First off, the title would appear to be an oxymoron, but please bear with me on this. This is by no means an attempt to instruct anyone on Twitter about how to interact with others, its merely some things I’ve discovered over the years that work for me in dealing with certain “people” who may invade your time-line and how best to address them. The choice for how you deal with these folks is of course, yours and yours alone.

First some basic terminology {At least how I see it}:

Tweeting: Sending out a post with less than 140 characters out to your followers and those who may happen upon your account regarding any subject matter, incident, link, whatever that you fancy.

Time Line: The linear progression of the Tweets you have sent out from your account.

Re-Tweet {RT}: Sending out a Tweet from another account on your Time Line to your followers.

Modify Tweet {MT}: Taking someone’s tweet, changing ever so slightly and posting on your Time Line giving credit to the original author.

Reply: Responding directly to the person who just tweeted something via the Tweet itself.

@ Mention: Sending a tweet directly to another account using their Twitter Handle whether they follow you or not.

Blocking: To ban another account from viewing or retweeting any of your Tweets on their Time Lines and to prevent them from entering your Time Line.

Troll and Trolling: Here’s the most important term that most people get wrong on Twitter. To “Troll” is to insert yourself into another account holder’s Time Line uninvited to cause mischief, or to annoy, tease, threaten, or ridicule. Otherwise known as Cyber-Bullying. To Troll, you must insert yourself into that person’s Time Line by doing a “reply” or an @ mention first. To tweet back and forth among your followers on a topic that may ridicule another person or group or policy isn’t “Trolling” unless you @ mention them in the post.

To insert yourself into a particular Time Line or Thread, uninvited to interrupt and blast the account holder makes you the Troll, not them unless they “@ mention” you first.

As someone who almost entirely involves himself in the Political side of Twitter discussing issues like Healthcare reform, Gun Control, Voting Rights, Party Platforms, Domestic and Foreign issues I tend to attract many out there who oppose my views as they are entitled to. I also know that there are many out there who are just as dedicated as I am to express their political views that counter mine.

Here’s the difference, I don’t enter their time-lines to confront them. I leave them be for their followers and those interested in what they have to say. On the other hand, many of them will enter my Time Line not to ask questions and open themselves to other ideas but to harass, insult, ridicule, threaten and annoy. They are the Trolls.

Trolling doesn’t have to exist between the two sides of a political debate. As many have observed, Trolling exists with people who actually serve the same political agenda, but have some issue with other people for whatever reason.

Trolling isn’t exclusive to the Right or the Left, not the Right to the Left or Left to the Right, it can also exist because some people feel a need to insert themselves uninvited into someone’s Time Line just to harass and cause problems.

Sometimes it’s a matter of airing out personal grievances for the entire Twitter community to see in hopes bystanders will take sides.

I have and will continue to @ mention public figures and policy makers. Does that make me a Troll for those individuals? Indeed it does. I make no bones about it. These are people who effect the nation and like sending them letters, faxes, making phone calls I feel entitled to and to some degree required to @ mention them on their Time Lines so they know how I and others feel about their actions. They have the right and option to block me and complain about me to Twitter. Some have and I deserve what may come from it.

However, I no longer @ mention ordinary account holders who express a political agenda I cannot abide with. I leave them be.

So if you don’t want to be called a Troll, don’t troll other people’s time lines to cause them annoyance.

Now what if you are trolled by someone? How best to respond?

I’ve advocated that the best way to deal with a Troll is to simply ignore and block. If they wanted to actually to engage you in a civilized and intellectual discourse of ideas their approach to you would bear that out and maybe opinions could be changed. However if they @ mention you with an insult, an attack, in a threatening or intimidating manner they have no intent of ever considering changing their views or even changing yours, they just want to harass you. Don’t feed the trolls, just ignore and block and let them find someone else to torment. You lose no credibility with those who are on your side by just blocking these people. If they call you out for blocking them, they’re only doing that to people who have no respect for you in the first place so you lose nothing by blocking these folks.

I don’t expect to change the views of anyone on Twitter who are deeply entrenched in the way they think so I won’t even try. Occasionally I will encounter someone who is on the fence and I will engage them in a respectful political discourse. Sometimes I will be successful, sometimes not, but at least both sides are respectful and we move on.

My goal, my mission is to encourage those who lean towards my way of thinking to get active and engaged to get others who lean our way to get active and engaged to vote so we have better representation in elected office. I won’t waste my time with those who will never change and don’t want to. Too much to do and too little time to get into squabbles.

Another thing I’ve learned to do is to be selective on my follows. When I get a “follow” notice I will check the bio and time line of that person to see if they are worth following back. Often I will get follows from people I have nothing in common with. I see that they represent everything I argue against so not only do I not follow back; I block them just to avoid problems in the future. But that is your call if you want to do the same. I suppose if I allowed these people to follow me I would have well over 10,000 followers by now; but I’m into to quality of my followers, not the quantity.

Finally, and I’ve learned this the hard way, I will not publicly engage in personal feuds on Twitter. I will not drag my followers in on personal attacks on me by others nor will I get involved publicly in feuds regarding people I like on Twitter. It’s a no win situation for all involved and simply not worth the time or effort. If you choose to do this, I wish you better luck than I have had in this regard.

If you want to go after a policy, group, agenda on Twitter you can do so safely by simply saying what you feel without using @ mentions. You will get you word out and you won’t be trolling, you will simply be using you right to be heard. Avoid the @ mentions if you can. It saves you from continuous attacks from others and possible suspension of your account from when you are accused of being the Troll. If there is no @ mention, there is no Trolling and grounds for suspension. It’s that simple

Twitter is like a sewer, what you get out of it depends on what you put into it. {Paraphrased that from Tom Lehrer} So take this advice or leave it. It’s your call. However if you are of the same mindset that I am, and have a desire for better outcomes in elections, just get people motivated to register and vote and leave the drama to others.

There literally is too much to do and too little time to waste on personal drama if we want to make a lasting impact in the political world.

I was stumped for an appropriate title for this post, so please forgive me for what I came up with. I know its lame, but not as lame as what the wrong people do with symbols originally conceived as representation of something good only to be forever scarred and shamed into something of evil. I have two examples to present to you:

This is the Swastika. It dates back as far as to 10,000 B.C. to numerous cultures spanning the Mediterranean, Asian, Eastern cultures. The word “swastika” comes from the Sanskrit svastika – “su” (meaning “good” or “auspicious”) combined with “asti” (meaning “being”) along with the diminutive suffix “ka.” The swastika literally means “well-being.” In the 19th Century following the excavation of Troy, the symbol experienced new interest especially in Germany. At the time there were attempts to link Germanic Tribes to ancient Greek and Indo-Iranian cultures. Even so, it was still a symbol of “Good Luck and Success.” Various European and even American organizations made use of the symbol. Then in 1920 a growing group of angry insurrectionists known as the Nazi party made it their official party emblem.

As the Nazi’s took over control of Germany, launched war in Europe, began the extermination of homosexuals, gypsies, communists, union leaders, mentally ill, minorities and of course the Jews this symbol changed from being a sign of “good luck and success” to unadulterated evil. Since that time to display the Swastika is to demonstrate hatred, evil and murder.

Though not as ancient as the Swastika, there is another symbol created to represent something generally good and honorable that has been corrupted by another group of angry insurrectionists. This group is known as the American Tea Party and the symbol is the Gadsden Flag.

The flag was designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775 during the American Revolution. It was also used by the Continental Marines as an early motto flag. The Rattlesnake was common in the thirteen colonies and harkened back to another symbol of a snake from Benjamin Franklin that was divided up with the phrase “Join or Die.” The snake represented the United Colonies standing together coiled and ready to strike any foe of the United States and her people. It was a symbol of national unity and strength.

The Tea Party (Taxed Enough Already) adopted the Gadsden flag as one of their symbols. However instead of using it for its historic symbolism of representing a United American people and society, they use it as a rebellious symbol against the government of the United States and those people who do not ascribe to their movement. They represent a small insurrectionists sector of the American people who are at odds with the majority of the nation and her government. So instead of National Unity, the Gadsden flag has been corrupted into a symbol of insurrectionists hatred by a group who like the Nazis of Germany, have no  love and will limit the freedoms and livelihoods of minorities, whether they be Black, Native American, Homosexual, another party affiliation, etc.

Then on June 8, 2014 two very avid Tea Party supporters who expressed their anger towards the government of the United States, law enforcement and those who did not ascribe to their views clearly on social media shot two Las Vegas Police officers who were eating lunch. They shot them execution style and left a Gadsden Flag and Swastika on them with a note “The revolution has begun” they then killed an armed civilian who tried to help before killing themselves. This act will forever stain the Gadsden flag as a symbol of evil and murder despite any attempts on the right to redeem this symbol. Like the Swastika of pre Nazi Germany, the Gadsden flag will never be looked upon again as an honorable symbol.

It is now a mockery prone to many parodies of the flag being floated due to the fact that the Tea Party has usurped this once proud emblem of American Unity. Parodies like these:

Just like the Tea Party by their platform has no representation to the original “Tea Party” which was an attack on the British monopolistic East India Company and not taxes, their use of the Gadsden flag misses the original intent of the symbolism. But then again, history doesn’t matter to these insurrectionists, only anger, hate, threats and now murder. Hardly American values to treasure.

They deserve the mockery they get and will continue to get. Now as Americans, you need to make sure these usurpers of American symbolism don’t create anymore problems for our nation of, by and for the unified people of the United States, register and vote in November.

A common ad for Lotteries reads “You can’t win if you don’t play.” Now that is true, but odds are against you actually winning the huge Jackpot for the investment of your dollars.

When it comes to voting, your side can’t win if your side doesn’t vote. Unlike the Lottery, each vote cast for your side increases the odds of your side winning.

Its common knowledge that voter turnout for “off year” elections is lower than the Presidential elections. In 2008 voter turnout was 63%. The following 2010 midterms had a 42% voter turnout. The following 2012 Presidential election had a 59% voter turnout. Today all signs are pointing to an even lower midterm election turnout of less than 40%.

For the oldest and most powerful “democracy” in the world the voter turnout ratios for the United States is an embarrassment. Comparing voter registration to actual turnout from 1945 through 2001 the United States ranks 120 out of 169 nations. How can you expect election results to represent the majority views of a nation if the vast majority of the nation won’t take the time to be heard at the ballot box?

It is not uncommon to hear the same tired old complaints each election cycle, “my vote doesn’t count” “the system is rigged” followed by complaints that the government elected to office doesn’t represent the views of the people they’re supposed to represent. You can’t have it both ways.

If you cede your right to vote and be heard, you can’t then turn around and complain you’re not being represented and heard.

Low voter turnout is the result of several factors; complacency is among the top reasons. However, so is active voter suppression. It is true that if small organized groups of fringe thinking ideologues are the only ones to show up and/or be allowed to cast their votes on Election Day, that fringe element of thinking will determine how your government operates.

2010 proved that beyond all doubt. Due to the low voter turnout brought on by complacency, suppression and even commentators from the “liberal media” telling their listeners to teach Obama a lesson by not voting in November, the Tea Party fringe of the nation; clearly organized, funded and motivated to turn out, ran the show. As a result, they took the State Houses and Governor Mansions of several States and the U.S. House or representatives.

By doing so they were able to enact further voter suppression acts as well as obstruct any legislation State or National, that would help the American people. They call it “austerity” but in reality it is an effort to hurt Americans to make the Executive Branch and the party who controls it look bad so you will vote them out in the next Presidential election.

It’s an organized effort for power by the financial backers of the GOP and Tea Party. You know who they are, their incomes are in the 1% and they control multinational corporations operating in a growing monopolistic anti “Free Market” mode for greater profit and control at the cost of the well being of the people.

So as Paul Weyrich, founder of ALEC and GOP operative famously boasted for his party that they do better when voter turnout is low, and they’re doing very well.

It is common knowledge that support for the GOP is at record lows because they clearly don’t represent majority American views.

The nation doesn’t want Austerity, voter suppression, cuts to the social safety net, lower taxes for the 1% and corporations. Yet the GOP remains in power in several States and has enough power in Congress to impose all those things the American people don’t want because the American people won’t take the time to register and vote. What is worse, based on 2010 and projections of lower voter turnout nationwide for the midterms, they are expected to not only hold the House, but to take the Senate and keep control the States they currently have. Not because that is what the majority of what the American people want, but because the majority won’t vote and a majority of the minority who will vote, will do only as they are told, or fooled into believing.

This isn’t how a democracy is supposed to work.

So what is at stake if voter turnout in November is below 40% as predicted? Well we can expect the U. S. Senate to go to the GOP and the House to go under full control of the Koch Brother Tea Party faction, despite the fact that Tea Party ideology support is at record lows in this nation.

Below is the true Libertarian Platform from 1980 that David Koch ran on. They were soundly defeated but the beliefs of the Koch’s never changed. Their front organizations like ALEC, Heritage Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity all openly support this agenda and for their candidates to get funding and support, they must work for everything this agenda says, and more:

Elimination or cutting of the Department of Energy would permit the big oil and fossil fuel corporations (of which the Koch’s earn their wealth) to consolidate control of the nation’s energy supply and agenda. KeystoneXL will be completed. Green energy technology will continue to be placed on the back burner or eliminated resulting in continued exposure to the poisoning of our air, water and ground and increases in CO2 emissions contributing to Climate Change and what that results in.

Elimination or cutting of the Environment Protection Agency as stated above will result in continued poisoning of our air, water and ground by big oil and fossil fuels (Koch brother’s main source of income). Nothing will hold these people back from doing what is already happening in West Virginia, Texas and other States where the water supply has been poisoned by the waste of the process of transporting and processing fossil fuels.

Elimination or cutting of the Food and Drug Administration will eliminate proactive measures to ensure our food supply is safe and medications don’t result in causing more harm than good. Rather than deal with the effects of being poisoned, wouldn’t you rather not be poisoned at all?

Elimination or cutting of the Occupational Health and Safety Administration will take more protections away from the working class in order to increase the profits of the corporations. People will become more expendable for the profit margins. More on the job injuries and deaths will occur.

Elimination or cutting of the Federal Communication Commission will complete the ongoing process of big money conservative control of the media. The monopolistic control of on air and print media will be complete and censorship of anything not part of the rightwing ideology will be complete. Censorship is no longer a concern of government imposition, it’s now corporate imposition.

Elimination or cutting of the National Labor Relations Board will be the final nail in the coffin of the rights of workers to combine and fight for what’s in their best interests. If democracy is something we strive for in this nation, then why would we support not allowing workers to use democracy to join together and bargain with their employers?

Elimination or cutting of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Though many would probably support this, let’s be pragmatic. Who is to monitor and deal with organized crime and terrorism on a national level? The corporations who maybe violating the RICO laws?

Elimination or cutting of the Central Intelligence Agency. Again, though some may support this, who would monitor the world wide threat against Americans home and abroad?

Elimination or cutting of the Federal Reserve. Though I like Bernie Sanders support an audit of their operations, the economic fact remains that the existence of the Fed is what kept us from slipping into a greater “Great” Depression. Worldwide economics requires some control of our money both domestically and internationally. It should be reformed, but not eliminated.

Elimination or cutting, or privatization of Social Security would be devastating to millions of Americans both elderly and disabled who rely on it to survive. This is heartless and has no support of anyone who thinks and has an ounce of humanity. Privatization only benefits the Banks, not the account holders. There is over $3 trillion in the Social Security Trust fund that the banks have been salivating over for years.

Elimination or cutting of Welfare is the most despicable un-American, inhumane and economically ridiculous platform out there. When you are impoverished, you need assistance to get out of poverty. Money spent in that endeavor pays the society back both economically and socially. No doubt reform is required to deal with waste and fraud, but not elimination because poverty is growing in this nation due to the wage disparity imposed by runaway corporate and 1% control of our nations’ economy.

Elimination or cutting of Public Schools. This is completely un-American. The founders new that for a democracy to thrive and survive, the population must be educated and able to think for itself. Perhaps this is why those on the right want to take money away from Public schools and place it in Charter and private schools only affordable to their kind. Keep the people stupid so they can be controlled.

Elimination or further cutting of Taxation. Well government of by and for the people gets to be more expensive as the population increases. There are services we rely upon to survive. Government should control the “commons” the roads, power grid, water, sewage, city services, police, fire, military etc so they’re answerable to the people. If they were all privatized, they would only be answerable to the stock holders, who aren’t the people these institutions are there for.

Besides, the elimination of taxes is only for those who can easily afford to pay them. They actually want to increase taxes to maintain government services on those with less or no ability to pay, the middle class, working class and impoverished. It’s the basis of the Libertarian Ayn Rand Society that the Koch brothers live for and want to impose upon the entire nation.

Beyond the above, if the rightwing is successful in 2014 you can expect more voter suppression laws, more denial of hard earned rights won in the past, more of an Oligarchy that the 1% who funds the GOP has been fighting for.

As I mention, very little of the agenda pushed for by the Republicans garner majority support by the American People. They play to a small fringe element of their extreme base, who are in fact controlled by the 1% and don’t even realize it.

It is class warfare and by not voting, you surrender without fighting.

The higher the voter turnout, the greater the odds you end up with people in office who will do the bidding of the majority of the American people.

Things like equal rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation or sex, sensible gun laws to deal with gun violence, improved and enhance social safety net for those who truly need and rely upon, higher taxes for the wealthiest among us, higher taxes for corporations, better paying jobs and higher minimum wage, environmental controls to prevent poisoning of air, water and ground. These are things supported by the majority of all Americans, but when only a minority votes, you don’t have any chance in getting them.

Below is a link to a blog post I did a while back regarding registering and getting help getting out to the polls: Please review and implement this for yourselves, family and friends and let’s do what hasn’t happened in generations, have a better than 50% voter turnout for the midterms, the higher, the better for this nation.

Only Way Elections Can Be Stolen is by Low Voter Turnout

In the days, weeks, and 20 months since the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya many Republicans and their propaganda tool known as Fox News (or is it the other way around? I can never keep track) have tried to create with the American public a scandal where none exists.

The attack was horrific, four Americans were brutally killed. There has been a Senate Select Bipartisan Committee investigating Benghazi, 5 House Committee Investigations, Numerous independent media investigations, an FBI investigation, State Department Investigations, days of testimony, thousands of pages of documentation.

And now nearly two years later, the House has decided it’s time for another Investigation of something that has been fully investigated led by a Tea Party House member (Trey Gowdy) who truly looks like a Rutger Hauer impersonator.

The previous investigations have shown that the attacks could have been prevented, 15 Libyans who have tried to help the FBI have been killed, there was no “stand down order” from the Obama Administration, the military could not have saved the personnel, and worse yet, the misinformation generated by the media and political operatives have taken the focus off the actual deaths of the personnel, determining ways of correcting the situation from happening again and straining US/Libyan relations.

To date no evidence of cover-up, scandal from either the White House or State Department has been found (most likely because there is no there there), and little has been presented in terms of how to improve State Department Security Protocols to prevent future attacks of this nature due to the right wing smoke screen of innuendo and political brinksmanship diverting attention away from those who need to focus on and implement needed changed.

Now that the attacks on Obamacare have failed, no evidence of any scandal with the IRS, Fast and Furious, or any other of the myriad of “investigations” conducted by Darrell Issa have come up with anything that can be attached to the Obama White House to substantiate any scandal anywhere, the right wing has decided to focus on Benghazi again.

This isn’t to gather information, it’s to rally the GOP/Tea Party base to vote in the midterms and to either weaken or convince Hillary Clinton not to run in 2016. They don’t want facts or solutions, they want controversy and anger.

Now FOX of course has had Benghazi as a continual talking point in mainstream media (yes my friends, FOX by definition is mainstream media whether they want to acknowledge it or not) and political operatives like Lindsay Graham and Darrell Issa like to shout out Benghazi to show just how tough they are despite having nothing but innuendo and conspiracies devoid of any facts to cite. To drum up more support in Social Media like Twitter, the “usual suspects” have taken to the Benghazi hashtag to troll the timelines of those who don’t buy into this phony and disingenuous outrage.

These trolls can be identified by their Benghazi Twibbon. But who are these people?

Here are a few samples of their bios taken after only an hour of following the Benghazi Hashtag:

semper vigilans – #TeaParty#Conservative#Patriot – SOCIALISM SUCKS!!! Liberalism is a no-brainer #SECURE#border(s)

Be the person that others will say.He stands for what’s Right (No Compromise).I am a Christian Conservative Constitutional Libertarian American.Bring It!!!

live+let live–no ownership over others free will–NO PROSELYTIZING- [NO moslem country ALLOWS JEWS ,BUDDHISTS, HINDUS, CHRISTIANS, ETC., FREEDOM OF RELIGION] NO FOLLOW PROSELYTIZ=myopinion

Never 4get that everything #Hitler did in Germany was legal. -MLK ☛Show U’r support Benghazi 4, #Twibbon! http://twb.ly/TNgJUO  (2nd Act @boazziz) ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Don’t burn my flag.Don’t steal my vote.Don’t trash my country.If you don’t love it GTFO & don’t call me the horrid things U ARE & we’ll get along fine #TGDN

California Conservative, Love the USA,Constitution & Bill of Rights. NRA, Truth matters,Refuse to live in fear. #Benghazi, #FastAndFurious,#Extortion17

Lapidary-Silversmith …Ideas are bullet-proof…Libertarian -Protestant- Hate the #NWO! Love Family,Malamutes&Huskies&Books Stray Cats&Raccoons adopt me

Believer in the Lord Jesus & God’s Word_in adherance2our Constitution, States Rights & Our Rights #WAAR#ccot

College educated, blue collar, Harley riding red neck – retired & enjoying life- #ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ #Patriot, #Vet, #ORPUW, #PJNET, #2A, #Benghazi, #NRA, #Guns, #TCOT

Navy Vet, Conservative, Christian. Passionate Bike and Motorcycle Rider, IT Specialist, Photographer, and very concerned about America’s future.

God, Family, Country, Constitution loving retired American,#FREEDOM #LIBERTY #LNYHBT #Tcot #POLITICS #JoanOfArc#BENGHAZI #IStandWithIsrael #AmericaTheBeautiful

#teaparty #conservative #Israel #AynRand #Benghazi 4 ☛http://twb.ly/TNgJUO  #TGDN נגדעיןרעה ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

Americans can be governed by our consent but we will not be disarmed or ruled. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ #WAAR #PJNET #NRA #TCOT #2A#RightToLife #OIP

C-SPAN’s List: Members of Congress on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cspan/members-of-congress … Tweet Them.Tell Them To#STOPSPENDING Make this list one of YOUR lists.

Christian, conservative, I love a good debate. Atheists & liberals don’t.

Hangout for Gulaged Tweeters , Ribald behavior expected. Open 24/7 smoking allowed. Ladies enter at your own risk! Seating limited to 150, reservations accepted

Conservative – Trying to help people be prepared for emergency/recession/disaster, and be self-sufficent. Grow your own food! NO GMO’S!! Husband & wife team.

Independent/Conservative. Support our strong military, & have ALWAYS been proud of my country. #LNYHBT, #Hannity fan #NRA#TEA Party. Lib’s worst nightmare!

Stop the Nazi-Democrats † End #VoterFraud † #PaperBallots#RestoreTheRepublic † #SecureTheVote † #FollowIceland #TedCruz† #OAS #RonPaul #TeaParty

We’re Uniting Reagan Republicans – JFK Democrats Independents – Conservatives – Libertarians Tea Party – Fiscal Hawks Constitutionalists – Anti-Socialists

Conservative- Believe in the Constitution-and Love God.. #FlaCOT#CTOT#StandwithIsrael #PJNET

Christian/Conserv./Libertarianish /Cranky/believe in UFOs hav seen/#GovSocialWorkers & Psychiatry R mostly evil/ #RINOs suck!!#teaparty #Rush #Cruz #West #SOT

Conservative fighting for a return to a moral America, where truth, responsibility and character prevail. NO PC BS here! #Benghazi#TGDN10

What is interesting in reviewing these bios aside from the misspellings and obscure hashtags are the obvious misunderstanding of what the Constitution stands for, what Democracy is, what socialism is, what being a Christian is and an odd obsession with Israel and Ayn Rand.

When you review the Timelines of these “Benghazi Patriots”; aside from espousing already fully debunked information about:

The attack being filmed and watched from the Situation Room,

The “Stand Down” order,

The conspiracy of numerous groups to cover this up

The constant rant about our “Muslim Kenyan President”,

How Socialists are actually Nazis,

The end of Democracy is nigh,

Their rights are under attack

And only the NRA can save them.

In fact they are more obsessed with guns, Christianity, Birtherism, Libertarianism and Ayn Rand than the actual attack and who actually died and why during the Benghazi attacks.

I won’t go so far as to say these are an organized groups of paid trolls (though there are many who suspect and have documented this fact) but I will say that for them it’s not so much “Benghazi” they present on Twitter despite the Twibbon, but a right wing fringe of like minded angry racist bigots who would be the first to violently overthrow the legally elected government of the United States because nobody believes in their Ayn Rand ideology and bigotry.

Their concern for the victims of Benghazi is disingenuous; their hatred of our President, the Democratic Party, much of the Republican Party and the 80% of the nation who don’t see eye to eye with them is obvious and proven by their timelines.

These are bad folks, these are the same ilk as Posse Comitatus of whom Timothy McVeigh was part of and Sheriff Richard Mack supports.

These are the people that if they were Muslim extremists in Libya, would have pulled off the same act. Worse yet, they would most likely blow up a government building here like McVeigh did for “Murica” and “Freedumb” in Jesus’ name.

These are people who despite citing the Constitution have no idea what it means, who it protects and do not support the government laid out in it.

If it’s not in their narrative, it’s not American. These people are bigoted frauds and are best ignored and left to their own pathetic existence screaming at the reality they can’t accept.

With the Bundy Ranch debacle, a group came out into national prominence that few had heard of before. A paramilitary group calling themselves a “militia” by the name of The Oath Keepers. They have been around since 2009; founded by Stewart Rhodes, who advertises himself as a former paratrooper and Yale Law School Graduate, who worked for Ron Paul.

Membership is said to be made up of former military and law enforcement. Now if you were ever in the military, law enforcement or any government position in the United States, a requirement of employment is swearing an Oath. The oath is to among other things “Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.” The mission statement of the “Oath Keepers” lists orders they “will NOT obey”, namely:

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.

No one in government has ever proposed, nor are they likely to propose “disarming the American people”. First of all it would be impossible and they know it. There are laws in place that permit law enforcement taking weapons away from “prohibited possessors” which is a legal definition applying to those convicted of felony offenses or have current chronic mental health disorders. If these people prefer convicted felons and seriously mentally ill people (like themselves perhaps) to continue to have weapons, I would think the majority of Americans would oppose them.

2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people.

The 4th Amendment of the United States prohibits warrantless searches. So anyone in government ordering such a search is violating the Constitution. Under existing law, if anything is found incriminating under such a search, it is considered “fruit from the poisoned tree” and thus inadmissible in a Court of Law. A first year law student would get their client out based on that ruling. Further, since the Oath Keepers are former military and law enforcement, it is unlikely they would be ordered to search anyone, let alone without a search warrant. That order would most likely come from Stewart Rhodes, and I will discuss him later.

3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

They would never be allowed to detain any American citizen as an unlawful enemy combatant or otherwise since again, they are former military and law enforcement. If they detain anyone for any reason, there is a law against it; it’s called “Unlawful detention” and/or “Kidnapping”. I’m glad they agree to obey the law of the land in that regard.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.

As former military and law enforcement, again they are not in a position to be ordered to impose martial law; however, they feel empowered to usurp the legal authority of current and authorized legal representation of the Government in conducting their operations or presence. This is in fact illegal.

5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.

As former military and law enforcement, I’m not sure who other than Stewart Rhodes would order them to “invade and subjugate any state asserting its sovereignty”. That would be left to the lawful power of the Government of the United States to her military forces and command of local State Militias as established in the Constitution and Law and last demonstrated in 1860 when certain states illegally seceded from the Union. No, history is not with them on this.

6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.

Again, these are former military and law enforcement personnel and the very concept of anyone setting up concentration camps in the United States is laughable paranoia dreamt up by the “FEMA Camp” nuts who offer no proof, only stretched imaginations of such a thing existing. Kind of brings me back to the “seriously mentally ill” folks being prohibited possessors.

7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.

See #6.

8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”

I’ll repeat as I will with all these idiotic “will not obey” ramblings; these are former military and law enforcement, not in a position to get orders from anyone in a lawful capacity. We are the country who sends troops to other lands, not vice versa. It is more paranoid clap trap from the idiots who prey on the paranoia and stupidity of a small fringe segment of our population.

9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.

Again since these are former military and law enforcement, they wouldn’t be ordered to confiscate anything from anybody. If they did, it would be known as theft. Punishable by arrest, trial and potential imprisonment. Further, as they did at Bundy Ranch, they are not in a position to demand law enforcement to surrender their weapons to them for confiscation. That is also under federal and state law. Who ordered them to make that demand I wonder?

10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

Finally and again, these are former military and law enforcement. The only orders they would get would be from themselves. I would remind them the key phrase “peaceably assemble” and point out when they show up with weapons, taking position to shoot and kill law enforcement and those they disagree with, they are not being “peaceable” they are being provocative and potentially violent. They are the ones who should and could be legally rounded up and prosecuted by current military and law enforcement for their actions at Bundy Ranch.

These Ten “Will Not Commandments” denote paranoia and conspiracy theory thinking common among Libertarians, John Birchers, Tea Party and other right wing fringe groups who do it simply for more for publicity to gain the support and admiration of the most gullible among us in America.   Again, the membership of the Oath Keepers at best is a few “former” military and law enforcement officials, not current. If they were current then they have some explaining to do to their chain of command.

This group would like ordinary Americans to think that they are a militia movement in the spirit of our founding and their oath to the writings and spirit of the founders and our Constitution. Well a few things they leave out in their propaganda.

First of all, the militias of the time of our founding were well regulated and answered to the Government. They were established by State government and answered to elected or appointed personnel from those states and later the government of the United States.

Under the Militia act of 1792 and subsequent acts, any state militia, (the only legal militias allowed to exist) could and were called upon by the Government of the United States for the defense of that Government. The best example of that is the Whiskey Rebellion and later, the War of 1812.

Today, these militias go by another name, The National Guard. Any group calling themselves a militia that doesn’t legally adhere to the elected government of the State or Federal Government is in fact only an armed mob of malcontents who present a clear and present danger to public order.

Yale Law School graduate Stewart Rhodes, who encourages military and law enforcement to not follow the lawful orders of their chain of command (leaving them in a precarious legal bind to say the least) has issues with established protocol and rule of law and official conduct. He was admonished by the State Bar of Arizona (a conservative red state mind you) for practicing without a license in 2012. He lied in Court, made false and misleading representation and was fined. You would think a Yale Ivy League Attorney would exhibit a better sense of ethical behavior in Court.

One of Rhodes commanders is former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack. Mack was the one at Bundy Ranch on tape saying how they were going to place women on the front lines so they can get film of them being shot by BLM authorities. This “honorable and brave” member of the Oath Keepers militia is a former Sheriff from Arizona, a conservative red state. He ran for Congress and was soundly defeated by the conservatives who saw him as too fringe and too crazy to be trusted, even in Congress.

The Oath Keepers do not represent the spirit of 1776, the founders or the Constitution of the United States or any individual state for that matter. They are a “militia” upon themselves only with no allegiance to any elected government. They answer to only themselves. They are armed, paranoid and dangerous. They are becoming more noted by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group for good reason. They hate and are willing to kill for their hate of anything that is not them.

We are a Constitutional Representative Republic under the umbrella of democracy. We elect our officials to hold government office and work on our behalf. Those who are in State houses and Washington DC are there because the people either voted them in, or allowed them to be voted in. They are the legal representation of our government and Constitution until such time as they are voted out of office legally or by the only means permitted by our Constitution. They can be voted out or impeached. In State government they can be recalled by popular vote. Guns aren’t needed nor are they asked for by peace loving and Constitution loving Americans.

To declare war on the elected members of our government, bypassing the provisions established in the constitution and law to deal with those that may cause harm, is to declare war on the people of the United States.

The Oath Keepers, by being armed and threatening law enforcement are a clear and present danger to the public order and safety of the people of the United States. They are seditionists and once shots are fired, they are treasonous deserving of full retaliatory response from the United States Military.

Good luck with that Stewart Rhodes and Richard Mack, the women won’t protect you from a hell fire missile if you really want to take it that far.

The Oath Keepers are former military and law enforcement. The code of military conduct does not permit an active duty soldier to wear the uniform of another military organization and swear allegiance to that organization, which is a Court Martial offense.

Further, just because they are former US military and law enforcement doesn’t mean they are patriotic and should be listened to. After all, Benedict Arnold was a war hero and look what he did because his ego was bruised by the events around him.

The Oath Keepers are just angry, paranoid and delusional nuts who like to play with their guns and come off like some movie war hero defending the country. They in fact place this nation and her people in real peril because they do not recognize the government the majority of the voting public have place in office.

If they don’t like it, run for office, don’t go running for your guns. That childish, dangerous and un American.

My twitter bio talks of how I left the GOP after over 30 years due to the “Tea Party theft” of the party. Many times on twitter I will get an @ mention on my timeline from a troll, usually from the Tea Party trying to insult me by saying I’m a RINO (Republican in Name Only) as are many moderates, progressives, liberals and even a few conservatives who don’t follow in lockstep with the Tea Party agenda for the party. Well it’s time to bring up some history that sadly for the Tea Party faithful, has a liberal bias; as does truth, logic, reality and math.

The Republican Party emerged in 1854 to combat the Kansas-Nebraska Act that threatened to expand slavery to the territories. The party had no representation in the South and started recruiting Whigs to fill their ranks. They were made up of abolitionists, progressives and folks who wanted to modernize the nation’s economic system. The Whigs were losing support nationally while the Democrats were still a force throughout the nation. Their party dates back to Thomas Jefferson and continued to be very strong in the South.

Well the Republicans were successful and in only 6 years became a national force that gained enough control and gathered enough Electoral College votes to elect Abraham Lincoln as President. However, the GOP was also a diverse party of conservatives, progressives and radicals who worked for common goals. The Democratic control State governments of the South rebelled to defend “state rights” and the Civil War began. I need not go into the history of what happened next. The Democrats lost the War, the Union under GOP Control won, the 13th Amendment was passed despite Democratic opposition, Slavery was officially ended in this nation for all time. It was the Republicans who did this, not the Democrats.

In the generations that followed, many of the core principles in both parties changed to some degree. However both parties had their fair share of progressives, liberals, conservatives, bigots and tolerant people. It is interesting that the presidential battles in the early part of the 20th Century between the parties was between the best “progressive way” to move forward. Progressive Republican William McKinley favored “pluralism” where prosperity would be shared by all ethnic and religious groups. Though business clearly sided with the GOP, it was Teddy Roosevelt who enforced the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, breaking up monopolies. He ended child labor, he pushed for the first “living wage” and wanted national healthcare. These were GOP ideas. His successor, Taft wasn’t as progressive as Teddy but still favored the principles, if not as dramatically. A battle erupted between the two and the GOP was split allowing a Democrat, Woodrow Wilson to take the Presidency, on a Progressive Agenda (though he was also clearly racist). Wilson also unlike many Democrats at the time had strong business support due to problems they were having with the Republicans regulating their businesses.

In the years that followed both parties continued to have among their membership a mixture of conservative and liberal membership and values, pro and anti-business platforms, they were parties of who within their membership was the diversity of America. Some platform stood out over others between the parties in elections, but the representatives tended to argue for the constituency they in fact represented. The Democrats enjoyed national prominence thanks to what FDR was able to accomplish for the entire nation. However Democrats in the Northeast were far different from the Democrats in the Deep South. They were all Democrats, but the group later known to be the “Dixiecrats” didn’t favor much of what either party did in terms of civil rights and desegregation.

50 years ago the mixtures of both parties changed and began devolving to what we have today.

Democrats enjoyed nationwide success; however, racism, segregation, intolerance remained a stain on our national fabric and was enforced by Democrats in the Deep South. Using the martyred President as a rallying cry and with the help of Republicans in the House and Senate, Lyndon Johnson was able to impose Civil Rights and Voting Rights that infuriated the Southern Democrats.

Johnson knew what he was doing and knew he was losing Southern Democratic Support for a generation. Turned out to be a lot longer. A famous Democrat, Strom Thurmond who has the record of maintaining the longest filibuster in Senate History to try to stop civil rights legislation changed party affiliation to the GOP. He wasn’t alone.

In 1968 racist Democrats known as the Dixiecrats left the party to join the Republican Party claiming it was a “conservative choice” because they saw civil rights as “liberal” and anything opposite of civil rights by their definition was conservative. Seeing that, Republicans under Nixon began the “Southern Strategy” to embrace these racists, who couldn’t see past their racism, to follow a party they wanted to punish their former party, the Democrats.

This is how the former Democratic “Dixiecrats” became the base of today’s Republican Party.

The true RINOS are the Tea Party because they abandon not only traditional Republican ideas from the Party’s founding, they abandon the traditional values of the Democratic Party because they can’t see past their racism and their hate. They would rather suffer than to give in to being led by someone they see as being lesser to them.

In the years that followed the imposition of the Southern Strategy the Republicans found themselves victims of the monster they created.

More and more the rational thinking moderates, progressives, liberals and many true conservatives were pushed out of the party due to the litmus test the Republican Southern base imposed. The base began to take over the party structure outside of the Deep South. In the 1990’s, with the lockstep unity and litmus test sponsored by the Southern Base, Newt Gingrich imposed a “do not compromise” edict for the GOP in dealing with the Democrats in the House and Senate. This was something that never happened in the history of this nation founded on the principles of compromise, recognizing out of many one; E Pluribus Unum.

When Barack Obama became President, with the financial funding of the Libertarian Koch Brothers, a “grassroots” organization known as the Tea Party was created. These racists placed their hatred of Blacks on the entire Democratic Party and those who voted for and supported President Obama. So much so, they would cut their own means of support (Medicare, Social Security, Food Stamps, Unemployment Insurance, Social Safety Net) in order to destroy this presidency.

This is racism; there is no doubt about it. Never in history has a President or Cabinet Member been treated with such public disrespect in Congress. This was born out of racism and racism carries it forward. Factually both Obama and Holder by policy and acts are strictly centrists. Their views are indistinguishable from those of Kennedy, Eisenhower, Nixon, Ford, Reagan or Clinton. The only true difference is they are Black.

The Tea Party is the base of the GOP and this base is funded by the Koch Brothers. They are the ones pulling the strings by taking advantage of their blind racist hatred of Obama and everyone and everything associated with him to gain ultimate Oligarchic power in this nation. The Tea Party is too stupid and blinded by their racism to even see this.

A true American, regardless of any party affiliation recognizes that compromise is essential to ensure the many are heard and taken care of. That all have equal rights and no one should suffer any discrimination regardless of race, sex, religion, sexual orientation or ethnic background.

Today the Koch Brother’s Tea Party movement of angry racist brown shirts is leading this nation and her people to Oligarchy and national ruin for the benefit of the billionaires who apparently need more money. We cannot allow this. The Tea Party are PINOs, Patriots in Name Only

If you support American Rights for all Americans who are born or naturalized in this nation, you cannot vote GOP this or any year until that party rids themselves of their racist core and billionaire backing. Forget party labels, we’re either Americans or we’re not. Vote American values, not racism or oligarchic servitude.

Oligarchy: a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with a small number of people. These people could be distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, education, corporate, or military control. Such states are often controlled by a few prominent families who typically pass their influence from one generation to the next, but inheritance is not a necessary condition for the application of this term.

Not that many years ago, if someone complained this country was moving towards an Oligarchy I would dismiss that person as being hyperbolic. However I see the trend over the past few years, while others report it’s been moving this way for 30 or more years. It’s getting harder to dismiss this as a simple talking point. We’ve always known that big money controlled politicians via donations. However it was always tempered with limits, disclosures and at one time the fairness doctrine. Though not completely thwarted, there were mechanisms in place that at least gave a semblance of a fair playing field in the world of local and national politics.

Our founders in their first amendment to the Constitution place in “Freedom of Speech” or more accurately reflected as freedom of thought, freedom of ideas. No one could be kept from expressing their views on politics, religion, economy, science, anything. As Americans we couldn’t be censored by the State and certainly not by individuals. Now over the years, limits were placed on first amendment rights. The most famous was not yelling fire in a crowded theatre. You couldn’t use freedom of speech to insight violent civil unrest.

Legally you can say anything you want about anybody else or anything. Very little can be done to you in a criminal sense unless it can be shown it was done to purposefully and maliciously defraud. No, libeling someone isn’t criminal, it’s civil. We have the right to get an attorney if we can afford one to go up against the person who slanders or libels us, assuming they can’t afford a better more expensive attorney (more about that later).

With limitations in place and a Court system that at the very top exclaims “Equal Justice Under Law” that in theory applied to all in both criminal and civil cases, we had a level and fair playing field. Speech was protected, but limited in extreme cases to avoid abuse and civil unrest. Hell, even the Nazis and Ku Klux Klan have a right to march in public, you have a right to call our President a “mongrel”, you have a right to even lie in political ads (more about that later), you just can’t threaten the lives of government officials, celebrities or ordinary people of any classification nor can you lie to defraud and deceive maliciously.

Going back to the fairness doctrine that has a bad reputation, there once was a time where if a broadcast made a political point using the public airwaves, that station was required to provide equal time to express a counter point if someone wanted to make it. It was a time when both sides of any political argument got equal time to be heard and the people could make up their own minds. It was a proactive way to avoid censorship of ideas. Democracy grows and matures with an open discussion of ideas with everyone keeping an open mind. However during the Reagan administration, the FCC eliminated the fairness doctrine on the public airways.

Later, as corporations who owned the stations were absolved from taking a financial loss from reporting real news, more stations began to edit the news not for accuracy, but to sell airtime to advertisers. Today Miley Cyrus straddling a wrecking ball gets as much if not more airtime than a fire killing hundreds, or a policy statement effecting millions of Americans. Celebrity garners more attention and airtime than actual news. What’s worse, if there is going to be a political theme to any news story, rest assure the station owners will decide how that is presented.

What finally nailed the coffin shut regarding a free and open discussion of ideas on a level playing field on the public airways was in the Clinton administration when he allowed the merger of radio, television and newspapers across the country. Now only a few corporations control all the news being heard in this nation whether it be in print, on the radio or public airways. Reagan started it, Clinton finished it. Plenty of blame to go around.

So because of what I just described, those who own the media corporations that educate the American public, more of their political views were being heard. Now when you are a multi millionaire or billionaire, you could be either Right leaning or Left leaning, but studies show that nearly 60% of the wealthiest people in this country lean Right. And just about all of them who control the news in this country lean Right. So for decades now, a conservative narrative has been fed to the American public and that public has responded by moving more to the Right.

Those once considered moderates are now considered liberals (as if that’s a bad word) due to the moving of public views. With this change, the party that is supposed to represent “Conservative Views”, the Republicans, began winning more local and national elections. These office holders then began appointing Judges to the various benches both locally and nationally who tended to be more conservative.

Now I use the word conservative because that what these people want to call themselves. However they’re not. The traditional values of conservatism dating back to the early days of the Republican Party are now considered by this current group of faux conservatives to be liberal (again not a bad word). What we have masquerading as a conservative group are people who think they are entitled to everything with no responsibilities. Something the GOP use to, and still do blame on the Democrats. They equate “conservatism” with just having money. If you are wealthy, if you are part of the class of people who either earned, inherited or stole millions of dollars you are entitled to everything government can provide you. You’re entitled to tax cuts, subsidies, protections from liabilities, tort protections, you get bailouts because you are too big to fail. You get everything while those who don’t have all that much have to sacrifice all the more.

The founders warned of too much money being in the hands of the few. This is where we are moving to. Income disparity is at its highest rate since just before the Great Depression. The middle-class is shrinking, the poor are getting poorer, yet those in the 1%, even during the recession have gotten richer. Money meant for those in need ended up going to those who didn’t need it.

What would the wealthiest people in this country do regarding politics? They want their candidates making the laws, enforced by their chief executives and sanctified by their judges and justices. Well two things sealed that deal for the “Oligarchs.”

First was Citizen’s United. In the Roberts’ Court’s 5-4 decision, over a hundred years of Supreme Court decisions stating that Corporations weren’t people and money wasn’t speech were overturned. When you consider that George W Bush’s two appointments to the Supreme Court were both Corporate “conservative” attorneys who both swore at their confirmation hearings they would uphold “stare decisis” honoring the previous rulings of the Court, you knew the Oligarch’s wishes were coming true.

Sure enough, in an Ayn Rand wet dream, Corporations were now people and money was now speech. Corporations could now give unlimited campaign donations to candidates of their choosing to air ads (many of which are misleading or outright lies) on stations owned by like minded Oligarchs to sway public opinion and voting their way. Equal Justice Under Law was changed to “Some People are More Equal Than Others”. By using their money and influence to flood the airways, candidates they don’t want get effectively censored. They lose their freedom of speech because money isn’t just speech, money IS speech. If your thoughts, ideas, ideology don’t have money from billionaires backing it up, you will be censored. I doubt any of the founders had this in mind when they enacted the Bill of Rights.

Legal Scholars, Constitutional Law experts from across the country by huge margins disputed the findings of the 5-4 Citizens United ruling as wrong, as not in keeping with the intent and history of the Constitution. However, like with Climate Change and Economics, it doesn’t matter what 90% of the experts say, it’s what the “conservatives” paid experts that matters because they get well paid for pushing the Oligarch’s party line.

Now we have another 5-4 Supreme Court decision regarding McCutcheon. This removed the limit of anyone giving too much money to too many candidates to influence an election. It’s been disclosed that in a country of 315 million Americans, only 646 

ever came even close to meeting or exceeding that contribution caps that were thrown out. What’s more, it was only a few Billionaires who pushed this case. Keep in mind, 4.4 million individuals donors gave to President Obama.

People like Charles and David Koch, Sheldon Adelson, Shaun McCutcheon, Art Pope, Rupert Murdoch can just about give all they want to as many as they want to throw an election their way. Individual recipients of campaign cash are still limited to what they can receive from one donor unless that donor uses the loophole built into the decision bigger than a wide load limousine. The Oligarchs won.

Too much has been spoken regarding Liberal versus Conservative. That is in my humble opinion a false argument. I say that because as I pointed out above, today’s conservatives don’t share any of the ideas of previous conservatives. They align themselves with cash and power and whatever it takes to maintain and grow it. Those people are opposed to those who openly fight it. It’s not Conservative versus Liberal, its Oligarchy versus Democracy. The Oligarchs are winning because they have key people in place changing the laws and Court ruling in their favor and they aren’t done yet.

Can ordinary people use the Courts to fight back? Not really. The Roberts’ Court has changed the rules regarding class action lawsuits where the many could get together to share resources to go after corporations and their high price attorneys. Good legal help cost money and they will go where the money is. Oligarchs control the court system.

Can we stop the campaign ads on the airwaves that out and out lie about the candidate or position they’re taking? No we can’t. There is no “truth in advertising” law regarding political campaign ads. All you can do is put up your own ad to fight it, assuming you have the money to do it. Oligarchs control the messaging

We are moving back to the age of the Robber Barons. What turned things around back then was a populace resurgence that came about because of the suffering created by the Great Depression. Progressives voted in FDR and a progressive Congress. Can this be done again? Yes, but it will be much harder because too much power and too much of the media is in the hands of the Oligarchs who hold the strings of those in our government. They control the House, they control the Supreme Court and are set to take the Senate in 2014 and hope to take the executive Branch in 2016.

The only thing that can slow down and reverse the Oligarchic reign of the Koch Brother, the Walton’s, Art Pope, Rupert Murdoch, and Sheldon Adelson and his own fucking primary of GOP hopefuls is social media and those of us who see what is happening making sure their candidates don’t win. We need to really fight using what little free speech we have to educate and motivate the voters to what’s in their interests, not the Oligarchs. Then and only then will this trend end. Otherwise we will be Serfdom USA

These are the Oligarchs; don’t vote for anyone or any position supported by them.

Charles and David Koch

Walton Heirs

Art Pope

Rupert Murdoch

Sheldon “Scooter” Adelson

They got the money, they got the power. All we have are the votes. Don’t you think maybe we should use them effectively for a change?

I was on a Twitter exchange today regarding the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Act otherwise known as Obamacare. As all of us are beginning to see, as more people get involved and learn what it actually does compare to the hype of the alleged harm it would do to country and “Freedom” killing your mothers, sisters and puppies, people are now becoming supportive of the law. Despite 53 votes in the House to repeal it, 63% of the nation doesn’t want it repealed and on this last day of enrollment, they hit the 7 million mark and polling for the first time shows 49% favorable compared to 48% unfavorable. A long hard and angry battle but the tide has turned and there is no doubt this law will stay unless it’s improved.

This is where I get to the point of the title of this rant. In tweeting this with a reasonable person from the right, we both agreed that ACA wasn’t as bad as projected, that it does have some good in it, and we both believed the improvement would be single payer, otherwise known as Medicare for All. This resulted in a discussion of the tax code.

He sent me a chart and asked me to comment on it. Here it is:

He pointed out that most on the left would see the decrease in the revenue from corporations while those on the right see the increase in FICA revenue from individuals. What brought this chart up was my response to him regarding what I thought would happen to the economy if we went single payer but left insurance companies around. This is actually what most of Europe currently has that result in better outcomes with less expense regarding healthcare.

Now I’m no economist, I only play one on Twitter but I told him that I thought it was a good idea providing we lift the cap on FICA taxes (currently at a yearly income of $117,000.00 with a maximum withholding of $7,454.00) in order to fund the increase in coverage by making Medicare available to the entire United States Population from birth. Some want no caps; I think raising it to a million is sufficient. I also mentioned that with the insurance companies still wanting business, and providing they were still held to the customer protections required under ACA, insurance premiums would drop making private insurance even more affordable for good services. I mentioned that I saw this as good for the overall economy and the only negative side, if you want to call it that, would be the reduced profit margins of the private insurance companies.

He tended to agree but implied that the issue with our tax system is that it is too complex with multiple sources of revenue with multiple rules and loopholes and is inefficient. I agree, early on in our history the entire United States Budget was paid for by Tariffs. Alexander Hamilton imposed tariffs on foreign goods that had two positive effects on our new nation, revenue and development of our own domestic industry. Over the years tariffs went down as trade agreements came into play. Then corporations were taxed, income was originally taxed by the federal system during the Civil War to pay for it, then came back 50 years later as revenues to support this nation fell short from tariffs and corporations. Our government and her responsibilities grew and so did the expense.

Now we both had to go off-line but he left me with the impression that not only did he want a simplified tax code, it should be a flat excise/sales tax code. I did let him know that whatever the solution, the code should be progressive. Here are some numbers I came up with and posted on Twitter:

In 2013 the United States total budgetary revenue was $2,770,000.000.000.00 with expenses totaling $3,450,000,000,000.00 resulting in a budget shortfall. We all know that. Though what few still don’t understand, that deficit has been falling faster than at any time since Eisenhower.

Of the $2,770,000,000,000.00 in revenues:

$1,359,000,000,000.00 came from individual income tax payers. (Around 53% of the population)

$959,000,000,000.00 came from FICA revenues. (Paid for by all working Americans up to the cap)

$348,000,000,000.00 from all corporate tax revenues. (This averages 13% of all profits for all corporations combined)

$88,000,000,000.00 from excise taxes.

$33,000,000,000.00 from tariffs.

$13,000,000,000.00 from Estate and gift taxes.

$101,000,000,000.00 from other sources.

Finally, last year 138 million federal tax returns were filed in this country.

As the chart above shows, the total percentile of corporate tax revenue has gone down. Also it notes the total percentile of FICA revenues have gone up. The two almost cancel each other out.

Here are two more charts to consider:

 Total Federal Spending from all government revenue sources including FICA.

Total spending of income tax dollars excluding FICA

As the largest economy in the world with the most powerful armed forces, the strongest economy and of note, 315 million people of whom the average age is rising, we have an ever increasing number of accounts we need to pay into to take care of our military, our infrastructure, our students, our food supply, our ecology, and our aging population regarding healthcare, housing and necessities of life. It’s what government is for.

Our nation is growing, our population is aging, and our necessary expenditures are increasing. How do we pay the bills? It’s easy to say “cut spending to save money”. It’s also easy to say “penny wise, pound foolish”. Much of government spending does stimulate ours and the world’s economy, especially in times of recession. However it is also true that we cannot continue into deficit spending. The easy compromise is to cut waste, eliminate unnecessary programs that don’t promote the society or helps the economy and raise revenues.

That’s where politicians get scared and refuse to compromise. You can cut taxes they’re already too high. Well they’re actually lower now than at any time since the 1960’s and furthermore, we’ve been cutting taxes, even cut important programs like food stamps, unemployment compensation, housing assistance and we’re still in debt and the cuts have stalled our economic recovery. The richest in this nation are getting richer and paying less tax, the corporations in this country are getting richer and are paying less in taxes and not creating the jobs we were promised. Finally, the middle-class is getting smaller due to good jobs going overseas, resulting in less money being circulated in the economy resulting in more job loss due to less demand for goods and services. Did I mention that demand for goods and services are what actually create jobs, not excess cash?

So how do we simplify our tax code, pay our bills and not ruin what’s left of our economy in the process?

This is what I know:

Our current system was developed over 200 years and cannot be changed in quick order otherwise the economic security of the nation would instantly fall apart. Whatever plan is implemented would have to be done in installments over years, perhaps decades.

Simplifying the overall tax code would help regarding revenues being lost or misapplied. However whatever that code is, it must be progressive. Flat income taxes or a tax system based solely on excise/sales taxes is by definition regressive. This goes back to the famous “47%” who don’t pay Federal Income Taxes. They do pay sales taxes, they pay FICA if they are working, but their income is so low, so paycheck to paycheck that to tax them dramatically cuts into their standard of living, which already isn’t that great. (Raising the minimum wage would help too).

The whole idea of a progressive tax code is that those at the top of the economic ladder have more ability to pay into the society that quite frankly allowed them to be so successful. Further, an increased tax burden on these people has little or no impact on their standard of living. They pay more because they can and it doesn’t hurt them financially. Those with little or nothing shouldn’t take up the burden of paying all of our nation’s expenses if they have little ability to even provide themselves housing and food.

It’s easy to say we need more people working at higher wages to rebuild our middle class. Giving the wealthy and corporations more money via tax cuts hasn’t worked. It hasn’t trickled down to magical jobs out of good will. Instead it’s taken money out of the economy which has resulted in less demand. You increase demand for goods and services by placing money into the economy. If you’re going to sit on your money and do nothing with it, let the government take it by taxing and place it in the economy to those who will use it. I can’t emphasize this more; demand creates jobs, not extra cash in the hands of the few.

We need to yet again review our spending but we need to increase revenue to pay for those things we need to survive and grow as a nation. That money must come from those who have it, not those who don’t. During Eisenhower, the top marginal tax rate was 95%. With tax loopholes, it was actually much lower, but nowhere near the 13% effective tax rate the 1% has today. They can pay more. Corporations can also pay more than their 13% effective tax rate and it won’t kill jobs. In fact, as Henry Ford knew, it would place more money in the economy, driving up demand for goods and services and making more sales for the corporations and other businesses in the country. The corporations will survive, likely thrive, maybe a few CEO would have to give up one of their 8 homes. So be it.

Again, I don’t have all the solutions and I’m not an economist. But I do know simplifying the tax code to make it more progressive and supply just the right amount of revenue to pay our bills is what is needed. I also recognize this will take years to implement since it’s so damn complex right now.

To end on a familiar theme of mine, to get this done, let’s send the right people to Congress and our state houses who are open-minded, pragmatic and willing to do unpopular things to get our affairs in order without favoring those people who need no help at all. Register, research and vote.

Class dismissed.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” ~ Santayana. Events of the past several days and a few Twitter exchanges I’ve been on have me really thinking about this adage. The similarities of what is occurring in the world today compared to the 1930’s are eerie if not alarming. Actually it’s both.

Our country was reeling under a Great Depression brought on by governmental mismanagement of the economy by the Conservative wing of the Republican Party. They allowed corporations to run roughshod over the economy with no oversight. The country and world fell into the Great Depression due to fraudulent banking and investment deals & the bills coming due from this thing called “The Great War.”

Meanwhile in Europe, a country who suffered the worst economically due to losing that war and the bills and reparations dumped upon them responded by voting in a Nationalistic government that allowed corporate greed and militarism take control over the needs of the population. Germany came out of the depression faster than other European countries, but at a cost. They had a government that ruled with an iron hand, didn’t care for all of her people, placed corporate interests over those of living human beings, and had a growing military industrial complex with no place to go. Hitler was doing so well, Nazi Germany hosted the Olympics.

Meanwhile in the United States, we elected a Progressive President who did implement socialistic programs to get us out of the depression and place out of work Americans back to work. It was costly but it was working. At the time, conservatives leaders from the Republican Party and the corporate interests looked fondly to the strong decisive actions of Hitler and his Nazi party for not only raking in the profits and making international corporations rich (including ours) they saw him as an ally against Socialism, against Communism and they saw the Roosevelt Administration as Socialistic and/or Communistic.

In Germany the Nazis made use of something they knew full well worked, control of the media, and control of propaganda to grow nationalism. Truth didn’t matter, only the story line. They also took advantage of a truism of the history of mankind, nothing gains you support faster than a common enemy. They chose homosexuals, gypsies, communists and of course the Jews to build a consensus of support among the population. These groups were already despised. They also told the public how bad unions were, how corrupt the bankers were, and how the German people, the Aryan race was special, “exceptional” to those other countries and people. Germany was unified, stronger, expanding (on borrowed money mind you) but was also arrogant and angry at the world for what happened to them less than a generation before.

So Germany needed to use its military might. Where did they begin? Well there was Austria who welcomed them with open arms. Military moved in without a shot and it became part of the Reich.

Now what many forget about this act and the invasion of Poland was that there was another invasion. The country was Czechoslovakia and the Sudetenland. This area of Czechoslovakia had ethnic Germans living in it. Also made up a huge portion of the entire country. Hitler moved in to protect the ethnic Germans from the Czechs who surrounded them. This set off warning bells throughout Europe and led to the worst act of appeasement in history. Neville Chamberlain in an attempt to appease Hitler met with him and other European leaders in Munich and came up with the Munich Accords that accepted Hitler’s claims of the ethnic Germans and gave the Sudetenland to Germany and gave them “Peace in our Time.” Of course several months later Hitler took the rest of Czechoslovakia, then invaded Poland on the pretense that the Poles started it and World War II began.

After the war began in Europe in 1939 there still was admiration of the Hitler Nazi Fascist regime by conservative politicians and corporate leaders in this country. Feelings were mixed; the only thing that united Americans at the time was the feeling that we would not involve ourselves into another European war. Also during this time, though the conservatives hated Roosevelt, (and some even looked at a military coup orchestrated in part by a businessman by the name of Prescott Bush, grandfather of W) they did not ridicule our president or his foreign policy in the media or radio. There was an old adage of the time, “politics ends at the water’s edge” and no one would go on record attacking our president in the manner and tone today’s conservatives are doing it. Then on December 7th, 1941 the Japanese did attack Pearl Harbor, we declared War on Japan and Germany and Italy declared War on us.

Being attacked and realizing we were in a World War worked to unite this nation. We had our common enemy, the government borrowed vast sums of moneys, raised bonds and taxed the wealthy to build the armaments and create the army and navy that won the War. It also sped up our recovery from the Depression and left us a World power, not only militarily, but economically. It occurred due to nationalism, standing behind our president and a hell of a lot of borrowing taxing and spending by the government.

For a more in-depth analysis of how Conservatives supported European Fascism in the 1930″s read this link. It is absolutely fascinating.

http://www.rationalrevolution.net/war/american_supporters_of_the_europ.htm

Now fast forward to what we face today:

Conservatives weakened the banking and corporate regulations put in place to correct the errors that led to the Great Depression. As a result of this and the tax cuts to the wealthy and massive borrowing to pay for two wars, we entered into the Great Recession. This led to another Democratic President taking office to try to correct the country’s economy.

Meanwhile in Russia, a KGB strong man had already been in control and took a country that was devastated economically due to government mismanagement of her economy and built back up their military machine. Putin also inspired national unity by telling the Russian people to blame the West for what happened to their “Soviet Empire” and the economic devastation it brought. He also found a group he could still focus Russian blame on, the homosexual community. He is a strong man dictator. He moved into Georgia despite complaints from the United States and Europe. He flexed his muscles and other than muted complaints coupled with conservative adulation, he got away with it. He was so successful, even with his open discrimination of the LGBT community; he was able to host the Winter Olympics.

Then Putin moves into the Crimea last week citing his need to protect ethnic Russians who lived there. This is where we are today.

However, there are some differences from now to what was going on back then.

Despite not liking President Roosevelt, the Republicans did work with him and didn’t block government efforts to get the country back to work to include borrowing money to pay for economic stimulus programs or taxing the wealthiest to pay down our accrued debt.

Despite not liking President Roosevelt, the Republicans didn’t publicly and angrily denounce his efforts of foreign policy while at the same time expressing adulation for a “strong man” who just invaded another country.

Unlike Germany in the 1930’s, Russia has and formidable nuclear strike force second only to our own. The Mutually Assured Destructions doctrine still applies.

Unlike Germany in the 1930’s, the biggest example of propaganda is Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp i.e. FOX News.

The biggest end-run’s into Fascism in the world today comes from American Conservative groups and corporations i.e. Koch Industries and Charles and David Koch.

John Bolton, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, FOX news commentators, openly call our President weak while he tries to find ways to resolve this dilemma that if handled incorrectly could literally destroy all life on this planet. Did I mention that Putin is a strong man and he has nuclear weapons and a willingness to use them?

The rhetoric the rightwing is using is exactly what President Kennedy faced during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1963; the only difference was it was in private. Publicly the entire nation stood behind our president who held the Hawks back, took the time to consult the best minds available, explore all the options and used diplomacy to avoid worldwide destruction. These are the things President Obama is doing right now that the right is ridiculing him for.

These are perilous times. This wouldn’t be a proxy war with the Soviet Union like we engaged in with them during the Cold War. This is Russia; this is NATO and the United States. If we act unilaterally and forcibly as the FOX talking heads and idiotic politicians playing to bigoted teabaggers want, we destroy the world.

Obama did not invade the Crimea; Putin did, as he did Georgia with no complaints against George Bush as the rightwing complains about President Obama today.

We have one president at a time, he is the embodiment of our national foreign policy, we are only assumed as being weak when we distance ourselves from his deliberation and resolve for the interests of our nation, her people and the peoples of the world.

Racism is not as important as the wellbeing of the United States. He is our president until his term is up. Everyone needs to stand behind him and help him navigate this country through this crisis without bloodshed and nuclear annihilation. We also need to stand behind him and the rest of the nation to get Americans working again, to expand our economy again, the care for all of our people again, despite race, creed, religion, sex or sexual orientation.

America is more important than Racism and Bigotry. You don’t get that, don’t call yourself an American.

You hate this country and her president, then like Snowden flee to Russia and spend time with Putin and what he has to offer. As the old saying goes that the conservatives brought up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. America, love it or leave it.

One final word, vote these idiots and bigots out in 2014. Lives do depend upon it.

As I write this, Arizona Senate Bill 1062 has been passed by the Arizona State Legislature and sits on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk for either signature into law or veto. She vetoed this very same law last year but there is some concern whether she will veto it again. The opposition to this bill is nationwide and growing, but is based on numerous reasons depending on the group opposed to it.

For the LGBT community, it’s because is codifies discrimination against their community.

For religious groups, it’s because its written under the guise of “religious freedom” and therefore is contrary to mainstream religious values of tolerance.

For the business community and Chamber of Commerce it’s bad business that will drive people away.

For politicians its bad politics in a political year where the GOP is already seen as too intolerant to too many groups.

The only consensus regarding SB 1062 are those in support of it. They support it because they hate the gay community and want protection to be allowed to discriminate against a group they see as vile and less than human. Though they don’t say it openly, when you try to discuss this bill with that group, that is what you come away with.

Regardless if SB1062 is signed or vetoed, the problem in Arizona remains. Under current law employers can fire you for being gay, that is a fact. SB1062 doesn’t effect that reality one iota. The concern for those in favor of codifying their bigotry is they fear what happened in New Mexico could happen to them; they could be sued for denial of civil rights.

http://verdict.justia.com/2013/09/04/new-mexico-supreme-court-anti-discrimination-law-to-wedding-photographer

The problem in Arizona and other States and nations like Uganda regarding homosexuals is a misconception of who the LGBT community is. On one end you have those who say you are gay because of genetics, on the other end you have those who say it is strictly learned and is part of the culture. Well as with many arguments the reality is somewhere in the middle. It lies more with the genetic side than the cultural side. However culture does play into the matter but not as those opposed to the community would have people think.

Research continues to show more evidence that genetics plays a role in sexual orientation as it does skin color, eye color, hair color etc. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071107170741.htm. So if this is true, people are born to either be attracted to same sex or opposite sex. This is true in the “animal kingdom” too.

For those who say that this cannot be true or natural because the species would die off, I would suggest that we all carry genetic traits that either kill us or result in the inability to procreate. Perhaps this is nature’s way of population control. Who knows but the science is becoming conclusive that sexual orientation is more who you are, not what you are taught.

Another fallacy of those who oppose the homosexual community is their insistence that in addition to the view it is learned, homosexuals compel others to join in by exposing people to the gay lifestyle. They believe that once someone can be taught to be “gay” they can be untaught via gay conversion therapy. This has been completely discounted over the years as quite frankly a fraud. Here are five facts about gay conversion therapy people need to know http://www.livescience.com/37139-facts-about-gay-conversion-therapy.html.

The above fallacy leads to another more damning and disproven fallacy that the overwhelming number of homosexuals are pedophiles. They equate pedophilia to homosexuality. There is no validated supported research to support this fallacy. It has been studied thoroughly. There is no link to being homosexual and wanting to molest young children. The frequency of this act is equal among homosexuals and heterosexuals http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/09/18/903178/-Gays-are-pedophiles-No-Here-s-the-proof.

So now to the position that homosexuality is cultural.

Well to some extent it is. It is a sociological and psychological fact that humans in a group tend to develop cultural similarities over time. What moves humans into groups? Well geography, common interests, genetic traits, history, political ideology, the list is endless.

There is a European Culture that is broken down to an English Culture, French Culture, German Culture; Spanish Culture all developed over history and proximity to one another. It is the same for each region of this planet.

There is a Religious culture broken down into Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist, etc.

There is a Christian culture broken down to Catholic, Protestant, Latter Day Saints, Episcopalian, etc. Again developed over time and proximity to one another.

There is a Caucasian Culture, a Black Culture, an Asian Culture, Native American Culture; Semitic Culture all developed over time and proximity to one another.

There is a “Deaf Culture” developed over time and proximity to one another of those afflicted with being deaf. It is interesting to note this culture opposes medical technology to give them the ability to hear again.

There is a Blind Culture, a Gun Culture, a Hunting Culture and yes a Homosexual Culture. The culture exists because homosexuality has existed as long as humankind has existed, they have history, common values and concerns and proximity so they develop a culture among themselves.

Finally it’s true about Bigotry. That is also a culture.

I ask which culture is more harmful to society. Bigotry has no genetic link that has been found, it is learned pure and simple and is destructive to those around it.

So where does this leave us?

I personally support Gay rights. I also support religious freedom, political freedom, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of association and I DO NOT believe these freedoms are in conflict with one another.

If we are a mature and sophisticated society, we learn to embrace the differences in the various cultures and genetic variations we humans have on the piece of land we inhabit and learn to cooperate and assist each other in our survival, wellbeing and grow as a society. Tolerance is key.

To codify intolerance is counterproductive to the growth and maturity of a society. If SB1062 is vetoed it actually changes nothing in the State of Arizona. Bigotry against the gay community is already legal here.

Regardless of what Jan Brewer does, we need a voter driven initiative in this state to codify tolerance as a society that leaves no one out regardless of genetic predisposition or cultural leanings. We need to make it illegal to discriminate against anyone because they are gay and make you feel icky.

If the extreme right wing religious folks don’t want to associate with the homosexual community in their churches or homes, they have that right. However out in the community we all share and all need equal access to, no one has that right.

The only intolerance permissible in a free society is the intolerance of intolerant people.