I only missed the nazi part except when i ran for congress.

Wow, I just discovered the "SNIP" feature on my computer - let's you capture a screen. DO you know about it?

Now I have a screen shot of my "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" ebook website (see below). I just love that Indiana Jones looking plane and map...it's not far off what i went through....I only missed the nazi part except when i ran for congress. lol.

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

 

CONGRESS (GOP) IS LETTING US GO OFF THE CLIFF

Congress is letting us go off the cliff. Thanks GOP for not wanting to let the wealthiest pay a little more to reduce the debts set up by your unpaid for tax cuts, two unpaid for wars, Plan D, etc.

My anti-dote is watching "STAR WARS" (the original) while working on the next edition of my "Better Times Ahead" plan to save USA's technical lead while everyone spasses out watching football -- which sure as hell won't save us in the global tech race of the 21st century..

We have to do it despite Congress where half of them are so stupid still think the Earth is 5,000 years old and FLAT! lol

"Agenda for American Greatness" is the last, FREE Chapter of "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?"

Thinking of doing a second edition with PHOTOS of what I saw in China and India in the 70's and 80's vesus today - and how America stacks up against these growing global powerhouses in technology and education.

But specifically on HOW WE WIN this inescapable global technology race. Details at the link:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 - from the other side of the cliff...

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

What's Causing the FISCAL CLIFF deadlock? This...

The FISCAL CLIFF deadlock is being caused by the way our Congressional districts are drawn -

Instead of encouraging centrists in both parties (people like James Baker and elder Bush), our current system encourages extremists in each party, people like Tom DeLay when I ran for Congress and Michelle Bachman, etc., today.

I ran against Tom Delay in the 2000 GOP primary because it was the only way to scare him - the Democrat only got 36% in that GOP heavy district. Whoever won the GOP primary in that district - where FEW VOTE - automatically won in November. Voters in November were fooling themselves.

Now computers draw safe districts - so Congressmen fear a primary opponent instead of the general election opponent....The zealots turn out to vote in the primary for the most extreme - not the more moderate voters who show up in November. I discovered moderate Republicans who voted for me as a moderate, but only when I ran as an Independent and got to compete in the November election cycle.

I cover this and how to fix Congress and America's economic future in a high-tech GLOBAL 21st century in the last (FREE) chapter of my book entitled "Agenda for American Greatness."  How did we get into this? HOW do we get OUT? All explained at the link.

It's at the link below.

If you want to know where America stands in the world competitively...

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com






I see an America whose citizens think its ahead of a race it is behind in...

Solutions to fix our mess are included at the final chapter.

www.bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/

Last days of a globally aware President?

I always thought "senior" Bush, George H.W. Bush, was a good decent man with true global knowledge needed to be President (his son didn't have that same interest or expertise unfortunately)...

Leaders like Geo. H.W. Bush attracted me to the GOP (enough so that I eventually run in three GOP primaries against Rep. Tom DeLay) but people like Tom DeLay Karl Rove etc drove me FAR AWAY....(That story is in my book "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" in the chapter "Running Against the Hammer.")

George H.W. Bush hated campaigning because it meant saying nasty things about other people - he was honest enough to raise taxes even though it would cost him his Presidency after saying "read my lips." But he did it for the good of the country not for himself. It was those tax increases that set the stage for the surpluses under President Clinton.

I hope it is not the end for George Herbert Walker  Bush, but the inevitable day is coming, and perhaps very soon. When it happens I shall miss H.W. Bush, our former ambassador to China and President...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-george-bush-hospital-condition-update-20121227,0,2610558.story

Agenda for American Greatness & the 2nd Amendment

The next edition of "Agenda for American Greatness" (2013) will also cover the issue of the 2nd Amendment and Assault Weapons in our society - based on having seen men with guns in many of the nearly 50 countries I've been in.

"Agenda for American Greatness" is about FACTS and SOLUTIONS. It applies as much now AFTER the election as it did before. it shows how we got are and a roadmap for getting our prosperity mojo back.

Guns and the Global Economy will be with us for some time...I've seen it on a global scale. And more.

That story is in "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?"
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Agenda_for_USA_Greatness.html

"FOLLOW" for updates...

Asteriod discovered Two Days Ago - Passes between us and Moon...

SMART move would be investing in ways to take out the next asteroid that WILL hit us instead of spending trillions on rat holes like Iraq and Afghanistan...just sayin.

It's only our LIVES at risk if one hits us. And since we DO have the technical means to avoid it, it would be pretty STUPID to be unprepared, don't you think?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57558567/asteroid-passes-inside-moons-orbit-buzzes-earth/

Tax Guns/Ammo 100% for Victim's Fund

I think we should put a 100% TAX on gun (and ammo) sales. Proceeds used for a victims' fund. 

What do you think?

"Follow" for updates.

What Should Be Legal - Pot or Assault Weapons?

We as a nation have embraced VIOLENCE for far to long - it reeks from our movies, our books, and the way people treat each other, even on Capitol Hill.

We need to make some changes - including mass anger management. We live in a nation where smoking pot is illegal and owning an assault rifle is legal. It should be the other way around. Marijuana has proven medicinal qualities which alleviates pain in patients. Assault weapons only produce pain.

People should not be able to possess offensive weapons and 30 bullet clips. If you want those, join our military where it belongs.

I agree with this writer who says: "There are, however, some gun control laws that could be strengthened. the so-called gun-show loophole (which is not a loophole at all -- 40 percent of all guns sold in America legally are sold without benefit of a federal background check) should be closed."

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/12/the-massacre-in-connecticut/266300/

More on this as the facts come in...."Follow" for updates.

http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

Cancer, but no insurance. Now what?

I stopped by my Sugar Land office today to pick up mail. Found out that a law secretaries husband has been diagnosed with brain cancer - and he has NO INSURANCE. They are checking to see if they can get pre-existing condition insurance. He is 62.

Obamacare DOES make a difference when it happens to you. I just don't know if the pre-existing portion of the law has taken affect yet. The answer will affect this man's family big time...

.what happens when everyone has an intercontinential missile AND a bomb?

More evidence that the 21st century will be a global HIGH TECH century...what happens when everyone has an intercontinential missile AND a bomb?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57558644/north-korea-says-it-successfully-launched-satellite-into-orbit/

time for women to rule

Women work collaboratively towards solutions. i learned that as a negotiator. 

Our men in congress don't seem to understand that. 

time for women to rule. it will cut our war expense big time.

And we'll actually work on real issues that help the most instead of just the top few.

An Asteroid missed us TODAY. Are we ready for the one that won't miss us?

An Asteroid missed us TODAY.  1 million miles close. Some have gone between us and the moon.

Are we ready for the one that won't miss us? Hell no.

We allegedly intelligent humans haven't even thought of doing that yet, even though the technology to do it is at our fingertips.

To NOT do something that could save us as a species is kinda STUPID, don't you think?  Who gives a damn if the budget is balanced if the planet is vaporized when it was avoidable?

...i was also wondering when we are going to save the planet from our own excessive emissions?

Unless you have a warp drive to get us to the next blue planet some millions of light years away when this one is COOKED...?

Time is not our friend y'll....Immigration AND Climate Change need to be on the agenda in 2013.

Just who was buried WHERE in Dry Prong, Louisiana?

I am in a hotel room on the road in Texas WORKING...so much to do, so little time to do it.

Among many things such as generating income from the biz, I am working on a 2nd edition of "Better Times Ahead" (adding PHOTOS and), more true stories.

These are stories of the little guy helping small American companies successfully sell their products overseas which create jobs in the USA (ship Products overseas, not Jobs!).

Edition 1 included the saga of going from rags to riches back to rags and on to riches again. Along the way I helped a lady in Texas who started selling ceramic turtles in the Caymans.

I once had to jump over a Disney France turnstile in a suit to make a meeting with the Disney buyers on behalf of a Texas entrepreneur selling Texas music and animal tapes (i bought a ticket but something went wrong). That story will be on the 2nd edition along with this: I once represented sons of an American killed on a drilling rig off the coast of Africa  who were told a wild story about a witch doctor and why they couldn't see their father's body...Just who was buried WHERE in Dry Prong, Louisiana?

Details at: "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" A True Story That Proves Even the Doomed can Survive the Worst of Times...
www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com

The second edition will add to the Solutions proposed above.

Its really America vs the World, and how Americans are Thinking too SMALL..

Americans right now think its between "D" and "R" Democrat or Republican. Sorry to advise you ITS BIGGER THAN THAT.

Its really America vs the World, and how Americans are Thinking too SMALL...

It's in my next Global American Values article -- WITH Solutions of course at the end of course (no bitching allowed without offering intelligent SOLUTIONS)  "Follow" at:

http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

And check out "Agenda for American Greatness" - It's JUST AS ON TARGET AFTER THE ELECTION AS IT WAS BEFORE.  It's the final chapter of "Better Times Ahead: AprilFool.com"

www.BetterTimesAheadAprilFool.com
Time Warp Global Traveling on everything but a Yellow Submarine

Pearl Harbor - 71 Years Ago Today

71 years ago Today, a day that lives in "infamy" - the U.S. was attacked at Pearl Harbor, leading to our entry into WWII.  Now the Japanese and Germans are ALLIES. The "Marshall Plan" that rebuilt Europe is credited with this transformation. McArthur did the same in Japan. 

We've been watchin Netflix' "The Last Days of World War II." Wow, had it not been to the A-bomb, the invasion of Japan would have cost another 1 million American lives. Cities in ruin, they still refused to surrender until faced with the ultimate power.

Where are our visionaries like George Marshall today?  Afghanistan remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world followed closely by Iraq. Where they worth $2 TRILLION dollars that could have been spent rebuilding America?

Food for thought as we salute our veterans on this historic day...

NASA - A lot of bang for a half penny

Just heard Mike Coats, the outgoing director for the Johnson Space Center talking about NASA's future and what it does at our Rotary meeting.

Did you know that NASA only gets 1/2 cent of every federal dollar? And yet our smartphones etc came into reality as a result of NASA's work.

Did you know that the Pentagon's Space program is LARGER than NASA's? (Over $26 Billion out of their $660 billion/year). I say we transfer at least $4 billion from the Pentagon to NASA's budget.

P.S. China will have a NEW Space Station in 2020 when our ISS is ready to be RETIRED. Yet Congress does NOTHING to prepare. Elect some new reps folks - these turkeys are leaving us behind in the world of technology...

let it happen - GO OFF THE CLIFF.

CONGRESS LEFT TOWN TODAY - despite FISCAL CLIFF being 27 days away.

 I am beginning to think we should let it happen - GO OFF THE CLIFF.

Why? Because it would let tax rates go back to rates during the Bill Clinton administration - and will chop our bloated Pentagon budget that is greater than the rest of the world COMBINED.

Give MORE to NASA instead! That investment would ENHANCE our economy on a broader scale.

Discover More, and SOLUTIONS can be found at:

"Better Times Ahead: April Fool?" At the link....

Doctor: CHINA LEADS U.S. in DRUG development

Photo: Night photo of Shanghai, the 21st century financial center of the world, October 2012 by Michael Fjetland

My significant other went to her eye doctor today.  As they chatted she told him about our recent experience in China. He said: "I want to see China. They are now leading us in drug development!"

True.  They are doing what Americans used to do - build great things. Make great investments to keep us ahead.

If you want to see where China has come from, check out what it looked like when I first saw it in 1982 as a young Fortune 500 attorney negotiating pollution control technology with the Chinese government. Then I will show you the unbeleivable changes since then - dramatic architecturec, huge investments in education and infrastructure, high speed transportation, space, etc.

From being behind America, they now lead in many ways - mostly because our country has failed to invest. We have become complacent - and spent far too much on war machines that don't generate income and too little on the civilian technology that do - and keep us leading the world.

China has a worldwide strategy to buy rare metals worldwide. We have no national strategy period.

For a journey back into time of a China that no longer exists, check out "Better Times Ahead: April Fool?"  

And subscribe or follow here for the updates on China 2012 versus American 2012 - and what we need to do to win this global high tech world regardless what happens in Iran, Syria, Russia, etc.

Mayan Calendar - NOT the end of the World, or the Calendar

Worried about Dec 21, 2012 being the "end' of the Mayan calendar and "end of the world"?

Forget it. I was just in Cozumel where a guide showed us the Mayan calendar - it is a WHEEL. Actually 3 of them. On Dec 21 the little wheel clicks over and the big wheel moves 1 notch to the next chapter. NO END guys!

Tell the Russians etc not to worry. It's not over until its over - which could happen from Climate change but not from the Mayan calendar.

BTW, today's Mayan descendants think they came from MONGOLIA - their DNA matches!

How Israel Helped Hamas Extremists - Why Its NOT Good

Global American Series

November 27, 2012

                                    

How Israel Helped Hamas

Extremists Win over the Moderate Palestinians

-Why It Doesn’t Bode Well in the New Missile Age

The winds are pushing this giant ship around just as I write this somewhere in the waters south of Cuba, in waters that brought the U.S. to the brink of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union in the 1960’s. It struck me that the winds of war that once again swept over Israel and Gaza could bring Israel to the same point. The winds are equally ominous in Israel today, for one simple reason.

The Hamas extremists showed that violence yields immediate results from Israel whereas all the negotiations and peaceful waiting by Mr. Abbas in the West Bank has yielded absolutely nothing for the Palestinians. Here is what just happened. Hamas fired thousands of small rockets, which have no guidance system into Israel. Israel uses jets and drones to drop laser bombs on Hamas targets.

Days later there is a ceasefire. As part of the deal cut by Hamas, Gaza fishermen for the first time are allowed to fish twice as far from shore as before – six miles from shore instead of three.  Palestinian farmers who were being shot at by Israeli citizens if they approached within 1500 feet of the border fence can now farm their land to within of couple hundred feet of the border fence without being shot at.

This concession by Israel has strengthened the hand of the extremist Hamas, who refuses to acknowledge Israel’s right to exist – while it weakened the hand of Mr. Abbas and his nonviolent approach, who year after year watches more Israeli settlements continuing to be built on Palestinian land. Palestinians can see that Mr. Abbas’ recognition of Israel failed to yield any improvement versus what Hamas just did by shooting its rockets.

The lesson of this latest flash war is that the more violent approach of Hamas yields results while the peaceful approach of Abbas and his Fatah party yields only stalemate for Palestinians.

In this new high tech space age of rapidly evolving missiles, that is the worst incentive Israel could be setting up for itself. It only encourages another round of violence by Hamas to get yet more concessions for their demands – concessions like allowing more construction materials into Gaza and reduction of the embargo that has crippled the economy since Hamas took political control. It is logical to conclude that it will take more violence to settle their land disputes since negotiations with Abbas have yielded nothing.

Had Israel not waited for a missile attack to allow Palestinian farmers access to their farm land and had allowed Gaza fisherman freedom to go beyond the limited three mile limit to practice their trade and given those rights in negotiations with Mr. Abbas, then the message would have been that talking works and violence doesn’t. 

In this case, the message Israel is sending to all Palestinians, and Arabs (as well as Persians like Iran) is the opposite – that violence works if they want concessions from Israel.  Only Mr. Netanyahu and the Israeli leadership has the power to change this situation. They could address the root of the problem by negotiating a two-state solution with someone like Abbas, and reward nonviolence.

If not, then Hamas has gotten the message -- violence works. And that sets up the next missile exchange somewhere down the road -- with more sophisticated weapons. 

Time is not on Israel’s side. Today it is the undisputed superpower in this exchange – its precision bombs, jets and drones are more than a match for the entire Middle East, especially against the simple rockets fired by Hamas that don’t even have guidance systems.

But what will happen if Israel fails to negotiate a two-state solution with leaders like Abbas until such time as Hamas has precision bombs, jets and drones – or its own “Iron Dome”? Can Israel afford to let it happen? 

Can Israel afford to continue on a path that rewards violence against it and punishes those who negotiate nonviolently?  My ship is in waters that almost led to a thermonuclear exchange between the U.S. and Russia in the 1960’s.

Israel’s ship is in waters that could soon repeat what these Cuban waters experienced over 50 years ago unless it charts a new course.

Michael Fjetland, BBA/JD

Global American Series

Opt-in/out - Your Choice

“Comment” “Subscribe” & “Follow”  Updates at:

Global American Values blog

http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

Or Follow on Facebook

Sponsored by

Armor Glass International, Inc.

www.ArmorGlass.com

Don’t Leave home Without It…!

What Thanksgiving Is All About...

TOGETHERNESS...

Prelude to Next HIGH TECH WAR in Middle East

The Israel Gaza Truce won't last.

I will be posting an article on the situation in near future - as a Terrorism Analyst dating back to the first Gulf War.  Hamas now has more power than the moderate Abbas in the West Bank -

Lebanon's Hezbollah didn't even participate in this fighting - and they have 40,000 Rockets!

Netanyahu is catching hell from his right wing for not invading Gaza.  Egypt's new President has taken over judicial and legislative powers - a potential new dictator. Yet Egypt was the only mediator who could talk to both sides - since even Hillary couldn't talk to Hamas.

And with Iran's government supplying Hamas, etc long range, more sophisticated ROCKETS, we are moving to a HIGH TECH WAR...stay tuned.

Subscribe or follow at...

http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

China: Seeing It As Entrepreneur 30 years after First Trip for Fortune 500

 China: Seeing It As Entrepreneur 30 years after First Trip for Fortune 500

How 21st Century Could be China’s Century If America Doesn’t Play it Right…

This true story ends with a video link to what it’s like to ride the 430 KPH “MagLev” into Shanghai Airport –the fastest train in the world. 

I made this trip just before the Presidential election to compare the China I encountered  in 1982 --as one of the first negotiators in China for large American companies after President Nixon had opened the door -- versus China NOW.  How does China NOW compare to America’s Technology position NOW – and more importantly --WHAT do we need to do to stay ahead?

Let's start with a "before" and "after" shot. The first photo is me on Tiananmen Square in 1982 -- during a weekend break in our negotiations on pollution control equipment for their power plants. I was 32, so yes, I was one of the youngest negotiators right after Nixon had opened the doors to China to American companies.  Notice the EMPTY boulevard behind me. In the distance you see two buses.

Now for the "After" photo. The next one is me, age 62, at the same intersection on Tiananmen Square in October 2012. I couldn't reach the same side of the street because it was blocked by 20 lanes of CARS...and a military parade. Notice the street is NOT EMPTY. We sat in traffic jams all over China.

In October I went back to China exactly 30 years after my first trip there in 1982 as a young attorney for a Fortune 500 company. Ironically I was there in 1982 to negotiate a license for American pollution control technology for their coal fired power plants – to keep the nasty coal ash out of the emissions.  We were competing with two European companies for the contract.

Stunning is the best description of the changes.

Next 2 Photos Below: I am standing in the middle of an empty Tienanmen Square street in 1982 -- in the middle of the day no less! Buses and bicycles was all they had. Photos by Michael Fjetland

 Photo BELOW: China's streets 2012. Notice a DIFFERENCE? Forget $2 oil...Between China and India's growth, oil will continue to be a finite, dwindling resource as China alone adds 170 Million MORE cars the next 5 Years! It's already the Largest Car Market in the World.

The contrast between China then and now blew me away --and I've seen nearly 50 countries the last three decades.  In 1982 it was a world of bicycles and everyone wore the same blue shirt and pants and made $30 a month (photos on the blog site).  If I had stepped off the street at the wrong moment and I would have been run over by a million bicycles in 1982.

Next Photo: Transportation in 1982, in Beijing, China...Photo and caption by Michael Fjetland

 Photo below: Transportation in 2012. The 265 mph "MagLev" train - Fastest in the World. Photo by Michael Fjetland. All Rights Reserved.

In 2012, had I stepped off the curb at the wrong moment, I would have been run over by a million CARS – and no one would have stopped!

China is today the largest car market in the world. It will add 170 MILLION more cars the next 5 years! All of them will need even more scarce gasoline – so the notion of $2 gas is a fantasy. China already pays $6 gallon today! American cars are No. 3 in their market. Japan is No. 1.

Photo below: Beijing Buildings 1982 - Plain jane buildings...old Soviet style blocks really. That's THEN.

Compare to NOW. 2012 Photo below: IBM building in Beijing - They call it the "Dragon Head" building...Photos by Michael Fjetland. All Rights Reserved.

 Photo below: 2012 Shanghai "Bund" - Amazing architecture...

I noticed that as we sat in traffic jams from Beijing to Shanghai to Suzhou to Hangzhou that the Bullet Trains would FLY BY so fast that by the time I got my camera turned on, the bullet was already GONE. I never did get a photo of a moving bullet train one for that reason.

But I did take a 7 minute video of the most amazing 7 minutes riding at 430 kph (265 miles per hour!) on the fastest train in the world – Shanghai’s “MagLev” train that hovers over the track and is as smooth as silk at 265 miles per hour. The cars we passed appear to be flying backwards! Here is the 7 minute video link to that:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM97mpWM6HM

Photo: MagLev, up close with author, Michael Fjetland October 2012. Love these digital cameras. Note the reflection in the MagLev's windows....SMOOTH. A glass of water would not have rippled during the whole thing. And the way we passed cars was STUNNING and COOL...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM97mpWM6HM

Frontal video of MagLev coming into station (21 seconds)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QSSaL7hUzI

THAT is the competition America faces in this high tech, global 21^st century – where the winner is not the one with the biggest military but the country with the best technology and education system to support it. 

I lost count of building cranes that I saw on hundreds of buildings under construction all over China. Chinese are doing what AMERICANS used to do – invest, build, and educate to a higher standard of living.

Americans need to go see countries like China for themselves – compare the Chinesenew buildings to their old one; compare their fast trains to our slow one; compare their teaching their kids English while  barely speak English ourselves and let bridges fail in disrepair and don’t invest in maintenance and expansion of our road.  Cities like Houston and states like Texas will double in size the next couple decades ahead.  

Above Photo: My hotel in Shanghai, the Renaissance 2012

We can’t afford not  to plan ahead if we are to succeed.

Above Photo: How I (left) and my Chinese friends Lily and Dashan dressed in 1982 (note the hush puppies). Dashan was the interpreter for the Chinese Ministry negotiating our technology license.

Above Photo: How Chinese dress in 2012. We came across a Chinese wedding at one of our dinners...

If  people get out of their silos and see the real world for themselves perhaps Americans and our Congress would wake up from their delusions and realize that we need to play a smart strategic global game to win this space age race.  The next frontier really is where few humans have gone before.

China will launch yet another manned space flight in the next few months. They will have a brand new Space Station when the ISS is 20 years old and due for retirement. There are over 40 countries now competing in space. How does this make us leaders in technology – and staying power? China is also leading in green energy production while half our Congress remains committed to old technologies as outdated as the horse and buggy was when the automobile came along.

Above: China already has first module of this space station in orbit. Completion date: 2020 - when the ISS is scheduled for retirement!  No ISS 2 planned, which could leave China as only power with new Space Station!

To Stay tuned and Stay Updated by "Following" or "Subscribing" to Michael Fjetland's Global American Values blog.

Michael’s story of unique experiences in countries like China in the 80's was kept as journals and published in “Better Times Ahead: April Fool” Links:

http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/

"Subscribe" or "Follow" Global American Values for updates you should know that impact our future...

                                                               

Election 2012: A NEW America Emerges --What it Means for Future

President Obama's re-election with a clear majority (including 332 electoral votes to Romney's 206) marks the beginning of a NEW America in 2012.

American voters now look like the country as a whole - the electorate is now totally diverse, not just white people.  I say this as one who has run for Congress in more than one GOP primary.*

Few people realize that Obama also got 2/3's of the CUBAN American vote - a vote that in the past has always been Republican.  Obama led by a wide margin with WOMEN. He got 70% of the Hispanic vote, the fastest growing group in America. Obama led among college and the youth vote - those who stay with a party once they pick one. Obama also got the white progressive vote (people like me).  Romney led among old white people, who are at the end of their careers and life cycle.

Some have said that the majority who voted in Obama "just want free stuff."  This is the same illogical thinking that led to the GOP loss, and will lead to more defeats until they change their ways. 

The only things people who voted for Obama want are:

1) Opportunity to VOTE

2) Opportunity for EDUCATION

3) RESPECT

Obama voters don't want welfare; they want WORK. The truth is the greatest number of people on welfare today is WHITE - usually poor whites with children. 

The people who voted for Obama don't want to steal your stuff; they want the opportunity to improve their lot by getting an education - which Obama has said is key to our future. Gov. Romney wanted to CUT Education funding. That would have condemned American success in a high tech world we must compete in.  The GOP in Texas has cut education funding and  Texas now ranks toward the bottom of states in education (thanks to GOP-led Mississippi for keeping us from being number 50).

Furthermore, Obama has proposed TRAINING people to fill the 2 million high tech, high paying jobs that are open and available TODAY in the U.S. - but Americans don't have the skills to fill them.  Our competitors in China and India do have those skills (my next article will cover how fast and far China has come in the last 30 years, and how it stands poised to surpass us).

Most of all, Obama voters -- like all people everywhere -- want RESPECT.

You don't make friends by walking into a party and telling everyone what's wrong with them, or by proclaiming "You are all illegal and need to self deport!" I have a Hispanic friend who served in the U.S. Air Force - yet at restaurants white guys will make disparaging remarks within earshot, as if he is a mafia guy instead of the sales guy he is. He makes his employer over $1 million year selling hazardous materials products to the oil industry. Nothing motivates people more to get "revenge" at the polls then disrespect or attempting to take away their opportunity vote.

In the past two years we have seen a number of GOP controlled states attempt to limit voter access. They imposed voter ID laws in Pennsylvania and Texas and cut the number of early vote days in places like Florida. It was an attempt to suppress votes by legitimate U.S. citizens.  It backfired and brought out voters of many colors who were willing to stand in line for 6 hours or more to exercise their basic American right of choosing our leaders.

Hispanics were treated by the GOP candidates as if all of them are illegals - never mind that most of them are here as legal U.S. citizens and work hard to make a living for their families.  It's why Obama won 70% of their votes. Women were disrespected by wing-nut GOP candidates who talked of "legitimate rape" and other nonsense. Gays were cast as subhuman. "Moderates" were drummed out of the party.  The GOP has narrowed its voter base immensely.  I wonder if the GOP voters even like members of different country clubs?

Demographic trends will continue what was started in Election 2012. To win future elections, a candidate from any party must appeal to a diverse group of voters, not just a few old angry white people or religious fanatics --the ones who still control the GOP primaries. This approach has cost the GOP over 5 U.S. senate seats - and control of the Senate.

A NEW America has emerged from Election 2012. It looks just like the real world - people of many colors and religions, but all loyal Americans who want our country to lead the world.

The sooner the GOP wakes up to this reality the better. Otherwise they will become a permanent minority party, as it should be when it works against the American principals such as "one man one vote" and fails to enlarge its tent to fit modern America that comes in all colors. 

Michael Fjetland*

Global American Series

Blog updates: http://globalamericanvalues.blogspot.com/

Ebook: “Better Times Ahead: April Fool” 

http://bettertimesaheadaprilfool.com/Home_Page.html

*Ran in GOP primaries in 2000, 2002, 2006 against Rep. Tom DeLay -- before leaving the party since moderates are not welcome.

PASS IT ON. click "subscribe" or "Follow" for updates.

Sponsored by Armor Glass International, Inc.

www.ArmorGlass.com

Saves Energy While Protecting from Burglars, Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Solar Heat….