The

  

And 


Only  Virtue, Education,Transparency, Accountability, and Power can yield Responsibility, and reduce Corruption.

A  fact  of  human  nature  that  must  be  understood  and  readily  recognized:
 
(1)   Most people, naturally, seek security and prosperity with the least amount of effort and pain.
There is nothing wrong with that, and most people are ethical and law abiding (otherwise, we would have wide-spread chaos, war, lawlessness, and societal disorder).
However, some people (Cheaters) have surrendered to , which breeds greed and Corruption.
Cheaters will resort to unethical and/or illegal methods (to varying degrees). 
Especially when and where opportunity and Power exists. 
Cheaters will try to tap-into others'  , and use it for their own nefarious purposes (e.g. controlling others;  seducing voters into the circular, divisive, distracting, petty partisan warfare;  pitting voters against each other;  pitting citizens and illegal aliens against each other;  brain-washing voters into believing they must pull the party-lever (i.e. blindly vote straight-party-ticket),  dividing the voters so that a majority can never exist to vote-out the irresponsible incumbent politicians, etc.).

There are other root causes (human traits; what some call the original 7 deadly sins), which in excess, have always plagued people everywhere (to varying degrees, and each category having some over-lap):

  • apathy, complacency, sense of futility, negligence, ignorance, and laziness;
  • greed, selfishness, gluttony, lust for power and control, envy, pride, and exploitation of others and things (e.g. lawlessness, wealth, usury, wars, taxation, etc.);
  • irrational fear, fear mongering, anger, intolerance, hatred, prejudice of others and things (e.g. religion, race, gender, color, ethnicity, etc.);
  • delusion (deception and self deception), misplaced loyalties, partisan-warfare, misplaced compassion, misplaced priorities;
(2) Corruption grows when and where there is:
   þ insufficient  Virtue, which creates complacency, apathy, and a lack of concern, which creates
   þ insufficient  Education, which paves the way for growing ignorance, which creates
   þ insufficient  Transparency, which creates opportunities for self-gain, which creates
   þ insufficient  Accountability, which means there are no consequences, which creates
   þ insufficient  Responsibility,
 þ and  Power  amplifies the problem, as laws are ignored and perverted to do the very things they were originally supposed to prevent.
 
   

Fundamental Principles:
         
Virtue  = the source of moral and ethical judgment; a sense of right and wrong; a sense of caring.  Virtue is not merely knowing what is right or wrong, but caring enough to do what is right, and provides the motivation to seek the balance of  Education,  Transparency,  Accountability,  and  Power required for any successful society, government, or organization;
 
    Education  = an understanding of the importance of:   Virtue, Education,  Transparency,  Accountability,  Power,  Responsibility,   Corruption,  and  the human factor (human psychology);  humans naturally seek security and prosperity with the least effort and pain,  and some people will sometimes resort to dishonest, unethical, or illegal methods to obtain it;  Education can also, potentially, compensate for a lack of Virtue (i.e. virtue) and the other components;
 
Transparency  = visibility and simplification of cleverly over-complicated processes to reveal and identify abusers, reveal the truth, create outrage, reduce opportunities for abuse, and discourage abuse and dishonesty;
 
Accountability  = consequences needed to encourage law enforcement, encourage ethical behavior, and discourage abuse and dishonesty;
  
Power  = force required to enforce the laws, discontinue abuses, ensure consequences, punish abusers, and discourage future abuse and dishonesty;
     
Responsibility  = Power  +  Virtue  +  Education  +  Transparency  +  Accountability
Corruption  =  Power   -  Virtue   -   Education  -   Transparency  -   Accountability
   
     
 
  THE PROBLEM:
The government is irresponsible and unaccountable and voters allow it.  Government needs  Power  to enforce the laws,  but  Power  without sufficient  Virtue,   Education,  Transparency,  and  Accountability  yields  Corruption.

But, the voters keep re-electing, rewarding, and empowering the same irresponsible incumbent politicians. 

The nation's pressing problems will continue to grow in number and severity as long as voters continue to:
  • repeatedly reward irresponsible incumbent politicians with 85%-to-90% re-election rates (despite dismally low approval ratings as low as 9%).
  • throw money at politicians (billion$) to fill their campaign war chests.
  • fail to understand that 99.7% of all 200 million eligible voters are vastly out-spent by a very tiny 0.3% of the wealthiest voters who make 83% of all campaign donations of $200 or more.
  • wallow in the circular, divisive, distracting partisan warfare, emphasizing differences rather than unity and similarities, fueling hatred, fear-mongering, pitting voters against each other by making the voters believe that they disagree on many issues the voters would otherwise agree upon.
  • fuel the extremely effective, circular, divisive, distracting partisan warfare, and demonizing the OTHER party for the very same things THEIR own party are equally guilty of doing.
  • allow themselves to be controlled and manipulated by politicians that are experts at tapping into the voters' laziness and blind partisan loyalties; cleverly tricking voters to blindly pull the party-lever (i.e. straight ticket),  pit voters against each other, wallow in the  partisan warfare, and ignore the politicians that are ignoring the nation's problems that are growing dangerously in number and severity.
  • allow politicians to despicably pit U.S. citizens and illegal aliens against each other for votes, profits for illegal employers, and (supposedly) misplaced compassion.
  • be bribed with the voters' own tax dollars (i.e. promises of tax cuts, various benefits, and cradle-to-grave entitlements).
  • believe that pleading with incumbent politicians will lead them to finally pass many badly-needed, no-brainer, common-sense reforms.
  • waste valuable time needed to avoid the painful consequences of decades of massive debt, borrowing, spending, and excessive money printing.
  • fail to do their duty to peacefully force government to be responsible and accountable too.

Irresponsible Voters = Bad Politicians = Bad Government

We are ALL culpable.
 
 
  THE SOLUTION:
    Voters need  Education  to:
  1. learn and understand the importance of the Fundamental Principles above (Power, Virtue, Education, Transparency, and Accountability);
  2. learn to never under-estimate the tendency of some people (cheaters) to use and abuse others for their own self-gain;
  3. learn how to identify and choose core guiding principles, instead of blindly accepting the philosophies and spin of other people or parties with nefarious motives;
  4. learn how to become principle centered, instead of being manipulated and controlled by other people or parties with nefarious motives;
  5. learn how to identify the requirements to satisfy your core principles, and don't settle for anything less which would undermine those core principles;
  6. learn how to recognize the clever manipulations, spin, and controlling mechanisms (e.g. partisan warfare) of cheaters and parties who want to pit people against each other for their own self-gain;
  7. learn how to recognize over-complications designed to reduce or eliminate Transparency which paves the way for Corruption and other manifestations of unchecked greed and selfishness;  for example, consider only one abuse (of several), which is the severely over-complicated and perverted tax system which is unfair and regressive;
  8. learn and understand that straying from those core principles will lead to Corruption, which leads to more pain and misery;
  9. teach someone else what you have learned;
  10. and remember that no reforms will ever be possible until enough voters do the one simple, common-sense, no-brainer, non-partisan, inexpensive, safe, peaceful and responsible thing that voters were supposed to be doing all along: 
    RECOMMENDATION:

Stop  Repeat Offenders.
 Stop  Repeatedly  Re-electing  Irresponsible  Incumbent Politicians ! 

Peacefully force Congress to finally pass many badly-needed, common-sense, responsible reforms that incumbents have refused to pass for so many decades.   Peacefully force government to be responsible and accountable too !
  
After all, can you name 50, 100, 200, or even 268 (half of 535) in Congress that are responsible and accountable ? 
No?   Well, it's no wonder.  Why should Congress persons be responsible and accountable when they are repeatedly rewarded for being corrupt, FOR-SALE, and irresponsible ?
 If you had a child, and you repeatedly rewarded that child for bad behavior, what sort of person do you think that child would become ?
 
    The irresponsibility of the federal government and complacent voters is threatening the future and security of the nation.  The United States is facing many pressing problems,  but these problems can never be resolved and no reforms can ever be passed without, first, following our Virtue to do what is right, to peacefully force government to be  Transparent,  Accountable,  and  Responsible  too!   And, without merely shifting power, or stripping government of all Power to accomplish anything.
     
 
  CONCLUSION:
  The human factor, , must be understood and accounted for.  Some wise people, through the centuries, understood this very well, and tried to build in checks-and-balances.  But, the voters have neglected to maintain sufficient levels of  Education, Transparency, and  Accountability required to prevent the Cheaters that are always striving to circumvent or pervert the rules and laws for self-gain and legal plunder.

 Education is needed to understand how the root problem ( ):

    þ   works  for  irresponsible incumbents,
    x   works  against  voters.

Politicians have Power by virtue of their office.  Power coupled with yields Corruption, because Cheaters can simply create more opportunities for self-gain by simply doing nothing, or breeding chaos.  Cheaters also get paid hand$omely while doing it on the job, giving themselves more unfair advantages, and making their incumbency more secure and cu$hy.

The voters' works against them, because their lack of motivation to observe and monitor politicians, reject the partisan warfare, and go vote out irresponsible incumbents (always) takes time and effort for the voters, and voters don't get paid for their time or effort. Also, it requires time and effort for the voters to maintain sufficient levels of  Education, Transparency, and Accountability.

Therefore, corrupt incumbent politicians have many unfair advantages.  One major advantage is money.
There are  two  classes in this country:
  • One class derives concentrated power from its concentrated wealth.  1% of the U.S. population has 40% of all wealth.   83% of all federal campaign donations (of $200 or more in year 2002) are from a mere 0.3% of the 200 million eligible U.S. voters.  How can the remaining 99.7% of the U.S. population compete with that ?
  • The other class typically only has power in numbers, and that power is largely ineffective due to The People's failure to organize or realize the one simple, inexpensive, common-sense, no-brainer, responsible thing voters were supposed to be doing all along, always.  Just simply stop re-electing irresponsible incumbent politicians.

But, if voters want it enough (and they probably will eventually, when the misery level provides sufficient incentive), voters can easily restore a balance of power between government and the people, by simply doing the one simple thing voters were supposed to be doing all along, always:   simply don't repeatedly re-elect irresponsible incumbent politicians (which currently enjoy 85%-to-90% re-election rates).  Vote out (or recall if possible) all irresponsible incumbent politicians, always,  repeatedly,  every election, until simple, common-sense, no-brainer, responsible reforms are finally passed to peacefully force government to be Transparent,  Accountable,  and  Responsible  too !

  Pressing Problems Facing the U.S.
  CONGRESS' To-Do List (see what Congress has accomplished since the NOV-2006 election)
  Irresponsible Incumbents (see what irresponsible incumbent politicians do while troops risk life and limb)
PROs and CONs (why to stop re-electing irresponsible incumbent politicians)
The massive $Loading...  National Debt (and growing fast)
  The Growing Disparity Trend (these did not all come about by mere coincidence over the last 30+ years)
  Interest on the National Debt
Excessive Debt and Money-Printing (the Federal Reserve)
Consider the Following Scenario and these existing factors (must we always learn the hard way?)
  Plunder of the Environment (population, arable land, global warming)
  Solutions ; Help Educate Others (peacefully force government to be responsible and accountable too!)
  Badly-Needed, Common-Sense Reforms (that can never be passed until voters make it happen)
  The Cheater's Philosophy (learn to identify them)
Frequently Asked Questions

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