Pining for the Fjords.
Now that Corporations are people, and the richest 2% of population control over 50% of our assets, and income, some folks are noticing that these people are using their vast resources to buy vast armies of writers, political activists, and even regular citizens to pretend to be regular citizens just advancing their own political interests.
Unless we respond innovatively, we will lose our freedoms and democracy.
Monty Python's Parrot Sketch
Here are a few thoughts that I put out for discussion, and too check my logic.
Here are a few suggestions to enhance our chances:
1) Even with all of it's infuriating flaws, allying with the Democratic Party is our best current strategy for maximizing our common good and improving the economic, social, health, and other interests of our citizens.
2) Protecting the integrity of our Social Security and Medicare system, as well as our own intregrity and committment to Social Security recipients, and that of our Democratic Party should be priorities.
3) We need to change the debate to the high ground. There is no current crisis in the Social Security Trust Fund. It is solvent well into the 2030s. We can fix any imbalance then, by merely extending the income caps to one billion dollars. (We should be raising the minimum tax rate for incomes this high to at least 50%.)
4) President Clinton handed Bush a budget with such a surplus that we were projecting enormous reduction of debt. Bush torpedoed this by reducing taxes for the wealthy and increasing the Pentagon Budget to unprecidented levels. Almost a doubling.
5) The last part of the Lee Atwater-Ronald Reagan plan to torpedo The New Deal and Great Society expansions planned by Democrats was to create an artificial crises to manipulate a gullible public into a self-destructive frenzy of social program cuts.
But, to try to take cuts of this magnitude out of social programs is suicidal and dangerous, and devastating to the common good.
6) We must refuse to discuss cut to social programs outside of the context of the total big picture which must include defense spending, monetary and fiscal policies, global issues and taxation.
7) We need to collective recognize that our biggest problem is the unprecidented concentration of wealth. The richest 2% own over 40% of the wealth. When it get this high we undermine the health of our econmic systems by deflating consumer purchases. Robert Reich advanced this hypothesis last year, and it seems plausible to me.
I'm sorry to be so much more succint and to the point than usual, but my son is visiting, and I've taken ill today. lol
I'm still digesting many learnings from yesterday''s diary, will I will respond to soon.
This piece has been sitting in my que, since January, so I offer it for your consideration and discussion.
I expect point number 1 to be controversial. Please don't hold back saying you think this is a crock of bull-hooky, if that's what you think.
I know the feeling, but can't see any immediate way of countering the dreadful attacks of the GOP on the common good, than working within the Democratic Party structure, but I'm conflicted about it, given how many times our Party leaders seem to sell us down the river.
So this is sort of a test of my logic. If anyone wants to take a shot at converting me to "a higher plane of consciousness," this is a great place to take your best shot. But, I may not be able to fully respond until tomorrow, since I have just one more evening with my son. Any help with my tags with be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.