so, you think your safe with the elog and hos.

how true, we all know that politics have nothing to do with elogs and HOS

its purely about safety

 

Maybe years ago before the election booth would be the place to stop this out of control mess, but in this day and age the big corporations and there power of big money is what controls this country. Doesnt matter who is in office.

 

we are not discussing politics, we are discussing how we might actually effect changes to our lives that are controlled by the alphabet soup of agencies, and just how out of touch those agencies are to the lives they affect...

but if you really think that is discussing politics, well then there is no hope to have any discussions about how to effect change that are needed.

 

Well, actually, the president submits a budget, though it is not laid out in the constitution that that is even necessary. The congress does "rubber stamp" a lot of it, and therein is the problem. Folks have to elect people that will not rubber stamp things. The congress does control the purse strings. The fact that they have abdicated that responsibility for quite a while does not change that. At any time, the congress can override the President, the Supreme Court, and cut funding off for what ever and whomever it chooses.

It takes dedicated diligence on the part of congress members to stand up and do their job. To that end, it takes diligence on the part of the people to make sure they send the right people to D.C. and the state capitols to do that. No matter how you look at it, it is our responsibility. We can just shrug it off and say nothing can be done or we can make an attempt. And in all of this, trucking regulation is just a fraction. Everyone else feels the bite of a bloated, intrusive government. You have to come at it that way to get more folks on board than just truckers.

 

Well it is clear that you need a course in civics. There has not been any relevant discussion about politics or politicians. It has been about the structuring of government.

 

And that mindset has led us to the place we are now. throwing in the towel and claiming nothing can be done. I understand it fully, but don't accept it as a viable idea. And the founders, who took on the undisputed world superpower in 1776, Britain, who's navy was the undisputed strongest navy in the world, didn't accept that idea either. And I would much rather people make a standup attempt to reign this stuff in before it ever leads to a dictatorial country, which it is rapidly heading for.

 

I know something can be done about it although I would be surprised to see it really happen and its sad because we are in an industry that could turn things around rather quickly if we all pulled together. Meanwhile I do my part and vote for the lesser of 2 evils when the time comes and I have written a letter or 2 to my congressman as well. I havent given up hope in but I am not holding my breath for things to get better either.

 

A three prong approach is in order. Yes the local elections are important very important in fact but throwing out a bum who bumped up a bum into a position such as the FMCSA And or the DOT To send a clear message that this will not ever be tolerated again ever will scare the rest of the other bums in office into putting down their bottles of Jack and pay attention.
What we need in terms of politics is a landslide in a key state that is central to trucking in order to flex our muscles.
Either physical or political position should be out goal.

A third position and also a fallback position should be one that we could use to make sure the message is taken seriously is to find a clear cut area of weakness that the United States has that could be used if need be that we could use that would not hurt us in anyway!!!

Strikes may hurt us financially and politically but boycotts do not. Here's an example, doing our research into Salina Kansas and what they sell outside it's city state limits to send a strong message to Bill Graves the head of the American Trucking Association and shut those companies down by not buying their products and asking friends and family to take part as well.
Now of course I know he's not running for office but he's a key political figure to go after that would feel the pressure very quickly if we decide to shut down the cash at the retail stores and or truck stops in his home state and thus cripple his little operation in no time.

Hey! He's fair game in my book and has been a thorn in our side for a very long time and besides that sign that the city has propped up outside the city limits looks kinda ugly and I think they should be forced to take it down just to show how much power we driver really have. And if we do that the other drivers will are up to the fact that we really do have power!