Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Why Not Invest In Our Own Futures?

There is a movement afoot to turn California into several states.  Per the admission of one man interviewed on television, it is so money in the wealthier areas would stay there to educate their children -- not everyone.


The State of Kansas is about to pass a law allowing wealthier residents to receive a tax break if they make generous donations to private schools.  At the same time they plan to take money from less fortunate students.


Once again, our wealthy Americans are about to shoot themselves in the foot just like they did when they outsourced jobs and underpaid their help.  You remember, they sent all of their money to countries across the globe so that they had few customers here who could afford their products.  Hence, we almost lost our automobile businesses and our banks were going under because they had sold houses people could not afford.  Then, the poor taxpayers, who are so disliked by these big business individuals, had to bail their sorry behinds out of debt and do our part to restore the United States to solvency.


There is definitely a war between the classes now, and the majority of the people and their children, grandchildren and great grands are going to lose.  Why?  Because too many people do not research and vote for individuals who have the wellbeing of all Americans at heart.  They vote for individuals who spout platitudes such as tax reform.  Who wouldn't like lower taxes?  But at the expense of what -- roads, bridges, schools, public education, everything that has always represented the American way?


They even vote for people who tell lies with the intent to scare the crap right out of everyone.  They vote for individuals who are destructive, not constructive.


It's the me, me, me attitude all over again.  God bless me and mine and to the devil with you and yours.  They don't even seem shy about how they feel.  They feel entitled about it.  But it is not just the disrespected poor that are going to be hurt by this attitude.  The whole country will be affected if we permit our politicians to continue to favor the wealthy and ignore the majority.  (Let me stress at this point that unless you are a multimillionaire or billionaire, you are among the 99 per cent with the rest of us).  So, I am speaking to most Americans.


Yes, one per cent of the population is said to hold all the wealth.  How many of their children are there to be educated to rule us all?  Many of the children of the other ninety-nine per cent are going to be lawyers, doctors, mayors, governors, and maybe even congressmen and presidents.  Do we want them to be uneducated and/or ignorant? Well just how many generations of undereducated people would it take before ignoramuses were running everything?  Not many, would it?  And they would congregate at the local and state levels before they became national leaders.  Then, how many people would believe in state controlled legislation? 


Free, excellent, public education is not just for the poor.  It is for the rich as well.  It is to give us all better educated leaders and more focused thinkers to bring better lives across our country. 


We reap what we sow.  That is Biblical, is it not?  These days we are in danger of sowing weeds instead of wisdom.  That is because we place too much trust in people who know how to earn money.  Knowing how to collect and store wealth is just one way to be intelligent.  People don't always excel in all ways available.  We overvalue money as a symbol of success.  We overvalue those who can earn it as well.


Majority still rules in the United States.  Let's make sure majority rule takes care of the majority before it is too late.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Please Don't Be A Hawk

In the April 14, 2014 Time Magazine, Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State under President George W. Bush, is quoted as stating "When America steps back . . . trouble will fill that vacuum."  She meant, according to Time, that the United States, being weary of international confrontations, has caused crises, especially the annexation of Crimea to Russia.  Spoken like a true hawk.  Spoken like a woman with no children to send to war.  And a President listened to her advice!  No wonder we got ourselves into two wars lasting more than a decade -- one a righteous war, the other a none of our business one.


Well, I'm not sure these crises she purports were caused by us backing away from conflict would not have happened anyway.  That's the problem with Monday morning quarterbacking.  You have a situation.  You have two or more moves you can make.  You choose one.  It does not work.  A child could tell you that -- if he had listened to the news.  Would one of the other choices have worked?  Who knows?  Nobody if it were not tried.


How is it our business whether Crimea gets annexed to Russia or not?  It simply is not our concern.  So you say that they asked for our help, or at least our sympathy.  Who asked?  They held a vote, people.  Yes, there was some worry that the vote might not have been genuine, but how do we know that?  The election concluded that the majority of the voters wanted to be joined with Russia.  So, now they are annexed.  That is the Democratic way, which is what we purport to like.


Let's try once more to explain to our fellow citizens what it means to live in a Democracy.  A Democracy, as you know, is a government by the people, directly or through representation.  In our Democracy, every citizen gets an opportunity to vote.  The votes are counted and the majority wins.


Citizens of our wonderful country sometimes have a problem with the concept.  They like majority rule only when the vote goes their way.  This attitude on a football field would be called poor sportsmanship.  This attitude is why we are still embroiled over women's rights, the Affordable Care Act, Social Security, Medicare, etc., etc., etc..  Republicans, especially conservatives, are just poor sports.


But concerning the Ukraine, please don't be a hawk.  The bottom line is, this situation in Crimea is not our business.  We can't even use our country's security or our need for foreign oil as an excuse to interfere this time.  Besides, the world hates our meddling in their concerns.


I'm not implying that the world governing bodies should step aside and remove the sanctions.  As Vladimir Putin lives out his own midlife crisis on the international stage, who knows what he has planned next?  It was starting to look like he had aspirations for being the next Genghis Kahn.  The world has been there and done that, Mr. Putin.


We can't help but feel sorrow for the Crimean people who are not happy about the annexation.  But even in their grief and frustration, they have options.  These include moving elsewhere if it goes too badly.