Public Option, Socialism, and Taxes, Oh My!!

The right-wingers are pulling out all the stops to enlist the greedy, gullible and ignorant in their war against Obama and his policies. It has started to get ridiculous with phone surveys and mailers asking questions like "Do you consider yourself to be pro-life?" You can put that one up there with "Have you stopped beating your wife." They insist on yes or no answers and that is really playing to the dumb ass gallery. I am pro-choice.

I sent the last mailer back with a note..."I voted for Obama, I do not regret voting for Obama and I am in favor of the public option." The thing that gets me is that I really consider myself, as the title of this blog indicate, to be slightly left of center. In many ways, I am a moderate. As an example, I don't think that people should be allowed to enter the country illegally and avail themselves of public benefits. But I do think that all our citizens should have access to quality health care.

There is historical evidence which illustrates how extremist governments fail, some more quickly than others. Socialism, a very valid political philosophy, was taken to extremes in the old Soviet Union. Capitalism, another workable philosophy, has been taken to extremes by the far right and the past several Republican administrations. What people don't seem to realize is that neither is evil or perfect as they stand. But extremist capitalistic governments can disintegrate just as quickly and dramatically as extremist socialist governments. We are in the midst of just that kind of scenario in the US.

So, the idea here is that extremism is bad no matter what direction it takes. Medicine, which used to be a science and a higher calling is now an industry. HMO's, drug companies and medical supply companies are charging outrageous fees, inflating prices and witholding proper care from those who need it because of that sacred bottom line. Compassion and a desire to heal the sick seems to be absent on their priority lists.

If you look at nations that enjoy better standards of living and manage to stay out of the messy areas of trying to enforce their philosophies on other cultures, you will find something that the extremists on both ends want to keep hidden. The two philosophies can co-exist! WOW!

We already have socialistic structures in place in the US. We have free, public education, social security, workman's compensation, and more. These people who are screaming about the imagined horror of a public option and a real health care reform would be the first to raise a rumpus if that SSI check didn't arrive on time.

Capitalism is our energy and drive. It allows for us all a chance to improve our lot in life, individually and as a nation. Socialism is our national conscience. Even the most adamant right-wing conservative will piously agree with the New Testament admonitions to feed the hungry and tend to the ill. We are in the midst of a sea change in the US. It's either adapt or lose. Look up 'socialism' and read the definition If it isn't taken to extremes, it's not a bad thing. Capitalism, if taken to extremes is a recipe for disaster, revolution or worse. At this point, the far right has taken on a tinge of facism and hate and that worries me.
Think about it.

Teddy..You Either Loved Him or Hated Him

It seems that no one was indifferent to him. Some were ambivalent when he took the low road from Chappaquiddick, but he never stopped being a voice for those of us with a leftward bent. Ted Kennedy, then married to Joan, pressed my hand for a brief second at a rally for the ERA, way back when. He was so young and had already lost three older brothers..one to war and two to the bullets of cowards. Like the rest of his remarkable clan, he kept on keeping on.

Whatever your feelings were for Senator Kennedy, you cannot deny that he left his mark. Whatever anyone, including me, might have thought about his personal life, he was steadfast in supporting the efforts that I also supported. Though he didn't know me, I thought of him as an ally. Kennedy was the Senate's dominant liberal and one of its "legendary dealmakers," per MSNBC. He came to be respected on both sides of the aisle.

His own words stand in tribute and encouragement; "For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dream shall never die,"

(1980 Dem Convention Speech)

So long, Camelot.

The Sky Is Falling

This seems to be the newest in a long line of the ultra-conservatives scare-tactic modus operandii. Why anyone would consider Sarah Palin's comments worthy of repeating, I don't have a clue. I won't have to worry about the GOP grooming her for the presidency. She would make a fool out of herself on the first campaign outing. But she joins the "Death Panel" scream team as some kind of party totem. Now, along with the dumbness of the Birthers, we have the inane alarmists of the Death Panel-ers. Ye Gawd, will it never end?

As a senior citizen, myself, I can see several good things for those of us on fixed and lower incomes in the president's ideas. True, it needs a bit of polishing, but that is they way of all things. The far right has not been successful, so far, with its dire warnings of "socialism," so they drag out the old fear tactics. This is how the Equal Rights Amendment was defeated..with specious and inane specters of unisex bathrooms and the death of marriage as an institution and jobs being stolen from the more worthy "menfolk."

If the Chicken Little followers would just sit down, use their brains and read the entire thing, they would find nothing in there about deciding against treating the elderly as a way of saving money. But then, things can be twisted and gnarled by the "proof texters" until they are unrecognizable. This is like the ultra-self-righteous using out-of-context Bible verses to try to prove their points.

That the attacks by the Birthers and the Death Panelers smacks of racist maneuverings goes without saying. It's a lot easier to get the non-thinkers to fall in line if the target of the rumor-mongering is a mixed-race chief executive. As much as I would like to believe Maya Angelou when she said that we had finally "grown up" as a nation, I fear we have a ways to go yet. This is still a horribly, Puritanically rigid and racist nation. I often want to weep for all of us.

And, our bi-partisan system is no longer a balancing one. It has become, and, in fact, has been, for a long time, an adversarial, confusing and vicious one. In every culture where there has been a big gap between the haves and the have-nots, there has been an ultimate revolution. This is what scares the most conservative of the GOP since they and their meal-tickets are the "haves." We have long sacrificed our founding values in the name of capitalism and at the expense of our social conscience. We already have socialism in place with free public education and Social Security. A little bit more socialism might not put money in the fat cats' pockets, but is sure wouldn't hurt our country's image or esteem. Why can't we be the land of opportunity AND compassion?

Ooops, I think I just dislodged a piece of the sky!

Who Cares About A "Honeymoon?"

The media is doing its usual gloom and doom "reporting," with guesses on how long President Obama's so-called "honeymoon period" will last. I'm not worried about his approval ratings. I am just trying to support him in a thankless and unbelievably momentous undertaking. He inherited a total mess.

Rush Limbaugh, a ranting redneck disguised as an "expert" pundit, has voiced the hope that our President fails in his undertakings. Well, Mr. Limbaugh, you had better pray that doesn't happen.

What causes such hate? And, why do so many people listen to it and agree with it. I think this is another case of the "dumbing down" of American. So many people don't want to read, to listen and to think for themselves. These folks would rather have intolerant, fundie preachers and right wing, arrogant reactionaries TELL them what to think. That is such a shame. With the election of Barack Obama, I felt that our nation, as a whole, had taken a leap forward in our social, political and personal development. I now have to realize that there are many that didn't take that leap with the rest of us and are going to do all they can to pull us back.

My husband's boss is one such person. He admitted he doesn't read the newspaper or much of anything else. Yet he came into work, yesterday, ranting that Obama was going to "make the USA spend billions of dollars to pay for abortions in other countries." He obviously has not read the "Global Gag Rule" or understood what it is all about. He also spouted off about "socialized medicine" being "one step towards (insert shudder here) communism!" Funny, isn't it, that Canada and the UK haven't gone that way and they have had social healthcare in force for many years?

I still take heart that many of my brother and sister Americans have passed the stage when they see the Red Menace behind every bush and don't trust anyone who is different from them without first examining the issue. Maybe, just maybe, one day the people who are like my husband's boss, will either join in or die out.

He Said It All

He told the truth about the problems this nation faces. He challenged us to help him find solutions and to be a part of the answer.

Though gentle, he chastised those who wanted the status quo and lusted after power and riches at the expense of our national conscience and environment. He decried the image of the arrogant, ugly American in the vision of the world.

Thank you, Mr. President. I hope and pray that your words will be heeded and that this country can pull together in our time of need.

You said it all.