I have been observing the impact and results of the Tea Party Movement since its development by Fox News, the Kohn brothers, and other neo-conservatives who had lost their positions of power. In 2009, I watched, with curiosity, the passion of everyday families willing to push for a new agenda. I hoped that their public education would win out over the media manipulation of special interests from the most extreme within our country. Their policies of desperation and deficit spending denial could cause a recession within a year.
Tea Party activists believe they are moving into a world where they will have less than their parents. They want to do something drastic to change America's direction. They know major changes have to occur and that special interests must be curbed. They want to save America. And, they are right. Unfortunately their strategies, goals, and focus - if successful - will only lead to America's destruction or a return to a distant past we left. They have bought the snake oil salesman's elixir and have nothing but poison in a bottle.
The calls for major cuts in every area of the government's budget is welcome. Forcing governmental agencies to review where and how they spend tax dollars is necessary. Reviewing decades old regulations and updating those regulations, upgrading benefit calculations, and curtailing spending should be done. It should be done based on community priorities, updated information, changes in expectations, and national strategy. Simply demanding Cut, Cap And Balance doesn't provide incentives, change, or development of a concrete conversation for America. Nor does it allow America the flexibility to make creative and inventive solutions that it needs to remain in leadership in the future.
Cutting safety nets for Americans will increase volatility of economic cycles, create larger pools of poverty in America, increase mortality, devastate families barely managing to remain in the Middle Class. Simply capping the growth of some expenses won't make those expenses disappear, it will simply create a growing "haves and have not" class in America. And, forcing the government to balance the budget without being a party willing to raise income taxes on the most affluent in America reduces America to a third world country in a matter of decades.
Attacking social programs that support the most needy, being uncompromising at the expense of stability, the growing support for a more racist, less diverse agenda, and stronger "might is right" process abhors me.
I applaud the Tea Party focus on the checkbook. Yet, the attack on medicare and social security shows they would sell out their mother if the budget couldn't afford it. That is immoral. They also tend to forget investment is necessary in any budget or you kill your future. And, the attacks on unions is the ultimate exposure of the tea party. Unions were what assisted in the growth of the great middle class of America. The disgust by which Tea Party leaders have for unions, in and out of government, shows the true distaste for American workers, the middle class and 90% of Americans.
It is clear that the god of the Tea Party is Ann Rand. She may be the Anti-christ many in America have been awaiting. Ann Rand considers employees to be parasites! It is elitism to its darkest capitalistic conclusion. Eric Cantor is her current high priest. Do we want an America based on an ant structure? This belief should not be a part of the American make up. America honors the idea that all people are equal, no matter who they are. No matter their social status or status in business (whether employer or employee). If the Tea Party Agenda moves forward America will be longer be able to be called a society for and by the people when it's social policy becomes "everyone out for themselves". To worship "job creators" and despise workers is immoral. It is the reverse of Communism and the most extreme expression of Capitalism. It is a return to slavery.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Stop Calling Immigrants Illegal. Unless you want to be called Traitor to the American Dream.
Written March 27, 2011
Recently, a friend of the family wrote, “I am all for foreigners coming to this country, but they better do it legally. There have been many foreigners in the past who have had to pay a great price to become legal aliens. If we just left anybody in, that makes a mockery of how much the legals had to sacrifice to come here legally...”
For awhile, I was completely confused by the statement. Then I started to unravel it. Without realizing it, this friend of my family had exposed the very war currently being waged within America. While I won't address my concerns about calling any naturalized citizen a legal alien, instead of an American, there is a bigger issue.
When I was growing up, I watched movies with my parents that included “In the Army” which starred Ronald Reagan. It was a movie showcasing the diversity of America, the power of its communities, its inclusiveness in a dream. It showcased people who served in World War I, and their families serving in World War II. And, the diverse immigrants that were in the movie was dizzying for that time.
In a world where Ronald Reagan has replaced the Statue of Liberty as our most cherished of symbols, America is quickly returning to its glory days before the rise of the populist movement. We have embraced a strategy of lowering taxes on those making billions, while raising the real costs of living for those who are less fortunate. Rising gas prices and food prices continue to erode the bottom 100 million working in America today. Yet, many continue to believe in a failed 30 year strategy of lowering income taxes in hopes the economy will respond and the rich will save America.
Currently the top 400 richest families earned what the bottom 100 million families earned combined. In America, 400 should not equal 100 million. Not by any math. It is easy to understand. Everyone wants to keep what they earn and pay a fair share to maintain this great land. Yet, these two groups have targeted different areas to achieve a greater share for themselves. The 400 families have focused on tax policy and reducing to 35% the national income tax from a top 94% (to help pay for World War II), while the bottom 100 million are clamoring to defend our borders, and shut out those who enter our society at the bottom to keep what little they have.
The poem associated with the Statue of Liberty includes the phrase,
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Our policy of immigration led to the great growth of America. People moved here who yearned for freedom. Were there challenges? Yes. Were they discriminated against? Yes.
Yet today, we rebuff them, dehumanize them, and politicians use them as fodder for their political ends. The light of Liberty remains a beacon to all of those who live under the worst of conditions outside of this great country. But, many of those who come to our land are unaware how America has created hurdles to the land of the free.
How can those from other countries, lacking education, yet desiring a better life for their children, know that we can legally impoverish others, force them to access medical assistance via the most expensive sources, and deny them redress if they don’t have financial resources?
America opens its banquet of plenty for every major emergency, but we don’t want transplants. If your home is too dangerous to live in, stay there and fix it. In fact, we’ll send our military to help, even if we helped create the problem. We are the land that coined the phrase, “Give me liberty or give me death”. And, we mean it. If you don’t have liberty where you are, we are fine with the idea that you may be persecuted and die.
It is an unchristian thing we, as a country do. We are proud as Americans for being a beacon of hope, yet, for those who now come to us poor and speaking Spanish, we ask them to return home. I believe America is capable of so much more. Yet, instead, we are more worried about billionaires keeping 2% more off their wealth, rather than feeding the hungry, clothing the sick, comforting the weak, or addressing our infrastructure.
We must stop attacking those who come to America seeking hope, health and a new life. We should develop an immigration policy that includes a process for those who are undocumented that is not punitive or out of reach of those who are poor. The current policy is broken. It is simply a policy of “sorry, go home”.
America faces a shortage in the Social Security Trust Fund, Medicare is hemorrhaging, there are limited resources to address long term care issues for an aging population, and a shrinking workforce. While immigration cannot fix everything (changes in tax policy would be needed), addressing immigration with our South American neighbors could restore the beacon of hope.
America has abundant resources and enough initiative and strength to accommodate those who want to join in the dream. Those who think America is limited in our abilities or would deny them to those who want to join are simply Un-American.
Recently, a friend of the family wrote, “I am all for foreigners coming to this country, but they better do it legally. There have been many foreigners in the past who have had to pay a great price to become legal aliens. If we just left anybody in, that makes a mockery of how much the legals had to sacrifice to come here legally...”
For awhile, I was completely confused by the statement. Then I started to unravel it. Without realizing it, this friend of my family had exposed the very war currently being waged within America. While I won't address my concerns about calling any naturalized citizen a legal alien, instead of an American, there is a bigger issue.
When I was growing up, I watched movies with my parents that included “In the Army” which starred Ronald Reagan. It was a movie showcasing the diversity of America, the power of its communities, its inclusiveness in a dream. It showcased people who served in World War I, and their families serving in World War II. And, the diverse immigrants that were in the movie was dizzying for that time.
In a world where Ronald Reagan has replaced the Statue of Liberty as our most cherished of symbols, America is quickly returning to its glory days before the rise of the populist movement. We have embraced a strategy of lowering taxes on those making billions, while raising the real costs of living for those who are less fortunate. Rising gas prices and food prices continue to erode the bottom 100 million working in America today. Yet, many continue to believe in a failed 30 year strategy of lowering income taxes in hopes the economy will respond and the rich will save America.
Currently the top 400 richest families earned what the bottom 100 million families earned combined. In America, 400 should not equal 100 million. Not by any math. It is easy to understand. Everyone wants to keep what they earn and pay a fair share to maintain this great land. Yet, these two groups have targeted different areas to achieve a greater share for themselves. The 400 families have focused on tax policy and reducing to 35% the national income tax from a top 94% (to help pay for World War II), while the bottom 100 million are clamoring to defend our borders, and shut out those who enter our society at the bottom to keep what little they have.
The poem associated with the Statue of Liberty includes the phrase,
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Our policy of immigration led to the great growth of America. People moved here who yearned for freedom. Were there challenges? Yes. Were they discriminated against? Yes.
Yet today, we rebuff them, dehumanize them, and politicians use them as fodder for their political ends. The light of Liberty remains a beacon to all of those who live under the worst of conditions outside of this great country. But, many of those who come to our land are unaware how America has created hurdles to the land of the free.
How can those from other countries, lacking education, yet desiring a better life for their children, know that we can legally impoverish others, force them to access medical assistance via the most expensive sources, and deny them redress if they don’t have financial resources?
America opens its banquet of plenty for every major emergency, but we don’t want transplants. If your home is too dangerous to live in, stay there and fix it. In fact, we’ll send our military to help, even if we helped create the problem. We are the land that coined the phrase, “Give me liberty or give me death”. And, we mean it. If you don’t have liberty where you are, we are fine with the idea that you may be persecuted and die.
It is an unchristian thing we, as a country do. We are proud as Americans for being a beacon of hope, yet, for those who now come to us poor and speaking Spanish, we ask them to return home. I believe America is capable of so much more. Yet, instead, we are more worried about billionaires keeping 2% more off their wealth, rather than feeding the hungry, clothing the sick, comforting the weak, or addressing our infrastructure.
We must stop attacking those who come to America seeking hope, health and a new life. We should develop an immigration policy that includes a process for those who are undocumented that is not punitive or out of reach of those who are poor. The current policy is broken. It is simply a policy of “sorry, go home”.
America faces a shortage in the Social Security Trust Fund, Medicare is hemorrhaging, there are limited resources to address long term care issues for an aging population, and a shrinking workforce. While immigration cannot fix everything (changes in tax policy would be needed), addressing immigration with our South American neighbors could restore the beacon of hope.
America has abundant resources and enough initiative and strength to accommodate those who want to join in the dream. Those who think America is limited in our abilities or would deny them to those who want to join are simply Un-American.
I am a proud compromiser.
I am a proud compromiser.
I allow people to pull ahead of me in traffic. I may flip them off because they cut me off, but I don't drive headlong into their rear bumper.
I allow women to go ahead of me, as I open a door. Not because they need to go before me, but because my dad would come back from the dead and give me a severe spanking if I didn't.
I often don't get my way. I don't get the first parking spot, I don't get to attend the concert of my dreams and sit in the front row, I don't get to go on a cruise every year. But, I don't attack those who focus on those benefits as necessary for their lives to be complete. I don't reject the idea that concert halls, sports arenas, and schools need to be built even when I can't afford the events and won't every have children that attend them.
If I wasn't a compromiser, I would vote down every school bond issue, saying I don't get a benefit, and that my taxes shouldn't go to where I don't get a direct benefit. Families should pay for their children, and not get a tax break for them. If they are stupid enough to have four children, let them be charged a surtax for any about two. But, I don't go around attacking school budgets. In fact, I would prefer that my share of school taxes go to music programs. But, unfortunately few music programs have survived.
I am comfortable paying into social security, knowing others who haven't been as successful have safety nets for themselves. I think everyone should have to save for their retirement, but I understand that people sometimes have life events that destroy their hopes and dreams. I would require that companies be forced to contribute 6% of all salaries, and that employees were forced to contribute 8% into a retirement plan. And, rather than simply wish them dead, I am proud I belong to a country that will help those who need assistance throughout their lifetimes. I am proud that social security provides living assistance to women who are old, who weren't given chances to compete with men only 20 years ago, and that social security - while discriminating against those women based on their incomes, or their dead husbands, still provides something.
I felt the implementation of Medicare Part D was a terrible idea, with many problems, which have been supported by the data. Yet, I still provided education about it to my clients. And helped 90 year olds understand they had to use the internet. And, I did it for free.
I felt that Medicare Part D should be improved by allowing Medicare to negotiate for all drugs, not just at the insurance company level, which would provide a better benefit to seniors. But I am glad that seniors now have an updated Medicare solution, though the costs could be reduced. I would compromise by creating more efficient solutions that benefit all Americans, not just those who are related to the Pharmaceutical companies.
I don't always agree with the majority (in fact rarely - because stupidity normally wins in a democracy), but I work toward a community of shared values, giving freely of my time. I opposed both wars, even to the point when others called me a traitor, and experienced suspicion for my beliefs. I was placed on the terrorist watch list for over four years by the Bush Administration. Yet, everyone who knows me knows that I would never be violent.
I opposed the creation of Homeland Security because I felt it was the seedling of a new introverted America that does no good in the globalization efforts that are in the best interests of America. I feel that it creates a suspicious environment where every American is suspect who doesn't goose step to the majority party in power. And, it was the most costly increase in government spending in 30 years. Yet, I continue to participate in America. Will we start consolidating all those Homeland security departments for savings?
I oppose demonizing of latinos, mexicans, and other darker skinned people from south of the American border who want to participate in the greatest country on the earth. I refuse to call them "illegals" as I know that is a term intended to make them feel little more than slaves in our country. I oppose ignoring their plight, refusing them charity, hope, or help.
I want my taxes to go toward fixing our immigration policies so that everyone can benefit from an amazing America of diversity. I want my taxes to address social ills. I want hate mongers to go to jail, yet I want those who aren't hurting people to receive treatment not isolation, education not prison.
I want a social safety net for those who need it. I want America to stop going to war every single time that a politician wants to go to war. I want our military out of Afghanistan and Iraq, Korea and Germany, as well as Japan. And, I want a draft reinstated.
I want a Federal Investment into the cure for AIDS and Cancer, not just a profit focused response from multi-national Companies, because I don't believe there is an incentive for cures, when companies can provide pills to simply maintain or keep the disease at bay.
I want a tax policy that actually creates jobs. In the 50s and 60s, tax policy encouraged owners to create jobs. With the reduction of taxation on income, reduction in dividends, reductions in capital gains, the encouragement to create jobs has been reduced 70%. Tax reduction doesn't create jobs. Economic history proves that. Drastic tax reduction increases wealth disparity which in turn causes social class warfare. A strong middle class creates a stronger peace, less volatility in markets, and a more certain future. Since the 1980's, America has damaged the relationship between owner and worker, eliminated 90% of all pensions, left most retirement up to the individual at the expense of the community, transferred extraordinary wealth to the top 10%, and created a struggling poverty class that our country hasn't seen since the 1890s. If Social Security and Medicare are extensively destroyed, America will effectively return its population into similar demographics as we had in the 1890s which were abhorred by those at the turn of the 20th century.
So, I still pay taxes, I don't threaten America's future by destroying its present. I work for solutions even though people get elected who couldn't pass a basic economics class. I still believe in America even when corporations are allowed to own media centers and call it journalism. I still believe in America, even when it doesn't recognize that it discriminates against me, denies me basic rights, and often threatens my ability to make an income.
So, yes, I am a proud to compromise. I believe even stupid people should be allowed to live in America. I accept that even churches that preach that I should be killed can exist in America.
Because I believe that as an American, we can live together in peace. I pay my taxes, even though taxes are spent in ways I would oppose. I simply want everyone to pay 20%, no matter their write offs. My mom shouldn't pay 23%, and the super wealthy only 18, as it stands now.
But, I would be willing to compromise.
I allow people to pull ahead of me in traffic. I may flip them off because they cut me off, but I don't drive headlong into their rear bumper.
I allow women to go ahead of me, as I open a door. Not because they need to go before me, but because my dad would come back from the dead and give me a severe spanking if I didn't.
I often don't get my way. I don't get the first parking spot, I don't get to attend the concert of my dreams and sit in the front row, I don't get to go on a cruise every year. But, I don't attack those who focus on those benefits as necessary for their lives to be complete. I don't reject the idea that concert halls, sports arenas, and schools need to be built even when I can't afford the events and won't every have children that attend them.
If I wasn't a compromiser, I would vote down every school bond issue, saying I don't get a benefit, and that my taxes shouldn't go to where I don't get a direct benefit. Families should pay for their children, and not get a tax break for them. If they are stupid enough to have four children, let them be charged a surtax for any about two. But, I don't go around attacking school budgets. In fact, I would prefer that my share of school taxes go to music programs. But, unfortunately few music programs have survived.
I am comfortable paying into social security, knowing others who haven't been as successful have safety nets for themselves. I think everyone should have to save for their retirement, but I understand that people sometimes have life events that destroy their hopes and dreams. I would require that companies be forced to contribute 6% of all salaries, and that employees were forced to contribute 8% into a retirement plan. And, rather than simply wish them dead, I am proud I belong to a country that will help those who need assistance throughout their lifetimes. I am proud that social security provides living assistance to women who are old, who weren't given chances to compete with men only 20 years ago, and that social security - while discriminating against those women based on their incomes, or their dead husbands, still provides something.
I felt the implementation of Medicare Part D was a terrible idea, with many problems, which have been supported by the data. Yet, I still provided education about it to my clients. And helped 90 year olds understand they had to use the internet. And, I did it for free.
I felt that Medicare Part D should be improved by allowing Medicare to negotiate for all drugs, not just at the insurance company level, which would provide a better benefit to seniors. But I am glad that seniors now have an updated Medicare solution, though the costs could be reduced. I would compromise by creating more efficient solutions that benefit all Americans, not just those who are related to the Pharmaceutical companies.
I don't always agree with the majority (in fact rarely - because stupidity normally wins in a democracy), but I work toward a community of shared values, giving freely of my time. I opposed both wars, even to the point when others called me a traitor, and experienced suspicion for my beliefs. I was placed on the terrorist watch list for over four years by the Bush Administration. Yet, everyone who knows me knows that I would never be violent.
I opposed the creation of Homeland Security because I felt it was the seedling of a new introverted America that does no good in the globalization efforts that are in the best interests of America. I feel that it creates a suspicious environment where every American is suspect who doesn't goose step to the majority party in power. And, it was the most costly increase in government spending in 30 years. Yet, I continue to participate in America. Will we start consolidating all those Homeland security departments for savings?
I oppose demonizing of latinos, mexicans, and other darker skinned people from south of the American border who want to participate in the greatest country on the earth. I refuse to call them "illegals" as I know that is a term intended to make them feel little more than slaves in our country. I oppose ignoring their plight, refusing them charity, hope, or help.
I want my taxes to go toward fixing our immigration policies so that everyone can benefit from an amazing America of diversity. I want my taxes to address social ills. I want hate mongers to go to jail, yet I want those who aren't hurting people to receive treatment not isolation, education not prison.
I want a social safety net for those who need it. I want America to stop going to war every single time that a politician wants to go to war. I want our military out of Afghanistan and Iraq, Korea and Germany, as well as Japan. And, I want a draft reinstated.
I want a Federal Investment into the cure for AIDS and Cancer, not just a profit focused response from multi-national Companies, because I don't believe there is an incentive for cures, when companies can provide pills to simply maintain or keep the disease at bay.
I want a tax policy that actually creates jobs. In the 50s and 60s, tax policy encouraged owners to create jobs. With the reduction of taxation on income, reduction in dividends, reductions in capital gains, the encouragement to create jobs has been reduced 70%. Tax reduction doesn't create jobs. Economic history proves that. Drastic tax reduction increases wealth disparity which in turn causes social class warfare. A strong middle class creates a stronger peace, less volatility in markets, and a more certain future. Since the 1980's, America has damaged the relationship between owner and worker, eliminated 90% of all pensions, left most retirement up to the individual at the expense of the community, transferred extraordinary wealth to the top 10%, and created a struggling poverty class that our country hasn't seen since the 1890s. If Social Security and Medicare are extensively destroyed, America will effectively return its population into similar demographics as we had in the 1890s which were abhorred by those at the turn of the 20th century.
So, I still pay taxes, I don't threaten America's future by destroying its present. I work for solutions even though people get elected who couldn't pass a basic economics class. I still believe in America even when corporations are allowed to own media centers and call it journalism. I still believe in America, even when it doesn't recognize that it discriminates against me, denies me basic rights, and often threatens my ability to make an income.
So, yes, I am a proud to compromise. I believe even stupid people should be allowed to live in America. I accept that even churches that preach that I should be killed can exist in America.
Because I believe that as an American, we can live together in peace. I pay my taxes, even though taxes are spent in ways I would oppose. I simply want everyone to pay 20%, no matter their write offs. My mom shouldn't pay 23%, and the super wealthy only 18, as it stands now.
But, I would be willing to compromise.
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