100 Days

Another Memorial Day has come and gone, signaling the “start” of yet another summer season. School is winding down, and vacations are in the planning stage. We have thus far survived the first 5 months of what I can only think of as a Reality TV Presidency. That’s the thought that struck me over the weekend as we had another interesting week of Tweets, scandal, and shenanigans in our Political system. It just really seems to me that Trump is just treating this as another one of his Reality ventures. The last five months certainly seem to fit the mold of today’s shows. At the very least, Trump made the attempt to keep the campaign promises he made in his first 100 days in office – for better or worse as they may be. Not many politicians can be held to that claim. He certainly gave the Executive Order plenty of use, if nothing else. That got me to thinking, if I had the ability to hold the highest political office in the United States, what would be my big points of contention I would want to take on in my first 100 days of office?

First and foremost, Executive Order #1 would be to eliminate Daylight Saving Time nationwide in the United States. I wrote another blog post about DST a while back, and the complete uselessness of the system in today’s modern world. The disruption it causes just serves no benefit to us whatsoever, so on Day 1, that’s the first thing to go, no ifs, ands, nor buts, about it.

Next up would be non-essential businesses opening on National Holidays. It’s long past time that we take some of our personal and family time back from the grindstone. It’s only a matter of time before those who work in the Retail Industry lose what little they have left of Thanksgiving, let alone some of the other holidays. There is absolutely not one single business that would be put out of business by remaining closed on National Holidays. So Executive Order #2 would be to close all non-essential businesses in the United States on all National Holidays.  Furthermore, none would be permitted to be open later than normal business hours on the day before the holiday (with forced closures on Midnight, regardless). In addition, no business would be permitted to open prior to 6:00 AM local time on the day after the holiday, regardless of normal business hours.

Finally, my third Executive Order would be to ensure all non-essential businesses are closed when there is a State of Emergency declared that covers their local area. Once again, there is absolutely no reason for any business to put the lives of their employees and customers on the line during a Snow Emergency or other similar event or natural disaster. I just find it incredulous that time and again, whenever an event like this crops up – especially the snow emergencies we have here in the Northeast – that the higher ups sitting in their offices will claim (and state) that the safety of their employees is first and foremost, yet there is no inclination whatsoever to tell the managers to close down those businesses in the affected areas. Once again, there is absolutely nothing that any retail business sells that is essential for anyone to have that requires them to put their lives, and more importantly the lives of others, at risk by going out in such conditions. For the most part, there is plenty of advanced warning so that people can be prepared ahead of time. If you don’t take advantage of that – then screw you, due without until the emergency is over. It’s not like anyone is going to be trapped inside their homes for days, let alone weeks after whatever storm system has passed. Forgot to get your milk? Well, you certainly won’t forget next time, will you? And quite frankly, my life is a hell of a lot more important than your damn gallon of milk.

Yeah, I think those are the three things that would need to be done in the first 100 days of a new Presidency. So, all you politicians out there who have aspirations of running for President in the future ... guarantee me that you will tackle these issues during your term of office, and you’ll get my vote any day of the week!