Once again Washington follows Centrists lead

It looks like today President Obama has announced his plan for high speed rail. From what I am have been hearing and reading about it, everyone is wowed. They don't even seem to mind how much it would cost and are not even questioning where the money will come from, although I am sure some of it under Obama will come from the recent stimulus bill.

Hold on a second hasn't centrist groups like the American Centrist Party and others been proposing this already? In the American Centrist Party's case since 2004 when it was founded? http://americancentristparty.net/platform%20principles/Infrastructrue%20Platform%20Plank%20Summary.htmThe answer is yes.

I am not writing this to say Obama stole an idea or anything like that. I think it is important that we give credit and support to anyone in Washington who wants to improve the nation and the American Centrist Party thinks that High Speed Rail can and will do that. The issue here is the where is the money going to come from and how the American Centrist Party's plan is different.

Under Obama's plan $8 billion is going to come from the recent stimuls plan as part of the infrastructure part of the bill. And another 5 billion over five years in the federal budget. So at least the first $8 billion of the the high speed rail is going to be added on to the debt of the nation? Here is the American Centrist Party's plan for paying for the rail improvements and construction: http://americancentristparty.net/platform%20principles/Reinvesting%20in%20America%20platform.htm
Note the section regarding infrastructure improvements: "30 billion per year for infrastructure reform to include: work for new bridges, roads, mass magnetic rail intercontinental rail transit, and national broadband Internet access. It is estimated that American infrastructure needs 1 trillion dollars in upgrades and repairs for the 21st century. Amount from 2010-2030: $600 billion dollars." This will more than pay for the high speed/ magnetic rail system and all by slashing redundant programs and reforming spending in the existing budget. No taxes will be needed to be raised and no money will have to be added on to the national debt.

The American Centrist Party is glad that President Obama has decided to come out with a plan for this but it is clear that the American Centrist Party has a much better way for paying for this plan. Hopefully, our plans for paying for the rail system will not fall on deaf ears.

- The position on infrastructure improvements and the rail system is and official stance of the American Centrist Party-

Props to the Presidents on Piracy

Just wanted to give props and congratulations to Presidents Obama and Sarkozy of France on how they have handled the increasing piracy off of the coast of Somalia. In my opinion both leaders have shown strength in going after the pirates like they should be; hunted and taken out whenever possible. These pirates are nothing but thugs on the sea and should be treated as such. They have shown blatant disregard for the laws of the sea and must be treated as nothing more than violent criminals.

This is just my opinion

Being an American: Active Citizenship Required

Today is Tax Day and I had a great conversation earlier today with Amanda Rush from http://www.customerservant.com/. We talked about what we usually talk about: our lives and America and what is going on in our nation. Both of us like so many Americans out there are angry and frustrated and trying to figure out how we can help our selves, our neighbors and our nation. Today a great event took place all over America, The Tax Day Tea Parties. Whether you agree with all of the motivations behind it or not the fact was it is inspiring to get together and see so many Americans getting together for a common purpose. That purpose was not to complain about paying taxes. I don’t know anyone who thinks that not paying taxes is the answer and that is not what the tea parties were about. They were about voicing anger and frustration about not having a true say in how their tax money is spent and even more frustrated at their lack of power to shape the future of America. The American people are angry at all in power, everyone up in Washington and our state capitals. This frustration has been building for several decades and when people are hit in the pocketbook they start to really pay attention.

So what was the purpose of the tea parties? Ultimately the same purpose that so many Americans out there share. The purpose for each one at the tea parties was to make their voice heard about the frustration that they feel with the course of America. This is why many smaller political parties and organizations are growing so quickly. Politicians spoke at the tea parties and news pundits rushed to be a part of it, why? Because when Americans turn away from being catatonic citizens and become true active citizens and voice their frustration and open up their mouths and minds, the politicians and news media pay's attention.


As with so many movements and protests, what happens afterwards is important. The answer is not which movement to follow whether it is Centrists, Libertarian, Republican or Democrats or anyone else. The answer as Amanda Rush and I talked about active citizenship. The American people must take charge of the political process and government. We must make our voices heard, we must pull our nation up by its bootstraps and wake up and realize that we not the politicians or the political machines control the writing on the wall. We the American people have allowed for our nation’s government to be controlled by two largely unresponsive and growingly ineffective movements; the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Note, that I said the Democrats and Republican Parties and not liberal or conservative because both parties have over time failed all Americans including those who define themselves politically as liberal or conservative or independent or centrist. We have allowed our government and political process to fail us. We have allowed our government to make questionable decisions regarding our nation for far, far too long.


The answer to what happens next and has been happening in a growing wave is active citizenship. Each American must hold their officials accountable. There are numerous tools like those at http://www.opencongress.org/ and many other sites to help monitor Congress and what is going on. Use, email, phone, and letters to contact your officials and let them know that you will not stand for foolish shortsighted government anymore. As the tea parties today have shown, if Americans stand up and become active citizens we can bring back public service to the American government. This is America we deserve the best government possible. No excuses!



This is just my own opinion