If *I* were President...

...I would call my entire Cabinet into the Oval Office and tell them I want each one to present a list of realistic ways to cut spending in their Department by 15%.

And I want it in 30 days, ladies and gentlemen. I look forward to your proposals.

My American Dream

I dream of seeing the birth, not of a political party or a social movement, but of a new tomorrow. I dream of a day when "We the People" stand united by a common goal—by the goal that is common to all People, everywhere around the globe: the simple desire to be heard.

I dream of the day when we will be heard, because on that day there will be no one in this country who can ignore us any longer. On that day even the most sheltered and corrupt have to take notice, because I dream of the day when we speak with one voice. Not the voice of a Democrat or a Republican, but the voice of America.

I dream of the day when the American people are recognized as one people, not as just another movement riding the coattails of one party or the other, because I dream of the day when we realize we are more than that. We are the living, breathing pulse of America, gathered from all walks of life and all corners of this country. I dream of one people united by the promise of Growth, the promise of Renewal, and the promise of Life. I dream of the day when we recognize that we are Life, because America is Life. And We Are America.

I dream of the day when Washington wakes up to the realization that they work for us, and not the other way around. Because this is our government, our country, and our home. That is the dream upon which this nation was founded: not only that All Men are Created Equal, but that every man, woman, and child in this country deserves the chance to speak and to have their voices heard. I dream of the day when politicians stop telling the American people what they want and choose to listen instead.

Because in that day, we will once again truly be an example to the world, demonstrating that liberty can accomplish anything; that it can break the chains of tyranny, that it can stand as a beacon of hope to millions of people around the globe, that it can even reach for the stars beyond our world and plant its flag on the moon. There are no limits to what freedom can do. And there are no limits to what America can do, because America is freedom; the two words have been synonymous for over two hundred years, ever since our Founding Fathers indelibly wrote that principle into our Constitution, and Huddled Masses from every corner of the globe harbored a secret dream to one day stand on the shores of the Land of the Free. Make no mistake: America is freedom, and therefore we are the embodiment of freedom, because We Are America.

I dream of the day when the American people will speak with one voice and insist on being heard by those who should already be listening.

I dream of the day when we realize that We Are America.

We Are America

That's what this country has forgotten. The Left and the Right squabble over who gets to be in power this term, and somewhere along the line they seem to lost track of the idea that WE are in power. It isn't their country...it's our country.

We Are America.

A fundamental reversal of philosophical roles.

We the People were supposed to be the political power in this country. Our two-party system was designed on the same principle as those cartoons where you see a person having a little angel on one shoulder and a little devil on the other.

On the Right shoulder of the People sits a little elephant dressed in red. "Vote Republican!" He urges. "Lower taxes! National Security! We've got cookies!"

On the Left shoulder of the People sits a little donkey in blue. "Vote Democrat!" He whispers fervently. "Better schools for our children! Save the environment! Free health care for everybody!"

This is how the two-party system is supposed to work. The national parties continually whisper in our ears, nudging us in one direction or the other. The theory was that between these two extremes lies a stable road for America.

But somewhere along the line, something went wrong. I'm not quite sure how it started. Maybe the donkey on the Left picked up a megaphone. Maybe the elephant on the Right just grew up into...well, an elephant. But whatever caused the problem, the system doesn't work this way anymore.

Now, the donkey and elephant wield the power, rather than the People they were supposed to advise. Both have ballooned into a staggering caricature; there is no more whispering, but rather shouting and chanting and angry ranting on the campaign trail and on the floor of Congress.

Somewhere in the confusion of the Left shouting at the Right and the Right shouting back at the Left, the People in between got confused; they became caught up in the vilification of one side or the other, until now the majority of Americans have completely bought into this 'us against them' mentality. The elephant and donkey have successfully sold the American People the idea that one of them has to be completely right, and the other has to be completely wrong.

So what's the solution? Well the ideal solution is for everyone to stop listening to either side for a few years, but that doesn't seem feasible. So the only workable solution is for the American People to reclaim their position of authority in this country. We need to join together and send a powerful message to both parties that we don't work for them...they work for us. We need to remind them that their sole purpose in this country is to represent the will of the American People. We need a fundamental reversal of philosophical roles in this country.

And that's what I'm calling for.

Credit where it's due.

So it's after 3am here, and I'm tired. But before I take another shot at trying to sleep (Damn this insomnia...) I want to say something that requires an Independent voter with no remaining filters to say.

The word of the week has been Obamacare, which is mildly odd because I don't think the administration has ever referred to it as such. The point is that President Obama has been idolized, vilified, and everything in between for having managed to pass this Health Care Reform Bill.

Except he didn't do it.

That's right, sports-fans...you heard me correctly! (What are sports-fans doing on my political blog when my NCAA Basketball picks are elsewhere, you ask? Well shut up, because I'm trying to get a train of thought going.) Obama is not responsible for the passage of the Health Care Bill. But if he's not...who is?

George W. Bush.

Remember that guy? The last President we had? That's the one.

"But wait!" People are saying. (It's 3 in the morning, so I can hear them...) "Bush didn't pass the Health Care Reform Bill...in fact he strongly opposed this kind of legislation!" And they're right. But he's still responsible for its passage.

How? By becoming such an incompetent laughingstock that at every level of government, Americans would've voted for a gerbil so long as it wasn't running as a Republican.

Think about it: the Democratic Party has held an almost idiot-proof majority in both houses of Congress for more than a year. On top of that, there's Obama himself, a young, charismatic, wildly popular Democratic President who built an entire campaign around his promise to make new things happen in Washington. The deck was stacked astronomically in the Democrats' favor.

And yet it took them over a year to barely squeak through a heavily-diluted bill. In fact it was so close, they had to resort to 'old-school' Washington bribery: juicy kickbacks for certain states just so their Congressmen would deliver the necessary votes. Some of these kickbacks were actually so juicy that the bill was amended to take them out...after they got their votes, of course.

What does this mean? Unfortunately, not a whole hell of a lot. Obama and the Dems will keep claiming responsibility for the Health Care Reform Bill, even though they only managed to do it by NOT being members of Bush's party...and even then they only barely managed to pull it off anyway. The cards fell right. Nothing more, and nothing less. And the Rebublicans (and their new favorite stepchildren, the 'Tea-Partiers') will keep blaming Obama and the Dems for taking our country to the so-called 'brink of socialism' and then will fight harder and harder in some unrelated area in the hope of claiming at least a 'moral' victory. (*iBear gazes into the future* I'm seeing...gay rights taking a hit. Write it down, because you'll see it, too.)

And that's why it sucks to be an Independent sometimes: I can see all of this as it unfolds, and I can even see where it's going...but there's not a damn thing I can do about it by myself. And so much of the country has drifted into either the "Obama is The ONE!" or "Obama is the AntiChrist!" camp, and those of us who actually retain some recognition of reality are left in the middle.

We don't have logos.

We don't have speechwriters.

We don't have vast fundraisers or multimillion-dollar ad campaigns.

All we have is some measure of common sense...and that just doesn't seem to impress anybody.

Thinking about starting a new, Moderate, political movement.

No idea what we're going to call it, but the truth is that the two major political parties in this country are now completely convinced that they, and they alone, know what the American people want. They see only what they want to see, and hear only what they want to hear...and anything that runs contrary to their expectations they denounce as 'incited' by the other party. Morton's Demon is alive and well.

What we need, and what I hope to create, is a political movement that listens to everything and everyone, and furthermore takes note of what is said. And then we would objectively weigh whether each idea is feasible, and pass that information on to those in a position to follow through, regardless of whether their name is followed by a (D) or (R).

So for the first time ever, dear reader(s), I am asking you to pass my idea along. By definition, I'm going to need all the feedback I can get. (I will, of course, need a few other things, but I'll work on that.) Tell your friends/family/enemies/distant acquaintances, so that I can get as wide a range of ideas as possible.

Quotes for Independent voters:

"An Independent voter is someone who chooses a candidate based on their qualifications and issues rather than what letter is next to their name." -iBear

"It is only by sitting on the fence that one can see the truth: neither side's grass is any greener." -iBear

"Well, I think so, Brain...but if they called them 'Sad Meals' kids wouldn't buy them!" -Pinky, of Pinky and the Brain

iBear presents 'Glenn Beck's 1st Law of Logical Fallacy', as coined by Jon Stewart:

"If you subscribe to an idea, you also subscribe to that idea's ideology and to every possible negative consequence that that ideology remotely implies when you carry it to absurd extremes."

Lest anyone here made the mistake of thinking me a conservative, I remind you all that I disdain both extremes with equal enthusiasm:)

So no word yet from the federal government about the emails I sent.

And I'm shocked. Really. Look: this is my 'shocked' face...

So I've written a letter to the President, Speaker of the House, and my local Representative.

I basically said exactly what I've been saying here: Universal Health Care is a good idea, but there are too many concerns that were not addressed. Plus I kind of blasted the Democratic Party for bullying this through without any attempt at bipartisanship.

So everyone look for this status update on Facebook: 'Rob Hogue is being dragged away by the Secret Service.'

Party on, loyal reader(s)! ; )

"Americans have the right to health care."

And Americans have the right to vote, but that includes the right NOT to vote if they don't want to. What kind of tax is going to be levied on those who don't go to the polls this November?

That concludes today's random, off-the-cuff rebuttal.

Thank you for your time.

Stewart/Colbert '12!

Well, now that it's been a good...15 hours or so:

iBear is still of the same four minds. Yes, there are millions of Americans living without health insurance...believe me, I know. But I still haven't heard even the slightest suggestion of how we're going to pay for it. And my outrage at the concept of forcing everyone to buy health insurance has actually grown worse overnight. Though I understand that several states are already filing challenges to the bill, and Virginia in particular is claiming that it violates a state law that prevents any citizen from being forced to buy health insurance.

http://www.appomattoxnews.com/2010/virginia-first-state-to-pass-health-care-freedom-act.html

However my disgust at the shockingly-underhanded tactics used by the Democratic Party have simmered down to a kind of cynical disdain. I knew that 'Change We Can Believe In' was just a slogan, but I must admit I didn't expect the idea to be abandoned quite so quickly. We're right back to business as usual for Washington: the Left doesn't care about the Right anymore than the Right cared about the Left a few years ago. We were promised bipartisanship, transparency, and an end to back-room kickback incentives. You're 0-for-3 in those stats, Dems.

iBear is of two minds.

Well...more like four minds.

I like the idea of universal health care. 'Everybody gets medical care' is a great concept, and I feel it's actually overdue in our country.

But I don't know how we're going to pay for it...and it seems to me that this point was sorely overlooked during the process. Nationwide, governmental health care will be staggeringly expensive, and we have no plan in place to pay for it.

In addition, I really dislike the 'loopholing' techniques that the Democratic Party used to push this through. They have effectively announced their apathy toward public opinion, as well as their total disdain for their Republican counterparts, and I am disgusted by the direct implication that 'bipartisanship is for when you don't have enough votes from one side.'

Finally, I find it alarming that every American is now required by LAW to carry personal health insurance, and that failure to do so is punishable by extra taxes. I consider that a flagrant violation of our constitutionally-mandated personal liberties, and hope that somebody is reading this and will pass that word along.

In short, I like the idea of universal health care, but dislike the baggage coming with it...

OMFG! Jon Stewart is a GENIUS!

But I can't get the 'embed' link to work, so here:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-18-2010/conservative-libertarian