It’s one thing for the government to shake you down for money so you can exercise your rights in your home state, but for every state you travel to to then repeat the shake down on top of your home state… Its gotta stop.
All non-professional licenses should be honored from state to state. You’d still need to follow the rules that differ from locality to locality, but you shouldn’t need to pay the fees to buy new fishing licenses each time you cross a state line or have to apply for a new concealed carry permit / request the one you already have be honored somewhere else just so you can exercise your constitutional right to own and possess firearms.
If you’re fishing or hunting to put food on your family’s table that you know doesn’t contain a bunch of chemicals, preservatives, hormones, et c. or just to be able to save on the exorbitant grocery store prices we’re seeing today, you shouldn’t be harassed and shaken down by the government to do so. Especially when the license fees collected only seem to go to the buddies of FWC commissioners who own land the FWC over pays for, or so the FWC can by beachfront property at a premium price that is just going to erode away after the next hurricane.
Now if you’re hunting just to get antlers for your mantle or taxidermy a billfish, that’s a different story. Lastly, even though you’d be exempt from the government imposed fees to use the guns and fishing rods you already paid taxes on, you’d still need to follow state and federal rules around seasons, quotas, sizes, et c.
TSA isn’t the Commercial Airport Security Administration, they’re the Transportation Security Administration. Yet, they don’t have a presence at train stations, ferry terminals, cruise ship terminals, or outside of the commercial terminal at an airport. We’re spending $10 billion a year for government agents to conduct unconstitutional search and seizure on Americans traveling for work or to enjoy the few squared away coins they’ve got so their family can have a nice vacation while those who can afford to rent private jets or fly a personal aircraft don’t get one iota of harassment from them.
General aviation pilots and passengers and private jet renters don’t have to sit in a two hour wait at a security checkpoint, they don’t need to show ID when they get to an airport, their bags aren’t inspected, no questions on the purpose of their trip, et c. From when I or anyone else gets to the general aviation side of an airport, it takes no more than 20 minutes from arrival to takeoff. There isn’t even security pretending to be present to deter someone committing an act of terrorism or mischief. You’re telling me that just because someone has money, they get the honor code treatment and don’t need to be held to the same standard as those without money who fly commercially? I can walk through the door into an FBO from the road, walk through the FBO door to the tarmac, and then run up to any commercial airplane and not be harassed till its too late. When I fly to dual use airports, I taxi past all the commercial airliners before take off yet nothing in my plane or on my person was screened… Two tiered systems need to be dismantled or made equal across all aspects of the federal government.
We’re spending $4.4 billion to solve what in part amounts to less than a $50 million a year spending problem. Chemical herbicides should not be used in waterways as a means of controlling invasive aquatic plant growth. We should be using mechanical treatment options to remove plant matter from water columns, taking with them the nutrients that are causing so many problems through South Florida.
The $4.4 billion expenditure is what the Federal and State Government are spending to build four water treatment reservoirs around Lake O to remove nutrients, chemicals, and pollution in general from water before being sent to the Atlantic, Gulf, or Everglades. Outside of C43, the other reservoirs will use plants growing in the reservoirs to sequester pollution present. Meanwhile the Army Corps of Engineers and State of Florida are spending 10’s of millions of dollars to kill plants growing in waterways that are doing the same thing. The rotting plant matter than releasing large spikes in pollution that fuel algae and bacteria growth that kills the fish, crustaceans, and invertebrates present before more spraying is needed to kill the algae and bacteria. Rain than washes the toxic, stagnant water into the Gulf and fuels Red Tide blooms.
Too much damage is being done to our scare marine ecosystems and too many boaters and their passengers lives put in danger by a minority of operators who are incompetent and negligent. Reform to the boater safety course is required to solve, at least in part, these issues.
Create a national license / certificate like exists for all pilots and commercial vessel operators
Require all recreational vessel operators to do the permanent boater safety course and discontinue the temporary course
Require vessels operated by temporary boater safety course certificate holders be equipped with GPS to warn operators of hazardous conditions.
An appropriated trust fund be established to ensure base wages are paid to critical ATC staff during future government shutdown funded independent of the taxpayer. Funding be minimal and temporary in nature, collecting a landing fee assed to aircraft using commercial services at airports to the tune of $0.50 - $1.00 per landing. The fee being discontinued when the trust fund amasses 3-months worth of base wages.
When TSA was established, it was designed to be fully self-funded via the post 9/11 security fee applied each way on all airfare. Congress has instead redirected the fee to its general slush-fund. Depriving TSA of $4.5 billion in annual funding, half of its nearly $10 billion budget. The fee should be returned to TSA and increased from $11.20 to $23.00, making TSA fully self funded and the agency’s ability to direct deposits payroll independent of whether or not the government is funded.
My plan for returning trade skills to K-12 educations. Resetting the focus for high school graduates to not just be going to college, but college or avoiding the debt trap that many programs and schools have become by instead entering the trades. Tackling our critical shortage of trained and skilled welders, fabricators, plumbers, electricians, pipe fitters, iron workers, et c. in the US.
Part of the reason it costs so much, and takes so long, for a contractor to come to your home to make a repair is because there are so few of them that they’re booked out for weeks. Even in industry, part of the reason Plant Vogtle in Georgia took so long and ran so far over budget is because there wasn’t enough trained tradesmen and women across the entire country who could do the work properly. Leading to a lot of it having to be demoed and replaced.