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[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 20

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 20

Lottery – taking away money and hope


Speaking about evil, I don't think that you have to look at me, the Devil, all the time. You've got plenty of that right here in your own country. Let me explain what I mean.

Most people play lotteries, and hope to win a jackpot one day. General perception of a lottery is a chance to become rich, quit a day job, and enjoy life. People don't realize that lotteries are the most disgraceful, misleading, and deceiving institutions of their respective state governments. Most people who play lotteries have smiles on their faces when talking about a possibility of winning. Those few that won a lottery are showcased in the news and other state sponsored commercials.

It seems that no private entity is allowed to own a lottery in the United States. However, for some strange reason, states are allowed to own lotteries. Can you guess why? Every lottery generates a significant revenue stream for its respective state, while bringing absolutely no value to people. As everyone knows, any lottery is gambling. Making a lottery lawful is built upon one of the lowest human desires attributed to human nature (I personally altered human DNA for this one) – gain a lot by doing little. It is human flaw which most states exploit and take advantage of in order to generate extra revenue.

Most people don't recognize negative impact of various lotteries. Whether you realize it or not, every time you play a lottery you create a false hope for your future, a false hope that you might win, a false hope that your life may change for the better. Such false hope prevents you from setting your mind on realistic goals which you might otherwise achieve and as a result actually improve your life. Every time you play, this discourages you from looking for other meaningful and realistic ways to improve your circumstances.

Many people regularly purchase lottery tickets. Many spend a dollar or two, however there are some who spend $10, $20, or even a $100 for lottery tickets. More often than not those are poor people who live on a budget. They play lottery for many years in hopes of winning big. In the meantime, they do nothing constructive to change their lives for the better. What's worse - they don't even think in this direction. Because they are hoping to win big one day.

It is amazing how many people would not play a lottery when a jackpot is small – let's say $5 million. However, when a jackpot is big – let's say $100 million or more – they would play and even buy multiple tickets. It's like saying they don't really need $5 million and don't want to even bother unless it's a $100 million jackpot. This is another example of people's irrational mentality. And I have to tell you that I had nothing to do with this one.

For those avid lottery players, the infamous argument is that some people win. Some do, but the rest 99.9999% don't. How can you ignore that?

Let's take a close look at Mega Millions lottery. The chance of winning a jackpot is approximately 1 in 176 million for a single $1 ticket. The lottery is played twice a week. Let's say you play this lottery for 30 years every time there is a drawing. Do you think you can win a jackpot? Over a 30 year period, you would have played a lottery 3,120 times (30 years x 52 weeks x 2 drawings). So, your chances of winning a jackpot is 3,120 in 176 million, or 1 in 56,410. That's 30 years of your life for a small chance of 1 in 56,410! To help you visualize how small this chance is consider that on any given day there are approximately 50,000 flights worldwide, and you have only one chance in your life to guess which flight is the winner.

In the meantime, you would've spent $3,120 and 30 years of false hopes. Remember that every time someone wins a jackpot, there are many millions of people who didn't, and you are one of them.

Many people, and especially poor people, are not educated enough to realize that previous winning numbers have absolutely no bearing on future winning numbers. Those people study previous winnings, spending enormous amount of time on their research, buying even more lottery tickets, and hoping that somehow they can figure it out and nail the winning combination. If these people used the same motivation, time, effort, and money to change their lives for the better, they would certainly succeed to various degrees, and some of them would be very successful. But those people didn't – because their heart was consumed by the false hope to win a lottery.

Did you know that in 2011 Americans who played lotteries brought in $56 billion in revenue to their states? About 60% of that amount went to prize winners; 15% to retailers, marketing and operations; and 25%, or about $14 billion, went back to the states. Also keep in mind that roughly half of every jackpot goes back to federal, state and local governments as income taxes.

Lotteries provide extra revenue stream to governmental monopolies at the expense of regular people while at the same time creating false hope, taking away real hope, and discouraging people from improving their lives.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 21

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 21

Can governments create jobs?

I have to admit that this one is the result of my evil doing, and I feel guilty about it. Therefore, I will explain this in detail.

A few things just make no sense at all. Government officials keep saying how they intend to create jobs. Lengthy speeches are given about the economy and the challenges. If no jobs are created, there is always an explanation why it didn't work. And if jobs are created, there are always claims how many jobs were created by such governmental efforts. So, if the government can create jobs, how do they determine what jobs were created by them, and what jobs were created by the economy all by itself? And if they can create jobs, why don't they start creating them at the start of every recession? Why wait until job market deteriorates?

As detectives say, always look for a motive. The only reason governments say they can create jobs is to simply claim a credit when the economy gets better. Claims that any government can create jobs is an outright lie, but government officials try convincing people that it's the government who creates jobs. Many people do get convinced. Do you remember the situation in Greece when the entire economy collapsed? Upset people went out on the streets demanding jobs from their government. They were convinced the government could do that. The only problem was that Greek government could never create jobs in the first place. No government can. Similar demands to create jobs were voiced in other parts of Europe as well.

Did anyone ever hear a logical and coherent explanation of how any government can create jobs? Ask any government official about this when you have a chance, and see if the explanation makes sense to you. So, the government takes your money, and creates whatever projects they see fit. A few temporary jobs get created, and when the project is finished, those jobs are gone. I have a great idea how to create 10 million jobs. Hire 10 million people and bring them in the desert. Half of them will be moving sand in one direction, and the other half will be moving sand in the opposite direction. Do you like my idea? Why not? This creates 10 million jobs. Ah, you say the jobs need to be useful to society and not a waste of effort. OK, but who is to decide which jobs are useful and which are not? Should it be an entrepreneur with her own money on the line, or a government official with unlimited supply of your tax dollars on the line?

So, what really creates jobs? It is an increased demand for products and services – that’s what creates jobs. Can government create an increased demand for products and services? Of course, not.

Unfortunately, it is an inherent flaw of market economy – it expands as rapidly as it can, providing an abundance of products and services, and later contracts in the same manner as demand slows down. Not much can be done to stop the expansion phase, and not much can be done to stop the contraction phase.

Unstoppable expansion is the direct result of human nature!

Would you purposefully slow down your own business for the sake of the country's stable economy? Of course, not! You would try to grow and expand your business as much as possible until your business reaches natural resistance.

It is easy to observe similar human behavior in stop-and-go traffic. Vast majority of drivers will only slow down when there is another car right in front of them. They will not curb themselves to a slower speed in order to make traffic smoother.

Government has very minimal positive effect on the economy, and the best positive effect of all would be for the government to be honest about it and to stay away from influencing the economy. Government's job is to make sure our system works flawlessly, and that everyone has a level playing field. The federal government can adjust interest rates to slow down a too quick growth, or to soften a rapidly contracting economy, but the government can never change the direction. If the government really tries to influence the economy, it always makes matters worse.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 22

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 22

The burden of supporting governments by numbers


I am the evil one, but you cannot deny my sense of logic. If you are still not convinced that self destruction of your country will come from your governments, then you truly deserve your governments, and truly deserve to suffer the consequences. Here is what I mean.

A good measure of how much power, influence, and intrusion the governments achieved would be to know a sheer number of government employees among every 100 people as well as how much each of you needs to pay to support your governments.

As of July 1, 2013, the United States had a total population of approx. 317 million. According to US Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, August 2013 report “The Employment Situation†– in July 2013, there were approx. 144 million employed people, and approx. $20.5 million federal, state and local government employees.

This means that among every 100 people – adults, newborns, children, and retirees – there are on average 6.5 government employees (20.5 million / 317 million * 100).

What should be even more disturbing to you that among every 100 working people, there are on average 14 government employees (20.5 million / 144 million * 100) whose salaries, benefits, medical coverage, and pensions are paid for by the rest of 86 (100 - 14) working people whose salaries are significantly less than those of government employees as was mentioned earlier. Add to the equation non-salary expenses such as payments to government subcontractors, and you see that these 86 working people have a lot of baggage on their shoulders to carry. It is amazing that with such drag the economy hasn't stalled yet. But give it more time, and it certainly will.

To put it in perspective, every six working people in the private sector have to carry on their shoulders one government employee – pay their higher salaries, provide their benefits, medical insurance and pensions, pay for their office space, materials, equipment, etc. This is the single major factor causing drag on your economy! No wonder those six workers are having a hard time moving your economy forward. Who wouldn't?

Thinking about six people carrying another person, I can't help but visualize six people carrying a casket with a dead person, or six, probably more, people carrying a pharaoh.

In 2013 fiscal year, federal government spent $3,685 billion (of which $558 billion were grants and aids to state and local government), all state governments spent $1,535 billion, and all local governments spent $1,698 billion for a total of $6,360 billion (3,685 – 558 + 1,535 + 1,698).

This would be an equivalent of every person in the United States (including newborns, children, and retirees) spending $20,000 per year ($6,360 billion / 317 million people)!

What is even more disturbing that this would be an equivalent of every working person in the United States spending more than $44,000 per year ($6,360 billion / 144 million people)!

Coincidentally, average personal income is approx. $44,000 per year before taxes! This means that our governments spent as much as all working people of the country earned! This would be a good time to point out that an average personal income in Washington D.C. in 2012 was $74,710.

It would be fair to mention that corporate taxes is another stream of governmental revenue, although a lot smaller. However, no amount of taxes is enough to sustain such spending. Therefore, the federal government as well as state and local governments borrow money to sustain their spending. The United States government borrowed money and accumulated debt to the tune of more than $17 trillion as of writing of this book. State governments have debt of approx. $1.2 trillion. Local governments have debt of approx. $1.8 trillion. The combined amount of debt accumulated by federal, state, and local governments in the name of its people is a staggering $20 trillion (17 + 1.2 + 1.8), or approx. $139,000 for every working person. Are you aware of any plans to pay off this debt and how? The annual interest alone is approx. $450 billion, or approx. $3100 for every working person – just being thrown away every year.

The governments incur reasonable and justifiable expenses – there is no doubt about it. However, such staggering and outrageous numbers represent clear and strong signals that something is wrong, not sustainable over time, and will lead to a disaster of unimaginable proportions. Coincidentally, no elected official, no government employee, and no politician will ever address this issue as a matter of the country's survival – let alone propose, implement and have the discipline to follow a solution.

An occasional politician may recognize the problem, but has no real power or the support of the majority to accomplish anything meaningful. It is up to you and millions of people like you to change things for the better.

Will you personally have the attitude and the aptitude to do something about it? I bet you won't. And it doesn't matter why.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 23

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 23

Government's profligacy during capitalism, socialism, and communism

I am the Devil, but you cannot dispute the amount of effort I devote to convincing you that it's not just me you have to blame. It is also you and people like you, seemingly unable to confront your own problems. Here is another perspective on your cancer-like growing governments.

Every private company needs to be efficient in whatever business it is conducting. The efficiency of each company is being continuously monitored by its management. To make a business more efficient necessary actions are taken in a timely manner. Otherwise, a company won’t survive. This makes sense, right? What about governments? Who monitors the efficiency of a government, and who takes any action to make sure any government is efficient in what it does? Frankly, no one. Of course, if you ask a government official, you will be given a five minute lecture on how the government ensures that it works efficiently. But do you really believe it? Did you have an experience dealing with the government? What was your impression?

A generally accepted measure of government’s profligacy is represented by all government spending as percentage of Gross Domestic Product.

The more money the government spends, the more profligate it is.

An increase in government's profligacy changes a country towards socialism.

As was mentioned earlier, governments grow and increase their influence very slowly and gradually – over a span of many generations. As can be seen from Chart 1, government spending also fluctuates. Because of these factors, government's profligacy is not being noticed over time. What is even worse that there are no limiting mechanisms in place.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, total government spending was around 8% of GDP. Thanks to my evil efforts, by early 21st Century, it crossed the 40% mark. Over the years, total government spending gets bigger and bigger as percentage of GDP. Have no doubt that this trend will continue in the future. Where would this lead the United States? To get the idea, Table 1 lists selected countries in the order of their government spending as percentage of their GDP.

A number of countries in the above 40% range experienced serious financial crisis which is not over. And that's where the United States is heading.

In a socialistic country, its government controls most of the country’s resources. Individuals and companies are heavily taxed – i.e. are forced to direct significant percentage of their income to the government which in turn decides how to spend it, presumably to the benefit of the entire country. Coincidentally, the efficiency of such government is poor because if you live in such country the government takes and spends most of your income – perhaps somewhere in the range of 50% - 80%. Most of that income is not even visible because salaries are artificially low. This is because they are not determined by the market.

Some readers may point out that perhaps a 100% take by the government would mean that such a country is completely socialistic country. Such readers would be on to something. However, if the government takes 100% of individual income, this means that people do not have any income at all on their hands, and that the government gives them food, shelter, services, entertainment, etc. as the government sees fit. I am aware of only two instances where this is true. One would be a country built according to ideals of communism – Cuba is the closest example. Coincidentally, this is the last country in Table 1. Another example would be life in prison. Now that I mentioned those two examples together, I want to enlighten you with my evil revelation: a person living in a truly communist country effectively lives in a big prison. This is also a great illustration of your philosophical principle that something taken to an extreme may become exactly the opposite of the original intent.

The measure of government's profligacy becomes a more universal indicator because it can somewhat show where any given country is on a capitalism-socialism-communism scale. Also understand that socialism not only brings economic downfall, it also takes away your freedoms – one small piece at a time. No one would dispute that in the country at the bottom of the list – Cuba – people are poor, and have no freedoms known to democratic countries. Second from the bottom is Iceland. Did you know that in Iceland parents must pick a name for their child from the list of government approved names? That's the kind of norm people in Iceland have to live by. Of course, if you ask Icelandic government officials you will be explained that such restriction benefits their society.

Reduction of freedoms is a direct consequence of the government's intrusion. Consider this example. Obamacare requires a company with more than 50 employees to provide health insurance to its employees. This is a seemingly well intended requirement. In reality, many small businesses operate on such small profit margins that they are unable to pay for health coverage. As a result, it forces small businesses to only have no more than 50 permanent employees – effectively preventing growth of small businesses and causing the overall loss of potential permanent jobs. Hiring temporary workers is a less efficient approach. It is also disappointing to temporary workers because without Obamacare they would've had permanent jobs.

The most troubling conclusion is that regardless of who has been elected in the United States government, regardless of who has been elected in every state government, and regardless of who has been elected in every local government – your country is surely but steadily is heading towards socialism, ever increasing governmental profligacy, reduction of your freedoms, and the resultant inevitable crisis of unseen magnitude.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 24

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 24

Street protests - effective strategy or act of desperation?

When people are frustrated with their governments, they sometimes take it to the streets by organizing demonstrations of protest. Many participants carry signs with written demands. Speeches are given through loudspeakers. But what does this accomplish? Does the government pay attention? How effective is this approach in trying to communicate your demands and enforce the desired resolution?

Wouldn't you agree that the government is not interested to know what people think? And even if government officials do know, they are not interested in making changes as people demand. Although few protests do produce some results – in most cases, such protests present a psychological blow off valve, making people feel good about pursuing the issues and speaking about it amongst themselves. But at the core, whether such protests are spontaneous or well organized, they represent the last resort action by the people who seem to be unable to come up with anything better and more productive. It's an act of outcry. Wouldn't you agree?

Do you remember massive demonstrations of protest in Greece and throughout Europe? People were demanding jobs, cut spending, and provide better pensions. You know by now that governments are incapable of providing those. The conundrum is that every government wants people to believe that it can provide jobs. Governments take credit for job creation when economy does it all by itself. It also makes people dependent on the government – after all, it's the government which presumably created jobs. However, when the inevitable crisis occurs the government is unable to do anything except finding excuses. Try telling this to angry people who were brainwashed by the same government for many years into believing that it was the government which improved the economy and created jobs in the past.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 25

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 25

A point of no return

This is the least evil and the most sincere warning I can give to you, the people of the United States. Its significance is simple and straightforward – your time is running out, and here is why.

The bigger the government, the more it tries to make people dependent on it in order to guarantee that such government continues to thrive. The bigger the voting block of people, the more the government tries to please people of that voting block – even if it doesn't make sense, and even if it's done at the expense of other people – in order to get more votes for the next election.

The redistribution of wealth from rich people to poor people is a bright example. Poor people like it, and are not really concerned with the consequences or where the money comes from. Human nature is undeniably consistent – who in their right mind would refuse the money the government gives you? However, poor people should be concerned – because the inevitable crisis will affect them the most. They are the ones who are less likely to survive it. By giving their votes to the government which bribes them with a small reward, they perpetuate the cycle of corruption and downfall. Such government reward is a dog bone the government throws to poor people in exchange for their votes. The reward they are getting will never make them prosperous or successful. On the contrary, such dependency creates a false hope that the government will take care of poor people. This in turn discourages poor people from relying on themselves – why bother getting education, pursue a challenging career, or take a risky path of entrepreneurship? Effectively, it is government's actions which encourage poor people to be less productive and less competitive. It is the government whose actions suppress real hopes, making people procrastinate instead. It is the government who contributes to the growing disparity between the poor and the rich.

As business conditions deteriorate, rich people may stop working altogether as well as move themselves and their capital elsewhere. This will only accelerate the downfall. There is no point of hating rich people. Almost all of them got rich by providing products and services that benefit our society – including poor people. Next time you purchase a product or a service, think about those people who made it a business or a company. People who worked hard, risked their time and money, maybe failed in the past, but some of them eventually succeeded.

Continuous efforts to win the support of poor people represents bribery and corruption of the greatest magnitude and scale – to such a degree that most people don't recognize it as bribery and corruption. If enough people are bribed this way, their votes will always represent the majority – which in turn would assure the country's path off the cliff. This process will only stop when there is no more money to bribe with. But it will be too late – especially for poor people who were duped by the government, poor people who effectively were shooting themselves in the foot so-to-speak by voting for the government which promised to take care of them. Do you remember an older gentleman in Greece who committed public suicide? Greek government promised to take care of him. They lied. He didn't want to become a beggar, he would rather die than lose his self respect. This older gentleman symbolizes all people depending on the government to take care of them.

Did your country reach the point of no return? Not yet, but you are getting close. You may not believe me. It is impossible for you to know for sure. But even if you suspect that you reached that point, wouldn't you still want to try to dig yourselves out of this sinking hole? If I were you, I'd say that you have to try and hope that you succeed. If I were you, I'd say this is the only way!

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 26

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 26

The shift to socialism is inevitable

It is up to you whether to take action, or not. But here is my evil breakdown of what awaits you if you don't.

Governments consist of humans. As we discussed, humans exhibit predictable behavior. As a result, the government's long term transformation will be determined by traits attributed to human behavior. Coupled with almost unlimited power and little real control from the people, long term results could be quite astounding. At first, governments are small, and perform most basic and necessary functions to govern people – maintaining law and order of the land, and providing basic public services.

As time goes by, governments want to expand their area of activities and influence. There are a number of reasons why. There are noble reasons. They want to do more things for the people, they want people to be safer, and live better. There are not so noble reasons. Every political party wants to have more votes, thus they try to please those groups of people who they feel they can influence. Governments try to make people more dependent on the government, and in this way the votes of dependents will always be on the side of the government. Governments will go as far as promising things they cannot deliver, and taking credit for achievements they had nothing to do with. Have you ever heard political speeches that made no sense to you? What about broken promises?

In the end, it is less important why, but it is more important that this constant desire to expand government's influence and power is an ever present and strong driving force – not spoken about, and not advertised anywhere. Over a period of many years, and spanning across generations your governments did expand their influence in various areas. New agencies, new departments, and new bureaucracies have been created. New laws and regulations are being passed every day. Tax code is being constantly changed to squeeze every dollar from the middle class people – because governments get so big and so inefficient that they need more and more money to exist. It is true that some of the changes and some of the governmental expansion is needed, but not to a degree that you can observe today. It will only get worse in the future.

For these same reasons, governments will try to overtax rich people and the middle class, and give more money to poor people – because poor people become more dependent on the government and will vote for it, not as much because government cares about poor people. As a result, poor people have less motivation to compete – after all they are humans, so why bother if the government will help.

This is an irreversible process – once people stop being self reliant, they will not go back and they won’t make an effort to become competitive.

What about rich people? They will have less money to reinvest. As a result, the economy will suffer – there will be fewer jobs created, and many jobs will be lost. Rich people can invest their fortunes in other countries, or in the worst case, they can completely stop their activities – they have plenty of money to get by. It’s the rest of the people who will suffer.

The middle class people will suffer the most because they cannot afford the luxury of quitting their jobs.

The same poor people the government promised to help won’t be able to find a job because government’s actions caused loss of jobs. Do you see a vicious cycle, and how everything is interconnected?

You all know that education is key to a successful and productive career. If governments truly wanted to help working people, they would at least make college education tax deductible. Do you wonder why this hasn't been done? Can you ask anyone in the federal or state government, why not?

Do you remember a stimulus package to stimulate your economy? Do you remember a promise to reduce unemployment? Did it work? Government’s answer is that yes, of course it worked. Do you agree? Do you mind that the federal government borrows money in your name including from other countries, and then spends that money on some ridiculous projects? Do you know what eventually happens to a country which cannot sustain its debt? A catastrophic collapse - which will occur with no warning. It wouldn't matter what will trigger the downfall. What will government officials say then? It is a proven fact that governments have no clue about fiscal discipline. Are you aware that social security fund was created to support people during their retirement? Do you know that this fund was not supposed to be used for anything else? Do you know that it was depleted by the government for other purposes? Are you surprised? It’s not their money, so why not? How the government intends to replenish the fund? Oh, they will tax people more.

The government employs an army of economists, many with PhD degrees, whose main purpose is to justify government's actions to the public. They go on TV and explain to you, dumb folks, that government is doing all the right things for the benefit of the people.

Do you remember an almost collapse of you country's financial system? Isn’t it a direct responsibility of the government to make sure financial institutions are not too big so that a failure of the few would not significantly affect the economy? What about Madoff’s scandal where he swindled billions and billions of dollars from so many investors? Where was the government who ignored all the red flags and complaints? The answer is simple – the governments are not motivated to do a good job – whatever the job is. Governmental apparatus is corrupt and inefficient. It is surprising that something is being done at all.

So why all of a sudden financial institutions started to collapse? Do you have a clear understanding? Go back in time and try to remember. In the past, banks researched the risks associated with a borrower’s status such as income, credit history, etc, and had their set of rules to qualify a borrower for a mortgage. The government had a noble idea that every poor person should have their own home. There is nothing wrong with that, right? So, the government insisted on lowering borrowing standards. This means that a borrower who under generally accepted mortgage requirements did not qualify for a mortgage, would qualify under the new government sponsored rules. So, off it went and the mortgages were given to people who were not able to keep up with payments. What made the situation much worse was the fact the government being such a big lender effectively lowered lending standards not only for government backed mortgages, but for all mortgages across the board. Other banks simply followed the suite. As a result, a large number of mortgages held by various financial institutions were high risk mortgages. Needless to say that after some time those high risk borrowers started to default on their mortgages. Since there were so many high risk mortgages, it affected many financial institutions that held them, including the biggest ones – the ones that were too big to fail. Note that mortgages are only profitable if close to 100% borrowers pay on time. It is even more critical when mortgage rates are low. A holding bank makes so little profit that a default of even a small number of borrowers can easily wipe out any profits, and create a loss.

So, why financial institutions were about to collapse? This is yet another example of how government tries socializing your society. Even good intentions cause catastrophic results. Of course, government officials will never admit that it was the government’s fault.

And why the government decided to bail out a few largest financial institutions? The main reason, the government said, was because they were too big to fail, and their failure would devastate your country's economy. But wait a second! Isn’t that the government’s responsibility in the first place to make sure no financial institution is too big, so a failure of such institution does not devastate the economy? Did the government accept the responsibility? No. And even if the government admits it was their fault, does it make any difference? So, they screwed up, but it is still your money they wasted.

OK, the government bailed out a few large financial institutions. But they are still too big! Why they are not being split into smaller ones now? And would it be such a bad thing if those bigger ones failed? Other smaller financial institutions would buy pieces of the failed ones, and as a result we would have a healthier financial system. By bailing out the failed financial institutions, the government perpetuates failure which is sure to happen again.

There is another reason why the government will be protecting large financial institutions. If allowed to fail, this will signify even further that such financial institutions were too big. And this in turn will highlight the government’s fault of not splitting up such large institutions into the smaller ones.

Many financial institutions provide significant contributions to political parties and their candidates during elections. As a result, such elected politicians are reluctant to put any pressure on financial institutions, even if it means doing disservice to the people who elected them. This is an example of widely spread governmental and corporate corruption of the highest degree.

In September of 2012, a deadly terrorist attack on the US embassy in Benghazi, Libya left four Americans dead. Insufficient security of the embassy was the result of the President's campaign to portray his success leading to a greatly weakened Al Qaeda terrorist network – to the contrary of the reality. Multiple requests by the embassy to strengthen its security were denied by the Obama administration. In October of 2013, CBS revealed that the Obama administration knew for months in advance that the attacks on Benghazi in 2012 were eminent, yet they still chose to do nothing. In the days following the attack, Susan Rice, a UN Ambassador at the time, made a number of TV appearances. She repeatedly lied on orders from the Obama administration blaming some unknown video for the outrage of local residents. She never revealed who told her. However, for obedient execution of the administration's orders and for deflecting the heat from the President, she was later promoted to become national security adviser – to dismay of so many people, and only adding to the insult of the four dead Americans including the Ambassador Stevens. Hillary Clinton, a Secretary of State at the time, was involved in those lies. She wants to be your future President. You can guess what kind of President she will be. Is that what you deserve?

Do you remember the IRS scandal? The IRS subjected Tea Party-affiliated groups to additional scrutiny based solely on the name and stated goals of the organization. Often, those groups were asked invasive questions about their donor lists, affiliations and contacts with the media – questions not routinely asked other groups. Do you have any doubts that those orders came from the Obama administration? Abuse of power is one of the many secret evil principles of government's behavior.

What about Obamacare? Do you remember a ridiculous farce and a rushed vote on the healthcare bill while most in Congress never read it? I know for a fact that even the President himself never read it! When one leader makes an actual decision while others are forced to blindly follow is a known phenomena observed in autocratic and totalitarian regimes – a really troubling sign for your country's democracy. No wonder that so many people do not want to accept Obamacare as properly ratified law.

It would come as no surprise that healthcare costs will only go up. On top of that, every company would need to waste their resources in order to comply with this 2000 page law that no one completely understands. Wouldn’t it be easier to create a few page bill which would allow insurance companies competing across state lines, and a few other simple items which do make sense? Wouldn't it make sense to be honest about the intent of the bill to help those with pre-existing conditions, and maybe introduce a small additional tax in order to subsidize health insurance policies for those few unfortunate people? Attempting giving medical insurance to everyone will backfire in the same way as did the attempt to give everyone a house. Other countries tried that already. Does waiting for months to see a doctor sound like the kind of medical service you want to experience? October 1st, 2013 was the day when Obamacare went live. Are you surprised that the government website wasn't functioning for many weeks? This is yet another illustration of how governments operate – incapable to accomplish most anything. Higher medical insurance premiums, ridiculous deductibles, long waits, overall erosion of medical profession as well as devastating effect on your economy and burden on personal lives – are just a few consequences you will have to suffer at the hands of your governmental monopolies.

You should take a cue from Europe, and try to learn from what is happening there. Conditions created by Obamacare would make profession of a doctor unattractive. After some years, you won't be able to find a decent doctor. Quality of healthcare will go down. Waiting for months for a visit will become a norm.

Implementation of Obamacare was based upon lies and deception as well as other secret evil driving principles of government's behavior as was described above. “You can keep your plan if you like it!†was repeated by President Obama dozens of times over a period of 2009-2012, and in some instances he said: “You can keep your plan if you like it. Period!†The President lied in order to barely pass the law. If he hadn't, he'd known this law wouldn't have stood a chance. When the law kicked in on October 1st, 2013 - millions of individuals lost their existing policies which were cancelled by insurance company's in order to comply with Obamacare. To find his way out of this, the President again resorted to lies – he lied about his previous lie. He started saying “You can keep your plan if you like it, if it hasn't been cancelled by your insurance company. And that's what I said in the past.†Liar, liar, pants on fire – all I can say. He probably thought you the people of the Unites States were dumb. And who is he to decide which health insurance policy each of you should have? In the meantime, Obamacare is having a real negative effect on your economy. The President's arrogance, incompetence, and ignorance are known signs of what is yet to come. Your country is sinking deeper. All you can do at the moment is to keep jumping up and down in frustration.

The most vulnerable group of people was chosen to participate in Obamacare social experiment first – the minority – those with individual health insurance plans. This is because the administration knew many individual plans would be cancelled, and the uproar of minority would not be loud enough to cause big problems for this utopian project. But this is just the beginning. The financial model of Obamacare is flawed. As a result, health insurance companies will require bailout. As a matter of fact, Obamacare already has a provision which guarantees bailout for insurance companies. Does this sound familiar? Do you know who will pay for this bailout? Just look in the mirror.

As the government spreads its influence into more activities of the private sector and into more income redistribution, your country moves closer to socialistic principles. The new breed of dependent people is being raised and fostered, people who will vote for and do anything for the government which gives them and feeds them. Such people would rather stay poor, get a few additional thousand dollars a year from the government while having a miniscule income – instead of getting education, working hard, having a decent income, and being self reliant. Unfortunately for you, and fortunately for me, the Evil one – this process is not reversible. Once it reaches a critical tipping point, there will be no going back. Is this the kind of country you want to live in? There are other countries which already tried socialism, and the results were devastating for generations of people.

Do you realize the urgency of your problem?

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 27

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 27

A crisis of magnitude is inevitable


I will continue my evil illustration of how things will unfold if you do nothing. By now, you should have doubts that maybe I am not the evil one.

A number of factors are working together gradually pushing your country off the cliff. It is the ever increasing role of the government. It is the growing national debt, and the debts of individual states and local governments. It is the increasing divide between people created and advertised by politicians in order to swing poor people to vote for them. It is the overall sense of hopelessness towards the governments. These processes go on, slowly but steadily. It is only a matter of time before your country reaches a tipping point, and the entire system crumbles. It won’t be pretty. And you won’t be able to find anyone responsible. Politicians will give you many reasons why it happened and why it wasn’t their fault. Finding excuses is one of many secret evil principles by which governments operate.

As conditions deteriorate, more and more people will be affected on a very personal level. Little income, lost hope, absence of prospects for the future, and challenging personal circumstances will push more and more individuals over the edge, making them so angry at others and the government that some of those individuals will just snap into an angry and violent outbursts. The number of shootings will increase dramatically. This trend has already started. As the frequency of mass shootings increases, the unsuspecting public will be more and more at the mercy of random killers, unable to protect themselves in big part due to anti-gun laws. As mentally disturbed an individual can be, in most mass shootings a shooter knew there would be little or no resistance. Do you think even a mentally disturbed individual would still go out on a shooting spree if he knew that seconds after he opens fire he would encounter a barrage of bullets from other people?

It doesn't matter what event would trigger the downfall. It could be as simple as your country having an enormous debt might lose its credit rating, no one would lend it more money, and as a result your country would have trouble even paying interest on the existing debt. It could be something else. It wouldn't matter. Such crisis will devastate your country. It will awaken people. It will start the blame game. But you know what? You can only blame yourselves. Because ultimately it is your responsibility to find a way to control your governments and to make them more efficient, reduce spending, unite yourselves based on the same principles, and pull this country together.

The crisis of magnitude will surprise millions of people who entrusted the government their fate, and stood by doing nothing. There will be calls to hold the government accountable. There will be calls to demand answers. All of that will go unanswered, or various explanations will be given – none of which would make sense, and none of it would matter. Only at that time will people realize they were taken for a ride. Some will survive. But it will be too late for so many.

At times like these, crime will go up significantly, there won't be enough police to contain it, and 9-1-1 calls will go mostly unanswered – that is if the phone system will work at all. Unarmed and unprotected people – thanks to anti gun laws – will become prey to criminals who have always been and always will be armed to the teeth. It will be especially bad in big cities because of higher concentration of criminals, and severe restrictions on gun ownership. Of course, such restrictions were imposed by state and local governments for everyone's safety.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 28

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 28

What is the root cause of government's decay?

I hope that by now you realize what seems to be the fundamental problem.

It is so painfully simple that many would not believe it. It is the people's inability to exercise full and continuous control over their governments. Governments consist of humans who inherently, predictably, and undeniably grow corrupt, ignorant, and more powerful over time. Like cancer, government's negative influence and power slowly spreads throughout democratic society, over a span of many generations – eventually causing the ultimate demise.

In the former Soviet Union with totalitarian regime, such process was happening relatively fast. This caused a known crisis in the early 1990's. European countries are mostly democratic, and therefore the process of governmental decay was happening slower. However, their tilt towards socialistic principles contributed to this process. European crisis started in the early 21st century, and is still progressing as of writing of this book. It will get worse.

The United States is a relatively young country which was founded on great principles of freedom and democracy. However, you are not immune to the same disease. The process of governmental decay is happening very slowly because the United States is the most democratic society in the world. But it is happening nonetheless. It is just a matter of time before you are next, unless you recognize the problem, and do something about it. Hopefully, it's not too late.

It is very likely that more than one crisis will occur. This is because people never act to completely address whatever the underlying problems caused the initial crisis, and settle on some sort of partial solution. Therefore, the underlying conditions persist, thus causing yet another crisis over time. There will be no other crises when the underlying conditions are understood, accepted, and acted upon by the people. It may be possible to prevent such crisis if all people act together and as soon as possible.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 29

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 29

What does it mean to hold an elected government official accountable?

You probably have heard this a lot, but there is no clear understanding what it means.

Does it mean you do not re-elect a public official? If a government official did a poor job, the damage has already been done. Not re-electing such government official is little punishment, and it is too late for the people who were affected.

Do you put such government official on the stand and lecture him/her about their wrongdoing? You may get some satisfaction out of it, but it is impossible to undo the damage.

Do you take away their pay for the period they were in office? Never heard of such drastic measure. It is unlikely to happen in the future.

It seems there is no real way to hold a government official accountable in the same way it happens to other people.

If you work for a company, and your supervisor is not happy with your performance, you would be informed rather quickly. If you do not adjust, you can by punished financially, reassigned, or even terminated.

If for example, you are not happy with your auto mechanic, you don't need to wait a year, two years, or four years in order to chose another one. If you are not happy with your doctor, you can go to another one right away. If you don't like a contractor, you are free to pick another one. You are able to exercise your control rather quickly. And this is key to holding an elected government official accountable!

This is the only meaningful way to hold a government official accountable – being able to demand changes right away, and if not satisfied, remove such government official quickly.

Such approach is also consistent with the definition of full control – being able to communicate a message of dissatisfaction at any time as well as being able to take a corrective action at any time.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 30

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 30

What is the ideal way to control an elected public official?

Did you ever think what would be the ideal way for you to control your elected public officials? Is it good enough for you to only elect a politician, but then have absolutely no say regarding his/her activities? Would you agree that politicians are aware of this? Would you agree that politicians devote enormous resources to win your vote during elections, but afterward are free to ignore you? Do you know what's going on behind closed doors? Do you have any control over it?

Consider a small village of 100 people who elect a mayor once a year. Let's say the newly elected Mayor wants to use the main public square for advertisement in order to raise additional funds. Most residents don't like it. Some of them stopped by the Mayor's office and expressed their dissatisfaction. However, the Mayor does not back off. He strongly feels about his plan. The villagers don't like the Mayor's plan so much that they are willing to let him go and elect someone else. A few villagers deliver the message to the Mayor. The next day, the Mayor cancels his plans.

The significance of this example becomes clear if you recall the definition of full control. Village residents could express their dissatisfaction with the Mayor at any time (a). It was as easy as stopping by his office (b). Village residents can elect another mayor at any time (c). The conclusion is that the villagers are in full control of their government represented by an elected public official – the Mayor of the village. They are able to continuously control the Mayor throughout the entire period up until the next election.

For people, having full and continuous control over their governments is the only assurance that their governments will always act in the best interest of the people. This is the ideal scenario. Otherwise, the disconnect between the governments and the people is unavoidable. It is the direct result of human nature of those in power. Therefore, any government inevitably veers off the desired path – with devastating long term consequences for the people. The only way to bridge this gap is for people to be able to exercise full and continuous control over their governments. Nothing else will prevent gradual governmental decay causing the inevitable downfall of society.

The challenge is that achieving such full control is easy on a small scale – like in a small village. It becomes impractical and absolutely impossible on a bigger scale – like a city, a state, or the entire country.

You control elected officials mostly during elections, and have little control at other times.

It is important to recognize that such ineffective control of the governments is NOT the best way, and is far from being the best way, but has been the only PRACTICAL way of exercising some degree of control – which of course is far better than having no control at all as we discussed earlier.

If it was technically possible to continuously control elected public officials on a large scale – that would be the ideal way to control the governments!

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 31

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 31

Democracy: The Missing Link

I hope that by now you realize that I am not the Devil, but a person – like you, who is passionate about this country and its people, who clearly sees the underlying reasons and what is about to happen. The Devil is represented by evil agents mentioned in the first chapter. Read their names backwards in order to reveal who they are.

There is only one thing which will get our democratic governments back on track, will assure they stay on track, will eliminate massive government corruption, will make our governments listen to the people and react to their opinions in a timely manner, will make politicians talk in a normal language not requiring an army of interpreters to explain what they meant – it is full and continuous control of elected public officials, and on every level - be it the federal government, state government, or a local government.

Continuous Approval Process – CAP – is the only way people can ensure they are in full control of their democratic governments. The process where each of us, at any time and with ease, can express our satisfaction or dissatisfaction with any elected public official. The process where each of us, at any time and with ease, is able to collectively vote out an elected public official we are not happy with – effectively firing him or her right away, without the wait for the next election. This is the process which is long overdue, the process which could not be technically implemented even a short time ago, and the only thing which may prevent the collapse of our democratic society which gradually, slowly, and inevitably is being transformed into socialistic system.

Some readers would argue that there are existing recall procedures in place providing the necessary tools to accomplish this. The reality is that although such procedures do exist, they do not apply to all elected public officials, they require a lot of effort from many people, and they are very time consuming. In short, they are limited and ineffective, and cannot accomplish what Continuous Approval Process can.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 32

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 32

Putting CAP on the government – Continuous Approval Process

Imagine a computer screen or a TV screen with the list of all elected officials pertaining to you: the President of the United States, your US Senators, your US Representative(s), the Governor of your state along with state elected officials, and your local elected officials. Against each name, there are two choices – approve or disapprove, as well as extra space for optional comments. At any time, you are able to bring up such screen in a matter of seconds, and indicate whether you approve or disapprove any elected public official. If the vast majority of voters disapprove a given elected official, a separate vote is held on whether to remove such elected official. Illustrations of such screens are shown in Fig. 1A, 1B, and 1C.

Frustration with the government, the feeling of helplessness with no way out, heated political discussions leading nowhere – all of that will be replaced with a few satisfying clicks and a smile on your face. Because you will feel in control, and because you actually will be in control. Let politicians run around and figure out the best way to serve the public. Give them the only option – truly work for the people. They will have no choice because you will be a part of an invisible but ever present virtual oversight agency consisting of millions of people like you.

Let's take a close look at the illustration in Fig. 1. Your name and CAP ID are shown on top of the page. The purpose of CAP ID will be explained further below. All pertinent elected officials are listed in three separate sections to avoid confusion – federal, state, and local elected officials respectfully (Col. 1). Initially, all votes are set to 'Approve'. So, if a given voter does nothing, his or her vote will stay as a vote of approval. A vote to 'Disapprove' is always set for a certain duration of time by a voter – for example, a few days, but no longer than let's say 30 days. If a voter takes no action afterward and such period expires, the vote of disapproval automatically changes to the vote of approval. Such rules slightly favor elected officials in order to give them the benefit of the doubt while at the same time encouraging voters to act upon their dissatisfaction. See Col. 2 and 3.

If you are not happy with an elected official, simply check 'Disapprove' box against such elected official (Col. 3). You may also leave an optional comment explaining why (Col. 4). Elected officials as well as other people will be able to see your vote of a disapproval along with your comment but without any identifying information such as your name and address. Such openness creates an unprecedented communication channel between the people and their elected officials. The significance of such communication is explained below.

You are always able to know what is the overall vote of approval regarding every elected official. Such information is presented in Col. 5 and 6. The header of these columns also indicates the threshold of dissatisfaction, let's say 70%. If the disapproval reaches this level or higher, then in a separate vote people have to make a decision whether to remove such elected official, or give him/her another chance. If the threshold is reached, the entire row of cells opens up (Col. 7 – 11) letting a voter to make a decision whether to remove an elected official.

Every voter is notified via emails, automated phone calls, and news outlets that an elected official had a no confidence vote, and the fate of such elected official needs to be decided via a separate removal vote. A seven day period is allotted for this process. Initially, all votes are set to 'Keep' (Col. 7). Every voter is able to cast their vote, possibly choosing to 'Remove' (Col. 8) such elected official. The overall vote is shown in columns 9 and 10. The header of these columns indicates the threshold vote needed to remove an elected official, let's say 67%. If votes to 'Remove' reach this number by the end of the seven day period, an elected official is removed. The final decision is shown in Col. 11.

As you can see, Continuous Approval Process has two phases. In the first phase, people continuously cast their vote of approval or a disapproval. Only if such vote reaches the threshold of dissatisfaction, the process moves to the second phase letting people decide the fate of an elected official. Computer systems and technology are only used to count votes. It is the people who make the decisions.

You may have doubts and questions regarding such approach to control public elected officials. They are addressed in the following chapters.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 33

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 33

Advantages of Continuous Approval Process

Today's reality is that elected public officials do what they want or what they feel is right, with little regard to people's opinion. Occasionally, politicians give speeches full of vague explanations. They are not held accountable because there are no consequences until next election, and by that time they will come up with another speech and another explanation. When we disagree with what a politician does, all we do is talk and argue at the dinner table, with co-workers, or at a gathering. However there is little we can do in practical terms – we all have busy lives, and little spare time. We are left frustrated and feeling helpless. Such daily occurrence leaves us hopeless. Politicians know it, and therefore can get away with most anything.

By introducing Continuous Approval Process (CAP), we the people gain real control over elected public officials. Whatever they do will immediately be reflected in their approval ratings. They will have no choice, but to follow the will of the people. They will know full well what's coming next if they don't. In the meantime, they are free to communicate their intentions and explain their actions to the people. We are not dumb. We are not stupid. We may even understand and agree with their actions. They just need to speak in a normal language, and not the typical politician's language of nonsense and demagoguery.

Do you remember the definition of full control? Let's see if CAP gives you and others full collective control of your elected public officials. We will mark in parenthesis respective conditions from the definition of full control. At any time, any person is able to communicate a message of dissatisfaction by bringing up a respective screen and placing check marks in 'Disapprove' column (a). This could be accomplished easily and in a matter of minutes or even seconds (b). At any time, every person (collectively with other people) can take a corrective action by firing an elected official if his/her performance is not satisfactory (c).

Conclusion: When utilizing CAP, people have full control of their governments through full control of elected public officials.

This is the missing link – a part of the democratic process which has been missing for years and generations. Frankly, this part of a democratic process has been missing throughout the entire history of human civilization.

Note that CAP does not transform our political system to allow the majority to govern and possibly ignore the needs of minorities. CAP simply creates an amazing virtual oversight agency consisting of millions of people who are continuously scrutinizing government's actions.

Many of today's politicians will not be able to cope with CAP because they are used to the freedom of doing whatever they want, little oversight, good benefits, fat salaries and pensions, bribery and corruption. A new breed of politicians will emerge. Those will be the people who truly want to serve the public, the people whose honesty and integrity prevented them from participating in the governments of yesterday, the people whose future actions will promote the will of the people.

In this new world most people will participate in political process – because it will be so easy! Watch the news, read newspapers, talk to other people, form an opinion, and if you feel a politician is out of line, just check 'Disapprove' box and express your dissatisfaction in a phrase or two. Let politicians run around, do what's right, and find the right words to explain their actions – in a way that is easy to understand, and does not require an interpreter.

Believe it or not, firing a politician will be a rare occurrence. It would be plain silly for a politician to get to this point. The main advantage of CAP will be the fact that it facilitates continuous feedback, communication and interaction between the people and their elected public officials. On the one hand, politicians act and explain their actions. On the other hand, people express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction while at the same time providing their valuable feedback. Politicians are able to easily see what concerns people, and adjust accordingly. A politician always has a chance to explain seemingly unpopular actions. We the people are not stupid. Maybe we will understand and agree.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 34

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 34

Nothing else changes

It is important to point out that Continuous Approval Process (CAP) introduces incremental change to our federal, state, and local political systems. It is not a drastic change. All existing laws and regulations stay unchanged.

Such incremental change is practical to implement. It does not carry a significant burden to society. In a rare case when an elected public official is removed, the replacement process follows existing laws and procedures.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 35

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 35

With power comes responsibility

Prior to CAP process, we the people didn't have real control over our governments. Having full control will be something new to us, something we would have to get used to. We will need to learn to make calm and logical decisions which benefit us in the long run. We will have a challenging job ahead of us – to undo enormous damage inflicted on our country during so many years of governmental rampage. We will make mistakes in our decisions which is unavoidable. The process of recovery and coming back to sanity is gradual, and will take years. We have to learn to make decisions based on honesty with ourselves, and not out of anger or spite. It is impossible to achieve quick results. Attempting to push too quickly may hurt a lot of people.

If we collectively make poor decisions, they will come back haunting us later on. There will be no one to blame but ourselves. Our destiny will truly be in our hands.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 36

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 36

What can we do?

The only way to change the course of history is to change the behavior of the governments on every level – the federal government as well as state and local governments. This is to make sure they work for us. Remember that governments serve us, and not the other way around.

It doesn't matter what they think – what matters is what we think about what they think.

In order to change the behavior of the governments, we need to be able to fully and continuously control our governments by implementing CAP – Continuous Approval Process. Politicians often refer to their occupation as public service while calling themselves public servants. Finally, those expressions will have true meaning.

The very first step would be to amend the Constitution of the United States in order to make CAP a law. The proposed Amendment to the Constitution is detailed in a separate chapter below. If we all recognize that our inability to have full and continuous control over our governments is the common denominator of most of our problems with these governments, then together we can direct our efforts into changing the Constitution first. This will enable us to proceed with technical implementation of CAP.

Do not listen to anyone who is an elected public official, who belongs to a political party, and to anyone who is associated with any past, current or potentially future government – simply tell them there is a conflict of interest and therefore their opinion is biased. The governments stand to lose the power they had, and therefore will put up a desperate fight to preserve it.

They will not hesitate to use any means available to them in order to deceive, discredit, falsely accuse, fine, imprison, and even kill their opponents. They are humans, and at times of desperation they will do what all humans have done throughout human history in order to preserve their power.

Continuous Approval Process (CAP) allowing people to control their governments on all levels must become a part of The United States Constitution in order to assure people's control over their governments in the future. In order to amend the Constitution, vast majority of the US legislative branch needs to vote for the amendment – two thirds of the House and two thirds of the Senate. On top of that, 38 of the 50 state legislatures would have to approve the amendment. Most of the existing politicians will be against it for obvious reasons. So will be the people working for the government, or heavily relying on the government in one way or another. We the people need to elect those politicians who promise to vote for such an amendment. We need to make it the only issue of every future election!

We often have different opinions on various matters. But because CAP represents such a fundamental positive change, most people could agree with it and support it regardless of their political affiliation or financial status. United, we can push for such Constitutional Amendment and succeed. Do you see that it is possible to give the people the ability to continuously control their governments?

Full and continuous control of the governments is the missing link of our democracy! It is the missing link of any democracy.

It will take time to amend the United States Constitution and constitutions of every state as well as to change local laws. But it is worth the wait. In the meantime, we can develop and refine technical implementation of CAP over a period of time in order to make sure it works flawlessly and as expected.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 37

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 37

Technical implementation of CAP

Many people may doubt that it is possible to implement such computerized system on the national scale. The most important concern would be how to prevent voting fraud. Another concern would be how to make such system accessible to everyone.

Our daily lives heavily rely on the Internet, mobile networks as well as on various computerized systems deployed by banks, online merchants, credit card companies, various government agencies, and others. Such computerized systems are often complicated, but very reliable and secure. A computerized CAP system would be very simple compared to other existing computerized systems. There is no reason why it would be impossible to technically implement such a system.

CAP system consists of the two major parts – collecting votes, and reviewing votes. The collection process deals with every voter and records individual voting decisions, then strips any identifying information and sends such non-identifiable votes to another part of the system responsible for reviewing votes. The review process allows anyone to review all collected voting information which no longer contains any identifying information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, etc.

When implementing a computerized system of such magnitude as CAP, it is always a good idea to look around and see if by any chance we could rely on any existing infrastructure to support some of the components of such system. The infrastructure that is vast, reliable, secure, accessible, and trustworthy. Look no further than the network of consumer banks spread across the country. Before you throw your hands up in the air, before you think how crazy this may sound, please review the following important considerations.

We trust banks to keep our money, so why not trust banks to keep our vote?

We trust banks to protect our privacy, so why not trust banks to protect the privacy of our vote?

We trust banks to do banking online, so why not trust them to provide online CAP functionality?

We trust cash machines (bank-o-mats) to do banking, so why not trust them to provide CAP functionality for people on the go or for those who don't have Internet access?

Cash machines (bank-o-mats) are everywhere, they are reliable, and secure. They can even provide a small printout regarding a transaction.

Deployment of multiple banks would de-centralize CAP system, thus making it more reliable and less prone to fraud and outages.

Banks already maintain high level of building security, network security, and information security.

Banks have reliable ways to authenticate a person, thus preventing unauthorized access.

Banks already have anti-fraud departments devoted to fighting fraud, preventing it, and investigating every suspicious activity.

Banks already comply with an array of government regulations throughout the banking process and have already developed related software, so it won't be too difficult for them to comply with one more new regulation requiring them to implement CAP. Banks will be compensated for this effort by the taxpayers. Those will be tax dollars well spent.

Let's continue detailing CAP process. Every voter is assigned a Public CAP ID which consists of randomly selected 12 numbers in the format NNNN-NNNN-NNNN. For example, 0589-3801-6658. Anyone will be able to view CAP ID's as part of non-identifying voting information. However, only a voter knows his or her own CAP ID. No one else does. CAP ID almost never changes for a given person.

As was explained above, the non-identifying portion of the voting information collected by banks would be aggregated, and then allowed to be viewed by anyone online via the Internet, using a cash machine (bank-o-mat), or even on cable TV!

A few of the existing ISP's (Internet Service Providers) and cable TV companies such as Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and others could be charged with the reviewing portion of this task, while at the same time being compensated similar to banks – by taxpayers. Most considerations in favor of using banks would also apply to ISP's and cable TV companies.

The non-identifying voting information will include a voter's CAP ID as well as the managing bank, but will not include a voter's name, address, or any other identifying information. Other People, including elected officials, are able to view votes of others, including every voter's CAP ID, managing bank, comments, gender, age range, and general geographic area of residence (ZIP code, Town, County, and State). Such non-identifying information will provide transparency of the process, as well as would give anyone, including an elected official, the ability to conduct research of people's opinions as well as to prevent fraud. Anyone will be able to download such information on their computer, view it, or even use a third party software to conduct research.

A fragment of such view for the President of the United States is shown in Fig. 2.

When reviewing votes, any voter is also able to find his/her vote by their own CAP ID in order to verify the accuracy. This is illustrated in Fig. 3.

When reviewing votes with non-identifying information, it is reasonable to doubt whether a specific CAP ID is real or fake. Anyone is able to verify the validity of any CAP ID by clicking on it, via a cash machine (bank-o-mat) of the respective managing bank, or online via the Internet by accessing the bank's website. The record shown by the bank in Fig. 4A, 4B, and 4C below should be found and should have information consistent with the Detailed View in Fig. 2.

Note the clear separation of collection and review roles in CAP system. On the one hand, multiple banks are responsible for collecting votes, transmitting non-identifying voting information to ISP's, and letting anyone verify the validity of any given CAP ID. On the other hand, multiple ISP's are responsible for aggregating of non-identifying voting information, and allowing anyone to view and download it. Such separation of roles further promotes the system's reliability, security, and fraud resistance. Nothing would prevent TV cable companies from downloading all non-identifying voting information, and letting people view it at home right on the screens of their cable TV's!

With many newer Internet enabled TVs, people may access the Internet right on the screens of their TVs. This means you would be able to cast your votes as well as viewing votes of others right from the comfort of your home.

Your cable TV remote control becomes a part of the democratic process, and enables you to easily exercise control over your governments!

Talk about ease, convenience, and accessibility.

Governments do not play an active role in CAP process. An independent government entity may oversee the compliance with CAP implementation, conduct spot checks to verify the system is functioning properly, and occasionally take part in wide spread investigations if necessary.

If CAP system is disabled temporarily due to technical issues, a natural disaster, or other unforeseen circumstances, the democratic process continues to function in the same way as it was prior to CAP implementation.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 38

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 38

Preventing CAP fraud through Continuous Auditing Process

In order to prevent fraud within Continuous Approval Process (CAP), the system allows and encourages people to participate in Continuous Auditing Process, which is an organic part of CAP system. Additionally, CAP system automatically performs its own internal auditing on a continuous basis. And of course, all transactions are recorded, and can easily be traced back in case of an investigation. The following functionality enables Continuous Auditing Process.

1. When reviewing votes with non-identifying information, any voter is able to find her own vote among millions of other votes by supplying her CAP ID, and verifying that her votes, comments, non-identifying information, and managing bank are all correctly recorded in the system (See Fig. 3). If somehow the information is different from what was entered on the voting screen (Fig. 1), this triggers an investigation.

2. Anyone is able to download all votes onto their computer, and verify that the overall vote is exactly correct (Fig. 2). A discrepancy triggers an investigation.

3. Anyone is able to download all or selected voting information onto their computers at any time, and any number of times over any period of time, compare different downloads either manually, or using a third party software, and investigate any changes on their own as explained in item 4.

4. Anyone is able to verify a validity of any CAP ID and view the respective votes as shown in Fig. 4. If such CAP ID is not found, or there is an inconsistency compared to Detailed View (Fig. 2), this triggers an investigation.

5. Collecting votes is managed by multiple banks while aggregating, reviewing, and downloading of non-identifying voting information is managed by multiple ISP's. Such separation of functionalities into two distinct layers as well as the reliance on multiple independent entities promote reliability, redundancy, security, and fraud resistance.

6. Computer systems of every participating bank and every ISP continuously verify consistency of information between each other to ensure that every voter information on one system has a respective information on every other system as appropriate. Any discrepancy triggers an investigation.

7. The system continuously generates random requests to registered voters so that they confirm their voter registration status via regular mail, email, or online. All voters newly registered with the system receive such requests. Any discrepancy triggers an investigation. The associated mailing costs will be the money well spent compared to cost of junk mail.

Millions of people will be viewing, verifying, downloading, and scrutinizing voting information. It will be practically impossible to alter voting information without someone else noticing it. CAP system itself will be continuously verifying consistency of all voting information. On top of that, well secured physical infrastructure, network infrastructure, and informational infrastructure maintained by banks and ISP's would make any fraudulent attempt practically impossible.

You may be thinking that someone may easily create multiple dummy entries in the system in order to commit fraud. Let's see whether this is possible.

There are two independent parts of the proposed system – the recording part, and the viewing part. The recording part is comprised of multiple consumer banks. The reviewing part is comprised of multiple ISP's.

In order to add dummy entries to the recording part, one needs to break into the banking system where voters are registered and where votes are being recorded. This is as difficult as breaking into the banking system and creating a number of fake bank accounts while bypassing multiple internal safeguards. Even if successful, CAP internal auditing process will immediately contact every new voter via regular mail, email, or a phone call in order to verify the authenticity. Internal banking processes will also flag the excessive number of newly created voting accounts. The discrepancy will be discovered, and multiple watchdog parties will be alerted.

Another fraudulent approach is to add dummy entries to the viewing part. One needs to break into computer system of an ISP and gain access to their internal network, then somehow learn database passwords, and then somehow interface with their database – because the proposed system does not provision any user interface to add entries to the viewing part database. Even if somehow this is successful, the automated internal auditing process will quickly discover the discrepancy between the recording part and the viewing part, alerting multiple watchdog parties.

Note that millions of people keep downloading selective snapshots from viewing part of the system multiple times, and then comparing different snapshots to each other. Adding of even slightly significant number of fake voters will be noticed, and multiple watchdog parties will be alerted.

Also keep in mind the dire consequences a violator would face if caught. Ruined reputation, lost job, or prison time would be the most likely prospect. Today, a voter trying to commit fraud is not risking any of that. Being turned away from the voting booth is the worst thing that can happen in most cases.

The newly proposed system would effectively prevent voting fraud and discourage the very thought about it.

The objective of any voting fraud is to change votes so that others do not notice. If there is no way to change votes without someone noticing it, the entire attempt to alter votes makes no sense and therefore loses its appeal in the eyes of potential offenders.

 

[IG.]

Killing America Slowly, Chapter 39

From the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Killing America Slowly

CHAPTER 39

Changing the rest of the world by example

As was mentioned earlier, anyone will be able to view and download voting information onto their computers at any time. This also includes people from other countries – both, our friends and our enemies.

Note, that only non-identifying voting information is provided. So, there is no danger that identifying or confidential information gets into unwanted hands.

Such openness of the democratic process along with the demonstration of how people exercise full control over their governments will allow people of the world to literally touch and feel our democracy, and get firsthand experience in how Continuous Approval Process works. It is inevitable that such experience will produce in other people the desire to control their own governments in similar ways. Such desire will give people of other countries hope, will make them more aware of the faults of their own governments, and will make them impatient. The desire to have their own version of Democracy with Continuous Approval Process will grow over time – potentially leading to positive changes in other countries throughout the world.

At times, religious fanaticism from abroad spills over and poisons the minds of the few in our democratic country. Let our positive democratic changes spill over into other countries, touch those people on a deeper level, and poison their minds with democratic ideas of freedom and the excitement of being able to exercise full control over their governments. Let them visualize, and almost feel how such process could work in their country. This may advance other democracies, and even turn autocratic and totalitarian regimes into democracies – thus, winning the war with evil from within and without any fighting. People are not evil. Their minds and souls are like soil – whatever is planted, will grow. If we plant the seeds of democratic ideas potentially enabling people to have full control over their governments in the future, that would be the strongest blow we could deliver to our enemies – enemies, who we don't have to kill. Enemies, who in the end may become our friends.