The Music Man

He came to town with a message….He said, "We got trouble. We got trouble right here in River City." (The citizens listened.) "The town needs a marching band." Seventy million citizens leaped to their feet...

The difference between our story and the story of The Music Man is that it all turned out well in the end which is exactly the way musicals are supposed to turn out.

Our Music Man and his story is still unfolding. Last night in the State of the Union address I could hear the band tuning up. I could hear the call for the seventy thousand to start lining up for yet another parade.

I realized our music man was right. Now is the time to start the 2012 campaign. I'm sure the drums are already beating.

Michelle Bachmann response to our band leaders speech was a gutsy thing to do. Her 'stand up' reminded me of one of my great heroes Gandhi. After many decades and numerous generations Gandhi is still the icon in my mind of the lone rider on a mission.

Here was a man, living in a country that had few ways to communicate between people or leaders to the people and yet he did. In what I still feel was a stroke of genius. He put an end to England's four hundred year old rule of his country.

He was able to accomplish this by stirring patriotism in the Indian people. After years of flailing around one simple idea emerged that was a tipping point that ended England's rule… Don't pay England's tax on salt...Looking back in history the idea was so simple it is difficult to for us to understand how it had the impact that it did.

We seem to have a group that has control over us not so unlike England had over India. We also have one simple idea that can free us also. We simply vote each person out of office that refuses to represent us, our wishes, our beliefs. This is blindingly simple.

We identify these men and women at the state and federal level and replace them. Not one, not ten, not sixty but every one of them regardless of political party. All the music men and women must be sent home.

The ones that were standing after November feel safe. They intend to keep on keeping on in their Washington stronghold thinking they have fallen off the Tea Party radar. We don't have to look back very far to see why they would think this. They have always been forgiven and reelected both at the state and federal levels. Once elected they have historically been free to do what ever they wanted to do with assurance that they would be reelected. We don't have to do a lot of soul searching to know why they would think that.

One of the new kids on the block, Rand Paul, is standing up. In this bill he is presenting he is clearly walking his talk.

Senator Rand Paul has unveiled his plan to cut $500 billion from the federal budget in a single year — IF FOLLOWED

Paul's budget cuts more than five times as much as House Republican leaders have advocated and faces little chance of winning support, even from within his own party.

His plan would cut in half funding for the Department of Commerce and nearly eliminate the Department of Education. It would eliminate the Department of Energy, which oversees environment regulation and enforcement.

The budget would cut funding for the federal court system and the Agriculture Department by nearly one-third. The Pentagon would see a roughly 6% cut, and the Food and Drug Administration a 62% cut.

"By removing programs that are beyond the constitutional role of the federal government, such as education and housing, we are cutting nearly 40% of our projected deficit and removing the big-government bureaucrats who stand in the way of efficiency in our federal government," Paul said in a statement.

How encouraging…!!!!!!

I wanted to include this because we are beginning to see some of the newly elected congressional leaders begin to reach out to us. We need to reach back with our encouragement and support.

Taxation without representation. Lord, who would do such a thing? How about double and triple taxation without representation? Below is a little tidbit I picked up off the Houston Tea Party site….

Tea Party Houston

Houston City Council is just beginning to figure out how to implement the Prop 1 "rain tax" and it's getting complicated.  Take a look at how many times taxpayers will be hit with drainage fees:

1. Property Tax (county - PLUS the county will pay Prop 1 fees on county property
2. Drainage Tax to property owners in COH (Prop 1)
3. School Districts taxed by Prop 1 (where even a small part of the district is in COH) 
4. COH water rate increase of 40% (also affects outlying areas getting COH water)
5. Businesses Taxed by Prop 1 (passed on to consumer)
6. Churches Taxed by Prop 1 (reducing tithes and giving that churches can use)
7. METRO Sales Tax (Contains a portion for "mobility" which includes street improvements)
But there's more!  President Obama just signed Senate Bill 3481 which requires the federal government to pay drainage fees.  You've got it, NASA, all the federal buildings, ALL federal properties will be subject to Prop 1.  So now we add:

8. Federal Income Tax (your payroll taxes will now pay the Prop 1 fee to the City of Houston)

EIGHT TIMES you could be paying drainage fees! 

Thanks, Tea Party Houston. Good luck in your efforts….

What I realized is we never know how many different ways states and fed's government tax each of us on the same issues. I started to try and figure out how many levels of taxes we have on our cars from the production of the materials, labor, distribution, purchases, yearly fees, gas tax, etc. It is mind boggling.

Slowly the hidden problems in state, counties, and cities are beginning to surface. We see on the news the ones with the biggest problems. Before the news media starts looking there are rating businesses that rate the safety of their debts and one of the largest is Moody. I know everyone knows these companies and I'm sure everyone knows the troubles in California and Illinois but in Moody ranking Mississippi is in the top eight listed high risk.

Moody’s found that the states with the biggest total indebtedness included Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Jersey and Rhode Island. 

Some readers might like to on Moody site and look at out bond ratings.

The average politician doesn't really look at state debt or city debt or even have a clue as to why it is important to our future any more than the average person.

The point, if there is one, is if we don't know what's wrong we can't tell our elected people to fix the problem. If we don't know how many times and ways we are being taxed or what our debt burden is, these core problems can't be fixed. These hidden problems are destroying the nation and states.

How exactly are we to vet the new folks who want to run for office? These are complex economic issues and we need candidates who understand these are long term issues that do not have short term fixes.

Rand Paul's bill is the start of changing the way we do the peoples business. We need leaders here that will start getting Mississippi out of our poor credit rating.

It would be a good thing if Mississippi could stop borrowing money. Search the Moody site and see what we mostly borrow money for….You'll be surprised..

The more organized and focused we are the greater amount of power to make changes happen. What is our plan for Mississippi? Thankfully some in the Tea Party are beginning to identify the elected folks that aren't listening to us. We also need to know who is listening. Once known, what are we going to do?

2012 elections: 645 day - 5 hours - 53 minutes. Clock is ticking….

Ron
 
Docnick37@gmail.com
 
http://theoxfordteaparty.blogspot.com/

Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably, never regret anything that made you smile!, always forgive your self for short comings, AND while we are at it even liberal Democrats.