Tag: Electoral College

Playing With Fire

I TRULY feel I have something that everybody’s looking for… they just don’t know it YET. It’s amazing. It’s hot as fire, it’s simple, it’s all-encompassing, it’s not new, but it IS THE ANSWER… as far as I can tell.

And I’m DYING to be told WHY I AM WRONG. Anyone? Please?!! I keep making the attempt and can’t find ONE reason I should not run for president in 2020 on the main-plank platform of Ending the Electoral College. I believe it. I found the answer BEFORE everyone else, it’s a great answer with amazing consequence, and I don’t want to mess this up! Not the ‘me-being-President’ part… that is a piece of the answer, not the motivation. I don’t want to paint myself and my motivations in such a way as to ruin a beautiful truth-

Mankind can GOVERN ITSELF. We no longer need a “failsafe“.

The Electoral College can be done away with.

The Electoral College MUST be done away with in order to bring out the best America has to offer to HUMANITY. By holding back the brightest and best people, we limit our evolutional trajectory. Our government used to be a stepping stone for innovative young minds. The benefit of our society came from people wanting to do good things for themselves and their Country/communities. THEN move with their talents and experiences gained into the privet sector. Both, our Country and the individual benefitting greatly.

Due to the MASSIVE amounts of money involved in campaign finance, and the deceptive nature in which corporations manipulate politicians. To bend a politician’s beliefs for campaign dollars. Presidents are picked by corporate dollars with little or NO direct input from the PEOPLE.

Yes… we are allowed to pick between two candidates. But, as I’ve seen it, in every election since 2000, it’s been a pick between Bad and Worse… BOTH in-bed with multi-national multi-million dollar ________. Banks, companies, you name it.

….and they have funded BOTH SIDES AT THE SAME TIME.

C’mon. I KNOW we can do BETTER! That’s what we NEED. The people were demanding it this past weekend, in Kansas City at the March For Our Lives. The inequality driven between us by a united set of ENTITIES worth more money than 99% of the PLANET COMBINED is killing us. It’s not a group of PEOPLE…. people have compassion. People want to see good things for others. The corporate ENTITY is an all-consuming critter. They are supposed to be, right? It’s how it survives. Like a wildfire.

In Kansas, every spring the Flint Hills are burned off to help stop wildfires from consuming cities. Controlled burns NOW will limit a fire sparked by lightning in the middle of August. ACTION taken NOW will prevent…

I don’t know. I’ll stop with the metaphor. I could turn it a thousand ways and make it pop, or possibly rhyme… maybe a catchy slogan or cute phrase. But…

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Kansas City, MO, #neveragain

As I walked the crowd with my family at the neveragainKC march, I could not help but feel overwhelmed by sadness and anger, and at the same time joy and hope. All sorts of ideas and slogans were plastered on signage, people with crosses. And people with a hole in their heart. People with a longing for unity, after losing someone they miss greatly.

No one has this thought yet and may not for many months to come. I do not want to soil this or ruin it for that moment when it ‘clicks’. This is NOT MINE, this is EVERYONE’S idea. No one has yet challenged the premise that we were taught as kids. It’s time SOMEONE does it. We all say it, or hear it. No one DOES it. We must find out if we can-

“ANYONE can become President of the United States.” Is that true? Or does the corporate ENTITY need to approve? May I volunteer to be the President for all of us? I may not be the best, or the one you would prefer, but I am DOING IT. I decided to do it, and if you would allow me the CHANCE to be on that stage in the debates in 2020, I will try not to let you ALL down.

There’s too much at stake for me to get this wrong. That’s what I’m afraid of most- a misstep or an action I should have done that led to a misunderstanding. There seems to be very little precedent for this. So I guess I’ll have to pave the way. I built the first approved grid-tied solar panel array in Wyandotte County, KS. It was also the first DIY homemade grid-tied solar panel array in the United States. NO ONE else had done it, I had to teach the guy inspecting it how to inspect it. It took a while, but I did it.

Everyone else thought about it. I decided to do it.

Keep your head UP!!

JC

 

The Philosophy of carlsagan42

One of my “guilty pleasures” is watching YouTube and Twitch streamers who play Super Mario Maker. If you don’t know, the old school Super Mario Bros video games by Nintendo have been brought together in a very cool way. A suite of tools have been given to the players of this unique game that allow them to build levels, upload to a server, and be played by anyone who owns Super Mario Maker.

With a large variety of SMB items, from multiple classic games, the range of possible level creation is infinite. A brilliantly simple game has now been immortalized and, with only the human imagination as its limit, the wide variety of level design is showcased in Mario Maker via a game mode called “Super Expert”. The game picks, at random, 6 player created levels that have a low clear rate or a low attempt/clear ratio. Beat all 6 levels without dying more than 100 times and you rescue “Princess Peach” from the game’s antagonist, Bowser.

Simple. Right? This sounds simple, until you account for… people. These levels are created by the SAME people who comment on YouTube videos. Who post crappy photos on Reddit. Who comment “nice boobs!” on your Facebook photos. You know, trolls. The insane variable of difficulty in these Super Expert Levels is amazing. I am always humbled by the ability of the human mind to create better ways to torture other humans. Super Expert Level in Super Mario Maker is no exception.

I especially enjoy the puzzle levels that carl plays. Watching a SUPER INTELLIGENT MIND attempt to crack a difficult physics puzzle is fascinating. It can take him HOURS to find the answers, but he WILL find them. He has beaten every level he has committed to. They are ALL beatable. You CANNOT upload a SMM level without first clearing it yourself. So, it is just a matter of “do you want it bad enough?”

I have boiled carlsagan42’s philosophy down as best as I could:

“Within a defined physical framework, with an impartial, finite application of the rules, there is NOTHING the human mind cannot achieve.”

And carl proves it. Especially playing “Kaizo Mario” levels. As he puts it, Kazio is a Japanese word that means rearranged. It was originally called “Asshole Mario”, because of the hidden coin blocks the level designer places in the PRESUMED path of the player. Example, when Mario needs to jump over a large gap, he backs up, runs full speed, and jumps with enough momentum to clear the obstacle… but instead of sailing over the hole, he strikes an invisible coin block and falls straight down, dying. In order to clear the pit, the player is forced to change, awkwardly at times, his approach to the jump in order to not strike the block.

The intricacy of the Kaizo Levels are, at times, amazing.

 

This “kid”, who has just earned his PhD in molecular biology and works with plants in a lab to find new vaccines, is a speed runner. He has an ability that I compare to playing an instrument. He is the concert pianist of Super Mario. And when someone plays an instrument as if it is an extension of their own body, it can be a beautiful thing to see!

It is NOT easy. It requires practice, patients, and dedication. Passion, confidence, and a sense of pride in accomplishment. To see something to its completion. It is a reward in itself, just seeing a difficult project to completion. And carlsagan42 will say it, too-

You have to fail every conceivable way possible before you succeed. Eventually, after all the practice, and work, and failing, and more failing, you get it right. Then it’s “Easy every time!”

So, What’s My point…

In our government, we have seen every possible way to fail. The most ignorant of politicians, the most corrupt of politicians, the most honorable, and the slimiest have all come and gone. Some fall by the wayside in history with little lasting effect on our Country. Some, like Ronald Reagan, are ACTIVELY dictating how we live our lives TODAY via the Supreme Court.

Hope and change, a thousand points of light, a shining city on the hill, a chicken in every pot… ALL words of men who were out of touch with the REALITY of the MAJORITY of Americans. Herbert Hoover, self-made wealthy man, sought to end hunger and poverty. Believed he could do it in his Presidency. Reagan held up America as a beacon for the rest of the world, then armed rebels with illegal funds in secret and lied about it.

Do we even need to bring up GWB?

Either these men lost touch with their roots, or they had an agenda all along that was contradictory to the goals of the AVERAGE American. Being an AVERAGE American (I presume), I can say without a doubt that the END GOAL of the MAJORITY of AMERICANS is simple- helping to ensure we come closer to that more “perfect Union” envisioned long ago. No one is perfect. No government is perfect. BUT, acknowledging this, and accepting this, we can CHANGE the laws we got wrong. TOGETHER we can move the arrow toward right. So many times we have failed, but we continue to push. We are constantly looking for the missing puzzle piece or the right combination of moves that will bring us closer to the goal.

Maybe not this life, but the next. Each life moves us closer to the Princess. Remembering what we got wrong last run, we can make adjustments and dodge the obstacles we hit last time. Progress has been made. Knowledge has been obtained. We must now apply that knowledge and complete the journey.

Ultimately, life is like Kaizo Mario. A person’s inner light shines brightest when they hit the kaizo block and fall into the pit. Do you try it again? Or do you skip it?

The Princess is waiting….

An Independent President

As I see it, there is only one solution- we MUST elect a President who has NO intrest in a political career, who has no political ‘history’ (THE reason Hillary lost, IMHO), and is a ‘working stiff’ like myself. The “Average Joe”. AKA someone who represents the MAJORITY of Americans.

 

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Mr. Jack Charbonneau

 

 

Under normal circumstances, I would NOT run for President. I would say there are MANY more qualified persons we need to be at the helm. But we have reached a ‘tipping point’ in our country. What we have created, this intercontinental economic powerhouse, born and bread here in the USA, is now attempting to, and successfully I might add, change the rules… change the legislative structure ITSELF… to its own benefit.

If the law makers are sympathetic to your company, even better have worked for or will be working for your company, then laws can be passed or undone in your interest. Our government is similar to refs in an NFL game. What would happen if the players were allowed to be the refs? At some point the game would come to a halt due to the inflated egos on the field! Instead of a competition of skill, it would become a “battle royale”.

Though the idea of a death match on the Senate floor MIGHT sound appealing…

I hope over the course of 3 years I will be able to lay out a full description of myself, articulating my positions on as much as I can think of, as well as any questions thrown this way, to show exactly why I can be President. Because we all KNOW the President is only as powerful as the Congress allows. If they are all in agreement, progress CAN be made. It has happened before. It MIGHT happen again!… maybe… I’m optimistic. Not 100%, but at least 65% confident…

A President with an UNDENIABLE MANDATE from the VOTERS, THE PEOPLE, from whom this government gets its marching orders. By sending a representative from the PEOPLE, NOT the special interests, NOT the legislative elites, NOT the wall street leaders.

A person who, when someone looks at that leader and asks “Is he looking out for my interests?” You can absolutely say “Yes”. Because, as I see it, the MAJORITY looks, acts, and THINKS exactly like I do. We bust our ass, follow the rules, try to get ahead, set a good example for our kids, then see the banking industry gamble all OUR money away on risky loans and NOT GET PUNISHED. Or see Donald Trump break LAWS and… nothing. Or watch an oil company kill 11 workers due to negligence and no one goes to jail!

NOTHING?? If I go to the casino tonight, put it all on red and come home broke, my family’s financial future is bleak. If I were to attempt to write off those losses, my ass would be in jail. Same for anyone else. Accountability used to be universal.

Let’s make America ACCOUNTABLE again. Your actions speak volumes. EVERYONE is accountable for their actions, GOOD and BAD. Let’s do good, for everyone, together.

Keep your head UP!!

 

YouTube video uploaded

I think it turned out VERY well. I hope you agree.

Busy morning! Kids made it to school, three stores to hit today. Grocery getter extraordinaire! And its raining, so traffic sucks. Mondays are fun.

I’m going to attempt a daily post here and, hopefully soon, start a livestream each day on Twitch.tv/mrcharbonneau. I need to assess my livestreaming tools to see what I can or cannot do. I don’t have much cash available for cameras and mics, so I’ll see how this laptop camera looks. BUT, that will be another day.

Be sure to check out my GoFundMe and Patreon. I’ll keep going if there’s an appetite for an independent, funded by THE PEOPLE, to change the ELECTION SYSTEM. That’s the question, how to pay for this. I’m a stay-at-home-father of two with a wife who is a PICU nurse. (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit… actually CRRT nurse. She specializes in hearts and circulatory… but anyway) I am pretty much doing this on my own as a SECOND JOB.

A second job that I don’t want right now. Don’t have the funding for. Will, in essence, be DOING FOR FREE. Will have a 1:1,000,000 chance of success. And will be the most EMOTIONALLY AND PHYSICALLY trying thing I’ve ever done. In 2016 I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I’ve been learning how to diabetes for a couple years now, and for the last 365 days I’ve been successful at not dying! Last year in March I caught an atypical pneumonia, my blood sugar was over 500 and was in the hospital for three days.

It was the best thing that could have happened to me. Seriously. It got me to focus for three days on what I needed to do. Scary, yes. The family was scared, too. Pneumonia sounds horrible! No fun at all.

But, just another reason to change this country for the better. Having a terminal illness sharpens the mind, forces one to ensure priorities are in order. I’m only 39, but I know how I will likely die- “complications due to T1 diabetes”.

…that or “random bus”. Details. whatever.

Keep your head UP!!