Steven Borne's Member Post (20)

By Steven Borne

Do you know what No Budget, No Pay is?  It is just that, Congressional salaries will be held until a Federal Budget is passed or they get to the end of the year.  No Budget, No Pay is just a Presidential signature away from being a law after passing in both the US House and Senate.



No Budget, No Pay is brought to you by No Labels, a non-partisan citizens organization focused on “promoting a new politics of problem solving”.  It is one of…

By Steven Borne

It would be a lot easier, less expensive and much more convenient if I chose to not travel to NYC for the No Labels’ Meeting to Make America Work. However, when was the last time taking the easy way out made anything get any better?  For me, all it took was a good look at the Federal Withholding line from my end of the year pay stub to remind me how much Federal Government I am buying every year. While I fret over minor repairs to my car, I was reminded…

By Steven Borne

We now know that trickle-down congressional incompetence works as large segments of our economy cower under the shadow of the sequestration axe.  How can such a great nation have such a dysfunctional group managing our investment in government?  The answer is simple when you understand who congress works for. Most in congress do not need the $170,000 or so salary we pay them, but they all desperately need the millions of dollars required to keep their…

By Steven Borne

What is the total cost to the state for the new voter ID law? Include the cost to legislate, training from the secretary of state's office, local town costs, the AG sending out toothless letters, etc., and it is one steep bill. ... No one is in favor of voter fraud, but is our state government spending our money chasing a boogey man?

We have a real — and bigger — problem just getting people to educate themselves on the problems of our…

By Steven Borne

This opening line from Rick Newman in the July 17 edition of U.S. News & World Report on the Senate's repeated defeat of the Disclose Act, "Corporations must be people after all, because they have the right to speak freely, in secret," pissed me off.

The Disclose Act is not a panacea for the billions invested to influence those who manage our government, but if it can be stripped of all "special…

By Steven Borne

As a committed undeclared voter, I vote for the same mandate every time I walk into the voting booth; unfortunately, this mandate never seems to capture a majority. For the government we purchase every year, my mandate is for it to deliver better value year-to-year at lower costs. I want all the government services we fund to be more cost effective and efficient every year, but it never happens. You and I can complain, but when all is said and done, it…

From the December 28th Portsmouth Herald:

First in the nation is a privilege that must be earned every four years. Undeclared, Republican, Democratic, Libertarian or anything else, we all need to show up on Jan. 10. If we want to continue to have the unique opportunity to meet presidential candidates every four years, then we must not only vote in the presidential primary, we must be informed and educated.

Every one of us needs…

Managing Our Government

If we want the economy to improve, to restore the American dream for our children, and to have increasing

faith in our government, we the people need to change. It is our responsibility to manage our government, since the government we buy (our taxes) is the biggest

single purchase most of us make every year.

First, we must let go of the old notions that government spending or reductions in government and taxes can

sufficiently…

The current National Debt situation is in-excusable and we are all to blame, since it is not the government of the Republicans, Democrats or politicians, but the government of the people.

With the August 2^nd debt ceiling approaching our national economic fate is in the hands of those we have allowed to represent us.  Our votes have long since been cast, but our voices should not be silent.  Fortunately, a group of six Senators (know as the Gang of Six) three…

Here is a LTE and the questions I devleoped with two former State Reps (one Dem and one Repub).

What would you think of an employee who would not agree to schedule a job performance review, but did offer to come and talk and then answer some questions? If you live in Rye or New Castle, that would be our N.H. state delegation.

It is our government and our responsibility to ensure that those…

My congressman, Frank Guinta, called me last night.  Well it was actually a conference call to explain his vote against raising the debt ceiling.

Our Congressman said a lot of things many of us agree with, such as the government is spending too much money, the spending and borrowing need to be reigned in and that those struggling in these hard economic times say no more taxes.  He also, shared a litany of past experience working with people of different political…

Here is an overview of the current planned activities for the Rye civic league, that may be helpful to share with other communities.

Building the Rye Civic League.

Alex Herilihy tells us that the Rye Civic league was “founded by “three public spirited women in 1968 for the purpose of enlightening and engaging residents about the political life of the town”.  In 2009 Alex Herlihy began to revive the Rye Civic League through the “Rye Town…

Would you be proud if you paid the players on a basketball team and one guard would only shoot from the right, another only from the left, they would not pass to each other, would not work together, speak or help each other so the team could win?

If this sounds like your government and you expect more from these professionals, what can you do about it? If you want your players (government representatives) to figure out how to play better as a…

Ending the Democraship

In a dictatorship, one despot rules.  In Rye, a very small number of people vote for the rest of the town and a fewer number of people impact the warrant article wording, while we only had marginally better town meeting participation.

Rye is a Democraship.  In the 90’s an average of around 7% of voters attended town meetings and now only an average of around 2%  of voters have attended deliberative sessions in the past decade.  Election…

Here is my most recent opinion piece, Forsters ran it today.  Not sure who else will run it.

No Labels: Time for many to unite as one



Only time will tell if going to NYC for the No Labels (www.nolabels.org to learn more) founders kick-off event on Dec. 13 was worth sacrificing a vacation day and the cost of getting to and moving around in NYC. So what did we hear from a room full of…

Hello,

Of the 20 or more NH people who registered for the No Labels conference, 13 of us made it down there. There was also a fair number of our neihbors from VT, ME and MA there also.

It turns our there are a few groups in NH that have overlapping goals, so we are getting to gether on December 21st at the Manchester Library in the Winchell Room at 6:30pm. The different groups will give a brief overview and then we will have an open discussion about how we can…

Unless we do something, when our children or grandchildren hear Democracy, they will think of those outrageous mailers, vicious attack ads, us vs. them partisan warfare and a political system that makes the future worse.…

After meeting with some of the 11 NH candidates running as Independents in 2010, I realized we need more people like them who are willing to represent us. We can have more representatives who are fiscally conservative and socially moderate and do not carry any party idealogy or the strings associated with other people's money.

If we can get 4% of the vote to write in Steven Borne Independent for Governor, this can create a space for Independent or un-declared candidates for…

Most of us invest almost one third of our incomes every year in local, state and federal taxes and we must be much more responsible for our biggest annual expenditure. That responsibility takes many forms, such as the Sept. 14 primary.

It is great if you vote, but don't shirk on your civic responsibility by not looking at all the choices and doing your homework. Also, do not dare to put a check mark next to any candidate if you can not…