Category Archives: Defund DC

My US politics can pretty much be entirely summed up with the phrase, “Defund DC.”

Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the US Constitution

We must care locally and keep money local. DC will only protect its power and money.

I am for local organization, local socialism, state-level programs.

All, Defund DC, News Organized

Fact vs Force

Fact: Mankind has not yet been to the Moon.

Force: Most of mankind believes we have been to the Moon and laughs at people who don’t believe it.

I believed the moon landings were real and I dismissed theories to the contrary for one simple reason: the moon landings required the efforts of hundreds of thousands of people and that many people cannot keep a secret. There can’t be a lie that big – I thought.

Hundreds, Not Hundreds of Thousands

The theory was presented to me that the astronauts went to low Earth orbit, and unbeknownst to even ground control, they faked everything beyond low Earth orbit. They faked radio calls, flight data, and some images and videos that had been pre-recorded from the California desert (probably recorded in the summer of 1968). Since ground control couldn’t tell the difference between a real flight and even a training simulation, it may not have been easy but it is doable. Launching and faking the radio calls and some imagery reduces the number of people involved in the secret from hundreds of thousands down maybe a hundred or so.

Lie or Die

A hundred still seems like a lot of people to keep a secret until you consider that the ring-leaders, whoever they were, killed people to do it. You don’t have to kill everyone who might speak up. Once you kill a few people who are willing to speak up, the remaining people willingly fall in line and keep the secret, knowing what happened to their friends.

The phrase, “for two people to keep a secret, one of them has to be dead,” should be, “For two or more people to keep a secret, you must kill one of them who speaks.”

Timeline

What follows is a timeline of key events along with video. Throughout the summary, I make two simple statements to categorize the evidence:

  • “To believe the moon landings were real, you accept …”
  • “To believe the moon landings were faked, you accept …”

Both versions of the story are incredible, whether we went to the moon or we faked it. When I see the evidence laid out, I come to the conclusion that the moon landings are not just an incredible feat. They are truly not credible. They did not happen. Mankind has not yet landed on the Moon – or even left low Earth orbit for that matter.

March 1962: Operation Northwoods, Etc

Operation Northwoods made it to the president for approval, but he rejected the proposal. See also Operation Mongoose, and MKUltra that lasted from 1953-1973.

12 September 1962: JFK, “We choose to go to the Moon…”
22 November 1963

JFK was assassinated and replaced by Lyndon B Johnson, who remained in office until January of 1969.

25 November 1963: Big Media Lie

The official story is that Dan Rather accidentally misspoke on literally one of the most important details he ever reported, a detail that is blatantly obvious in the film he was describing. He went on to become one of the most successful news anchors of his time.

Why did he say Kennedy’s head went violently forward? I know little about the Kennedy assassination, but if I ever go down the rabbit hole, I start knowing two things: 1. the head shot came from the front sending Kennedy’s head violently backward, and 2. whoever took the head shot controlled what Dan Rather said about it.

4 August 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Incident Faked

The Gulf of Tonkin incident is unrelated to the moon landings directly, but faking the incident that initiated the Vietnam War that killed 60,000 Americans puts killing a few Americans to fake the moon landings in perspective.

For the record, I think it’s annoying when videos or other media are titled with things like “TRUTH…” in capital letters. It makes them look silly. If it’s the truth, just say it. It is recently widely accepted that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was faked to provide pretense to start the war in Vietnam.

22 January 1967: Gruff Gus

According to Gus Grissom’s widow, when he was home for the last time before the fire that killed him, Gus picked a large lemon from a tree in their yard and intended to hang it on the rocket to call it a lemon. Grissom was quoted as saying we were at least a decade from going to the moon, not 2 years as was advertised. His criticism had earned him the nickname “Gruff Gus”.

27 January 1967: Apollo 1 Training Fire

Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee, the Apollo 1 crew, died in a fire.

To believe the moon landings were real, you accept the official story that the only deaths in the entire Apollo program happen to have included the most notable critic exactly when his death would have been necessary to transition from real moon landing effort to faking it and put other critics on serious notice to stay quiet.

I believe people would have to have died for either story to be true – real moon landings or fake. I believe the Apollo program could have crash-landed humans on the moon if that had been an acceptable outcome. However, the dead astronauts coincidentally died just when they would have had to to fake the moon landings and keep it quiet.

21 April 1967: Thomas Baron Report

Thomas Ronald Baron wrote a 275-page report on NASA safety protocol violations, which he gave to Rep. Olin E. Teague’s investigation at Cape Kennedy in Florida, on 21 April 1967.

27 April 1967: Thomas Baron Death

Thomas Ronald Baron died along with his family when their car was struck by a train.

To believe the moon landings were real, you accept that Thomas Baron and his family’s deaths were also coincidental, just 3 months after the Apollo 1 crew’s deaths and 6 days after he released his critical report.

The Apollo Program: 9 Isolated Claims

There are only 6 total claims of landing humans on the moon. Furthermore, there are only 9 total claims of humans even leaving low Earth orbit, all the Apollo program. Nobody else even claims to have left low Earth orbit before or since the Apollo program, not Russia, no other NASA program, not China, nobody else in all of mankind. Here is a list of those claims:

MissionLanding Date (UTC)Landing Time (UTC)EVA DurationMoon Phase at Landing
Apollo 11, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin20 July 196920:17:402h 31mWaxing Crescent (28.8% illuminated)
Apollo 12, Charles Conrad, Alan Bean19 November 196906:54:357h 45m (2 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (80.6% illuminated)
Apollo 14, Alan Shepard, Edgar Mitchell5 February 197109:18:119h 24m (2 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (approx. 84% illuminated)
Apollo 15, David Scott, James Irwin30 July 197122:16:2918h 37m (3 EVAs)First Quarter (51.7% illuminated)
Apollo 16, John Young, Charles Duke21 April 197202:23:3520h 14m (3 EVAs)First Quarter (67.7% illuminated)
Apollo 17, Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt11 December 197219:54:5722h 4m (3 EVAs)Waxing Gibbous (approx. 80% illuminated)

Apollo 8 claims to have orbited the moon 24-25 December 1968 with Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders

Apollo 10 “dress rehearsal” claims to have flown within 15.6km of the moon’s surface on 22 May 1969 with Thomas P. Stafford, John W. Young, Eugene A. Cernan.

Apollo 13 claims to have been a failed moon landing attempt but also claims to have sling-shotted around the moon in order to return to Earth with James A. Lovell, John L. Swigert, and Fred W. Haise

To believe we went to the moon, you accept the official story that from December 1968 to December 1972, a 4-year period, the Apollo program sent humans beyond low Earth orbit 9 times, and the feat has not been accomplished at all before or since, despite the obvious leaps in technology during the following 53 years and counting.

August 1969: Apollo 11 Press Conference

To believe we went to the moon, you accept the astronauts’ behavior at this press conference at face value. If the Apollo 1 crew was murdered and these guys went along with the mission because they knew they were next to die if they resigned, then this was a type of hostage situation – which is exactly what it looks like. Why does it look like a hostage situation? There are even teleprompters. Why are there teleprompters on the desk?

YouTube commenters bring up some poignant questions: were they raped by aliens on the moon? Did the moon land on them? This video would not have survived social media in 2025. There would have to have been some explanation and human behavior is timeless, so really, why do they act like that?

11 December 1972 Lunar Module Lift-Off Footage

To believe the moon landings were real, you don’t laugh at this footage of the Apollo 17 “final take-off” from the moon:

Lunar module flying on Earth:

To believe we landed on the moon, you accept that that aircraft went “6 for 6” landing on the moon and taking off again. There is one-sixth Earth’s gravity and no atmosphere on the moon to contend with, but still. Do it again.

Take another look at that aircraft flying and compare it to what a rocket looks like that can lift off and enter into orbit. Again, 1/6 gravity of the Earth and no atmosphere, but that thing had to land on an unprepared, unknown surface ready to lift off again and enter into orbit. I understand it supposedly docked with the lunar orbiter where Michael Collins was waiting, but does that make it easier or harder?

No Unfakeable Footage

To believe we went to the moon, you accept that although none of the imagery brought back can be definitively proven fake, all of the imagery could have been faked, taken in the California desert and altered. While the imagery is impressive if fake, NONE of it is definitively unfakeable.

No Earth Footage from the Moon Surface

To believe we went to the moon, you accept that the astronauts never panned the TV camera up to see the Earth from the surface of the moon, despite the following reasons to have taken some video of Earth from the moon:

  • They spent a total of 75+ hours on the moon (combined among all 6 missions).
  • Neil Armstrong stated that the view of the Earth from the moon was a source of comfort to him while on the moon.
  • The Earth was visible in the lunar sky from their landing sites literally the entire time for all 6 missions, which is an astronomical fact. The Earth does not move in the lunar sky because the moon is tidal locked to the Earth. Also, the Earth would have been separated from the sun by roughly 90° the entire time. This is an astronomical fact because they landed near first quarter moon phase every time. The Earth would have appeared as a “half-Earth” because of the position of the sun.
  • The first famous photograph shown to the public from near the moon was “earthrise,” supposedly taken from orbit, but they never did another similar photo or video.

They never showed the stars or the Earth from the surface of the moon, especially in a video. Showing the Earth from the moon in a video would have been easy and interesting … but impossible from the California desert with 1960s technology. Why is that footage missing? Were they too busy playing golf on the moon to point the camera at Earth that was right there in the sky the whole time?

The Van Allen Radiation Belts

To believe the moon landings were real, you have to accept that the 9 Apollo missions got to the other side of the Van Allen radiation belts – somehow – without really mentioning them and when astronauts were questioned about the radiation, they hardly remember dealing with it. Contrast that with plenty of footage of NASA itself and scientists talking about how intense and dangerous the radiation is.

22 January 1973

Lyndon B Johnson died the day before the war in Vietnam ended and Nixon mentioned him in his speech. LBJ knew about the moon landings and profited from the Vietnam War as well. We’re not talking about nice people here.

20 July 1994: Neil Armstrong Speech at the White House for NASA’s 25th Anniversary

“Today we have with us a group of students, among America’s best. To you we say: we have only completed a beginning. We leave you much that is undone. There are great ideas undiscovered, breakthroughs available to those who can remove one of truth’s protective layers. There are places to go beyond belief.“

-Neil Armstrong, 20 July 1994

To accept the moon landings were real, you have to explain why Neil Armstrong said exactly what someone would say if he had been forced to fake the moon landing against his will and had the opportunity to speak to students 25 years later.

Read what he said. That is not a cryptic statement buried in a long speech among many speeches. The guy most famous for having walked on the Moon became a recluse from media attention for the rest of his life, but in one of the few speeches he gave, that’s what he said. Neil Armstrong was an unwilling participant and he told us what happened the best he could.

A Word on Bart Sibrel

If you believe the moon landings were faked, be warned: you’ll be grouped with Bart Sibrel, the loudest denier of the moon landings. While I happen to believe his theory and I think he does a pretty good job of organizing the evidence, he is unnecessary to come to the conclusion that the Apollo program faked the Moon landings. Also, Bart Sibrel is obnoxious to the astronauts, who were mostly I think unwilling participants, especially Neil Armstrong. Lastly, Bart Sibrel believes in multi-dimensional aliens that interbreed with humans. So, quote verifiable facts, not Bart Sibrel.

18 July 1969, Apollo 11 Faking Being Halfway to the Moon

Why does Bart Sibrel have this video? He says NASA gave it to him by mistake when he requested footage for a documentary, which sounds fishy but plausible. The video was not seen by the public until the 1990s when Bart Sibrel got it. Unless somebody can tell me how Bart Sibrel doctored this video or modified the date or changed the audio or whatever, it shows Apollo 11 near the Earth faking that the Earth is far away when they are supposed to be halfway to the moon.

To believe the moon landings were real, you have to explain either how Bart Sibrel has this video, or how the video is something other than what it appears to be, which is Apollo 11 faking being halfway to the moon on 18 July 1969. You have to explain this or they didn’t go. Is the date stamp wrong? Does the audio not actually line up with what’s happening in the video? Is the person seen in the video not actually Michael Collins or one of the astronauts? Did Bart Sibrel fake the video somehow? Why does an individual with little budget have a video showing Apollo 11 in low-Earth orbit on 18 July 1969, faking being halfway to the moon?

In Bart Sibrel’s Astronauts Gone Wild, he presents the 18 July 1969 video to Buzz Aldrin and Buzz Aldrin has no explanation. At one point in the confrontation Buzz Aldrin even suggests that Bart Sibrel manufactured the video. Bart Sibrel may be an ass hole in the way he goes about doing what he does, but the astronauts don’t act right either. Bart Sibrel is really putting his life on the line saying what he’s saying. I think the astronauts are the wrong people to confront since I believe they were unwilling participants, but their behavior is consistent with fake moon landings.

Laser Reflecting from the Moon

Supposedly the astronauts put laser reflectors on the Moon facing Earth and lasers can be bounced off of the mirrors back to Earth. To believe the landings were faked, you have to accept that there are in fact no man-made reflectors on the Moon, so the lasers are reflecting off of the surface of the Moon back to Earth. So, you have to accept that the surface of the whole Moon reflects more than Neil Armstrong’s pocket make-up mirror.

Motive, The Usual

The United States spent approximately $25.8 billion on Project Apollo between 1960 and 1973, which is equivalent to about $257 billion when adjusted for inflation to 2020 dollars.

Why do people even ask what the motive was?

Russia and China Know We Faked It

If we faked the moon landings, the Soviet Union may have known at the time and both Russia and China certainly know by now. Why haven’t they said anything? To believe the moon landings were faked, you have to explain why Russia and China don’t say anything. One claim is they are blackmailing us to not say anything. Since we collaborate with Russia in space, I tend to think they are happy to work with us on space travel rather than expose us. I don’t totally understand why they don’t say something, but I am sure they know.

Nah, why am I questioning this? They knew. The Soviets knew. Anybody with a space program knew what they saw was not real. The public has nothing to compare it to, no context. The Soviet Union knew in 1969 that the Moon landing was fake. We collaborate with Russia in space, everybody knows that. The only news here is that we were already collaborating with them during Apollo so the Soviets collaborated with us faking the Moon landings. They were happy in second-place with whatever cut they got of the Apollo program to stay quiet.

21 April 2025: Conclusion

I started looking into the moon landings on 21 April 2025 when I realized they could have been faked. Since I started looking into it, I have seen zero compelling evidence that we actually went to the Moon and a lot of compelling evidence it was faked. Am I cherry-picking evidence? Or do people imagine that evidence is compelling that isn’t?

This really shakes my perception of reality, which is why I titled the post “Fact vs Force”. I am sure we did not go to the Moon. For such an extraordinary, incredible claim the lack of evidence is absurd. Especially now with 50+ years of hindsight, the continued fervor with which people defend the validity of this fabrication leads me to realize that when force is applied, force can trump fact for a very long time…

However,

facts are stubborn things, and to those who continue to believe in this historically anomalous feat I say, “Cool. Do it again.”

When we do actually go to the Moon, we’re going to:

  • ferry fuel for the departure back to Earth
  • shield against Van Allen radiation
  • land somewhere where we don’t have to deal with a scorching 350-hour-long day
  • get some video footage of Earth from the surface of the Moon, which Apollo was apparently too busy playing golf to get done.

The Moon landings were fakeable when the public had nothing real to compare them to. When we do go to the Moon, the contrast with the fakes is going to be hilarious.

All, Defund DC, Rage and Frenzy Politics

President Biden’s First 100 Days

Trump’s First 100 Days

https://nathanruffing.com/president-trumps-first-100-days/

I tried to follow Trump’s first 100 days. I made an effort but alas I let it slide. Now when I read again what he actually said, I am reminded of how much the media distorts what he actually wrote.

My Post on Trump’s First 100 Days

I notice at the end of my post I said the same things four years ago that I’m saying now: turn off the TV and be local. Four years later I believe I can truly say I know a few people who have completely eliminated TV from their lives. That’s some success.

Biden’s First 100 Days

https://buildbackbetter.gov/

(Build Back Better? Tripling down on the slogans with not-so-hidden negative implication I guess: MAGA, BLM, … now BBB)

To Biden’s pledges. I guess two things stand out.

First, masking. I will continue to use masking as an indicator of mental illness and an indicator of people and places to avoid. Biden has declared himself the leader of the mentally ill.

Second, what little I saw from the media about Biden’s first 100 days looked like open provocation. I have to admit, this contrasts with what Biden has actually written, less dramatic, so once again the media is distorting and provoking.

Media quoting Biden: “I’m coming for you! Retaliation!”

Biden himself: “Washington DC plans to return to the usual half-truth thievery at the pace Americans are used to (plus masking attempt round two since a surprising majority of Americans seem to not value showing their faces).”

Solution to Immigration, Not a Wall

Marco Rubio nails it in 56 seconds, starting at 0:43 in the video:

https://youtu.be/6aq8OnyDeAw?t=43 

  1. Prevent visa overstays.
  2. Reform immigration process to more merit-based less family-based.
  3. Process the current illegal immigrants with the normal process.
Solution to COVID, Not Masks

This paper remains the best of 2020 on COVID:

https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa939/5867798

Focus on fresh air and ventilation.

Solution to Washington DC

Defund DC. Repeal the 16th Amendment to the Constitution.

30 April 2021

I’ll give myself a little more realistic task this time around since I failed to follow the details on Trump. It will be interesting to see how long Biden lasts.

Will Biden still be president on 30 April 2021? (100 days)

Probably.

Will Biden go the whole four years?

Probably not.

All, Defund DC, Rage and Frenzy Politics

Storming the Capitol, War Movies, and Defund DC

I have always thought war movies are stupid. Now that I have seen what Americans think war is, I can accurately identify why.

My Glorious War

I have been to war. I spent a total of one year in Afghanistan as a transport helicopter pilot. This is how an infantry Marine would politely describe my experience for me:

“Sir, you lived on camp cupcake. You slept in air crew air conditioning every night and had a hot shower most nights. You ate like a king three meals a day and shit on a toilet whenever you wanted. You never made the decision to pull a trigger to kill, you were ‘shot at’ one time and the enemy didn’t have snowball’s chance in hell to hit you. In four deployments, nobody in your unit was killed and only a few were hurt badly enough to be sent home. Nobody received so much as a scratch from the enemy. Thanks for the lift, sir, but you didn’t really see war.”

Infantry Marine, thanks to God, the US government, the USMC, Chesty Puller, good logistics, effective leadership – and most importantly your efforts on the ground, your description is absolutely accurate.

A year flying transport helicopters out of “camp cupcake” was my experience with war. It was no World War 1 trench, but when I see a riotous, frustrated mob walk into the capital building thinking they are starting some conflict, I see a bunch of soft, pampered, TV-saturated fatsos who barely have the attention span to bring a cooler and sunscreen to their picnic conflict. From what I heard, three of the five deaths were attributed to heart attack or stroke … ? Is this true? Some preparation.

War Movies and Video Games

“You have to see Saving Private Ryan, the bullets whizzing overhead are so realistic.” – If the movie didn’t make you physically cringe uncontrollably and say a spontaneous prayer, then no. One training throw of a hand grenade or close proximity to a 50-caliber machine gun being fired are the cure to believing that Saving Private Ryan is realistic. No speaker in the world can imitate the explosive concussion of a single hand grenade or a 50 cal. It is not a “sound,” it is an emotional experience bordering on religious. Trust me.

“What do you think of Band of Brothers? Is war like that?” David Schwimmer looking stupid is about the most realistic part of that show. Plan and enjoy a week-long camping trip with three friends or your family and you’ll know more about war than David Schwimmer and his merry band of whiners ever will with their endless strings of ironic one-liner complaining.

“Braveheart … Freedom!” William Wallace’s wife was beaten and then executed. His friend’s wife was raped. In the end he had his guts ripped out in public. Scotland voted to remain in the UK in 2014. Glorious.

Waste of time, and worse, now we have mobs of people who believe violence is an end in itself.

How many Americans have now grown up spending thousands of hours playing first-person shooter games? Required military officer reading literally references violent video games as training to commit violence:

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, by Dave Grossman

On Killing is recommended reading for officers in the US military. You want to know what violence and war are without going camping? Read it.

The Greeks fought violent hand-to-hand combat and logistically supplied themselves with their own families behind the front lines. That was war in ancient Greece. Tough people indeed. They had “cry sessions” after battles to overcome the trauma of close combat. They strictly forbade the depiction of violence in their entertainment.

What About the Various Anti-Police BLM Riots?

Also dumb. You want to be like them? Have those movements made any progress? Achieved any goals? You want to live in Seattle?

Work, Dedication, and a Cause

There are many frustrated Americans right now. Violence is not the solution. This is a good thing. Nobody has to be hurt or killed to get what we want.

We are frustrated with a central government that has grown too powerful and does not listen to you or care about you. You directly fund bloated Washington DC and the corporations that support it with your lifestyle, habits, money, and data. This is what you do to “fight” it:

  • Go outside. Go camping. Get in shape.
  • Cut all entertainment subscriptions including cable and Netflix.
  • Save money.
  • Support local food at farmer’s markets.
  • Learn a trade at a technical school.
  • Start a blog.
  • Lifetime boycott all social media.
  • Recycle your TV. Lifetime boycott all television.
  • Support local sports. Join a league. Join a gym. Occupy basketball courts. Occupy golf courses.
  • Lifetime boycott pro sports. They sold out. Sports are not television. Sports are not fantasy leagues. Sports is not ESPN. Support a minor league baseball team in person. Support the local D-3 student athletes and inspire your kids to participate like that. Life lessons.
  • Lifetime boycott college sports unless you or family are participating. D-1 sports never really represented university academics and universities folded with the rest during the pandemic.
  • What will you do with all the extra time? Learn to play an instrument. Start a garage band. Learn painting or photography.
  • Learn to cook healthy food.
  • Start a garden or organize a community garden.
  • Hunt. Support the humane lives of animals we eat. Stop supporting processed food corporations.
  • Like guns? Connect at the local shooting range. Support the local FOP. Learn who your sheriff is and what he stands for.
  • Prepare to home-school your kids as necessary. Organize with other parents around youth sports.

Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Defund DC.

Not easy, but the right thing to do.

Defund DC

Defunding is a strategy. The closest war word is “siege” and it is an effective strategy, especially long-term. Cutting off supplies is extremely effective.

Amateurs talk strategy and tactics. Professionals talk logistics and sustainability.

I support Americans for Tax Refrom: https://www.atr.org/about

Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. Defund DC.

All, Defund DC, Rage and Frenzy Politics

BRIC-US

What do Brazil, Russian, India, China, and the United States have in common? We all have capital cities that are geographically isolated from the populace by sheer size.

BRIC-US account for five of the seven largest countries in the world by area.

Brasília, capital of Brazil. Brasília’s population of 4.3 million is just 2.1% of Brazil. Distance to other major population centers: 16 hours to Rio de Janeiro / São Paulo, 30 hours to Salvador, 28 hours to the mouth of the Amazon River, more than 30 hours to Recife, Natal, or Fortaleza.

Moscow, capital of Russia. Moscow’s population of 12.5 million is 8.5% of Russia. Distance to other major population centers: 8 hours to St. Petersburg, 45 hours to Novosibirsk. Notable quiz question: how many cities in Russia are there with population over 2 million? Just two: Moscow and St. Petersburg. Wow.

New Delhi, capital of India. New Delhi’s population of 26.5 million is just 2.0% of India. Distance to other major population centers: 24 hours to Mumbai, 36 hours to Bangalore, 28 hours to Kolkata.

Beijing, capital of China. Beijing’s population of 21.5 million is just 1.5% of China’s population. Distance to other major population centers: 12 hours to Shanghai, 22 hours to Guanzhou, 28 hours to Xinjiang.

Washington DC, capital of the US. DC’s population of 6.2 million is 1.9% of the US population. Distance to other major population centers: 7 hours to Boston, 10 hours to Atlanta, 11 hours to Chicago, 21 hours to Houston, 39 hours to Los Angeles.

Social Programs

What happens if you administer education out of Brasília? Favelas. Brasília does not care.

How is Beijing on human rights? Xinjiang, what do you think? Concentration camps. Reeducation. Dystopia. Beijing does not care.

What are the chances of a fair election against Putin? Alexei Navalny, would you say Moscow meddled in your election? Dictatorship. Moscow does not care.

How is Washington DC doing on health? Multi-generational obesity epidemic feeding a bloated, confusing wealth care system that even the nurses don’t respect. We have a disease management system that profits from chronic illness and lobbies DC to continue poisoning Americans with high-fructose corn syrup, GMOs, sedentary lifestyles, and television advertisements for unnecessary pills whose side effects require more pills. Washington DC does not care.

Political Science

Want to give me a dissertation on why some large isolated capitals are okay and not others? Want to lecture me on why Washington DC is actually just fine? I am not a poli-sci major because I studied when I was in college and stuck with a real degree. Poli-sci graduates, your four years education is a bunch of details that cloud your common sense.

Common sense: sending tax money directly and automatically to a capital isolated from more than 90% of the population by more than an 8-hour drive is a horrible idea.

Follow the Money

What happens if I send my tax money along with millions of other people to a city completely separated from the population it “represents,” specifically designed to distribute tax money? Corruption. Cesspool. Swamp. Career politician = dictator.

In the US, people got frustrated and elected a reptile to fight a swamp full of reptiles. The professional thieves in DC have now ejected the foreign reptile and they think their swamp is safe to continue misrepresenting Americans and selling out to corporations.

BRIC-EU?

Hell no. Europeans from Dublin to Madrid to Berlin to Athens are not stupid enough to send 20-30% of their income directly and automatically to Brussels. They are paying attention. We need to.

Drain the Swamp

Sounds like I support the storming of the capitol, doesn’t it? Sounds like I support Trump maybe?

Absolutely not. Debacles both of them.

There is one fundamental aspect about America that feeds the corruption. The professional politicians in the swamp of Washington DC know it. Direct income taxation. Americans’ income gets siphoned directly from our paycheck before we even see it to get mad about paying it. The professional bureaucrat thieves from DC set it up that way purposely. Even state sales taxes do not have such an insidious arrangement – we see the price we pay and then the state sales tax gets added and we notice it and bitch about it. Even foreigners visiting the US complain about sales taxes.

$3.9 Trillion

$3.9 TRILLION per year quietly, voluntarily, automatically gets directed from Americans to far away Washington DC to fund the embarrassing circus of corruption that we show the world. It needs to end.

To put $3.9 trillion in perspective, which is just the income tax revenue of the US government in Washington DC:

$3.9 trillion would rank fourth in the world as a country’s GDP behind only the US (of course), China, and Japan. That means $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of Germany. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of the UK. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of any individual European country. $3.9 trillion is more than the entire GDP of India.

$3.9 trillion sent to one city causes corruption: Washington DC really is a swamp.

The Solution

There is only one way to fix Washington DC. The bad news is it is difficult. The good news is it is straightforward and effective. We must repeal the Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Do this and America survives. Do it not and we continue to directly fund the DC swamp.

Defund DC. Repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.

The money does not disappear. DC does not disappear. The money gets directed to local and state governments where real people are paying attention. The taxes get managed by people who are not separated from their constituents by a continent that allows them to thieve at will. The taxes get managed locally by mildly shady local politicians who have to consider what their neighbors think. Local politicians are shady but get the job done. Career politicians are criminals.

Republicans, you want to drain the swamp? Do it. For real.

Democrats, you want representative socialism? Do it – but pay attention. Administer it from Boston Massachusetts, Austin Texas, Saint Paul Minnesota, Columbus Ohio.

Bernie followers, you want free universities? The systems are already in place. California public universities are already free. In-state tuition is already low in most states. Make it lower, but do it from that list of capital cities that are within a morning’s drive from all of their people who pay for it and benefit from it.

The US Versus BRIC and MORE Government

What separates the US from the BRIC countries? One thing has historically made the US the world leader and not among a list of huge countries that remain in the third world (BRIC). The one thing is our public schools. Our public schools are locally-funded and give the vast majority of Americans at least a chance at college prep. Our public schools are effective local government.

You want to tell me the US is becoming a third world country? I know. That’s the point. This is why and this is how to fix it.

You want to complain about the US and compare us to Brazil, Russia, India, or China? Sign up your 7-year-old for an exchange program to swap with a kid in any of those countries. Millions of 7-year-olds around the world would be signed up for the exchange. The exchange 7-year-olds would show up ready to wear the most restrictive uniform you could find, no cell phone, and starve his / her way through school for a chance to be educated in America. Their parents would put their 7-year-old on a plane tomorrow not to be seen until they are 18 if their kid had the chance.

Local funding works. Fund local social programs. Organize locally.

Replace DC.

Counter-Examples

Canada is probably the best example (besides the US so far) of a successful large country with a geographically isolated capital.

Australia finishes out the global top seven and might be a good counter-example but most of the population is on the east coast together with the capital. The Aussies have to stay united or they risk becoming a province of China.

Look down the rest of the list beyond India. Of BRIC-US, except for India, each is more than 3x the size of Argentina, the eighth largest country in the world. BRIC-US countries are huge. Our scales do not compare to any other countries in the world.

Argentina is the largest country in South America besides Brazil. Buenos Aires contains 34.7% of the Argentine population. If you include Córdoba and Santa Fe provinces, you already account for 49% of the Argentine population. Easily more than half of Argentines live within 8 hours of Buenos Aires. The rest of Argentina is Patagonia.

Kingdom of Denmark is high on the list only because of Greenland.

France is the largest country in Europe by area besides Ukraine. Paris contains 18.8% of the French population. Paris is not in the geographic center, and still the furthest major city is Nice at the southeastern extreme of the country, only 9 hours away. The European portion of France is the 48th largest country in the world by area. India is 6x the size of European France and Brazil is 15x the size of European France.