President-Elect Obama IS Washington Establishment

Barack Obama will NEVER "Change" Washington. All of the people that have been rumored to be selected for Cabinet positions are all Washington Establishment! He campaigned hard against Hilary Clinton claiming that she is just part of the Washingon establishment and then he picks her to be Secretary of State! Are you kidding me? Isn't that something that only a person who was a part of the washington establishment would do? I thought the whole mantra of change was to stop doing that. Barack Obama is just like every other polition HE'S THE SAME CRAP! He was just blowing the "Change" smoke up the american people collective ass so he could get elected.

I thought we we voted him in becuase he was going to change Washington. He hasn't been sworn in yet and it's not looking like there's going to be much "Change" at all. Here's a quote from Barack Obama's campaign web site. It's right on the top of the home page. "I'M ASKING YOU TO BELIEVE. Not just in my ability to change Washington ... I'm asking you to believe in yours." what a load of crap!

I think Obama should pick John McCain for Secetary of Defense, since that was one of his strong points in the election!

Presidential Cabinet

A President of the United States can claim he's "bi-partisan" all he wants, but are they truely? Every President I can remember fills his cabinet with members of his own party. That sounds pretty partisan to me. If a President wanted to show us that he was truely bi-partisan he'd pick the best people for cabinet level positions regardless of their party affiliation. When a President and his cabinet are of the same party everything they do will be biased.
Pick the best people regardless of their party affiliation.

Salaries

I always hate hearing about how long it takes for congress to approve a raise in the federal minimum wage, but it doesn't seem to take any time at all for them to give themselves a raise! If any of our congressional leaders have ever lived on minimum wage I'm sure it's been a very long time.
The President of the United States of America makes $400,000 / year.
A Senator makes $169,300 / year
Representatives make $169,300 / year

I don't care who you are that's a lot of money. It's also quite a bit higher than the $13,624 someone who works full time making the $6.55 / hour federal minimum wage. Minimum wage will go up next year to $7.25 / hour or $15,080.

The President of the United States, Senators, and Representatives are supposed to be public servants, so here's what I propose. For their first term I think they should make minimum wage. That way those who are really wanting to make a difference in this country will run for office. Then if they do a good job and want to run for a second term they can then get a raise to make the average salary of their constitutencies.

I don't get to determine my own raise, my employeer does. Since the representatives serve the people, they should determine if they should get a raise. Put it on a ballot for voters to decide if they deserve a raise or not.

I'm also thinking about term limits, but I'll leave that for another post.

Federal Income Taxes

The federal income tax system is the most convoluted thing on the face of the earth. I don't believe that there is a single person that fully understands it. Most people can't figure their own taxes, and the wealthiest americans can afford to pay someone to make sure that they pay as little in taxes as possible. The wealthiest americans pay less than the poorest! It's insane! The IRS is this massive money sucking government entity.

Here's what I propose: First, abolish the current tax code in it's entirety. If the average citizen can't figure it out, then it's too complex and complicated. Making changes doesn't solve the problem it only makes it worse. The only way to have complete tax reform is the start with a clean slate.

Second, institute a flat tax of like 10% for all individuals and businesses. Everyone would be able to figure out their own taxes. What a novel idea! Set up a simple payroll deduction and April 15th would just be another day of the year! The best part of this is that low income famlies would get a tax beak and the wealthy would finally pay their fair share!

With a flat tax when the whole econemy grows so does the federal revenue. I realize that there would be many tax attorneys and tax accountants that would be out of a job, but if they can't find another way to make money then maybe it's time to retrain for a new career.

I'm not opposed to paying my fair share, I just wan't everyone else to do the same.

In the beginning...

I wasn't happy with either Presidential contenders this year. (Yes there are only "two" because the news media doesn't care about those without the almighty $$$) I realized that with the right amount of money anyone can "buy" an election. Last night I decided that I need an avenue to express my proposed "changes", because neither the Republicans or Democrats are going to be able to truely change this country. They will never be able to truely be "Mavericks" in going against their political parties to enact the kind of change we are going to need.

I've got some simple ideas that when enacted could provide us a much better world to live in. I plan on proposing my policy ideas and I welcome ALL comments because I realize that my brain isn't perfect and my ideas aren't fully formed policy ideas yet, but the more input I get the better they'll be.

At this point I don't know how often I'll post, but I'd like to get up here to propose my ideas as much as possible.