Obama has won. He wasn't my first choice, but neither was McCain. I'm happy to see the will of the people fulfilled. The country is unified and I'm hopeful that Obama will be able to accomplish 4 things that could only be done by an enormously popular president:
1) Line Item Veto. This will end earmarks. It weakens the power of the legislature, but it is CRUCIAL to restoring fiscal sanity. The Republican congress gave Clinton the line item veto in 1996, and the economy took off and government spending was SIGNIFICANTLY cut. However Rudy Guiliani, then Mayor of New York sued, claiming that the constitution does not allow the president to alter legislation proposed, only sign or veto. The case went to the Supreme Court where SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in favor of Guiliani -- thus ending the line item veto. in 2006 Bush asked for a new version of the Line Item Veto, where the president could ask congress to veto lines of a bill independantly, thus getting around the seperation of branches issue. Though the 2006 line-item veto proposal was much weaker than the 1996 version, it nevertheless failed to find strong support in Congress. Senator and former klansman Robert Byrd called it "an offensive slap at Congress," asserting that the legislation would enable the president to intimidate individual members of Congress by targeting the projects of his political opponents.
Bah! The line item veto needs to come to pass. I hope that Obama will reintroduce the 2006 Line Item Veto act and with his new majority, pass it through. Earmarks, pork, whatever you want to call it -- all are killing government and corrupting spending.
2) Energy Independence. It's time to make the push. Renewable electricity. End ALL subsidies of oil, so that alternative energies can compete on a level playing field.
3) Defense of Civil Unions. People have been going about the Gay marriage issue the wrong way entirely. Instead of allowing gays to marry, how about allowing straights to have civil unions. Why is it that we say at a wedding "what got has brought together, let no man tear asunder" but when people get divorced they just go to a judge. Let's push a nation wide civil union proposal, that is open to all orientations, and is legally binding. Churches can perform all the marriages they want, but they will have NO legal significance -- only spiritual. As someone who was married by a Justice of the Peace in a restaurant, I feel like I have a civil union. I have no need for a church to consecrate or judge my relationship.
4) Election Reform: Voter registration, identification and verification is a joke. All citizens should be registered to vote at the federal level by default -- when Income Taxes are filed, each citizen will have his/her information recorded. People then can show up to vote with their tax payer ID number and identification, and vote. No more registration, no more voter drives. Everyone who shows up on a tax return is registered to vote.
1) Line Item Veto. This will end earmarks. It weakens the power of the legislature, but it is CRUCIAL to restoring fiscal sanity. The Republican congress gave Clinton the line item veto in 1996, and the economy took off and government spending was SIGNIFICANTLY cut. However Rudy Guiliani, then Mayor of New York sued, claiming that the constitution does not allow the president to alter legislation proposed, only sign or veto. The case went to the Supreme Court where SCOTUS ruled 6-3 in favor of Guiliani -- thus ending the line item veto. in 2006 Bush asked for a new version of the Line Item Veto, where the president could ask congress to veto lines of a bill independantly, thus getting around the seperation of branches issue. Though the 2006 line-item veto proposal was much weaker than the 1996 version, it nevertheless failed to find strong support in Congress. Senator and former klansman Robert Byrd called it "an offensive slap at Congress," asserting that the legislation would enable the president to intimidate individual members of Congress by targeting the projects of his political opponents.
Bah! The line item veto needs to come to pass. I hope that Obama will reintroduce the 2006 Line Item Veto act and with his new majority, pass it through. Earmarks, pork, whatever you want to call it -- all are killing government and corrupting spending.
2) Energy Independence. It's time to make the push. Renewable electricity. End ALL subsidies of oil, so that alternative energies can compete on a level playing field.
3) Defense of Civil Unions. People have been going about the Gay marriage issue the wrong way entirely. Instead of allowing gays to marry, how about allowing straights to have civil unions. Why is it that we say at a wedding "what got has brought together, let no man tear asunder" but when people get divorced they just go to a judge. Let's push a nation wide civil union proposal, that is open to all orientations, and is legally binding. Churches can perform all the marriages they want, but they will have NO legal significance -- only spiritual. As someone who was married by a Justice of the Peace in a restaurant, I feel like I have a civil union. I have no need for a church to consecrate or judge my relationship.
4) Election Reform: Voter registration, identification and verification is a joke. All citizens should be registered to vote at the federal level by default -- when Income Taxes are filed, each citizen will have his/her information recorded. People then can show up to vote with their tax payer ID number and identification, and vote. No more registration, no more voter drives. Everyone who shows up on a tax return is registered to vote.
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