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May
11 ,
2012
Is
anyone really surprised
that Mitt Romney was a bully in high school? He is, after
all, in his own words, "severely conservative." We've
seen a lot of bullying from that camp. Look what they've done to
the Republican Party. Although the far right is clearly a minority
in this nation, they do every trick in the book to destroy compromise
and force their will on the rest of us. Almost by definition, bullies
lie and cheat and trample on the rights of others. Need I say more?
Maybe
one last comment. Don't be surprised if this latest revelation makes
his base feel more comfortable with him as their leader. He is definitely
one of them.
May
10 ,
2012
While
conservative extremists focus their time in ridiculous accusation
of socialist takeovers, and issues insults and threats, suppress
voter involvement, and fabricate what amounts to lies to defend
their caustic positions, President Obama steers a steady
course in securing civil rights for all, improving the economy,
and making America a world leader that we can all be proud of.
Even
after the fiasco in Iraq, and the long war we ever had to bear in
Afghanistan, with countless dead or wounded, and fantastic national
debt because of it, conservatives are rattling their swords over
Iran.
Conservatives
claim that they have a right to deny bipartisanship, since the President
does not reach out to them. Yet his health insurance act was first
shaped by the conservative Heritage Foundation, advocated
by such exploitive "geniuses" as Newt Gingrich,
and first brought to fruition by then Republican Governor Mitt
Romney.
The
conservative legacy as it now stands: The birther issue still live
on, despite all the proof of birth certificates and old newspaper
announcements. Global warming is still being denied, even as we
start experiencing the results. Low taxes and high spending remains
the Republican mantra for eliminating the debt.
Conservatives
lambast liberals as being un-American. Meanwhile, their expression
of being American is illustrated by such inadequate examples as
Ted Nugent, Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich,
and on and on.
In
their hallucinations, conservatives accuse liberals of taking away
their liberties. Meanwhile, they are systematically stealing the
franchise from fellow Americans across the country, fighting the
existence of unions, pressing religious ideas on the nation as a
whole, and trading our democracy to a plutocracy of the rich. They
openly admit that they would get rid of Social Security and Medicare,
and are fighting desperately to decrease the freedoms of women.
What
frightens me is how many people fall for their propaganda. Why defenders
of the truth are not taking a more prominent role is frightening.
May
1 ,
2012
If
Democrats want to keep the
Senate, win back the House, and keep president Obama in office for
four more years, they should adopt this easy slogan: We remember!
The
political strategies of the Republican Party depend on people forgetting
the consequences of their policies and propaganda. They believe
our collective memory goes back only a single year or so, so that
they can say and do anything as long as they make a good show during
the election year.
Let
us recollect the consequences of Republican policies:
- Deregulation
resulted in the financial crash of 2009 that we have yet to recover
from, and is still devastating most of the world.
- The
Gulf of Mexico oil spill, that even made Sarah Palin stop
crying out "Drill Baby Drill!" for a while. The words
are slowly coming back as the memory fades.
- Their
denial of global warming has interfered with a strong response
to environmental pollution that has resulted in aberrant weather
patterns that have destroyed both life and property.
- The
War in Iraq, with its incredible cost of human life and borrowed
money, took our attention away from Afghanistan long enough to
multiply our problems there and weaken our image around the world.
- Conservative
policies have attacked the freedoms of gays and women, just as
they previously attacked racial equality.
- Republican
get into office under the false pretenses of fixing the economy,
and then spend their time forcing a social agenda that the majority
of the electorate never wanted.
- They
are engaged in voter suppression, which is an attack on the fundamentals
of democracy itself.
- Dare
we forget the Party of No? Although President Obama legitimately
won the presidency based on the issues he championed, such as
universal medical insurance, Republicans deliberately decided
that they would thwart his every move. As we move further into
the twenty-first century handicapped by contentions from the 1950s,
we must not forget who kept us from moving forward.
As
we all know, the list goes on. The important thing is that we
do not forget.
April
28 ,
2012
It
seems obvious that most of our politicians on the national
stage are so personally ambitious and ideologically driven that
they fail to see how they are destroying the very nation that they
say they love and wish to serve.
Democracy only works well under certain
conditions. It depends upon the involvement of an educated citizenry
taking enough interest in national interests to make their votes
count. Citizens have to be told the truth in order to make
educated decisions.
In today political marketplace (and I do
mean marketplace, where candidates are chosen not by their skills
at statesmanship or ability to compromise the wishes of over 300
million people, but by their ability to conjure ridiculous accusations),
truth seems to have little value. Candidates compete by making the
outrageous statements to draw media attention. They compete for
the support of extremists, ignoring the will of the majority. They
fabricate outright lies and disparage the characters of their opponents,
proving themselves completely unworthy of public office from the
very start. They hide their agendas prior to elections, and then
implement them once in office, to face recall later on.
They, and their media lackeys, have created
a world where birth certificates and simple common sense mean nothing,
where the terrible perils of global warming, which we are experiencing
more and more of every day, are something we can ignore and even
deny. Just about any truth can be twisted into its opposite meaning,
and personal guilt projected on the innocent with no more than a
simple accusation. Without truth, only the tyranny
of the propagandist rules.
Voter involvement is necessary for a democracy
to work. How is it that we see more and more laws forcing voter
suppression? The answer is simple. Democracy is under attack by
those who would do or say anything to increase their ideological
power. These are not acts of patriotism. They are fundamental acts
of betrayal, and performed right before our eyes, encouraged by
those who have sold their souls to ignorance and greed.
The
national presidential campaign is now officially underway. Thanks
to Citizens United, a Supreme Court decision which
handed over the future of politics into the hands of the wealthy
few, we will witness the forces of strategic lying
like never before. Only one thing can save us. The people of the
United States must wake up and insist upon truth and good will for
all Americans from our candidates. No more lies. No more forcing
the will of fanatical extremists on the rest of us. No more ignorant
candidates whose only claim to fame are witty insults and nods to
special interests.
Only
we can save America. We have to do it now.
March
5 ,
2012
I
find I amazing how so many people look upon the Affordable
Healthcare Act as something monstrous, a socialistic attack
upon society that will destroy healthcare as we know it. Opponents
claim that it will place government bureaucracy between a patient
and his or her provider, and that freedom itself is being assailed.
One wonders if these people have any idea what the Act actually
does, or are merely roused by the patently untrue propaganda that
has been railed against it since its inception.
This bill was formed to help people, while
strictly avoiding socialistic influence. It was originally designed
by the conservative Heritage Foundation as an alternative to the
Clinton healthcare proposals. A Republican governor fashioned something
like it in Massachusetts, where it is running fine.
What does the Affordable Healthcare Act
provide that is causing this uproar? A lot of things we should appreciate
rather than condemn:
- Preventive
care no longer has a co-pay.
- No lifetime
limits on most benefits, assuring longer and more beneficial coverage.
- No denial
of coverage for preexisting conditions.
- Prohibits
higher co-payments for emergency room visits outside a plan's
network.
- The right
to appeal insurance provider decisions by an independent review
organization.
- To avoid
exploitation of customers, insurance companies have to spend at
least 80% of their premiums on medical care, or provide a refund.
- Helps seniors
pay for prescriptions drugs that are not otherwise covered by
Medicare.
- Improvement
of substandard medical care for Native Americans.
- Allow children
to remain on their parents' insurance plans until age 26.
These are all
good things to help Americans, and none of it is socalism. They
are also proof positive that the role of government can make important,
life-enhancing differences that the free market would never make
on its own. As for an attack on freedom, think of the lives that
will enjoy greater freedom because of proper treatment of their
afflictions. Surely that must count for something.
Why should we trust businesses over our
elected representatives, who answer to us? One might assume that
no one has ever been ripped off by private enterprise, when it happens
every day. Yes, there is a lot of corruption in government, and
we must fight to correct that, but that is where our efforts should
be focused. If something is not working right, fix it. For starts,
we should no longer tolerate political lies. Like those posted against
the Affordable Healthcare Act.
March
31, 2012
When
politicians tell us to have faith in the free market, what
exactly do they mean?
They are referring to the writings
of Adam Smith, the Scottish, Age of Enlightenment writer
who articulated the basis of free market economies. He stated that
commercial enterprises, in order to assure an on-going profit, would
regulate themselves according to the good of their customers. Competition
between business formed the bedrock of that dynamic. We are asked
to put our faith in the self-interests of business people, and not
in the hands of elected representatives.
Sounds good on the surface,
but let's look a little deeper.
Last year, I brought my 1998
car to the reputable service department of the dealer where I purchased
it for an oil change. As I was leaving, the Service Advisor told
me that they looked at my air conditioner and found that it needed
a cleaning. It was "full of gunk." I should bring it back
soon to get it cleaned. I told him that I did not have an air conditioner
in the car. He nervously deleted it from the paperwork, saying it
must have been a mistake.
A few weeks later, my wife brought
her car in a as well. They found "gunk" in her air conditioner
also, and recommended cleaning. Alas, they caught again. She has
no air conditioner either. And while we waited for her car, a creepy
salesman made his predatory approach.
It seemed that whenever we brought
a car in for simple maintenance, some expensive need for repair
was "luckily" found. The last time my wife brought hers
in to change a headlight bulb, they $2,000.00 worth of repairs.
The car is worth roughly that amount. We brought it elsewhere, and
the problem cost about $370.00. Since that happened, we have heard
horror stories by other customers.
Now, this was a service department
we had gone to for decades, and fully trusted. There is no telling
how much they have ripped us off in the past. We will not go back
again.
I go to my mailbox and find
it full of wasted advertisements. My email box needs special spam
features to make my daily intake manageable. I fill my car with
gas and have to listen to a recording pushing some product. The
phone rings, and someone is trying to sell me something. Stretches
of highways are literally littered with billboards and signs that
vie for our attention. The super-service of a large department store
took a month to repair my broken refrigerator, just prior to Thanksgiving.
My 90 year old mother's private insurance refused to pay for a week's
hospitalization after her stroke turned her into a cripple. (Medicare
did their part, however.) They never sent anyone out to even look
at her.
I don't know about you, but
I change channels on the television to avoid the lengthy commercials
that seem to interrupt good programming every five minutes. The
trouble is, it often happens that the other channels seem to be
running their commercials at the same time. No escape. I have learned
to beware of anything advertised on TV that just happens to be $19.99.
Then there are the big scandals
that plague the free market. The oil spills, the predatory loaning,
the rise in oil prices, the effects of pollution, the speculators,
the obscene wages and bonuses of failed CEOs. We see the effect
of lobbyists on our fragile political system, and the interference
of wealthy political contributors. The Supreme Court feels that
this exploitation of the political system, at the expense of a healthy
democratic system, is okay.
President Eisenhower warned
us about the influence of the arms industry. His warning was not
heeded. Today, we assign many of the responsibilities of war to
contractors who enjoy certain legal immunities while piling up profits.
And it seems that war never ceases. A new one starts before the
old one finishes. Coincidence?
Some
politicians would like to end Social Security for the simple reason
that no intrusive business makes a profit on it. They would put
the retirement security of working people into the hands of a volatile
market - and these are the same people who are responsible for the
Great Recession!
So,
pardon me if my faith in the market as the answer to all our ills
is less than it should be. Adam Smith had no idea of how his simple
world would change. I would rather put my faith in the FBI than
Blackwater. I would rather trust Social Security and Medicare than
the ever-changing market and private insurances.
I
am not against the free market. Freedom demands that we have one.
I think, however, that it should not rule our lives. Democracy should
give us the power to regulate it and supersede it when necessary.
Something like Social Security and universal healthcare should be
protected from exploitation. When I hear politicians "protest
too much," I know who funds them, and who they really represent.
March
17, 2012
What
we are witnessing in today’s political discourse (if
we can call it discourse, which implies an open and congenial sharing
of ideas), is an ideological conflict about how the United States
can maximize the freedom of its citizens. Both sides believe they
are the vanguard of this maximization. What they differ on is their
focus.
On the progressive side,
the government of, by and for the people is more actively used
to protect and increase individual freedoms. Universal healthcare
is seen as a means to do this. The freedom of someone who lacks
medical care can be sharply impeded by health issues, both physically
and financially. Social Security and Medicare grant a level of freedom
to seniors and disabled people that they would not otherwise have.
Contraception and abortion allow women to have more control over
their lives, which translates as an issue of personal freedom. Having
foods and business pollution regulated for safety provides the freedom
of not having to worry about being poisoned. Unions empower employees
to have some influence over their work lives. Keeping a separation
of church and state prevents a theocracy which would oppress the
freedom of those who do not belong to that particular belief system.
These are all issues of expanding
freedom for as many people as possible.
On the conservative side,
a fear of government control looks upon certain freedoms as being
threatened. They narrow the issues of freedom to that of lowering
(or eliminating) taxes, promoting the “freedom” of religious
hegemony, deregulating businesses (regulations being a curtailment
of freedom), and allowing for a domineering influence of wealthy
individuals. Their idea of freedom concludes that successful people
deserve power over others, for they are the ones actively maximizing
their freedom and should be rewarded.
Freedom for progressives means
making the rewards of freedom as open to the public at large. The
benefits outweigh the costs, which are subsidized by taxes as part
of the social contract.
Conservatives equate freedom
with a viewpoint akin to Social Darwinism, where the
powerful should be allowed and even encouraged to naturally flourish
over others. The Law of the Jungle determines who
benefits from freedom, and this means shifting tax burdens away
from those deemed to be successful. While this contradicts the heart
of Christian morality, which one would think that their tendency
to religious hegemony would defend, they see no contradiction at
all. Ideology takes precedence.
Progressives do not see raising
taxes on the wealthy as a great sacrifice that would curtail individual
freedom. Conservatives turn that around by complaining about a tyrannical
government reaching into people’s bank accounts, and ignore
the benefits that government support sustains.
The open-minded voter has to
consider which view of freedom deserves support. Does patriotism
mean supporting the well-being of all Americans? Or just those who
are highly successful? Should we evaluate people by their monetary
wealth? Or their moral commitment? Should one religion exert control
over everyone, as it did in Europe during medieval times? Is it
right for those who can afford to pay more taxes to be saddled by
supporting a greater share of the social contract, while others
do not? Should our moral judgment be based on profit alone, whereby
greed is the final motivator? Can government excesses be reformed?
These are the questions we should
all be asking, instead of engaging in ridiculous trench-warfare
politics.
March
12, 2012
Democracy,
by nature, is based upon citizen involvement. It anticipates
having an interested, informed and well-educated citizenry and a
media disseminating truthful information on a timely basis in order
for people to make proper judgments. People are then urged to not
only vote in elections but express their opinions as well. Our system
in the United States was set up with various checks and balances
to assure that vocal factions would not overwhelm the will of the
majority while at the same time protecting minority rights.
This is the system we inherited.
It is so easy to get distracted by details, that we need to consider
the overview now and then, to make sure that it is working. When
you think about it, the dynamics we depend upon are fraught with
danger.
Consider:
- What
happens if people fail to pay attention to the issues?
- What
if our educational system does not prepare citizens to think critically?
Or a large number of students drop-out, or textbooks are changed
to promote a certain ideology?
- What
if the media loses track of its mandate to inform us properly,
and caters instead to their own commercial interests?
- What
if politicians (and also pundits, strategists, think tanks and
marketers) do not speak the truth, and a complacent majority do
not hold them accountable for their deceit?
- What
if loud, aggressive factions do overwhelm a detached majority
opinion?
A
moment’s thought tells us that these very detractions to democracy
are happening now.
While everyone claims that the
founders of this government would support their positions, no matter
how contradictory they are, one thing is certain. The ingredient
that the founders most depended upon, and even took for granted
in their own inspired enthusiasm of the times, was that of virtue.
Most of us can agree on that.
But what were those virtues? Are they still intact? Is a want for
these virtues deprecating our system of government and leading us
in the wrong direction?
The virtues are obvious. A respect
for truth tops the list. Without truth, our ability to reason and
do what is right is shattered. A democracy filled with misinformation
cannot function. A thirst for justice, tempered by mercy, quickly
follows. The ability to reason is what makes us human, and must
be included as vital. Interest in supporting the greater good, rather
than just selfish concerns, is also irreplaceable. Respecting the
rights of others, and not maliciously denying or perverting them
for one’s own ambition.
Without these virtues, we are
the ones who fail our system of government – from the ground
up. We cannot expect our representatives to be better than we are.
When they fail the test, or engage in scandalous behavior, we must
look to ourselves for cause. They are products of the same culture,
and hold many of the same values as the rest of us. Before we expect
more from them, we must demand more from ourselves.
We start to correct these things
when we, as individuals, reflect these same values in our lives.
Only then can we expect that our representatives do the same. They
are, after all, representing us.
Introduction
One
thing is certain...
We cannot repair our broken
culture through politics or religion, or by purposely dividing people
along artificially created ideologies. Complaining about the way
things are does nothing but turn us into hopeless cynics. Partisan
talk radio and television adds fuel to the fire and is a potent
enemy of free thought.
Western culture was built upon
high ideals that have evolved over the last two and a half thousand
years, and has contributed steadily to the social and technological
progress of the world. It first fashioned the ideas of freedom,
logic, human rights, science and democracy that we enjoy today.
Unfortunately, when the idea
of freedom is reduced to mere license or political bickering, if
it has no goal beyond itself, and fails to contribute to the enlightenment
and advancement of humanity, it leads to the degradation that we
see today — an embarrassment to the vision of our founders
and other great minds of the past.
It is time that we reclaim what
was lost, which means not only personal responsibility for ourselves,
but for defining what humanity according to virtues that we know
are true. In order to do that, we must reject the convenient taglines
used by politicians that stop us from thinking for ourselves.
Seeds-for-Thought aims
to serve not just as another partisan voice spewing discontent,
hoping to persuade others to follow like mindless sheep. It aims
to serve provide catalysts for thought that will encourage people
to think for themselves and reclaim the foundation of Western idealism
that can remedy these tumultuous times.
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