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NOT PARIDISE LOST, JUST OPPORTUNITY LOST
The Beatles song seems like a million miles and years ago. We had a moment in America to heal a horrible wound. We elected an African-American President, well part African-American.
His mother no one disputes was an American citizen. His father was of African decent. According to our law no matter where in the world he was born he is an American citizen since his mother was a citizen. So what did a large part of the country do? Question his citizenship, request his birth certificate, denied that his birth certificate when produced was valid. He was an American citizen by being born of his American mother. Four plus years of lunacy has gone by and the crazy are still analyzing the record of his birth. Our last Republican candidate John McCain was born in Panama and no questions were ever raised of his citizenship because he had American Parents.
So we have neglected the economy, we have not had reasonable debate on Medical Care for all of our citizens because the Republican side of the house has declared war on a duly elected president. Never mind that there last president in the White House was absent without leave from his military duty, started two wars that were not paid for, and forgave the rich any responsibility for helping the country that is the source of their success.
We now have the poverty rate of some third world countries. We have an infrastructure that is failing; from bridges to water delivery, sewers to power distribution, health care to a fair tax system. We have been robbed by conservative ideology, and they have a plan to take the country further down the path toward an oligarchy.
Instead of healing a 200-year-old wound and working with a good man who had a view of fairness for the poor and middle class, the right has decided to stay with a policy of ruin. Bigotry has raised its head as if the whole era of civil rights never happened. We are seeing a majority of our states taking up voter rights restrictions in the name of security of the vote. Governors in many states are turning their backs on their uninsured citizens and not supporting the Affordable Care Act. We have replaced our old plantations with a for profit prison system that is mainly populated by the descendents of the slaves who built the economy of a young nation. We have 25% of the worlds prisoners with only about 6% of the world’s population. If we continue down this path which seems to be the course, it will take a slave revolt to move the needle of change back in favor of the majority of the population. “What slaves you say?” 1% of our population controls over 90% of the wealth, and the middle class has seen its wealth eroded for the past 40 years. The fortunes of the middle class, poor, and minorities have been devastated by the actions of a small number of wealth Wall Street and Bank traders. Why has no one labeled with their true title-TRAITORS!
Imagine if the right-wing was as interested in education and health of the nation as much as they are interested in every one having all the armaments they want. Imagine if the right-wing was concerned with women having the same rights as men in controlling their bodies. Imagine if religion was not a weapon to demean anyone who does not believe in a power beyond them that does not look like a bearded white Anglo Saxon savior.
On the Climate of Change
Perhaps some of our legislators will need to feel the bite of 65,000 ticks on each of their bodies sucking out half of their blood supply each week to see that something is amiss.
The moose of the northern mid-west in America are already having that experience. The warmest winters on record have dropped the moose population by 60% since 1990. Ticks don’t die off if the weather is unseasonably warm. Moose are stressed in the winter if the temperature rises. They don’t move enough or eat enough to breed effectively. The deer and wolf populations which are not so sensitive to the weather are growing. So the moose fight for food and have more encounters with predators. With modern air conditioning there seems to be no significant drop off in the population of legislators.
A coastal state in the USA which is dependent on sea-side tourism and development looking at a 30 inch rise in sea level by 2100, which would put half the state under sea water, have decided to ignore the best scientific studies; and have passed a bill that says basically that the projection will not happen and that the sea level rise rate will be the same as it has been for the last 200 years. Not science by study and evidence anymore, but by legislation. There is no evidence of legislators sprouting gills but many do have nice watercraft. Perhaps they will eventually float away.
One of our states is so large is has a major impact on the school books that are used by the whole country. They have moved creation theology into science studies. They want to take any reference to our founders owning slaves out of the history books. The state has an abstinence only sex education program which has led to the highest teen birth rates in the country and close to the top rate of teens having a second and third child outside of marriage. Since most of these children are born into poverty the state uses a disproportionate amount of Medicare money while saying they want the federal government to be smaller and less intrusive in their lives.
Of course with an explosion of new births the state is cutting its education budget for the very children they are creating. The state has also made it virtually impossible to get birth control information, devices, or prescriptions. Of course abortion is only available to the rich who can afford it by going to another jurisdiction.
We have gotten two Presidents from this state and a third made a laughable attempt this year. He remains the governor of the state and does not support sex education or education in general. He has governed over a consistent drop in national test scores by the children in his state. A recent study of speeches in our Legislative and Executive branch show that there is a dumbing down of language. There does not seem to be an excess of bright legislators, only an increase in their greed.
Tic, tic, tic, our legislators on so many issues are standing bent over with their heads in the sand. The look back to a prior age is frightening.
Martin Brashir on MSNBC had a reflection for Easter on his show. With the political discord we see today it was an apt piece of history to revive.
He reflected upon a sermon that was delivered in 1630, when a group of Puritans arrived in the Massachusetts Bay colony on board the Arabella.
The sermon was preached by John Winthrop who was the Puritans’ leader and it was entitled, “A Model of Christian Charity.” Winthrop told his shipmates that it was their responsibility to create a “city upon a hill” that would light up and be the envy of the world.
But how to light a city like that? Would it be the shiny stardom of celebrity or the blinding light of ostentatious wealth, or the endless power of political influence and control?
No, this is what John Winthrop said that such a community would need to do in order to become a city upon a hill –
“We must love one another. We must bear one another’s burdens, make others’ conditions our own. We must rejoice together, mourn together, labor together, suffer together. Always having before our eyes a community where we are all members of the same body.”
This sure sounds like a political agenda for today. The “City on the hill” part of the prayer has been used by both parties in elections at various times.
Lets Reflect:
Do we love one another? Sometimes. This is such a hot one we cannot even define love. We use the word to define certain kinds of love as ok and others not acceptable because of the books of the three major religions. And we do have this pretty well confused. The early Christian Church blessed marriages between two men!
Do we bear one another’s burdens? Poorly. The safety net is full of holes and in need of a complete reconstruction and expansion. Unfortunately we have one party that just wants to demolish the remains of the net and drop more people into poverty and degradation.
Do we make other’s conditions our own? Poorly. The poor and prison population increases and that is great for the prison industry which is booming. We make sure that there are better conditions for some and worse for others through our social and tax policies. Recently our Supreem Court gave lifeless corporations full citizenship with the right to spend unlimited funds to shape our political landscape. There is a constant fight by people of good will to make this better, but they face a strong head-wind.
Do we rejoice together? Yes when we kill an evil leader-Osama Bin Ladin. No when we elect our first American President of Color.
Do we mourn together?: Sort of – There was a loud outcry from a broad section of the population when Trayvon Martin was killed. But there was a good segment of the population who wish the story would have gone unreported. After all it was a mixed race person killing a black teen. We have not shown much concern for that type of crime historically. Neither side is much in favor especially with the Right today. Second for the 10+ years of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq the caskets of our servicemen and women have been unloaded off the huge air transports with out the eye of the press and the subsequent video on air. After all it is only a volunteer military and only 1% of the population is making the sacrifice.
Do we labor together? No. We have reached a class structure in the United States that would be the envy of any 19th, 20th, or 21st Century Dictator. One hundred and sixty people have provided 80% of the money that goes to secret unlimited fund accumulation groups that sway our current Presidential election. Union Rights are being canceled in Republican dominated states. Minimum wage, fair wage and equal wage laws are being ripped up as if corporations will treat their employees fairly without a heavy hand on their ledgers. More than half of our population is at or below the poverty line and all remaining social supports are under threat of elimination to make the situation worse. There is a two tiered tax system, low for the rich, and high for the middle class.
Do we suffer together? No. We have the highest percentage of our population in prison of any developed country. A disproportion of those people are people of color. A disproportion of the convictions for illegal drug use falls on people of color even though the white population consumes the largest amount of illegal drugs by far. How can this be true? Just economics they have more income to dispose of on drugs. Women suffer from lower wages and more demeaning job availability. Children bear the worst brunt of the countries poverty and abuse. This list could go on for ever.
Are we a community where we are all members of the same body? No. “The United States of America” Unfortunately we cannot seem to shake our DNA. Our Revolution brought about an amazing country, but division, separation, segmentation has been a big part of our growth to greatness. It did not take long to change an accepting native population into disposable enemies. Wholesale destruction of native populations as we moved west was accomplished with the full military might of the United States Government. Land rights disputes by The Native American Population continues to this day in our courts. We have grown so much that we voice loud our cries when repression and extermination of native populations happen in other countries. It seems that the Whigs and Tories never buried the hatchet when you look at our current political stalemate. How many different ways do our most radical citizens on each side divide this country? Race, Religion, Nationality, Economic Class, Health Care, Women’s Rights, Tax System, are just some of the ways we are divided and if you think about it you can add more to my list.
Please comment. Yes opposing views are welcome.
I’m really trying to understand what type of America we will have in just a few years if Republicans and the Far Right gain more influence then they have already won.
Economic Hero meets Social Issues
Henry Ford’s factory was a dysfunctional and costly as people quit within weeks of signing on to the repetitive crushing assembly line work. It was expensive to replace and retrain workers. At the time he did not think of the option to take his production to China. He increased the pay so he could select and keep better and more loyal workers who were suited to the work. He was then able to produce cheaper cars, more people could afford them and by accident he raised the standard of living of millions of Americans. So Ford did not raise the wage so his few thousand workers could afford his cars, he could care less. But in effect he created a higher minimum wage for millions. Even though Ford was a tight wad from youth I don’t think he was in the 1% untill he realized a manufacturing dream in combination with an economic reality that changed our Social Contract. A man who was as cheep, tight, and cranky as any millionaire on the planet today realized that the best product idea was worthless without a good mix of product, price, and people. Henry started the unheard of $5.00 a day pay for his workers. That simple example launched one of the most successful product introductions up until the I-Phone. The political disconnect today is that there does not seem to be a realization that the Social Issues of the day are the Economic Issues of the day.
Why can’t our Republican Limited Resource Radicals not comprehend that the Social Contract is the Economic Contract with the American People?
So lets not follow Ford, and solve the problems of today’s evolving society with solutions of benefit everyone. Where in the image of “America the Shining Example on The Hill”, is the concept that if some of our people do really well it has to be on the backs of a mass of suffering citizens. We certainly want the current situation made worse by elimination of the minimum wage (Social Issue to the Right) which currently will not allow a person working 40 hours a week to rent a two bedroom apartment at fair market rates in any state of the United States (read Economic Issue). God only knows what that person does for food and clothing for his children, and spouse. No the last statement was not a sexist slip. In the Republican world women are back, bearing children, barefooted, and aproned, where they belong. Not to worry we will take away their right to protest and vote to make this policy easier on all of us. Perhaps the minimum wage, once a good idea, is outdated and we should look for a new model (Social and Economic) that takes care of those citizens we want to be invisible and just go away. God forbid that we find a way to raise the unwashed millions to the level of customers. Mayberry here we come, back to the future.
Lets eliminate Social Security. Replace it with what? ( Who cares Social Security has Social right in its name it must be a Social Issue.) A system backed by Wall Street investment community? Really? Really? After their stellar performance in bringing the nation to her economic knees. Seniors with social security checks still coming in were saved from complete collapse (an Economic Issue?).
Lets not have a National Health Care system because all of the other industrial nations of the world must be wrong by providing a sensible system that costs half of what we pay. Health care is not a right guaranteed by the constitution (read Social Issue). When the constitution was written there was no health care as we know it. Things have changed wake up look around the virus, microscope, cat scan, and transplant surgery have been discovered and are in common use in spite of no authority written in the constitution. As I write this our Ex-Heartless Unelected Vice President from Hell hath receive his first heart from an unknown (asked to be anonymous) donor. None of these medical items and events are mentioned in the Constitution not one. Our system is a form of indentured servitude where the employer and employees are entrapped in a plan controlled by a huge insurance industry. When an employee signs up to build widgets he has no knowledge of his new employers expertise in health care. The Employer has no expertise in healthcare because it is not their core business and if they could get out of providing health care they would in a minute. We have by accident allowed a huge middle man the insurance industry get between the patient and the service and syphon off millions of dollars of revenue that could go to actually making life more healthy for real people (Economic Issue anyone?).
Lets not provide child care or family leaves for adoption, pregnancy, birth, and illness. (totally Social Issues). Well since the Republicans are hell-bent on eliminating abortion you would think they have a plan for the huge crop of children that are going to arrive over the next twenty centuries of their new Reich. Even Hitler had a plan to support women and all those blond and blue-eyed offspring he encouraged though his youth sex camps. In reality our workforce really depends on women to function, no longer is it a luxury for women to work. We already have a very fair system that pays them less than men, well since they are stronger they can take the hardship. We have a system that weakens families so many women and children are deserted by the males (Social Issue) who feel impotent after fathering children they cannot afford to support (Economic Issue).
Lets eliminate Unions (read Free-loading Social Clubs-Pure Social Issue right?), those radical Communists who think they deserve a portion of the success that their companies enjoy as a result of their labor. Unions who brought you, benefits, sick days, child labor laws, vacations, weekend cook outs, time to watch the NFL, NASCAR time, going camping and fishing with your children, retirement plans, pensions, and yes employer supported health care, oops time to watch the NBA can’t forget the hoops. (Well the government has not gotten it right in over 200 years some one had to act.) Really you want to stand up alone against a monstrously large insurance company and negotiate your benefits (read your Economic Issue) all by yourself. Really! Who do you think you are, Clint Eastwood or Bruce Willis, or perhaps Jimmy Stewart? Now that you lost the battle with the Insurance Mogul and you realize that your hourly rate will not cover your childs care for aggressive cancer treatment, you put on your super hero costume and get ready for the next battle. Dressed as Super Daddy you brace your boss and demand he triple your wages or you child will die. Feel you balls already tight in you super suit, pull all the way up into your stomach, as Boss Grinch tells you to clear out your desk because alternative dress day left with the Union that the Republicans destroyed.
Lets eliminate the Department of Education (read Social Issue) because a more complex world needs a better trained work force and we have already found those people in China, Ireland, Mexico, India, Indonesia, and all over South East Asia. Those people appreciate education and American children do not seem to have that drive any more. X-Boxes will keep them entertained into the next millennia (might this cross-over into an Economic Issue). No sense trying to tackle a difficult problem. Our Legislators would rather have a hearings on drug testing of over millionaire professional athletes (Read real citizens since they make a lot of money). Our government has abdicated its responsibility to do the tough things like getting along with the opposition, making reasonable deals, compromise, think critically, and act in the best interest of All Americans. Just forme it would be nice if I could believe that some Republican Legislators would leave the fine heritage of the Know Nothing Party behind (subject of a future blog) and accept basic science as a fact of life, not just a good idea that they can deny.
Lets eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (read Social Issue). I spelled out the name because three letters don’t really get the message across that we only have one environment to live in and we have historically done a bad job of managing it. We forget the Great Dust Bowl that devastated the mid west, was man-made. We have barely gotten the ozone hole repaired by a world-wide accomplishment of eliminating CFC’s and we turn around and try to destroy it more effectively with the release of gasses from the thawing permafrost – not so perma anymore. , and destruction of the rain forest. Let’s get our straws out and suck up every bit of precious oily fluids from below the surface of this planet. When we have removed all the lubricants God only knows what friction we will have created. And straws are really too ineffective. Lets pump toxic chemicals into every crevice in the ground to bring up all the trapped explosive gasses to the surface to be burned in a headlong race to extinction (could this also be an Economic Issue).
Most important of all we want to include as much religious thought (Social Issue?) into our governing as possible. Remember how well Martin Luther got along with the Pope? What was that Inquisition about? What was the ratio of women to men accused of witchcraft in Salem MA? How many states were the Mormons driven out of until they met friendly seagulls in Utah. Are the Israelis and Palestinians fighting of some distant religious difference? Why was Hitler so disturbed by the Jews? The Crusades made a great under story for the Robin Hood movie, didn’t it? I think our founders were profound in separating religion from any official requirement for office. Better your religious petitions to God be taken to a closed room and talked out with your particular creator in private, and should your petition be righteous you will be rewarded in public. (This paraphrase was a suggestion by Jesus and I don’t think he would be offended if it were carried out by copy cat believers of any faith.)
There is no separation between the Economic climate and the Social issues of any era. Class strata eventually brought down Empires and their Rulers. Agriculture brought about a new social order. Growth of industry changed the social contract. The information age shifted the social order. Hand in hand the economy and the social contract have in the past and will into the future march or slink or crawl down a difficult path together, it is not a choice.
“NO, WE ARE NOT HAPPY!”
“STOP RESTATING THE MYTH THAT WE ARE!”
Every time a pol or a TV talking head states with authority that the majority of people are happy with their employer supported health care I hear a scream from my wife. “Who are they talking about?” One year we were faced with seven changes to our health insurance plan by one employer. The employer was apologetic each time a change was forced by an insurance company who arbitrarily changed their rates upward sometimes by as much as 30%. And I was not employed by some small mom and pop business but a large employer with thousands of employees all over the United States. In spite of their size the employer was forced to go into the market and negotiate a new policy.
Several of the changes of course upped our co-pays and out-of-pocket, and annual expense limit, “three phrases that insurance companies use to describe the exact same thing”, money that you have to spend on top of any premium. Some of the changes caused us to change our health care providers from one medical group to another. In our location there is a duopoly of two health care systems so we got to know providers in both of them pretty well as we went back and forth.
Connecting health care to employers is a flawed system that came about through an accident of war-time economy. Wages were fixed at a time of competition for workers during WWII, and employers somehow hit on providing health care as an incentive to attract workers. During a time of relatively low-cost it worked fairly well, but as our health care system became more complex and expensive the employer model started to shred. I don’t know the history of the “pre-existing condition”, but that was the spring that closed the trap on the employer and especially the employee. You say why would the employer care? Well, a person in his employee comes down with some expensive ailment as the insurance company starts to pay and total the cost of this individual they are looking to see how long are they tied to their contract before they can raise their rates to the employer. The employee is the rabbit in the trap, because with a difficult condition no other employer will take him on, even if he sees a much better opportunity in another location or employer he cannot move. Unhappy employees who are hanging on to a job only for health insurance are not the most productive. Both the employee and the employer lose. The country loses big time as rates climb and productivity heads for other countries who have solved this problem.
If you don’t have access to Health Care you really do not have the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. So if you are a talk show host of a Politico of some stripe I and my wife will state that most people if they really think about the trap they are in will tell you that our Health Care System is not something to be happy about. One of the biggest problem is that we have a giant in the room that has a big booming voice in the discussion who should not exist at all. The Huge Middle man in the room that provides no medical care whatsoever is the Insurance Industry and their very expensive lobby. For every dime that goes to an insurance company at a minimum two to three cents go to playing golf. Playing golf is my expression for huge marble tiled building with plush executive suites, trips to exotic places for legions of sales people and executives, perks that are well beyond the reach of the average citizen who is denied coverage for their sick or disabled child.
“You have to be taught to be afraid of people whose skins of a different shade.” From South Pacific by Rogers and Hammerstein
To establish a system of class strata in the United States, radical right-wing “Christian” conservatives are busy hammering wedges into our law.
Why do 26 States now have Stand Your Ground, Shoot to Kill laws?
Why have the League of Women Voters ended their voter registration drives in Florida after over 70 years of bringing the democratic process to millions of Americans?
Why are we going full speed ahead with no controls on hydraulic fracturing for gas production?
Why is evolution and science in general under attack in the United States?
Why is an organization trying to separate gays and black Americans over the push for expanding the right to marriage?
Why are so many conservative against access to health care for all Americans?
Why are women in America under attack on issues of Health Care, Reproduction, Employment Equality, and Protection against rape and abuse?
Why are the same people who are proposing anti Sharia Laws legislation, implementing laws that parallel Sharia Law?
Why are the descendents of immigrants doing all they can to stop immigration from becoming a fair process?
Why are some people supporting the two class tax system that we have?
Why is the minimum wage, child labor laws, food stamps, and unemployment insurance all under attack?
Why do some people want to end Medicare and Social Security?
What ever happened to “We have nothing to fear but fear itself!”?
Look left and right and try to see who around you is promoting fear and inequality. When you recognize the individuals who are promoting these things you will have found where the destruction of America is coming from. Living in gated communities, with private police, armed to the teeth are some very fearful, weak, sad people. Since they have money they think they are in control. They live in fear of the poor and the poor rightfully live in fear of them. Unfortunately for the rich they have made a fatal mistake. The poor never revolt against the rich in all of history it has never happened. The rich have misplaced their fear. The rich have slowly over a forty plus year period, and now with increasing venom attacked the middle class. The middle class have been wounded, and having done nothing to provoke the attack are slow to react to the pain. Occupy Wall Street was a rifle shot across the bow. Now since the rich are attacking the very democratic process of one vote for each person with voter suppression laws they have closed a safety valve which will increase the pressure to strike against them. I pray that the guillotines are not brought out into the public squares for Wall Street moguls, sold out Legislators, and religious bigots, but the middle class has been told “if there is no bread let them eat cake.”
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. Are there any barriers to the pursuit of happiness in the United States. Are there any barriers to Life and Liberty in the United States?
Our minimum wage law adjusted for inflation is inadequate for a basic standard of living in the United States. If you work 40 hours a week at minimum wage in Missouri, the low-cost housing state where I live you will not be able to pay for a two bedroom apartment at the prevailing rents. You would have to work a 68 hour week, and then with shelter taken care of what will you do for food? Sue and I lived in Maryland before coming here 12 years ago. In Maryland a person would have to work 168 hours to afford the apartment if he was making minimum wage. With out proper shelter and food do you even have a life let alone the ability to pursue Happiness?
You’re born with a terrible illness to parents who have been laid off from their jobs. Yes they had insurance through employers just months ago. They had the option of COBRA but the rates are way over the budget of someone trying to live on unemployment insurance. They and their child will never know liberty in America again. Thousands of dollars a day are run up by hospital room charges and tests and operations to save the child’s life. If and when the child is able to come home where he will need special care for life there is no outside support for his family, and the months in the hospital will have incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. No abortion for a severely challenged fetus was ever considered in a conservative controlled country where abortions are only performed in back rooms under horrible conditions or in private hospitals quietly for the rich. There will be no provision for further care since the couple are virtually bankrupt for life. Food stamps have been severely restricted. No company insurance policy will ever take this couple on since they would have to take on the care of child also.
This is the first commentary from the Potato Heads, Sam and Sheila, whom I expect will pop up from time to time here, as their complicated navigation of the U. S. health care system begins.
When it finally came down to it Mr. and Mrs. Potato head had to accept that they were a gay couple. Wikipedia had been very revealing to them on sexual matters. After viewing all the various diagrams and going a step further to visually experience sex on a series of sex video sites they could see no similarity with their idea of reproduction and what was called heterosexual interaction. They would occasionally get the feeling that the weather conditions were right and they would lay down in a field of ploughed earth with some of their eyes making contact with the freshly turned soil. They could feel excitement as shoots would grow out into the ground starting new life. Once a few shoots had established themselves and Sam and Sheila found that there was a strong pull of resistance when they tried to turn over, it was time to help each other rock back and forth to pull away from their new offspring. For them the separation was the final climax in their procreative process. Their family would spread out in shoots and runners, and at the end of season there would be a bushel of their offspring.
For the Potato Heads eye-care was an important medical consideration. Unlike humans with only two eyes each, Sam and Sheila had a total of 43 eyes between them. Standard health policies that humans had did not even cover their two eyes for each person. In their search for eye-care they came up against another wall that seemed to be prejudicial. Since insurance companies considered the eyes of Sam and Sheila to be sexual organs, not organs of sight they would allow certain prescriptions for Sam that excited his eyes, but denied prescriptions for Sheila because they might be used to stop the growth of shoots and new life. Humans had another problem, since their health care policies did not cover vision care at all and they had to get specialized policies for vision care. Both Sam and Sheila thought it strange that insurance companies would treat one part of the same body different from another part.
libertylifeandchocolate 