Forget the Tea Partiers. It’s time for real change for real Americans, and that means we need The American Beer Party.

The American Beer Party will support no currently organized or disorganized political party, and that pretty much covers all of them. Current political parties in America consist of the Party of Maybe and the Party of No. It’s time for a Party of Let’s Do It.

We need leaders who will shed their inhibitions and fears and stand up for what is right for all America. Beer is very good at helping one shed those things, and that’s why it’s our guiding force.

Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Before Ronald Reagan destroyed the "ability to pay" income tax system in America with his trickle down economic theory that pretty much stated we ought to give the money to the rich folks and they’d have enough crumbs falling from their table to sustain the rest of us.

If you’re a beer drinker, that didn’t work out too well for you, did it? After you take a moment or two to buy something from the ads that help pay the bills, I’ll be talking about some truth we ought to be holding self-evident.

We Hold These Truths…

Beer drinkers are the backbone of the American economy. They are American citizens who work locally, if they can find a job, to better provide for themselves, their families and the economy in general. Money earned is converted to stuff bought. Stuff bought helps other people have jobs who buy stuff to help other people have jobs.

Corporate America, led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, screwed beer drinkers by saying foreigners needed to be brought over here on special visas so they could work. Every person brought over on a visa took a job away from an American citizen. But corporate America wasn’t completely satisfied with that, so they began setting up offices in other countries and shutting down offices where American citizens were working. Just ask yourself this: when was the last time you called Customer Service and got someone you could actually understand.

Now, before you get your drawers in a wad, I’m not against people in other countries bettering themselves. I’m more than happy to take in the tired and poor when we can afford it. We could afford it prior to trickle down economics. Right now, America is sitting on 10% unemployment, actually more than that when you count the folks that have already lost their unemployment money. It’s way too easy to say those folks are not trying very hard to find a job, you know, if you haven’t walked in their shoes. It’s been months since there was positive job numbers. When you have more people looking for fewer jobs, it’s pretty much a given that all of them will not find work.

Universal Health Care for All Americans?

Not having health care for all American citizens is really putting us at an economic disadvantage in the global economy. American employers are paying large amounts of money to assist their employees with health care costs. Their competitors in other parts of the world don’t have that cost, and it is a cost that must be figured into the price of American products and services. Employees are not only paying for health insurance but are also paying out-of-control health care costs with money that could be used for many other things like food, clothing, shelter and beer.

Yes, there should be an excise tax on sugary and fatty products. Yes, there should be a tax on high fat content fast food items. Our government did it to "help" Americans quit smoking. Why not do it to help Americans lose weight? Overweight people are just as much a drain on health care as smokers.

What we don’t need is mandatory health insurance coverage for people who cannot afford it. Simply get rid of Medicaid and expand Medicare to cover everyone. How much would that save in administrative costs alone? Require electronic billing for all claims. That has been proven to reduce costs by up to a dollar or more PER claim. Figure a few hundred thousand claims per day and the savings add up quickly. And I wonder how much the savings would be simply by getting rid of the military health care program?

Curb Your Evangelicalism

America ought not be trying to spread democracy to lands that don’t want it. Nations whose governments are based wholly or in part on religion are not candidates for democracy. Yes, we had a revolution in America to tear ourselves away from the control of another country. That does not mean we can have revolutions in other countries because they cannot do it themselves. Going to war in Iraq was as big a mistake as was going to war in Vietnam. And, come on, let’s admit we blew it in Afghanistan. President Obama, like Richard Nixon, said he wanted to correct the "war situation" and, like Richard Nixon, hasn’t gotten it done yet. It took Nixon into his second term before Vietnam was cleared of American soldiers, if it was ever fully cleared of them. I’m of the mind that Obama might not get that second term if things don’t start happening to help Joseph and Josephine Six Pack.

This is just the first of many rants and raves that will become The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Supreme Court Debacle.

Time Magazine asked the question in its October 24, 1969 issue: What if we just pull out? Of course the issue at the time was Vietnam. The United States was deeply embroiled in a war it couldn’t win, nor could it afford the cost. The number of soldiers lost in that war was staggering compared to today’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever else we might be engaged. But the question is the same. What if we just pull out and bring our soldiers home?

The United States and its allies are not fighting to win. Richard Nixon ran for president in 1968 with the campaign promise of ending the war in Vietnam. But once he was elected he decided he did not want to be the first American head of state of lose a war…and on and on and on it went. The military industrial gang needed a war, and they controlled Nixon.

Barack Obama stands today where Nixon stood four decades ago. America cannot afford the wars. America cannot win the wars. The military industrial gang still needs a war. And, we continue to fight. Now the military wants to go into Yemen and Iran and only God knows where else.

I wore olive drab work clothes in 1970, shortly after the Time article appeared. I can still sing about the "life of a mortar man" today as if it was still a part of my daily routine. There is no honor knowing the people whose names are found on the Vietnam Memorial, and there is no honor knowing those who have fallen in the Middle East. Over thirty years before the Time article was written my father, a Marine, was stationed in China. He, too, was a soldier in an "unofficial" war. It was called the Second Sino-Japanese War that began July 7, 1937 after six years of intermittent fighting. Japanese propaganda at the time referred to the invasion of China as seisen, or holy war. It was during those first six years that my father served in China. He was back in the states when war officially began in July 1937.

Now, we are involved in another holy war. You cannot defeat a religious belief. If that was possible, there would be no Christian religion. In contrast, Adolph Hitler wanted to expand the territory under his control. He wanted land. The Allies said no, and took the land away from him. Holy Warriors don’t want land. Jihad is not about land. It’s about religious belief.

Take a trip back in history to the year 1095 when Pope Urban promised remission of sins for all Christians who died in the war against Muslims. That was the beginning of a series of wars known as the Crusades. Well, that didn’t work out as planned. Islam is now the second largest religion in the world and, arguably, the fastest growing. You cannot defeat a religious belief.

What If We Just Pull Out?

What would happen if the United States and its allies simply pulled troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan? What if we dedicated 100% of military planning and resources to removing terrorist cells with no need for "boots on the ground"?

We know the opium fields of Afghanistan provide a huge source of funding for terrorists. Why, then, are those fields still standing? Can it be likened to all those years the government of the United States preached against tobacco use while providing subsidies to tobacco farmers?

Is there anyone working in the United States sending money out of the country to be used by terrorist groups? Why haven’t they been located and removed from the workforce?

I’m not talking about leaving the terrorists alone. Find ‘em and dispense with ‘em. Justify the expense of drones and planes and bombs and the CIA. Get the soldiers out of harm’s way. Bring ‘em home.

And, oh yeah, while you’re at it, get rid of the military mindset that the only way to protect America is by going to war against an enemy we cannot defeat.

President Barack Obama visited Japan and met with Japanese Emperor Akihito. It seems that the greeting between these two world leaders has gained more attention than anything else about the visit, especially from conservatives.

Americans, in general, are not very keen on respecting customs in other parts of the world. It is customary in Japan to bow rather than shake hands. A deep bow, as President Obama performed, is one of respect. It’s more than a greeting.

But the president’s bow did not replace a handshake. What this photo shows is mutual respect between two leaders, each respecting the custom of the other.

I have been very fortunate to have travelled abroad on numerous occasions, and I have been embarrassed by my fellow countrymen … and countrywomen, too!!! For example, one evening my wife and I decided to have an early, long, leisurely dinner followed by dancing and a show. We arrived at the restaurant about ten minutes before it opened. The Matre’D stepped up to his desk a few minutes later to check whatever it is they check.

A woman with a definite American accent asked to be seated. She was informed the restaurant was not yet open. Well, Katie bar the door – or, in this case, open the door. The woman went into a rant about having to stand and wait. Now, mind you, my wife and I were seated a few feet away and there were other chairs available for the woman. She simply wanted to rant that her needs were not being met even if those needs were way out of line. (continued below)

The Arrogance of Us

We have a problem in America of thinking the rest of the world should be just like us. We want to set up democracies in places that don’t want a democratic form of government. We want to export capitalism to places that don’t want such an insensitive form of economics and a lifestyle built around corporate greed. However, corporate America does not mind closing down jobs in the U. S. in order to get cheap labor in other countries.

That’s sort of a sticking point with me since one of my former jobs is now being done by someone in Vietnam. Did I mention I was in the military in the early 70’s? Of course I should be over that war by now but – no one else is, either. Anyway, I digress.

A couple hundred years ago or so, there was a country on the other side of the Atlantic that wanted America to be just like them, and pay tribute to them via taxes, etc. A bunch of guys got together and wrote something like, "When in the course of human events you piss us off, we’re gonna kick your ass." I paraphrase.

Sadly, this attitude is not directed at other countries only. We Americans display our arrogance toward one another. I’m right, you’re wrong so we need a law to force you to think like me. I am a white male married to a white female, and we’ve been married since about the time Noah parked his boat. She is my first and only wife. Do I think every marriage should be like ours? Well, I wish everyone would take the marriage relationship as seriously as we do. But I don’t think every marriage needs to be people of the same race or, even, the same sex. It’s none of my business who YOU fall in love with!

Has my wife ever had an abortion? No. We have never found ourselves in a circumstance where that was an option. But some people do find themselves in such a circumstance. It’s none of my business HOW they choose to live and the CHOICES people must make for themselves.

Yes, I am very glad to be an American citizen. I’m extremely thankful that I have the freedom to make the choices I make. Yes, I have made some really rotten decisions from time to time, but I’m glad I have the opportunity and the ability to make ‘em.

President Obama has made a decision to elevate the face of America by showing respect to other countries and other world leaders. I applaud him for that. We all should. But, in his back pocket he has a note that says, "When in the course of human events you piss us off, we’re gonna kick your ass." I paraphrase again.

Senator Robert Kennedy, like President Barack Obama, was an agent of change for America. America is a lesser nation today because an assassin’s bullet prevented his election in 1968.

In 1966, Sen. Kennedy gave a speech to the young people of South Africa on their Day of Affirmation in which he said, "There is a discrimination in this world and slavery and slaughter and starvation. Governments repress their people; and millions are trapped in poverty while the nation grows rich; and wealth is lavished on armaments everywhere.

"These are differing evils, but they are common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows.

"But we can perhaps remember – even if only for a tirne – that those who live with us are our brothers; that they share with us the same short moment of life; that they seek – as we do – nothing but the chance to live out their lives in purpose and happiness, winning what satisfaction and fulfillment they can.

"Surely this bond of common faith, this bond of common goal, can begin to teach us something. Surely, we can learn, at least, to look at those around us as fellow men. And surely we can begin to work a little harder to bind up the wounds among us and to become in our own hearts brothers and countrymen once again…"

To those of us who lived at that time he was affectionately known as Bobby. Bobby’s candidacy for President of the United States energized the youth of America toward good. The youth of the 60’s were already energized about changing America. Bobby began to funnel that energy in the right direction until a gunshot rang out shortly after midnight June 5, 1968.

Senator Edward Kennedy (Teddy) gave the eulogy at his brother’s funeral and said, "What he leaves us is what he said, what he did and what he stood for." He then read Robert Kennedy’s speech to youth of South Africa. It is a speech we could easily hear flow from President Barack Obama today, and it is one we need to listen to over and over again. I’m pleased to present it here.