Political Discussion: Part 2 + Rant

<< Political Discussion: Part 1

The primary reason we have to stress about terrorism here in the U.S. is because of our involvement policing the world. And because of our involvement, we are associated as being an enemy because we befriend and side with their enemies. Long before the Korean War, we often refrained from interfering/intervening, and we rarely ever worried about terrorism happening here in the U.S. If my memory serves me correctly, we didn't get involved in WW2 only until the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, after Hitler had already taken control most of western Europe. Until then, we did nothing, and at that time, our international policy was to not interfere/intervene unless we were directly involved and our national security was compromised. Now, we can no longer afford to police the world when we can't even afford to police ourselves. Still worried about our borders? I've got a simple solution for that too that not only increases national security, but reduce military spending. Reallocate all of our military personnel from all over the world back to our country, and put them on guard duty to patrol our borders. Boom. Problem solved. We'll greatly increase our border protection, and reduce costs by not having to ship supplies to our military overseas. However, we still should make immigration as easy/simple as possible. Our ancestors were once immigrants here, and I never want to deny access to anyone who could become a contributing/prosperous citizen to our country. In my teens, I spent two weeks in Mexico (and no, not in the Americanized tourist areas, either) around Monterrey and Guadalajara, and personally witnessed why people strive to come to our country, both legally and illegally. Unfortunately, we've been involved policing and siding with other countries, factions, regimes, etc. for so long to make anything suggested in this paragraph feasible/plausible. We're in far too deep for far too long to get out now.

I also believe in fewer laws, but strictly/severely enforce the few laws that we do have. People may argue with me on this, but the War on Drugs is a disaster and a failure, both economically and poorly executed. I don't believe that all drugs should be made legal, but the punishment should never be jail/prison. I also believe that no one should be incarcerated for prostitution, either. Jail/prison should only be reserved for those who commit violent crimes (molestation, murder, rape, etc.). We lead second in the ENTIRE WORLD for incarceration rates per capita (see http://en.wikipedia.org/.../List_of_countries_by...

). Our tax dollars are paying to incarcerate these non-violent criminals, to build more jails/prisons, and spent for private prison lobbyists push legislation to incarcerate even more. If we have fewer people incarcerated, then those who are incarcerated will spend more time incarcerated since we'll have more room for prisoners, and without having to build more jails/prisons. Not to mention, we would minimize the possibility of “creating” (teaching) more future violent criminals when the non-violent criminals no longer serve time with violent criminals (make contacts, join gangs, learn behaviors, etc.). My mother was once a teacher in a juvenile prison, and she can personally attest that this happens. Isn't it time to break this cycle?

To conclude, I want Democrats to stay out of our wallets, and I want the Republicans to stay out of our bedrooms. I vote for third party candidates who still seem honest, genuine, and sincere about wanting REAL change, and not the same empty promises people want to hear. Most people argue that voting for third party candidates is throwing your vote away, but I retort that voting for the same failed policies, voting for the same old political games, and voting for the same two political parties that got us here in this mess in the first place is throwing your vote away. Albert Eisenstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”, yet we continuously vote for the same old political rhetoric and lies, expecting different results. Both the Democrat and Republican parties have become far too corrupt with personal interests funded by corporations, special interest groups, and lobbyists to actually care what's best for the country as a whole and for the average American citizen. He who has the most money influences legislature now, and only until you remove the corruption from our political system will you ever see any REAL change. You may find yourself voting for "the lesser of the two evils", but in the end, aren't you still just voting for evil?

Rant:

Crap, now I'm all riled up and angry...
Republicans say they want smaller government, yet they've increased our police and their powers to fight their war on drugs, they increased the size of our military to fight their war on terrorism, and they've increased the powers of the CIA/FBI/NSA to enforce their Patriot Act. How's that decreasing the size of the government?!
Democrats say they fight for the homeless, yet they create regulations and strict housing codes, driving up the cost of homes, and increasing property taxes. How's that helping the homeless?!
Parties of hypocrites and liars. Ugh, I'm fed up with the fed.