The U.S. Constitution

In the process of studying for my CLEP test at college, I have been studying the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights and how they were written. For those of you who read these only in high school, I highly recommend that you read them again. 

I’ve decided, like others before me, that education is wasted on the young. When I read these documents before, I was young and they didn’t make much impression on me. Now, I read them in the context of real life. What an amazing difference! 

Here are some excerpts, two about religion and politics:

Article I, Section 8 (This is what gives Congress so much power!)

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Article VI of Constitution (This surprised me - Do you realize that our president can be ANY RELIGION he wants to me? This is one of the reasons that a couple of the states were late in ratifying the Constitution.)

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

Amendment I of Bill of Rights (This shows that the government CANNOT establish a religion; however, they also cannot prohibit the free exercise of any religion.)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Here are some resources so you can refresh your knowledge of Constitution. I think, as an adult, you will get a lot more out of it and even, like me, discover that you really didn’t understand it as well as you should.

The Constitution.

The Bill of Rights.

 The Spirit of 1787: The Making of Our Constitution by Milton Lomask is a delightful, informative read that puts you “inside the heads” of the founding fathers.

Health Care Insurance

I consider myself to be a conservative (mostly), but I’m beginning to have questions about “conservative policy” on health care.

I have a friend whose husband walked out and left her with three kids. She gets $1600/month in child support. Only two of the children qualify for insurance and medical coverage, so she would have to pay for her own and her eldest daughter’s, who is right out of high school and now helping take care of the younger two.

She was a stay at home mom since the children were born and even though she has a bachelor’s degree, she was unable to get a high paying job. She is working in an office for $12/hour or about $25,000 per year, so her total income is about $44,000 to take care of four people, pay her taxes, mortgage, car payment, food, utilites, and hopefully send her kids to college?

I go to school with a lot of nontraditional students (in their late 20’s, early 30’s) who are accumulating huge amounts of debt to pay for college and working as wait staff or bartenders in order to live. Their incomes are about $15k- $25k per year.

These are not people who choose to live this way because they are lazy or undisciplined. They are your average, everyday people who are just trying to make a living, improve their education, and take care of themselves and their family.

There is a local free clinic in town; however, i’s only open Tuesday and Thursday evenings and it’s standing room only. You have to be really sick to get in, and you have to hope you are not going to school or working on Tuesday or Thursday night when you have to go.

I contacted a local health insurance dealer about insurance for a 31 year old female, nonsmoker, who gave me several quotes from different companies. For $3800-$4000, this female could get insurance that would cover 80% of lab and hospital, 70% of Rx, and pay $15 per doctor visit.

That means the college student above making $15K-$25K per year would pay 16% - 27% of her income just for the deductible and monthly payment, not figuring in the actual costs of the doctor visit, lab work, and Rxs. Consider the fact that she needs a car (car payment), a house (rent), food, and utilites, it doesn’t leave much to live, let alone pay for school.

For the mom above, multiple that by two times for two people and imagine how that leaves her?

I can tell you one thing about all these people - they don’t go to the doctor. They don’t get checkups. They suffer with their illnesses and hope they can get by enough to keep working or keep going to school.

It’s time for a change in the health care system. We conservative just want to stick our head in the sand and hope it goes away. No, I don’t particularly want to pay more taxes for this, but I’d rather pay taxes to help people like this than to support research on the sex life of the dolphin and other ridiculous things our government pays for.
The “liberals” want to have universal health coverage, but I don’t need health insurance. I like what I have. I don’t want the government telling me how much to spend, where I have to go, and when. I don’t want to be like the people of Canada who come here for medical care. So leave those of us who have insurance alone, but figure out some way that people like those above can have adequate health coverage.

2008 Campaign Coverage

I like to watch the campaign coverage from several viewpoints. It’s amazing what you see on one Web site that you don’t see on the other, and vice versa.

CNN Politics.Com 2008 and CNN Videos (click on “politics”)

FOX News: You Decide 2008 and FOX Videos

PBS Presidential Election Coverage, Vote 2008

I love BBC News and they have their own spin on US Politics!

Select Your Candidate

Answer questions and find out which candidate is most aligned with your views and opinions!

Try it at VoteMatch.

Try it at Select a Candidate.

Political Compass - Test

This is interesting and revealing! Take a test to see where you stand both economically and socially. When you’re done you’ll see on a graph where you stand and which major historical figure (Stalin, Hitler, Thatcher, Friedman, and Gandhi) stands there with you! Are you economically on the right or left? A social libertarian or authoritarian? Do you tend towards Fascism, Communism, Anarchism, or Neo-liberalism?My results said I was a Centrist - somewhere between a Conservative and a Libertarian. I’m not sure that’s totally accurate but it was fun taking the test! You can take the test here and here.

Fact Check the Politicians

I don’t listen to political ads and I rarely listen to a politician speak. It seems like they “say” a lot but “do” nothing or, worse, do the opposite.

But I do want to be informed. What do these politicians really do when they are in power? What is their voting record? How true are the statements they make?

I have discovered a number of resources that helps me with these questions. Perhaps they will help you, too.

Project Vote Smart - Select your state, your politician, and find out how he or she voted. Select an issue such as “Budget, spending, and taxes,” select a year, and find out who sponsored, voted for or voted against each bill. Type in the name of a candidate and learn everything you need to know about his or her experience, voting record, education, religion, organization memberships, etc. You can also learn how the election process works.

On The Issues - Another site for finding out politician and/or candidate views on major issues and how our elected officials are voting.

Fact Check - the truth about the ads the politicians are running. Sometimes all this does is make me angrier about politicians but it does clear up the facts.

PolitiFact - this one has videos of politicians and then explains what the truth really is. Similar to Fact Check.