One of the many beautiful landscapes I saw yesterday.I loaded Joelee up in the truck and we took off driving yesterday. It was a lovely gallivant. I had the windows down, we found some beautiful roads, and most of the morning was spent listening to classical music on Public Radio. Then that station went out of range for awhile and I put it on a random radio station for a bit. Every single commercial break was a hateful message brought to you by somebody who wants you to vote for them instead of the guy they are bashing. I can't stand this time of year. I think it should be mandatory for the politicians to talk about their own transgressions if they say something bad about someone else.
I'm anti-political. I'm neither Republican nor Democrat. I've got views, but they are my own and can't be labeled either way. Personally I think the best thing we could do for America is to pull out all of the politicians and insert regular citizens off the street to do their jobs. Let's take a little stroll down a very ficticious road where I become a politician and what I'd push to have done.
Overall I'd like to see a step back from the national government. Personally I think they are getting involved in places where they don't belong (agriculture, healthcare, banking should all be left alone at the national level). Don't get me wrong, I think there should be laws to keep people safe and corruption in check, but I don't think Washington is doing a good job at that. Money talks a bit too loudly there.
In my perfect world, community governments would be where the power is. They would create jobs with beautification and community projects, and local businesses. There would be a local food supply too. Incentives would be implemented for small producers to sell directly to co-ops and for consumers to join these co-ops. This keeps money in the community and provides jobs as well. Not failing to mention providing healthy food options to boot.
Law making would be handled a bit differently too. I don't understand why a bill has to have additions that have nothing to do with the law they are trying to pass. A healthcare bill might have a line in it about corporate buy-outs or something to that effect. Not in my dream world. Each issue would be handled individually. The elected officials would listen to the community they are representing not whoever is lining their pockets. An issue from the community is put in front of Congress to be decided upon, and if a bill can't be agreed upon, and discussion hasn't provided any solutions then that item stays neutral and they should go on to the next bill. I'd think they could agree on individual items a whole lot easier than trying to pass a lumped up, jumble of issues like congress tries now.
I think if citizens thought their opinions were heard I think we'd be much more involved or at least aware of what is going on at a national and perhaps a global level.
Sorry, I know that was quite a rant, but these commercials I'm being bombarded with are as bad as little kids bickering on a playground. It's all a bith pathetic and petty.
Back to our gallivant. We walked around Salem's town square, ate our lunch (peanut butter sandwiches, pretzels, water, apples, and peaches) as we drove down the road, and we meandered down a lot of neat rural roads. Dog Trot Road was my favorite name we came across, and you wouldn't believe the mansion I saw in the forgotten town of Tunnelton (I've got pictures I'll show you someday). Best of all it was just a nice day out on the backroads with my daughter. It doesn't get better than that. So other than the stupid commercials it was a perfect day.
4 comments:
While I don't agree with everything you say (examples: the government has been in healthcare for decades, and the most recent healthcare bill is vastly smaller than Medicare, which no one wants to get rid of, so it's not really fair to say the government shouldn't be involved; the government also provides enormous subsidies for agricultural products from the midwest and other farming regions, so if you want to get them out of that sector, you lose a lot of the regulations, sure, but you would also probably be sending a lot of farmers into bankruptcy), the notion of advocating for local produce is a pretty popular one, and one that I think makes a lot of sense. I don't know if you've looked into any organizations and non-profits that support, expand, and advocate for farmer's markets and other areas dealing with local food, but if you're really interested in that stuff, I know local growers need all the help and support they can get from advocates. Or heck, run for local office and push the idea from the inside. Indiana could use some sensible elected officials.
Just a thought.
Stephen Roll(linked from facebook)
I think, perhaps, that the subsidies are a lot of the problem in agriculture because the ones that bank on them the most are the large 'commercial' type farms which push the smaller family farms to the wayside. Medicare too is a kind of crutch that I think could be re-evaluated and made to be better, so people that abuse it don't ruin the program for everybody else. My ficticious perfect world that I was talking about wouldn't need Medicare because the local medical groups would be more like the country doctors of a hundred years ago--ha. It was just a rant and nothing more.
I am a big believer in local food though--and I raise a lot of what goes on my family's plate, so I do support that wholeheartedly.
Agreed. I think I read once that something like 90% of farm subsidies go to farms that bring in over $250k a year, i.e. those that need it the least. I think the idea of a subsidy is a good one, but it just needs major reform.
Your ideas really are about democratizing government more. Instead, we have a system that is largely controlled by powerful interests and money.
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