Harry and Me, we Were Tight...

I remember the day vividly.

My Dad and Mom owned, and we lived at, the "Show Me Tourist Court" in Springfield, Missouri.  It was a motel located directly across the street from the Dixie Cup factory, which was huge, so their employees would stay with us sometimes.  It was located on Glenstone Boulevard, an 6-lane highway right down through the middle of town.

Which was convenient, as we could sit out on the front porch and watch the parades go by.  4th of July, Thanksgiving, Easter, Christmas, like that.

And I especially remember the one when Harry S. Truman, the-then President of the United States, was the featured guest in a parade.  Going right past my home.  And I was a little 6 year-old boy.

The crowd was huge!  Tens of thousands lined the boulevard to see Harry go by.  He was in a 1948 Chrysler Town & Country convertible.  A glistening forrest green with gorgeous wood paneling on the sides.  It was fantastic!  I was far more impressed with the car than the President.  I'm pretty sure my lifelong love of cars started on that very day.

And Presidential Parades were different back then.  Murdering Presidents wasn't yet in vogue.  So you could get up real close and personal.  Like, maybe 50 feet away as the POTUS rides by.  You could have hit him with a brick.  Or a paper airplane.  

And I recall no Secret Service types in black suits were running alongside, either.  

Perhaps under-protecting Presidents began right then...

So my Dad, ever the salesman, saw an opening.  He picked me up and made his way through the cops and the crowd to the edge of the ropeline.  And just as Harry's car drove slowly past, Dad lifted me up and said, "Here, Harry, here's your youngest supporter!"

Harry knew good politics when he saw it.  He stopped his driver and said, 

"Hoist that boy up here!  He needs to ride with me!"  

Harry sat me down on his lap and we drove all the way to the end of Glenstone Boulevard.  Maybe a mile and a half.  With Harry and me smiling, and waving at the crowd, and applauding with glee.  And my Dad followoing alongside.  What a trip!

(I should insert about here that Harry was a Democrat.  If you'll recall.  And I wasn't schooled enough in politics to know to avoid Democrats like the plague.  For some of what makes a Democrat a Democrat just might rub off on me.  But I've subsequently rationalized the error in Dad's judgement by appointing myself in retrospect a Young Ambassador From the "Makers, to the "Takers.")

Now, I could say I knew the true significance of that act, that day.  But I didn't.  Not until 1959 when Lyndon Baines Johnson was campaigning for Vice President.  And decided to come to Chillicothe, Missouri.  

He was on JFK's ticket and must have thought my farmer neighbors would go for his brand of politics (fat chance).  So he rented a flatbed hay wagon and a huge, overly large, gigantic International 806 tractor to pull it.  And advertised a campaign stop in a farmer's back lot.  Him campaigning from the flatbed, and then handing out cold beer to the couple of dozen attendees.  In the middle of a really hot summer day.  

(We went there only for the beer, BTW.)

LBJ shook everyone's hand on the way out, including mine.  So I can advertise to everyone that your friend and mine, Me, has shaken the hand of two Presidents of these Here Eeyyuuunited States.  

And they were both Democrats.  

Which I now offer up as an Olive Brach to all those who hate me simply because of the color of my skin...

I bask in your faint praise...

How Did We Get So Stupid?

Spleen Vent # 1,456:  So we hire folks to do our work, but are forced to permit them to join organiztions dedicated to making it harder, and more expensive, and more time-consuming for us to get that work done?

You know we have more than 2,900,000 Federal employees, right?  

I know that you know that I know because I've researched the pi*s out it.  And written about it a dozen times.  It's one of my buggaboos, given that only about 15% of these highly-paid civil servants are declared "essential" on any snow day.  

Meaning the other 85% won't be missed if they don't come to work.  

What are these, patronage positions?  Your uncle Fred works in Social Security so he got your brother a job there?  And also your cousin Anthony?        

And as I mentioned in another recent posting, 31% of our millions of Federal workers are still at home, suffering from the Chinese Wuhan Killer Pandemic Virus.  No, not from the virus itself.  From the possibility of getting the virus.  So they're sitting in their 'jammies, eating bon-bons and watching Jerry Springer re-runs.  Tapping a key every now and again so the algorythm from the Mother Ship doesn't time them out.    

Or maybe it's like PTSD.  And if they don't have it, they're worried about getting it.  So much so they're not coming back to work.  For us.  Has anyone done research on how many of them have other jobs?  Just asking.  Except there's apparently nothing we can do about it.  Because they all joined unions.  

             Public Sector Unions.

Did you know that?  Did you know that our employees, the people we've hired to do our work, have banded together to try and extract ever better and bigger goodies from us, the Taxpayers?  It's like we hired them and then they put a gun to our heads.  Lemme' bring you up to speed:

There's the "American Federation of Government Employees."  The AFGE represents more than 750,000 Federal and government workers across more than 900 local unions.  AFGE represents doctors, nurses, SSA employees, TSA agents, law enforcement officers and park rangers.

All of whom supp at the public trough.  The Civil Servant trough.  Working for you and me.  But no more or no longer, and certainly for no less than they currently are.  And plans for a whole lot more.

And if that's not enough there's the "International Federation of Professional and Technical Employees (IFPTE)."  Whew!  It represents state and local Government professionals such as architects, accountants, engineers and healthcare professionals.  

And then we have public-sector trade and labor unions, and those representing the interests of Government organizations.  In 2023 total public-sector union membership was...

                       ...32.5%.

Meaning One out of Three of our employees is a member of an organization directly at odds with the interests of you and me, their employers...

Again, that's You and Me.

Did you ever axe yourself why we Taxpayers hire folks to get our work done, and then permit them to join organizations whose only reason for their existence is to make it harder for us to make them do the work we just hired them to do?

Uhhh, wha...?  

To try and use the weight of their membership to force us, YOU and ME, to give them more money, for less work, with more paid time off, while receiving better healthcare than any privately-employed American will ever enjoy.   And 11 paid holidays a year.  

Unless they've added another one while I was writing this humble missive.

When we were puked forth from college we knew working for The Man would get you job security (it would take a live boy in your bed or a dead girl in the trunk of your car to get yourself fired!), and the very best healthcare on Earth, but your pay would suck.  Your choice: low pay and great healthcare, but you're guaranteed to get that low pay forever!  

But Now?  

There's a sheriff's deputy in Lost Angeles County, I just noticed, who made $453,000 last year.  And his union was just fine with it.  With a base of $233,000 a year (are you kiddin' me?), he managed to work enough overtime to earn more than the President of the United States.  Or maybe I should say, we "pay" the POTUS.  There's more, much more, but that's enough.  And he's got great healthcare, too.

The little bastard who made you wear a mask and stand 6' away from everyone else just retired on $413,285 a year.  For funding the virus and then lying to us for years.   

Each and every one of those 2,900,000 Federal Employees I mentioned above earn, er..., are paid, an average of $108,433 a year.  

But only 15% of them are considered  "essential."  

Doesn't that just take your breath away?

And oh, BTW, Public Sector Unions cannot strike!  So any threats they might choose to make would be toothless!  Yet we treat them like the AFL/CIO!

How did we get so stupid?  Why are we negotiating against our own best interests?  Who bought off whomever to permit this outrage to gain traction?  Why do our Public Sector employees earn twice the National Average?  It seems to me we need some sort of massive investigation.  FBI, NSA, CIA, MI-5, AAA, ASPCA, etc.  All those guys.  

And lastly, why don't we vote in leaders who will abolish this crap?  ASAP?  

("Abolish This Crap, ASAP!"  Catchy little bumper sticker, yes?)

Some Arcane Little Factoids...

I was just rummaging through my vast store of knowledge the other day.  Accumulated over a career shooting pool for money, playing a spook for the Army, selling stuff to people, and racing cars for fun.  And I thought you might get a kick out of some of the more interesting tidbits I dredged up:

     -  Did you know that the very largest and longest living thing on Earth...is the Great Barrier Reef?  The one that encircles the north end of Australia?  It's more than 2,570 miles long!  And I've dived on it.  With great pleasure.  It was awe inspiring.  In fact, I met a grouper the size of a Volkswagen whilst diving there, and he and I became fast friends.

I think it was a he.  I don't want to mis-prounoun him/her/it/they...

     -  Did you know that if you gave a guy $0.01 cent per day for their labor, and then you doubled it every day thereafter, as in 2 cents, 4 cents, 8 cents, etc., you'd go broke before his 30th day of employment?  Don't believe me?  You'd owe that employee $5,368,709.12 at sundown on day number 30.  A 31 day month would kill you.  Do the math...

     -  And I discovered a way to stop unwanted conversations on airplane trips.  You know, where you're crammed in your seat for hours, and cannot get away?  When they ask what you do for a living, just say:  "I specialized in animal husbandry, until they caught me at it."  Crickets.

Like that one?  Here's another, no charge:  "I'm a retired shepherd."  Trust me, all efforts to start a conversation after that will stop dead in their tracks...

     -  Did you know that the Wagon Trains West that started in 1836 had their beginnings at Independence, Missouri?  Yep, close to where I was born and raised.  I'm somewhat of an expert on the Old West, so here's a factoid you might enjoy.  After giving the "Wagons, Ho!" signal, these trains, consisting of up to 100 Conistogas, made no more than 20 - 25 miles a day.  And often less.*  So an 1,800 mile journey to their new "promised land" was a 7 or 8 month commitment.  And many were buried along the way.  But some decided they'd had enough before the journey's end and threw a flag on the play.  And that's why there's a town every 20 miles all across the Fruited Plain West.  Check it out if you doubt me...  

     -  Did you know that more than 55% of all our property taxes collected by counties and states across the land, go to building, staffing, maintaining and operating our schools?  So we'd have twice as much money if we'd just stop having kids?  Or twice as much if we simply left our kids go unschooled, maybe.  Or get twice as much for our money if we had twice as many kids?  Or, there'd be twice as many of them for the Gubmint to try and corrupt, once we had them?

BTW, from what I hear about our plunging National Reproduction Rate, we'll likely cease to exist early in the next Century.  Assuming we haven't gone up in a poof of smoke first...

     -  Did you know that SUV's are ugly?  Yes, yes they are.  They are stubby 6,000 pound pickup trucks with a new suit of clothes, and are as aerodynamic as a brick.  I come from an era where car makers competed with each other via their automobile's looks.  On their beauty!  Cars were rolling art!  Designed from scratch on a clean sheet of paper by the likes of Raymond Loewey, and Virgil Exner, and Harley Earle.  And the engineers were then told to stuff their cars inside it.  Or find a new job...  

And now we're being sold big, heavy, plodding, wasteful lumps of metal.  For $60,000 or $70,000, or even more.  A car is the 2nd biggest purchase you're likely to make, right behind your house.  Why buy something ugly when you can get a nice zoomy sedan?  If you need a 4' by 8' sheet of plywood from Home Depot, borrow your friend's truck.  He's probably not using it.  Unless you're a soccer mom, you don't need all that room anyway!  

    -  Do you know that there's never time to do it right, but there's always time to do it over?

     -  Do you know that in spite of our being told to call the cops when we're in danger ("You don't need no stinkin' guns!), the average police response time from 911 call to arrival, across our 50 Biggest and Bluest cities, is...wait for it...31 minutes?  More than 15% slower than just a year ago?  Probably because they have 15% fewer cops.  Or maybe just because they can?

And did you know that more than 41% of all our households have a gun, loaded and at the ready?  At least one?  And that our citizens are buyiing 3,500,000 new guns a month?  More than 25% are Black, and more than 61% are women?  And that the FBI tells us we have more than 525 million guns in circulation?  And if every household had a gun, there would be no more crime?

Imagine what the response time to a 911 call would be if there were no crime?

     -  And I'll close with a prediction.  I predict there's no way on Earth Americans will go into the voting booth come November and pull the handle for Kamala Harris.  Forget her policies, or past statements, or her part in our current economic disaster.  They won't vote for her because they would never want to hear that ear-splitting, soul-crushing cackle for 1,460 days.

So in fairness to our new recently Selected and Coronated Co-President, I hereby annoint her as our...

              "Cackler-in-Chief."

Stay tuned, Fellow Patriots, if God's willing and the creek don't rise, I'll be sharing other arcane stuff with you over the coming days/weeks and maybe months...

*  If you're interested, visit Oakley, Kansas.  You can still see the wheel ruts from hundreds of wagon trains about 6 miles north of town.  From 170 years ago.  Foot-deep ruts still visible in the prairie.  If you find yourself on I-70 with nothing to do, it's worth a visit.  And yes, the town's named after Annie... 

"Stop Digging!"

Did you know that the last Republican mayor of Chicago was William Hale Thompson.  He was known as "Big Bill," and he was mayor in 1931.  

A major part of being a Liberal is their willingness to embrace change for the sake of change.  There's not a single law or policy or procedure or rule or regulation that Liberals won't change if they think it will benefit them.  

Personally, politically, financially, historically or legally.

I mean, just look at how quickly they tossed O'Biden and his 14,000,000 voters overboard and "installed" Kamala as Co-President?  Done entirely in the Back Rooms of Washington, D.C.'s power brokers, over a weekend, when it became apparent his poll numbers were in the toilet.  

Well, here's a suggestion for something else they might wish to throw overboard:  

78% of all our heavy-duty crime, the crimes against persons and property, the carjackings and burglaries and muggings and bank robberies, eminates from our 50 largest cities.  You know, like New Yawk, ChicaGO, New Awwwlins, San Franpoopco and Lost Angeles.

And the Mayors of 37 of our 50 Biggest and Bluest Cities are, how can I say this delicately, ummm...Black.  

And have been for decades.  Chicago's mayor, and the mayors of New Awwwlins and Baltimore and Kansas City and San Franpoopco and Lost Angeles and Minneapolis and Milwaukee and so very many other cities have been Black since Christ was a corporal!  Ergo, maybe there's a correlation here.  

Maybe having a Black mayor causes more crime!  

The last White mayor of ChicaGO was Richard M. Daley, back in 2011.  Crime in ChicaGO was mucho lower back in 2011.  

Cause & Effect?

Maybe we should kick the Black mayors out and bring in some Indians (the "woo-woo" kind).  Or maybe even the "red dot" kind.  I mean, we all know they couldn't bring in White folks, 'cause you know, well, they're White!  In Black cities!  

No Jews, either.  You know that Governor from Pennsylvania?  Josh somebody or other?  Everybody knows he was the most qualified Democrat anywhere around, but he's a Jew!  So our Co-(Actual)President couldn't choose him for V.P.  'Cause of that whole Palestinian thing, ya' know.  And the fact Kamala thinks Bebe is a war criminal...

Or bring in a Pacific Islander (is the "Rock" available?).  Or maybe somebody from Taiwan (Wanna' Tie Won On?).  Or how about a Gypsy?  The Roma kind.  They're kind of a medium tan...

But that's only if they continue to hire their public officials on the basis of their skin color.      

As 37 of our 50 Biggest and Bluest Cities have.  For decades.  

             The Primary Rule of Management:  

"When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging."

Having been taught by their Black majorities that Race Matters, I wonder when their voters will choose another race?  As in, when will they "Stop Digging?"

Please Taxifornia, Secede!

A recent Independent California poll tells us fully 58% of Californians believe "they'd be better off" if their State were to "peacefully secede" from the Union.

And that they'd prefer that California "keep a good relationship with the rest of the Country."*  

How nice!

Now, if you're not from here (pat yourself on the back), that statistic might surprise you.  But those of us Taxifornians who still try and pretend we live in what used to be America aren't at all surprised.  That's because 47% of Taxifornia's citizens are registered Democrats.  Only 23% are registered Republicans.   The remaining 30% are sprinkled across the political landscape, with a heavy dose of socialists, communists and Marxists.  And lots of LGBTQ2S++123ABC's.   

Just so you know, Taxifornia has 54 counties.  47 of them are owned and controlled by Democrats.  Giving the Democrats a "Supermajority" in both the Assembly and the Senate.  Which means they can propose and pass, and BoyGuv ("Hairgod") Newsom will sign, the dumbest, most inane, stupidist, most ignorant and foolish laws imaginable.  

Example?  Sure.  These bozos passed a new law raising the MinWage by 25% to $20.00 an hour!  For asking, "Would you like fries with that?"  Forcing the fast food store owners to reduce hours, close dining rooms, raise prices beyond what consumers can pay (97% have increased their menu prices), or even go out of business.  Does that sound like what intelligent leaders would do?  Or maybe they just don't give a sh*t.

Another one?  Sure.  One more.  BoyGuv just signed a law making cars sold in Taxifornia after 2030 "honk their horns" if they pass on the road, or are passed, by somebody going 10 mph or more faster than the posted speed limit.  And then apply their brakes, automatically, to bring them to within "compliance."  "Road rage," much?

One more?  Absolutely.  Firearms purchasers are now charged an additional 11% sales tax, on top of the current 11% sales tax, solely because Democrats don't like guns (the puss*es!).  Oh, and they can...

1,234 legislative bills were passed by Taxifornia's "Supermajority" Legislature in 2023.  976 of them were signed into law by our BoyGuv.  3 brand-new laws a day.  Yeah, astounding.  Look it up if you doubt me...  

But back to seceding from the Union.  Just think about that.  58% of these entitled individuals believe that leaving the Union is a good idea.  And 61% of those respondents say they think they'd be better of without America, and America would be worse off without California.  

Let's take inventory here.  139,453 homeless vagrants are clotting up our streets and alleyways.  Fully 30% of all of America's homeless.  And according to the V.A., 39,800 of our military veterans living as homeless.  On our streets.  And receiving no special consideration whatsoever.  Not even from the Veterans Administration.  They're left to look after themselves.  

They looked after us, and we should be looking after them.  

And interestingly, to prove just how "strong" and how "big" Taxifornia is, Chevron just announced it's moving to Texas!  Leaving Taxifornia and its high taxes and burdensome regulations behind.  They're joining Tesla, and SpaceX, and Charles Schwab, and Oracle, and Hewlett-Packard, and CBRE, and McKesson, and Toyota, and another 100 major corporations as they seek greener pastures.  Knowing that any pasture will be greener.  

And sales and auto registration taxes are also the "biggest" in the Nation!  Something to be proud of, BoyGuv?  House prices?  The "biggest" in the Nation!  And gas prices!  The very "biggest" in the Nation!  Gas prices here average $5.84 a gallon!  More than $2.00 more than the National average of $3.81!  And I'm running out of exclamation points!

So here's my thinking.  In addition to finishing Trump's wall across our Southern Border, which the Democrats stopped, I think we should build an additional Wall between America and the CA, OR and WA.  All the way from the Meheeeekan Border to the Kanadian Border.  And we should require passports and a giant fee for them to get out.  We don't want them exporting their Liberal tendencies to 'Murican towns and villages if we can help it!  

These states are a bunch of whiners, anyway!  Stew in your own juice, you losers!  Stay on your own side of the fence!  Buh bye!  Go!  Got it?  Eh?

Dayummm, that felt good!  

*   Poll respondents also offered that "they'd be terrified at the prospect of another 4 years of Trump."  Absolutely terrified.  Perhaps unaware that Trump had been POTUS for 4 full years just 3+ years ago, and didn't destroy democracy.  Or end the United States.  Maybe they were all stoned while Trump was POTUS?  Maybe their brains are so dope-addled that they don't remember.  Reminder:  He lowered taxes, and reduced illegal immigration, and lowered your food and gas and car prices.  Oh yeah, and no wars!  But Taxifornians have been smoking some of that legal dope we sell here, and may not be aware we even have a POTUS!  And that might make them even more likely to support a secession...

Less Than 1%...

On the day I was born there was 117, 345, 862 people in America.

Or so says Google.  You oughta' ask that fella' stuff sometime.  You get the most interesting answers.  From his babe Alexa, too...

That's just about half of today's 341,845.984, or so says our Census Department.  Not counting the 20 or 30 or 50 million illegal aliens we have roaming around.  Gotta' say, there was a lot more room back then... 

And because I was born deep into the middle of World War Two, I was fortunate enough to grow up around the tough, battle-hardened men who beat back Hitler.  And Mousilini.  And the Emperor.  Men who knew how to live.  And how to teach other young people how to live.  How to camp.  And hunt.  And start a fire.  And live off the land.  And to keep your temper in check if somebody gets in your stuff.

And the number of single-parent households on that same fateful day, at least for me, was precisely 0.7%.  

That is 30% less than One Percent.  Only.  As in, I didn't know of any.  None.

So, okay, how about today?

Today's number of single-parent households?  43.6%.

Nearly one out of every two households in America today is single-parent.  I find that statistic astounding.  And deplorable.  

Do you think there might be any correlation between the number of single-parent households and the number of arrests?  The number of burglaries?  The number of carjackings?  The number of drug crimes?  The number of murders?  The number of resultant felons roaming our streets, just looking for victims?   

We no longer teach Patriotism.  We no longer require basic history and civics classes in many inner-city schools.  We no longer require a Flag in every classroom.  We no longer require the Pledge of Allegiance to be spoken, universally, hand on our hearts, facing the Flag, every day before class begins.  We know longer teach our kids that America is the world's last bastion of Freedom.  A Country owned by its citizens.  Where everything isn't perfect, but everything's free.  That's why so many are trying to come here.  Breaking in, all day every day!

We're told our public show of Patriotism might offend somebody of a different nationality or race or culture or religion.  As they are taught using our Taxpayers' funds.  And often fed, and clothed, and medically treated, paid for by you and me.  

Maybe that's why we see our precious Flags being burned.  And the statues and paintings of our historic heroes being disfigured.  And Jews being hunted down and beaten.  Or even killed.  1936 Germany, anyone?

I blame bad parenting.  Or even no parenting.  Kids have to be taught.  How to think, how to live, how to survive in a challenging world.  There were home economics classes in high school when I was coming up.  Kids were taught how to cook, and sew, and write a check, and be a homemaker.  There were shop classes.  And woodworking classes.  And welding classes.  That's all in our rearview mirror.

Today?  LAUSD, our Nation's largest school district, with more than 250,000 students, graduated 48.2% last year.  A $6.8 Billion Dollar Budget, and it graduates less than half.  To go where?  To the streets, most likely...

It's a downhill cresendo if each generation teaches its offspring even less than the one before.  We have millions of untrained "cruise missiles" out there, just waiting to strike.  To be set off by some sleight.  By some real or imagined diss.  Resulting in a murder, perhaps  And life in the Big House.  Because they were not trained by parents how to live.  In a world where everything doesn't go just right. 

Because they didn't have parent(s).  They had a parent.  And that parent was often their grandmother.  Who'd already done it once and didn't want to do it again. 

Maybe we should go back to Square One.  Maybe we should start all over and teach our kids how to grow up.  And be good, honest, honorable, productive citizens.  And how to start families.    

And then to take responsibility for their irresponsible acts...

Tilting the Scales...

Let's say you're on the City Council of Rifle, Colorado, okay?  

And BTW, there really is a Rifle, Colorado.  Just like there's a Pumpkin Center, Missouri.

But anyway, let's say you're paid $1,000 a month to be a Councilman for the nice city of Rifle.  And your two-year term is growing to a close.  And so you try to ramp up your reelection campaign to win another 2 years.  

We all know being a city councilman is a part-time position.  Usually requiring only evening and weekend hours.  Except in the Big Blue cities, where being a councilman is akin to being a potentate in Zimbabwe.  With a Big office, a Big car, and a Big salary.    

So as a part-timer, when you take a morning here or an afternoon there to campaign, we citizens have no reason to bitch.

But let's say instead we're talking a U. S. Representative here.  Or a Senator.  Or maybe even the President.  We pay our Congress(persons?) about $175,000 a year.  Our Senators up to $225,000, depending upon their various positions and responsibilities.  And the President?  $400,000.  Or about $35,000 a week.  That's $5,000 a day.

I would think when we're talking about this kind of dough we should get value received.  We should get our money's worth.  We should be able to demand our civil servants...actually serve!  You know, actually come to work (for a change)! 

Take O'Biden (please?).  He's been "on vacation" or "at Camp David," or "at Rohoboth Beach" for 56% of his Presidency.  Now, given his policies which many of us cannot stand (including moi), perhaps that was a good thing!  Maybe we should maybe be glad O'Biden didn't show up for work more often!  I certainly am!

But the reason for this missive to you, my Fellow Patriots, is that I think we should perhaps demand our civil servants campaign during their off hours.  After 5:00 p.m. and  on Weekends.  After they've fulfilled their official duties.  Of the job.  After all, there should be plenty of time to get one's point across during the campaign, considering they're currently occupying the position!  And have the benefit of TV cameras, and the microphones, and other public appearances to bolster their claim for another term.

It's called "incumbency!"

Oh, I can hear it already!  What about the other guy!  The opponent!  That poor guy who wants unseat the Senator or Congressperson?  Or even the POTUS?  Should he have to follow those same rules?

Noooooooooooooooo!!!   

He should be able to campaign all day every day.  And on weekends!  Well, Mr. Chuckmeister, wouldn't that be an unfair advantage?   

Yesssssssssssssssss!!!

With the office holder having the benefit of incumbency, we have to make the contest fair.  By giving the opponent an advantage.  The advantage of time, to offset the incumbent's ability to raise campaign $cash.  

A seat in Congress should not be a lifetime job!  Yet, it seems they're viewed that way.  And often wind up that way.  Senator Strom Thurmond died while in office at the age of 93.  Diane "Lady Di" Finestein died while in office at the age of 87.  And Joe O'Biden has been in one Federal office or another since he was 29 years old.  Fifty-two years in office!  Is that how this was all designed?  I think not.  

We should tilt the scales to make it harder to win reelection, and easier to unseat those looking to make it a lifetime career.  Period.

And another thing near and dear to this old Chuckmeister's heart, how about we require the candidates to not only debate, but make them do so on a soapbox.  Maybe on a soapbox in front of City Hall!  Or the "Town Square," just like was in 1860.  

They could sell tickets.  The proceeds of which could go toward lowering the National Debt (which is now $35 Trillion Friggin' Dollars!).  

Honest Abe and Steve debated for more than 8 hours on one occasion.  And then they got on a train and travelled to the next town.  And then did it all again.  I'm thinking that if Abe and Steve can do this, so can our politicians!

What do you think?  An email or a phone call to your Representative might go a long way to correct this imbalance...

Epilogue:  Dana Rohrerbacher is an old friend of mine.  He was our Congressman from Costa Mesa/Newport Beach for 28 years.  And a real specialist in all things Afghanistan.  I recall a reelection party my wife and I attended following one of his victories.  He looked at me and said, "Well, now it's time to start collecting donations for my next election.  I need to snag at least $10,000 a day to have a chance."  And that was 15 years ago.  Just imagine what it $takes today?