I love to read the US Constitution, the framers and writers of the time made the pages jump to life with the language and progressive nature of their writing.Every line I read makes me smile with the thought that there is in deed a reason that we are the greatest nation on earth, our founding fathers took the best dreams in the world in there time and reached for the stars, they wanted the best for all of the generations to come. They got it right and then some, I mean just the preamble alone,
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.",
This was considered such forward thinking in its day, and was fairly risky. The founders and framers of the declaration of independence, and the US CONSTITUTION had to sell every word and phrase to the Continental Congress and to the leaders of the 13 Colonies. When I read the preamble there is no partisanship, there was no political wrangling, there is no evidence of self serving politics, earmarks, and pork barrel spending. How then did the framers of this most important piece of paper come to agree on every word and every nuance contained?
I believe that they had no other choice, such as the United States in 2010. We have no choice but to go back to the original document and learn a lesson about the common good of the American People. As a journalist I have been guilty of being partisan many times as Politics is a subject that brings out the best and worst in all of us but we know that our government has come to a point where we are so far away from what Americans seem to want, but we are in that place where no one seems to put the politics of personal maneuvering aside for the good of the people. The Tea Party was supposed to do that, but instead they elected some freaks! Rand Paul? His stated goal? to repeal the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990......America is in financial crisis, we are borrowing money at an alarming rate from the Chinese to cover our bills and Rand was wronged by a man in a wheelchair so he has made the repeal of this law top priority......this seems to be a trend. We the People cant stand for this any more. Abraham Lincoln started the VA Hospitals to care for those whom have born the burden of war. He didn't have any fight from the house and the senate, it was a good move then and a good move now. Use the VA's effectiveness as a model for a government run health care system and get every one covered period.
Health care aside, we have allowed the media in this country to lead us around by the nose steering us to the stories that they want us to see, all the while yelling at the news Anchorman on the television set.We need much more free media we need people to read and listen to the truth. American broadcasters have lost sight of there duty, this was never more evident than when Dan Rather tried to change a Presidential Election with a forged phony document, the worst part was that he knowingly did it. It cost him his job and his reputation and his producers job. He did it to try and influence a presidential election, and he was never even charged with a crime, he was guilty of fraud, but Americans let it slide, it just wasn't sexy enough, to be news worthy.
We as a nation continue to turn out only roughly half the registered voters in major elections but yet we feel the right to complain but not get involved. It's exactly like the ostrich that sticks his head in the sand at every problem. The one difference that gives me hope is the 2010 midterm elections where Americans turned out in record numbers that spoke volumes, they told the incumbents to start packing and voted change, they decided cash for clunkers and a trillion dollars poured into the economy without input from the people was wrong. Americans will look for a new President in 2012 and we will get what we need hopefully rather than what we deserve (which is what we got in the 2008 election). We learned that smooth fast talk and rhetoric will kill us every time, lets go for track record of success longer than an elementary school career, and a by GOD born in America American that can prove it. Urban legend or not there is enough out there to have people wondering and it needs to be answered.
If not for the US Arabian Oil Company ARAMCO , Saudi's might not know to this day that they had oil under there very feet.The oil embargo of 1973 that brought long lines at US gas stations and signs dauntingly saying NO GAS nearly crippled America and what lesson did we learn? We created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and we set cafe' standards demanding that American Automobiles get no better gas mileage than they were getting before the embargo, the standards to be ramped up over the next fifteen years. When California got tired of the smog and pollution they demanded that Car makers produce zero emission vehicles and in 1996 Chevrolet produced 1000 all electric cars called the EV1, when the leases ran out on those cars and the zero emission law had been repealed, GM in 2002 recalled all the cars and destroyed them, even though 7 out of every ten owners wanted to buy them off lease. They were a tremendous success. GM realized that a car with few moving parts and few parts that wear out would destroy the value in owning a dealership, the recurring service. Imagine no oil changes no spark plugs no tune ups no radiators no coolant systems to overheat. We need to continue to get American auto makers to produce electric cars tied to solar charging stations at our homes, and make them in record numbers. Let Americans have an electric car for the active errand running we are famous for but let us have a second car bigger a hybrid gas electric for our long drive vacations, this could save us trillions in import costs of oil. Lets get off the Arabian peninsula's oil tit and put America right. We might just even help the environment and go a little greener. You know that when I was researching the EV1 all electric car by Chevrolet, leasers of the car said it was fast, very fast, in fact faster than a Porche off the line, and it gave the 911 a real run for it in the quarter mile. Operating cost was about 1/3 that of a gasoline engine, it bears saying again so here goes.... with no radiator to overheat and blow hoses no toxic antifreeze and no oil changes. hmmmmm just imagine. This technology was available in 1996 the EV1 record stands for itself, how much was GM executives paid by Aramco, the Saudi's and other OPEC nations to scrap all 1000 cars, or was it just the very thought of the monetary loss to the dealerships on service? We will never know but one thing is clear, the cars worked and GM should be ashamed to have taken bailout money when they were part of the problem. They should have pioneered the EV1 and the electric car, and led the charge, but corporate greed took over as it often does, and the evil demons shouted down the angels in the corporate ear begging for the right choice to be made, and we all paid the price.
Lastly I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all!
Kevin M. Jankoski
