Thanks Congress, for passing the Bush tax cuts.
This is all that should be said on the matter:
“We can have concentrated wealth in the hands of a few or we can have democracy, but we can’t have both.”- Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Perspective
1. Almost 3 million people were evicted from their homes in 2009.
2. Congress and the bastard Obama are extending a tax cut for the richest of the very rich.
Things to keep in mind as Chrismas comes closer.
I am not being facetious or cute right now:
Seriously ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
Would Jesus try to help those 2.8 million? Or would he extend the most irresponsible, un-democratic and useless tax cut in American history?
Of course moderates are tripping over themselves to defend our elitist President. Apparently it is a 'reasonable' deal for Americans. We will see how that will pan out.
These tax cuts have not created jobs, do not promote investment, and they do not boost the economy. If they did we would have had a net job gain during the Bush II administration instead of a net job losses. Instead, what we will get is more of the same. More inequality and more suffering for those of us who aren't millionaires.
How Obama sleeps at night is anybody's guess.
2. Congress and the bastard Obama are extending a tax cut for the richest of the very rich.
Things to keep in mind as Chrismas comes closer.
I am not being facetious or cute right now:
Seriously ask yourself, what would Jesus do?
Would Jesus try to help those 2.8 million? Or would he extend the most irresponsible, un-democratic and useless tax cut in American history?
Of course moderates are tripping over themselves to defend our elitist President. Apparently it is a 'reasonable' deal for Americans. We will see how that will pan out.
These tax cuts have not created jobs, do not promote investment, and they do not boost the economy. If they did we would have had a net job gain during the Bush II administration instead of a net job losses. Instead, what we will get is more of the same. More inequality and more suffering for those of us who aren't millionaires.
How Obama sleeps at night is anybody's guess.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
E-mail with a Conservative
(Hopefully he doesn't mind, but I am posting this e-mail response that I wrote to my good friend's Dad. I am a very big fan of him because we can talk about politics without him yelling at me.)
Mr. S------,
I don't know if you knew this, but I am not a reasonable person. There is probably an idea that you have of how 'left-wing' I am, but I think it might be mistaken. I am not a Democrat and most days I question if I am a liberal or not. The both of us, I am assuming, will probably agree on over half of possible policy issues.
To respond to your e-mail:
This article and this article will explain better than I can why the "left" (in quotes because I believe there is no Left in America, but a Phantom Left) is upset with that bastard Obama.
I agree with you about:
1. Health care reform was a disaster because it does nothing to lower costs and forces people to pay into a private industry that makes money off of denying people care. Buying across state lines would have been a better idea than Obamacare, although I think conservatives should take another look at single-payer, which, for whatever reason, has not been included in the debate at all. It is more cost effective, especially when we look at long-term healthcare cost projections.
2. The auto industry did not deserve to be bailed out. It has been making terrible cars for years and those companies should have been allowed to fail.
3. The stimulus was a disaster. Like government contracts in Iraq, no one has been tracking where all of this money has been going and to what effect it is being used. In essence, it was a robbery of public funds funneled to private hands. Obama was continuing another failed policy of Bush.
4. Offshore drilling accounts for something like 1% of all oil drilling on the planet. Banning it, or not banning it, means essentially nothing in terms of where the world is getting energy.
5. The EPA is a sham, barely funded with no real political power. I am surprised it still exists.
6. Farm subsidies are not on the Tea Party agenda because it affects them too much.
7. Half of the discretionary budget goes to the Defense Department. With over 800 military bases we have overreached. It is the biggest contributor on the deficit and is such a golden cow to politicians that no one is talking about it - with the exception of the two most honest men in the House: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. If you haven't had a chance to read Andrew Bacevich, he is a great historian, a veteran and a wonderful writer who does research on military overreach.
I don't agree about drilling 'everywhere' for coal, oil and gas because it doesn't seem like a good long term solution to the energy crisis. We reached peak oil in this country decades ago and drilling for gas and coal can affect water and air quality. I think we should rely on nuclear power plants until we can find a sustainable energy solution with wind and especially solar power. Engineers have been making great strides in how they harness solar energy and I think we should invest in that.
(The following quotes were from the e-mail he sent).
"I would deregulate almost all industries and allow only for oversite to ensure a reasonable degree of safety."
What are your thoughts about the financial sector ruining the economy? Obama's tepid financial reform essentially does nothing to prevent us from another crisis and it is because of Regan and Clinton's irresponsible deregulation of the industry that allowed something like 2009 to happen in the first place.
"I would make government as small as possible to get out of the way for American citizens to pursue life, liberty and happiness."
Then Republicans should both be supporting a Ron Paul instead of a Sarah Palin or a Mitt Romney or a Mike Huckabee. But they aren't. Why?
The elephant in the room of this e-mail is corporate money, yet another aspect of modern political life that I never hear about from conservative thinkers. The greatest threat to liberty and happiness on this planet comes from companies that put profits before people. I can go into detail more, if you want; I think it's a fair statement to say that ExxonMobil and GE have more power than the US government. They certainly influence Washington more than the voter can.
Truthfully, I believe that political persuasions are a circle and not a line. People on the "left" and people on the "right" agree about issues in the country (jobs, education and public health) far more than they recognize. You and I just come from different views in political philosophies, perhaps.
Let me know if there is anything I said that I could clarify on in more detail, or statements that you made that I did not sufficiently cover.
Believe me, please, when I say that I distrust, even perhaps despise, the government. Even though I am interested in the ins-and-outs of political power and politicians, I firmly believe that there are systemic problems with how Washington functions that neither political party addresses.
I hope this finds you well sir.
-(my name)
Mr. S------,
I don't know if you knew this, but I am not a reasonable person. There is probably an idea that you have of how 'left-wing' I am, but I think it might be mistaken. I am not a Democrat and most days I question if I am a liberal or not. The both of us, I am assuming, will probably agree on over half of possible policy issues.
To respond to your e-mail:
This article and this article will explain better than I can why the "left" (in quotes because I believe there is no Left in America, but a Phantom Left) is upset with that bastard Obama.
I agree with you about:
1. Health care reform was a disaster because it does nothing to lower costs and forces people to pay into a private industry that makes money off of denying people care. Buying across state lines would have been a better idea than Obamacare, although I think conservatives should take another look at single-payer, which, for whatever reason, has not been included in the debate at all. It is more cost effective, especially when we look at long-term healthcare cost projections.
2. The auto industry did not deserve to be bailed out. It has been making terrible cars for years and those companies should have been allowed to fail.
3. The stimulus was a disaster. Like government contracts in Iraq, no one has been tracking where all of this money has been going and to what effect it is being used. In essence, it was a robbery of public funds funneled to private hands. Obama was continuing another failed policy of Bush.
4. Offshore drilling accounts for something like 1% of all oil drilling on the planet. Banning it, or not banning it, means essentially nothing in terms of where the world is getting energy.
5. The EPA is a sham, barely funded with no real political power. I am surprised it still exists.
6. Farm subsidies are not on the Tea Party agenda because it affects them too much.
7. Half of the discretionary budget goes to the Defense Department. With over 800 military bases we have overreached. It is the biggest contributor on the deficit and is such a golden cow to politicians that no one is talking about it - with the exception of the two most honest men in the House: Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul. If you haven't had a chance to read Andrew Bacevich, he is a great historian, a veteran and a wonderful writer who does research on military overreach.
I don't agree about drilling 'everywhere' for coal, oil and gas because it doesn't seem like a good long term solution to the energy crisis. We reached peak oil in this country decades ago and drilling for gas and coal can affect water and air quality. I think we should rely on nuclear power plants until we can find a sustainable energy solution with wind and especially solar power. Engineers have been making great strides in how they harness solar energy and I think we should invest in that.
(The following quotes were from the e-mail he sent).
"I would deregulate almost all industries and allow only for oversite to ensure a reasonable degree of safety."
"I would make government as small as possible to get out of the way for American citizens to pursue life, liberty and happiness."
Then Republicans should both be supporting a Ron Paul instead of a Sarah Palin or a Mitt Romney or a Mike Huckabee. But they aren't. Why?
The elephant in the room of this e-mail is corporate money, yet another aspect of modern political life that I never hear about from conservative thinkers. The greatest threat to liberty and happiness on this planet comes from companies that put profits before people. I can go into detail more, if you want; I think it's a fair statement to say that ExxonMobil and GE have more power than the US government. They certainly influence Washington more than the voter can.
Truthfully, I believe that political persuasions are a circle and not a line. People on the "left" and people on the "right" agree about issues in the country (jobs, education and public health) far more than they recognize. You and I just come from different views in political philosophies, perhaps.
Let me know if there is anything I said that I could clarify on in more detail, or statements that you made that I did not sufficiently cover.
Believe me, please, when I say that I distrust, even perhaps despise, the government. Even though I am interested in the ins-and-outs of political power and politicians, I firmly believe that there are systemic problems with how Washington functions that neither political party addresses.
I hope this finds you well sir.
-(my name)
Monday, December 6, 2010
On the Extension of the Bush Tax Cuts.
ARGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Political as the Personal
I have been thinking a lot lately about my self-identity. There is a shift, I am trying to force, from being a selfish person to a more social, political one. This means a reorganization of ethics.
I had a chance to talk to a Democrat a couple of weeks ago. He was the friend of a friend and we ended up talking for a while about politics and society. When I mentioned my disappointment with the Obama administration's escalation of the war in Afghanistan there was this... scoff. It's hard to describe the sound he made, but it was something between condescension and pity. As if I didn't really understand the Very Serious Matter of butchering innocent civilians for some vague, shifting geopolitical goal. He proceeded not to take me seriously for the rest of the conversation.
Of all of the people that I have respected, admired and have tried to emulate in my life I think I gravitate towards the men and women who have the capacity for empathy. Not power. Not money. Not even talent - but the ability to teach others to open up their emotional landscape to include the six billion other human beings around them.
So when I talk about single payer, I am not thinking about policy; I am thinking about other people's suffering. When I talk about Afghanistan, I am trying my best to imagine what it is like for my neighborhood to be bombed by American planes. When I talk about the financial crisis, I think about evictions and livelihood's being ruined. And so on and so forth.
This is the crux of what I am trying to get at:
It drives me fucking insane when people openly talk about not caring about politics. Not even openly, but proudly, as if it is a positive thing that they are ignoring the power structures and economic forces that affect billions of other human beings.
It may be from a point of privilege that I have the leisure to spend hours of my week reading political articles in addition to living a daily life. But it is also arrogant and, I think, ethically deformed to assign yourself to willful ignorance over the suffering and pain of the people around you. Financial regulation, health-care reform and stopping the war in Afghanistan matter because people's lives matter. It matters when a family gets evicted from their home. It matters when people become bankrupt over hospital bills. It matters when a marine gets their body blown apart from an IED. And it also matters when a mother in Afghanistan, a country that I have never been and will probably never go to, dies because of what my country decides to do.
I had a chance to talk to a Democrat a couple of weeks ago. He was the friend of a friend and we ended up talking for a while about politics and society. When I mentioned my disappointment with the Obama administration's escalation of the war in Afghanistan there was this... scoff. It's hard to describe the sound he made, but it was something between condescension and pity. As if I didn't really understand the Very Serious Matter of butchering innocent civilians for some vague, shifting geopolitical goal. He proceeded not to take me seriously for the rest of the conversation.
Of all of the people that I have respected, admired and have tried to emulate in my life I think I gravitate towards the men and women who have the capacity for empathy. Not power. Not money. Not even talent - but the ability to teach others to open up their emotional landscape to include the six billion other human beings around them.
So when I talk about single payer, I am not thinking about policy; I am thinking about other people's suffering. When I talk about Afghanistan, I am trying my best to imagine what it is like for my neighborhood to be bombed by American planes. When I talk about the financial crisis, I think about evictions and livelihood's being ruined. And so on and so forth.
This is the crux of what I am trying to get at:
It drives me fucking insane when people openly talk about not caring about politics. Not even openly, but proudly, as if it is a positive thing that they are ignoring the power structures and economic forces that affect billions of other human beings.
It may be from a point of privilege that I have the leisure to spend hours of my week reading political articles in addition to living a daily life. But it is also arrogant and, I think, ethically deformed to assign yourself to willful ignorance over the suffering and pain of the people around you. Financial regulation, health-care reform and stopping the war in Afghanistan matter because people's lives matter. It matters when a family gets evicted from their home. It matters when people become bankrupt over hospital bills. It matters when a marine gets their body blown apart from an IED. And it also matters when a mother in Afghanistan, a country that I have never been and will probably never go to, dies because of what my country decides to do.
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