Voter ID efforts suspect

I keep hearing that Iowa needs to pass legislation that prevents voter fraud.  And the proponents of the measure use language that appeals to the sensibilities of regular people, saying, "If you need an ID to (insert any common activity), then why not require ID to make sure elections are fair?"

And that's when my ears perk up.  That sure has the ring of demagoguery, the same rhetoric used in every debate on nearly any polarizing issues where someone has a thinly veiled agenda.

I must ask if this insistence on requiring government identification at the polling place is based on actual voter fraud problems or does this amount to statistical wizardry crafted by some organized elite faction to sway outcomes to their preferred side.

Voting is a fundamental right in our republic and it should not be a difficult undertaking for citizens to exercise. True, government and businesses are pushing harder to ask us to prove our identity at every turn, but the reasons for that climate are not the fault of the citizen. It's a mere convenience for the automation of information, correspondence and transactions.

The question you ought to ask is, should people have to jump through extra hoops to exercise their rights as US citizens? If I, as an American, have the right to be left alone, for example, then I have a right to not obtain government identification papers. You must not be forced to forfeit one right in order to exercise another.

If every time we turn around, the government demands that we produce papers, then we become a controlled state; we forfeit our personal sovereignty. We associate that kind of state-control with Nazi Germany and Communist Russia, which we vehemently oppose and find repulsive. We value the idea that the government has no cause, right or standing to stop, detain, inconvenience or generally bother people for any reason, unless the people have committed a crime against other people, or their property, or that public safety requires it.

There's no public safety issue here. And there appears to be no voter fraud issue either. People are trying to solve a problem in Iowa that simply doesn't exist -- at the behest of a well-funded organization that wants to use the peoples' government for its own profit and purpose.

Those who value liberty and freedom need to think critically about what this will mean for us. We need to understand the direction such measures would take us as a nation; more toward government control and the loss of the freedoms guaranteed by our charter.

While you were busy fighting, thieves stole America

I've suggested divisive infighting has been a useful distraction that enables corporatism.  Much evidence of that in social conversations I read on facebook.

There's plenty of common ground among the wage earners, but folks in the cheap seats are paired into political and social subsets, provoked to attack each other instead of directing their energy at restraining Washington.

We're the useful idiots perpetuating the crime by doing...nothing but bickering and name-calling.

The political parties have become bastardized versions of their former selves, directed by operatives who have but one common interest: to suck from the enormous teet of the federal government.

OWS and Teaparty movements are symptomatic of common unrest by the populous, yet the perception is sold to us that their forces oppose one another.

Seeing a thread here?

We're never allowed to forget the fights. The black/white issue keeps popping up in the media. But ask yourself who is advancing these conversations. It's either those on the dole or unwitting shills for said cause.

You know the message permeates the American psychie when the talking points of group X are exalted in man-on-the-street stand-ups.

I don't know who's responsible for provoking, nor would it be useful to argue over it, but I do know the left-right, black-white, rich-poor battles are playing out in all forms of TV, talk radio, blogosphere and social media.

Whether the ones we see on TV have anything to gain personally is less important than transcending the rhetoric altogether and working as a people in this and every election, firing incumbants of all stripes until Washington is rid of the bug that sucks the life blood from this republic.

We can break down immorality into its most basic form by relating it to something as primal as suffering, something most of us can relate to on varying levels and degrees.

Abortion is subject usually presented as a polar issue, either hard-left or hard-right position.  But attitudes change when you present it this way: "How about an abortion today?"  In its most basic form, no one wants one or thinks it's a suffer-free zone.  From that common ground, we can begin a thoughtful conversation.

Voters need a class in American Government

I have a hard time understanding how such large numbers of citizens of this country don't understand what it means that states are sovereign entities.  That means the federal government is restricted to power specifically enumerated in the Constitution, and all other powers of governance belong to the states and citizens.  Put another way, it is required by law to stay out of the business of drug policy, marriage, education, abortion and host of other issues because these are not under the purview of the job of President of the United States, and candidates for the office thereof.

Many think of the US as a single assemblage of people under one governing body and that the President is sort of like a King commanding an army.  I imagine some are just used to the fact that the federal government often comes along and tries to impose laws on all of us, even though our state-run schools are charged with the responsibility of teaching this stuff to every kid.

It is this very misguided assumption that is at the center of the confusion caused when candidates accuse Ron Paul of somehow being a proponent of drug abuse.  Trust me when I say the candidates are banking on your ignorance regarding states' rights.  Prove them wrong!  Let them know you're more informed than they think you are.

You see this every day.  The government is into everything it's not supposed to be into…and fails miserably at the very few fundamental things it is required to do, like regulate commerce, borders and currency.  It's the ignorance that seems to enable the rhetoric candidates and pundits are using to describe Ron Paul, suggesting he's some sort of radical nut-job.  But when you take more than a cursory look, you recognize he's the only candidate that really understands how this country is supposed to operate.  He knows this stuff by heart, and he stands firmly for these principles, even against a wall of opposition.  Ask yourself what might inspire opposition to what we know to be right and decent.

I feel sorry for all Dr. Paul has had to deal with and I'm truly sad so many people misunderstand such basic issues.  I'm glad he's out there, that more people are beginning to figure out that he's exactly correct in his assessments, but I do fear it's too late to reach enough people to make a difference.  The country's an airplane already on a steep downward spiral and any chance to pull the nose up is fleeting fast.

When I was younger I would never have guessed this country would take the very same hard-line stance in world affairs that our staunch enemies had once taken -- before their demise.  Through our perpetual war footing, aggression toward innocent people, occupations and operations in other sovereign nations, we have now become the thing we once despised.  All we have to do is ask the USSR how this will end for the USA.  How has East Germany fared?  What up North Korea?  Ask Rome and Britain how their empires are doing now.

One moment you abhor Washington for their distance from Constitutional rule of law and the next you reject the most valuable morals purportedly guaranteed by that document, which was once thought to be a sacred promise to its citizens.  You spout off about how our service members fight for our liberties, but you so easily dismiss those same liberties out of some irrational fear for your safety.  This is disgraceful behavior and pure injustice to our military heroes.  America is akin to Germany as the Reishtag burned and brought about the fear that enabled a monster to scorch the European landscape, leaving a stench that shocked the planet.

He who swears an oath to the Constitution and then so radically violates it should be exiled from this land.  Yet he remains here and stands in judgment of another who committed his life to upholding those standards, calling him dangerous and out-of-touch.  It is detestable these people are given any notoriety in the media.  Dare I say Washington ought to be pushed into the Atlantic?

You are either for or against the principles of our Constitution.  One of the very few reasons I believe it's proper to question someone's patriotism is on this point.  If you want to be part of a civilized society that believes with it's heart and soul in freedom and liberty, then you should stand for that and not waiver.  If, on the other hand, you wave your flag despite your ineptitude, and choose instead to advance a police state, virtual martial law, and don't mind forcing citizens to subsidize corporations and fellow politicians with hard-fought earnings, then perhaps you don't belong here, in the places where our ancestors willingly shed their blood so that their people could thereafter live unencumbered from such things.

If you can stand against man because he prefers we promote non-intervention over unjustified aggressions against other peoples, or that the federal government get out of the states' business, then you align yourself with the criminals and enemies of this nation.  There might be a place for you at the axis of evil.

At some point it's time to stop blaming Congress for the shortcomings of our nation and take some responsibility for our own weaknesses; our failing to hold our elected leaders' feet to the fire.  There is a proper remedy, but it takes people who will exorcise the strength and decency to cast out the corruption and greed.  That means even America's most passive citizens must stop sitting on the sidelines saying, "it's not my job; my vote doesn't count."

We must ignore the electability rhetoric and vote with integrity and our brains for a leader who has spent more than forty years fighting for the same values that made America the land of the free and the home of the brave.  There is only one person who has, without fail, come down on the side of Constitutional principles, even when it caused great conflict with his colleagues.  One single member of Congress has stood out above the rest in defense of this nation.  And this nation desperately needs him on that wall to defend the rule of law.

But true change will only occur if we dramatically change the way we think and act about our responsibilities as citizens.  Every able-bodied person should get out and make commanding choices this election.  By pressing Ron Paul to lead the executive branch of government, you will cause shock & awe among the corrupt and inept elements.  You will horrify Washington lobbies, corporations and the media.  But you will flex your muscles as a strong citizen and cause sweeping improvements in the future of our country.