Disgust And Disappointment With Our Political Class....And Free Hugs - Part 2

This is a quick follow up to our blog yesterday where we went through and documented all of the ways that our political class disgust and disappoint us along with an ending message of hope through hugs. Lets continue that stream of thought today but end on another strong positive note:

- I am disgusted that the Federal government cannot keep its war documents secure, not because it might embarrass some politicians, but because the massive leak of Afghanistan war documents that were recently published on the Wikileaks website is likely to endanger our troops, allied troops and local civilians that have or are currently aiding our fight against terrorism.

- I am disappointed that another instance of government employees using government computers and their work time to has come to light with a July 23, 2010 Associated Press article that documented how a government investigation concluded that dozens of military officers and defense contractors, many with top secret clearance, probably bought and downloaded child pornography. This behavior was going on for almost a decade and involved individuals working with some of the nation's most closely guarded secrets, possibly exposing these employees to the risk of blackmail bribery and threats, according to the article.

- I am disgusted to learn that, according to a recent Washington Post investigative report, "the top secret world the government created in response to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 has become so large, so unwieldy, and so secretive that no one knows how much money it costs, how many people it employs, how many programs exist within it, or exactly how many agencies do the same work." Despite all of this effort and all of the wasted taxpayer money used to fuel this growing monster, no part of this effort was able to prevent a terrorist from getting over the city of Detroit and almost igniting his underwear or was able to identify the Time Square bomber who failed only through his own incompetence to ignite a fire ball in the middle of New York City. {Note: more on this topic in the next few days as we will go into some detail of the fine work done by the Post writers}.

- I am disappointed President Obama will spend half a day or so traveling to and from and preparing for his appearance on the day time talk show, "The View." With everything going on in the world and the many challenges facing the country, appearing on a daytime talk show should be the last thing he does.This just adds to the rest of the list of un-Presidential things that he should not have done including filming a television commercial for the George Lopez show, traveled overseas to lobby for a Chicago Olympics, having photo sessions with every imaginable athletic team, and spending way too much time coming up with his March Madness basketball picks and going on television to explain them.

Okay, enough with the disgust and disappointment. How about a few free hugs for Americans doing something right:

- In the Briefing sections of the April 30, 2010 issue of The Week magazine, we found out what a great job that mayor Cory Booker is doing in trying to turn around the city of Newark, New Jersey. He has attracted more than $100 million in private philanthropy donations, he has expanded the number of charter schools, he has renovated and expanded 20 parks, he has made deals with large employers to hire more Newark residents, he has started to clean up the corruption inside the city government, and he has dramatically reduced the crime levels. All without going on "The View." Free hugs to Cory Booker.

- In a May 24, 2010 article in Fortune magazine, we see that the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan has redefined itself and has become a thriving, healthy metropolitan area despite the many hardships it faced as a Rust Belt town including losing the dominate industry of the city, furniture manufacturing. This renaissance was driven by the efforts of local, proud citizens, with minimal government and political class involvement, who executed a long term plan and was successful because these citizens understood the root causes of their problems. Their progress made for better lives for all of the Grand Rapids residents while across the state in Detroit, another city that lost its dominant industry of auto manufacturing, a corrupt local government lead the city into an abyss, to the detriment of its residents. Free hugs to the planners in Grand Rapids.

- According to a June 21, 2010 article in Businessweek, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has helped his state to be one of only 10 states that has reduced its unemployment rate in the past year, it has a budget surplus while most states are scrambling to make budget, its bonds have a triple A rating, more people are moving into the state than out of the state for the first time since the 1970s, he has shrunk state government while improving its effectiveness, and he has convinced many industries to expand their operations into the state. Free hugs to Mitch Daniels.

These past two posts should do it for a while. However, rest assured that the political class will continue to disappoint and disgust us until the current inhabitants of Washington are booted out of office. The old saying: "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem" applies ever so much to the American political class. Many of those sitting in Congress have been there for 20, 30 or 40 years; they are the problem since nothing has been solved during their tenure.

Which, of course, brings us back to Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." Step 39 would institute term limits for all Federal politicians. Of all of the fifty steps in the book, it always amazes me how we continually reference the term limits step as the most needed, relative to the 49 other steps. Free hugs for Step 39 and the good it would bring to the country. How much worse, more disgusting, and more disappointing could it be if Step 39 was the law of the land?


Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

Also visit the following sites for freedom:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://www.realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/