A Brief Consideration of Trump's 100 Day Plan

A Brief Consideration of Trump's 100 Day Plan

By Dave DeMars 4/1/2017

Just looking over Trump's plan for the first 100 days of his administration. I went to his website – the one he touted on some interview- and the first 100 days isn't there anymore (Ha ha – April Fool – the joke is on me). So I found another site at NPR. http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days . You can check it out for yourself. At first glance, it looks and sounds impressive – until one gets into the nitty gritty. I know. Trump says he is not a wonk – he is not a detail guy. He is a big picture guy. And that is scary. Why?

Because big picture government is what they teach all of us in high school civics and government classes. Executive, Legislative and Judiicial branches of government. They are suppose to counter-balance one another. Checks and balances the chapter had as a sub heading if I remember correctly. So this essay is a kind of open letter to Donald. It's a critique about the stuff he wants to do in his first 100 days in office.

Dear Donald,

One of the first items your proposed was “a Constitutional Amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.” Hmmm! How is a constitutional amendment passed? There are at least 10 websites that tell us how to go about it. I took the first one.

“The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution....”

Not good Donald. See you can't propose an amendment. So either you purposely told a fib, or you didn't do your homework ( or even worse, someone on your staff didn't do his or her homework – maybe Baron?). But even if you could propose an amendment to the Constitution, Mitch McConnell, Majority Leader (your party) in the Senate said  "It will not be on the agenda in the Senate." And then added, "I would say we have term limits now — they're called elections." And really, Donald, a Constitutional Amendment needs to be ratified by the states. That's why we only have 27 amendments in the 229 years since the Constitution was ratified. There have been 11,372 proposed amendments to the Constitution so far. Your chances are slim and none.

Donald, do you remember that guy – that Muslim guy with his wife at the Democratic convention? He asked you a question. “Have you even read the Constitution?” Article V of the Constitution. If you (or Baron) would have read it, you would have known. You ought to do your homework, Donald. Maybe you could fire somebody – ohh, I'm sorry. It would have to be you. It's okay Donald, we'll go on to the next item on your list.

Next you proposed “a hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health);” Not bad. Hiring freezes work well. And conservatives get all goosey and pee in their pants thinking of the money that will be saved. I do think we tried that though. A 10% across the board cut in every department necessitated lots of cuts in staff. Lines got longer, waits to get things processed got longer. Some departments sacrificed new technology to save personnel, and when the technology that they had went bust, they had an even worse problem. Yup – Congressional conservatives (Tea baggers mainly) pushed the 10% across the board cut and it kicked them right in the cajones.

Just by way of experience, we did that here in Minnesota under Gov. “Plenty of nothing ” Pawlenty. He even increased all the fees on things like fishing license, teacher's license and car licenses. Didn't work. People got mad. People got irritated. And when the current governor took over, we were still $2 billion in debt.

And you know, looking further down the list where you say you want to “ grow the economy 4% per year and create at least 25 million new jobs,” a lot of those jobs are going to have to be government jobs. Just saying, Donald. I know you don't like to take advice, but I'm just saying it doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

Now your next idea strikes me as kind of cool - “a requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.” Not bad Donald. I'm not quite sure what you mean by a regulation. Maybe you are talking about laws – you know the kind that Congress makes. In which case, don't hold your breath.

Now if you are talking about regulations like the IRS or the EPA makes, that's not a bad idea. But consider this Donald. Regulations are words on paper. Each regulation is given a number. It's clear. So the question is how does one eliminate two regulations and still keep those same regulations? The answer is simple. Let me show you.

Here are four Regulaltions: I, II, III, IV. I used Roman numerals to impress you. How do I keep Roman numeral number II, and III and make it possible to create an entirely new regulation?

That's right – I create I (a) and I (b). So now I have I (a) (b) II and III. It's called subordination, not elimination. They do this all the time in Congress. Sometimes they eliminate whole legislative actions in part (a) and introduce brand new legislation 180 degrees in reverse in part (b). It ain't rocket science (not that you would know anything about science.)

Your next idea really is a winner, Donald. “A 5 year-ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.” You should start with that Donald, maybe get Congress to pass a law to enforce that idea. But first, Donald, you need to show us that you really are committed to the idea of a government free of lobbyists who worked in Congress. Here's how.

Get rid of the hacks that that you nominated for positions such as Attorney General, EPA, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, and so on. Most of them have already worked as lobbyists, so make a clean sweep of it and get rid of the political hacks.

One other thing about this “5 year ban” - you know some dude or dudette is going to allege that this is an infringement on their right to earn a living as a lobbyist. They will hire a team of lawyers who will file a suit, lose, appeal, lose again and finally, appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supremes in their peculiar wisdom will find that indeed, this is an infringement and your attempt to get lobbyists out of politics will ultimately fail. That is my prediction.

I really like number five - “a lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.” Unfortunately, you hired or wanted to hire people who did exactly that. Take the numb-nut you hired as your National SecurityDirector, Michael Flynn. He was already working for a foreign government when you nominated him. Maybe you didn't get the memo on the guy or maybe you just didn't read it. Or maybe you just didn't care and all the promises are so much bull-puckey. And he wasn't the only one. You nominated several others who took money from foreign governments to lobby on their behalf. Even your son-in-law Jared Kushner looks tainted in this regard.

If you really want to impress us, try doing this. Work toward getting Citizens United overturned. Get the big money out of politics so the country can finally have a chance at electing a real government official instead of the Billionaire Wall Street/ Military Industrial rubber stamped candidates we get now.

Oh, I forgot. You are one of the rubber stamped candidates, so it's not likely you'll touch that.

How about your sixth promise - “a complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.” It sounds like you are really on to something here, but as they say, “actions speak louder than words,” and your White House and the way it operates is such a cluster-fuck, I can't see how you can be serious about this one. I mean, at least half a dozen of your shitty pals are under investigation for “collusion with the Russians.” A bunch of them took money from the Russkies, and Tillerson, oil man that he is, made deals for Russian oil. And you expect me to believe that you and the guys actually have the best interests of the people of the United States at heart? Better think that one through again. You have created a plutocracy. It's taken 70 some years, but the cycle has come round again. And you -lucky devil that you are – have benefitted (at least in the short term) from it.

In the song “When Princes Meet” by Tom Paxton, (https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=when+princes+meet+lyrics) he writes:

“When princes meet
The poor little men must tremble
In judgment seat

They speak of their wars
While great armies assemble
Their armor shines
To shame the sun

They move like gods
They do resemble
All bow their necks
To iron feet when princes meet”

Though there are some who brazenly deny that this is what you are about, your actions reveal the truth about you Donald. And ignorance ( a path chosen by people as opposed to stupid which is a God-given commodity distributed in excess) of the American people will keep you and your cronies in power until there is an uprising. And then the pendulum will swing again and there will be a purging of sorts such as there was in the 1930's and again in the '60's.

Well, I see I am getting long winded, so I will end this letter and take up the rest of your 100 Day Promises at a later date.

Dave

Issues For Presidential Politics

Key Issues for 2016
     We are at the beginning of the Presidential election cycle.  Hundreds of promises are made and broken,  Hundreds more are forgotten once the victor takes the crown.  It is up to each of us to agitate and lobby to have our concerns acknowledged and addressed.  Here is a list of my concerns with reasons as to why and sometimes how these concerns can be addressed.  

1. The Economy -  Employment is up, regardless of how one looks at it.  Yes, there are some folks who are still unemployed, but it is still a good outlook since 2008 and the day that Obama stepped into the job.  But the wage issue is out there and for what ever reason, some political folks fail to understand that those 90 per centers are the ones who will take that money and plow it right back into the economy to make it work and keep it humming.  But they have to feel comfortable doing so.  And that means make them feel economically secure  and not just living hand to mouth. How specifically, will each of the candidates accomplish this?
2. Tax Policy - This parallels the economic issues highlighted above.  Corporate inversion, i.e., moving a US company to Ireland, the Bahamas or the Cayman Islands in order to escape paying taxes isn't right.   Especially after some companies, like Johnson Controls and Pfizer, have received all kinds of benefits over the last 100 - 150 years.  It reminds me of the fellow who was ever so greatful for the assistance of the Church and the Salvation Army when his house burned down and he needed clothing, shelter, and food for his family.  But this same fellow refuses to drop a dime in the collection plate or give a moment of time to ring a bell at Christmas.  What will each candidate do to address the problems in our tax system?
3. More Tax Policy -  While we are on the subject of tax policy, let's understand exactly what we are talking about.  A good many of these companies complain that the "corporate tax" in the US is too high.  "It's 35%" they say.  And then there are local taxes, and state taxes.  Here is the link and you can check corporate taxes throughout the world.  https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/dttl-tax-corporate-tax-rates-2015.pdf      But that tax is a nominal tax rate.  Nominal - that means in name only.  After getting all the depreciation allowances, the option write downs and several hundred other special treatments, there are few companies that pay anywhere close to that amount.  In fact, there are hundreds who pay little or no tax after taking advantage of government rules and connections.  Check this website for a short list:  http://moneymorning.com/2015/05/21/chart-u-s-corporations-that-pay-no-taxes/      Or you can check  http://ctj.org/search_results.php?cx=005687152319302669205%3A7bxw5yzvdpo&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=list+of+corporate+tax+avoiders   There are plenty of sites.  All you need do is to study a little. 
4. Energy Policy - Every body is pretty much aware of couple of "elephant in the room" facts about energy.

            a.  Petroleum and all of its related products cause all kinds of pollution in mining and drilling for it.
            b.  Petroleum  and all of its related forms produces all kind of pollution when we use it.  Most cities
            don't use diesel powered buses any more in part because of the particulate matter it produces.  Other
            forms contribute CO2 to the atmosphere and that affects the climate and weather.
            c.   Our major form of energy is petroleum and it is finite.  Sooner or later, we will run out of petroleum.  We already have experienced shortages back in the early 80's.  Yes, there was an Arab embargo in order to drive  the price higher, but the fact is, we were no longer able to satisfy our need for oil from wells in the lower 48 states.  Luckily, we discovered some large deposits on the North Slope of Alaska.  And since then there have been other discoveries and technological breakthroughs such as fracking.  But sooner or later, (and I would  bet that at the rate we are using oil on the world stage today, it will be sooner) we will run out of oil.  So now,while we have enough oil, we ought to be finding ways to produce efficient, non-polluting, sustainable form of energy.  And we should fashion policies to help in the transition from one energy form to the other so that of our corporations, our workers, or our economy suffers.  That may also necessitate our giving other nations   in the world a helping hand with their energy problems.  Remember that we live in an interdependent world,   we all are affected.
  What will our new leader's proposed energy policy look like?

   5.  Foreign Policy
 
              a.  ISIS, Al Qaeda, Bokoharam  -  These are three that nearly everyone has heard of, but there are many more.  Splinter groups, and minor cells as well as a hundred other groups, both liberal and conservative.  Each has an agenda that it is willing to die for; each would like to foist its beliefs and its peculiar form of government on our society.  Each presidential contender should have a specific list of steps he or she would take should to maintain our security here at home, maintain our influence abroad, and what will be done to keep us out of war in the Middle East.  So far it's all been generalizations with few specifics.
 
            b.  Depending on who is speaking, but especially among Republican, there seems to be a heavy emphasis on some kind of military response to ISIS and all the issues that surround the Middle East.   Each Presidential candidate ought to be clear as to how and what he will do in response to our current situation in the world.  Granted, the world situation changes daily, but there ought to be at least some long range conception as to what steps will be taken with regard to North Korea, China, Russia, NATO, and the war on terror. 

6.  Domestic Policy  - each Presidential candidate ought to have thought through the steps he or she will take in regard to the following:

           a.  Race relations -  we can't afford to have another era like the 1960's.  Ferguson MO is just the tip of the iceberg.  This is an area that needs a good deal of attention. 

           b.  Criminal Justice system reforms - new Supreme Court Justices.  How to make the Court system more efficient and effective.  And now with the passing of Scalia, it's time to pick a new Supreme Court Justice.  Republicans want to wait until after the election.  Bull pucky - do your job in the Senate.  They want to "give the people a chance to weigh in on choosing a new Justice."  Bull pucky!  Right now most Americans can't tell you who the Chief Justice is.  50% of them can't even name who their Senators are from their state.  This is a representative democracy.  Senators - you have the chance to represent us, and if you don't know us well enough to figure out who we would pick as a Justice, then you don't belong in the Senate. 

           c.  Campaign  finance reform - Get rid of the influence of big money in politics. 

           d.   Rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure  - highways, bridges, federal parks. I'm still confused as to how cutting the budget across the board gets us better highways, better bridges, new airports, better rail service and deep water harbors.  If cutting is the answer, I want specifics, and that includes numbers and how it will affect our economy.  

           e.  Education policy - What will it look like?  Nearly every President we have had since the 1950's has proclaimed some grand scheme to improve educational outcomes.  Little has been accomplished.  What can be done to change that?  My belief is that the nation as a whole benefits when better education happens.   But better education doesn't happen like the space program or building a road because education deals with people, with kids.  And they all, each and everyone of them, respond in different ways to the same teacher and the programs.  Politicians and bureaucrats have little if any idea as to how teachers work on a day to day basis.  It's part science, part art, and a whole lot of personality and charisma.  That is what gets kids going in the classroom. 

           f.  Health care - even though we have made some progress under President Obama, more needs to be done.  Health care should be seen as a right of the individual with government doing everything it can to make it accessible to individuals.  That does not happen when big medicine and big pharma set the policies.   If Congress wants to make Obamacare better - have at it.  If they want to change it drastically, that's fine.  But quit wasting time trying to repeal it.  Fifty failed votes to overturn or repeal Obamacare is enough.  That ain't going to happen.  So deal with it.  

           g.  Poverty - Too many of our nation's people live in poverty, especially children and single mothers.  Presidential candidates need to have specific policies as to how they will address these problems.  The policy needs to be comprehensive.

           h.  Gun ownership policy - No one wants to obliterate the second amendment, but clearly too many wing nuts are walking the streets with handguns under their arm.  Registration is not confiscation.  And background checks do not take guns out of the hands of law abiding gun owners.

            i.  Domestic terrorists - Can something be done to curb the number of mass shootings and bombing that have taken place here in the US recently?

            j.  Immigration policy and immigration reform - it's been talked to death.  Each candidate needs a realistic set of guidelines to improve the situation.
 
            These are just a few of the issues facing any new President who takes office.  I have my ideas on what should or could be done in most areas, but I am not running.  Clearly, it will take more than one person to address all these issues.  Clearly, the Presidency is the responsibility of many leaders who agree on an over all philosophical approach to governance.  That is what we are determining in each of our elections. 
 

Starting the Journey

This is my first real blog posting.  I'm doing it in order to learn how to do it so that I can help the kids in my English 10b classes at Sauk Rapids -Rice High School.  This is a real novice experience for me despite the fact that I had a website  www.curmudgeonstwist.net  on which I was going to try and blog about all sorts of things.  Perhaps that was my first mistake, but then there really is no mistake in trying out different things.  Since I like to travel, and I have done a fair bit of that, I thought I would blog a bit about my experiences as I bounced about this fair planet of ours.  I'm not sure that I will be the informative blogger that some are, but that doesn't matter.  Part of doing a blog is for one's own satisfaction.  And so I will travel this blogging road just as I traveled others throughout the world. 

Thomas Edison was supposed to have said after the 5000th failure at inventing the light bulb: "I've eliminated the 5000 things that don't work; now all I need to do is find the one thing that does work."  I don't know if he said such a thing or not, but it makes for a nice thought.  Anyway, Edison is one of my heroes ever since I visited Fort Meyers, Florida and toured his winter home while on vacation.  Below is a picture taken of my wife and myself with the large statue that sits on the grounds.

                                             Picture by Dave DeMars

The large tree that surrounds the statue was given to him by a friend.  If memory serves, it was Harvey Firestone, the founder of Firestone Tire Company.  Firestone did a bit of world traveling and supposedly brought back the species from India as a present to Edison.  Note that I said "tree", not trees.  It is only one tree - a banyan tree and it spreads out.  Most of what looks like seprate trunks or trees are actually supporting limbs that become rooted in the ground.  More can be found on the banyan at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan

A visit to Edison's winter home was not the only place we visited while in Florida, nor is it the only exotic place my wife and I have traveled.

While in Florida, we visited the Everglades with our friends, John and Sue Meers.  It was a self guided tour.  We also visited an Eco-farm which was quite an interesting experience.  I had no idea that Florida had a breed of cow/ steer and a wild hog breed that descended from the early Spaniards who settled in Florida.  Apparently, some of the hogs and cattle escaped their confines, and being hogs and cattle, they followed the bidding in the Bible, and "fruitful" and "multiplied".  So today a breed of local cattle known as "crackers" - (I can't explain the name) roam about.

                                 Photos taken by Dave DeMars

Here are a few photos of the breed of cattle and hogs that were part of the original stock the Spaniards brought to America back in 1513 when Ponce de Leon came looking for the Fountain of Youth.  Though there have been some genetic modifications over the centuries, the hogs and cattle are still pretty true to size and form of the stock on board the ships.

As I indicate earlier, Florida is not the only place my wife and I have visited.  We've been to Las Vegas, Phoenix/Mesa, Prescott, AZ, Winnipeg, Canada, Stratford in Canada, Niagara Falls, a long 20 day trip out west as far as Idaho, Missouri, Arkasas, Columbus, Hawaii, and all of the states contiguous to Minnesota.  Our next venture is going to be to Los Cruces, New Mexico.  And if the fates allow, a visit to the Atlantic Provinces of Canada; Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Prince Edward Island.