Toward a Democratic Socialist Party

Bill Maher said that the Democratic party is the new Republican party. What did he mean by that? I think he meant that the Democratic party was the only viable party in America but it wasn't the liberal democratic party that was once the pride and joy and hope of the world. Maher favors the legalization of Marijuana for example. Obama has said he does not favor legalizing drugs. So, what it seems we need if America is to progress, is one party that progresses slowly and one that would push America a little faster down the progressive path. One thing this party could stand for is the legalization of all drugs with government oversight and government taxes. We tax ciggaretts and alchohol don't we? Many of the 1st world countries have dealt with drug problems much better than we have. We have a drug war in Mexico funded by the American people for gods sake. The psychology of the drug problem is the same as with the alcohol problem. If we had a decent diet and we treated each other well, and we didn't have so much stress, we probably would not have much of a drug or alcohol problem. Another thing the Democratic Socialist party could push is a mostly vegetarian diet. There is enough research (like the research on smoking) to show this is the best diet for humans. Futurists are predicting that we will all be vegetarians (or nearly so) in the future. If we just look at the diets for the major "societies" i. e. the cancer society, you can see where the American diet is going. When we get sick it seems we turn to near vegitarianism for help. So what would happen if we turn to it as preventative medicine. If a vegetarian diet can help after you are sick then there must be little in it that will make you sick, unlike the high fat American diet. How do we legislate vegitarianism? We write legislation to support organic farmers (we will support the small farmer not allow farming to become a big corporation, more on this later). We decrease support for the milk and dairy industries. We reduce government support for the meat industries excluding fish. If we are going to have some meat in our diet then fish is our best choice, mostly because it is the furthest animal away from us in evolution. We will also use our monies to teach how to cook and eat vegetarian. We will also use media (like we did for smoking) to show the benefits of an organic vegitarian lifestyle. There are more issues the DSP should stand for and I hope to discuss them all before I am through. I'd like to end this blog with a little psychological advice. Instead of spending so much time destroying the Republican party (which is imploding), why not spend more time talking about the issues that a new party, a DSP could support? Maybe we could even have a candidate by 2020. There is much work to do. Let the discussion begin.

Two arguments for a socialized health care system

First, we already have a socialized educational system. There are public schools financed by the government and there are private schools that are non-profit or for profit organizations. It does not seem as though the quality of our private school system has suffered because of the existence of our public school (socialized) system. There are many outstanding Universities in the private university system, Stanford, USC, Michigan, to name a few. There are outstanding high schools and outstanding private schools (like the one the Obama children attend). The reason for the public schools system is to provide access to education for every American, child or adult. Some say that our university system and community college system are the best in the world. The competition between the private sector and public sector seem to produce a good product not a lessor product. So now, what do we say is more important, education or health? Do we say to our children, "Well, I know your sick, you are vomiting and you have a fever of 105 (f) but you know your education is more important that your health so I am sending you to school anyway?" Of course we don't. We take them to the doctor. We wait until they are healthy again and then we send them back to school. Health is more important than education. It is more important than making money. In fact, a society based on the health of every individual would be the best kind of society. Our society today is structured around its individual members being sick. Our fatty food diet is designed to make us sick and to keep us sick. It is designed to keep doctors and nurses and other heath care givers in high demand and at high salaries. It is designed to keep the medicine companies in the high profit categories. If you want to reverse this basis for America you will have to fight for it. Money is not easily given up in America. So, to go back to my analogy with the educational system. If we can make education accesible to everyone by a socialized process then why wouldn't we make health (which we know is more important to a society and individual than is education) accessible to every American? Reason would say we must. Polititcs says we should not or maybe. Will reason prevail? Have we arrived at the age of reason or is this the age of politics. Reason should drive our politics but it does not. Emotion drives our politics but it doesn't need to. Emotion is not necessary to politics it is adhoc to politics. When you have done the right thing, acted correctly, you feel good (like when medicare passed or when the civil rights bill passed). I don't see how any Republican or Democrat can feel good about not supporting a government funded (taxpayer funded) accessible health care system. Another argument I must deal with is the argument it is possible for the private sector to provide accessible (public) health care for everyone. Well if they could why haven't they done it yet? And if they haven't done it how can we trust that they will do it? The capitalistic basis for the health care system described above is profit. How will the profit motive all of a sudden change to a altruistic motive?

Second, Obama was too good of a salesman when he was running for President. He told us of a health care insurance that was paid for by the taxpayer. It is a government health insurance that pays to the health care of government employees (yes even the congressmen and congresswomen who oppose socialized health care!). Obama asked: Now why can't you taxpayers who pay for this insurance not be able to subscribe to it just like Joe and I do? Why indeed. We already pay for health insurance with our taxes so why shouldn't we be able to enjoy what we pay for? Fair enough. Why didn't someone tell us about this earlier? It all seem great. We elect Obama as president, we elect enough Democrats to support his efforts to get us this health insurance we already pay for. Good. Done. Well, not quite. We forgot that politicians can be bought, like any commodity (they should trade them on the stock exchange). So now the insurance companies own enough Congressmen and Congresswomen so that there is not enough votes for us to get the health insurance we already pay for. Now what do we do? We do what ever we need to do. We are fighting for our health and the health care for future generations. How important is that to you? One other argument that the opponents to heath care are using is the cost. We can spend billions on war and billions on the economy but we can't spend billions on our own heath? What lunacy is this? People are hocking their homes and life savings for health treatment and the government is worried about going into debt? We have been in debt before and we have always paid our debts. I don't think future generations will mind pay a debt for health care for war yes, they will curse Bush for many years to come. People are losing their lives because they have no insurance to pay for health care and the government is worried about money, money they have or can borrow? Is there any parent out there who would not beg borrow or steal to get there kids the health care they need? If there is anything worth getting into debt for it is heath care. As I said in the beginning it is the most important thing we have, our most prized possession. Don't you agree? Besides, Obama has explained that the very rich will pay for most of the health care for the poor. Justice. The poor and their labor is what make the rich so rich.

The Two Wars of Obama

Obama is fighting two wars. Both are religious wars financed and encouraged by the world corporations. In Afghanistan he is fighting the Taliban, a radical Islamic group. In the U. S. Obama is fighting the Radical Christian right. Both groups are supported financially by the corporations. The rich corporations prey on the uneducated and hopeless populations who are easily manipulated by high tech brain washing. Who else would believe that, if he is a suicide bomber, there will be 20 virgins waiting to be deflowered by him when he gets to heaven? Who else would believe that Obama is Hitler-like and instituting a Nazi regime? The deperate, the hopeless, the poor, and the rich who will outright lie to keep their riches. If anybody looks like a Nazi regime it is the Republicans. They govern by fear, like the Nazis did. There goal (through the corporations they work for) is world domination through war and terror, just like the German Nazis. The are all very German looking (except for a manipulative few), white males. If I didn't know better I would think that all the German officers escaped to America and joined the Republican party and worked within it until they had control. Remember when religion wasn't part of politics? Ministers were concerned with the daily problems of the church members not of the politics of Washington. I'll bet there were clergy that helped some of there parishioners to get an abortion (I'll bet there still are). Then somehow the churches (especially of the south) were politicized and there began the political polarity we now see manifested. Back in the day the Kennedy's (John, and Bobby) were concerned by the disparity of the educated and the uneducated in America. It seemed the educated were for progress and change and the uneducated being fearful of loosing what they had, opposed it. The veteranos who came back from WWII got educated through the GI Bill and became progressive and actively sot change. Since many of the GI's were minorities many became interested in the rights of minorities in America. The uneducated sot to oppose any change, fearing the loss of life they knew. Gov. Wallace and the South opposed integration. The Federal Government forced integration. The benefits of that act are self evident. The government should force socialized health care on America. The benefits will again become self evident.

Energy policy

I tried to put solar panels on the roof of my home, but I couldn't afford it. It would have taken me 50years to recoup my investment but I still couldn't get the credit for the project. And, I found out that the utility companies are not buying the extra electricity like they were at first but now you have to use any credit you accumulate by the end of the year or it goes to the utility company. It doesn't seem enough just to free us up from foreign oil we have to become self sufficient. We have to become free of foreign energy and free from the energy of the utility companies. Everyone is lining up to sell America energy, foreign companies are leasing great parcels of land to develop sun energy. T Bone, Pickens is buying large parcels of land to run wind energy to sell you. And the utility companies are preventing any kind of legislation that will move us toward an alternative energy system. I propose that our party adopt a policy of individual self sustaining energy. By this I mean that I think that if the federal government would subsidize the placing of solar panels on every home in America our energy problems would be solved. By "subsidize" I mean pay for. Here's the deal. The governemt would, in a sense, lease the roof tops of all American homes. They would pay for the installation, and maintenance of solar panels on everyone's home. Each American would get solar energy for free for allowing the government to use their roofs. However, the government would then be allowed any excess electricity. The electricity would then go to a main station where it would be distributed around the country according to priority and need. Oops there goes the nuclear power plants. Oops there goes the coal burning industries. We then develop a car that runs on electricity, who's batteries are charged by... solar panels. No need for oil. Pollution is down to almost zero (we still have the cows to deal with, but if we go vegitarian, drinking no milk...). This solution is good because there is no buying of energy. Through our industry we have made our own, and through our government we can intelligently distribute it for our needs. This can be applied nationally as well as globally. Even though there may be special problems for those that live in areas with little sun. We may have to learn

Publish Post

how to transfer energy from the places with mucho sun. Star Trek, here we come.