Your Wish to Change 5 Things in America
Suppose you had the power to change five things to make America better and more free. What would those five things be?
Your answers can range from government and politics to media and culture, and everything in between.
My Answers:
- 1. Repeal the 16th Amendment. (This would eliminate the IRS and reinstitute a much-needed check on the federal government.)
- Repeal the 17th Amendment. (This would reverse the trend toward destructive democratic socialism by taking power from the federal government and giving more to the states, where it belongs.)
- Repeal the Federal Reserve Act. (To prevent the federal government from robbing the people through inflation.)
- Get off foreign oil by investing in renewable energy. (This would do more to solve terrorism than anything else. Not to mention the environmental impact.)
- Revive private and public virtue through classical liberal education. (This would significantly reduce dependency, apathy, and degeneracy, all of which are killing our Republic.)
What are your top 5?
Hi Stephen: Sure do enjoy your comments.. You have a way to express things that impresses me…keep it up..just one question I have regarding your comment on “renewable energy” ….what would you include we utilize other than oil or fossil fuels? Wind power is so limited and solar likewise:eg what if the wind doesnt blow all the time, or what do you do when the sun sets? Just what would you include under “renewable energy?” Seems to little old me that the good Lord sure did stack the earth with a lot of oil and other products that are largely still untapped due to the environmentalists’ demands…Hydrogen powers have yet to be tapped; so many things outside my ability to express them are there, waiting to be discovered…I grew up talking to people all over the world with my ham radio I built in the 1940′s using vacuum tubes, and then someone discovered the transistor, then the cell fone et al, the p/c, etc…surely the powers that created this old world were smart enough to keep ahead of problems regarding fueling our economy and it seems that there are plenty of fossil fuels lying there to be exploited…Forgive me for rambling, but the way we seem to be going after solutions really bothers me!! As I approach my 89th natal day I know my days are numbered and you younger guys will have to solve things. I had it pretty good all my life…Gas was17c a gallon . burgers were 10c. ,movies 25c…guess I got kinda spoiled and am chafing now against the powers who seem bent on destroying our way of life.
best wishes,
Herb Gleason
Steve,
Talk me through this one—how is taxing people to invest in renewable energy not going to be government taking over the energy markets? It would do us worlds of good to get off foreign oil. Loads of good is so many ways. But is that the right way?
I TOTALLY agree with every other point in your top 5. I might reverse the order and go 17th first, and 16th second. But that is almost negligible.
David,
My rationale is that it’s a national security issue.
Why do terrorists hate us? I believe it’s because we have so many troops spread across the world and we’re so interventionist.
Why did we instigate the war on Iraq? It sure wasn’t because of WMDs or some imminent threat from Saddam.
I maintain that it was to protect our oil interests.
But if we have no oil interests to protect, we have no reason to be there. We bring home our troops from the middle east and elsewhere, stop our aggressive interventionist foreign policy, stop nation-building, and terrorists have nothing to complain about.
Put it this way: Would you rather spend $12 billion per month in Iraq, or $12 billion per month on actually solving the problem?
We’re taxing the people anyway. We might as well use those tax dollars to actually get to the root of the problem.
True on the terrorist. I would favor bringing the troops home, cutting the spending and opending up our own reserves.
Granted the possibility of opening our reserves is about a bogged down as humanly possible with — Red tape, environmentalists, state rights, legal action, and maybe a treaty or two.
Good on you steve. Keep the juices flowing.
Herb,
I agree that the current state of alternative energy isn’t looking good.
I just finished reading The Long Emergency by James Kunstler, which talks in great detail about our current options. Essentially, we have nothing that comes close to cheap fossil fuels.
Still, I’m optimistic about the power of human innovation. I believe that we can find a solution.
Understand that I’m not against using fossil fuels for environmental reasons, although I do consider myself an environmentalist to an extent (I believe we are to be stewards over the earth).
Like I responded to David, it’s a national security issue. My reasoning is that it will solve the problem of terrorism.