Insight Beyond Today's News: qualifications for US public office

Showing posts with label qualifications for US public office. Show all posts

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Breach from Within Lacking Clean Challenge

Opposition Seems Insufficient to Arrest Disreputable Duo

Far too Few 2024 Presidential Challengers outside the Frame who —

Used their real name (not a pseudonym or anonymity)
Designed and posted an official, professional looking campaign website (not mere social media sites)
Seemed to express common sense, reflective intelligence in a platform; not merely an ability to recite trending mantra or ideological bullet points
Seemed to possess substantive qualification beyond mere arrogance, audacity, and the basic (highly inadequate) constitutional requirement of age, native, residency.

Permissive terms Invite and Sustain Present State of Affairs
Corruption, Corruptible Officials

The Constitution of the United States requires for presidential candidates no tests of skill, experience, intelligence, or character and if elected no in-service testing or upgrading of skills, training, knowledge, character or intelligence.

Anyone who meets these “requirements” is eligible to declare candidacy for the U.S. Presidency

Natural-born citizen of the United States
Thirty-five years of age
Fourteen years of U.S. residency

Spend $5,000 (having named a “committee” conduit), register with a compromised Federal Election Commission, and any man or woman (elected or campaigner) is free collect a whole lot of money pandering to narrow interests (and enriching self), peddling influence, selling public office, moving in and out of public-private, conflicting-interest sectors without check or chastisement. A man or woman in this situation, without proper rules or requirements, is free to be as corrupt as a common criminal and to corrupt the institution of government—and get away with it.

Because of the highly inadequate constitutional requirement for such a critical position—the most powerful office in the United States and powered by U.S. military might (and permissive systemic conflicts of interest) the most powerful position in the world with authority over life and death, authority to end the world; because of this condition, Americans are made to suffer the tyranny of an entrenched rogue government.

In light of this, it has become necessary to restudy the United States Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment Section Three.

In my view the study should consider extending the text to cover public official’s acts variously observed, defined or categorized as

Treason
Betrayal
High crimes
Bribe Taking
Influence peddling
Public Office Selling
Money laundering (direct or indirect)

Constitution of the United States AMENDMENT XIV [1868] SECTION 3 excerpt minor punctuation edits

“No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress or elector of President and Vice President or hold any office (civil or military) under the United States (or under any State), who—having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress or as an officer of the United States or as a member of any State legislature or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States—shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”

Remedy (unfortunately the framers used the permissive, optional may; instead of the essential, compulsory must or shall)

The Congress of the United States of America “may by a vote of two-thirds of each House remove such disability.”

Far too few men outside (or giving the appearance of being outside) the RepubDem war party

No endorsement intended or suggested.

Listed as Libertarian Party Affiliated

Dunham, Keenan - South Carolina (business owner with experience in law and management, and previous campaign experience for public office) https://ballotpedia.org/Keenan_Dunham https://www.dunham2024.com/ https://www.politics1.com/p2024.htm

Oliver, Chase – Georgia (political activist including opposition to the Bush era war on Iraq, advocacy of Ranked Choice Voting; previous State level candidacy for public office) https://votechaseoliver.com/about-chase/ https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_candidates,_2024

Maat, Mike ter-Florida (economist, former law enforcement officer, Federal employee and consultant in finance and economics, previous candidacy for State public office) https://miketermaat.com/about-the-campaign/ https://www.politics1.com/p2024.htm

Listed as Independent

Bills, James Independent – Texas (veteran schoolteacher/multilevel athletic coach) https://www.jamesbills2024.com/platform https://www.jamesbills2024.com/ https://www.jamesbills2024.com/meet-james

Candidate’s words on official website
(Excerpt, minor edits)

“Most of us in the middle know that we share more common ground than the media and the two parties give us credit for.” Media organizations “play partisan games to push agendas for votes for their parties. … ‘Common folk’ know that there is still bias amongst different races … (and) we still have a long way to go to make it better. We know also that there is often a double standard … with government officials and people of wealth.…

“I know that in order to strengthen this country …, we must unite even more at the ground level and understand that we are all created equal. Everyone must have a fair shake. All of us must be able to engage in discussion openly, and in a non-partisan way.

“We must not allow Washington, D.C., politicians to create hate amongst as we fight for the scraps and they sit back and laugh at us.” Under a new presidency “‘We the People’ will unite like never before.”

The organization “Unite America” writes: The people of the United States of America “are more divided than ever.”

“Congress is gridlocked. Legislation is at a standstill. Political divisions are tearing our country apart.”

“Distrust and dysfunction” are marked indelibly (the unacceptable widely accepted) in the political system.… Politicians have ceased representing the people of the United States.

The group concludes that the “incentives” governing the U.S. political system have to be repaired.

My sense runs deeper.

To me there is a deadly impairment, a severe problem in the character and caliber of men and women seated and allowed to be seated in U.S. elective and appointive positions within Government (as well as among those with whom they partner)

These men and women are destroying our essential institutions, our fabric and Union, our homeland and community, and the trust that must exist between Government and Governed.

Therefore, it is the duty of the citizenry of these United States (declared before the Constitution) to remove this stain, this systemic tyranny and seat clean and incorruptible governance.

It is our duty together, one nation indivisible, to take civil action—nonviolent action—to cleanse the filth. Remove the disability.

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Author’s links: www.BennettsAmericanEpitaph.com

https://www.facebook.com/carolynladelle.bennett

https://insightbeyondtodaysnews.blogspot.com/

https://www.xlibris.com/en/search?query=Carolyn+LaDelle+Bennett

https://www.xlibris.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/828689-epitaph

Monday, July 24, 2023

Road to White House USA Led by Service Evaders, Wannabe Armchair Commanders

Should a person lacking volunteer national service record be allowed candidacy, consideration for the U.S. Presidency?

This crop of Commanders issue arm-chair orders (and legislation) for others to kill and be killed—all over the world.

These men fake solemn salutes when facing military personnel and fake a “thoughts and prayers” mantra in the face of suffering soldiers.

These men fake heart-clutching poses at the sound of a militarist anthem

But these men have never and will never offer their bodies and minds to the direct onslaught of Napalm and other WMD chemical weaponry, mortar and deadly technology and machinery, landmines, cluster bombs, nuclear bombs.

Successive elected and aspiring American men (and women) have sat out wars, evaded military service (whether or not a strict draft was in force), and any semblance of non “elective” national volunteer (patriotic?) service.

From William Jefferson Blythe III known as Bill Clinton to Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (with the exception of dabbling “Texas Air National Guard Lt. George W. Bush”)—not a single man volunteered (“patriot are we”?) to serve his country.

Among an estimated twenty-five (2024) wannabe U.S. Presidents—who would ensconce themselves at the helm of inordinate power and would presume to decide the life and death of people around the world (including in the United States of America)—only two of these people have offered volunteer (*) national service to the United States of America.

Alphabetically

Biden (Joseph)

Burgum (Douglas)

Castro (John)

Christie (Christopher)

DeSantis (Ronald) (U.S. Navy act. 2004-2010; res. 2010-2019) (*)

Elder (Laurence)

Foreman (Joseph)

Haley (Nimarata)

Hurd (William)

Hutchinson (William Asa)

Jackson (Earl) (1970-73 U.S. Marine Corps) (*)

Johnson (Perry)

Kennedy (Robert)

Laffey (Stephen)

Marshall (Taylor)

Pence (Michael)

Ramaswamy (Vivek)

Scott (Timothy)

Stapleton (Corey)

Suarez (Francis)

Trump (Donald)

West (Cornel)

West (Kanye)

Williamson (Marianne)

In a May 28, 2023, article in the New Hampshire Journal, Michael Graham, Managing Editor of parent organization Inside Sources, asks

“In 2024 Presidential Race, Does Military Service Still Matter?” https://nhjournal.com/in-2024-potus-race-does-military-service-still-matter/

The slant of the article, influenced no doubt by the Twitter age, seems more concerned with people’s off-the-cuff opinions than the fundamental principle (ignored: Americans are not good with principles) begging serious consideration.

Should a man or woman be considered for the position of Commander in Chief, Supreme Command of Armed Forces (the presidency of the United States of America) who has never served his or her homeland, the USA?

Particularly a man or woman —

Who has never experienced the inescapable dare-not-express in a theater of war unrelenting FEAR?

Who has never faced the onslaught of implements, machinery, technology, chemicals, counter-combatants (or “friendly fire”) of war or violent conflict?

Who has never endured deeply invasive wounds to body and mind: disorders brought on by unavoidable trauma and resulting in unmanageable out-of-theater violent anger and aggression against self, family, home, society?

Who has never suffered the inevitable, nightmarish consequences of subsisting in an arena of constant threat and potential threat, violence, aggression, and potential aggression?

Graham reported that of the first twenty-five presidents of the United States of America, only four had no military service record. And of the four, two were deeply involved in Foreign Service work and the other was “trapped by politics” as Revolutionary, Founding Vice President and President. They were son and father John Quincy Adams and John Adams, respectively.

Of the forty-five men who held the U.S. Presidency, 69 percent (31) were also U.S. military veterans. It would appear that those intimately familiar with the pain of war are less sadistic or less inclined to order others to suffer the paid of war.

My Position

From my point of view, the answer is that no one should be considered for the position of U.S. President without having had an established and clean record of national volunteer service (not including paid or elective access).

In addition to meeting the national volunteer (military or not) service requirement, a potential candidate (for any public office, including the executive office) should be examined by an independent investigator (and scrutinized by the citizenry) to determine physical, mental, emotional, moral, experiential fitness (qualification) for the position.

No man (or woman) should be permitted to sit in judgment on the life (or the life and death) of another.

If and when such necessity arises, the general populace must understand the gravity of such an undertaking and must set about deliberating long and hard on the quality of consciousness, conscience, competence, and character before ever granting such power.

A nation is as strong as its people.

The decline of a nation is commensurate with the weakened state of its people (population); the incestuous corruption of its leaders; the failure of its essential institutions, and the public’s loss of trust in leaders and institutions.