The Ideal & The Ideaology: Part I

[RascalPuff]

When a soverign state and/or culture establishes a standard of moral and legal values - the Constitution of the United States, for example: such a standard is in the category of 'the Ideal'.

Whereas, when a sovereign state and/or culture strays from its established 'Ideals', that waywardness is 'the Ideaology' - the cultures actual behavior in adhering to or departing from what it holds out as being its 'Ideals'.

Whenever there is a difference between the actual dynamics of a given culture and its proclaimed 'Ideal' values and it's 'Ideaological' actions, therein is measured the various degrees of success or failure of a given organization, group, nation or individual to meet or fall short of its formally established standards.

Examples of the telling difference between an established Ideal and Ideaology in a given culture or individual and that nation's or individual's compliance with or departure from its standard of ideals is evident in the failure of a 'Communist' standard - generally intending toward the 'uniform distribution of wealth and political power', and the contradiction of any financial or political value which may emerge in a heirarchy of wealth, distinguishing the poor from the rich and/or the politically disempowered individual and the politically powerful individual.

Although there are various types of 'Communism', the general theme of equal ownership of property and equal standards of living is the goal, and is indeed a valuable and benevolent, well intended goal...

The failure of Communism may be revealed when a heirarchy of wealth or social influence emerges to contradict the pursued standard of equality. Hence, the success or failure - strengths and weaknesses - of a Communist system is measurably evident in whatever differences there may be in comparing the purported 'Ideal' with the actively manifest 'Ideaology'.

Democracy's 'Ideal' is clearly defined in the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights. However and whenever the standards of the Constitution or Bill of Rights is infringed upon, establishes the wayward standards and measure of 'Ideaology' from the established 'Ideal'.

It is the intention of this thread to encourage other examples of differences between established Ideals, and practised Ideaologies... An inspirational missive of comparative and relavant import, follows...



Charley Reese's final column for the Orlando Sentinel.

He has been a journalist for 49 years.
He is retiring and this is HIS LAST COLUMN.

Be sure to read the Tax List at the end.

This is about as clear and easy to understand as it can be. The article below is completely neutral, neither anti-republican or democrat. Charlie Reese, a retired reporter for the Orlando Sentinel, has hit the nail directly on the head, defining clearly who it is that in the final analysis must assume responsibility for the judgments made that impact each one of us every day. It's a short but good read. Worth the time. Worth remembering!

545 vs. 300,000,000 People

- By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy","inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses.

Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess.



(Continued in Part II - The Ideal & the Ideaology)

[RascalPuff]

The Ideal & The Ideaology: Part II

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you. This might be funny if it weren't so true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
Taxes to pass

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax


STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN


Best regards to you and yours,
- RP : )

[Graybeard]

Dear Rascal .... Simplistic nonsense ..... The art of motorcycle maintenance by meditating because you don't have a spanner.

cool bananas ... greg

[RascalPuff]

Dear Rascal .... Simplistic nonsense ..... The art of motorcycle maintenance by meditating because you don't have a spanner.

cool bananas ... greg

Dear Greg:
Robert Pirsig's 'Zen & The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance' disables no one with any fictionalized absence of a spanner.

Whereas, your inclination to disagree for the sake of disagreement is evident in many of your responses to any number of people and posts, certainly including this ongoing case in point.

Your genre of sticks in the mud occasionally deign efforts to empower by efforts to disempower others or otherwise gratifies by engaging in various styles of one-upmanship, gotcha'ism and variegated put-downs.

Models of this compulsion occur in many of your responses to as many posts by a corresponding number of people, certainly including your more recently unfolded excremental depositions at
http://www.toequest.com/forum/blogs/...ward-ptsd.html

This time, your introduced spanner wrench would condescend the issued subject with the works of an author who categorically subjects malevolent methods of double-think/new-speak interrogatives such as your cul de sac: inadvertently revealing what motivates the motivator.

Since you've omitted Zen from your crudely dropped title it may signal your characteristic crazy-making need to meditate on NavalZeroRanges and other broadsides afloat in Oceania where it's double trouble on Tuesdays when all of your audience orders a double shot of whine with a sandwich that walks in to a bar and orders a drink, only to be told that food is not served there; where all searches for camouflage are foreordained not to find what you're looking for.

Indeed, you are an exemplary inspiration for the published essay entitled:
'The Art of Missing The Point: when you choose - or cannot afford - to catch on.'

(Incidentally, Robert Pirsig's son was slashed to death in S.F. - about 30 yrs ago - by an unknown assailant.)

Best regards to you and yours,
- RP

[Graybeard]

Ummmmmm ... Iz datt what I did ??

In any case, your post addresses complex problems with simplistic solutions that only acknowledge surface issues. There were many taxes 100 years ago that do not exist now .... So your simplistic point is ? Where is the balance, the unbiased reporting ?

As for the 545 they were voted in by the 300,000,000 ... they represent the many-headed so how do you now separate them as acting independently and against the many-headed ?

Its lucky your last columnist is retiring ...

I don't think I'm disagreeing for the sake of it, just trying to balance your parochialism.

cool bananas ... greg

[theunify]

You can substitute however many brands of excesses, but the ideal should never be the ideal.

P.S. Your basing your idea of "the constitution" on a false ideal if you believe it was meant to make things better...it's a base of reason.

~theunify
/

Dear Rascal .... Simplistic nonsense ..... The art of motorcycle maintenance by meditating because you don't have a spanner.

cool bananas ... greg

[theunify]

Would you consider toequest an effective "Town Square" so that greivances can be worked on ?

A virtual village of ideologues ...

The Ideal & The Ideaology: Part II

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you. This might be funny if it weren't so true. Be sure to read all the way to the end:

Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he's fed.

Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.

Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!

Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.

Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.

Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.

Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.

Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
Taxes to pass

Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won't be done
Till he has no dough.

When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He's good and sore.

Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he's laid...

Put these words
Upon his tomb,
'Taxes drove me
to my doom...'

When he's gone,
Do not relax,
Its time to apply
The inheritance tax.

Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax


STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, and our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.

What in the heck happened? Can you spell 'politicians?'

I hope this goes around THE USA at least 545 times! YOU can help it get there!!!

GO AHEAD. . . BE AN AMERICAN


Best regards to you and yours,
- RP : )

[RascalPuff]

The Ideal & The Ideaology Part A

Ummmmmm ... Iz datt what I did ??

In any case, your post addresses complex problems with simplistic solutions that only acknowledge surface issues. There were many taxes 100 years ago that do not exist now ....

Apparently you are directly suggesting that the so called 'politics' of the present are no more oppressive than those of the past?

So your simplistic point is ?

That the so called people's representatives do not actually represent the collective will of the people, characteristically break and otherwise withdraw from and often contradict their pre election campaign platforms, oaths and promises.

Where is the balance, the unbiased reporting ?

Where is it indeed?
Certainly - as a prevailing rule, not in the 'mainstream printed and electronics media', which is generally monopolized by the wealth and 'influence' of what Dwight David Eisenhower described as 'the millitary industrial complex.' Anyone who underestimates the capacity for 'corporate state interests' ("Make 7! Up Yours!") to practise 'friendly fascism' and depart from the will of the majority - who are alleged to have 'voted them into office', has completely omitted the expressed will of the 'great silent majority' in disagreement - rather than percieved passive acceptance - of the Vietnam 'conflict': featuring the mortal casualties of (at least three and one half million north and south vietnamese and) just under 60,000 Americans (not counting permanent physical and psychological maimings of much greater proportions than the measured mortality losses), in the most extended military engagement in United States history - the repercussions of which still weigh in heavy experiential - disregarded - exemplary protest against armed, combatant military elements deployed thousands of miles from our nearest shores.

The incumbent Commander in Chief publicly announced only a few months ago that the U.S. military in Afghanistan will be withdrawn in 2014. That short statement is a non-sequiter - contradicting itself in expression of eleven words; leaving the question, if that action of withdrawal is foreordained, why is 'the government' - quite apart from the will of the vast majority of three hundred million Americans - still deploying young Americans to be killed and maimed, in a war that will not and cannot acquire its ('What?') objective?

Is this not an example of the grievous admonition of two time president Dwight David Eisenhower - Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in WW II: "Beware the military-industrial complex, lest they lead you in to war for profit"?

The prevailing anti-democratic powers of the (proposed 545 person) minority then accenting the madness of that war with awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to one of the leading architects of the 'SouthEast Asian police action': 'for expediting an end to the Vietnam 'conflict'...

One half of the occupants of federal prisons are Vietnam vets. The majority of single, homeless people in this country are (what's left of them) Vietnam vets.

Moreover, over three and one half million American families presently 'reside' in their automobiles - an illegal activity persecuted with fines that cannot be paid in money, but rather, in jail time.


As for the 545 they were voted in by the 300,000,000 ... they represent the many-headed so how do you now separate them as acting independently and against the many-headed ?

The operative words in the above oxymoronic consideration is
"...they represent the many-headed so how do you now separate them as acting independently and against the many-headed?"

The 'simplistic' answer to that interrogative is: The 545 (ostensibly) don't represent represent the will of the 300,000,000.


Its lucky your last columnist is retiring ...

How 'lucky' is it?

I don't think I'm disagreeing for the sake of it, just trying to balance your parochialism.

To quantitatively disagree with me is not to qualitatively balance my - or any other -alleged 'parochialism'.

cool bananas ... greg

__________________________________________

You can substitute however many brands of excesses, but the ideal should never be the ideal.

'Should never', may be better expressed as a (perhaps not entirely achievable) standard by which efforts to meet it are measured.

P.S. Your basing your idea of "the constitution" on a false ideal if you believe it was meant to make things better...it's a base of reason.

'My idea' of 'the constitution' is a right and a duty to recognize and strive to maintain the moral and legal standards established therein.

Never mind 'make things better', but rather, recognize that the price of maintaining Liberty is Eternal Vigilance (- Thomas Jefferson). What do you gainsay in proposing it as a 'base of reason' - as though in disagreement with the intended contents of this thread?

Your retreat from obligatory duty to self and others is no surprise.

You are indeed out of control. Resting precariously upon artificially established laurels.

A series of very American spirit and sentiments follow, for all who may consider them - they are notably and reciprocally based on the 1st and Second Amendments of the National Constitution...

I have been repeating over and over again that he who cannot protect himself or his nearest and dearest or their honor by non-violently facing death may and ought to do so by violently dealing with the oppressor. He who can do neither of the two is a burden. He has no business to be the head of a family. He must either hide himself, or must rest content to live for ever in helplessness and be prepared to crawl like a worm at the bidding of a bully.- Mohandas Gandhi (Young India, 11-10-1928, p342)

"A fear of weapons is a sign of retarded sexual and emotional maturity.
Moreover, legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another's life, the common good of the family or of the State - Sigmund Freud

- If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun. - The Dalai Lama
-
-
"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." – John Stuart Mill

[mkirkpatrick]

Thanks Rascal for your well thought out and detailed thread you put much effort into presenting it,one thing I picked up on was simply the tax on almost everything,the goverment would tax the air we breathe if they could get away with it! Over all the years that I worked which was about 50 in all every pound I earned 25% of it went to the goverment and you had no choice in the matter.


regards michael.

[jag]

Hi Rascal, thank you for the Thread.

The individual will enjoy far more liberty under 'world government'. I agree that today, the citizens of the great powers are taxed, regulated, and controlled oppressively, and much of this present interference with individual liberties will vanish when the national governments are willing to trustee their sovereignty as regards international affairs into the hands of global government.

Peace will not come to Earth until every so-called sovereign nation surrenders its power to make war into the hands of a representative government of all mankind. I can't see the '545' leaders of the U.S. doing this any time soon but I might conceive of the 300,000,000 people looking that way. I'm hopeful.

If there were a representative world government, within which each nation was a 'member state' having complete control over its internal affairs with no threat of war, I would probably choose to live in a state that practiced a communist democracy. There would be no taxes because everyone would freely give all that their lives could produce to the state. In return for this gift of your life, your time, your work, your energy everyone would have the necessities of life....food, clothing, shelter, education, career, and community. No one would be above another. All people would be equal. That, to me, would be the ideal and I could worry about the Ideaology later.

jag