“The Path to Prosperity.” This is the cover page to the GOP budget proposal proudly displayed by Rep. Paul Ryan and John Boehner. Prosperity for who? I recently read an interesting article on the Huffington Post about what the budget proposal would do to our already strained healthcare system and it isn’t good. You can read the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/10/gop-budget-uninsured_n_860032.html
Basically it would decimate Medicaid, and millions more would be left uninsured. Medicaid currently covers some 60 million people and it is estimated to cover 76 million by 2021. Under the plan by the GOP the Kaiser Foundation estimates that 30-40 million people will lose coverage. Of course this plan doesn’t have a chance of being passed in the senate or by the President but it illustrates what can only be described as an all out war on the lower middle class and poor in this country not to mention that if we don’t get healthcare under control we are going to continue to decimate our economy and guess what tax payers, you are going to continue to pay the price of covering costly ER visits and skyrocketing premiums. All these items could and should start to be resolved through the Affordable Care Act passed last year. Weak as it is, it is a step in the right direction in starting to rein in the out of control fees associated with healthcare, unless of course it is repelled or stripped down.
Now let me paint you a different picture, one closer to home for most of you. I have a friend who works hard, has 2 kids, and has come upon some very difficult times. We will call my friend Ted. Ted and his family are in the real estate business so let’s just say his regular income has been decimated by the crash. His wife went back to work but can’t find a job with health insurance and his office doesn’t offer coverage and they lost their private insurance because they couldn’t afford it. Just recently Ted had an accident where he slipped and fell on his driveway and busted his elbow. It is not broken but it is hurt and he can’t use it or straighten it out. He isn’t sure what he did to his elbow but he isn’t going to have it looked at because he is afraid of the cost and doesn’t have health insurance. If he lived in Europe he could walk into any hospital and be treated. I am sure he can do the same thing here, except here it will cost him thousands of dollars for an x-ray, or an MRI plus treatment and can you imagine if he needed surgery? I know there are programs in place to help the poor but Ted is not poor, he just can’t afford his insurance and still put food on the table. Ted is just like you, but has fallen on some hard times and could possibly face being crippled because he can’t get care. It sounds like the dark ages but this is happening in 2011.
There are probably thousands of people out there just like Ted and as a nation what message are we sending to these people? Sorry, we are going to take Medicaid and other programs meant to act as a safety net away and you will just have to figure it out. Meanwhile insurance companies keep making profits hand over fist, the defense budget grows, education is slashed and the wealthy get wealthier. What does this say about our society? Are our values so shallow that we only care about the wealthy, warfare and corporate profits? We are supposedly to some, most definitely not me, a Christian nation. Well what would Jesus say about this nation today? Shouldn’t we care about our citizens, all of them, even the ones that we so often say are lazy and take advantage of the system? Those losers let them suffer and be miserable but it is okay because I am fine. Hmmm, not very Christian is it? There are for sure those that take advantage but more than not there are just a lot of hard working people with limited opportunities due to an ever increasing population that is slipping further and further into an abyss and that abyss is getting larger and larger and more and more are succumbing to its pull. If I could illustrate it with paint and a canvas perhaps it would be a modern day painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights” a truly frightening painting from about the 1500’s that in some scholar’s minds displays the moral decay of the time or a warning of what will happen when morality declines.
Finally, what boggles my mind the most is this whole notion of small government and what is truly constitutional. When the government first formed we were a tiny country in our infancy. We are now a population of over 300 million. You can’t shrink the government and still care for a population of this size. This isn’t the 1700’s any more. In the 1700’s if you got sick you went and saw a doctor and you paid him with eggs or a chicken and a nice dinner. But as society grows you/we/the whole have to grow and change with it. We have to move forward and our thinking has to evolve with the times, which is what the Framers had in mind when they created the constitution. We can take care of our people, provide affordable care and not be communist/socialist and still have the American dream of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This dream is going to die hard for millions of people if we don’t stand up to the Tea Party and the GOP and say enough is enough. Healthcare is not a privilege in an advanced society it’s a right. In today’s world no one should suffer from a fall and face being crippled for life because they came upon hard times. They should be able to go into a hospital, get treatment and walk out with their dignity. There is a war brewing out there and it’s time for every day people to stand up and start talking, I fear if we don’t then more and more of the middle class is going to be chipped away and eventually it will be to late to save this country. Like the third panel in the painting of “The Garden of Earthly Delights," America will be in an abyss, a dark black hole looking up at the light of the developing world and as we tumble further into the abyss and the light slowly fades to black we will truly fall from grace. The death of the American dream will be complete. This might not happen next year or even in ten years, but if we continue on this path it’s the future I see.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Why America Will Continue to Fail
#1: The republican front runners today are Michelle Bachman, The Donald (I know so sad) and Mitt Romney, a man who created a state wide health program in Massachutes that was the model for the national healthcare plan that Romney now wants to repeal. These are your choices today conservatives, how does it feel? Not good I hope. Donald Trump is a one man freak show and at best will provide comedians with enough material to last well into the next decade. Michelle Bachman is the new poster girl for demigods and Mitt Romney is the new poster boy for flip floppers, lets just call him Floppy Romney. We have serious issues in this country and we need serious candidates on both sides, not a right wing show of corporate greed and fairy tale believers. Obama should be feeling pretty good for right now because if this is his competition he should have no problem winning in 2012. Of course the year is young and who knows who else will step forward but let’s hope it is someone who can talk substance and has a platform that runs deeper then not cutting taxes, abortion and God.
#2: America is on a precipice, one that depending on which way we fall will shape the country and its people for years to come. Are we going to anoint the freaks or are we going to demand serious people with serious and real ideas to help us out of the mess we are currently in? The Democrats are the last fail safe we have against extreme right wing ideology. If we continue to let those like Bachman and for example Rep. Paul Ryan have a stage in politics we will continue to tread water and waste time. I find it amazing how many people came out and praised Paul Ryan’s budget, even Fareed Zakaria who I generally respect and like called his budget a good effort if not completely misguided. REALLY? What does that mean? Would a college professor tell a student well you did a pretty good job, all the words were spelled correctly in your paper and the grammar structure was good but you completely missed the entire point of the assignment, as a matter of fact you didn’t even read the right book! NO, the student would get an F. Paul Ryan and the congressional Republicans get an F on the budget in my opinion. How much time and effort was wasted trying to eliminate NPR, Planned Parenthood and other “entitlement” programs, where was the serious discussion about cutting the defense budget, continuing to reform healthcare, farm subsidies, raising taxes, oh right those don’t happen because that would just be un-American. Bill Maher has a great prop on his show, a plate of food, a large portion of mashed potatoes, chicken and some other side and then garnish, the garnish is the middle class and let me tell you, we have about one tiny sprig left on the plate, but no one touch the mashed potatoes and the chicken.
#3: President Obama, I blame him as well, not for the mess we are in but for how it has been handled since he took office. He needs to sack up and stand up to these extreme politicians, John Boehner and company to name a few. I want a president with some chutzpah who is going to put on some boxing gloves and get in the game. The conservative PR machine is excellent, so excellent it has convinced the middle class and poor that they are part of the great wealth and opportunity of this country and Obama and the Dems are going to take away from them something they have never and will currently never have, millions of dollars. Can the Democrats hire those guys because they need a restoration campaign and some lions of their own or else nothing and I mean nothing is going to change and things are only going to get worse.
#4: The American people. Here lies the crux of the issue. You – yes you, an ordinary American person, going to work every day, sipping your latte or serving that latte, driving your car, or taking the bus, listening to your iPod and twittering away, you need to wake up, educate yourself, turn off talk radio and turn on NPR, the news (but not FOX, sorry) and get in the game. This is your country, your home, your people, even the ones who look different then you and make less then you. The man on the corner with a sign, the women on the corner with a sign, the McDonalds worker and even the guy who makes more then you, the corporate CEO we are beholden to each other, a thought so totally un-American and socialist that I am sure just writing it will put me on a watch list but it is an undeniable truth, we are beholden to each other and we have to learn to help each other, care about each other and be nice to each other. We need to care about everything from the soil we eat from to the water we drink to the energy we use, to how we spend our money, individually and as a country, to every single struggling family we hear about and everything else in between. Then we need to elect serious, educated people to help solve these problems, preferable people who will not cave to lobbyists, no small feat I am sure, and who are willing to think outside of the proverbial “Washington DC” box. We need to move away from electing people on moral issues that will never ever be truly solved in the political arena and realize that it’s not God that is going to save us but ourselves. If we continue to elect people into office like Michelle Bachman who want to rewrite history, campaign on abortion and the evil EPA well guess what America you reap what you sow and what you are sowing is the destruction of the American dream, the continuation of corporate greed, you are feeding the top 1% of this country with your livelihoods, and guess what, gays are still going to be together, babies are still going to be aborted and the middle class is going to slip further and further into the abyss. Read it weep, without real change that is the future I see.
#2: America is on a precipice, one that depending on which way we fall will shape the country and its people for years to come. Are we going to anoint the freaks or are we going to demand serious people with serious and real ideas to help us out of the mess we are currently in? The Democrats are the last fail safe we have against extreme right wing ideology. If we continue to let those like Bachman and for example Rep. Paul Ryan have a stage in politics we will continue to tread water and waste time. I find it amazing how many people came out and praised Paul Ryan’s budget, even Fareed Zakaria who I generally respect and like called his budget a good effort if not completely misguided. REALLY? What does that mean? Would a college professor tell a student well you did a pretty good job, all the words were spelled correctly in your paper and the grammar structure was good but you completely missed the entire point of the assignment, as a matter of fact you didn’t even read the right book! NO, the student would get an F. Paul Ryan and the congressional Republicans get an F on the budget in my opinion. How much time and effort was wasted trying to eliminate NPR, Planned Parenthood and other “entitlement” programs, where was the serious discussion about cutting the defense budget, continuing to reform healthcare, farm subsidies, raising taxes, oh right those don’t happen because that would just be un-American. Bill Maher has a great prop on his show, a plate of food, a large portion of mashed potatoes, chicken and some other side and then garnish, the garnish is the middle class and let me tell you, we have about one tiny sprig left on the plate, but no one touch the mashed potatoes and the chicken.
#3: President Obama, I blame him as well, not for the mess we are in but for how it has been handled since he took office. He needs to sack up and stand up to these extreme politicians, John Boehner and company to name a few. I want a president with some chutzpah who is going to put on some boxing gloves and get in the game. The conservative PR machine is excellent, so excellent it has convinced the middle class and poor that they are part of the great wealth and opportunity of this country and Obama and the Dems are going to take away from them something they have never and will currently never have, millions of dollars. Can the Democrats hire those guys because they need a restoration campaign and some lions of their own or else nothing and I mean nothing is going to change and things are only going to get worse.
#4: The American people. Here lies the crux of the issue. You – yes you, an ordinary American person, going to work every day, sipping your latte or serving that latte, driving your car, or taking the bus, listening to your iPod and twittering away, you need to wake up, educate yourself, turn off talk radio and turn on NPR, the news (but not FOX, sorry) and get in the game. This is your country, your home, your people, even the ones who look different then you and make less then you. The man on the corner with a sign, the women on the corner with a sign, the McDonalds worker and even the guy who makes more then you, the corporate CEO we are beholden to each other, a thought so totally un-American and socialist that I am sure just writing it will put me on a watch list but it is an undeniable truth, we are beholden to each other and we have to learn to help each other, care about each other and be nice to each other. We need to care about everything from the soil we eat from to the water we drink to the energy we use, to how we spend our money, individually and as a country, to every single struggling family we hear about and everything else in between. Then we need to elect serious, educated people to help solve these problems, preferable people who will not cave to lobbyists, no small feat I am sure, and who are willing to think outside of the proverbial “Washington DC” box. We need to move away from electing people on moral issues that will never ever be truly solved in the political arena and realize that it’s not God that is going to save us but ourselves. If we continue to elect people into office like Michelle Bachman who want to rewrite history, campaign on abortion and the evil EPA well guess what America you reap what you sow and what you are sowing is the destruction of the American dream, the continuation of corporate greed, you are feeding the top 1% of this country with your livelihoods, and guess what, gays are still going to be together, babies are still going to be aborted and the middle class is going to slip further and further into the abyss. Read it weep, without real change that is the future I see.
Friday, February 18, 2011
What I know?
During the course of the day today I have read a handful of articles scattered across the web and I’m left with such a sad feeling of helplessness against the forces at work in this country. I’m constantly telling my husband that the issues facing America today are so complicated that I really do believe it is too hard for the average American to understand and I am not trying to sound like an elitist when I say this. I am not even going to pretend I understand the ins and outs of the budget or what the new finance reform bill covers. The defense budget this year is proposed at 708 billion dollars and I couldn't tell you what that covers, what is needed and wasted. I am not an expert in every field. But here is what I can tell you:
I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.
I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html
Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.
I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.
I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.
I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?
I know that we have one of the best if not the best military on earth and if we took a few billion from the defense budget and allocated it to schools and invested in our children's education we would still have the most powerful military on earth and we would have well educated young people to run the military in the future.
I know that the fat cats on Wall Street make billions and some get taxed at a 15% tax rate through a special loophole (their income is often taxed at the capital gains rate) while the rest of us get taxed at a much higher rate. Why not raise their taxes and lower ours? Why isn't the Tea Party fighting that battle for the common good? Robert Reich in a post on the Huffington Post had this staggering statistic, “Last year, America's top thirteen hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion each. One of them took home $5 billion. Much of their income is taxed as capital gains -- at 15 percent -- due to a tax loophole that Republican members of Congress have steadfastly guarded. If the earnings of those thirteen hedge-fund managers were taxed as ordinary income, the revenues generated would pay the salaries and benefits of over 5 million teachers. Who is more valuable to our society -- thirteen hedge-fund managers or 5 million teachers?” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-republican-strategy_b_825206.html
Really? If this doesn’t make you angry then you either have your head in the sand or you are a complete idiot, or both. This is what people are talking about when the say the highest concentration of wealth is with the top 1% of earners. The middle class in this country that supported the Republicans and the Tea Party and want smaller government should take a look at this statistic and then readjust their thinking. Hey Republican controlled congress, you want to shrink the budget gap, take a look at the tax code, not Planned Parenthood, NPR and Public Broadcasting.
I know that NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have some of the best reporting, journalist and educational programs around and what do the Republicans and Tea Party candidates want to do to it, slash or eliminate their budget as if this will solve the budget shortfall. Truly they don't like these institutions because they are the last man standing for unbiased and true grit reporting. I know the truth hurts and Republicans and radical Tea Party folks want to shut them down.
I know that the EPA tries to keep our waters safe, our soil clean and air breathable but what do Republicans want to do with the EPA, eliminate it and create a program that promotes jobs and allows companies to grow (translation make more money, pay less taxes and fines) and destroy our environment in the process because let’s face it all the evidence in the world shows that left to their own machinations big companies will cut every corner in the book on safety to save the almighty dollar. All together now everyone say Hinckley or more recently Gulf Coast Oil disaster.
I could go on and on about what I know and don’t know but what I really want to know is what do you know? What do you believe? Do you really think cutting programs like PBS, NPR, Planned Parenthood and destroying the EPA is going to make this country, better, stronger or is this just a straight up attack by a group of radical people in our government to strip away and destroy what is left of anything good in this country? Republicans and the Tea Party are using smoke screens and mirrors to make people believe their rights are being trampled on and that Obama and the Democrats are to blame for their troubles and trying to turn their beloved America into a socialist state, when really the Republicans and the Tea Party are going to turn this country into something we have never ever seen and guess who is going to suffer the most, the poor and the middle class. Wake up America, educate yourselves and get involved. Stop voting for people because of their views on abortion and because you like that they attend church. Look at the young people in Egypt, and across the middle east, they are fighting for a better life (let’s hope) and I say we stand up and say enough is enough as well because it might be your young children in 20 years protesting in the streets because of low wages, stagnation, and other terrible inequities in the land of freedom and equal opportunity. What do you think?
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