Saturday, February 16, 2019

REAGAN TO McCONNELL & trump


I believe it is important to look at the big picture, the broad spectrum of what and how things are happening in our country today and when it really started.

He may not have been at the beginning of the movement toward total Conservative control of America but Ronald Reagan, a man revered as a God to the GOP, had the charisma to pull it off.

As a movie star, albeit in “B” movies, the man most associated with a chimpanzee was nevertheless a celebrity. His 1941 marriage to Jane Wyman was a Hollywood dream that ended a mere 4 days after my birth in 1949. I am finally over the fear that I caused their break-up.

He waited 3 years before marrying Nancy Robbins, the lady who eventually took the reins of the Presidency when Ronnie went into his slide toward dementia in the latter days of his second term as President.

But while President he initiated the infamous if not insidious plan to move all the wealth of the country into the pockets of the wealthy. The plan dubbed “Trickle Down Economics” was advertised as a way to get more money into the hands of business owners who would then use it to hire more workers and pay them higher wages.

Looking back it is hard to understand how Americans could be so naïve as to think this money grab would work but Ronnie was not called “The Great Communicator” for nothing.

His clever words and Hollywood training on how to deliver them made him the darling of the Repub Party. And his subtle but unwavering push to take all the money from the middle class and gift it to the richest of America continues to this day.

I will not say that everything he did was evil or even just bad but the hard move toward the right had just begun in full earnest.

Little by little the Repub ground game geared up and America’s minority party started gerrymandering their way into positions of power across the country.

Slowly at first GOP controlled House in every city, town and hamlet would rework their election district maps to gain unfair advantages over the majority of citizens within the area.

The way this works is the party in control of the legislature of the area after every National census, on the tens as in 1980, 1990, 2000, etc. gets to reconfigure the voting maps.  This is why a State with a 60-40 Democratic leaning populace could easily end up represented by 70% or more Repubs in Congress.

Please remember this in 2020!

The problem of gerrymandering has become so evil, awful, and dangerous that the courts, even those stocked with Conservative judges, have ruled against the practice and ordered some to roll back the ridiculously drawn maps!

But it easily could be too little too late.

With the latest election of a man who is clearly unqualified to be anything but a shyster (and frankly he is a good one at that) America has seen the Reagan plan come to wondrous fruition.

The reins were taken up by the richest man in Kentucky who just happens to be the senior Senator of that State, Mitch McConnell.

His hatred, disdain and uncalled for treatment of President Obama coupled with his seemingly prescient knowledge of collusion in the background allowed him to ignore anything put forth by the two time overwhelmingly elected Democrat from Illinois.

This anti-American refused to even meet with or interview Mr. Obama’s choice for the open seat on the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.

McConnell held out until his gerrymandered districts and some help from outside America could place a useful idiot in the White House.

In the 2 years since this subtle yet insidious coup took place the GOP under the direction of McConnell has filled every possible vacancy on courts across America and placed 2 totally partisan judges on the Supreme Court FOR LIFE!

The party of the 1% has also gifted a huge tax break TO the 1% while running up the country’s deficit so high he conveniently calls for cuts to social services in order to pay it down!

Those social services were the safety nets put in place by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt some 80 years ago. Since that time they worked beautifully for the Middle Class and workers of the country but are just one more stumbling block toward total domination by the oligarchy of America.

As of the time of this writing the Repub Party appears to be pulling back from the dolt known as trump who sits as a buffoon on the World stage as he shuttles between his executive time in the White House and vacation time in his illegal alien populated Florida country club, Mar A Lago.

Why would they finally and just now be abandoning the current leader of their Party?

Perhaps with the noose closing in around the neck of the Russian controlled operative plants in the current administration McConnell realizes he has gone about as far as he can go. He feels if he can get his cronies to switch gears and slowly pull back his support for trump they may still have a shot at holding onto power in the Senate, even if a Democrat wins the next Presidential election.

Of course if that happens he will snidely refuse to meet with any nominee for a vacant seat on the Supreme Court for as long as it takes to get one of his own back in power.

And while all of the above has been taking place in America most of us veas lost sight of that big picture I mentioned at  the top of this piece.

Social Security is under attack; Medicare is under attack; Climate change is being ignored; Healthcare for citizens of the richest country in the world is under attack; Infrastructure repair, while not sexy is incredibly needed, is being ignored; Clean air and potable water is being polluted and ignored; Our allies in NATO are being ignored and insulted; Our once great educational system is being dismantled and our National Treasure also known as our National Parks are being defiled and ruined.

All of these horrific happenings have one common thread, they will garner more money for the greediest most undeserving among us, the top 1% of the wealthiest in the country unless we the people push back, stand up, and vote for every possible Democratic candidate as if our lives depended on it, BECAUSE IT DOES!

Friday, February 1, 2019

SOCIETY, CENTS AND SENSIBILITY


In a society it is good to be social and sociable. None of those words should stoke fear in the hearts and minds of human beings in a free country.
But add three tiny letters and watch out!

Socialism has become the catchword of the wealthy when they wish to deflect from their desire to control all the wealth in the world. They use it to stoke fear in the masses that individuals will lose control of all their worldly possessions. In fact the only losers would be the wealthy who do the stoking!

And to say they would be losers is overstating the effect as they would never be thrown into the poverty they cause among others or the demeaning manor in which so many must live as a result of it.
Yet I do not propose pure socialism. It would not work in the long run and would create more problems than it is worth. Nor do I propose pure capitalism for basically the same reason.

Somewhere in between the two absolutes there is a happy medium that works out good for all.

Currently we have leaders who are using patriotism as a catchword to vilify anyone not willing to toe the line, their line! They have grabbed power and fear losing it to the point of blaming those who do not agree with their methods of being power grabbers themselves.

It is an old tactic of blaming others for doing that which you are doing to deflect your true intent.

A couple of definitions are necessary before continuing.

Patriotism is the love of and commitment to one’s country or community. It is a social good and love of law and common liberty. It is the feeling that one’s private desires should be for the good of all and we must resist corruption and tyranny. The ultimate show of patriotism is the willingness to sacrifice one’s life for the protection of the common liberty!

Pure socialism, where everything is owned by everyone is not a good solution to inequality in the real world. As the saying goes, too many cooks spoil the broth.

Pure capitalism, by the same token is not good either as it will eventually create a self-propagating and ever-increasing wealth gap. It is a slow-moving juggernaut toward an eventual world of oligarchs and workers not unlike the feudal era of the dark ages.

Pure democracy would not work as it takes all the power away from representatives and hands it back to the people. And if you think the cooks of socialism would spoil the broth wait until everyone tries to fit into the kitchen!

In America we have an entire system of socialist principals at work every day protecting us from a myriad of ills. We have a nationwide system of highways, infrastructure and military, fire departments and police forces and on and on.

We also have a system of Democracy whereby every citizen gets a vote in how the country should be run.
Sadly, our voting system has been under a successful attack for decades by a minority of unscrupulous people hell bent on usurping and then keeping power.
As we know, power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

As most know, once a right has been given it is hard to take it back. Just ask those who wish to reverse such established laws as the Social Security act of 1935 or the result of Roe v. Wade in 1973.

So, what is the solution?

There isn’t one.
That’s because there are many.

But just like an ocean liner with a full head of steam cannot be turned around on a dime the solution to our current problems will take time and clear heads and a willingness on the part of the wealthiest among us that they have more wealth than they could ever use even if they lived to a thousand!

Nobody likes being sick.

Overpowering greed is a sickness.

The cure is knowing when enough is enough.

Giving back to the community is not a meaningless catchphrase.

Note the word ‘back.’

The community enabled you to get where you are.

Once you’ve arrived don’t forget that!

The idea of a good workable ever-lasting society must utilize the principals of Socialism, Patriotism, Capitalism and Democracy in a tasty broth that will not be spoiled. That means those with the means stop being mean and help those without the means to become productive members of society.

When the entire citizenry of a nation is healthy, able to work, earn AND spend, everyone wins.

And that is a healthy socially conscious sociable sustainable society!