Major Issues vs. False and Misleading Rhetoric

I wish we could create a new party in this country that actually worked on the real issues the neither party seems to want to address. What could we call such a party? Public Servants Party?

Following is a list I have complied of major issues that I think we face today. It may not be all the issues but they are significant.

MAJOR ISSUES

1.    Distribution of wealth; now concentrated at the very top

2.    Struggling middle class and poor as a result of #1,

3.    Unequal voting power: rich can dominate campaigns with their wealth

4.    Bills written by lobbyists (ex-congressional leaders) rather than by legislator

5.    Infrastructure falling apart due to lack of investment

6.    Subsidies go to the wealthy rather than the poor, giving big business a marketing advantage

7.    Deregulation results in businesses too big to fail and wealth distribution issues

8.    Debt handling

9.    Health care: Obamacare does not go far enough; single payer system better in all ways. Our current profit driven health care system saps the entire economic system,

10. Has the country become too large to govern? Lack of accountability and anomie leads to depersonalization and name calling.

11. The entire political system has shifted to the right, leaving the progressive voice without a party to express its concerns.

12. Uncontrolled democracy/capitalism has degenerated into oligarchy or plutocracy

13. Climate, if not addressed we will cease. Alternative energy development

14. Can we continue a policy of being the world’s police force, often going it alone just for our personal interests.

15. Water – major issue being totally ignored.

16. Jobs: unions need strengthening; history shows when they are strong the middle class is strong.

17. Need for more government workers to enforce regulations (now smallest since 1966)  http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/22/bloated-government-federal-employment-at-47-year-low/?_r=0

a.    Federal employment is at a 47 year low. Lyndon Johnson era, 1966 we have 2,721,000 gov. employees. Now, Before gov. shutdown there were 2,723,000 fed employees. In 1966 that was 4.3% of the population, now it is 2%, the lowest; lower than when Bush was in office.

Next is a list of false and or misleading rhetoric both parties use is so-called political debate; sound an fury signifying nothing.

FALSE/MISLEADING RHETORIC

1.     Poor folk are poor because they are lazy and don’t want to work (Reagan false quote)

2.     Debt is bad rather than a regulator

3.     Democrats are the tax and spend party, when statistics show the opposite

4.     All unions are corrupt

5.     Social security and medicare will go away

6.     Obamacare will not work; raise taxes…. No proof and no track record

7.     Deregulated economy will put more money in individual pockets (trickle down) when nothing backs up this claim.

8.     Immigrants will take away our jobs (they get jobs nobody wants and earn their citizenship; scapegoating.

9.     Climate control no biggy, economics more important

10. Voter ID is necessary; meaning we don’t want certain folk to vote

11. Say they want to help small businesses, but really protect to big to fail corporations

12. Government is bad…

If you read the preceding article you see that I fall on the liberal side of these issues.

Liberals and Conservatives

A common assumption is that liberals and conservatives can’t agree on anything. That is true for some liberals and conservatives, but hopefully not for all. In this piece I am picking up on some ideas of Allen Clifton, and an article on his “Forward Thinking Progressives” web site. We share similar biases, which you can find here. I also think you will find some factual, or reasonable ideas.

We both love discussion and debate and a means for searching for truth and healthy dialogue that leads to growth; something that is less and less true in current debate.

He notes differences between current liberals and conservatives within their own ideologies that I agree with. He sees about 30% of liberals as being ethnocentric, hard liners in contrast to conservatives with 70% being hardliners and 30% moderate conservatives/Republicans. I would go on to say the entire country has moved significantly towards the right in the last 3 decades where Democrats beliefs are similar to moderate Republicans of the past, and the Republicans have gone more towards extreme positions; perhaps like Barry Goldwater but without the ideological political underpinnings and understanding and reasoning of Goldwater.

Here are issues Clifton uses to show differences.

Abortion: liberals see it as a women’s right to choose they do with their bodies. This does not embrace abortion but is about freedom to choose; which you would think would be a conservative point of view with conservative’s emphasis individual freedoms. Conservatives see abortion as murder with life beginning at conception and this view should be forced on all citizens.

Gun Reform: Liberals may affirm the 2^nd amendment but understand it was written in times far different than our own with guns having much less power than today’s guns. Liberals will agree folk have the right to own guns, primarily for the use of hunting, but military style weapons are just inappropriate. Plus liberals believe in background checks to attempt to keep guns out of the hands of those who are dangerous to society. Conservatives are strict constructionists of the 2^nd amendment and use argument that guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

Religion: Liberals believe people should believe what they want, freedom of religion or more currently for some freedom from religion. They believe in the separation of church and state. Liberals note that many the Founding Fathers were Deists, not Christians per se and note the that “under God” part of the Pledge of Allegiance was not added until 1954 when religion played a much more dominant part in the country. Conservatives say this is a Christian nation period.

Homosexuality and Same-sex marriage: Liberals see this as a basic right for the expression of freedom; there is no legal reason why gays should not marry. Conservatives see homosexuality as a sin that threatens traditional marriage and the moral structure of our society. I would note that several conservatives are changing their views in this area.

Welfare Reform: Liberals see the need of safety nets for our society and its citizens. We need programs that help people realize the American Dream. While there are abusers of such systems this can help be fixed by increasing the number of people administering these programs and enforcing the rules. Conservatives see welfare recipients as folk just looking for a handout and are lazy and don’t deserve our money. They see it as socialism. We all have the same opportunities so just get off your butt and get a job.

Role of Government: Liberals do not see government as a panacea for all problems but it is there to protect people. Government is not perfect but we need services that help the common good: public roads, public schools, waste disposal, clean water, traffic signals, law enforcement, emergency services, military, higher education, etc. Conservatives see government as basically evil incapable of doing things right or efficiently. However, they have exceptions when the wish to push their will and ideas on others such as national religion, abortion, voter ID etc.

Conservatives it appears wish to push their values on all others while liberal embrace our differences.

My bias is that conservatives who traditionally embrace individualism find themselves demanding that all believe as they do; to me this is inconsistent. And from a religious standpoint, while they affirm Christianity as the definitive religion of the country they do not seem to embrace the Christian teachings of caring for our brothers as sisters ignoring the golden rule. Traditional the Judeo-Christian values are that of hospitality and love of neighbor and care for those of a common community and “aliens” alike.

I long for the days when there were more moderates in each party and fought each other but worked for the common good but realized they were public servants.

A New Species Discovered?

“We have gotten pretty familiar with the human species by now,” spoke Lamont as he lay on the top rung of the step thingy with his head rolled over to look down on his sisters. “We understand their languages and watch TV and listen to the radio to keep up on human events. And in previous incarnations I have been a library cat and read voraciously. As a matter of fact, I consider myself quite an expert on the furless servant beings by now.”

“You would,” replied Pawline, “but why are you telling us this? We all know quite a lot about these creatures.”

“Well,” continuing Lamont pulling himself up on his haunches, “I think I may have discovered a new species that bears a remarkable similarity to the furless ones, and yet seems very different.”

“How so,” asked Patchtricia?

“Because I cannot understand a word this creature is saying even though she uses the same words as other furless beings.”

“I don’t understand,” said Paw.

“Well I was watching the news the other day and the newsman, Matt Lauer asked her, ‘What are we hearing from the Tea Party in terms of absolute, realistic plan that can be an alternative to Obamacare?’ Then this creature, who I believe is called a Pallin, replied and I quote, “The plan is to allow those things that had been proposed over many years to reform a health-care system in America that certainly does need more help so that there's more competition, there's less tort reform threat, there's less trajectory of the cost increases, and those plans have been proposed over and over again. And what thwarts those plans? It's the far left. It's President Obama and his supporters who will not allow the Republicans to usher in free market, patient-centered, doctor-patient relationship links to reform health care.‘

“Huh?” said Patch.

“Precisely,” replied Lamont, “She uses the same words as other furless critters but puts them together in a way that seems totally incomprehensible. I think the interviewer was equally confused as he continued to ask questions and got similar responses, but did not seem to expect normal responses from her.

“I have concluded she must be a new species related to other furless critters. Here are other examples of her language: 

"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." On her expertise on foreign policy being near Russia.

 "The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil." On Obamacare again.

"All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." When asked about magazines she reads.

"Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ―" when asked about Supreme Court rulings she also disagreed with.

"'Refudiate,' 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.' English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!'" – a tweet she made.

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed." – perhaps talking about Paul Revere.

"But obviously, we've got to stand with our North Korean allies." 

Well, you get the idea. I think perhaps she is a alien. Perhaps a Palien.”

“Sounds reasonable,” said Patch.

The Games Furless Creatures Play

“Meugh watches a game on TV a lot,” said Lamont. “It is a bit hard to figure out what they are doing.”

“True,” replied Pawline, “it is very strange. A whole bunch of folk seem to walk around a rather deluxe cow pasture that has no cows. Some of the furless ones carry a bag with a lot of sticks in it, then every so often another guy takes a stick out of the bag or from the bag carrier and whacks a little white ball.”

“Well,” added Patchtricia, “that’s not a lot different from us when we chase the various balls we find here in our Shackteau; we just don’t bother with sticks and use our paws.”

“Yes,” said Lamont, “but they seem to have destinations for the little white ball, which sometimes is yellow; a hole in very slick parts of the cow pasture. If they take a stick and hit the white ball and it goes into the hole sometimes they just go pick it up and put it back in their pocket. Other times the make a fist and wave it around, sometimes they jump up and down and carry on something fierce while the crowd cheers. Generally those not carrying sticks or hitting the little white ball, are fenced off from parts of the cow pasture. Their job seems to be to clap and cheer when the furless one with a stick hits the little white ball. It is all very strange. And, I think our Meugh plays that same silly games as he has some of those sticks here in the Shackteau and occasionally brings a whole bag of them in a cleans them.” Weird.”

Paw and Patch nodded their heads in agreement, “Weird.”

Patch then chimed in, “the other day while Meugh was gone and the TV was still on I saw another game the furless ones played. If you think that one with sticks is weird you should have seen this one.”

“We probably did,” said, Paw, “which one are you talking about?”

Patch continued, “This game is also played in a cow pasture with no cows and is much smaller with lines drawn across it. Huge furless critters at the beginning run on to the cow pasture at the beginning while another bunch of huge furless critters in a different color of clothes run onto the cow pasture from the other end of the cow pasture.”

“Oh, I know the game you are talking about,” said Lamont. “Only in this game these furless critters wear things that make them look even more huge and they don’t use a white ball or white ball for every two furless creatures, instead they only have one ball which is much bigger than the white one, it is brown and weirdly shaped.”

“Oh yes,” added Paw. “The biggest ones line up in a row and others line up behind them on one side of a yellow line that often disappears, and the critters in the other color do the same facing them. Then one of the big critters in the middle of the line picks up the brown oblong ball and puts it threw his legs either giving it or tossing it to another fellow. That fellow then hands the brown ball to somebody else or throws it up in the air and everybody chases the brown ball.”

“Yes, yes,” cried Patch, “and then they crash into each other like the freight trains outside our Shackteau and huge speeds and knock each other down. They do this a lot until one side get tired of getting hit so the kick the brown ball away to get rid of it and then the other group of huge furless ones have to play with it and get hit. As a matter a fact there is a lot of hitting going on all over the place.”

“Yep, they hit each other so hard, frequently they have to carry one of them off the field. I guess you can only get hit so many times before it wears you out.” Said Lamont, “When we wrestle with each other we just quit if one of us gets tired. These critters can’t be very smart.”

“And then there are a whole lot of more normal sized folk who sit in seats around the cow pasture where this game is played,” added Paw. “The yell and cheer and carry on something fierce though they just sit there. I think maybe they have imbibed in too much catnip they way the act.”

“Yes,” said Lamont, “both are strange games among others we have seen the furless ones play, but the one with the brown ball seems the strangest to me. I’m glad our Meugh play the one with the little white ball. We’d hate to see him get beat up the way they do with the ones with the brown ball. I think he probably get broken.”

“Yeah,” said Patch, “and then who would clean our cat boxes and bring us food in the morning?”

[e.d. for those of you who like to see more enthusiastic cats watch golf please go here.