It is with great pleasure that I dedicate this article to my Dad. I ask you to indulge me for just a moment as I give you some “behind-the-scene” information before I address the title issue of this article, the National Debt.
For many years, my Dad and I had a strained relationship. Over the years we have determined that there were two main factors that contributed to this:
1. I am like him in many different ways, yet it seemed as though we had very little in common;
2. As is typical with many fathers and daughters, he did not want to let me grow up, and I was anxious to grow up.
When I was about 34-years-old, there finally came a point in time where I sat him down for what I called a “come to Jesus meeting”. This meeting was the best thing that has ever happened in our relationship. I was very respectful to him, but told him he had to accept the fact that I was a grown woman, a wife, and a mother with my own thoughts and ways of doing things. I told him I never expected that he would agree with everything I did, thought or said, however, if we were ever going to have any semblance of a healthy relationship he was going to have to respect me as an adult, not just his daughter.
My Dad did not realize that he was making me feel this way in our relationship, and I am very grateful that he was receptive to what I had to say. One of my biggest regrets is that I did not have this talk with him many years before. We wasted many years of a very good relationship because I avoided having that difficult discussion with him.
I thought I had addressed the issues with him, and made my feelings known to him, but obviously I had not. Was it that I had an attitude with him that, “I’m a grown woman, you can’t tell me what to do”? Possibly. And that statement is true. However, looking back, I think I probably went about it in the wrong way. I had quite an attitude with him, trying to prove that I was an adult.
Before this conversation my dad and I would get into arguments frequently. I felt like I was walking on eggshells because I never knew what was going to set off the tinderbox between us. Because of this, phone conversations with him were very limited, and focused mainly on surface issues.
Now, my dad and I talk on the phone almost every single day, if not 2, 3, or 4 times a day. We talk about anything and everything. NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING is off limits when it comes to our conversations now. Things that I thought I would never be able to talk to my dad about we now have lengthy conversations on those topics.
One of the topics we talk about frequently is politics. This is unusual, in and of itself, because as I have mentioned in previous articles, I absolutely detest politics! I know, I know… very strange, since I am now writing for a Conservative Political news site.
I believe he enjoys the fact that this is actually something we can talk about a great deal more than I do, because he sees that I am taking an active interest in what is going on in this country and trying to do something to change it. This is also one of my greatest regrets- that previously I was like so many other people out there who could care less when it comes to politics. Because this attitude is so prevalent, we now have elected officials who have not been held accountable and feel they are the elite and should be able to make the rules for all of us “commoners”.
In discussing what is going on with our nation, one topic that is almost a daily part of our agenda is the National Debt.
He told me a couple of weeks ago that he has had enough of these politicians not listening to those who elect them, so he was going to write a letter to them to just lay the facts on the table. He told me he wanted me to help him get the letter out to every single member of Congress, and of course, I agreed. I am going to do something I absolutely hate, now- I am going to be “politically correct”. My dad is what we call “technologically challenged”.
He and my mom are actually visiting us this week, and he actually had the computer in front of him doing research! I was so proud of him! We have vowed to bring him into the 21st Century if it’s the last thing we do! But since we have not accomplished that goal with him, I am going to use the remainder of my article to post his “Common Sense Approach to the National Debt” here in my column. These are not my ideas, they are his. These are not my words, they are his. But with one very small exception, I agree a million percent with him!
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THE NATIONAL DEBT CRISIS
Personal – You have a budget. You don’t spend more than you bring home or disaster!!!!!!
Locals, States and Federal Government need to do the same.
As to the Debt Commission Suggestions: Social Security recipients have paid their “Debt to Society”. Government officials need to live accordingly. We have not received Cost of Living Adjustments for the last 3 years but government officials have had salaries, budgets, and etc. raised.
*SSI needs to be trimmed deeply. Most of the people on this program could be retrained for a job that they could do, taken off the payment rolls.
*”Crazy Check” recipients need to be taken off the system. This part of the program is nothing but a joke!
*Welfare recipients should be drug tested and if they test positive then taken off the Welfare Rolls and they lose their checks.
Welfare recipients should do work in Environmental Services (cleaning offices, streets, parks, etc.) or child care for those that have children (which is most of them), therefore they are doing something for society to receive the money; food stamps, housing, etc. This would give them more incentive to get out and find a better job. The way it is now they are able to do whatever they want all day and depend on taxpayers to support them. A woman should not be allowed to have more than 2 children on welfare before having the option to sterilization or any other children would be paid for by them including birth; medical; food; WIC, etc. this from birth to age of 18. A baby under the age of 1 year should not be allowed Food Stamps if they are on the WIC Program. WIC provides everything that it would need for nutrition.
*Unemployment recipients only receive unemployment checks up to 6 months. This has been the standard in the past, and has worked, there is no reason to pay people to sit home, all the while they are turning down jobs because the job “does not pay as much as unemployment.”
Taxpayer money should be used for defense and government operations ONLY– NOT for: Grants; subsides; studies; projects groups; bailouts; unions; pensions, etc.
Our taxpaying money should stay in the United States and not giving foreign aid to almost every country in the world, since most of the countries don’t help us and some take our money then protest against us. We give aid to other countries for drilling when our drilling program is neglected.
*Redesign the Tax System:
Do away with the current tax system and tax 10% across the board – Welfare Recipients to government officials and tax corporations 15%.
*Do away with several government departments (i.e.; Education – our young people are not getting quality education due to modern education (math), etc., Political correctness, etc. Labor Department – Cost of Living adjustments don’t consider food and energy, so what does the taxpayer should survive on? Also, unemployment figures do not consider people not working but are off the unemployment rolls. These are very important factors but yet this Department does not consider these important, so we do not need the Department of Labor. These are just 2 examples of government departments not needed. All of the other departments and agencies need to meet the strict criteria’s, also.
*Do away with Obama’s: Czars, Commissions, etc.
*Limit Obama’s budget as to travel, etc. However if the mileage tax is made law then Obama could pay off the National Debt since he never spends any complete days at the White House.
The term “Tax the Rich” should never be spoken because: Tim Geithner; Charlie Rangel; Jeff Immelt; Jesse Jackson; Al Sharpton; Reverend Wright; Louis Farrakhan; Black Panthers; AARP; ACLU and Labor Unions have proved that the government tax people (IRS) do not go after the “big guys.”
*Do away with Obama Care since this was a very illegal transaction and was highly misrepresented; elected officials did not read before passing, etc., which is their JOB! Mortgage Foreclosures had to redo their procedures, so should not Obama Care have to the same?
*Do away with the Congressional Budget Office since they cannot be objective with figures (they are supposed to be neutral but have proven several times lately that the CBO is very tainted).
FOOTNOTE:
*Tax Payers Rights – not: ACLU; Labor Unions; Foreign Countries, etc. The ACLU, Labor Unions and other groups should not “trump” the average taxpayer of the United States. These groups have caused the United States to go from #1 in many fields of opportunity down toward the bottom of even some of the 3rd World countries. If these groups think they are needed in the United States then why don’t they go to the 3rd World countries and reform them. These groups should leave us taxpayers alone and go overseas with their idiotic ideas.
P. S. I personally challenge the Federal Government to try these mentioned measures and then tell me that I am wrong.
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The points my Dad made are just basic, common sense. He is not college educated. He is life educated! Real world experience allows you to fail, which gives you the opportunity to pick yourself back up, allowing for success. It’s quite obvious that common sense is non-existent in Washington and State governments, or you would have seen these common sense, basic concepts implemented years ago!
I believe a lot could be accomplished if the things my Dad took a common sense approach to in his notes above were to be implemented in addressing our National Budget crisis. As my Dad stated in the beginning of his notes, in our personal budgets we do not spend more than we bring home or we have disaster! This is one of the first, basic lessons my parents taught me. I am very grateful that they did, because for me, this is just the way things are done.
If this concept would have been implemented in our National Budget, things would most certainly be different today. We have proof of this in the housing market. Many people signed papers to purchase a house that was way out of their price range, and now they cannot afford it. A very good friend of mine was pre-approved for a mortgage almost twice what they were comfortable paying. They planned their budget out, knew what they were comfortable paying, and were quite shocked to find out how much they were pre-approved for. Thankfully, they had common sense and did not get into a house that was way more than they could afford.
I also believe a lot could be learned from mine and my Dad’s relationship. If I had sat down with him years ago and addressed him matter-of-factly, with respect, rather than with a “know-it-all” attitude, maybe he would have realized how he was making me feel. On his part, it would have been a bit more difficult to sit down and address things, because this is one area where we clashed. But if he could have approached things with me from an adult approach rather than a Father-Daughter approach, I believe we could have “nipped things in the bud”, as Barney Fife used to say, a lot quicker! However, as a Mom I see how that could be quite difficult, especially if your child is not approaching things from a mature, respectful point of view. By both of us being stubborn in each of our approaches, rather than building on our relationship, we were both actively pushing each other further away.
Just one side-note, where his notes are concerned. The one small area I disagree with him on is where he says that a woman should be limited to just 2 children receiving benefits on welfare. You may be surprised to know that I believe that there should be a limit of 1 child on welfare. If you have another child when you are on welfare, you do not qualify for further assistance. If you are following my articles in the Broken System: Foster Care section on this website, you will start to see in my news few articles why I say this. Am I being heartless? When it comes to the irresponsibility of so-called parents, yes, I am heartless! These countless innocent children are the ones that are paying the price for the adults irresponsibility! Someone, somewhere, somehow, someway HAS to stand up for these children! It’s called tough love! My parents had to apply tough love to me when they were raising me- and even as a young adult- and at the risk of sounding conceited, I believe I turned out quite well!
