The Fourth Option (A Centrist Perspective) Blog

     “Reducing the size of government” has become the slogan of the republican presidential candidates. It is a theme that plays well with the American public, especially those voters who accept the narrow view of “big government” the republicans are portraying.      Essentially, the republican presidential candidates (Gingrich, Paul, Santorum, and Romney) are telling the American voters that government has grown too big and too irresponsible, and the main culprit of this enormous growth is President Obama, who has implemented a socialist economic plan. (It guarantees that everyone will succeed regardless of the amount of hard work they’re will to do and the amount of risk they’re willing to take.)         Mitt Romney, for example, in his speech on Friday at Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisconsin), suggested that government “dispenses the benefits, borrows what it can’t take, and consumes a greater and greater share...

Frequently, these days, it is common to hear self-appointed,  political experts argue in the media that recall elections are wrong!  According to them, governors and other elected officials should be allowed to serve their full term   -- even in the cases when there is overwhelming evidence that their doing crummy jobs!   I printed below the specific section of the second paragraph of The Declaration of Independence.   It is the passage I always think about whenever I hear these arguments.   For it seems to me that somewhere along the evolution of this great country, we have forgotten that governors and other elected officials are the chief executive officers and section managers of the corporations known as "governments," but the citizens are the stockholders.   Their jobs are to perform in accordance with the visions and needs made necessary by our unalienable rights. It isn't the other way around: It isn't our job to serve t...

     Some stories don’t make the news anymore. They go unreported  ―  even when they are big and significant. It is a sign of the times. It is the sign of the new and dominant trend of corporate journalism: Only the news stories that servers the best interests of the richest one percent of Americans, and the corporate interests of the biggest and most powerful corporations will be covered. All the other stories  ―  especially the ones that speak out against the corruption created by power and greed, will not be reported.      Consider, for example, the current issue before the Supreme Court: The Tea Party-Republicans are accusing President Obama and the Democratic Party of violating the "individual rights" of Americans (by forcing everyone to have health insurance.) Yet, no one in the media is looking at the Tea Party-Republicans' record on "individual rights." No one in the media is looking at the Tea Party-Republicans position on "indi...

      Freedom of choice is most precious and personal to those of us who fought in wars to preserve it, those of us who are living with the private pain of 18, 19, and 20-year-old friends who died defending it, and those of us who witness the horrors of the military battles necessary to keep it. We believed that freedom of choice or our “unalienable Rights,” which are the birth right of every human  ―   granted to us by The Creator (refer to paragraph two of the Declaration of Independence) was worth the price of the ultimate sacrifice  ―    our lives.       I spent 24 years on active duty training soldiers for combat, leading soldiers in combat, and putting my life on the line as a combatant. Etched in my memory are the cemeteries in the United States and the World where thousands of military men and women are buried. I can still see some of their faces, hear some of their laughter, and recall the good times and challen...

     Yesterday, the Supreme Court began its hearing on President Obama’s Health Care Policy.  It is a policy that was proposed by President Obama and approved by congress during President Obama’s first year in office. (The democrats controlled the House and the Senate when the policy was voted into law.)      The main question before the court appears to be does the government has the authority to force individual citizens to purchase health insurance? Implicit in this question, of course, is the larger and more important question: Isn’t the government violating our “freedom of choice” by forcing us to buy insurance?” Opinions are split along party lines. Most democrats say, “Yes.” Most republicans say “No.”        I am a centrist. I pride myself on understanding both sides of the issue. Let me offer you a few of my questions, concerns, and observations: ·       All the members of our three br...

Here comes the current, this stream Some forms of  life, like passengers, climb aboard and travel  with the lives that live in it. Others sit on the bank and awaits its arriving cargo of food, flowing through it friendly freights. In some places the vibrant lake waves in alive gestures. as the wind whistles its thoughts with the accompaniment  of the critters, and creatures of rapids joyous various forms in every nook, cranny, and crevice. Yet, there are boulders unseen below ―  even in friendly waters In the murky unseen waters they conceal themselves below the “rapid river run” and the deceptive swamps where alligators and crocodiles lurk and Piranha pounce through deep thoughts where they drive us down in so many hot lave Hell below: All things flow and run like water Some produce the Tsunamis; others produce Puddles. The pond produces flowers   and fruits that flows the juices from which all lives flourish in the eternal cycle of Creation connected most impo...

Who I am ―  really am , was always more than me: For Mom, Dad, relatives, friends, and most of the people in my community were who I am ―   really am, while a clumsy kid was me. Who I am ―  really am, was the tangible things I'd see: the rising sun, the setting sun, and other things of consistent reliability like knowing the number 1 will stay less than the number 2 will stay less than the number 3 and Sunday will follow Saturday for all eternity and knowing stars will shine in the heavens and  always these will be my security blanket, (my dependable blanket) friendly, reassuring, and comfy and who I am ―   really am, while a clumsy kid was me. But who I am ―  really am, most importantly, was an American in the United States of America ―  the greatest democracy, with its goal of complete pluralism for those "yearning to breathe free. 1 " as it practices its allegiance  ―  "…with liberty and justice for all" ―  while embracing diversity ...

Undress yourself and join me, all you come into my spiritualness, raw naked dressed only in honesty and trust. We will embrace ourselves in the warm Son of our superimposed souls. We will sing the answers to our search for  Truth. And try to find the Everything in Everything for they have much to tell, teach, and show each of us in the Others of Us. Is the Earth correct when it argues that “ True Christianity is the congruent communication  of all things in the universe without words?” Does the Wind makes a valid point when it suggests that “The invisible becomes  visible to any and all things that truly becomes in touch with itself within all things?”  more appearent and more transparent? Do you agree with the Fire who stated that “All illuminations and bright light of things  derives their fuel from the replenishment of all things – including those that might go unnoticed in the early morning fog, those hidden in the crevices of rocks, and those permeating fro...

Most forms of growth were invisible to my naked eye, and the growth that I saw (often illuminated in bad lighting) appeared pretentious and deceitful. So, I took up gardening:  Hoping to train the balls of my eyes to see the process growth from the ground up, As my hands, with palms raised upwards Holograms weren’t created to be assessed, nor flowers to be critique Trees were created to provide answers, yet it is always difficult to look in the presence of distorted sounds with blinding dissonance. I am forced away from my own choosing, to look without seeing  shapes without forms And felt without feelings … However, in bright faithful light, the invisible  becomes more apparent and more transparent to all things that are in touch with itself. The replenishment of life floats. The early most noticed fog lifts the permeating crevices and create visible rays, as the space between and above, under everything, awaits, and proceeds my illumination of you in the bright  li...

I reprint this article because I believe that it is always important for us to remember the fundamental principles of our democratic beliefs, (or at least some of them.)       R emember reading and studying American history in school?  Remember the dreams of the Founding Fathers?  I do.  And I am willing to bet that your remembrance of the dreams and aspirations of the Founding Fathers, as well as the hopes and goals of the men and women, who built this great nation, are very similar to mine. I am willing to bet that every time you think of our nation ― The United States of America, and what it stands for, a slew of democratic principles come rushing to your mind: We believe in fairness. We believe in equality. We believe in justice for all. We believe in the rights of the individual. We believe in freedom. We believe in unity. We believe in our motto ― In God We Trust. We believe that although our nation is far from perfect and it has its faults...

Most of us have the ability to sense dishonesty. We have the intuition to catch the drift of someone who is being untruthful. We perceive from their mannerisms, realize from their word choices, pick up from their unsubstantiated claims, and suspect from the illogicalness of their argument that the narrative they’re telling us is an attempt to be deceptive. Additionally, our own knowledge of the topic tells us outright in our minds “these things are lies!” These were the thoughts that occurred to me as I watched and listened to one of Governor Scott Walker’s latest commercials. (He has several versions). First, his graphs were filled with misleading and inaccurate data – particularly the straight descending line that represented Wisconsin’s unemployment from a high of 9.1 at the start of his administration to a current low of 7.0. (An earlier version of this commercial showed a high of 10.0 at the start of his administration to a current low of 7.0; I suspect that viewers of his commerc...

It’s unfortunate, but in the United States of America, its citizens hold professional sports teams’ coaches/managers to levels of excellence that are enormously higher than the standards they set for national and states’ political leaders. Consider the case of Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) for example: After he became governor a year ago, the republican party (his party), which controlled both houses in Wisconsin, passed every law he wanted, gave him every tax incentive he requested, privatized the government functions he demanded, cut the entitlements programs he ordered, and marginalized the unions he was against. Essentially he got everything he requested and more. (Additionally, he received the backing of the National Republican Party, most of Wisconsin’s big businesses, and many of the one percent, richest Americans.) Yet, a cold hard analysis of the present social and economic picture in Wisconsin shows, in every aspect, conditions of most Wisconsinites are worse than they have be...

In his recent commercial, Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) told the citizens of Wisconsin “Let’s keep moving Wisconsin forward.” However, he failed to mention that forward movement is only worthwhile if the travelers on the journey are moving in the right direction. If the idiot driving the bus is lost, doesn’t know where he is going, and too big headed and arrogant to stop and ask someone who knows the way for directions, traveling forward is counter-productive or a waste of time. Governor Walker is like the bus driver, who is taking his followers on a trip form Madison, Wisconsin to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and even though they have traveled for umpteen hours without arriving in Green Bay, he hasn't figured the reason the signs above the highway, on which he is traveling, reads “St. Paul, Minnesota!” Sometimes I tell jokes because I know that laughter is the only remaining refuge for many of us. Yet, an overwhelming sadness invades my mind, body and soul every time I think of...

We can take a huge step forward in the debate on contraception by agreeing to these three simple ideas: 1. It is the rights and responsibility of the Catholic Church (and all other religious organizations/denominations that are against birth control) to teach their worshipers that the use of contraception is wrong. 2. It is the rights and the responsibility of every woman to make the most personal and private decisions concerning her body. She, more than any other― especially politicians, knows what’s in her best interest. 3. It is the duty and responsibility of every insurance company providing health insurance to women in all workplaces (various denominations), to include birth control/contraception coverage in their health care plans. P.S. Women are the biggest and most important group of consumers in the United States. Their shopping power is the biggest clout they have. The best strategy they can employ to silence Rush Limbaugh is don’t buy the products that sponsor his show, ...