America is not about a piece of land that sits between Canada and Mexico. It is an idea. An idea that was recorded on papers like the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. America is an idea shared by millions of immigrants who over the years have made their way to that piece of land to share that idea with others. America is anywhere this idea takes root and starts to spread.

Received the below e-mail from my sister Emma today. Priceless.

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Subject: There is hope….
I recently asked my  friends’ little girl what she wanted to  be when she grows up. She said she wanted to  be President some day. Both of her parents,  liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I  asked her, If you were President what would be  the first thing you would do? She replied,  I’d give food and houses to all the homeless  people..

Her parents beamed with  pride.

Wow…what a worthy goal. I told her,  But you don’t have to wait until you’re  President to do that. You can come over to my  house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my  yard, and I’ll pay you $50.  Then I’ll take you over to the grocery store where the  homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the  $50 to use toward food and a new house.

She  thought that over for a few seconds, then she  looked  me straight in the eye and  asked,  Why doesn’t the homeless guy  come over and do the work, and you can just pay  him the $50?

I said, Welcome to the  Tea Party.

Her parents still aren’t speaking  to me.

IN GOD WE  TRUST

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Why is it such a big deal to make anyone, who is stopped by law enforcement, to show identification?

Why is it such a big deal for potential or current enmployers to ask for proof of identification?

If EVERYONE is asked to provide identification then it is not discriminatory, not racial profiling and as far as I can tell is constitutional.

Immigration is what has kept new blood, new ideas flowing into our country and is what makes us unique. However we must face fact that there are some bad people coming across the borders, both the southern and northern borders.

Disclaimer: This post was written at about 3am in a sleepy haze while watching the news so please excuse the grammar and spelling as well as the thoughts that stray some.

I am a government employee. The American taxpayer is my employer and pays my salary and provides me and my family certain benefits. That said, the salary and benefits don’t come to me for free. I have to work anywhere from 40-60 hours a week on average. Bottom line, I pay the American taxpayer back with my service. So if someone like me can pay the American taxpayer back through services provided, why can’t others who receive government assistance like food stamps, section 8 and others forms of welfare, pay back the taxpayer?

Unless someone has a full time job, which I consider 40+ hours a week, and they receive government assistance, they should be required by law to provide 40 hours of community or public service. If they have a part time job, lets say 20 hours a week for simplicity sake, then they provide 20 hours of community or public service.

So what I would like to do now is play out a scenario. The local city garage is overwhelmed do to the recent heavy snows and flooding. The city’s vehicles are taking a beating, snow blows, dump trucks, rescue vehicles are all going through maintenance at a cyclic rate. The need help to get them caught up, the vehicles back in service and back in service for the community. The city garage manager contacts the local government assistance agencies and lets those agencies know the city garage needs one person to help with some paper work, cleanup around the garage and assist the mechanics occasionally. The agency ads this requirement to a database for “job postings”. If there is an individual that does not have a job who is receiving government assistance, they would be required by the agency from which they receive assistance, to go out to a city garage and they would work off what they receive in assistance. They would not be allowed to receive a second payment from the agency until they had paid back, with their time, what they had previously received.

The assistance providing agency would provide the recipient a time sheet that would need to be verified and signed by the city garage manager or appointed representative then after hours are completed the time sheet would be returned to the agency. Now, if a person is provided assistance and they fail to pay that assistance back in time worked, the agency will place a checkage with the IRS so that when you do get a job, wages will be garnished to pay the American taxpayer back.

So would this require more government oversight, larger government? No, the local unemployment agencies are already equipped to track these type of things. We could actually have the government institution or non-profit organization contact the unemployment office about the opening. The unemployment office would enter them into a database. Then the assistance providing agency would check with the unemployment office to see what institutions or organizations require work and “place” recipient in those jobs. The work would be completed, time sheet returned to the unemployment office who in turn makes an entry that the work was complete thus making the recipient eligible for more benefits.

Now lets look at the potential for job training using this method. Let’s say the local city garage does need help, but they need some part time mechanic help due to a surge in broken vehicles. When the person receiving assistance reports to the garage, they can help do basic mechanical work as well as assist the paid mechanics and learn a skill at the same time. Use this same example and make it an office assistant for the city council office. The city council office has a surge in work, someone reports to their office with a time sheet and that person learns some office assistant skills to help build their resume and even get some good references and network.

The economy, jobs, health care, welfare reform, social security and taxes are some of the domestic issues that concern almost all Americans. Sadly our elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, can’t seem to get the job done and fix some of the problematic or recurring issues we have with the fore mentioned domestic problems.

God knows, and so do most people that talk to me for more than a couple minutes, I am not a genius. I do not have an economics degree from Harvard, a math degree from MIT or business degree from Yale. I am a normal guy who went to an regular school and has a public education.

With that said, I think our elected officials are some of the most finely educated and intelligent people on this planet, but..but…BIG BUT, they just don’t get it. That’s right, these very intelligent, well educated people just don’t get it. Honestly, some of these issues are not that complex to at the very least start moving forward with overhaul or change some of our domestic policy for the better.

I do not wish to turn this into a political blog, but a place to exchange ideas to make things better. Anyone who starts ranting about a particular politician or party will not have their comment published. Over the next few weeks, I will be writing down notes while watching the news and sharing them here on this website.

Please feel free to chime in and share, agree or disagree, just no party or official bashing.