Hi all!
One of the problems with following politics is that you cannot avoid the concrete foundation of the two-party mentality. We read about it all day: bipartisanship; Republican/right/conservative vs. Democrat/left/liberal.
blah, blah, blah.
The age old debate of left vs. right has finally reached a point where it is recognizable as completely bogus. Really! So called conservatives, who are supposed to be in favor of saving money, are fighting against the public option for health care, which would dramatically reduce the cost of services to the public. These same conservatives, which are supposed to be in favor of govt. not intervening in the private lives of citizens, are the same who clamor for govt. to ban abortions.
Contradictions such as this are on both sides of the aisle. Liberals have completely shelved the single payer system, which would benefit the most citizens. They have caved on true credit card reform by omitting restrictions on usurious interest rates which would help the public survive in this recession. They have caved on mortgage reform by omitting the “cramdown” provision which has resulted in more people forced from their homes. And the administration has demonstrated a habit of catering to big business in its first 8 months without much explanation.
All the while, the extremists on each side are touting their usual rhetoric; forcing the split ever wider, between right and left. The conservative fear mongers, the liberal Bush blamers, all have plenty of fingers pointing across the line drawn so deeply in the sand.
The problem with all of this, is that it is completely bogus. It is a sham. The concept of left and right is an illusion to keep us from focusing on the REAL bipartisan split, that of RIGHT VS. WRONG.
Have you ever made a comment about the honesty of young children? “From the mouths of babes” -type epiphanies; where only the pure heart of an innocent lil’ kid can hit you with a cold, hard truth, and all you can do is laugh?
Kids in general, learn right and wrong fairly quickly. It is developed as they learn from their parents/guardians, the concept of the word “no”. As they develop their individuality, and their concept of self, they are able to understand what a “wrong” touch is. So when someone tries to touch them the “wrong” way, kids usually know it, and react to avoid it. Maybe you don’t have kids, but you have a pet. Have you ever come home to see your dog acting as if they’ve done something wrong? Even pets know right vs. wrong. How is it that kids, and even pets, understand right and wrong, yet as adults, we lose sight, our ethics become compromised, we lose compassion for our fellow man; we lose faith. Our moral compass spins wildly.
If we stop, step back, and think in a “big picture” perspective, right vs. wrong is usually pretty obvious. We don’t need to look to the Constitution or a Bible to know what basic human rights are, or that every human is entitled to them.
So why IS this division between left and right so prevalent?
That’s really quite simple; and most of us, when we step back and think in that “big picture” perspective, acknowledge that the concept is created specifically to divide the public. Those in power, the elite capitalists that pursue power and profit above all else, use this divisive tactic to keep the working class fighting amongst ourselves. We remain distracted while they rob us blind. They restructure our laws, they amass the wealth generated by the labor of the public, and they keep us very busy pointing fingers at each other. It’s a great plan, and so far it is working very well for them.
THIS MUST STOP NOW.
We the People, in this 21st century America, must finally open our collective eyes and recognize we are being played by the elite. There are two sides, but they are not left and right. They are the people willing to play fair, and the people who seek power and dominance by any means necessary.
Many people cry about those wanting a “free ride”. They are out there, but they are a small portion. Most people want to earn their living. They want a job where they will be recognized for their performance and appropriately rewarded. I believe this is a commonality among most Americans, regardless of ideological views.
In fact, I’m sure there are more things that prove we are on the “same team”, than on different ones. I’ve attached a video which I’d like you to watch, which will test this theory. Please watch the video, and if you agree with the viewpoint expressed, simply reply with an affirmative response. If you do not, please specify which part of the video you disagree with. I am genuinely interested in your feedback on this.
The video is short and to the point. It makes a number of assertions. But I believe that everyone who stops, steps back and views this with “big picture” perspective, will reply that they agree with the video.
watch: The Philosophy of Liberty
The sooner we as Americans realize that we are on the same team, seeking the same goals of LIFE, LIBERTY, AND A LITTLE HAPPINESS, the sooner we can identify the true obstacles and overcome them. We the people must save our own nation from those who would oppress us for their own gain. Now is the time for our generation’s revolution. The line has been drawn. We must cross it, together, as one nation, indivisible.
Great post! I wanted to thank you for turning me on to this site!
Cheers!
Lulu
In other countries around the world the difference in the various parties are obvious. The Tories in the the U.K. are all about keeping their rich friends rich and screwing up the economy, they don’t have a clue. In some countries there is always some nutter who runs on the fears of some for anti-immigration.
In America you have a leading party promoting racism, my European friends and I are totally appalled about what is allowed to be aired and published under the vague heading of “freedom of speech.”
The uproar about your President giving a speech about staying in school is a perfect example of dumb, racist parents teaching their children to disrespect your President, is the rest of America willing to take this lying down?
Unless brainwashed or possessing the brain power of a gnat, I think that choosing sides for you, is as simple as ABC.
“Freedom of Speech” is a blessing and a curse in this country.
I’m even starting to get numb to the right wing talk machine.
I guess the day a president cannot tell students they should stay in school and study hard at the beginning of the school year is the day we are no longer a country with citizens but a country of 300,000,000+ individual voices where nothing is intelligible.
If he had been white they would be praising him from the roof tops, screaming how wonderful he is and how much he cares about the American people.
Every time that one of these hypocrites invokes the name of God, I want to scream at them and tell them that they have no right to call themselves Christians.
Jesus would never condone their words or their behaviour of that I’m sure.
In all fairness, Clinton was treated just as badly by the right wing. Mr. Obama’s ethnicity just adds another wrinkle to the fabric, but it wouldn’t have mattered who won the presidency. If a democrat wins, you can expect this kind of hostile hysteria to be drummed up by the right wing. Because it’s all they have. Their policies are not people friendly, and so the only way for them to win votes and gain power is to demonize their opponents.
Too many Americans are vulnerable to this kind of hate mongering. Because they are afraid and angry and have so little.
I agree nellie, the majority of thinking Americans have had to put up with a lot during the Bush years but isn’t that a good enough reason to trust in the things the President wants for your country even though every step of the way he is blocked by the opposition purely because they are against him and don’t give a damn about the American people and what they so desperately want?
It’s like cutting off your nose to spite your face in my opinion.
Let’s say that you experienced a very unhappy or traumatic marriage, does that mean that you give up on finding someone who could make you happy, never want to try again or get married again?
I disagree, it’s time to stop letting the past drag down the future, we only have one life, let the baggage go and start fighting for the things that will make a difference in your lives.
The marriage analogy is a really good one. I used to say that under Bush we were suffering from Abused Citizen Syndrome.
Abused spouses don’t stop looking for the right person — but they do have trust issues when they find one. I think the progressives are having major trust issues right now. And dealing with residual anger, which is getting thrown at Mr. Obama.
It’s a sad situation. I wish a liberal president could get a little support. But they’re always attacked from the right and from the left. And people wonder why things don’t change….
It is very sad nellie, I cringe when I read the stuff spouted by the people who elected him. I would tell them that each day when they wake up, they should count their blessings and just pause for one moment to remember that it could have been McCain/Palin sitting in the WH.
The real division is entrenched wealth — which expresses itself in corporatism and capitalistic greed — and the rest of us. When I look at most policy questions, they usually boil down to what’s best for the public vs what’s best for a handful of CEOs. Green cars vs. oil companies. Single payer health coverage vs. insurance. Information vs. big media. Peace vs. war.
A handful of people have a disproportionate influence on our political discourse. And ultimately, you’re absolutely right, it does boil down to right vs. wrong.
The REAL divisiveness is promulgated by the media.
In fact, people in our system of government are meant , by design, to be directed by the institutional bases of power. This includes not only government but also corporations that dictate the what-where-when-and how of our consumption. All societies and governments are top-down elitist -oriented but the crucial way our system differs from socialism, fascism or communism is that ours possesses a dynamic of multiple interacting and competing elite power bases. The media elite, is one which may arguably be the sine qua non of our form of democracy.
Republicans and Democrats are just two more bases of power.
Wow spot on analysis Q.
It smacks of a social Darwinist structure when you really think about it. Any system that does not take into account the cynical motivations of individuals and organizations is doomed to become corrupt. Since the evolution of any political or economic system will come down to elites eventually gaming the system.
Since the collapse of the fourth estate we are in a non-ending Cold Civil War.
To show my age it reminds me of an episode of Star Trek when this malevolent entity that fed off of hate and fear took over the Enterprise. Klingons were on board and they constantly fought with the crew. The entity only supplied the crew with swords and daggers so they would fight in hand-to-hand combat. The entity would even heal the fatal wounds on both sides so everyone could fight again. The only purpose of the fighting was to keep it going so the entity could feed. Ironically the episode was called “Day of the Dove”.
Ok you can call me a geek now.
The American media has always been a tool of the wealthy. Yellow journalism has been with us forever. We rail against the media, but in reality our complaints are nothing new.
What keeps this society going is the public continually struggling to make its voice heard and its priorities coded into our legal system. Civil rights was not brought about by the elites. It was forced on the system by the public.
You have a good point on the cave on the “cramdown” since that is what took most of the guts out of the Treasury’s anti-foreclosure plan.
But it’s a pet peeve of mine that some people think a low interest credit card is some kind of right. The ceiling of 14.9% was just too low for an unsecured debt. Hell people are payer higher car loans than that. I’m probably biased because I gave up credit cards almost 10 years ago now because they have always been bad fiscal practice.
Where to start. For one thing I think the two party system is the systematic problem in our democratic republic. We should have adopted a parliamentary system that actually opens up relevance for third parties. I find it particularly ironic that neocons love our form of democracy so much they they did not install it in Iraq. Instead they installed a parliamentary system.
I abhor absolutes and the right and wrong moral absolute you are trying to express just goes against my whole vision of the world whether it’s political or scientific. The world is nothing but infinite shades of gray. There are no absolutely good or bad people or good and bad things. I think Eastern cultures do a much better job understanding reality in this way than Western cultures that seem to hone in on absolutes.
Single payer is a good example. I don’t want to put words in your mouth but you seem to see single payer as an absolute right. Nothing can be further from the truth. The Netherlands has recently adopted a 100% private system yet their costs are about the same as counties with single payer systems like Canada, Germany and France. Their level of care is better than theirs like all the other systems too. The Dutch government just leveraged their regulatory authority to make each private insurer that wants to participate to provide minimal coverage requirements. The point is their is no absolute “right” system.
I have not viewed things in left and right for a while. In fact if you go too far to the right or left on a one way highway it still lands you in the ditch. I view politics and politicians as those who want to go forward and those how want to maintain the status quo or go backwards. Most Dems want to move forward and yes it’s frustrating that they don’t want to take bigger steps forward. But ALL Republicans want the status quo or to go backward.
i agree, there are definitely a lot of “greys”. greys require discussion, education, insight, until a consensus can be reached, and a majority can endorse one particular shade of grey. with greys, not everyone can be accomodated. this is true.
but there are plenty of things which are black and white. when only FACTS are used to explain these things; no spin, no myth, no absolute lies, the majority will reach the same conclusion of white vs. black. i thought my example was a good one: “bad touch”. we teach our kids what “bad touch” is, and there is NEVER a time when “bad touch” is good. this is a black and white concept.
this concept can be applied in economics, politics, etc. is there ever a time when it’s ok for a vendor to “put his thumb on the scale”? heck no. is there ever a time when a police officer should administer vigilante justice? heck no. this is what i was referring to. there are plenty of things that we should be able to agree on regardless of ideology. AND THAT WAS THE POINT OF THE VIDEO. EVERYTHING in that video should be accepted as righteous to all free human beings. i don’t want to enslave, or be enslaved, and no one has a right to enslave me, as i have no right to enslave anyone else. this is black and white.
i DO NOT believe a single payer system is an absolute right. i DO believe that in today’s modern society, the technology exists such that every human should have access to competent health care, and that no human should be afraid of not being able to obtain necessary health care, regardless of cost or one’s social status.
now, i do believe that a single payer system is one of the most efficient ways to provide this health care to all. is there a better way? possibly, and if so, then i want THAT ONE. i simply want whatever is most efficient and most effective for providing a society’s NEEDS, as well as it’s rights.
i’m disappointed none of the comments thus far have addressed the video. someone sent it to me, and i thought it was simple yet honest. much like that pure truth from an innocent child I referred to in my article.
i pose this question, in response to your denial of a right to a single payer system. do you have a right to eat?
I 100% agree with your thoughts on healthcare.
I also thing there is a right and wrong when choices are parsed down to smaller segments but when trying to solve complex problems there are many solutions.
I did not have a chance to watch the video until this evening. It
thx, KQ! i believe it was YOUR comments which brought me to participate in this site, so kudos right back at ya.
the last question i posed, “do we have a right to eat” is a question i ask to people that say we don’t have a right to healthcare because it’s not in the Constitution. It’s a good, blunt question that slices the onion right in half, so you can get to the core without arguing through the layers that debaters may use.
i believe we do have a right to eat. i don’t believe that any individual or entity can hoard every single source of food and deny your existence. same with air, or water; as a human on this earth, you have as much right to the resources as anyone else. i also believe the Constitution includes this under the category of “life”. if you can’t eat, you certainly can’t live.
you also cannot live without medical care. i believe the prime reason we don’t target hospitals or anything with a large red “plus sign” on it, during war time. it may be a geneva convention mandate on paper, but in practice it is a basic human moray to not target the injured or ill.
but for-profit health insurance has mutilated this once common sensibility. not only do they prey on the ill, they do whatever they can to isolate and abandon the ill. and they have somehow brainwashed a portion of the nation to believe that it’s ok because the profit margin justifies it. this is wrong.
medical care, like the opportunity to eat, is a human right, just as is freedom of choice. in the 21st century, we have the technology to create and maintain a global community that provides this. it simply is a matter of removing GREED from the equation. less ME think; more WE think.
some people will still provide a hungry man food. some will not, with the belief that they’re not giving someone “a free ride”. same with health care. this is why a republic creates a govt., so that the majority can ensure the right thing is done: feed the starving, treat the ill.
there are certain basic needs to maintain our right to life. food, shelter, healthcare. these things are human rights, and a modern society should use its govt to implement the most efficient system to provide these basic needs to everyone, at the least cost to everyone.