Reform America
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Voice of the Voter - This Week's Articles

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One America

One America is a vision of the future that I invite you to consider. One America means that we stop asking: “What kind of American are you?” One America is a place where race, lifestyle, ideological leanings and religion don’t matter in the definition of the American citizenry. We are not African Americans or Mexican Americans or White Americans. We are not Christian Americans or Jewish Americans or Muslim Americans. We are not Gay Americans or Straight Americans. We are not Conservatives or Liberals. We are all just Americans.

The future of our nation depends on the unity of our people. We have spent the last few years tearing ourselves apart over race, religion and divisive issues while our nation has fallen apart around us. There are more working poor in America now than ever before. The government posts unemployment numbers and says how good we have it while not counting the people that have been unemployed so long that they no longer qualify for benefits or the working poor who don’t make enough to pay the bills but have jobs because they are at least trying to work. There are more people struggling to pay for health care in America than at any time in recent history. The time for change is now and that requires new leadership. The politics of greed and division need to be put aside in favor of real leadership for change. The divisions between the haves and the have-nots has grown to the point where realistic hopes for achieving the American dream are beyond the grasp of most people and are becoming further and further out of reach for the poorest of Americans on a daily basis. The days of rags to riches in America are fading quickly and with them the hope of working Americans.

We The People of these United States of America have allowed ourselves to become distracted by the politics of division and have lost sight of the common good of the citizens of this nation. We have become embroiled in debates about issues that don’t really impact us to the degree that other more important issues do. While we have been arguing about who is allowed to marry whom and whether a zygote is a person, we have allowed the leaders of this nation to sell out our futures by protecting things like outsourcing and by inaction enabling illegal immigration to continue basically unchecked in the financial interests of their donors who will never have to worry about their children’s education or healthcare for a family member. These people being so dutifully protected by the politicians have and will always have the means to provide for themselves because they have more money than they will ever possibly need in their lifetimes. What about those of us who live paycheck to paycheck or worse yet get a little further behind each paycheck until we lose our homes to foreclosure and all of our other assets to bankruptcy court decisions? Who is protecting our best interests? How does improving corporate profits benefit average Americans if they don't see any of the money and lose their jobs in the process?

Now is the time for the people of America to come together and demand change. We must come first in the actions of our leaders. The majority must be the focus and the wealthy minority must be put into the proper perspective. They are the minority but they exert the majority of the control over the policies of our nation. There is no justice in that. Nor is there wisdom in the disconnected elite making policies for the people that work to provide for the care and defense of the populace of our nation. This elitist hierarchy must be broken down before the majority become so marginalized that we no longer have any voice. We are closer to that point today than you may think. Voting machines are controlled by corporate interests who have an agenda of their own and that might not be in the best interests of the people. Only by the will of the politicians do we still have the option to use a paper ballot that can be tracked for accuracy. Politicians could vote tomorrow to remove paper from the process entirely if they chose to do so.

We must come together as a people and find a way to change our society before it’s too late. When our government spends billions of dollars on a monthly basis on war but cannot afford to help Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild their homes or adequately educate our children to face the challenges of an increasingly science and math based economy, we have failed to keep our priorities straight as a nation. When our war veterans return home to broken down hospitals and months long waiting lines for mental health care for post traumatic stress, we have failed to keep our priorities straight. When we put the needs of illegal immigrants ahead of lawful citizens of our nation, we have failed to keep our priorities straight. When big business is allowed to send our jobs overseas so they can make higher profits and then pay their CEO’s millions of dollars in bonuses for those increased profits, we have failed to keep our priorities straight. Sometimes a society needs to look inward to find the source of their misery. We voted these people into office and then haven’t keep track of what they’ve done while in office. We were too busy working longer and spending less time with our families because the people we work for have all the power in government. With big business controlling government there are fewer and fewer laws to protect us from exploitation. We are losing the means to defend ourselves from this onslaught of greed and corruption and are not even crying foul because we’re not paying attention to what they are doing.

We must start paying attention before we don’t have any recourse. We have but one tool left to make a real impact. While our votes still count we need to make them count and become once again the United States instead of the Divided States we have of late become. We The People made this country great to begin with and We The People must step up once again to make it great anew. A nation divided cannot stand. When we have the vast majority of our citizens beholden to a very few with no accountability for those few, our nation becomes weaker overall. Strength and unity are synonymous and without one the other cannot last.
Troy Wilson-Ripsom - Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this article.

Where Has Logic Gone in America?

To find yourself, think for yourself. – Socrates

The greatest thing about this man (President Bush) is he’s steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday, that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday. Events can change, this man’s beliefs never will. – Stephen Colbert

This was not the article I intended to write. I had intended to write a well-researched, unbiased piece that explored both sides of the issue of same sex marriage. I quickly found myself absorbed in articles and arguments about Obscenity or Morality Laws. I read the ACLU, Wikipedia and others. I got to reading some of the Evangelical Christian / GOP backed sites; I started yelling at my computer screen. Who are these people? What’s going on here?

The whole point of this publication is to generate discussion, to propagate change through the exchange of ideas, both to honor the intent of our founding fathers and to expand on the one and a half party system currently ruining, I mean running the country. We, as citizens of a free voting democracy are at least partially responsible for the leaders we elect, ok Florida and Ohio not so much, and ultimately must endure the lasting results from the decisions our representatives make. Yet we as a nation hate to accept our responsibility for anything. Everything is somebody else’s fault.

Somehow we, the (little) people, have been pitted against each other to the point that we lament the immigrant who crossed the border by hiding in a porta-potty for fourteen hours to pick grapes at a buck fifty an hour. That guy is costing us our livelihood, our way of life?” But we give the CEO who guided his company into bankruptcy, outsourced and laid off 15,000 and then voted to give himself and his poker buddies, the board, 60 million “retention” bonuses a pass. One President starts a war under questionable circumstances, based on faulty and fabricated intelligence, spends trillion of dollars with the Vice President’s former company to help run the war and claims victory before the real fighting even begins, the other gets a happy ending in the Oval Office and we impeach which one? How did this happen?

Politicians spend millions capsulating and homogenizing their message. They, bomb Iraq, use more misdirection, bomb Iraq, than David Coperfield, and when, bomb Iraq, they do get caught in a lie, bomb Iraq, deny, deny, deny until it sounds like the truth. Thomas Jefferson wrote that it is a citizen’s first duty to question the leaders, and yet we’ve been told for the past five plus years that to do so is unpatriotic. Nonsense. I say it’s unpatriotic not to question our leaders!

The last Presidential election generated some much-needed discussion. Unfortunately it was by a bunch of like-minded people sitting in a room agreeing with each other. Pro-choice first door to the left, estate tax, down the hall to the right. Finally we all are in agreement about something. We all agree that we should support our troops, we just can’t agree on what “support” means. Republican, Democrat, Independent or Other, we all want safe, healthy, happy and productive lives for our families and ourselves sitting in our own rooms and talking to ourselves isn’t getting the job done. We need to get out and disagree with each other, listen to listen to both sides of an argument to find solutions that we can all, not just live but prosper, with. It’s ok to come to the table with our beliefs and convictions, but if we can’t put those aside for a moment, if we can’t start from the common ground we as Americans all share, we might as well pack it in an move to India or China. Why not, most of our jobs already have.
Kyle Pesonen - Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this article.



Get Involved

Do you sit and yell at the TV when politicians come on? Do you shake your head sadly whenever you see a homeless veteran? Is that all you tend to do?

It's time to put up or shut up America. We all love to talk about how we could do things better or how we would do it if we were in charge. Well, it's time to put your money where your mouth is. If you can think of it, you can write it down. If you can write it down, you can type it. If you can type it, you can e-mail it and if you can e-mail it, you can send it here.

We at Reform America are committed to giving voice to anyone who wants to put their ideas out there to make our nation a better place. As the readership grows, we are able to take those views to a wider and wider audience. Grassroots campaigns begin with voices speaking out. You have opinions. Voice them. We aren't about conservative or liberal. We aren't about pro-this or anti-that. We're about Americans and the First Amendment. Reform America is about politics by, for and of the people. You are the people. You only need to speak up. America is listening. Send your article to: stories@reform-america.net



Have You Been Downsized Due to Outsourcing?

For several years now we have listened to some within the business community tell us that America can't compete on a global scale unless they send our jobs overseas where they can be done cheaper. The question becomes, if we don't have good paying jobs here, how can we sustain our own economy? We want to hear from you. Have you lost your job? Have you been forced into a lower wage job due to outsourcing? Has outsourcing been a success for you? Did you end up in a better job?

Tell us your story so we can make sure the politicians see how outsourcing really impacts the workers who are backbone of America. Send your story to stories@reform-america.net

 

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