Better Than Sliced Bread

I would like to visit our Nation's Capitol one day. Yes, it is sad to say, but the PseudoIntellect's world travels have never led him to DC. (I've been to Detroit many times though; same murder, same drugs, different aesthetic value.)

I would love to dedicate a month, OK maybe a week, to the Smithsonian alone. The monuments...a must. The White House would be cool to check out, if for nothing other than to say you were there. I would love to go to the greatest of all puzzle palaces....The Pentagon. The Library of Congress. Ahhhh. That is my dream. I want to know if they have a "History" section.

I propose that someone from the Hill run, run, run as fast as you can down there and see if they have anything pertaining to Franklin Roosevelt. (Yes, this week's reading was the Gingerbread Man, which the K-Princess nailed!) So, if we can just find something on FDR. Got it? OK. Now, let's see if we can back it up to the New Deal. Anything? Good. Look now for something on the Public Works Administration. Is it there? Well, keep looking...

Times change and people change, but history just has this funny way of rolling right along. Why do we go to school? To learn. Well, some of us did....I think. One of the greatest lessons I ever learned was "make us of all available resources". My crazy, and I mean that in the MOST lovable way, grandpa tried to teach me that as a child, but he called it "get your head out of your ass and quit trying to reinvent the wheel." Both versions make complete sense to me. I'm not positive, but I think that an element of common sense may be required to accept the fact that the answers (part or some) may lie in the past.

Wow. What a concept. I know, I know. OK, stop it I'm blushing.

Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I am not 100% sure, but I don't think doom is a "positive" connotation there. I have a hunch it is meant to be a baaaaad thing.

If we can pay contractors hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild storm ravaged regions, think Louisiana and Mississippi, then why can't we employ people who do not have jobs? Why couldn't residents rebuild their own cities, earn a paycheck, stimulate the economy and pay taxes? Why can't people on welfare be put to work? Just think of the leveraged savings if welfare recipients got raises and assisted municipalities and state DOTs. Highway funding could be cut. Their payroll would shrink. I am not an economist, but I play one on TV.

Empower people. Give them a means to improve their lives instead of a handout. Allow people in bad situations to have an actual chance to improve it. The structure of this country is set up so that the poor stay poor and the rich get richer.

Close up all of the tax loop holes. Institute a flat tax rate. Yes, I am aware that this is not an original thought. I am also aware that it makes sense! Someone making $150 million per year should not be allowed to complain about paying $15 million in income tax (under a standard 10% flat tax rate) when someone making $50K pays $5K. Who feels it more? I guarantee you, it isn't the millionaire.

Another brainbuster? Let military units, or any government organization, roll over any unused portion of their budget into the ensuing fiscal year's budget. Oh, right, the system isn't designed for that. Well, that makes sense. We will continue to waste billions of dollars each August and September because the system isn't set up to roll it over and it must all be gone before it gets frozen. Yeah, what was I thinking? Your system just might suck.

Apply some common sense! Plenty of people will give the countless reasons why this would never work. My response is simply that the system we currently have doesn't work, so thank you for your opinion, now please step aside while people who are willing to think outside of the box make it work.

Anything, and I mean anything, can happen in America if the right person supports it. Believe me, if you ever worked for the Government, then you know everything is waiverable! Every order handed down by a judge can be overturned by another judge. The Supreme Court can be trumped by the President. It's called checks and balances and under this system anything is possible.

There are two worlds we live in: the literal world and the real world. Won't you join me in the real world?