Step 1:  Significantly lower corporate taxes.  At 39%, the United States has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world.  That’s absurd.  It’s no wonder big companies outsource so many jobs to other countries.  I might get really irritated when I call tech support and get someone in India that I can barely understand, but I also understand why it’s done. 

Step 2:  Get the unions out.  Let’s face it, the unions are in control of way too much in this country!  Why do you think it was automakers that had to deal with the UAW were the ones getting that bailout money.  Companies like Toyota and Honda, who have manufacturing plants here, but are not unionized, did not need the government to bail them out.  Those companies don’t have the union restrictions placed on them.  And, let’s not beat around the bush here, the unions bring nothing but restrictions and hardships to companies.  They might claim to be helpful to workers, they really seek for power for themselves.  By placing all those regulations and restrictions on companies, it causes the companies to hire fewer people and do less for the employes they have. 

Step 3:  Stop having employers provide health coverage fro employees.  Yes, this might initially sound harsh, but hear me out.  If a company doesn’t have to provide health coverage for employees, it will free up a lot of money for the company to do other things, such as hire more people or pay the employees they have more.  This will create more jobs for the currently jobless or underemployed.  Also, if employers didn’t have to provide coverage, the deals with the group coverage wouldn’t be in place.  If all the insurance purchasing is put back in private hands, prices will drop.  If prices are lower, people will buy coverage.  Ok, I can hear your argument:  “What about all those people with pre-existing conditions?”  Great question.  I maintain that insurance companies will be able to provide coverage for those they wish to cover (provided the government gets out of the picture – see step 4).  If allowed to, insurance companies will be allowed to cover people with exceptional health at super low rates and people with conditions at a higher rate.  It’s like car insurance.  There are some companies that just have better rates, and it’s up to them to set those.  If people don’t want to pay those rates, they can shop around.  I think, though, that it should be completely up to the insurance companies. 

Step 4:  De-regulate the health insurance industry.  I’m a firm believer that in the free market, the best products/services will prevail, and that consumers are capable of making decisions for themselves.  One of the huge problems with the health insurance industry is that there is too much government interference, directing their operations.  If, for example, the insurance companies were allowed to cross state line and be national, that would open up competition more.  When there is more competition, the prices are necessarily driven down.  I maintain that they would drop substantially. 

Ok, there you have it.  That’s my plan.  It’s all about returning things to the private market and getting the government out of the private sector.  What do you all think?

I’ve included an excerpt from Mormon Doctrine on Communism under my pages tab at the top of the page.  Even if you aren’t Mormon and don’t hold those beliefs, read it.  It’s not about Mormonism, but about Communism.

It’s been busy since I last posted, but not too much has changed.  I could talk about all the details of the summer, but that would really serve no point, except to bore people.  So, let’s suffice it to say that we’ve kept very busy, both personally and politically.  And, we’ll just go on from here.

First, what seems to have become a big story:  Sarah Palin vs. David Letterman.  I find it ridiculous that Letterman would joke about a 14year old (and yes, it was the 14 year old daughter not the 19 year old) girl being sexually assaulted.  I find it ridiculous that Letterman would joke and call Gov. Palin “slutty.”  On this, I have two questions.  1.  What would have been the repercussions if a conservative comedian made those kind of jokes about liberals, say Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, or the Obamas?  There would have been extreme outrage.  (And let me just say the jokes were distasteful, and I would think the same regardless of who the jokes were about.)  However, because the jokes were about conservative Governor Sarah Palin and her family, there are just excuses being made, none of which I buy, by the way.  It is absurd the extreme double standard that exists in mainstream media.  Of course that is nothing new, but it’s still irritating.  2.  What would Dave say if someone made jokes like that about his child or wife?

Second, the elections in Iran.  Initially, I favored the defeat of Ahmadinejad because I thought the contender, Mousavi, would be better on international issues.  However, I don’t think there would be much difference between the two as far a international policy.  However, I still think Mousavi would be great for the country because he supports more freedoms for the people of Iran, and he has a great deal of support from the citizens in Iran.  And, personally, I think any steps toward freedom are good, and in a country like that, they will be small steps.  Now, this morning, it’s coming out that Ahmadinejad has been declared the winner of the election.  The results are highly contested and controversial.  This was supposed to be a very close race, and it seems astounding that he would loose by such a huge margin, let alone in his own home town.  People have taken to the streets in protest, and frankly, that’s a great thing to see in a country so tightly ruled.  The Interior Ministry of the country has blocked communications, including text messaging, and pulled newspapers from the stands.  So, we actually know more here, than the people in Iran do.  Something is foul about all this, to be sure. 

What next?  Ah, yes, North Korea.  First of all, I think we can all agree that Kim Jong-Il is completely crazy.  The idea of this guy being in charge of weapons, let alone nuclear weapons, is terrifying!  So, this week the United Nations approved all kinds of sanctions against North Korea.  (Oh no, not the UN!  Now, that’s scary!  (Please note the sarcasm.))  Now, to be fair, countries are vowing to uphold and enforce the sanctions, including China.  And, in an “I spit in your general direction” move, North Korea has responded as any crazy infantile country would, and said that they will continue to enrich plutonium for weapons, and oh yeah, “Na nee na nee boo boo!”  They have also said that they will take military action in order to do so.  On a completely serious note, my brother-in-law is serving a mission in South Korea, and this whole thing really makes me nervous. 

Now, on to the homefront.  What can I say?  I think I must be living in the Twilight Zone!  What the heck is happening to my wonderful country?  Obama and the liberal Congress have moved much faster than I thought they would.  It is ridiculous some of the things that are going on!  In 5 months, he has nationalized 4 big industries.  I only wonder what is next.  They sold this “stimulus” as something that was absolutely necessary for the economy or the economy would collapse.  There were doomsday predictions falling out of the sky.  Personally, I never bought any of it.  It moved through WAY too fast, and they were clearly not being honest (not that I would have expected them to be).  And, let’s look at the results of this “economy saving” that has been done.  Many banks took TARP money, and yet still won’t loan to people.  The auto makers got a bailout, and still declared bankruptcy.  Unemployment wasn’t supposed to go higher than 7 percent, and it’s much higher than that nationally, and even higher in some states.  Wow, great plan!  “Oh, but it would have been so much worse had we not done anything!” say government officials.  Yeah, and if you believe that I’ve got some ocean front property in Arizona to sell you.  Here’s the thing.  The free market works!  Trick is, it has to be allowed to.  The government has gotten way too involved in the free market system, thus rendering it not a free market.  Then they declare that the free market isn’t working and has failed us.  NO!  That’s simply not the case.  The government has failed us, by causing the fall of the free market system.  See, with true capitalism and free markets, things fix themselves!  So, all we have to do is allow them to do so.  I know, crazy idea, huh?  Let things work how they are supposed to.  Capitalism, real capitalism, ALWAYS works!  If the government will just stay out of people’s business it would work.  I could go on and on about the horrible damage Obama’s policies are doing to the economy, but it would just aggravate me.   (And allow me to interject for a moment here, but what the heck is wrong with the Republicans?  We should be running ads like crazy talking about all the lies that have been told about all this stimulus stuff, especially in states with super high unemployment and in 2010 battleground states!  We need to start making the connections now!  We can’t wait, especially here in Nevada where Harry Reid will be up for re-election.  We’ve got to tie him to this stuff starting now!  Where is the leadership here?  We’ve got to wake up!)

And, I don’t really want to go too much into government run health care, but I have a couple things to say on it.  First, I don’t care what they call it; it’s SOCIALIZED medicine!  Second, it’s a terrible idea!  Sure, it sounds great to say that everyone will have health care, who wouldn’t want that?  However, that’s not the reality of the situation.  Just look at countries that have socialized medicine.  People get horrible care!  That’s why many of them come here to get treatment, if they can.  In those countries, there are often medications that are not available to people.  They also deny a lot of care for the elderly.  In Great Britain, women can’t get breast cancer medication.  The simple and brutal truth is that for these bankrupt government run systems, it’s just cheaper to let someone die, than to treat them, even when it’s something as treatable as breast cancer.  Most sane people can look at the facts and see that any kind of socialized medicine would be disastrous!  A quick personal example is a friend of mine that has a ridiculous amount of health problems, including Lupus and Rheumatoid Arthritis.  Because of the Lupus, her immune system is very weak, and she is prone to illness.  Now, of course most things can be treated at home, but there are times when she has to see a doctor or even go to the hospital.  Oh, yeah, she has NO health insurance because her husband has been unemployed for a year.  She can even see the horrors that would be socialized medicine, and doesn’t want it.  At least now, if she needs to see her doctor or go to the emergency room she can do so.  While it is a sacrifice for them to pay out of pocket for the visits, they do so in order to get the care she needs.  They are willing to do so, in order to get quality care.  If we were to go to socialized medicine, yes, she would be covered, but what would that mean?  She could sit on a waiting list for a year and a half to see a specialist?  She could see a doctor, but not one of her choosing.  And, she wouldn’t get any quality health care.  Fact is, when you take out the incentive for doctors to do really well, they won’t.  You won’t get quality people in the system.  Competition (capitalism) is vital for quality.  I don’t want that kind of health care (or lack thereof), and I don’t know anyone in their right mind who would! 

Onelast thing.  What happened at the Holocaust Museum this week was horrific!  The act was committed by someone who was clearly deranged!  What a horrible thing for the media to take that tragic event and politicize it!  They are making this guy out to be a right-wing crazy conservative.  NOT TRUE!  They are then drawing ties from him to people like me who are peaceful, law abiding, non-racist conservatives.  I’m pretty tired of being labeled extreme and racist and bigoted because I am a conservative.  The only thing extreme about me is that I love my country and my family extremely!  I’m not a racist.  I’m not a bigot.  I’m not an extremist or a crazy whack-job!  I’m just someone that loves my country and wants to see the values that our founding fathers established preserved for my children.  I don’t like taxes, but realize that some are necessary, for example to create roads for me to drive on, but they shouldn’t be so darn high as to fund ridiculous programs that don’t work.  I don’t think people should have the right to kill their babies because its convenient (ie: abortion), and I don’t believe in gay marriage.  That doesn’t make me a bigot or hateful; it just means that I believe in traditional family values.  (And, oh no, watch out for this:  I think families run better when the mom can be at home raising the children while the dad works!  And I think that’s the ideal situation.  Of course there are times when that’s not possible, but it is ideal.)  To sum it up, “The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity.”  None of that makes me an extremest and I’m pretty darn tired of being labeled such! 

Alright, I think that covers it for now.

So, another interesting development was the announcement that Supreme Court Justice Souter will be retiring, which means that President Obama will have the opportunity to fill a seat on the Supreme Court.  Interestingly enough, Souter was appointed by Bush 41, which no one would really be able to tell by the way he’s voted.  He’s moved farther and farther left.  So, having Obama appoint someone to fill his seat won’t really change the make-up of the Court.  It’s going to be interesting, though, because who ever he appoints will have to first make it through the Judiciary Committee.  To get out of the Committee, the nominee will have to have at least one Republican vote.  As a member of that committee, Senator Arlin Specter has often been that vote.  Well, now that he’s changed parties, he can’t be that vote any more, so the President is likely to have to put someone up as a nominee that is a little bit more moderate than he would like.  An ultra-liberal appointee is not going to make it through now.  Way to go, Senator Specter!

I know that the words of Elder Holland are true!  What a marvelous and glorious truth it is!!

So, let’s all get out there and CREATE!!!