Wiretapping and the 4th Amendment

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." 4th Amendment

I don't know about you, but the language seems pretty clear.  When the Bush administration wanted to wiretap phones without a warrant, it violated the Constitution.  Period, it was wrong, and I'm not going to listen to the arguments anymore.  If you think you have someone involved in criminal or terrorist activity, get a warrant, it shows you have something.

The media jumped on it like he was starving children on TV.  He wasn't, but it still wasn't right.  The issue now, is that nobody seems concerned in the media.  Please don't tell me the whole issue is that the Obama administration is benevolent and the Bush administration was pure evil.  Both have contempt for the founding documents and both are completely out of line.  Time for everyone to wake up and realize we're being bamboozled on the left and the right.  You've been warned, they can listen to your calls, read your emails, and look in on what you read and write on the Internet.  No big brother to worry about there!

Stop calling them tax cuts!

So, if they have been the prevailing rates since 2001 and 2003, are we extending tax cuts?  No, we're not.  We're simply continuing the existing rates.
And, while we're talking taxes, the Congress and the President need to stop saying that tax cuts "cost" the government money.  Last time I checked, I, like you, get up, go to work, and earn my paycheck.  The government simply confiscates what they want like it's their money.  IT IS NOT!
So, let's stop calling it tax cuts, and let's really stop letting the government get away with thinking our hard earned money is owed to them.  If it were up to most people, we'd rather keep our money from funding programs to do the crazy things government does (too many have written about that, I'm not going to rehash it).  Call your representatives and tell them to stop taking money out of all of our pockets to fund their insanity.

Step 1: Admit you have a problem

My hope here is to do a couple of things, one, let my poor wife not be the only one that listens to my rantings (hopefully), and two, try to make some valid points about why politics is broken.  We can fix them, and, frankly, I'm sick of people saying it's "hard."  Fixing the problem is actually not, it's just getting the horse to water.  No, I don't think the result is necessarily going to be a load of fun, because, too many people are addicted to the government drug.  Some willfully, some don't even know it, and when the rug gets pulled out from those that don't know, that will be hard.  The people that do it willfully are the ones that are fighting common sense.

The areas I intend to tackle, over the coming posts are pretty broad, but they're some of my thoughts on how to restore some sanity to the business of government (that concept will be a central theme).  While not in a particular order, there are some that I think are quick wins, fairly easy to do, and won't really be missed:

- Close the following agencies, COMPLETELY
     - Department of Education
     - Department of Agriculture
     - Department of Housing and Urban Development
     - Federal Highway Administration

- Privatize the following:
    - NASA
    - FAA
    - TVA
    - Department of Interior and Army Corps of Engineers energy generation (read: dams)
    - Postal Service (fully, no government intervention)
    - Amtrak (same as USPS)

- Cut the Congressional Calendar, we do not need them in Washington nearly as much as they are, heck Texas meets once every 2 years, and many deriver more income outside Washington, so keep them out as much as possible.

- Stop funding the United Nations, ENTIRELY

- End ALL business subsidies (corporate welfare, however, you want to slice it).  Keeping Congress away from DC may really help here, as the lobbyists won't have people to lobby.  This also means ending earmarks, all of them.

- Consolidate functions and operations between agencies:
   - IT
   - Finance and Accounting
   - Human Resources
   - Diversity initiatives

- Freeze, then rollback all discretionary spending, then begin to attack mandatory spending

- Defense
   - Stop relying on contractors, it's a huge lobby and costs billions.
   - If and when DoD wants to kill a program, Congress LISTEN TO THEM.  If they do not believe a program protects the warfighter, that is and should be our only concern.  Not providing pork jobs

- Flat tax, everyone needs to be in the pot, and this by nature will eliminate the IRS

I have more, but I'm sure I've gotten anyone who is reading this thinking I'm either naive, crazy, or both.  Just read the concepts again, then ask yourself, how do any of those programs meaningfully make your life better? Then ask, is there a private entity, a local government, or a charity that can do those things better, cheaper, and faster?  We cannot think about moving the posts incrementally, we need to find drastic solutions to drastic problems.  Most importantly, we need to remember that this government still answers to us, we just need to let them know we're paying attention.