Open Letter to President Trump: Make the Presidency Great Again

Dear President Trump:

First, I'd like to get a few things out of the way.  You didn't win the election because of the Republican vote as there aren't enough Republicans to win a presidential election.  You won because you successfully peeled off a bigger than expected percentage of the Libertarian vote, the Hispanic vote, the Black vote, the Independent vote, the Democrat vote, the Constitutionalist vote, the anti-war vote, the Rand Paul vote, the Ron Paul vote, the female vote etc. to defeat Clinton.  In summary you were perceived as a candidate who would work to improve the economy and forge a new non-interventionist foreign policy.  You did tweet: "After having foolishly spent $7 trillion in the Middle East, it is time to start rebuilding our country."

Your quickie report card:

Domestic Issues: You get an A for the tax cuts, working to improve the economy, getting the US out of the TPP and the Paris Climate Accord, telling the UN to go to hell on refugees and getting a constitutionalist on SCOTUS.  You get a big fat F for signing the Omnibus Spending bill.

Civil Liberties: you get a big fat F for endorsing warantless spying; that's really weird considering that you yourself were a victim of police state spying.  Also, your Attorney General's War on Marijuana will cost you dearly. Clinton cleaned your clock with the the millennial vote and locking up kids for smoking a joint is not only stupid but costly at the ballot box.

Foreign Policy, at best you get a D and that's only because thus far your bark has been bigger than your bite. Many fear that you crossed over to the Neocon dark side, especially with making uber psycho John Bolton your National Security Advisor. However, redemption is indeed possible if you succeed in making peace with Iran and North Korea.

I'm going to layout the blueprint for you to get re-elected, restore the US as a model to be globally respected and Make the Presidency Great Again.  Well, there have been no great presidents in my lifetime (69 years).  However, I have been following politics, geopolitics and history my entire life.

If you want to Make the Presidency Great Again, it really is quite simple.  All you need to do is fanatically focus on 3 issues over and over and over.  The American people and the world at large would be exceedingly pleased as well as relieved.

PEACE, LIBERTY and PROSPERITY and we'll take them one at a time.

PEACE - End the Damn Wars

The American people are desperate for peace and are sick of the damn neocon wars. America has been at war with somebody my entire life.  The $21 trillion in debt can be traced to decades of stupid wars.  America doesn't have a foreign policy to DEFEND AMERICA.  Heck, last I checked America hadn't been invaded by a foreign power since the War of 1812 and the only reason the Brits invaded us is because America attempted to invade and steal Canada.

To be clear, America is a wholly owned subsidiary of the military industrial complex (MIC); we invade, bomb, occupy and drone nations who have done nothing to us and we do it for defense contractor profits. As long as the MIC rules America, we stand no chance to ever become Great Again. Nobody except the idiot US media is buying the crap that our wars are necessary for national security.  That's a load of equine manure!   We manufacture enemies to feed the MIC, the defense industry and its vast unaccountable powers.

Earth to the idiots in DC: The world is no longer a unipolar world where the bully US can just muscle folks into bowing before its demands. A quick reality check discloses that the world is becoming amazingly multipolar as nations are indeed strong enough to challenge us militarily, monetarily and economically.  It's the US that must learn to adapt to changing paradigms.

You have an opportunity be the President for Peace and peaceful solutions.  HINT: the road to peace and peaceful coexistence runs through trade.  Nations that voluntarily trade for their own prosperity and in their own self interest have no motivations to go to war because war destroys peace as well as economies.  It's absolutely true that if goods don't cross borders then armies surely will (I forget who coined that brilliant phrase).

LIBERTY - Civil Liberties 

Civil liberties are very important and Fedzilla has effectively nullified the 4th amendment.  Since when did America become a Nazified Police State complete with its own Gestapo?  This a a very dangerous turn that got ratcheted up during the George W. Bush era.  Obama did nothing to rollback spying powers and in fact made them even more draconian.

With or without warrants, Police State America is an abomination that eviscerates our long history of privacy and civil liberties.  The FISA Court has proven to be a freaking joke and a sham, especially after the highest ranking officials at the  FBI and DOJ were nothing more than extensions of the Hillary Clinton campaign.  If this isn't isn't illegal I don't know what is. 

If you don't advocate to reign in the vast and unconstitutional spying powers of federal government then you will lose the civil liberties voters.

Do you want to score a big hit with the young?  Then instruct your DEA to declassify marijuana as a Schedule I drug.  Better still, tell Congress to pass a bill to permanently remove the marijuana issue from federal control and defer the issue to the states which is the constitutional thing to do anyway.  LOL, what Dem would be stupid enough to vote NO?  This will keep pot obsessed Jeff Session's hands of the marijuana issue because he'd be forced to uphold the law as Attorney General.

Finally, our criminal justice system is atrocious and a big fail because it's delivering tyranny and police abuse instead of justice.  The Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) is another nightmare because America is locking up folks just to feed the profits of the PIC.

This is morally wrong as well as inhumane on so many levels.  The solution? Advocate for and implement a criminal justice system based on NO VICTIM, NO CRIME.

Mr. President, you have a opportunity to score BIG on civil liberties and I recommend working with Rand Paul and Thomas Massie on these issues. Right now you are viewed as an authoritarian thug and that will hurt in 2020. 

PROSPERITY - Trade is the Road to Peace 

Any economy that makes the rich richer and the poor and middle class poorer is a big fail; it's also one of the primary reasons why you squashed Clinton on economic issues.

Trade is a very tricky issue because we don't have true free trade; we have corporatist trade or fascism.  Furthermore, everybody cheats at trade.

In the absence of sound money and with the rise of corporatism, it's easy for big players to game the system. Since free trade really doesn't exist anywhere, the fascists, corporatists, oligarchs and the politicians that they buy are all masters at gaming a very rigged system. The end result of such an insane economic model will always be trade wars and greater economic inequality.

China subsidizes its steel industry and many other industries. The EU subsidizes Airbus, its agricultural industry and other industries. The US subsidizes Boeing through defense contracts. Many other industries in the US are subsidized. And on and on.

There are other ways to game the system besides subsidies. Currency manipulation is popular for China; by pegging the Yuan low and refusing to allow it to float, Chinese exports become a whole lot cheaper in foreign markets. That of course is a huge competitive advantage.

American companies who heavily export absolutely hate a strong dollar because it hurts their export trade by making US produced goods more expensive. Also, the VAT or Valued Added Tax is notorious for protectionism; it crushes US imports. What the VAT nations do is rebate the VAT to their own companies that export. Conversely, they add a VAT (the equivalent of a tariff) on imports. VAT nations have competitive advantages whether they import and export.

OKAY, trade is a complicated issue.  Still, we must minimize trade wars by pursuing fair trade and that includes ending ALL subsidies and recognizing that some nations, especially VAT nations and nations that heavily subsidize their own pet industries, do cheat. 

Peaceful and voluntary trade is the lifeblood of civilization and it eradicates or at least minimizes the need for wars.

There, I've laid it all out for you Mr. President.  This is the best advice you will ever get and it's free.  I am one of those Americans who is NOT a Republican but who took a chance an voted for you.  Because of folks like me, you are sitting in the White House as president. Yeah, I'm disappointed with you but only you can turn it around.  You owe it to the American people to deliver what you promised us.

In summary:

1. Ditch the freaking neocons and pursue peace and peaceful solutions to problems.
2. Pursue the restoration of civil liberties and advocate for criminal justice reform.
3. Work to create free and fair trade where everybody benefits.

One final piece of advice on immigration:  Forget about the wall but do end chain migration, the visa lottery, all entitlements and welfare for immigrants and birthright citizenship.  As for the DACA folks, legalize them if they are decent hardworking folks but deport the criminals and welfare dependent.  Most Americans are NOT anti-immigrant but they definitely object to invasions that grow the Democratic Party by importing entitlement dependent socialists, welfare moochers and criminals. 

Sound immigration policies will definitely MAGA.  If we import the 3rd world, we will become the 3rd world.  It really is that simple.

President Trump, you can only MAGA by making the Presidency Great Again and that includes listening to the American people.