Yeah, I know, you can file this one away in the category of fantasy because we would be asking politicians to declare politics off limits. If that isn’t the ultimate Catch-22, I don’t know what is.
I was thinking about doing another retrospective about how both major political parties have abandoned and disenfranchised We the People. But, that really isn’t necessary. It isn’t as important how we got to this point as it is what we do about it now.
I was thinking about doing another write-up about the concept of service to country over self. But, that doesn’t demand a lengthy treatise. Just look around you and see who is concerned only about himself or herself and who really cares about others. How many of those in the latter category have you elected to public office recently?
What we really need are non-partisan elections where it’s not so much every man or every woman for himself or herself, but rather that each candidate must run based upon the issues and not upon party affiliation. What good is the Democrat Party or the Republican Party anyway? Good for nothing! If you think it’s a matter of quality control, you’ve got another think coming. It’s a matter of subjecting independent thinkers to mob rule as a matter of fact and in actual practice.
The one election here in Hawaii that I find the most interesting is that for the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu because it is nonpartisan. One does not run as a Republican or a Democrat or an independent. They simply run as who they are and they either win or they lose, they get elected or they don’t get elected. What you see is what you get. Or at least closer to it than if they were toeing the line of either political party.
Ask yourself what has partisan politics gotten us other than divisiveness and the need to be labeled either conservative or progressive or whatever other adjectives you can come up with. On issues regarding the environment and Native American issues, I actually agree more with those currently caucusing with the Democrats. On most other issues, including Christian and family values as well as foreign policy, I am much more aligned with the Republicans. But we really don’t need either party.
You really only have to look at how the GOP totally wimped out in this most recent election to see what I’m talking about. You can also look at how virtually all Democrats have done a total flip-flop from what they were saying 10 or 20 years ago. It’s not about values. It’s all about politics, folks. They will say or do absolutely anything to get reelected. That is their bottom line.
The entire process of having a nomination by the Democrats and Republicans and narrowing the field down to two candidates for president is basically counterproductive. Does anybody in their right mind really think Joe Biden is his own man and makes his own decisions? Even the Democrats aren’t that naïve.
So what would it look like in the Senate and the House of Representatives if everybody was elected on a nonpartisan basis? We wouldn’t need a majority leader or a minority leader or a whip to try to keep every other member in line. 100 Senators and 435 Representatives could simply vote for a leader of each chamber to schedule legislation and conduct business. Do you think the shenanigans of Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell are benefiting the United States of America? Of course not. They are simply in it for themselves and nothing more.
In the entire history of our country since the U.S. Constitution was ratified, there have been only 17 Amendments successfully passed. If you count only those since the Bill of Rights, they have only been 17 in well over two centuries. So, constitutional amendments are not something to be taken lightly. I personally do not favor a constitutional convention because I don’t trust today’s politicians to screw with our Constitution as there isn’t one James Madison among them. There are, however, quite a number of Benedict Arnolds.
But we really need to think seriously about the fact that our government has become 100% totally dysfunctional. This is not at all what our Founders envisioned. Instead of career politicians aligned with one of two so-called ideological factions, we need men and women who are deep thinkers who really care about the good of our country and who have no obligation to any political party to conform their thoughts or their actions.
The constitutional amendment that I have in mind would not just relate to elections for president or for U.S. Congress but would extend all the way to state and local elections as well, including governors, mayors, state legislatures, city council, judges, sheriffs and so on.
If candidates didn’t have that ubiquitous, yet both specious and misleading, [D] or [R] after their name, they would be obligated to formulate policies and platforms based upon a comprehensive understanding of the issues and to articulate them in debates between or among their opponents. It wouldn’t just be, look here, I’m Joe Biden and I’m a Democrat so if you’re a Democrat, you sure as hell better vote for me. Otherwise our political machine will zap you in ways you cannot even imagine.
Donald Trump did the unthinkable by challenging the establishment and trying to drain the swamp but there were just too many alligators. The swamp is just a symptom of our problems and not the origin. Allegiance to any organization rather than just We the People inevitably leads to corruption. In other words, our two-party system filled the swamp with swamp critters who do what swamp critters are prone to do. They devour their prey and fill their own tummies totally devoid of conscience.
As part of this proposed constitutional amendment, there should also be a provision prohibiting any office holder from beginning a new term after age 80 or for serving more than 12 years in that position. That would mean two six-year terms for a Senator or six two-year terms for a Congressperson. We need business men and women who can bring their expertise to our national legislative branch, not career bureaucrats who have forgotten who it was that sent them there or why they did so.
The whole purpose is to require our surrogates to remember that they work for us and not the other way around. We sent them there and we can limit their time in office. Surely by now we are all tired of self-serving demagogues inside the DC Beltway, state capitals and city halls. Political parties just enable them to conspire against us and to coordinate their efforts that undermine the national interests.
Now is the time for both national and personal introspection. Our government is broken. All I hope to do here is to facilitate discussion and consideration for correcting the misdirection of our country at this crucial juncture. I know that there isn’t one single politician who will throw up their hands and say, “Oh, gee whiz, he’s right and I’m wrong, so let’s start from scratch.” Ain’t gonna happen.
But, on the other hand, we need to get their attention about how displeased we are with their lack of leadership, absence of commitment and refusal to seek a consensus for the national good. We’re all tired of politicians saying what they think we want to hear and then doing just the opposite once they get elected. If we continue in the direction we’re going, that will never change.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it is a duck. If it looks like a politician and acts like a politician, chances are you should keep your hand on your wallet. Don’t trust any one of them any farther than you can throw them, figuratively speaking.
If you are pleased pink with the status quo, feel free to totally dismiss everything I’ve said here. Otherwise, whether you agree with me or not, either in whole or in part, do yourself and us all a favor by thinking how we can get our beloved America back on the right path. Right now the path we’re on leads farther into the deep dark swamp from which no light ever emerges and swamp critters run amok.
Brainstorming is the antithesis of groupthink. Your unique life experience gives you expertise like none other. Don’t waste it on self indulgence. We must remember who we are. We must also recall from whence we came. But most urgently, we must take control of our own destiny and wrest it away from the political reptiles.
Leaders like General George Washington who became our first president needed patriots like Thomas Paine to articulate and frame the issues and to rally the people. Governance is not intuitive. Consensus is a rare commodity. That’s why all sides of the issues and proposed solutions are essential and indispensable.
I will conclude with this thought. They are trying to censor the public discourse because they realize that when We the People are informed, we will never submit to tyranny. There’s a reason free speech was part of the very first amendment to the United States Constitution. Implementing the provisions of the 1st Amendment and ensuring its inviolability allows the 2nd Amendment to remain as a reminder that compliance with the U.S. Constitution is mandatory in case politicians ever forget that.
The next time we amend the Constitution, we need to eliminate the divisiveness of partisan politics so that We the People can have our voices heard. Nobody in our nation’s capital speaks for us now. Business as usual would be the death knell of our Republic. Those are the stakes.
COVID-19 lockdowns are taking down an independent news outlet
Nobody said running a media site would be easy. We could use some help keeping this site afloat.
Colleagues have called me the worst fundraiser ever. My skills are squarely rooted on the journalistic side of running a news outlet. Paying the bills has never been my forte, but we’ve survived. We have ads on the site that help, but since the site’s inception this has been a labor of love that otherwise doesn’t bring in the level of revenue necessary to justify it.
When I left a nice, corporate career in 2017, I did so knowing I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. But what we do at NOQ Report to deliver the truth and fight the progressive mainstream media narrative that has plagued this nation is too important for me to sacrifice it for the sake of wealth. We know we’ll never make a ton of money this way, and we’re okay with that.
Things have become harder with the coronavirus lockdowns. Both ad money and donations that have kept us afloat for a while have dropped dramatically. We thought we could weather the storm, but the resurgence of lockdowns that mainstream media and Democrats are pushing has put our prospects in jeopardy. In short, we are now in desperate need of financial assistance.
The best way NOQ Report readers can help is to donate. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal as well. We need approximately $17,300 to stay afloat through March when we hope the economy will be more open, but more would be wonderful and any amount that brings us closer to our goal is greatly appreciated.
The second way to help is to become a partner. We’ve strongly considered seeking angel investors in the past but because we were paying the bills, it didn’t seem necessary. Now, we’re struggling to pay the bills. This shouldn’t be the case as our traffic the last year has been going up dramatically. June, 2018, we had 11,678 visitors. A year later in June, 2019, we were up to 116,194. In June, 2020, we had 614,192. In November, 2020, we hit 1.2 million visitors.
We’re heading in the right direction and we believe we’re ready talk to patriotic investors who want to not only “get in on the action” but more importantly who want to help America hear the truth. Interested investors should contact me directly with the contact button above.
As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report going.
