I was going to talk about Trump threatening a veto on the
spending bill being him just trying to bully his way into getting more money
for his wall. That was yesterday, and this is today. He signed it yesterday and
quite frankly for totally different reasons I wish he had vetoed it. And not
because of Coulter or Ingraham. Rand had the best reason: no one has had time
to read it. Seriously folks a 2000+ page spending bill printed one day before a
vote, passes Congress and then they go on “recess”. This is a totally
irresponsible way to govern a country. WE NEED NEW MAJOR PARTIES. The two we
have on the National level just don’t give a flying flip about anything, but
their own self preservation and they are doing a horrible job of that, much
less governing. Please what does it take to get people to wake up, this needs
more than “fixin”.
In Texas the other day a four-year-old child accidentally
shot a 7-month-old baby. I’m saying this, damn the repercussions because I know
I am right. The owner of the gun needs to be charged with a felony and their
rights to own a gun need to be taken away. When you are so irresponsible that
you cannot keep your guns out of the hands of small children you have no
business owning a gun. This is not about rights; this is about common sense. The
NRA etc… can scream bloody murder this is about taking guns away from people.
NO! This is about common sense. No one in their right or left mind can even
begin to accept this as a way to own a gun or argue about gun rights. I propose
that all states enact legislation that makes it a felony that if a small child
injures anyone or causes damage no matter how inadvertent or accidental the
owner needs to be charged. I don’t care if it never happens again and this is a
one-time event. The legislation needs to be created and enacted. A lower level
felony or what I do not care, but a felony.
And the above is different from background checks for gun
purchases. We need to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Yes, this
will not solve all the mass murders in this country. Again, though this is
common sense. People who are unstable and proven to be such do not need guns.
And this does not take away anyone’s rights. Trump took away more rights when
he made his statement about taking guns before due process and all that got was
someone whispering in his ear later, maybe you need to rephrase that statement,
no backlash for that insanity.
And speaking of enacting legislation; we should cut election
season down significantly. I propose that you cannot file to run for office no earlier
than nine months before the general election. Independents and members of the
different parties all have the same start time. Independents can start
gathering signatures and campaigning immediately. Members of the various
parties can hold primaries four to six months before the general election. Yes,
this means all states will be holding primaries around the same time and even
in Presidential years. Local elections cannot start campaigning till 30 days
before the primaries. Presidential candidates can begin 60 days before a State’s
primary. And guess what I will also propose serious spending limits on how much
a candidate and campaign can spend and the complete abolishment of what was
created under the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. Another words you cannot buy excessive TV
time or other ad time. You must campaign. And to prevent the internet abuse,
only certain ads can be displayed and bought for the internet. The one positive
change is the National government can create a channel or use time on PBS for
the Presidential Candidates to have speaking time. The would be allowed up to
an hour a day for each candidate, major party, minor party or independent of
direct talk to the voters during the primary season. (Okay some criteria will
need to be applied for who can speak). And then once primary season is over,
there is no campaigning till 90 days before the general election. Yet with any party
can have a National Convention in July or August and this can be covered by the
media and the party can buy campaign ads during the convention, but after that,
nothing till 90 days before the first Tuesday in November.
All other elections, city, county, state and Congress
follows the 30 days before the primaries for campaign ads and campaigning and
then 90 days before the general election. Hopefully local governments would
also allow public television access for candidates up to one hour a day. And in
Presidential years the local candidates could also advertise during their
National Convention times.
A person cannot file, cannot announce till 9 months before
the general election. People will find some way to say this is unfair. The only
unfairness is to the independents and that is why they can start campaigning
and gathering signatures starting at the nine-month marker. Otherwise the party
apparatuses should be able to get their candidates up and running since the
party already has a machinery in place.
I see some problems with this, mainly because it does put
some power in the party machinery, but we need a break from constant
campaigning. Congress and other elected officials need to stay in their work
seat more often and actually govern. We must seriously lower campaign contributions
and make public who is giving to who. And we help compensate by giving free air
time for candidates to speak on public or other designated TV and radio
stations. Hopefully this forces candidates into telling people more about
themselves and more about their policy initiatives. This is a framework, so it can be tweaked, but
the general gist needs to stay with limited campaigning and limited financing.
Something like this is long overdue, but Congress being in constant recess and
Trump announcing his candidacy the day after inauguration for 2020 shows how
desperate is campaign reform needed.
And we need some accountability by corporations or internet entities
for data breaches. (not just facebook)
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