines and used those

characters to write screenplays for them. They were pretty basic, and they relied a lot on

dialogue as opposed to prose. I could just say the scene was a bank or a hotel and that was all I

needed to do for the screenplay. I didn’t have to get into the whole describing the setting and

character’s emotions or thoughts or feelings.

 

My first actual effort at writing a novel was during the first Gulf War. I don’t know why that

inspired it, but it did. I got a notebook and started writing it out by hand. We didn’t have

laptops back then, I know that a foreign concept to you. I still had a manual typewriter that I

had to use for typing. So I wrote everything out by hand then changed things up a little and

added to the story and characters and all that when I typed it up. Needless to say this was a

very lengthy process. When I was done, I put it away and didn’t look at it again for years.

 

My first novel that was published, Murder at the Ocean Forest, came about in the summer of

2000. I had been doing some research on old hotels and came across information about the

Ocean Forest Hotel in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The original hotel had been torn down in

the 70s, but I was fascinated by the history of this place, so I started doing some research on

it. Well, there wasn’t much out there on the old place. The internet didn’t have nearly as much

information on it as is available now. But anyway, I was fascinated by this place so I thought

it would be kind of neat to write a book set in the hotel back in its heyday. I actually came up

with the characters and the entire outline while I was riding in the back of a limo from Miami

to Orlando. I started working on the actual novel on my laptop, I had one then, while I was in

Orlando, and I finished the manuscript about eight weeks later. Those were some pretty intense

weeks of writing. It was the only time I actually spent ten or twelve hour days working on a

manuscript. I finished it up and never changed one aspect of the story either, and it’s still I think

my favorite one for a number of reasons.


~Digger

Question 2

Do you make an outline when you write or just write?

 

Most of the time I do make some sort of an outline or roadmap or guide. I know that I’ve never

sat down and written a formal outline like they teach you to do in high school and college.

That’s just not for me. Normally, I’ll make a lot of notes when I’m coming up with an idea for

a novel. I’ll make a list of the characters and maybe have some notes about them. Then I try

to organize those ideas into how they flow in the story. Usually, I just make a list of what I see

happening and the order in which it happens. I try to go by that and let the rest just fall into

place. When I’m writing a novel, nothing is really set in stone. I may have a list of things that

are going to happen but as I get into the story I might throw something in that changes that list

or the order or adds or subtracts from it.

 

The process for me is really very fluid. Things can change. I can come up with another idea or

change some aspect or character for the better or worse as the case may be from time to time.

I may start going in one direction then change course midway through the manuscript. Some

writers are really rigid in their approach to writing. They create the whole outline, chapter by

chapter, and stick with it. Good for them if they can do that. I don’t know what kind of quality

they’re turning out, but whatever works for you.

 

The Versailles Conspiracy, for example, ended in a completely different manner than I had

originally anticipated. I threw some things into the plot along the way that I hadn’t originally

anticipated, and that made the original ending that I envisioned just a little too theatrical. The

original ending might be good for a movie version of the book, but it just wouldn’t have worked

for the novel. Personally, I think the ending of the book is far better than what I had originally

planned, but when I set out to write that book, I didn’t foresee it taking that direction. It just

sort of took on a life of its own and went in its own direction. The same could be said for The

House of Dark Shadows. It was significantly different in a number of aspects from what I had

originally anticipated and planned for.

 

I think writers need to keep an open mind and have a sense of flexibility when it comes to the

storyline. I know that both The Versailles Conspiracy and The House of Dark Shadows turned

out better for the flexibility that I had and the changes I made. But here’s what’s important. I

want each one of my novels to be unique. I want each one to have its own special attributes so

that they each take on a life of their own, if you get my drift. A lot of highly successful writers

have a certain format and stick to it like clockwork. Basically, all they’re doing is changing the

location and the character names. It’s sort of like one of my favorite TV shows, Walker, Texas

Ranger with Chuck Norris. Here was a show that only had like half a dozen different story

lines. All they did was change up the guest stars each week, but the stories followed the same

format…someone gets killed and Chuck Norris goes after them and beats the crap out of them,

end of show. If you read some of the top writers over the last twenty years, you’ll find that a lot

of their books follow the same format. I don’t think anyone can say that of any of my books at

this point.



~Digger

 

I interviewed myself recently. Here is the first question I asked and the answer I received.


1. Do you ever get writer’s block and how do you deal with it?

 

 

 

I do get writer’s block from time to time. I’d say that just about every writer battles that condition at some point. You can just be rolling along with a storyline and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Where do I go from here?’ And then there’s nothing more intimidating than sitting there staring at a blank page. To me writer’s block isn’t just not knowing what to say or do with the story, it can also be when you’re dialogue or prose just goes stale for a while. You can be writing your heart out then suddenly realize you’re not going anywhere with what you’re doing. It can be very frustrating, and I’d venture to say it’s the number one reason why people either don’t write or give up on a project.

 

For me I might have to step away for an hour or so or a day or longer if I’m stuck. I might sit in the hot tub and try to mentally work through the block. A good massage always helps. Maybe working out some frustration or anxiety at the gym. And I pace a lot. You know, the old walk back and forth until you come up with the solution. There’s really no cure for writer’s block.

 

For me, I have to be in the right frame of mind and the right mood if I’m going to write. If I’m not feeling it, it just isn’t going to work out for me and that’s when I have to battle the creature known as writer’s block. If I’m in the right mood, it just sort of comes naturally. I’ve learned not to try to force it, just let the creative juices flow when they’re ready. If I could sit for eight or ten hours a day and write, I’d be cranking out about eight books a year. It’s just not mentally or physically possible for me to do that. My brain would just overload if I tried to do that, so I wait for the right time and place and sit down and start writing. Let it happen. That’s why you only get one or two books a year from me, if you’re lucky. If I tried to force doing more, I know the quality would suffer, and I’ve always been one to prefer quality over quantity.

~Digger

 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

 

 

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

 

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


To read the previous 6 fixes, click on each link:

#1  Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

#5   Massive Infrastructure

#6  War

Fix #7:  US Offshore Oil

 

Oil reserves off the United States’ coastlines have been estimated

anywhere from 80 billion barrels and up. Why haven’t we been tapping into this? Liberals

and environmentalists, and I would remind you that they’re the ones who would scoff at my

recommendation we go to war with Iran and also the same ones who said President Bush went

to war with Iraq to get their oil. But these are also the same people complaining about high

gas prices when they go to fill up their gas guzzling vehicles and who wouldn’t dare think of

giving up driving in favor of public transportation. We need to tell these people to go to hell and

open up drilling anywhere and everywhere for national security purposes. Not only will we free

America from its dependence on foreign oil, but we will also spur massive investment in drilling

activities that will require jobs and ancillary services and businesses. If the Keystone Pipeline

project was going to create anywhere from 20,000 to 250,000 jobs, can you imagine how many

jobs would be created by drilling of the eastern seaboard or the coast of California? Do you

think that would get the economy going? Sure. And in addition, the federal government would

stand to reap massive financial windfalls which could be earmarked to pay down the national

debt. Sound like a win-win situation to me.



~ Digger


 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

 

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

 

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


To Read My other Blog posts, click on each corresponding 'fix'

#1   Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

#5  Massive Infrastructure

Fix #6: War

Nothing gets an economy going quite like a good old-fashioned war. Unfortunately, wars

are expensive both in terms of financial and human resources. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq

really stimulated the economy earlier in the decade, but it required a good deal of spending

and with little financial gain. If we’re going to have a war that pays for itself, we need to get

something out of the other side. In the case of Iraq, we should have taken their oil. Oh, wait

a minute, the liberals thought that was the whole intention of going to war with Iraq and they

demonized President Bush for it. Did we get any of the vast oil reserves in Iraq? No. Has it help

us in any way financially? No.

 

If we want a war that stimulates our economy and pays for itself, let’s take on Iran. We can

go in and wipe them out pretty easily. We make Iran the territory of East Virginia, take total

control of the area, and take the oil for ourselves. Let’s see, Iran has something like 150 billion

barrels of proven oil reserves. At $100 per barrel that’s something like $15 trillion dollars. It

wouldn’t cost nearly that much to take out the regime of Iran and take over the oil fields. So,

let’s see, we become energy independent, gas prices fall, the war machine creates jobs, we can

gradually pay off debt in America, and overall the economy gets going. How does that sound? 



~Digger

 

7 Ways to Fix the Economy

 

Anyone with half a brain can see that the U.S. economy is in a malaise. It’s just muddling along.

Unemployment is still high. Economic growth is low. Prices are rising for goods and services (just think

gas prices and food prices). Job creation is low (people you know that have been unemployed are still

unemployed). Small businesses are still struggling to survive given decreased demand and tight credit.

The real estate market is in the tank; house prices are still falling and foreclosures are likely to spike

this year. The banks are still in trouble, despite what the Fed says and does. Federal budget deficits

continue to be the norm, requiring additional increased in the national debt. There’s still a risk to the

U.S. economy from the economic crises in Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy and so on. All of these factors

paint a pretty bleak picture for the health of the economy.

 

I wholeheartedly believe that the U.S. economy is on the brink of a double dip recession. I would even

argue that the current environment is still recessionary even if it doesn’t meet the technical definition

of a recession. I suspect if you’re one of the millions of Americans struggling right now you’d probably

agree with that. If you’re doing well, you probably haven’t been impacted too much or noticed what

everyone else is going through. Sadly, it’s a situation of those that have a job prosper while those who

don’t have a job suffer, which on a side note is a sad reflection on President Obama’s class warfare

strategy that is attempting to divide this country. While we may not be able to stop the economy from

slipping back into a recession in the short term, we can take some actions to fix the economy for the mid

and long term horizons. I think there are seven actions that need to be taken to get the economy back

on track:


#1  Lower Taxes

#2  Cut Federal Spending

#3  Abolish Minimum Wage

#4  Confidence in Leadership & Administration

Massive Infrastructure

 

 

Infrastructure projects are great. We do need to have some massive

infrastructure projects, and I don’t think that should be limited to roads. We need to be looking

at infrastructure in terms of rail, power grids, hydroelectric power generation, wind farms,

bridges, nuclear facilities, ports, oil development, and research facilities.

 

The Chinese are making massive investments in infrastructure. They spent $900 million on

the Tianhuangping hydroelectric project. They’re spending $6.3 billion on the Xiangjiaba

Hydropower project, $5 billion on the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev railway, $7 billion on the

Xiludou Dam, $14 billion on the Harbin-Dalian Highspeed Railway, $18 billion on the Jiuquan

wind farm, $33 billion on the Beijing Shanghai Highspeed Railway, and $44 billion on building

highways to connect China, India, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Look at what these projects

mean and look at what we’re doing here in America. We’re falling way behind.

 

The I-73 project is a highway project that would go from Michigan to South Carolina. They’ve

been talking about this for decades, and it still isn’t done. When it comes to roads, we need

to get on it. We need a lot of road projects to make the flow of goods and people a lot easier

throughout the entire United States. Let’s expand I-95, I-10, I-40, and all the major highways.

If they’re six lanes now, let’s make them ten lanes. Let’s go ahead and start getting ahead of

the curve. Our population is going to continue to grow, creating more strains on the ability to

move goods and people easily. Let’s get the road projects going. Have crews working twenty-

four hours a day seven days a week if we have to, but let’s get them done. It wouldn’t take the

Chinese decades to build a road. And while we’re on transportation, let’s work on expanding

our ports. We’re going to have more and more goods coming into the United States, so let’s get

ready for it.

 

While we’re expanding our road systems, let’s go ahead and spend money on a high speed

 

railway that connects east and west and north and south. Not only would we be able to more

efficiently move goods and people but we would alleviate congestion on our roads and in our

skies. It should be a pretty easy concept; have the high speed railway follow the major highways

and branch off to other markets as well. Let’s get the project built quickly. Let’s not wait years.

And I’m not talking about the rail to nowhere out in California that people in L.A. need to drive

over 100 miles to get to before boarding to go to Las Vegas. That project isn’t going to do a bit

of good.

 

Let’s work on some wind farms and hydroelectric power projects and on updating our power

grid. Let’s work on offshore drilling, open up ANWR in Alaska, and build the Keystone Pipeline.

 

But let me throw in another idea with all this. Let’s privatize some of this. We can’t privatize

all of it, but we can certainly privatize a good deal of it. The projects that are worthwhile will

get funding from the private capital markets; those that aren’t won’t fly. Infrastructure has

long been an industry on which governments have monopolies. There are numerous examples

throughout the world of private infrastructure projects from toll roads and bridges to ports to

power plants to railroads. Privatized projects would get built in a fraction of the time as federal

projects.

 

We need to get on these infrastructure projects now—not tomorrow, not the next day, not next

year, not five years from now. We’re getting farther and farther behind. There’s a much larger

public good to be served by doing all these projects. We need to have the courage to just move

these projects forward and to hell with the lawsuits and the protests and the years of studies.

Let’s streamline the whole approval process. It’s embarrassing that the world’s superpower has

an antiquated infrastructure system. 


~ Digger

 

 

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

 

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

 

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