My close personal friend has extended an olive branch to me as it concerns my views on the socio-political climate we all find ourselves in at the moment and so I offer this short treatise in response to him and to anyone else who will consider an opposing statement without shooting me down with ALL CAPS blazing.
First of all , I love living in America although I hear that Venus is nice this time of year...tanning weather for sure. There are certainly some picturesque places that I dream about experiencing but the blueprint for The American Way of Life is by far the best. Freedom, opportunity and limitless avenues for finding love and happiness. It is my home. One of the reasons that this country is so great is because the people in it have the freedom to consider possibilities for improving aspects of living that are troublesome to us all. I've said it before, dreamers have been our salvation. Technological leaps have saved us from extinction through dealing with the wants and needs of humanity. I am thankful for air conditioning, heaters, refrigerators, cars, phones, television, radio, computers and a whole litany of other cool stuff that makes life tolerable and enjoyable. That's a global phenomenon and not limited to the citizens of the U.S however. What sets our country apart from most other countries is our form of government that provides liberty and justice for all with a constitution and a set of laws that allows freedom within those laws. Liberty and Justice are broad concepts though and whether we want to admit it or not, they both come at a premium. More to the point, Money is freedom and money buys justice. I think everyone will agree with me so far. The controversial point though is why doesn't capitalism provide equal access to freedom and the answer is simple. Capitalism is based on the idea of a stratified population of citizens. In other words , the haves and the have nots. The American/ Puritan work ethic in a nut shell is this: Work hard, be rewarded monetarily for your hard work and finally be free. Unfortunately, every good idea that comes from well meaning people gets corrupted by other equally opportunistic people who spoil it for everybody else.
America is broke. It's been broke for decades. The United States Government is so far into debt it can't conceivably ever pay it down. Look it up. That's what I did. It's so humongous that the Federal Government struggles just to pay the interest annually. Here's the part where I tell you that the hopelessly broke Government was created by design. Corporations have thrived with the assistance of public monies and politicians ingratiated by those corporations have willingly enriched themselves through corporate and political connections. The Conservative and Liberal Rich both share the blame for the current state of affairs. Politicians have put the money and the power in the pockets of the Wealthy Elite and they in turn put a little something in the pot for the politicians. Are there any truly sinless politicians in government? I don't know. How could I? The Government is broke and a very small percentage of the U.S. Population owns 95% of the country's wealth. Again, look it up. Research it on your own. Be honest with yourself.
Here's the Truth Bomb. Capitalism did this. Socialism had absolutely nothing to do with it. This ridiculously skewed distribution of wealth was created by a competitive system based on a perceived reward for hard work but only a fortunate few reap that reward. In part I blame the Stock Market and the slick idea of investing instead of working. I recently read an article on money laundering and found out a couple of things. The top legitimate businesses for laundering money are storage units, strip clubs, car washes, casinos and mattress stores. Who knew? Anyway , on a larger scale the top two methods for moving and hiding money among the ultra elite are real estate transactions and the stock market. Mouse clicks...the new Puritan Work Ethic. No sweat equity at all , save the possibility of a Justice Department investigation. Never forget this...Knowledge is Power, but really cool power comes from lots of money. Politicians know it. Corporations know it.
Poverty has no power and lacks freedom. We may argue that some poverty is deserved and some is not. The same can be said about wealth. FU money is freedom in this world. It provides comfort, privilege and power. Who doesn't want that? But "working smart instead of working hard " is not an option for most. That's screwed up too, because worker production in the work force has been steadily increasing for decades but wages have not. Where is all that new money going? Where is the reward for that increase? Many employers have the nerve to answer that question by simply responding this way, "they get to keep their jobs."
Now, what can Socialism offer to spread some of that wealth (aka freedom) to the masses? By the masses I mean me and you and everybody we know. Social programs proposed by the Socialist Democrats talk about free higher education, free healthcare and a higher but modest minimum living wage. The argument against such proposals is that they would bankrupt the country ,but as we know, that has already been done by Capitalism. Obscene Debt that can never be paid. I can only assume that the debt will never be called in and therefore can be ignored. The debt ceiling is not so much a ceiling as it is a sunroof these days suggesting that the sky and the heavens are the new cap on spending. So even if Social programs designed to lift up the majority of our citizenry creates more debt, who cares? The debt ceiling has obviously disappeared for good. They just keep kicking that can down the road. The "Socialist leaning" proposals that we hear everyone screaming about are not unreasonable, but Socialism is a scary loaded word with many implications.
I suspect that the only ones who care are the privileged elite who see their power in jeopardy. Corporations and the very wealthy might actually be expected to cease hiding money and begin to pay taxes and share some of that sweet power with us. I recently watched a video that claimed that the eight richest individuals on the planet would qualify as the eighth largest economy on the globe.
Wealth distribution... a global problem but certainly an American problem that deserves some problem solving.
Socialism and Communism are both demonized by those who are comfortable just being comfortable. They have basic comforts and probably a mortgage and they are satisfied with that.
What most people fear about change is the possibility of winding up with less than what they started with, a reasonable fear because as we all know the Universe gravitates to chaos.
The Family of Man is a dysfunctional one for sure. So many people to hate and so little time. Charles Shultz once said " I love mankind, it's people I can't stand." I agree , but I was raised to believe that all men are children of God and we all eventually share the same fate. So according to religious circles we should care about one another. What has puzzled me most about the fear of Socialism among Christian groups is why they would reject a system that for all purposes portends to establish a kind of Heaven on earth that their God says He wants for all His children. I'm not sure how I personally feel about that myself. Sounds complicated. But instead of embracing a system that would emulate a heavenly alternative the Christian Evangelicals reject it outright in favor of an exclusionary political ideology that encourages inequality and injustice. I personally would love to see how Jesus plans to establish a heavenly kingdom on earth using Capitalism as his template. Evangelical Christians are officially a voting bloc courted to get votes. That's sad really because Christians have traditionally been easy prey for con men throughout their history. Many false messiahs came before Jesus and more recently mega church evangelists buy mansions and jets with parishioners tithes( the prosperity gospel at work.) Political dogma preaches that politics and war are the same and utilize the same method for victory... deception.
Religion and Politics are a bad mix. That's why I am so perplexed by the Evangelical Right's fascination and support for Donald Trump. Make no mistake, I am not suggesting that politicians have to be or should be devout Christians, but Christians collectively have no business supporting someone like Donald Trump. Do your homework and run the numbers. I must confess I took offense at the numerous comparisons of Trump to biblical figures like Saul/Paul , Daniel and even Jesus himself. Internet memes circulated on Facebook by many people who I call friends. Really? Have you lost your mind? Donald Trump is the worst kind of con man, a self centered narcissist with a gangster swagger borrowed from a 1930s mobster movie and you fail to see through the facade. I can only assume my friends and others are victims of a vast political conspiracy spread by subliminal mass hypnosis through digital media. Spoiler alert! There are two trigger phrases "Perfect Phone Call"and "Stable Genius".
Socialist, Communist, Progressive, Liberal, Capitalist, Fascist. Easy labels for complex issues and very easy to throw around when an individual or a group want to discredit another. Peter Canellos of Politico.com writes about FDR and his disdain for the Socialist label his critics tried to hang on him. His New Deal policies were a solution separate from any single ideology as far as FDR was concerned and he shunned the label. Canellos suggests today that Democrats should do the same.
Give their platform legitimacy by emphasizing the problem and providing specific solutions without accepting the label. No one today can argue that where others failed, FDR succeeded.
Politics is forever a game with a gang mentality. Nobody snitches, nobody admits to the crime because their collective survival is at stake. And we the voting public are drawn into their rumble pitting us against each other.
So why is the new generation embracing ideas that have been previously rejected as a threat to our way of life? I think it's partially because they see the traditional work ethic as phony. The Rich have inherited the earth and the Meek have paid the bill. This is what we have handed down to our children. Maybe we owe it to them to give some scary ideas a new look and consider the possibilities without accepting a wholesale label. Maybe we need to let them find their own FDR.
