Learning every day

Saturday, June 13th, 2020 at 7:00 a.m., I'm late I know. Been thinking about stuff

Well, another week has dragged its hairy fat butt down the road,

I approach every day like it is one of learning. I don't set out to accomplish a specific item of learning on purpose most of the time. What I usually do is find something that interests me and then pursue it until I have learned enough about it that I understand it or I have come to realize that I really don't care that much about it all. Somedays turn into multi-story days with lots and lots of sub learning days about related subjects. It was like that when I went deep diving into the land of coding and that took several years of work, and pretty much ended when I retired. There wasn't much of a call for it anymore without projects to complete and things to do. The only thing I've ever regretted about it was the terrific amount of lying and fear it engendered in people who didn't understand it and who were threatened by it. It made some people I thought were my friends turn into a sort of backstabbing petty person. Oh well, such is life.

Yesterday I was talking about a need to reform the tax system and other aspects of American governance and expounding upon an idea I've had for a time now about replacing the income tax (actually all taxes) with a simple sales tax so that every single person who pays for an item would be supporting their government at some level. Rich and poor would all participate, with the caveat that you really couldn't eliminate the underground economy in some aspects and there probably would always be some level of theft and graft to deal with. Then a mathematical genius friend of mine pointed out to me that were seven levels of hell associated with my idea that actually made the situation worse for the poor and the elderly if it were implemented as I suggested. There were a lot of problems with my suggestions, ideas, rants, that try as I might I could not figure out a way to account for all that he responded. So anyway, I had an idea and it sounded good, was a good rant, and actually, it sucked and pretty much would not work in its form as suggested.

I have passion and heart and drive and desire and don't understand shit about taxes, as my friend Ed so eloquently pointed out to me. At least he took the time to educate me instead of just saying "You're stupid, this will never work", and walking away from it. I appreciate that about him and always have. We did reach a consensus I think on a couple of points that made some sense, like doing away with the $250,000 cap on Social Security earning and capping the payout at say, $3000-$4000 or something like that per month. Doing that pretty much saves and solves the insolvency issue surrounding Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. I know that its hard to envision this working under our current system, however, because while it would be good for all the people, it's not particularly good for those who have a shit-ton of money. I get to thinking about something and have an AHA moment and think I've stumbled onto something new and it turns out that thousands before me have already beat it to death.

That's ok however, it is not stopping me from thinking and talking. It shouldn't stop you either. It is how change really happens.

In other words, I had six ideas that I think would solve some problems.

Turns out these 3 make things worse
-Nope- Eliminate the Taxation of Income
-Nope- Eliminate the IRS
-Nope- Institute a National Sales Tax

And these three have some merit (at least I think so)
-Yes- Create Term Limits for every elected political position
-Yes- Eliminate the Professional Politician, eliminate the Lobbyist.
-Yes- Federalize Elections, standardize the campaign season, eliminate dark money altogether

There are a lot of high levels of professional politicians in the world today. There is even a school of thought that says we would be much better off with the trained long term type in office because they understand how to navigate the pitfalls of the legislative process without engaging in brinksmanship or triggering the laws of unintended consequences. I almost agree with this premise except for the tendency they have to see the political process as a way to accumulate personal wealth and then they never leave the office and become so well connected to the system that they start to believe their own hype and think they are indispensable.

There is another school of thought that says that term limits would introduce an uninspiring crop of amateurs without any formal legislative training that could wreak absolute hell on our nation. We've already seen some of that with the Tea party stupidity that has almost became mainstream politics now and with the election of people like AOC and that Habib wearing woman ole "what's her name", the two of them don't know enough about legislation to pass a bill about toothpicks without help. I really don't see how that helps us to be a better nation either.

One idea I had was a legislator's school. Non-Partisan sponsored training classes for anyone who wanted to run for office in certain positions or for whom having the position would be their first time. Not testing per se, but training all the same. We do it for other professions like Doctors, Lawyers, and Plumbers. I don't think this really is any different. You have to learn for example the basics of Roberts Rules of Order to be effective in the Senate, so why not a training class for a member of Congress? Or at least some proof you know how it works, like having served in the same sort of post in your home State, for example. A newly elected judge, if they have never been a judge before, receives some training to become certified as a judge especially in the lower levels in a lot of areas. I really don't see why this is any different. Do you really think a rookie with no knowledge going off half-cocked makes anything better?

Hell, that would lead to a bunch of Senators putting up with people like me all day and absolutely nothing would ever get accomplished. I could envision exchanges like the one if this video if you allowed that to happen. Youtube SNL Point-Counterpoint

Now here's my worthless Top Five of the day

1. Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are all having CoronaVirus peaks as new cases in these states are on an upward trend. Only Utah is showing a decline after all the reopening hoopla of the past two or three weeks.
   
   
2. These so-called Autonomous zones are a socialist convention and smack of communism. They should not be allowed to exist in the United States of America. We have a Constitution that governs and do not have a need for this.
   
   
3. The solicitor general (the top lawyer representing the US) to the Supreme court is planning to resign and he won't say why.
   
   Gee, I wonder.
   
   
4. Smart Home devices like connected refrigerators and such may stop working without notice as their security certificates begin to expire. Go to your manufactures website to see how to update your device manually.
   
   
5. Space-X is launching another 58 Starlink satellites early Saturday morning. This will add to the already 450 or so that are there. The idea is that it will start to provide comprehensive Internet Service to everyone. Not sure if it is a free service or not.
   
   See ya later alligators,
   
   BigMike