The supplemental Iraq War finance bill clearly illustrates that the Democratic “leadership� is continuing the established 6 year Republican trend: undermining the US Constitution, while giving our tax monies to their special interest groups.

 

Many Democrats think that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi offers hope for America. Wake Up! The first thing she did after Democrats won control of the House was to throw a $1,000/person dinner with hundreds of lobbyists present!

 

To gain enough support to pass this bill, Speaker Pelosi probably needed to include several Democratic earmarks in exchange for votes. The Democratic “leadership� also overstepped their Constitutional authority by including in this bill mandates that dictate how the President should run the military in a war that was condoned with bipartisan support!

 

I am a registered Democrat and to my knowledge this Republican administration has made every wrong decision possible. However, the Democrats are also not representing me or America. My point is that the Democratic and Republican “leaderships� are similar in that they do not serve America’s best interests or even Americans of any political ideology; these traditional politicians only serve their special interest group masters and that point needs to be illuminated and blind party loyalty questioned, if not outright abandoned by all Americans.

If elected as President, I guarantee specific performance to the American people. The first guarantee is to end special interest group influence on our government. If as President I fail to perform up to achieving my guarantees, I will resign at any time that by polling of the American people, a majority desire my removal from the office.

Ex Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who is an actor on Law & Order is thinking about running for President in the 08 election. This makes the AP news, BUT they also include his positions "on the issues:"

- Pro-life

- Anti-gay marriage

- Anti-gun control

- Pro-Iraq troop surge

- Pardon Lewis "Scooter" Libby from jail

(full article)

These are the issues that are important for people to know about a president?! These issues are the areas that people want leadership for America?? I guess that is what I am doing wrong - I thought people wanted direction for things like fiscal responsibility in government, barring special interest group control, stabilizing social security and medicare, upholding our constitution, energy independence, improving our economy, and the like as issues a President should bring detailed visions for America's improvement.

The media and Democrats are in heaven over the 8 US attorneys fired for not tampering with elections by indicting Democratic candidates prior to the 2006 midterm election. Add into this that the Republican members of Congress that pressured these US attorneys, also Republican Bush appointees, potentially could be legal due to an aide of Senator Arlen Specter slipping language into the Patriot Act that gave more presidential power.

Many aspects of this reaffirm the values and ethics of Republicans in Congress and the administration. However, the media is so far completely missing the most disturbing aspect of this whole issue:

All members of Congress signed the Patriot Act into law without reading it! This is their one job and none of them are doing it!

My previous statement about Social Security was too conservative. The impact of the prescription drug program is far more severe than I originally estimated. According to the Congressional Budget Office it will increase the burden to Social Security by 12%, My estimates factored this in as noise.

In examining Medicare alone, the expense for this program will consume all of the US revenue by 2014. Toss in all of Social Security and Medicare and this expense will consume all of our nation's revenue by 2012.

Another report on the Colorado River shows that its shrinking water level will begin impacting the 25 million people over seven states that depend on this water source by 2011. The report stated that this problem has gone so long without being addressed that technology and conservation are no longer able to fix it and trade-offs will now need to occur - lives, livestock, farming, golfing, lawns, non-native plants. This region is a major economic area of the US and this type of disruption will hurt the economy at the very least.

2008 will be the focal point for our nation to address these problems and other critical issues that continue to mount or change forever the face of America. Perhaps the bluntness of my words and candidacy is not appealing, but are the more pleasant visions of the other candidates more appealing because visions and dreams is their offering as usual, that is politics as usual. 

Has anyone noticed that traditional politicians are not leaders and if they were would be ill-suited for getting elected and re-elected. Why? They need to compromise and pass accommodating legislation that alleviates their obligations; those that enabled them to raise the money for their campaigns. That means back door deals, pork, and earmark arrangements with other legislators so that multiple legislators can pay the obligations to their special interest benefactors. The upcoming presidential election demonstrates the level of obligation as the major candidates will spend $1 billion – supporting and voting for any major politician for president is simply embracing a lie. They are not leaders and even if they had some leadership ability their obligations to special interest group benefactors will prohibit them from implementing any substantive changes that are needed to solve our critical problems.

 

A clear example is Social Security (which includes Medicare). Every election Social Security reform is promised by candidates that will fix the problem, but after the election – nothing. As a brief aside, George Bush’s proposal would actually break the system faster instead of helping it. However, the problem has been known for decades because it is a simple financial projection with reliable variables – annual cost of living increases, annual inflation rate for healthcare expenses, and aging demographics of Americans. This allows for a simple projection that Social Security will grow to a point that in 2019, this program will consume ALL of our national budget. It will continue its growth due to baby boomers enrolling into this program over the next 30 years from now and in 2037 will consume almost 8 times our nation’s budget!

 

This problem alone will quickly bankrupt America!

 

However, the obligations to powerful special interest groups like insurance and pharmaceutical companies and AARP are strong and these groups want the system to stay as it is if not have it expanded. When was the last legislation that actually was an improvement for a major problem facing America?

 

Social Security is not the only critical issue facing America and none of the special interest group puppets that are the traditional politicians will be able to address them, even if they have the vision giving them the ability to adequately do so.

 

The media is slowly unearthing the information I have been yelling about for months – from Newsweek articles about the Social Security problem as well as explaining that even a complete halt to the emission of greenhouse gasses would still cause global warming for decades as well as a Time article that spoke about the US Economy’s strength due solely to deficit spending and the abundant growth in the federal government over the last 6 years and without these our GDP would be negative.

 

The problem is informing people is only half of the battle, getting leadership with the vision and freedom to act is the real issue.

This is the first podcast with the new mic a Sennheiser MD46 and it was great! The voice almost sounds like me. It was such a good quality I did not have to edit every other word in the podcast - a dream. The podcast is about campaign reform. In addition to the podcast further information can be found at my website about campaign reform as well as the role of special interest groups.

It's just a local weekly newspaper, but I am surprised that I was able to get any media attention at all this early. I have two paragraphs written up about my effort from the Good Times Weekly. This is a good first step. I just need people to show their support by signing up at my website. I have placed the story at digg, so if you want to digg it - feel free. Patrick armchairpresident.com American policy for America's interests, not special interests

Our Country was founded on ideals and principles, one of which is that we can not rely on their always being good men governing our country. So, the founding fathers designed our checks and balances system to be a country that was based on good laws. Unfortunately the founding fathers also designed our government to be run by inexperienced politicians; the role of congress was very part-time and not supposed to interfere with the senators' and representatives' real full-time jobs and careers.

Today, the landscape is so different that the Founding Fathers could never have imagined what our government would evolve into and I believe that they would not be looking at it with pride. A recent article in The New Republic describes the character of today's politicians. The article seems to portray our great and virtuous politicians go into this place of depravity and temptation where the interns are described as looking almost like hookers. That could be true and this appears to be a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg' type of situation. That is, were our politicians, virtuous boy scouts that were corrupted by evil lobbyists and hooker-esque interns? Or perhaps, does a career in politics attract people that have, shall we call it - dubious character, to begin with? Or does success and building a career in politics actually select for people with dubious character? For full disclosure, I don't think our career politicians were virtuous boy scouts prior to politics, that's my bias.

Career politicians have changed the dynamic of our government so far from what the guiding principles were, that the system has become overwhelmed and dominated by special interest groups running career politicians, who in turn run America. It comes back to the career politician and campaigning. Campaigning has turned into expensive media campaigns, most of which are attack ads and smear and fear tactics. This expense makes the election process dependent upon special interest group support, which essentially translates into policy that benefits that special interest group, usually at the expense of America's interests.

The bottom line is that campaign reform is needed to remove special interest groups from campaigns and thus having politicians that can act for America's interests. America's interests should be first and foremost for every policy. As a byproduct, policies will benefit special interests. This little nuance is the defining difference between good policy and most of today's policies that are primarily to help a specific special interest group.

However, with the current status of our government, we need to rely upon a good president to push campaign reform to make the election process special interest group money free. One solution is that campaigns could be funded directly by the government. Each candidate would be allotted the same, low amount of resources to strategically manage for their election and that is all. My preference is to supply a low amount of resources because if a candidate cannot effectively manage resources in their campaign then that should work against them in the election. I do not want politicians managing the resources of our country if they can not show a track record of effective resource management. There are several solutions for successful campaign reform and this nationalized funding is just one possibility because we end up paying for all campaigns with tax dollars right now. They are just hidden in legislation or really, not so hidden in legislation. So, it seems that this type of transition may be the easiest for reform to embrace.

Hilary Clinton announced that she was either getting the full party backing or she would go it alone and already has staff in place in several states to do so. This is bad characteristics of a presidential candidate. This is the reason Bill didn't get as much done when he was president. Bill could handle a republican congress. He couldn't handle the selfish-ass wife. This is why America hated hilary as the first lady. She should wakeup, she got the Senate seat out of pity for going through Bill's philanderings. This is bad news for the major democratic hopefuls, but good news for my campaign and the Republicans must already be looking at campaigning for 2012 because with this I bet they think whoever they nominate will win a completely divided democratic party. However, this division also has a benefit in making it easier for my campaign to succeed in the democratic party. I just need your support - so register at my website.

Write to Bush. Voice you opinion while you can. Send him luv or send him a Dear Shrub letter. He probably won't read it, but somone might and that will be the only tax dollar that will work for you in the last I don't know how many years. Plus you can take a look at our government actually does something then there are big butts because then they take an opposite stance as the one they just took. Finally our ideals in justice are being superseded by our government - not a surprise. I am starting a list of our government breaking our own policies, rules, and laws - naughty america. Send me a message and I will add your item to the list if it fits the criteria.

Signing statements

What are a signing statements?
Signing statements are addendums to laws by the Executive Branch.
Signing statements are typically notes (this is a great law; our country will be safer...). However, the signing statements by George Bush try to legally exempt the Executive Branch from all or portions of the law. Signing statements, currently have no weight of law, but the Supreme Court has not thoroughly ruled on the issue of signing statements.

President Bush and the potential constitutional damage of the signing statements

You can make a difference - support the US Constitution by showing your support for Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty for President.

The president needs to reign in the government (since the president is formally in charge of the government) reagrding the erosion of our constitutional rights. Plus, make the government live up to the compact it made with Americans that formed the US Constitution.

Reign in - eroding our the rights of Americans in the name of finding terrorists, god, or anything else. The government can hunt terrorists without taking away the rights (privacy and due process for example) of Americans. If it is ok for terrorists, well what about other mass murder cases? This is what terrorists are, there is no difference. Since mass murderers could be lurking anywhere in gangs, in schools, McDonalds, the post office, that would mean no Americans should have any rights because we have to find these mass murderers before they strike! They are already in our country! Abandon all freedom before we are all killed.

WRONG. Needs to stop. That is not to say our best efforts should not go toward crime prevention and securing our country. It should just stop happening at the expense of constitutional rights violations!

Establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and scure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.

That is the compact that society gave up unlimited personal freedoms for the creation and support of our government. The government needs to promote justice for all - equitably. The government is exempt from many of the laws that govern our country and that is wrong.

Tranquility - just mention voting and people start freaking.

Common defense - $1 trillion spent on national security and anti-terrorism and we have nothing to show for it - we don't know who is in our country illegally; our ground sea and air borders are still just as insecure as ever. However, this is not just warfare threats, this includes natural disaster threats - hurricanes, volcanoes, earthquakes, bird flu pandemic, global warming.

General welfare - our secondary schools are awful, hospitals are closing, libraries are begging for money directly from the public to stay open, our roads, waterways, and levees - they are in disrepair.

secure liberty - fiscal irresponsibility is going to leave a mark on us now and for the future. Because as the competition in the global arena heats up our debt will no longer be financed by other countries and our economy will crumble/collapse. When this will happen is the only question if we do not fix the issue.

Overall, the government is failing miserably on all fronts regarding the us constitution

The problems of social security have been known for many years and nothing has been done to fix the system. Career politicians and special interest groups pandering at its best. This program was originally a back door tax, but social security reform can still stabilize and save - Listen how.

The website now contains A free football Pool page. I am trying to offer content and build traffic to the website to get more exposure of the message. I hope this helps, but the good thing is that if it doesn't it will still be fun.
The new podcast is about energy and taxes. I am looking to get better equipment because I am having to spend a lot of time editing and it still does not turn out well. There are a lot of pops and heavy breathing that occurs. The more excited I get about a section of a topic the more pops occur - the intesity of the wind change I think.
The registration of support form is finally working as well. Such a simple thing, but getting it to interface with godaddy - whoose tech support and nuance commands made it a nightmare.
I struggle often to stay motivated, especially when editing a podcast. I know it can work, but I am not sure people care enough to get on board. Getting 100,000 supporters through a movement of people passing on the message should be easy, but apathy or disbelief that I can be a legitimate contender, or simply someone who does not believe in the same ideals for America are the main reasons I see barring the way.

The Liberty Line goes Live! Call 206-495-1776, leave your name, location, and a comment/opinion about politics and it will be heard at the Armchair President's website. Plus, some of the comments will be played on the Armchair President podcasts.

The Liberty Line is a way to get your voice actually heard. People can comment on the content presented by the Armchair President website, on other people's comments, or provide a new topic. It is the next generation in forums - audio forums. Not as interactive, but it provides sound, so more communication of your points may be conveyed through tonal inflections that are absent through the written word.

Turning the Armchair President from a portal concept that would focus on political solutions into a stump for me gauging the publics support level for me running for President of the United States - someone voiced the questions: am I crazy and what is so special about me?

I am not crazy and honestly there is nothing special about me. That's part of the point. Our founding fathers designed our government to be for and by the People.

The system in place has eliminated the People from our government and that is a major part of the problem. Our career politicians are disconnected from Americans, the vital issues facing this country, and solutions for these issues. Career politicians, or at least enough of them, run this country for their special interest(s), not America's interests.

None of this is what our founding fathers meant to happen or designed to happen. My decision to do this was not made lightly, I do not really want to be President. I do not relish the idea of my life being completly public, the inevitable lies that Republican/Republican mouth pieces will outright say about me and truths that may be twisted so much that they might as well be outright lies. I have lived a good and honest life and have nothing to hide, but there is a difference between having nothing to hide a being the target of a smear campaign.

However, I have been in trials by fire before and that does not frighten me. It's just not a desired situation.

So, am I crazy? No. I am fed up. Democrats do not provide solutions and Republicans, if they provide solutions, then they are ill-conceived solutions that tend to make the situation worse. I have put together the most vital issues that America faces and provide common sense solutions. It's not overly challenging if you have time and do some research. Many people agree with my values and solutions, they could be president as well! I just have more time than many others to actually put forth the effort. I do not have a full-time job, I do renovations to our property as a part-time job (just finished a bathroom remodel and tiling job in the kitchen and am now finishing off the garage, so it's drywall heaven right now).

That's what I think is the big difference, I am willing to help make my country better - there are millions of Americans that do this all the time, and I need to sacrifice my private life in order to do that. People sacrifice their lives for our country - I figure that this is something I can live with. So, I do not think I am crazy.

Someone needs to push America on the right path. I have the time and the common sense solutions to do so. I think I also have some reasonable ability in communicating and am reasonably intelligent and prone to making good decisions based on the facts at my disposal. Plus, I have lived a clean life, so there are no skeletons in my closet that will cause my campaign to implode. All of these are beneficial attributes for being President, but they are not special. I am just in the right place at the right time with time.

Finally, it is not just me it is we as in We The People, I am unable to do this without you, so you are as important as I am. We are all ordinary and we are all special and if we want this to be a better country then we need to do that. I am voluteering to be the catalyst that's all.

The War in iraq was ill-conceived and ill-advised. Our mission has never been to achieve victory, but to put our military in harm's way for political gain. A good website describing the iraq war. Also a podcast about Iran and Iraq - our future and current international debacles. Further information about iran and iran uranium enrichment programs for making nuclear energy and weapons.

This new podcast episode detailing the erosion of our us constitution by the President and the failure of the checks and balances system to protect our constitutional rights can be listened to as one of our free mp3 downloads. This ties in issues from wire taps and the other privacy invasion issues to leaking confidential information for political gain to our national debt to the H5N1 bird flu. Plus it looks at how Congress is ready to fight for the perceived erosion of their constitutional rights but not protect ours! Also, the fundamental religious special interest groups are making their move to alter our constitution. I say the issue is irrelevant, neither special interest groups nor religion should be allowed to tamper with our constitution, period! There is a whole lot going wrong with our country and it stems from our government. The fundamental of our system, so far, still holds that the people can make a difference. If you want to support the Armchair President for President then you need to help by 1) registering your supportsubscribing to the podcast AND getting friends, family, colleagues, etc. to register their support as well. I need to know that people want me to run for president to fix this countries problems before the deterioration becomes too significant on too many issues. So, if you want change you have to help gather support because I am not going to sell out to special interest groups to gather support. I will take support only from those that want to back solutions to all America not special interests.

I also have posted information about this and other topics at political dispatch, a blog at myspace, and a blog a podcast pickle.

Do you want a Quality Leader for President?

 

Why am I a quality leader? 

 

I have leadership experience. 

I am a trained scientist, entrepreneur, and businessman and have some good characteristics of a presidential candidate. I know how to raise money and run an organization. I know how to analyze a problem and get to a solution that can work. Most importantly for Americans, I will not sacrifice my values because I believe that is the only thing that can not be taken away from a person, it can only be given up, so that is what defines individuals.

 

I have strong values and priorities. 

My #1 value by far for running for president is America. It can be expressed in different ways, but this country was founded on ideals and standards that make America great. Politicians and special interest groups have eroded these ideals and I believe America is in danger of decline because of this. I know that with peopleâ??s support that I can spearhead the needed solutions to put America back on track for growth into a nation that people once again will be proud to call themselves Americas, if i was president and other countries will measure their country against America as the ideal.

 

I have thought through the problems facing America and devised feasible solutions. 

The major issues are prioritized in what I consider to be their importance as well as Patrick "Armchair President" Fogarty's solutions, which are also being discussed in audio format as free mp3 downloads. I will go through the points that I have on that site as well as adding new information here as time permits. I will also debate or express further insight into any issue you raise.

 

A leaderâ??s first priority is to those being led, not oneâ??s selfish interest. 

I am looking to be president in order to make America better. Fixing Americaâ??s problems can only be done from a top down approach, so in order to fix Americaâ??s problems I am seeking to become president. I am not seeking to be president. I am seeking to efficiently fix Americaâ??s problems and this is the only avenue where that can occur.

 

I am not a politician. 

I am looking to fix problems not perpetuate them. I do not care to make a career of politics (our founding fathers never meant there to be career politicians) and therefore am not going to become a puppet of special interest groups as most career politicians have become.

 

I analyze each problem and solution on its own merits to determine the best action. 

I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative. I registered as a democrat specifically to vote for Paul Tsongas in the primary when Bill Clinton won the nomination and presidency for the first time. Mr. Tsongas was not charismatic like Clinton, which is why it was a losing effort, but he had values and seemed dedicated to addressing Americaâ??s problems, very rare qualities in a politician. Politicians and the candidates that both parties choose for us are disappointing at best. Most people I know are fed up and tend to vote for the lesser of what they consider are two evils for president.

 

What can you do? 

 

I am looking for interest,so you need only register your support and by telling others to register their support and by subscribing to the podcast of the Armchair President. 

So, right now I want to see if Americans want a quality leader and if from my position points think I am one, then I will really run for president. I am not asking for your vote or contributions at this point. I just want to see if at least 100,000 Americans will support my goals for being a candidate by the end of 2006/beginning of 2007. The easiest way to quantitate this support, for you and me, is by the number of registered supporters that sign up at my website. I can also look at the number of subscribers to my podcast. So, to show your support at this juncture, all you need to do is register at my website and subscribe (review) to the Armchair President podcast at itunes or podcasts at yahoo. Plus gather more support by telling others about this proposition - Burn a few episodes on a cd if you know someone without a fast internet connection or is there a place at your company or school to post flyers - download the flyer.  

 

What are Americaâ??s problems? 

 

America is riddled with problems. 

However, the most severe problems that need to be addressed are ones that hurt America. For example, the issue of gay marriage gave Bush his second term in the White House. This issue is a strong moral issue with discrimination mixed in, but it will not affect the perpetuation of America as a nation whether it is every addressed one way or the other. That may offend many people, but that is the truth. Further, marriage is an issue that is regulated by states and it is their right, not that of the federal government, to be involved in this issue.

 

Prioritize the Americaâ??s problems and solutions. 

Issues, like: eroding the us constitution by government; fiscal irresponsibility by looking to our national debt; campaign reform â?? the chosen politicians have produced little good and created/perpetuated many national problems; America's continued oil dependence â?? energy makes our nation run; global warming â?? if you havenâ??t paid attention the effects are happening and the research in the past 8 months has made this an issue of epidemic proportions; bird flu and disaster preparations; national security; global nuclear proliferation;â?¦there are more but you get the idea. These issues if left unaddressed or if addressed with our current lack of leadership will cause America to decline.

 

Iâ??ll be back soon to outline the issue of our debt. I am building a comprehensive website and delivering at least weekly podcasts, in addition to other marketing exposure and still trying to have a life outside of this until I see there is enough support to engage a campaign. So, in advance, I am sorry if I do not get back to your posts very quickly.

 

Until then it is special to be an American even though it is difficult to tell with what our government has been doing and not doing for decades; but, be proud to be an American and help put pride back into America.