Well, this has been a very difficult post to write. I’ve started several times, then read something that made me change direction, re-written, scrapped, swore, and finally come up with a bit of what’s on my mind that isn’t too chaotic.
As the political debacle goes on in the nation’s capitol and in state capitols around the country, I am coming to the conclusion that the entire election process needs to be overhauled. We do not have leaders, we do not have representatives who are serving the will of the people, we do not have an informed and responsive government.
I rather like the idea of a friend of mine that the Representatives and Senators should be drawn by lot, much like people are selected for the jury pool. Of course, not every citizen is truly qualified to serve. Just look at the clowns who are currently in office. I would propose a few basic qualifications.
1. Being able to pass a basic American history test (similar to that required for citizenship.
2. Having absolutely no ties to big corporations (people who have worked for small, family-run businesses are ideal).
3. Having successfully balanced their checkbooks and paid bills on time for at least 3 years.
4. Having some familiarity with welfare, medical services for the uninsured, and other social services.
And possibly 5. Some higher education with the ability to research and separate fact from fiction.
So we end up with a pool of political candidates who have some basis of historical reference, have no leashes being held by big business, can do basic math, comprehend responsibility, understand the struggle to get medical care or the hoops that government programs make poor individuals jump through, and have some reasoning skills. This seems like a good spectrum to me. And if we’re lucky, we might even get some representatives who actually want to make things better for the average person.
Now, since we don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting this kind of selection process, let’s look at what we do have. We are currently in a climate where, as many have observed, civility, reasoning, knowledge and expertise have virtually no meaning. You’ve all seen egregious examples of this. I know I feel like spitting up a hairball every time I hear or see “liberalism is trying to take God out”, or “the poor have to start contributing too”, or “asking millionaires to pay more is pathetic.” I have to ask myself – where did these whackjobs come from?
And that leads into the second part of this missive, the part that is really outraged, insulted, and driving me to want to bite someone.
Now I realize that members of both parties carry a lot of the blame for what’s been going on. Politicians on both sides have been subjects of scandal, under the thumbs of the Kochs or oil, and spewing everything from ridiculous conclusions to outright lies. And we, the people, bear the brunt of their callousness and vitriol. It seems our government hates us. Well, truthfully, one party seems to have more hate to throw around. So, since I’m feeling a rant coming on, let’s take a look at who the Republicans seem to hate the most. OK, besides the President.
Women – killing Planned Parenthood, arresting women who have miscarriages
Children – killing WIC, eliminating funds for Head Start programs
Students – killing grants, reducing funds to schools, thus guaranteeing poor quality education
Sick People – killing the Health Care Plan, making health insurance more costly
Elderly – hacking away at Social Security and Medicare, raising the retirement age
Workers – eliminating unions, threatening the minimum wage
Prisoners (OK, you may not have much sympathy for them, but remember, not everyone in prison is actually guilty) – turning prisons over to private corporations who are in turn lobbying for harsher and longer sentences, stalling candidates for judgeships to create a huge backlog of cases.
Now I’m starting to take this personally. So I’m wondering, what did I do to make the Republicans hate me so much? What did any of us do? Maybe we just aren’t wealthy enough or connected enough. Maybe we don’t deserve good jobs and good education. Maybe we don’t deserve clean air and water. Maybe we don’t deserve to be safe and healthy. Are we the undeserving, and unserved, minority? Wow, anyone as depressed as I am?
Again, we are back to your July 4 post: "Shame, shame, shame" to those members of congress.
ReplyDeleteI think Dana has it right...Dock their pay (and multitude of benefits) until they DO THEIR JOBS. As for the hateful and ignorant among them: We voters just need to record and replay CSPAN from the previous 2 weeks. Come election time, let's remind each other what we have seen this July and August.
When you step back and look at the state of things from an outside perspective and include thousands of years of political/religious history, the why of the current situation become painfully apparent.
ReplyDeletePeople that lack the basic necessities of life, that are under educated and forced into a life of servitude are far easier to control than those who have what they need to survive, are educated and enjoy the freedoms of life. Quite simply, the battle between the Haves and the Havenots is a master/slave relationship. It always has been.
Slavery has never gone away, it has just evolved over the millennia. The Haves are still the masters and continue to increase their wealth at the expense of the Havenots. In American history we abolished slavery. Meaning that no one can own a human being and all work must be paid for. Before that freedom had been won, the masters provided the bare minimum to their slave workers. They only provided what they were required to provide in order to keep the work moving. Today the masters still provided the bare minimum; only what they are required to provide to keep the work moving. The main difference is that instead of owning a human being, they rent them. When I go to work for a company I "rent" myself to them for the time contracted. There are laws in place that keep my servitude safe and ensure that my freedom is returned to me at the end of the workday. These laws were forced on to the "masters" beginning in the early 20th century in New York after the Triangle Fire. If you don't know the history, you should look it up. Every American should know the history of that fire and what lead to it.
So, what does all this have to do with the current GOP initiatives? Well, pretty much everything. First of all, who owns the GOP? That is fairly obvious when you look at where their political funding comes from. It comes from major corporations, the bosses of industry...the masters. All of the initiatives that the GOP push most passionately are designed to keep the average American worker in debt, unhealthy and undereducated.
I'm not trying to belittle the history of the black American slaves in the darkest part of our history. The struggle and horrors those people went through to gain the very basics of human dignities must never be forgotten...ever! But we must also realize that the struggle is not over...it has simply evolved.
If we are ever going to truly win freedom for everyone in this country, it has GOT to start with the elimination of corporate lobbying and constitutional amendment that clarifies that a legal person be designated as a single human being and not a corporate or political entity. Our battle must start as a fight to gain our humanity over corporate rule. Because, as it stands right now, we bow to our masters every single day...and we thank them for the privilege.