February 6, 2013

Why not have regular people run for Congress?

Why not have regular people run for Congress?

It’s very clear that Congress, despite serious issues of public safety (gun control), finance (taxes), and economy (the Great Depression 2), and devolved to a do nothing Congress, primarily because the Republican Party is still offended of a black person being in the White House. Any issue that is dealt with will not get to the root cause or worse, they’ll just pay lip service. The worst part is that they still get paid while doing nothing.

While Congress is playing political football, people are suffering from unemployment, mental illness, and homelessness, fiscal crises, and health insurance problems. People are still being killed by guns due to the fact that the United States has the least restrictive gun laws in the world. The rich or “job creators” are still wealthy and they’ll still cutting jobs just to fatten their checking accounts. But your representatives at Congress don’t give a damn. As a matter of fact as long as the people are watching reality TV garbage, their infotainment, and eating their food, they don’t care.

Sadly the only way this situation can be resolved is if the people, not just wealthy people, but the American public just not be just politically active, but actually running for office. Think about all the people who are unemployed, and the many people who have political degrees and experience, a single job as a congressman or a legislator in any state in the US could instantly set these people up for life in just one single monthly paycheck. And since they actually have direct experience of the suffering they go though as perpetually unemployable, they have the motivation and the political will to do the job that congress is too politically lazy to do.

Right now our current congress is a sick joke. For all intents and purposes it’s a farce. Not only they lack any real political willpower, they’re completely and utterly spineless. The mere thought of money will make any congressman be more beholden to their corporate lobbyists to their constituents. The only way to solve our nation’s problems is for people to run for public office. I don’t care if you don’t have a law degree, I don’t care if you’re no wealthy. Just a US citizenship and if you’re old enough and you should be able to run for office.

Voting didn't change anything, nor is donating, or simple political involvement. The ultimate solution to a politically weak Congress and America is that the people take over their legislatures via direct campaign for public office. The 2014 elections is just under two years away, so why not get started now?

October 9, 2012

The Real Problem with PBS.

Every election season, republicans want to end federal funding for PBS and NPR. Democrats respond by defending PBS and NPR. This has occurred every time despite the benefits of public broadcasting. With this tug of war I have realized something: no mainstream politician has ever advocated or even suggested increasing funding for public broadcasting in this country. That is the real problem with PBS and NPR.

PBS and NPR have been practically underfunded for many years. As an end result it has increasingly resorted to creeping commercialism. From expanded sponsored messages right down to begathons for infomercials aimed at old people from folks like Wayne Dyer and Suze Orman. It has gotten so bad that MPT, WETA, and WHUT and many other PBS affiliates are practically unwatchable because they’re hopelessly dependent on these telethons. State funding cuts do not help either.

The other real problem is the demographics. When it comes to public broadcasting and commercial television there is one common demographic: upper-middle class people. They’re the ones who donate the most. Same for commercial television, they’re the ones with the most disposable income. Most of the programing and their offerings are aimed towards them. The other demographics PBS serves are old people, children under 12, and people who like 1970 British comedies and modern British dramas feature old wealthy people or police detectives. Yes, there are the other standard programming they offer but I can’t watch them, because every time I switch to PBS there’s a begathon.

Even for the niche programing some PBS affiliates offer, they shove them later in the night. (Not everyone has a DVR.) So yeah, if you’re over 12 there’s nothing for you in PBS. The worst thing is that there has been no true American drama that was produced by PBS since ever. Possibly in fear of commercial television networks complaining to Congress of undue regulation.

We already seen how educational channels such as Discovery Channel, the History Channel, and TLC (formally known as The Learning Channel)has devolved into reality TV channels with a weak theme since they focused on profit. If federal funding or any funding from the state level goes, they will be forced into accepting real commercials and we already know the eventual outcome when that happens.

The only way to end this constant tug of war is abolish PBS, NPR, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting completely. Replace it a new public broadcasting service that has almost total political independence of the federal government (like the British Broadcasting Corporation) and it’s funded by a guaranteed funding source directly from general revenue (like $100 per person) to be distributed between the national and state level public broadcasting stations. It will finally allow what public broadcasting in this country was not able to do for a long time since the enactment of the Public Broadcasting Act 1967: deliver educational, informational, and entertaining programs for everyone without commercial or political influence (and possibly revive the American broadcasting for the 21st century).

August 24, 2012

Romney’s Economic and Social Suicide Pact

The following is a Democratic Underground exclusive. I felt like the current election is becoming a farce with more damning evidence that Romney will make our problems in America worse, and is using Tea Partiers as sheep to his ends. I want to say something to prevent Romney's platform, no wait, his economic and social suicide pact from ever implemented. Therefore I took about 3 hours writing an essay which is exclusive here until 9am, when I will post this everywhere I can think of that I have a presence online.

Therefore, with no further introduction: Romney’s Economic and Social Suicide Pact

While most Americans are distracted with modern day bread and circuses (read: Food Stamps and Hollywood movies, video games, and internet) and trying to struggle to earn a living with permanently contracted economy, you have two choices this “election” season: Barack Obama, a president which has to battle a Congress that has done relatively little and has been obstructive to recovering from the artificial crash of 2008 due to the Republicans still offended that the White House is occupied by a Black-American, and a candidate which advertises himself someone who will “bring back America”. The only problem is that we are already seeing him as a false savior, offering economic salvation, while in reality will bring American down, destroy America from the inside out while he’ll escape with golden parachute. This name, this false savior has a name, and that name is Mitt Romney.

Yeah, the same Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon. The same Mitt Romney that supported his own brand of universal health care in Massachusetts, only to oppose it when because Obama is a perceived Socialist. The only reason why Mitt Romney wants to run is to finish the job the corporatists at Wall Street and K Street want and are using the Tea Party as puppets for: Turn America into a third-world country where there is no middle class, only the working-poor and the upper class.

If you vote for Romney, here’s what you should expect:

For you people who like low-taxes and don’t want taxes: He will lower taxes, if you’re wealthy. He’ll extend tax cuts from the Bush Administration and extend them. Meanwhile you will pay more in income taxes and that increase in income taxes will head straight for funding more tax cuts, subsidies for corporations, and for the military, homeland security (security theater), and prison industrial complexes. Yeah, all that tax money will go straight to the people that are donating in Mitt Romney’s campaign.

For those unemployed and unemployable: He’ll promise you economic salvation from unemployment and joblessness with an increase of jobs. Instead with the tax-cuts he will implement, it will further enable corporation, I mean “job-creators” (or is it wealth-hoarders?) will do what all so called job creators do: Cut more jobs to get more profits, and when they feel like they’ll add more jobs. But these jobs will be either part-time work or short-term contract work, not full-time long term employment.

For those who care about education: He’ll finish the phase out of public schooling via the No (Rich) Child Behind Act. He’ll practically defund already struggling schools of federal aid with vouchers towards charter schools or private school, which may charge about the set amount of the vouchers or worse nickel and dime you for extra stuff necessary for school. College students: He’ll cut student aid including the Pell Grants, and will make college unaffordable unless you’re willing to take loans.

He’ll promise to reduce big government, but he’s going to cut big government in all the wrong places. Instead of cutting fat, he’ll cut big government in places already lean (or muscular). He’ll make the classic and modern arts only reachable for the wealthy and poor. He’ll privatize what’s left of United States Postal Service, open public broadcasting to commercial pressures and allow it to be no different than the reality TV filled cable channels it’s supposed to be different from. He’ll take down every regulation which you take for granted: Environment, food, health and safety, trading standards, everything necessary regulation that protects everyone, except corporate profits.

As for Obamacare, and those who need it the most: He’ll appeal it and replace it with absolutely nothing. He’ll rather have the states do something about health care, which we all know with the Health Insurance lobbies have bought our state representatives, will do little about it. Medicaid? Yeah he’ll cut funds for it too. He’ll also cut funds for disability services, mental health services, which already strain already understaffed services.

For those of you who need food stamps, unemployment benefits, and welfare? He’ll cut what’s little remaining of the social safety net, and will make it difficult to get them even if you need it. Most likely if elected, he’ll order the relevant Departments to make the sure that if you have any asset that makes you middle class (like a television, computer, refrigerator), even if you bought it used, owned it for a long time, or scrimped and saved it you won’t get the help you need.

Finally, your precious Social Security: He’s going to have the balls to privatize it into the stock market, which we all know how that went when Argentina under the fascist military junta implement it.

Females: Romney expects you to have a baby, even if you are raped, a victim of incest, or dying. Apparently, like most Republicans: Fetuses are more important than the actual child. Oh, he’ll try to repeal any recent laws about bringing fair pay to females in the country.

Immigrants, especially children who are brought to America with their parents: Romney will try to deport you, even if you are culturally naturalized and pay taxes to keep the economy from getting worse. You will be deported to a country your children can’t speak the language of, and if your children just graduated from high school; well they’re practically sentenced to a life time of poverty and illiteracy.

Oh, as for Wall Street reforms that are needed: Romney will just trust them not to do it again, when in reality the banks will repeat the same mistakes again with the intent of making a profit knowing that the US Government will socialize the losses. No real reforms to the financial sector and any reforms will be Band-Aids which do mostly nothing.

Romney as expected as a corporate raider wants to solve American problems with experience as a venture capitalist. To put in simpler terms, he’s bringing Austerity to America, but he’s not saying the actual word. He’s bringing the already failed Austerity measures from the UK, Spain, and most of all Greece to America, with all the human costs with it.

The real question you should be asking is where these cuts actually do? Let me tell you, these are not actually cuts: I call it reprioritizing the budget. And he’s going to reprioritizing it towards his corporate buddies. Which means your tax money will be used to pay for the tax cuts, more corporate subsidies, and for the enlarging the already big prison, homeland security (security theater), and military-industrial complex. So yeah, he really doesn’t like big government unless it benefits him and his corporate buddies.

If any Tea Partiers are reading this: You must know that Romney does not care about you, you are nothing to him but dollar signs. He will basically destroy or privatize everything that benefits the American public as a whole. The only people Romney cares in the long run are the wealthy, and he’s using you as sheep. As sheep Romney will fool you into the path to economic salvation, which in reality he’ll lead you to your suicide with the false gospel of Austerity. And when it’s promised time has come, it will be too late, and Romney and his buddies will be the ones truly benefiting, while you lose.

Romney is a corporate raider through not to mention a dishonest politician and a ungrateful person who has used public funds all his life and completely ignorant of the fact that every American person or business uses or benefits from things and services that are in part funded by the Government in some sort of way. He cares about large government, but only cares about the large government he’ll benefit after he destroys whatever is left from the economy.

Vote form Romney and effectively you’ll sign America’s economic and social suicide pact, which Mitt Romney will back out the instant he’s moves into the White House.

Don’t vote for Romney this election season. And vote out any Republican who has the same or similar platform as Romney. It might not solve the root causes of our problems, but it’s a start.