THE ISSUES: Taxation and the "Give Me Free ___" Movement

There are folks out there who see how much they're paying in taxes and wonder why they're paying so much if they aren't getting free college, free birth control, free food, free housing, free... the list goes on.





Very good that they recognize a problem.





There's a problem, and it has to do with the fact that, as Marylanders in America, we more or less pay about 30% of our income to taxes (between state, federal, county, property, sales, and others).

One example of why taxes are so high is the fact that the USA spends more than the next twenty-something sovereign nations COMBINED on militia, under the partial guise of "defense."





That's certainly not to say that all tax spending is illegitimate. A militia for national defense of our citizens, for example, is legitimate.





Other legitimate government spending includes legislative services to uphold contracts and order, and basic necessary services (like a police force and firefighters and very general public services to maintain order and preserve life, liberty, and property) - those are often legitimate on federal and state levels. And make sense naturally in a society our size.





It seems to me like the statement from so many progressives who say "give me free ___" is, "We pay this much, why not give us more for what we're paying in taxes, instead of just lining the pockets of politicians?" And I get what they're saying - but what they might consider is that adding federal/state funding of birth control, college, cell phones, food, and housing... doesn't mean the government will incorporate any or all of those things into the current 30% you pay up in tax... it just makes that percentage grow from where it is now.





In America, we don't pay 50 or 75% of our income to the state to have them regulate (and provide) everything in our lives, like some nations do.





My goal is to promote DECREASES in federal/state spending, which means decreases in federally-funded (and therefore regulated, and provided) and state-funded (again, regulated & provided) services to the least common denominator in all arenas. A free market works better. When you hand out freebies, you deprive people of their dignity.





I'm all for private entities that provide charity (the Freemasons are an example). There are many various fraternal orders that are private entities that take care of their members.





My aim is decreased spending and decreased taxation, but people are inclined not to think that way - they don't see cutting spending as an option. They'd sooner say, "I pay so much already, give me my money's worth!"





The reality is, it's a pipe dream.





Yours in Liberty,
Joseph Sandy

Joseph Sandy on The Issues

Joseph D. Sandy 

on The Issues

Should I find myself selected for a ‘seat at the table,’ you can bet I won’t be bought and sold. The fact is, a vote for Joseph Sandy is a vote for SMALLER GOVERNMENT and that starts with RETURNING YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY TO YOUR POCKET, period! 

I am ever open to inquiries, so please feel free to reach out via the contact information provided.

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REDUCING MASS SURVEILLANCE IN MARYLAND

When selected for a representative position, I vow to present and support legislation eliminating and prohibiting the use of many forms of surveillance equipment, including red light & speed cameras on our roadways, without individualized warrants or probable documented suspicion of individualized wrongdoing.

In our innovative, ever-growing technological world, American citizens grow increasingly wary of unwarranted bulk data collection, domestic spying by our government, and the ever-growing prospect of loss of privacy. Sometimes you might as well say it seems there’s a camera on every corner of America. And it’s got its eye on YOU, all the time. Every phone call, every internet search, every keystroke, every text message, every social media post.

There are shockingly few laws in place regarding the state’s use of surveillance equipment and bulk data collection. Your every move can easily be tracked today – all without any individual warrant, or even any legitimate suspicion that you have done anything wrong. It’s as though the government is waiting for you to ‘slip up’ so that you can pay-up to the state. We must END COOPERATION WITH FEDERAL SURVEILLANCE, REGULATION, OVERSIGHT, AND CONTROL. We must strive to end unconstitutional spying and data collection without individual warrants.

Not to mention that having and using drones, red light cameras, speed cameras, and all kinds of surveillance equipment leads to HUGE CORPORATE PROFITS for Big Business. They make a FORTUNE from your tax dollars when the state invests in this equipment – often without your knowledge, and most assuredly against most citizens’ consent.

Red light cameras and speed cameras lead to BREACHES IN CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. Citizens are being falsely ticketed for vehicles that don’t even belong to them, or for vehicles in which the ticketed citizen was not the driver. Speed and red light cameras are well-documented as being error-prone. And yet this FRAUD is allowed to continue because the vendors of these devices make HUGE profits, and Maryland collects HUGE profits from citations that are EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to fight when a citizen is falsely cited. The devices aren’t even owned by the state government – in fact, they are owned by the vendors. It is the vendors who charge citizens a fine – one that is all too often in error, and then the state simply gets a cut of the profits. This is a FAILURE OF DUE PROCESS UNDER THE LAW, and that is a BREACH OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT.

It is up to Marylanders to demand that it come to an end.

We the people have a choice – it’s just not in Big Government’s (or Big Business’) interests to remind you of that. We have a choice, we have a right to be informed, and we have a right to individual privacy. It’s a human right and our own Supreme Court has upheld it in countless cases throughout time. Not to mention our right to DUE PROCESS UNDER THE LAW!

When selected for a representative position, I vow to present and support legislation eliminating and prohibiting the use of many forms of surveillance equipment, including red light & speed cameras on our roadways, without individualized warrants or probable documented suspicion of individualized wrongdoing.

We absolutely must choose the correct representative individuals who will bear our most basic human rights in mind – and remain ever-vigilant when our liberties are threatened.

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AUTOMATIC TERM LIMITS FOR ALL REPRESENTATIVE OFFICIALS

When selected for a representative position, I vow to present and support legislation to propose the implementation of term limits for all representative officials within the realm of my representative position.

A term limit is a limit on the amount of time a representative may hold an elected office. Term limits are often thought to prevent long-term corruption and increase performance of representatives holding elected or appointed seats – making them work for you and me.

Members of Congress have no term limits. They have all the time in the world to build relationships with lobbyists for big-time corporations who will influence their legislation – instead of you and I being the primarily influences behind legislation proposed by our representatives. And with all the time in the world once occupying that seat, it doesn’t offer much incentive to get anything done.

Our founding fathers knew that people given power will eventually be corrupted by it if you give them unlimited time in a position of power.

If you put limits on the amount of time reserved for any one person to hold a position of power in representing the people, they will more likely run for a position for the purpose of serving the people.

If selected for a representative position, I vow to present and support legislation to propose the implementation of term limits for all representative officials within the realm of my representative position.

It’s no secret and no surprise that career politicians aren’t very popular among the people.

So maybe we shouldn’t aspire to have CAREER politicians.

The fact is, the will of the people must be heard and will be heard – this is my priority.

I’m not a career politician. But I sure fulfill many roles of service in my life. I’m a member of several local community councils. I’m a dedicated libertarian and am involved in the Libertarian Party of Maryland and its Baltimore County subcommittee. I assist at a local nonprofit animal rescue, Adopt-A-Homeless-Animal Rescue. I’m a designated storm spotter for the National Weather Service. I am a healthcare professional working for nearly eleven years with world class physicians and practitioners in delivering mental health care services to the regional community in need, and most recently, I assist in providing hospice services to the regional community in need of ongoing palliative care via home & assisted-living community visitation. Public service is important in my life, and an informed public is close to my heart. What I am NOT is someone who is bought-and-sold, as are too many of our career politicians. And should I find myself selected for a ‘seat at the table,’ I vow not to settle-in indefinitely, as have TOO MANY POLITICIANS done for decades.

It is time to END LIMITLESS TERMS in public office. Our DEMOCRACY demands it. ACCURATE REPRESENTATION demands it. The FREE MARKET demands it. Our LAND OF THE FREE demands it.

And THE PEOPLE demand it.

Term limits preserve our liberty.

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LONG TERM GOALS & INTERESTS

If selected for a representative position, I vow ONLY to support and present legislation that:

- reduces government to its simplest societal functions:

                - a court system to provide stability, enforce contracts, and prohibit fraud;

                - a police force to uphold the law, to serve, and to protect Americans;

                - a military to protect national security interests & American lives;

- ends public funding & financing of private activities & privately-owned entities

- encourages small-business startups and entrepreneurs

- encourages individual choice & respects freedom of individuals – including but not limited to education, healthcare, and the ability for local communities to govern themselves with as little state government interference as possible

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Marylanders deserve the best.

We CAN and MUST enact change.

I am a REAL PROSPECT for REAL REPRESENTATION and REAL CHANGE for Marylanders.

Yours in Liberty,

Joseph D. Sandy

www.ElectJoeSandy.com

Meet Joseph Sandy

Meet Joseph Sandy

I am a lifelong resident of Baltimore, Maryland, and a graduate of Loch Raven High School, the Community College of Baltimore County, and Towson University. I have come to fulfill many roles of service over the years. I’m a member of several local community councils here in Baltimore, including the Greater Parkville Community Council and the Police Community Relations Council Precinct 8. I am a healthcare professional working for over eleven years with world class physicians and practitioners in delivering mental health care services to the regional community in need; I also assist in providing hospice services to the regional community in need of ongoing palliative care via home & assisted-living community visitation. I assist at a local nonprofit animal rescue dedicated to rescuing and assisting abused animals in crisis & serving as a resource for shelters, individuals, and animal control. I’m a designated storm spotter for the National Weather Service; I am an ally and proponent of peer support recovery services for the community that has struggled with substance abuse, trauma, & related circumstances.

What sets me apart from the rest? For starters, I'm NOT a current or former politician, because we sure have enough of those. But more importantly, I DON'T take donations from political parties, because I'm NOT bought-and-sold, and am NOT obliged to "PARTY INSIDERS" - though I welcome their support if they believe in my message. What sets me apart from the rest, ultimately, is that by refusing the "red tape" that you find in politics that often keeps new faces from running for office, I can guarantee you that my ONLY allegiance is to YOU, and to the conservative values that matter to you. I don't subscribe to "politics as usual," I don't run local political clubs with access to high-profile "party favorites" and "party insiders." I'm a free agent who wants the same common-sense values and conservative approaches to legislation concerning OUR community. 

It is foremost in the spirit of public service that I seek a representative position within the Maryland General Assembly where I may be of service to my neighbors, the citizens of our great state. Because at the end of the day, it is all about YOU.

I’m not a “career politician.” I’m not a doctor (though I've worked with many), a lawyer, or an affluent businessman – after all, not everyone brings home a six-figure income annually. I’m a working class Marylander making a fair living and I have no stakes in any representative position other than a sincere desire to bring principle and conscience to politics and public representation. My interests in the state of our communities, and my concern about our ever-growing authoritarian government, does NOT stem from some personal desire to find my way into a representative position with no term limit – in fact, actually, one of my main priorities is to dissolve limitless-term arrangements in public representation. The fact is, YOU deserve representation who will HEAR YOU and propose & promote legislation that directly benefits YOU.

Because the truth is, this isn’t about me – this is about YOU, the American citizen. We have a LOT TO GAIN from enacting the BEST CHANGES in our great state. Clear, understandable, transparent changes. Specific action!

Politicians have LET US DOWN for YEARS. Each time they’re elected for representative positions, they claim that they’ll enact “real change,” so much that it’s become cliché – but the truth is, they’re only interested in GROWING BIG GOVERNMENT, REGULATING YOUR INDIVIDUAL CHOICES, and ultimately SPENDING MORE OF YOUR TAX MONEY. You might as well say that the only real difference between politicians is WHERE they want to spend YOUR money.

Perhaps one reason “career politicians” tend to be so unpopular is that they’re so easily bought-and-sold. Corporate lobbyists. Crony capitalism.

What I am NOT is someone who is bought-and-sold, as are too many of our career politicians.

And should I find myself selected for a ‘seat at the table,’ you can bet I won’t be bought and sold there, either. The fact is, a vote for JD Sandy in ANY REPRESENTATIVE POSITION is a vote for SMALLER GOVERNMENT and it starts with RETURNING YOUR HARD-EARNED MONEY TO YOUR POCKET, period!

I am ever open to inquiries, so please feel free to reach out via the contact information provided.

Marylanders deserve the best.

We CAN and MUST enact change.

I am a REAL PROSPECT for REAL REPRESENTATION and REAL CHANGE for Marylanders.

Yours in Liberty,
Joseph D. Sandy
www.ElectJoeSandy.com

Joseph "JD" Sandy is not currently endorsed by, nor presently seeks the endorsement of, any of the organizations, community affiliations, councils, past and/or present employer(s), or any other business entities mentioned on JDforLiberty.com. All above-shown written and graphic material is authored by, and is the exclusive property of, Joseph "JD" Sandy, unless otherwise indicated. 2017

OFF-TOPIC: Happy Birthday to Yours Truly!

I’m blessed and humbled to celebrate my birthday in good company today. That’s all of YOU. Many thanks to EVERYONE who’s reached out on social media to wish me a happy one!

This time around, another year older, I’m actually most thankful for the challenges the last year has brought - not JUST the many good times, good conversations, and good company in which I’ve spent it!

It’s been a challenging and also immensely rewarding 2016.

My partner and I continue on the journey of building heartfelt, honest, lasting, meaningful TODAYS together that lay the groundwork for many prosperous TOMORROWS together – and just as we always have, TOGETHER, we have come through, embracing and respecting everything that we love about one another above any trials & tribulations. Yes, I will marry you Maurice, and yes, we will win together, just as we always have. We won yesterday, we are winning today, and we will most assuredly win together tomorrow. The life we’ve made together is beautiful beyond my best words.

I have known integrity through higher powers (God, and other folks like myself) who find salvation in the courage and honesty it takes with oneself to continue a life of honesty and integrity - for this, I am grateful beyond any words that would do it due justice. Today I live sanity, integrity, and in absolute truth, and I embrace life on life’s terms. The blessing bestowed upon me are many, and innumerable.

My faith in God and in the good will of His children is affording me this.

Personal integrity and a daily promise is affording me this.

Communion with my fellows is affording me this.

I have much for which to be thankful.

And I’m thankful for all of you, beyond words.

Cheers to another year. Much love now and always.

-Joseph D. Sandy

POLITICS: The Simplest Reasons for Trump's Rise to Last GOP Candidate Standing

No, Elizabeth Warren, it isn't because Trump is a xenophobic, racist, misogynist pig... or whatever else it is that you call him... whether or not they're true.

It's because people are tired of ... pay attention ... being told that they must accept SENSITIVITY TRAINING as the norm - that they must walk on eggshells and second-guess their every statement so as to avoid OFFENDING ANYONE.

And Donald Trump is the face of the wave of folks that are sick and tired of sensitivity training being the new rule.

And it's because people are tired of looking to career politicians and equating them with the same old false promises they've come to expect from career politicians since... well, forever.

While Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio and Ben Carson and Rand Paul - just for starters - stood up there and spewed statistics in debates, statistics of which the everyday uninformed American (let's just be honest here) was unsure in regard to truthfulness or accuracy, Donald Trump made blanket statements that made people feel good, and go, "YEAH!" Nobody blank-stared at him, or questioned silently whether or not the statistics he spewed in defense of his own platform were accurate or valid or legitimate. He didn't really spew any - and when people hear things on which they're shaky - like statistics - and, um, facts - they'll lean toward the guy who they feel is more relatable.

How many men have sat home and thought, "Man, that Trump just says what he means, says what he thinks, and he does it shamelessly, and without backing down! Balls of steel! I wanna be THAT GUY!"

You can shake your head, America, and wonder about those inbiciles who voted for Trump over other GOP candidates... but the fact is, whether he intended to, or not, he did it better. The majority has spoken. That may offend you, disgust you, or elicit feelings of disappointment, but OBVIOUSLY, this is a significant portion of America who like what this guy has to offer, so you're gonna have to swallow it down and deal. You can cry about it all you want, and stomp your feet, but the proof right here before us.


Face it: he's winning. Which means he's doing something right - at least in the eyes of GOP voters.
I don't believe Trump is xenophobic or a racist. He's merely against ILLEGAL immigrants coming into this country. Ya know, ILLEGALLY. So sure, folks, let's do it. Let's build a wall. Let's make some jobs happen. Why not? ... Other than that it'll take over four years to construct, and to the tune of probably a billion dollars.
I don't believe Trump is all that misogynistic compared to most men. Did he make some off-color statements toward women contenders along the way? Absolutely. The only difference between him and his male counterparts, however, was that they kept their thoughts to themselves, and they had a team of analysts and PR people advising and coaching and spoon-feeding them the whole way through. Say what you will about his choices in statements against women, and in personal attacks on people, folks, but the fact remains that he's winning in the GOP - he's the only one left without a suspended campaign, so it must not have hurt him TOO badly, eh?

Lastly, here comes a good healthy dose of good ol' Ann Coulter, from her most recent blog entry on AnnCoulter.com:

"A guy just won the Republican nomination for president ... spending no money, hiring no pollsters, running virtually no TV ads, and just saying what he truly believed no matter how many times people said he couldn't say that.
"It's odd... when Trump launched his campaign ... his critics hysterically denounced him by rushing to the TV to say he did NOT represent the Republican Party! ... it became resoundingly clear that large majorities of Americans agreed with Trump ...."

And I think that, right there, says it all.

More of America, more than we were being told, more than we were led to believe, are SICK AND TIRED of being told what we can and can't say.

Trump is the everyday man's embodiment of that sentiment. Even if you yourself don't like him.

God Bless America.

POLITICS: El Chapo's Re-Capture Won't Change the “WAR ON DRUGS” Anywhere

How come the media is treating Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s latest re-capture as some sort of relevant victory in the international “war on drugs?”

According to the January 25^th edition of TIME Magazine, once international media made a spectacle of his latest re-capture, Guzman spoke out on his own terms, apparently with actor Sean Penn in Rolling Stone Magazine. According to Ioan Grillo’s article in TIME, “The message delivered by the world’s most wanted drug runner … was as cutting as it was undeniably true … ‘People who dedicate their lives to this activity do not depend on me,’ he said of the industry that satiates the illicit appetites of the American public. ‘The day I don’t exist, it’s not going to decrease in any way.’”

TIME follows this recounting of Guzman’s words with a reminder for the readers of the broad scale of the disciplines within the drug trafficking trade, describing is as a “federation of tens of thousands of criminals – farmers who grow opium poppies, marijuana leaves, and coca leaves; chemists who cook heroin, cocaine, and meth; smugglers who get it all over the border; corrupt police officers who look the other way; and accountants who wash the money.”

And I am sure there is so much more than that… right down to the guy on the street corner who deals to the crack head that you always see there when you drive by.

Now let’s talk geography. Per TIME, “Today the network stretches … along thousands of miles of border, across the U.S.” (right to that aforementioned street corner), … “ and as far afield as Colombia, the Philippines, and Australia.”

If that isn’t a global trade network of grand proportion, I don’t know what is.

And as Grillo so poignantly and accurately asserts in TIME, “Even in handcuffs, [El Chapo] remains the most potent symbol of the drug war’s failure.”

Don’t believe it? “Data from the Customers and Border Patrol shows no drop in the amounts of narcotics that agents on the southwest border have seized over the past decade.” That means that no matter what has happened between drug cartels in-and-amongst themselves south of the border, or what has happened between Mexican authorities and those responsible for drug trafficking, or whatever has happened between the aforementioned farmers, chemists, traffickers, and wheelers & dealers, it’s not slowing down the flow of goods that are attempted to be smuggled into the States.

It’s not my intention to be pessimistic about efforts to decrease illegal drug trafficking. That’s NOT to be confused with the fact that I'm in favor of re-examining WHAT WE DO and HOW WE HANDLE drug-related crime. And certainly I am by all means in favor the re-capture and detention of an individual who gave the go-ahead for what resulted in a trail of bodies over many years. Drug trafficking is a bloody industry when it exists illegally and via the seedy underbelly of society. I’m FOR law and order … I’m not necessarily FOR the “war on drugs” as it is currently being executed. I’m not saying El Chapo isn’t a criminal, or a “bad guy.” “Yay” for the “good guys” for the fact that he has been once again apprehended.

I am merely prompted to wonder why we’re being led to believe by the media that this is some RELEVANT victory in the “War on Drugs?” when it is so clearly not a victory for anyone other than THOSE WHO DICATE THE HEADLINES and the POP MEDIA SENSATIONALISTS who ogle over them.

POLITICS: Trump Might Win More Millennial Support Than You Might Think

I ran a google search: “Do millennials like Donald Trump?”

Among the results I found the following article, which doesn’t really directly answer my question, but DOES paint a picture of how millennials have, as stated, “matured since 2008 … and are no longer the young, idealistic generation … have clawed their way through the poor economy throughout the last eight years, doing everything they can to survive high unemployment, massive student loan debt, Obamacare, and soaring costs of living.”

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/donald-trump-his-rising-poll-numbers-and-millennials/

“According to Harvard’s latest IOP polling data, … most of the top 10 issues for millennials revolve around the economy. The most important issues, in order, are jobs, national debt, unemployment, taxes, government spending, and financial stability.”

The article alleges that “most millennials do not think that big corporation profits are too high or corporate taxes are too low. Again, this points to an evolving generation who is beginning to realize that the success of American corporations means more jobs and higher paying jobs. And that when the government intervenes with costly regulations and over taxation these jobs and profits are driven overseas and leaves them unemployed.”

I can’t vouch for whether or not this is true. I don’t have the data and I don’t know the statistics. Can I reasonably find doubt in these claims? I suppose I can see room for inaccuracy; then again, can I consider that it’s a good possibility they end up being true if we took a poll? Probably depends on where they get their news.

I AM, however, willing to theorize the following about young, inquisitive minds.

-that many millennials, such as myself, are at least CURIOUS about whether Bernie Sanders’ claims that a disproportionate amount of wealth concentrated in a top single-digit percent of the wealthiest Americans is really something abnormal and something to fight – and not only whether or not it’s something that we should fight, but whether or not that it’s the root of our problems…?

-many people in their late 20’s, early 30’s, such as myself, looking at the breadth of information (both accurate, inaccurate, and everything in-between) and may be saying to themselves, “you know, there IS something to be said for a guy who took a million bucks and eventually turned it into ten BILLION bucks… this guy must know something about how business works, being as he’s got business partners across the globe … right?

-the article suggests the following: “Donald Trump represents the American Dream, a dream that is only attained through hard work and a free market economy. A whopping 64 percent of millennials say hard work is the key to success and 40 percent of millennials say that poor life choices and lack of work ethic is what causes poverty, this is the exact opposite view held by most Democrats running for office.”

So the article primarily sheds light on the notion that the GOP’s traditionally fiscally-conservative approach to economics might not be as much of a roadblock for millennial support as we might have expected from millenials back in 2004 or 2008.

The bigger roadblock, I propose and suspect, to mass millennial support of a GOP candidate (Trump or otherwise) is the GOP track record of being socially-conservative. And that’s why you won’t see mass millennial support of Ted Cruz.

A GOP candidate who manages to (pardon the pun) trump the others within his/her party in millennial support will be a candidate who has either shifted his/her views over time when it comes to social issues (it says to the voter that they have the ability and track record of being convinced in a different direction, so they’re somewhat pliable when it comes to social issues, which looks better to a millennial who might otherwise vote Democrat based on socially-progressive beliefs concurrent with their own); or, they are fairly centristic (as is the case with Fiorina and her approach to respect for varying social beliefs); or, they just don’t say much about their platform because they’d rather focus LESS on their PERSONAL BELIEFS or attempt to dicate society’s beliefs on social issues, but would rather focus on ECONOMIC ISSUES that influence US ALL regardless of color, creed, religion, & belief on social justice, inequality, equality, etc).

Mr. Trump has gone back and forth over the years on things like gay marriage and views regarding abortion, and readily admits that his opinions have changed over time (so he’s somewhat fluid in the department of social matters); and, too, he doesn’t say NEARLY as much about his positions and/or personal beliefs regarding social issues, but rather, focuses upon matters of nationwide business, global business, THE ECONOMY. He talks what he knows. And he MUST know SOMETHING since he’s managed to amass the kind of wealth that he has.

So I think there’s a good chance that Mr. Trump might gain (or already have) a lot more millennial support than we would otherwise presume a GOP candidate might amass during his run on the Oval Office. Don’t be surprised if this proves to be true between now and November 2016.