Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
As election season is coming upon us , I have attended a number of political strategy meetings. Over the years I have gleaned a great deal from the various consultants who impart their wisdom to prospective candidates and to the various volunteers and staff that may be involved in a campaign.
I recall a Washington Consultant who compared the running of a campaign to a major sales deal where all the deals have to be closed at one time. Now of course with the rampant use of vote by mail and permanent absentee voter, this analogy does not hold the same weight.
I thought for my part in this election season, I would share a number of maxims that I consider have met the test of time and hold true today
I recall a Washington Consultant who compared the running of a campaign to a major sales deal where all the deals have to be closed at one time. Now of course with the rampant use of vote by mail and permanent absentee voter, this analogy does not hold the same weight.
I thought for my part in this election season, I would share a number of maxims that I consider have met the test of time and hold true today
- Follow the money: Deep throat in the Watergate scandal who later was identified as former FBI agent Mark Felt. Remember try to see where the big money is coming from and why should the organization be sending wads of cash to the candidate.
- Money is the mother's milk of politics: Jesse Unruh's wisdom that without the cash 99% of the time no win. Perhaps with clean money on the scene this may pass on but I do not think so.
- All politics are local: The late speaker of the house Tip O'Neill's bit of wisdom. If you cannot get the locals to buy into your beliefs time to throw in the towel.
- WIIIFM or Whats in it for me I do not know the creator of this maxim, however when addressing a group, the candidate must be aware that there has to be some meat for the attendees in his proposals. If there is nothing there for them, the candidate will quickly learn that they will not be voting for him. As bad it sounds, the voters' self-interest is paramount. Of course if you are speaking to a group of saints, this concept may not be too important
- The road to hell is paved: Of course you have heard the one the road to hell is paved with good intentions, but my variation attempts that the candidate who wins may quickly slip into a pattern where the reelection is paramount and the good intentions that the candidate brought originally is lost and the candidate will join those elected who were corrupted. The road is not only paved, it is greased with cold hard cash. Ii is easy for me to say that I have not been corrupted because no one has made me an offer. In Pirah Avot or Words of father the rabbis said that the person who can control impulses is one who has mastered life.
- The road to heaven is full of potholes: It is not easy to maintain morality for it takes great fortitude to withstand the demands that are made upon a person who has attained power.
- Power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely: Lord Avon's maxim still is true today even in a democracy if there is such an imbalance the base desires are let lose and laws are passed that are self-serving simply to maintain power.
- It does matter who votes, it matters who counts the votes. This one is from my favorite Soviet philosopher and dictator Joseph Stalin who had such control it did not matter who voted for his political machine would do the counting and the results were inevitable. In our country many elections have been observed to have been stolen by those doing the counting. Bob Hope once told a joke that there was a major burglary at the Kremlin, the thieves made of with the results of next years election.
maybe not so funny. Make sure you have your team at the polls and at the registrars office. - No man no Problem: Another of Papa Joe's favorites; Of course he had the power to liquidate anyone he wanted.In our country we have to be more subtle, we tear people down and exploit any foible and humiliate to the point that the person has no influence. Watch your backside and keep track of all your skeletons safely locked in the closet. Remember whenever you say or Email anything, act as if one thousand lawyers are watching.
- No good deed gets noticed: If you go into politics expecting accolades and notice for your good works forget it. Most of the time you will get criticism and complaint, but if you play the game as a good politician you will get backing from all the bagmen
- No good deed goes unpunished: From my experience if you do something that you normally would not do, let us say out of compassion or exaggerated concern, nine times out of ten it will backfire and come back to haunt you.
12. Attribute your sources: This a saying from the Pikah. A sign of strong character is attributed to someone who gives credit for an idea or something original to the source. Remember it is your duty to attribute from whom you attained the knowledge. If you do not do so it is akin to stealing. Always try to maintain integrity and character unless if you want to be a politician and take all the credit for yourself.
I hope you find these statements as useful and will be a guide to for you the Perplexed Politician
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Permanent Non Citizen, The answer to the illegal immigration problem
When I was the Democratic candidate for Congress for the 25Th District California in 2000, I often was asked while on the campaign trail, "What are you solutions to the immigration problem"? Then,I acted as a politician and answered with the comment that there was no political will on both sides of the aisle to do anything. I stated that the Republicans were interested in cheap labor and the Democrats were concerned about cheap votes. Unfortunately, I did not offer a solution to the problem. Now ten years later the problem has exploded to the point where we as a nation have no idea about the numbers involved that have come to this country illegally. In addition our national security has been increasingly jeopardized by the influx of potential terrorists, drugs. drug traffickers and their accompanying criminal behavior.
In the past decade many proposals have been put forward including a comprehensive Congressional reform plan which was defeated because it was seen by most people as an latent form of amnesty. We have seen Arizona try to take measures to curb illegal immigration by passing Arizona law 1070. This action has brought outcries from many critics who have branded the action as racist and has led to boycotts initiated by all governmental levels against a State merely trying to bring some semblance of stability to their overrun region. The President in a nationally televised speech condemned the Arizona action and compared the plight of the Arizona immigrants to that of Eastern European Jews who crossed mountains and the ocean to come to our country legally.
The plans of the pro illegal immigration groups, both the Democrats and Republicans as supported by the Wall Street Journal, seem to bring an equivalence to all the facets of immigration. Although most see through this comparison, the constant media repetition may blind some to the fallacy that these spokesmen are putting forward. These groups are in nature support "open borders" as they foresee that this inaction will bring about the cheap and easy ends that I noted above.
My proposal is to address these deceptions: cheap votes that would allow a party to accrue twelve million votes, gain an unprecedented control over government and would allow business unbridled access to cheap illegal labor.
I advance the concept of Permanent Non Citizen (PNC). I identify the PNC as a person who has entered this country without proper documentation. If a PNC is able to show that he or she has resided in the USA for at least five years, he/she could apply for PNC status. This status would allow the PNC to have all the rights of of any legal resident of the USA except for never having the right to vote. After proving residency in the country for five years, paying taxes, free of any felony, a PNC would be given a PNC Social Security Number and would be eligible for licenses, social security, Medicare, ownership of property etc.. A PNC could never become a citizen of the country nor could the PNC vote in any election. This action would eliminate the incentive for Democrats to support illegal immigration. As well, all persons employed in this country would have top have a valid SSI or PNC SSI number and if employers hired persons without these universal identifiers, the employers would be subject to penalties and criminal prosecution.
Also, children born to PNC could not become citizens. This action would also be applied to a child born from a PNC marrying a citizen or legal resident. The consequence would be to take away the incentive for PNC's to reproduce "anchor children". This proposal would require an amendment to the Constitution.
If a PNC or PNC child wished to become a citizen, the PNC or child would have to go their native country and enter as any other legal immigrant and be subject to all the rules, rights and responsibilities of legal residents .
Looking back over the past ten years, I wish that I had the thought when I was running for office, when asked about the immigration question that I had this concept and though the concept of PNC does not solve all problem, I consider it to be a very sensible first step that addresses the concerns of the entire political spectrum.
In the past decade many proposals have been put forward including a comprehensive Congressional reform plan which was defeated because it was seen by most people as an latent form of amnesty. We have seen Arizona try to take measures to curb illegal immigration by passing Arizona law 1070. This action has brought outcries from many critics who have branded the action as racist and has led to boycotts initiated by all governmental levels against a State merely trying to bring some semblance of stability to their overrun region. The President in a nationally televised speech condemned the Arizona action and compared the plight of the Arizona immigrants to that of Eastern European Jews who crossed mountains and the ocean to come to our country legally.
The plans of the pro illegal immigration groups, both the Democrats and Republicans as supported by the Wall Street Journal, seem to bring an equivalence to all the facets of immigration. Although most see through this comparison, the constant media repetition may blind some to the fallacy that these spokesmen are putting forward. These groups are in nature support "open borders" as they foresee that this inaction will bring about the cheap and easy ends that I noted above.
My proposal is to address these deceptions: cheap votes that would allow a party to accrue twelve million votes, gain an unprecedented control over government and would allow business unbridled access to cheap illegal labor.
I advance the concept of Permanent Non Citizen (PNC). I identify the PNC as a person who has entered this country without proper documentation. If a PNC is able to show that he or she has resided in the USA for at least five years, he/she could apply for PNC status. This status would allow the PNC to have all the rights of of any legal resident of the USA except for never having the right to vote. After proving residency in the country for five years, paying taxes, free of any felony, a PNC would be given a PNC Social Security Number and would be eligible for licenses, social security, Medicare, ownership of property etc.. A PNC could never become a citizen of the country nor could the PNC vote in any election. This action would eliminate the incentive for Democrats to support illegal immigration. As well, all persons employed in this country would have top have a valid SSI or PNC SSI number and if employers hired persons without these universal identifiers, the employers would be subject to penalties and criminal prosecution.
Also, children born to PNC could not become citizens. This action would also be applied to a child born from a PNC marrying a citizen or legal resident. The consequence would be to take away the incentive for PNC's to reproduce "anchor children". This proposal would require an amendment to the Constitution.
If a PNC or PNC child wished to become a citizen, the PNC or child would have to go their native country and enter as any other legal immigrant and be subject to all the rules, rights and responsibilities of legal residents .
Looking back over the past ten years, I wish that I had the thought when I was running for office, when asked about the immigration question that I had this concept and though the concept of PNC does not solve all problem, I consider it to be a very sensible first step that addresses the concerns of the entire political spectrum.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Brownian Movement
You may rightfully ask me what the physics term Brownian movement has to do with politics. Perhaps after I define the term you may get an inkling about what I am trying to explain. Brownian movement is defined as follows: Brownian motion (named after the Scottish botanist Robert Brown) or pedesis is the seemingly random movement of particles suspended in a fluid (i.e. a liquid such as water or air) or the mathematical model used to describe such random movements, often called a particle theory. (Wikipedia) These motions have been characterized to situations similar to dust particles in the air and even in more elaborate theories to the movements in the stock market.
My simple proposal is to say that the much of the activity of government bodies and their subsequent actions are random in nature and serve no useful purpose other than to perpetuate their own movement.
Let me look at all levels of government in our country from local, state and federal to clarify my point.
My lovely home city of Los Angeles has a City council composed of 15 elected members and a mayor who represent the legislative and executive arms of the city government. As most other cities leaders who did not have the vision to foresee or plan for economic hardships, this group when faced with a 400 million dollar shortfall addressed the looming catastrophe by passing ordinances that forbade smoking on the cities beaches, smoking near restaurants and a boycott against the state of Arizona. These guys and gal considered that these actions of moving paper and passing unneeded laws would have some magical effect on the budget crisis. This group did not have the courage to address the systemic problems that had arisen from their predecessors Brownian activity.
The Brownian senseless movement is even heightened more at the state level. California, which has a budget shortfall of 20 billion give or take a few billion, approached this peril by passing laws that forbade the future use of regular light bulbs , AB 7 which would regulate highschool baseball, AB 569 that regulates use of reservoirs for recreational purposes and of course AB 569 which would ensure that workers would get their lunch break. All these of course are legislative movements without purpose. As with the city, these Sacramento particulates were not able to get to managing costs, expenses or pension liabilities in an effective manner
At the federal level, as Korea threatens, as the national debt skyrockets and oil spills out onto our beaches the federal government is easily passing laws like HR 45 firearm licensing, HR 1475 Federal Prison Work Reform ACT and of course the important HR 4247 regarding use of restraints in schools. I do not question the significance or importance of these laws, however I do not see how they address the problems that presently beset our country. It is unfortunate that legislators who have a good idea try to get a law passed. From my perspective, I believe that not all good ideas have to be enacted. But in keeping with the Brownian Movement theory our particle legislators flit about without a real purpose aside from movement and appear as if they are accomplishing for the good and welfare of society by writing up these legislative dust particulates.
And what about our leaders who are supposed to be "managing". Previously I had blogged regarding the Nero-like behavior of our leadership team. I guess putting boots on necks, raising money for Boxer in California and not able to speak the term "radical Muslim" will stop Iran, North Korea, Illegal Immigration, "man made catastrophes" and bring down the national debt.
I suppose, if Robert Brown were still with us, he would have no problem likening the movement of our executives and legislators to those particles and seeds floating in the void, only those seeds which he studied may land and produce a flower or useful vegetation. Our seedlings legislators for the most part seem to produce weed like products which at first may appear to be pretty or helpful but in the long run lead to a blight that may never be stopped and overrun what has to be done.
My simple proposal is to say that the much of the activity of government bodies and their subsequent actions are random in nature and serve no useful purpose other than to perpetuate their own movement.
Let me look at all levels of government in our country from local, state and federal to clarify my point.
My lovely home city of Los Angeles has a City council composed of 15 elected members and a mayor who represent the legislative and executive arms of the city government. As most other cities leaders who did not have the vision to foresee or plan for economic hardships, this group when faced with a 400 million dollar shortfall addressed the looming catastrophe by passing ordinances that forbade smoking on the cities beaches, smoking near restaurants and a boycott against the state of Arizona. These guys and gal considered that these actions of moving paper and passing unneeded laws would have some magical effect on the budget crisis. This group did not have the courage to address the systemic problems that had arisen from their predecessors Brownian activity.
The Brownian senseless movement is even heightened more at the state level. California, which has a budget shortfall of 20 billion give or take a few billion, approached this peril by passing laws that forbade the future use of regular light bulbs , AB 7 which would regulate highschool baseball, AB 569 that regulates use of reservoirs for recreational purposes and of course AB 569 which would ensure that workers would get their lunch break. All these of course are legislative movements without purpose. As with the city, these Sacramento particulates were not able to get to managing costs, expenses or pension liabilities in an effective manner
At the federal level, as Korea threatens, as the national debt skyrockets and oil spills out onto our beaches the federal government is easily passing laws like HR 45 firearm licensing, HR 1475 Federal Prison Work Reform ACT and of course the important HR 4247 regarding use of restraints in schools. I do not question the significance or importance of these laws, however I do not see how they address the problems that presently beset our country. It is unfortunate that legislators who have a good idea try to get a law passed. From my perspective, I believe that not all good ideas have to be enacted. But in keeping with the Brownian Movement theory our particle legislators flit about without a real purpose aside from movement and appear as if they are accomplishing for the good and welfare of society by writing up these legislative dust particulates.
And what about our leaders who are supposed to be "managing". Previously I had blogged regarding the Nero-like behavior of our leadership team. I guess putting boots on necks, raising money for Boxer in California and not able to speak the term "radical Muslim" will stop Iran, North Korea, Illegal Immigration, "man made catastrophes" and bring down the national debt.
I suppose, if Robert Brown were still with us, he would have no problem likening the movement of our executives and legislators to those particles and seeds floating in the void, only those seeds which he studied may land and produce a flower or useful vegetation. Our seedlings legislators for the most part seem to produce weed like products which at first may appear to be pretty or helpful but in the long run lead to a blight that may never be stopped and overrun what has to be done.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
While Nero Fiddled
It is said that Nero fiddle while Rome burned.
So what has our erstwhile leader done as the oil has devastated the coast of our country
Out there in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico that BP oil rig blew up and and the resultant spill has slimed not only the beaches of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, but also the drilling industry and of course has left the various government agencies involved in mopping up the globs that are polluting the beaches and the fisheries of southern USA. It is amazing in this age of technology that no one has come up with a way yet to plug the hole miles down in the gulf. You would think that if you were prepared to dig that deep that you would have a way of closing off the potential of some future hazard. Apparently not. There is no Red Adair out there who with his adventurous crew prepared to dive down and grasp the leaking monster by the throat and clamp in shut. I also guess thatI am naive to believe that the BP would have a method to control the loss of their liquid investment which in future time will force them to pay for all the resultant damages. If I were an investor in BP I would question this return on my investment.
Of course we have the Federal Government and its agencies like FEMA. Department of the Interior and the Coast Guard that stood watching and sucking their collective thumbs and collecting their political instuments as the this oily mess spread gallon globule by gallon globule over the sheeny Gulf waters.
Again it would seem that the government would have intervened in some way to minimize this disaster. If someones house is burning down you do not expect the owner to put out the fire, that is why we have fire departments. So why in heavens name did our government let BP try on its own to end the spill.
I do not want to appear too skeptical, but was there some political motive here as the reason that the Obama group did not get involved. Was it in their interest to let the oil spill out as a way to foster their energy agenda, to end offshore drilling and convince us gullible Americans that oil drilling is bad for our country.?
As has been pointed out in other sources, the Media has been loathe to condemn the present feds for their lack of intervention which is in stark in contradistinction to the tirades which which they lambasted George W. Bush and his crew. "Brownie is my man." I guess Salazar with his boot on the neck of BP is President Obama's man. And I suppose that putting your boot on someones neck will stop the oil from spilling and corrupting the sands of the Southern United States.
And yes we will have a commission and law suits down the road and that stops the damage which is happening right now.
So as BP tries all the various means to stop the leak, our Obama lead government as in old Rome fiddles and does not nothing to save the coast from "burning to the ground" and plays the familiar blame tune that it is Bush's fault.
So what has our erstwhile leader done as the oil has devastated the coast of our country
Out there in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico that BP oil rig blew up and and the resultant spill has slimed not only the beaches of Louisiana, Alabama and Florida, but also the drilling industry and of course has left the various government agencies involved in mopping up the globs that are polluting the beaches and the fisheries of southern USA. It is amazing in this age of technology that no one has come up with a way yet to plug the hole miles down in the gulf. You would think that if you were prepared to dig that deep that you would have a way of closing off the potential of some future hazard. Apparently not. There is no Red Adair out there who with his adventurous crew prepared to dive down and grasp the leaking monster by the throat and clamp in shut. I also guess thatI am naive to believe that the BP would have a method to control the loss of their liquid investment which in future time will force them to pay for all the resultant damages. If I were an investor in BP I would question this return on my investment.
Of course we have the Federal Government and its agencies like FEMA. Department of the Interior and the Coast Guard that stood watching and sucking their collective thumbs and collecting their political instuments as the this oily mess spread gallon globule by gallon globule over the sheeny Gulf waters.
Again it would seem that the government would have intervened in some way to minimize this disaster. If someones house is burning down you do not expect the owner to put out the fire, that is why we have fire departments. So why in heavens name did our government let BP try on its own to end the spill.
I do not want to appear too skeptical, but was there some political motive here as the reason that the Obama group did not get involved. Was it in their interest to let the oil spill out as a way to foster their energy agenda, to end offshore drilling and convince us gullible Americans that oil drilling is bad for our country.?
As has been pointed out in other sources, the Media has been loathe to condemn the present feds for their lack of intervention which is in stark in contradistinction to the tirades which which they lambasted George W. Bush and his crew. "Brownie is my man." I guess Salazar with his boot on the neck of BP is President Obama's man. And I suppose that putting your boot on someones neck will stop the oil from spilling and corrupting the sands of the Southern United States.
And yes we will have a commission and law suits down the road and that stops the damage which is happening right now.
So as BP tries all the various means to stop the leak, our Obama lead government as in old Rome fiddles and does not nothing to save the coast from "burning to the ground" and plays the familiar blame tune that it is Bush's fault.
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