How the next President should clean up The Republican Party's Mess

First of all, when the next President takes office, the following things really need to be part of the agenda of cleaning up the royal mess that Trump and his sicophants in the Republican party have made of our home and country.

• Reverse all the actions of the Trump administration

  This really needs to item #1. Trump Has been there to do damage to the system -- to make everything fail by way of a thousand paper-cuts. By his actions, millions of Americans lost jobs, go hungry, lost their homes, became victims of racism, and worse. He's made the rest of the world hate us, which will take time to mend -- fortunately, improving international relations is a skill which previous democratic presidents have been extremely successful at. Reversing his actions -- especially the ones that just seemed to be "because Obama did it" -- will put us back at the high mark that we were at before Trump ruined our future. We need the EPA, we need an education secretary who is committed to making public education work like it did before Republicans started sabotaging it, and we need to get back to trying to reform healthcare. Reversing all of Trump's actions should be done in EXACTLY the same way that he got rid of all the work that Obama did -- just axe it all, or use executive orders -- but of course, we know Democrats have smarter people working for them who will, and should write protections against future Trumps.

• Put the tax rates back to what they were at the beginning o the Reagan era

  Make rich people and wealthy corporations put money back in to the government to pay for all the damage that they have caused. Eliminate all of the tax breaks and write-offs that are given almost exclusively to the wealthy and powerful, which ordinary Americans can't use. Make certain that rules are created which make creative accounting by billionaires and their lawyers illegal and punishable by fines and prison.

• Tighten regulations on banks, corporations and defense industries

  This goes hand-in-hand with the above. Trump and the Republicans are reversing regulations that were made because banks cheated customers out of their savings, and ruined their lives. They have removed laws which made it illegal for banks to lie to and defraud their customers and getting away with it. Because we can see that as soon as the republicans had the power, they quickly focused on eliminating the regulations that stopped banks and companies from cheating their customers, helped by the kickbacks and bribes that the lobbyists of those industries gave them, that the party doesn't care at all about fairness, justice, or ensuring that businesses be forced to be honest. This has to change, and we need to put the screws on them, and let them know that they will be punished for their greed and dishonesty.

• Campaign Finance reform

  Again with the above two things, this needs to be part of a comprehensive plan to weed out corruption. Instead of private funding, campaigns should be funded entirely by the government, and all qualified people running for office should get equal time, reguardless of how much money they have. When a cabal of billionaires who own most media outlets want to create the perfect campaign for a candidate, how is a candidate of more moderate means supposed to compete against it? The solution is to ELIMINATE private money from political campaigns, and enforce that all camaigns in a given cycle get equal time to air their messages. Issue-advocacy groups should be regulated to the extent that their messages are fact-checked, and you don't see a universal healthcare proposal attacked with ads containing illegitimate concerns like "I don't want the government death panels killing my grandma because she's too expensive to keep alive!" If the messages of issue advocacy groups are forced to comform to proper fact-checking, phoney outrage and completely imaginary issues will never muddy the waters of the election season.

  We also need to erect a wall between elected officials and big business. We have to ban all gifts from private individuals and corporations. There can be no stock options, cars, trips, money, or other valuable items bestowed to elected officials, PERIOD. Even $5 and $10 gifts should be illegal. The only gifts elected officials should ever be able to receive while in office should be from their own family, for birthdays, Christmas, weddings, etc. As long as they are in office, gifts and unsolicited contributions will be banned.

• Punish states that make voting difficult for poor and black citizens

  One of the biggest problems for more than a century has been that southern states have brazenly and contemptuously used the power of government to keep black voters from voting, while at the same time giving lip service to the voting rights act, and pretending that there's nothing going on, when time after time, the federal government has found that some states have actually committed election fraud. In fact, in recent years, Republicans have consistently claimed that black voters and illegal immigrants are committing voter fraud on a massive scale. It's one of Trump's oldest claims. There has never been a shred of proof offered to prove this happened. In fact, the one case where a Republican accused voters in his state of voter fraud -- the case of Leslie McCrae Dowless, is the greatest example. He filed a complaint about voter fraud going on in his district, but when he went to court, he apparently had no details to offer about his complaint. After investigating, the court found HIM to be guilty of vote tampering! But that's okay -- the Republican governor pardoned him, and he's back working on the elections committee! IN cases like this, the federal government needs to put these people on trial and make sure that ther stakes are high. If the Republican party tries to prevent people from voting, they need to follow a process, and they need to be monitored by the federal government. The elections bureau needs to have officials at all the polling stations making sure that votes are not being thrown out, and that citizens who have the right to vote get to exercise it.

  In a way, I believe we should re-occupy the south, to make up for the great compromise of 1877, where the United States Army pulled out of southern states, and left the former confederates to once again control their states. Bad decision, because by letting the very traitors responsible for slavery and for the war to govern themselves, it was like the war never happened, and they could just go back to slavery -- but they would refashion it in a manner that would look free. Since then, not only have black people been denied their right to vote, they have been assaulted by the Klan, and suffered over 150 years of further indignities -- just because a bunch of traitors refused to do the right thing.

  What we should do is have the federal government investigate all the elections in all of the southern states -- at least the ones with a history of denying votes or tampering with elections. The FBI and elections bureau should investigate and bring to trial all officials who break election laws. States which show repeat patterns will have their elections officials replaced -- by black officials, whenever possible, just to add insult to injury.

• Reform Public Education

  The Next President needs to get rid of the "No Child Left behind" bullshit that George W. Bush enacted, and get rid of all the bullshit testing and re-testing that makes schools teach "passing the test" versus "teaching the subjects". We need to eliminate the standardized tests that interfere with actual learning. Although the SAT is used to determine College preparedness, we cannot have teachers forced to administer so many tests that they end up teaching children how to pass the tests. The only tests should be the ones suggested by the textbooks, and the tests are are passed by having the proper materials in class, and the tests for various subjects be standardized. We also need to reform the local power of states to meddle in the allocation of Public School funds -- Rich districts always steal the funds that go to poorer ones because they scream to local politicians about it, and get their way. We need to start a plan, with a slogan that says "ALL SCHOOLS GET THE SAME", regardless of the wealth of their district. Schools in poor areas should get the same funding as ones in wealthier districts.

  We should set higher standards of excellence, and most importantly, we have to ban dropping out of school. You should only be allowed to drop out of school if and only if you can pass an exit exam that proves that you know all the stuff you're supposed to when you graduate high school. You must get 80% to pass. It will not be "dropping out" that we permit -- it will be early graduation, with a full high school diploma, a ceremony, if desired, and all of the recognition that goes with it.

  We also should encourage students to study math and science, like we did back in the 50's and 60's, which led directly to success in space, computers, and other sciences that America excelled in. In fact, at the base of all education should be the teaching of critical thinking skills, logic, reason, and "bullshit detection", (fraud detection) in which kids are encouraged to fact check and actually research the answers to questions. Without critical thinking, people will leave high school vulenrable to propaganda and various mental trickery of others.

  The curriculum needs to be overhauled. The civil war, civil rights, and various American wars, social discord, and historical facts should not be whitewashed. Any "alternative history", for example, which treats Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and the confederacy as equally good people who simply disagreed with the North, and that they were still heroes in spite of losing the war, should be banned. Only the actual documented history should be taught, warts and all. American kids need to learn how racism has affected the nation, and how it's always been s struggle for non-white people to achieve any kind of equality, when local towns, and whole state governments literally prevent them from simply voting, and which have historically used law enforcement to unlawfully arrest and imprison black people in outrageous numbers. American kids need to learn how the Spanish-American war was a fraud perpetrated by William Randolph Hearst and other billionaires seeking to gain power and moneyt via conquest. We'll keep in all the good stuff about WW2 -- because that's the only time America fought a war as "the good guys". Other wars, though, like Vietnam, various "fuit wars" in central and South America, the Invasion of Iran, and other instances where the US military was used to dismantle a legitimate democracy and replace it with a brutal dictatorship, must be known. Kids should not be taught that America is great, and that we're always good and right. They need to learn that America is a mostly good nation that has allowed itself to be fooled into doing bad things for rich people.

  Private schools must be held accountable for teaching the same values listed above -- critical thinking, logic, science, and the ability to detect bullshit/fraud. Much Moreso, private schools cannot teach alternative history (Civil war revision or holocaust revision) , alternative science (Creationism) or values that equate to the students being taught that they are members of a special elite that is destined to rule over others. No public funds should go to private schools.

• Free College Education at all state colleges

  Self Explanatory. If you are a resident of Massachusetts, and you graduate high school with enough of an SAT score, you have earned 4 years at any state university. Private colleges are not included. We need to be wary of the Republicans who might argue that it's unfair because private colleges are just as good, and there should be choice for the students. There always has been choice. And unfortunately, the choice was taken away when college tuition became out of control. College education is essential these days, and few places will hire you without college education. By making it free, it enhances all of society, because more qualified, functioning adults will be created by it. If your talents are noticed, private colleges often have scholarships waiting for individuals who excel in their fields.

• Set up universal health care

  It will be difficult, but we need to have universal healthcare, and it needs to shut out the voices of big pharma, the insuance industy, as well as other lobbyists who merely serve commercial interests in healthcare, drug manufacturing, and for-profit medicine. The Universal healthcare system needs to focus on ensuring that all people with medical needs get attention, and that all companies who make healthcare products do not have their hands in the pie. For decades, drug companies have written legislation that gave them guaranteed income with government giveaways, exclusive use of their products, and meddling in the doctor-patient relationship. Any new healthcare system needs to make the relationship between you and your doctor absolute. The Medical insurance industry needs to be locked out of the loop -- if not dismantled entirely. We should tell the insurance industry to simply suck it, and focus on their other forms of insurance. The insurance racket has ruined our current healthcare system, and in collusion with drug manufacturers and other medical for-profit companies, has driven up the cost of healthcare beyond what people can afford. They have also angered a lot of the doctors who see patients get denied life-saving treatment because it's too expensive. The Canadian, British, French, Swedish, and German models all work fine, and we should base ours on theirs. Industry needs to be kept out of the process, because they will only seek to control healthcare for their own greedy end.

• Expand Welfare, and improve it's delivery

  The Republicans have turned the welfare system of our nation into a poverty-shaming system that makes getting much needed public assistance seem like you're committing a crime. The tests for eligibility are akin to an anal exam, and the more recent "workfare" that Bill Clinton enacted is nothing short of legitimized slavery. That needs to end. Welfare needs to return to a system that will help anyone in need without any obligations on the part of the recipient to pay it all back, or to keep proving that they're trying to get themselves back into the workforce. Universal unemployment needs to happen - we cannot allow states to be "Right To Work" states. The Federal government needs to take over, and make the unemployment office and welfare administration one in the same. This would streamline what we have, and ensure that no Americans have to be forced into the cost of moving out of state because their state is a "right to work" state that offers no unemployment services. It will also be a way of preventing poverty by ensuring that all people in need get help, regardless of who they are, based on their needs.

  The amount of money spent on Welfare and unemployment insurance is a drop of water into the ocean of government spending. It is ironic that the government spends 1000 times more on the military -- amassing troops and weapons to kill other people -- than it does to keep people alive, working and healthy. The idea of a Guaranteed Universal Income is one that can work, with the provided military cuts and raised taxes on the wealthy. Have the Welfare department administer the guaranteed income accounts for all Americans, along with the Unemployment office. Have them combined together into one department along with a universal healthcare administration. When you're working, you still get your guaranteed income -- which gives you more money to spend on putting money into tyhe economy by buying stuff. If you lose your job, you don't have to worry about starving, and you will be helped in looking for a new job. If you get sick while out of a job, no problem -- healthcare is free to all. Should I mention that universal healthcare would save businesses billions, because they will no longer be burdened with health care for their workers?

  People who argue that this will cost taxpayers too much are really arguing "it will cost the WEALTHY TOP 1% too much". Several democrats have shown how cutting the military budget (and not by a lot) can pay for universal healthcare alone. It's not tricky math, either. If we also raise taxes on the rich to Reagan-era levels, we can do so much more and make every American live better, healthier, and less prone to falling through the safety net.

• Crackdown on the KKK, Neonazis, and other criminal hate groups

  Law Enforcement in the USA has been so lax with racist hate groups in our country, and it may be because a lot of police departments in various cities have been infiltrated and are run by members of racist organizations. In fact, the FBI released a study in 2006 called "White Supremacists Infiltration Of Law Enforcement", which detailed and named various cities around the country which have officers that belong to and associate with various white supremacy groups. We need to enlist the Southern Poverty Law Center, the FBI, and the CIA, to clean all these groups up. This is especially important, because many law enforcement departments around the country have been infiltrated by the KKK and Neonazis, who frequently cover up the racist crimes of their officers and frame innocent black people for crimes. We need to OUTLAW these organizations, and any others that attempt to form along the same principles. We need to make it a federal crime to be a member of the KKK or a Neonazi group. We need to have the FBI infiltrate suspected groups and stage sting operations to arrest them when they plan to do illegal acts. This kind of work is deceptively easy. The vast majority of KKK and Neonazis have arrest and prison records for crimes, much of which are related to their group's activities. We simply need to follow these people when they get out of jail, and document their associations and activities, then go after them. The KKK and Neonazis are criminal organizations by definition -- they seek to violate the civil rights of others. They are very much similar in structure and scope to a Mafia organization, and the FBI needs to take them down in the same manner they took out the Genovese, Gambino and Giancano crime families.

• Create and enforce the rules for police departments, nationwide

  Cops in various places have always flaunted their power, committed crimes while wearing their badges, and routinely enforced laws that do not exist, because they get off on the power trip. There is too much anger, rage, and undeserved violence committed on the American public by police officers who are too eager to escalate every situation into a fight, or into one where they get to use their weapons -- not to disarm a dangerous attacker, or stop a violent person from commiting an injury, but to simply shut up a disagreeable person, or to retaliate for what was simply harsh words. Cops need to not only be trained in de-escalation, but officers need to stop carrying guns as part of their daily uniform and equipment. Most cops don't need guns. Their training proves it. The problem we have currently is that we have police who treat legitimate non-violent protest as a crime, and who treat protestors as criminals who have already been tried and found guilty. The amount of citizens -- unarmed, usually black -- killed by police each year is staggaring and unacceptable.

  What we need is serious reform that only allows officers to carry guns to a situation where gunfire is expected. "But what if they don't expect guns, and are shot?", is a valid concern, which is why we have police officers wear bullet-proof vests. Just like when you join the military, you never expect to be shot or killed, it's part of your job, and you just deal with it. Firefighters get killed in fires all the time, and it's part of their jobs. Unexpected stuff kills people every day, and the job of a cop is no different. Having a gun on the job didn't help Frank Serpico when his fellow cops tried to murder him, in fact, the attempt on his life was his fellow officers, who set him up, and deliberately walked away when he needed backup.

  That's the other problem. There is corruption in many poice departments all over the country. Corruption that is so deep that police will kill other police to protect their rackets. The FBI needs to do background checks on all police departments and we need to keep a black list of corrupted law enforcement personnel -- we need to ban corrupt cops for life, when discovered, even if it means the whole department has to go. It's been done before, and it's never led to towns suddenly becoming lawless while they look for new police.

  Also, we need to get rid of the extra equipment that has been given to officers over the years. Surplus military and so-called non-lethal weapons like tasers, beanbags, tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and other equipment was designed for the military, and should never have been allowed to be used by police -- because it ALWAYS gets abused. Even though officers are trained to use tasers only on violent people that can't be controlled, they routinely use them on individuals who are already in cuffs and restrained. They are often used to torture people who disagree with the officer's interpretation of the law. Worst of all, they are used on people who pose no threat to anyone. The same is true for tear gas and pepper spray. It's intent is to be used against violent attackers. It almost never is. It's nearly always used on non-violent protesters, most of whom are actually complying with orders. Because of the abuse and harm done by these devices, we really should remove them from the equation. Police forces are not "hired militias paid to FIGHT crime". Police are supposed to be people hired by the community -- preferably members of the community, to enforce laws. The eagerness to fight, to escalate even the most minor offenses into a brawl involving several officers, is not what we want cops to be. We want to have police to are polite, respectful, preferably not covered with gang or white supremacy tattoos, and who follow the rules of engagement to the letter. Too many cops behave so badly it's a wonder they're not behind bars themselves.

• Cut the military budget in half

  Some would argue that we should cut the military budget by a much larger percent, and we likely could, before our military spending per capita is on par with other nations. I think we should Start with a 50% reduction in military spending. A lot of our military budget amounts to corporate appeasement -- senators getting military contracts for defense industry manufacturers, which we don't need. We have dozens of military bases all over the country that have "boneyards" -- vast storage facilities full of tanks, planes, and vehicles that we do not use, and don't need. Many of the fighter jets stored there are ready to use, and in new condition, because they have never flown a single mission. These bone yards are often called our auxiliary military. These bases are testaments to the amount of waste inherent in our military, and we should really stop the process that led us to this situation. We need to stop funding things that we really don't need, and most importantly, we need to stop funding black projects that there is no accountability for. The Pentagon lost 8 trillion dollars. Nobody has yet figured out where that money went. For all we know, there may have been a great theft and coverup. We need to force accountability for anyone making our weapons.

  Most importantly, though, we simply must change the reasons we send any of our troops to fight. We have to stop using the military to protect the interests of corporations who fear that they will have to compete in a fair market place, instead of from a position of monopolistic power. We have to stop forcing our will around the world, especially if it's ill will. It is what happened in the name of anti-Communism and now anti-terrorism, that created the world we live in now. None of our current enemies would hate us had we been good neighbors. By withdrawing from foreign countries and sticking to working with our allies on building strong bonds between our military forces, we will accomplish a lot more, and find that making new allies will be easier.

• Ban the use of private military contractors

  A large part of the military budget, incidentally, is spent on hiring private contractors to do the work of soldiers. Having hired guns from Haliburton, Blackwater, ZTI, and other military contractors is very expensive, and often times, their missions require that enlisted soldiers act to protect them. They are nothing more than mercenaries, and their jobs are almost never anything that regular troops couldn't be doing. We contract McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell and KFC to provide troops with food on various bases -- even though the military has historically never needed them, and has prepared it's own food for well over 2 centuries. We should eliminate all private contractors from the military, and operate like we did before the Reagan era. It was argued during the Bush administration, that hiring contractors gives the military the freedom and flexibilty to do their job without having to deal with the minutia -- what -- you mean LOGISTICS? That's what the military's always been about -- logistics -- keeping troops fed, armed, and able to do their work. Contractors essentially add nothing to what the military can do, and it's a needless cost. It should be eliminated.

• Pass the ERA and strengthen Civil Rights laws

  There is not one reasonable, logical, rational excuse for paying one person less for the same job, if their skin color or sexual identity is different from "white anglo-saxon male". In fact, nobody has ever tried to rationalize this last bastion of discrimination. A citizen is a citizen, regardless of their skin color, sex, sexuality, or ethnicity. We constantly see the business world paying women and non-whites less for the same jobs. This practice is unfair and should have been stopped back when the 19th Amendment got passed.

• Bring Back the Fairness in Media Act

  Let's go back to the era when TV news was held accountable for fact checking and fined when it put on corporate or political shills to lie to the public -- you know, what Fox news does on a daily basis. Rather than let any news agency, social media outlet, or other media, put out fake stories with "alternative facts", where "someone told us" or "people have said" usually prefaces a few paragraphs of bullshit that someone just made up, let's go back to the era where all news outlets were required to make sure they fact-checked stories to ensure that they were not making it up. Have them pay heavy fines up to and iuncluding the loss of their license, if they have a guest on who accuses someone falsely, without being challenged or checked with an opposing commenter.

  It's often said that the fairness in media act never accomplished anything, and that stations often had ways of getting around the requirements (like CNN having "Crossfire", where they teamed up Pat Buchanan with a liberal shill who alway seemed to have the weakest arguments). Let's work to have a future where Sean Hannity actually has to back up all of the false claims he makes up with facts, so he actually has to research facts before presenting his opinion as fact. This is done by having fact checkers look at the content of his program, and checking the facts, and then reporting how many things appeared to be made up. Back in the 60's and 70's, conservatives and liberals in the news had better arguments that were well thought up and mostly researched. Since the end of the fairness act, we have networks that seem to exist to dumb down the discussion about everything to a series of conspiracy theories and crackpot statements, which we're supposed to take seriously as discourse.

• Address the Religious Right

  An act of utmost bravery, would be for the next president to go to the Annual Prayer breakfast, and tell the attendees that they need to do a better job of policing their own ranks of the hateful, racist, antisemitic, hate-promoting, snake-oil salesmen types who count themselves as their brethren. The American Evangelical community is full of individual preachers who promote hate, antisemitism, and racism. Don Wildmon from the American Family Association, Frank Graham, and others have long histories of hate, and promoting a message that doesn't sound at all like it comes from the New Testament, or what Jesus promoted. Furthermore, a lot of the far right wing members of the religious right promote hateful messages that equate not being a republican with being in league with Satan, or with being UN-American. Many on the far right of the religious spectrum even ally themselves with conspiracy theorists and hate mongers like Alex Jones and other extremists. Almost as bad are all the snake oil salesmen who have made getting rich selling religious merchandise to their followers a priority over the message of their alleged faith -- indeed begging for money that pays for their mansions, Mercedes, and private jets seems to be their priority in life.

  In short, many people on the religious right seem to behave exactly the opposite way that the Christian faith commands, and it's shocking how silent so many church leaders are about it. When you hear a prominent preacher condemn all Jews for "controlling the media/Hollywood", they need to be called out for antisemitism. When a preacher tells his followers on TV and radio that they need to send in as much money as they can so he can get a new jet plane, he needs to be called out on his greed and vanity. Likewise, when a preacher stands with Donald Trump -- a man who has a long history of racism, not being particularly religious, and who treats hopeful immigrants as criminals and puts their kids in cages -- they need to be questioned as to how that comports with the tenets of their faith. It also needs to be publicly stated that many notable Christian preachers have expressed a desire to make Christian Supremacy over America a goal. These people are no better than White Supremacists, which tends to be another goal of theirs.

  The next president needs to make it clear that as long as the religious right insists on being in politics, pushing the Republican party's agenda, and influencing voters, they should lose their tax-exempt status, because obviously, the money they spend on politicians and influencing votes cannot be considered as a work of charity.

• Most Imporantly, Hold Trump and his Accomplices Accountable

  There absolutely needs to be a series of charges, trials, and punishments for Trump, his family, and all of the Senators and Congresspersons who aided him in running through our government like a runaway freight train. They need to be held accountable for the damage done by Trump's greed, his inability to care about America, and the utter corruption, and contempt of law he has. Bill Barr, especially needs to be taken down when Trump leaves office. In fact, we should have FBI agents at the ceremony waiting to take everyone on buses, to be booked and charged. Everything Trump did while in office needs to be accounted for, and we should revisit the Mueller Report, as well as the impeachment hearings materials. Everyone in power who knowingly helped trump turn the white house into a criminal empire needs to go behind bars.

Nazi -- The N-word for white people.

SO, I heard a great comment on the fact that Trump Supporters, with their rebel flags, nearly 100% White Protestant makeup, and racist policies/ideology, REALLY hate being called or compared to Nazis. They object to it, and will always try to counter your words with the usual flawed baloney about how liberals/socialists are the real Nazis, because "Nazi" stands for "National Socialism". Yeah -- they don't get that "National Socialism" is not "Socialism" when "National" is preceding it -- that "National Socialism" is not liberal at all, and never has been, and implies conservative, fascist, Nazi ideolgy.

Therefore, we should keep calling them Nazis, because that makes "Nazi" an "N-word" that White people hate to be called.

I Love this idea. It's totally on the mark.

Now that I have thrown that at you, let's talk about what Trump supporters, Nazis, Klansmen, and other similar people REALLY ARE.

Forget about Racism. Racism is a side-note. Most of these people would treat other white people the same, if they had any disagreements with them.

Forget about Conservatism. Most of these people are not actually conservative in their ideology, and have no clue what the tenets of that ideology are when they see it.

Forget about Christians. Most of the Protestant Evangelicals in America gave up trying to actually believe in the actual faith of Christianity when they embraced money and profit over being kind to one another.

Forget about homophobia and sexism. Most of these people wouldn't know if anyone was gay, unless gay people had a dress code, and how they treat women is definitely not part of any Conservative, Nazi, or Christian way of thinking.

Forget all of those things, and focus on what these people really are, and what they all have in common...

They are Mafia and disorganized Criminals. This is the most accurate way of looking at these Rednecks, Gopniks, Provincials, Yokels, and Dregs of Society. Most of these people aren't community-oriented, and tend to have personal problems with neighbors, even when they try to form communities of their own. They are all borderline criminals who can easily cross the line to committing a crime, and most of the ones who don't already have criminal records would cross the line only if they felt very safe among a group, and knew that the chances of being arrested were very low.

The Nazis were more a Mafia than a group looking to better society. Their ideology was constructed upon the deliberate destruction of their perceived enemies by violence, pillaging, and purging. When the state had given them the signal that they would not be charged with any crimes for murder, pillage, rape, and other things, against their enemies, they proceeded to shamelessly brutalize everyone on their enemies list with impunity. In Sicily, and in the USA, where Italian Mafia were established, the organized crime families got support from the public by exploiting corrupt police and politicians, and getting the public to accept that the Mafia was looking out for them, and that if they killed anyone, it was because they deserved it. Even when police officers were murdered, stalked, and trial witnesses murdered so they could not testify, it was always promoted as "just business".

Likewise, many motorcycle clubs in America, such as the Hell's Angels, The Outlaws, and the Banditos, formed criminal enterprises, and are popular because many of their operations are talked about in terms of "fighting against the man", or deceiving authorities, or making corrupt law enforcement look stupid. It doesn't matter that many of these biker gangs have murdered, robbed banks, or actually negatively impacted innocents who got unwittingly caught in their crossfire (both literal and actual crossfire). Their image is promoted and repeated until enough people believe it. It doesn't matter to many that many police officers were murdered by them -- they promote the idea that police treat them with an unfair amount of suspicion.

These people are criminals, because they are essentially against the rule of law.

They do not believe that their actions should be constrained by those pesky things we call laws, rights, and justice. They wish to do what they want, whether it's full-blown organized crime, or simply getting away with rude and repugnant behavior in public, and have no care or worries about responsibility or blow-back. In essence, these people want to commit crimes, whether it's against their traditional enemies, or against each other when disagreements emerge. This is exactly what happened in the past with Mafias and Nazis. When different Mafia organizations crossed into each other's perceived territories, the end result was always gang wars and murders. When The American Nazi Party elected their new leader, George Lincoln Rockwell, back in 1967, over several other candidates, rather than accept that he won, a conspiracy to murder him was carried out by his rivals, and following that, the rivals went after each other, until the American Nazi Party schizmed into dozens of quarreling and increasingly smaller factions. Many of those factions turned into organized criminal organizations, which made their money by robbing homes and banks, and murdering police officers.

This time around, we need to get it out of our head that these are "just people with alternative minority ideologies" who are marginalized. That is an invalid claim of theirs, and no news agencies should take it seriously. These people are promoting crimes, elevating organized criminals, trying to water-down murders and attempted murders that their members commit, by either saying that the victims deserved it, or by having politicians create legislation that allows drivers to run over protestors. These people, whether they realize it or not, are in favor of lawlessness, where nobody is accountable for anything that they do, and where the law takes on the form of mob rule, where police and justice become irrelevant.

If the ultimate criminal act is treason, then many people in the upper ranks of the Republican party are also criminals, because they either are trying to pass laws to protect the further criminal activity of Donald Trump, or they are actively ignoring his treason, and will actively block any attempts to impeach him of put him on trial.

So please, call these people Nazis if it satisfies you, and makes them angry. But remember that the reality of Nazis, Klansmen, the NRA, Donald Trump, and many of his supporters, is that they are criminals fighting to normalize crime, fighting against Justice, fighting against the rule of Law, fighting against the Constitution, and fighting against any sense of society or community. Because they are criminals, we need to be increasingly more vigilant, and increasingly more willing to take the fight to them when the time is right. No society run by criminals, warlords, or Mafia dons ever lasts long. No American would actually want to live in a country where, even if just for a year or two, there was no law or justice.

The Emanuel Church Massacre: Is Dylan Roof just insane?

Many (white) people are trying to justify (write off) Dylann Roof as "an insane person" (what white people are called when they do acts that non-white "terrorists", "thugs", and "monsters" do).

I say that though he may or may not be insane, the point is that he felt comfortable, emboldened, and justified as if it were his duty to massacre 9 innocent people.

What made him feel this way? I suggest the following people:

• Sean Hannity, who has made a career of defending horribly racist people, giving them unchallenged platforms to air their pathetic excuse for beliefs, all the while hiding from his associations with known Nazis.
  http://www.newshounds.us/2008/03/20/hannity_denies_past_association_with_white_supremacist_but_evidence_suggests_otherwise.php…
• Rush Limbaugh, who has made a career of tasteless, racist, sexist, and homophobic rants.
  http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/03/07/the-20-worst-racial-attacks-limbaughs-advertise/184776
• Bill O'Reilly, who has a long, well-documented career of letting his true racist beliefs slip out. A lot. Quite frequently, in fact.
  http://fair.org/extra-online-articles/oreillys-racist-slurs-in-context/
• The Tea party, which so far, at nearly every rally, has plenty of signs, speakers, and other evidence of the racism that permeates the movement. The movement, which is responsible for getting many people elected into public office, has continued to deny its racism, but failed to explain the overwhelming evidence of it.
  http://aattp.org/20-more-insane-racist-tea-party-signs/
  http://www.motherjones.com/slideshows/2010/09/tea-partys-racist-signs/niggar
  http://www.forwardprogressives.com/blatant-racism-full-display-tea-party-rally-front-white-house-video/
  
• The Republican Party, many members of which have been pushing racist ideology and messages for decades.
  http://www.salon.com/2015/04/10/the_gop_has_scores_of_racists_a_former_bush_official_condemns_modern_republican_orthodoxy/
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/13/chris-matthews-gop-jim-crow-alive-21st-century_n_6863328.html
  http://samuel-warde.com/2014/12/proof-republicans-racists-comes-president-obama/
  
• Fox News, who, even after the KKK history of Dylann Roof was known, and what he is reported to have said to his victims before killing them ("You rape our women and you're taking over our country, and you have to go."), broadcast it's anchor people and news commentators looking confused at the rest of the media (You know, the real world) referring to the incident as a racist hate crime. The Fox team quickly repeated their mantra that "it's an attack on Christians. It's a religious hate crime. Churches should arm their people with guns." Fox news, for decades, has been trying to promote their strange little universe, where racism doesn't exist, and the KKK is nothing more than a friendly Christian brotherhood.
  http://mediamatters.org/video/2015/06/18/foxs-steve-doocy-its-extraordinary-that-charles/204043

All of these individuals and organizations have publicly given lip-service to racist ideas, which inspire, embolden, and motivate racists all over the country, whether they're police officers or 21-year-old losers like Dylann Roof. Some of the factually bankrupt ideas they have promoted, often using coded language, are:

• Mexicans are "Invading" the country.
• Illegal immigrants are "stealing" jobs.
• Black people are inclined to criminal behavior, because lots of them are in prison.
• Black people are more violent.
• Not showing proper respect to cops is justification for being shot to death.
• Obama wants to take money from white people and pay reparations to blacks (Yes, it was said, and by high-profile Republican elected officials)
• Obama will take away your guns.
• Obama has a deep-seated hated of white people.
• You'd better prepare for the coming race war.

You can't deny all of this evidence, or say that this is all just speculation or that none of these facts are connected. If you try to say that, you run into the problem of the sheer mass of the evidence. This article merely scratches the surface of America's hard-to-deny, long-running racism problem.

As a society, I feel that we really need more public shaming of racists. We should not allow racists, sexists, or homophobes to have platforms in the media where they can air their views, unchallenged, or try to cover-up their racism by trying to explain it using coded language, hidden behind a cloak of socioeconomic terminology. If we really are going to get rid of racism in this country, we need to intellectually kick racist politicians and commentators, along with radio and TV pundits in the face or balls with their own racist comments, and force them to either own up to it, or take the walk of shame (when they rip their mics off, and angrily storm out of the interview).

We don't need more political correctness. We need to develop the testicular fortitude to stand up to racists in politics and media, get involved in publicly shaming them, and publicly debating them, so their horrible views can be outed. We need to be mercilessly rude in calling their views what they are (racist, sexist, homophobic), and not letting them weasel out of what they said.

Dear Veterans who "Fought for my Freedom"...

I have had a few discussions with people who insisted that I had to shut up about various political issues, because they were veterans, and they fought for my freedom, and that I couldn't possibly understand what it means because I'm not a veteran. A quick chat with friends and family who are veterans, themselves, gave me great perspective on this -- the consensus was "Those guys are idiots, and they give veterans a bad name... (not my own words)."

When you think of the wars that America has been involved in over the years, it's hard to pinpoint any period where America's freedom was actually threatened by anyone outside of America. Even World War 2 is a difficult subject to delve into to get any kind of instance where "America almost lost it's freedom". Sure, there was a lot of sacrifice. But arguably, the landings at Normandy had more to do with French freedom than our own. We really sacrificed a lot of our blood, guts, sweat, and tears for our French, Belgian, English, Italian, and other people enslaved by Fascism. But I think it's fair to say that America was never in any position to be invaded, not by Nazi Germany, nor by Japan. In fact, within months of the Infamy of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese were up against the wall, and in no position to take away any civilian freedom from the USA. Germany was completely unable to break down Britain's defenses, and had to keep putting off their planned invasion, because the British fought them with cunning and technology. RADAR was what kept the Brits on top of Luftwaffe raids (well, that, and lots of sleepless nights for RAF pilots), while the first computers and an army of mathematicians broke the Nazi Enigma codes. By the time D-Day occurred, the Germans were already losing the war -- mostly because of a disastrous decision to go to war against the Soviets.

So with that out of the way, I have to honestly say, Dear Veterans, that you did not fight for my freedom. I owe none of my freedom to any American Vets who served in the 20th or 21st centuries. I can say this with utter confidence, because I actually have history and knowledge on my side, as opposed to the venom, vitriol, and self-aggrandizing emotionalism of the Vets who literally tell me that I had better shut up, because they fought for my freedom to speak. Don't misunderstand, dear veterans. I am not expressing contempt for you or your valiant efforts fighting under the banner of Old Glory and in the name of America. I am only disparaging the political notion that any of your efforts had anything to do with preserving my freedom, or expanding the freedom of unfairly disenfranchised citizens. Most of the great advocates and champions of Freedom in America are actually civilians, many of whom have no veteran status, and many of whom you all learned about in school. In fact, not only are America's greatest champions of freedom and liberty not military heroes, the U.S. Military has done far more against the cause of freedom and liberty than is has done to protect it. I will first list some notable American freedom fighters, then I shall list events in history where the Military fought against those who championed freedom, fairness, and the rule of constitutional law.

Here are America's true champions of liberty, and the actual defenders of freedom:

Since I've often noticed on more than one occasion that many conservatives have an axe to grind when it comes to African Americans, I thought I'd start this lesson in freedom and liberty off with Famous African Americans who fought for our freedom.

• Frederick Douglass -- After escaping from slavery, he became a leader of the abolitionist movement, gaining note for his dazzling oratory and incisive antislavery writing. He stood as a living counter-example to slaveholders' arguments that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as independent American citizens. Many Northerners also found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave.
• Harriet Tubman -- Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made about thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved family and friends, using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era struggled for women's suffrage.
• Paul Robeson -- He became politically involved in response to the Spanish Civil War, fascism, and social injustices. His advocacy of anti-imperialism, affiliation with communism, and criticism of the United States government caused him to be blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Ill health forced him into retirement from his career. He remained until his death an advocate of the political stances he took.
• Martin Luther King, Jr. -- A Baptist minister, King became a civil rights activist early in his career. He led the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957, serving as its first president. With the SCLC, King led an unsuccessful struggle against segregation in Albany, Georgia, in 1962, and organized nonviolent protests in Birmingham, Alabama, that attracted national attention following television news coverage of the brutal police response. King also helped to organize the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. There, he established his reputation as one of the greatest orators in American history. J. Edgar Hoover considered him a radical and made him an object of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's COINTELPRO for the rest of his life.
• Malcolm X -- This will incite many conservatives, not just because he's a African-American, but because he's a Muslim, as well. Feel your conservative blood boiling now? Malcolm X was an African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. He has been called one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.
• 

What could possibly piss off Tea Party activists and other conservatives more than African American Freedom Fighters? How about a Mexican-American freedom fighter!

• Cesar Chavez -- A Mexican American, Chavez became the best known Latino American civil rights activist, and was strongly promoted by the American labor movement, which was eager to enroll Hispanic members. His public-relations approach to unionism and aggressive but nonviolent tactics made the farm workers' struggle a moral cause with nationwide support. By the late 1970s, his tactics had forced growers to recognize the UFW as the bargaining agent for 50,000 field workers in California and Florida.
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton -- Stanton was an American social activist, abolitionist, and leading figure of the early women's rights movement. Her Declaration of Sentiments, presented at the Seneca Falls Convention held in 1848 in Seneca Falls, New York, is often credited with initiating the first organized women's rights and women's suffrage movements in the United States. Before Stanton narrowed her political focus almost exclusively to women's rights, she was an active abolitionist with her husband, Henry Brewster Stanton and cousin, Gerrit Smith. Unlike many of those involved in the women's rights movement, Stanton addressed various issues pertaining to women beyond voting rights. Her concerns included women's parental and custody rights, property rights, employment and income rights, divorce, the economic health of the family, and birth control. She was also an outspoken supporter of the 19th-century temperance movement.
• Susan B. Anthony -- In 1851, she met Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who became her lifelong co-worker in social reform activities, primarily in the field of women's rights. In 1852, they founded the New York Women's State Temperance Society after Anthony was prevented from speaking at a temperance conference because she was a woman. In 1863, they founded the Women's Loyal National League, which conducted the largest petition drive in the nation's history up to that time, collecting nearly 400,000 signatures in support of the abolition of slavery.

  In 1866, they initiated the American Equal Rights Association, which campaigned for equal rights for both women and African Americans. In 1868, they began publishing a women's rights newspaper called The Revolution. In 1869, they founded the National Woman Suffrage Association as part of a split in the women's movement. In 1890 the split was formally healed when their organization merged with the rival American Woman Suffrage Association to form the National American Woman Suffrage Association, with Anthony as its key force. In 1876, Anthony and Stanton began working with Matilda Joslyn Gage on what eventually grew into the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage. The interests of Anthony and Stanton diverged somewhat in later years, but the two remained close friends.

  In 1872, Anthony was arrested for voting in her hometown of Rochester, New York, and convicted in a widely publicized trial. She refused to pay the fine, but the authorities declined to take further action. In 1878, Anthony and Stanton arranged for Congress to be presented with an amendment giving women the right to vote. Popularly known as the Anthony Amendment, it became the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920.

• Roger Nash Baldwin -- Roger Nash Baldwin was one of the founders of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He served as executive director of the ACLU until 1950. Many of the ACLU's original landmark cases took place under his direction, including the Scopes Trial, the Sacco and Vanzetti murder trial, and its challenge to the ban on James Joyce's Ulysses. Baldwin was a well known pacifist and author.
• Lenny Bruce -- Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), better known by his stage name Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-style and critical form of comedy which integrated satire, politics, religion, sex, and vulgarity. His private life was marked by struggles with personal demons and efforts to prevent his wife from working as a stripper. His 1964 conviction in an obscenity trial was followed by a posthumous pardon, the first in New York State history, by then-Governor George Pataki in 2003. He paved the way for future outspoken counterculture-era comedians, and his trial for obscenity, in which – after being forced into bankruptcy – he was eventually pardoned, is seen as a landmark trial for freedom of speech in the US.
• Larry Flynt -- Larry Claxton Flynt, Jr. (born November 1, 1942) is an American publisher and the president of Larry Flynt Publications (LFP). In 2003, Arena magazine listed him as #1 on the "50 Powerful People in Porn" list.

  LFP mainly produces sexually graphic videos and magazines, most notably Hustler. Flynt has fought several prominent legal battles involving the First Amendment, and has unsuccessfully run for public office. He is paralyzed from the waist down due to injuries sustained in a 1978 assassination attempt by Joseph Paul Franklin.

  Flynt's triumphs include several landmark legal cases involving satire printed in his magazines, as well as the freedom to publish pornography in general. Though some may find that advocacy for the right to publish and read pornographic material is no great honor, it is significant in that prior to Flynt taking this to court, the government arbitrarily chose targets to censor due to its pornographic nature. Flynt's 1988 battle with Jerry Falwell over a satire liquor ad, depicting Falwell as an alcoholic who had sex with his mother, is significant, because it defended the right to satirize public figures.

So there are literally hundreds more people I can go on about, including gay rights activists, like Harvey Milk, Native American rights activists, and so on. By this point in my lesson, you should get the point. Freedom and liberty in America is rarely something that has been fought over in foreign lands. The Civil War was possibly the last time in American History, when Freedom for millions of Americans was a goal that was fought for by the military. In the 20th century, we have never really seen our soldiers fight for the cause of freedom. Quite the opposite is the truth, I'm afraid. Whenever the U.S. Military has been called to take part in a struggle between advocates of freedom, and advocates of the status quo, the military has nearly always been on the side of those who fight against freedom. In the world of finance and monopolies, in the 20th century, the American military has often found its services paid for by super-rich, fighting to keep their oppression of lesser-monied people going just a little bit longer.

For Example:

• The Banana Wars -- General Smedley Darlington Butler, one of America's most highly decorated, respected, and important military figures from the 19th and 20th centuries, wrote about a series of conflicts that included U.S. Military action in the Philippines, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Mexico, and other central and South American countries. These wars were sold to the American public as uprisings of Communists who threatened American businesses in the region. The reality, as Butler wrote in his memoirs, is that they were fought mainly to protect the profits of the American-owned fruit companies, who were usually only facing having to actually pay for extracting fruit from democratic nations that didn't profit from the American companies being there. Butler saw these action as using the U.S. Marine Corps as hired thugs to protect monopolies.

  In these police actions, Butler details how US forces were often asked to shoot at women, children, and Catholic clergy, including nuns, who were usually aiding the peasants fighting against the Corporations. He wrote a book called "War Is A Racket", which details all of his experiences, and advocated for more wise and prudent use of America's armed forces. In case after case, American troops tended to dismantle democratically elected governments, and place dictators in charge of them, who were often puppets of the Fruit Companies. U.S. Troops destroying democracy, to establish a dictatorship? Yes. It's all true.

  Incidentally, Butler founded The Bonus Army after World War 1, which fought to get pensions and federal assistance for Veterans returning from the War. Prior to the Bonus Army, American Soldiers returning from war often returned home with nothing more than their battle-scars. The Bonus army was instrumental in getting benefits for veterans, as a reward for being wounded for and dying for their country, and paved the way for the G.I Bill that came in 1944. But it did not happen without a fight.

  In 1932, Veterans of World War 1 marched on Washington to urge the government to pass the Wright-Patman Bonus Bill, which would have paid vets for their service during the war. Many vets came home to find no jobs, and became homeless. Soon, a shanty-town formed just outside of the capital, called "Hooverville", where veterans lived during weeks of protest. It was very much like the "occupy" movement of it's day. On March 28, 1932, the bill was defeated in the senate, and as veterans marched to the capitol in protest, the army was called in to deal with them. General Douglas MacArthur led a U.S. Army infantry division, complete with tanks, on Hooverville, where they clashed with veteran-protesters and their families who were camped there. Major George S. Patton, who led the tank division, was cheered by the protesting vets as a hero, until he ordered his men to fix their bayonets and charge them. Though only a few veterans were killed, both MacArthur and Patton regarded the incident as the most distasteful orders they were ever given.

• The Ludlow Massacre -- The Ludlow Massacre was an attack by the Colorado National Guard and Colorado Fuel & Iron Company camp guards on a tent colony of 1,200 striking coal miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado, on April 20, 1914. Some two dozen people, including women and children, were killed. The chief owner of the mine, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., was widely criticized for the incident.

  The massacre, the culmination of a bloody widespread strike against Colorado coal mines, resulted in the violent deaths of between 19 and 26 people; reported death tolls vary but include two women and eleven children, asphyxiated and burned to death under a single tent. The deaths occurred after a daylong fight between militia and camp guards against striking workers. Ludlow was the deadliest single incident in the southern Colorado Coal Strike, lasting from September 1913 through December 1914. The strike was organized by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) against coal mining companies in Colorado. The three largest companies involved were the Rockefeller family-owned Colorado Fuel & Iron Company (CF&I), the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company (RMF), and the Victor-American Fuel Company (VAF).

  In retaliation for Ludlow, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines over the next ten days, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard along a 40-mile front from Trinidad to Walsenburg. The entire strike would cost between 69 and 199 lives. Thomas G. Andrews described it as the "deadliest strike in the history of the United States."

• The Tulsa Race Riot -- The Tulsa race riot was a large-scale, racially motivated conflict on May 31 and June 1, 1921, in which a group of whites attacked the black community of Tulsa, Oklahoma. It resulted in the Greenwood District, also known as 'the Black Wall Street' and the wealthiest black community in the United States, being burned to the ground.

  During the 16 hours of the assault, more than 800 blacks were admitted to local white hospitals with injuries (the black hospital was burned down), and police arrested and detained more than 6,000 black Greenwood residents at three local facilities, in part for their protection. An estimated 10,000 blacks were left homeless, and 35 city blocks composed of 1,256 residences were destroyed by fire. The official count of the dead by the Oklahoma Department of Vital Statistics was 39, but other estimates of black fatalities varied from 55 to about 300.

  Numerous eyewitness accounts described airplanes carrying white assailants, who fired rifles and dropped firebombs on buildings, homes, and fleeing families. The planes, six biplane two-seater trainers left over from World War I, were dispatched from the nearby Curtiss-Southwest Field (now defunct) outside Tulsa. White law enforcement officials later stated the planes were to provide reconnaissance and protect whites against a "Negro uprising". Eyewitness accounts and testimony from the survivors maintained that on the morning of June 1, the planes dropped incendiary bombs and fired rifles at black residents on the ground.

• The Kent State Shootings -- The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre) occurred at Kent State University in the US city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis.

  Some of the students who were shot had been protesting the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced during a television address on April 30. Other students who were shot had been walking nearby or observing the protest from a distance.

  There was a significant national response to the shootings: hundreds of universities, colleges, and high schools closed throughout the United States due to a student strike of four million students,[9] and the event further affected public opinion—at an already socially contentious time—over the role of the United States in the Vietnam War.

• The U.S. invasion of Hawaii -- When a group of missionaries dead set on talking the King Kalākau of Hawaii into giving them all of his land, got thwarted by his daughter, Liliuokalani as she ascended to the throne, and threatened to establish a democracy where native Hawaiians and colonists from America would be treated as equals, they called on the U.S. Government for help. Apparently, many of America's senators and congressmen were as appalled as the white settlers at the thought of being "equals" to people whom they mocked as nothing more than monkeys (newspaper articles and cartoons pretty much established that fact), so they sent in the Marines, of course.

  In spite of the fact that Queen Liliuokalani's native citizens had no weapons (The American colonists took them away), no land (Sanford Dole, leader of the missionaries, forced King Kalākau to sign a bill that forbid Native Hawaiians from owning land), and were being threatened by the white settlers, who had all the land, all the guns, and looked down upon the natives, the Marines came and stood at the side of the colonists. The rest is history.

As we can see, the US military has been used to destroy democracy, disrupt freedom of speech, and kill innocent peaceful protesters, all throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. I haven't even mentioned how the US Army, following the Civil war, was used to massacre native Americans and force them off of land, once gold was discovered on it. Time and time again, liberty, democracy, and freedom were disrupted by U.S. Military actions, all for the sake of monopolies. So it's difficult for me, or anyone familiar with actual uncensored U.S. History, to believe that any vets fought for my freedom. As I said, I certainly appreciate your efforts and initiative in serving our country, but I do not have any obligation to worship at your feet, for protecting me from anything. I will salute you for doing what your country asked you to do, and putting up with all the suck that went along with the job, but I'm not going to accept what I know is a lie -- that you fought to defend my freedom.

Why Conservatives are the problem

The biggest division in American society, which has been developing since the late 1970's, has been the divide between conservatives and liberals. Conservatives often speak of liberalism in extreme terms -- they like to claim that liberals are all tree-hugging, irreligious, drug-using, lazy, unproductive, communists, socialists, and ultimately un-American. Liberal ideas and people in the news are frequently portrayed by conservative pundits as evil, having hidden agendas, or worse.

Conservatives often speak as though being religious automatically makes a person morally superior. Tell that to the victims of all the abortion clinic bombers and doctor-assassins, who thought they were doing God's work. You may want to tell that to the Catholic church, too, which forced women in Ireland into slavery for getting pregnant out of wedlock, and who buried hundreds of dead kids without so much as an epitaph or explanation of how they died.

The Conservatives clearly are projecting their own shortcomings onto liberals, because most of them, particularly the most vocal commentators, are actually worse than what they accuse liberals of. When you see another conservative, religious televangelist or congressman involved in an extramarital affair, or involved in a financial scandal or patronage scandal, it's sometimes too traumatic for even other conservatives to take, and many of them actually accuse their criminal colleagues of being liberal democrats!

The problem is that liberals often do not respond to the conservative message, and let their claims go unchallenged. This is a big mistake, because the real problem with America is, and always has been, conservatives. I can say this with relative confidence, too. We can go into this for weeks, but there is a real meaty part of this issue that I'd rather discuss here, which concerns the very essence of America, and why conservatives who claim to support it, by their words and actions, actually stand against it.

Do you agree that the bill of rights, as outlined in the United States Constitution, is an important part of the makeup of America's culture? Do you value free speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion? Do you believe that the power of government originates from the consent of the governed? Do you believe that the purpose of government is to "to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity"?

If you do not agree, then you are obviously against the US Constitution, and really should just be honest about it, instead of trying to give the U.S. Constitution lip service, while really trying to undermine it. If you really want to overturn the Constitution, just admit it.

However, if you believe these things, the very foundation of the United States Constitution, and you believe they are beyond reproach, and should not be altered, then you cannot possibly align yourself with the current conservative movement, without risking being dishonest, or ignorant of what you really believe.

Conservatives do not respect Freedom Of Religion

Conservatives stand in stark contrast to the values outlined in the US Constitution. This is an easily established fact. Just look at what they say about Freedom Of Religion, for example. Many in the Republican party, on Conservative talk shows, and in writing, have expressed their belief that America was "founded as a Christian Nation." They promote the idea that the constitution provides for freedom of religion, but only within the confines of the Judeo-Christian faiths. Of course, this is not supported by the US Constitution, but they will claim it is, anyway. They usually point out the superficial "in the year of Our Lord..." as the proof, though this is rather specious. The US Supreme court has always established that there is no limitation to which religions are free to be practiced in the USA.

Some conservatives go even further. David Barton, and many other Conservative Christian Fundamentalists, which includes plenty of movers and shakers in the Republican party, has gone so far as to suggest that the Constitution is based entirely on Biblical principles, which is a ridiculous notion, because the founding fathers actually wrote about what inspired them to write the Constitution, and it was not the writings of Jesus they cited at all, but people like Rousseau, Montesquieu, John Locke, Voltaire, Hume, and Diderot. Most of these men were not particularly religious, and are not know to have quoted the Bible as justification of their beliefs.

And still they go further. Many conservatives even suggest that we should ban, or restrict the non-Christian religious people among us; that we say, ban Muslims and atheists from running for public office, and that there be a religious test as a per-requisite for running for public office (Which, by the way, is in direct violation of the first Amendment, as well as article 6 section 3, of the US Constitution, which specifies "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States").

Conservatives do not respect Freedom Of Speech or of the press.

We often hear conservatives refer to people whose opinions they don't like as "traitors", and suggest that we punish them as traitors (always being carefult to not mention that this may include the death penalty). They were quite vociferous about this during the protests that sprung up in the lead-up to President George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq. If you're old enough to remember, you will note that people who protested President Nixon and Reagan's war policies, also were condemned as traitors by conservative commentators. They cited an unwritten rule that "you can't criticize the president during a time of war." as their reason. Of course, there is no actual law or constitutional principle that this is based on. They claim that since the definition of "traitor" is "one who gives aid and comfort to the enemy", that criticism of a president during a war gives comfort and aid to the enemy." Unfortunately for them, nobody has ever successfully proven this. The First Amendment doesn't have any exceptions in it -- it doesn't say "freedom of speech and of the press, EXCEPT when you criticize a president during a war."

But conservatives go further. Some have gone on record as suggsting that we need to modify the First Amendment; that freedom of speech should have limitations or exceptions. They have crafted legislation in several states, for example, which would ban teachers from teaching scientific, medical, and historical facts in Public schools. Specifically, they have constantly tried to ban teaching Evolution, sex education, and some historical facts which clash with some of their southern beliefs. The bans usually follow the logic, that teachers should not be allowed to teach things that are harmful to children -- yes, it's always about protecting the children, of course. They then label evolution, sensible, common sense, hygienic knowledge of sex, and certain things about the civil war as harmful. Teachers are then faced with not being able to educate properly.

Conservatives do not respect your right to vote

Republicans in several states, notably Texas, have crafted legislation that is blatant in it's usurpation of the Constitution. They have literally brought up legislation that would appoint senators, rather than let the public vote on their representatives. They even tried to make it harder to register to vote, making it necessary for voters to get ID documentation that most people don't have to show for employment or to a police officer. All of the voter-ID laws that were proposed by conservatives were cleverly written to overlook the reality that those most affected by them would be people living near or below the poverty line, and in most Southern Conservative-held states, that would be African Americans. The laws were designed to combat voter fraud - which has never been a problem, and which has never been substantiated. The only electoral frauds that police and federal investigators have ever substantiated were those committed by Republicans appointed to run elections in various districts. Most of the offenses of "voter fraud" that the Republicans got caught doing involved trashing ballots from districts that tended to vote for democrats.

Conservatives are against your protection from illegal search & Seizure, as well as your Miranda rights. Oh, and they don't even like your right to a fair and speedy trial...

Conservatives Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, and others have all suggested that the 5th Amendment is a terrible hinderence on law enforcement. They all responded to the forthcoming trial of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by suggesting that we suspend his Miranda Rights because he was a terrorist, and may know about other bombings to come. They even suggested that a trial should not even be neccesary -- that we should be just holding him in indefinite detention, constantly interrogating him until he tells us everything he knows.

In almost the same breath, many suggested that we wiretap all of the mosques and other Islamic associations in the country, looking for evidence of potential crimes. This is interesting, because these people would be the first to complain if someone suggested that we wire-tap the churches of abortion clinic bombers, all of whom, so far, have been Christian. They even dared to suggest that we disallow muslims from becoming school teachers, and Anne Coulter even quiped that the wife of the deceased Bomber, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, be arrested merely for wearing a hijjab. Within a single 30-minute discussion on Fox News, all but one of the bill of rights was found to be a problem for conservatives seeking expediency over fairness.

As John Stewart of the popular Comedy show "The Daily Show" pointed out in a montage of conservative pundits discussing the Boston Marathon bombing, only the Second Amendment was spared, held up as too sacred to alter!

Conservatives are against domestic tranquility

Nothing can be more disgusting than to see people cheering for a bully, or lauding a person for breaking the law. Cliven Bundy showed us that conservatives love bullies, especially when those bullies arm themselves and face-off against police. What conservatives didn't say about Bundy was that he refused to pay the fees for using public lands which all the other farmers in his area have paid. He refused to pay the fees, and when the government came to serve him with a court order, he called up a bunch of gun-nuts to help him stand up to the law. Bundy didn't actually abuse his neighbors or fellow citizens, but he has been allowed to skirt federal law, and conservatives are on his side, even though the obvious fact that he is breaking the law is never even discussed.

When Americans are abused by their fellow citizens, or discriminated against, conservatives are the first ones to come to the aid of the abusers. Time and time again, when legislation to end discrimination against non-white Americans, against religious minorities, against gay people, or against women, is proposed, the ones who always oppose it are conservatives. They openly question whether or not rape should be a crime. They demand that willingly discriminating against African Americans is a freedom of speech and freedom of association issue, not a civil rights issue.

When conservatives defend rapists, defend racists, and defend bullies, they are in favor of a society where domestic conflict is the norm, and abuse of fellow citizens is encouraged. This is essentially opposition to domestic tranquility.

Conservatives do not think that a government's power is derived from the consent of the governed

When you hear conservatives, especially those with Evangelical Christian Fundamentalist beliefs, try to explain where the government's power, and our rights come from, they will claim that your rights came from God, and so don't the powers of governments. They will even go as far as to claim that this is what the constitution says, but they're wrong, of course. The founding fathers wrote into the Declaration of Independence, that the power of government is derived from the consent of the governed. If they believed it came from God, they should have written that, but they didn't. What conservatives fail to realize, when they try to proclaim that God personally appoints governments and leaders, and that the Bible is clear about this, is that if we were to go to the Bible for advice on governing, or for human rights, we run into serious problems. The bible doesn't support anything similar to the Bill Of Rights. The Bible clearly sets up a monarchy as the preferred system of government, that women are property, with little more value than farm animals, and it even goes as far as to promote slavery.

The implications are clear if you side with the Biblical notion of governing and society. Voting is antithetical to Christianity -- God appoints leaders to be absolute and unquestioned representatives of his law on earth. Citizens have no rights, except what the King says. Faith in the religion of the King is the ultimate arbiter of one's value in society, and if you are wealthy, it's because God wants it, or because you pleased God. This is exactly what King George The Third believed when we sent him the Declaration of Independence. In other words, Conservatives are against the very principles that the founding fathers fought for! You can't get any clearer than that.

With all of these things put together, it is impossible for anyone to say, with a straight face, that conservatives really care about preserving the constitution, or just have a slightly different interpretation, which they claim is closer to the intent of the founding fathers. If the founding fathers could see what conservatives are saying today, they would not just roll over in their graves, but they would rise from them and vomit in disgust. Vomit and disgust are not strong enough reactions to the vast and monstrous hypocrisy that the right wing shows. They literally have spoken out against nearly every part of the constitution, save the Second Amendment, of course, just within the last couple of years. In my opinion, speaking out against any part of the constitution, or suggesting that the bill of rights might be outdated, is not just UN-American, it's sociopathy, inhumane, and just plain evil.

What a Liberal Son Of a Bitch wants

I don't know about the rest of you liberal sons of bitches, but I actually WANT:

• Universal healthcare
• The Bush-era Tax Cuts rescinded
• More money to go into the Public School system,
• Free college tuition for all.
• An END to workfare.
• Welfare and unemployment assistance to be universal, based on the needs of the individual.
• The Military shrank, in terms of personnel, equipment, and budget.
• A universal ban on gifts given to elected officials.
• A universal ban on corporate lobbying.
• Women to be considered equal to men in all aspects of public, private, and work life.
• Civil rights to include protection for LGTB.
• A minimum wage that rises with the cost of living.
• Stiff fines and prison sentences for lobbyists who bribe elected officials
• And end to private prisons, and other contracting of government services.
• End all monopolies.
• End Religious tax exemptions.
• Laws fining and punishing news organizations and public relations media for promoting untrue, invented, or otherwise demonstrably false information as fact.

Now I know this may piss off some of you conservatives out there, so I want you to tell me why any of these things are not good ideas.

Republicans Vs. Democrats: Your choice is really simple!

It's really simple, folks. The choice between voting for democrats and Republicans really is like this:

Vote for Republicans/Tea party/Libertarians if you believe:

• Women should not be equal to men in terms of Employment, should not have access to abortion, and should not make the same wages for the same job that a man does, even if they outperform men.
• White people of Anglo-Saxon descent should get preferential treatment over racial minorities.
• Gay people have no place in society.
• One group's "religious liberty" includes the right to discriminate, and deprive gays or other groups of employment, housing, access to government services.
• The taxes collected from you should not go to help anyone else that you don't know, don't care about, or hate.
• That America needs to be restored to a Christian nation, and that all aspects of society need to be run by biblical laws.
• That as many aspects of the government must be privatized for profit.
• That Profit is the only valid way to measure any person or program's success, and the only valid motivation for doing anything.
• That public school is a total failure, because teachers are all lazy and concerned only with their giant salaries, and our kids are all too stupid.

Vote for Democrats if you believe:

• That government and society should be all-inclusive; that no person can be denied a job, house, or government access on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexuality, handicapped status
• That women should be considered equal to men in terms of employment, government access, healthcare, and have access to abortion if that is their desire.
• That all persons in the USA are treated equally under the law, reguardless of age, sex, ethnic background, sexuality, handicapped status, veteran status, etc.
• No person or group has the liberty to deny the same access to jobs, housing, government access, for any reason.
• All citizens should get equal access to public education, and that the system should be fixed (because conservatives deliberately ruined it for selfish profit motives) to educate everyone to world-class standards.
• America is not an exclusively Christian nation, and we should allow people of all faiths to have equal access to employment, housing, and access to government.
• Profit is a poor motivator and a poor way of measuring success. Some things are worth more than their ability generate a profit, and sometimes, government needs to do things that are commercially unprofitable because the results benefit the people. Government is not a business, and should not be run for profit.

Now I'm pretty sure that everything I've said about the Democratic/liberal point of view on here is correct, since I am a God-damn liberal son-of-a-bitch, myself, but how well did I do describing the Republican point of view here? I'd like to know. I don't want to be accused of misrepresenting the opposition.