"That guy scares me to death"
Change we can be afraid of?
Now, this is not a particularly political blog. Of course, I do like to curse about UFOs, Free Energy devices, conspiracy theorists, and various and other sundry topics but politics I try to avoid. I just really don't like to get involved in politics above and beyond simply voting from time to time.
Others far more qualified than myself discuss politics and I generally like to leave it at that. I only wanted to make a brief post this evening to see if anyone else has heard the above quote in recent days (or some variation thereof). Maybe it is propaganda films like this? In what kind of world do we live in where someone who is able to communicate well and energize the electorate is supposed to be a *bad* thing?
In the past few days myself, my wife, and a friend of mine all experienced people responding to the topic of Obama's candidacy with some form of a comment about just how much 'that guy scares them'.
In fact, it has come up so often in conversation I wonder if it is some kind of a talking point on Fox news or some other media outlet that I don't normally tune into?
I suppose a fair question might arise as to whether or not this is some sort of racist code? You know, lots of affluent middle class people do, in fact, find those black people pretty scary; what with their rap music, basketball, and all that. Is that what they are getting at?
Or, is it simply policy? Are they afraid of their taxes being raised or afraid of Obama's socialist agenda?
To be frank, I am simply boggled in my poor little mind as to why our electorate is so polarized at a time when the public, in general, is so unanimously unhappy with the state of current affairs.
I know it is more than just the economy stupid. Is is just me, or am I the only person 'worse off' financially today than they were eight years ago the last time we had a Democratic president? I guess it's just me.
Is it just me, or am I the only one who can barley keep his brain from exploding with the ontological shock of having a presidential candidate who, though he personally suffered horrific torture, will go against every principle he previously espoused and every single fiber of his supposed independent being and endorse torture by our country?
Ok, I need to give up now. My tiny little brain can no longer comprehend the complete inanity of this discourse. The reason I don't go into political debate isn't because I don't have an opinion, its because the level of dialouge is so coarse, so foul, and so mind bogglingly stupid that I feel compelled to get back into an argument with people who believe the Earth is flat and the moon landings were hoaxes simply so I can engage in something more closely approaching rational dialouge.
Yes, I'm afraid, but it is not because of the mocha chocolate color of a certain presidential candidate. It's because the level of intellectual discourse in this country has descended to a level so low that I can no longer bear to hear it any more.
Comments
God Bless McAmerica.
Rudy Giuliani
9/3/2008
Anyone want to start up a real novus ordo seclorum? Something like a Benevolent Order of the Skull and Bones. A virtualized, decentralized Galt's Gulch. I'm thinking that's how it'll have to happen, with isolated groups laboring behind the scenes in the beginning, coalescing over time into something with global scope. Yeah, that's how it'll happen. Wonder if I can get the Jews on board?
Well, a certain group of people I am sure are going quite well.
I think part of the problem (and I am going to try and draw party lines as this extends on both sides to some degree) is that there are two rules of though on the US economy... a balanced budget and strong dollar, and "lower taxes and fuck the dollar because I want some cheap votes".
Its very simple for people to measure how much of their income they actually get via taxes, but its really hard for the average tax payer to quantify how much a shit economy costs them. Its basically just a cheap scheme to get votes "lower taxes? yeah, I like lower taxes!"
As the US dollar falls in comparison to the world's currencies, the costs of imported goods goes up (which also raises domestic goods prices) which more or less means, your money is worth less. And while it takes time for some of these changes to have effect, I think you can more or less rough out how much it costs you by just looking at what the dollar is worth today vs 8 years ago.
I think the rapid growth in the 90's is a good example of what happens when you have a balanced budget and a strong economy. It becomes ALOT more viable for people to invest back into their own economy (instead of pulling out like they are doing now). The result is tons of new companies springing up, existing companies growing (both of which create new jobs), lots of innovation and more exports rather than more imports.
Also think back to the Clinton era... specially the second term. Once we were in a surplus taxes didn't really go up, as once the economy was stabilized life was good. It sometimes can be hard to do the right thing and de-fuck an economy that the previous president trashed, but once you are there, its quite worth it.
It's funny, most people that read what I wrote so far will think I am a liberal democrat or something... consider for a moment again what I was saying. Balanced budget and strong dollar. If that makes me a liberal... what does that make the other side?
Anyways, since I was obviously outed as some sort of liberal nutjob let me add something else to the mix... socialized healthcare. It's a good thing! It works and will SAVE YOU MONEY. Yet the GOP is fundamentally opposed to the government getting involved at all... and its for all the wrong reasons. Let me explain/rant:
Here is the thing, the US spends a higher percentage of our GDP (16%) on healthcare than any other industrialized country.
Part of it is because its privatized and corporations are out to make a profit, not charity (so that means a large portion of money you allocate for healthcare... like say, insurance, goes to MAKING COMPANIES MASSIVE PROFITS). It also means insurance companies will drop you like a rock the moment you start costing them money and they can find a pre-existing condition, or an error in paperwork, etc. Maybe this kind of corporate antics is okay for selling iPods or something... but not when lives are at stake!
The other part is that unlike governments with some level of socialized healthcare, the government can't regulate the cost of medicines. So in the US drugs cost more than anyplace else on Earth. They are cheaper in Canada not because they are made out of poison or substandard chemicals (they are the same as the US... and 90% of the time made in the US!), but because the government negotiates country wide pricing... the drug companies still make a healthy profit (else they wouldn't bother with the rest of the world), but consumers don't get ripped off.
Socialized Health Care means everyone gets treated and it means the system is accountable to VOTERS instead of SHAREHOLDERS. It also saves you money. I don't believe we should do any of these half assed approaches that are currently on the table (they are on the table because the GOP has scared everyone shitless against the word "socialized"), we really should go full on French style.
I suggest everyone add up how much they pay in tax (and some of that already goes to public health care actually), how much is withheld from their paychecks for health insurance, and how much their company then also pays from their end for health insurance. Then compare that number to highest bracket tax rates in Canada, France, UK, Sweden, etc. The results are sickening... and thats not even a fair test... since you still tend to have high copays in the US and there are a lot of legit things that are not covered. And then an unemployed/selfemployed/whatever person has to pay out of pocket for insurance... and that is ALOT more money.
Seems to me that there is a rather well funded (I wonder why?) and powerful group of people that make out that socialized healthcare will mean the USSR somehow still wins. They pull up emotional and outdated propaganda in an effort to satisfy their corporate contributers. And they have done a fantastic job at it.
In the US we already accepted the fact that we need socialized police forces, fire departments, libraries, public transportation, education (although some want to get rid of even that), and most recently FannieMae and FreddieMac proved too valuable to be left to the private sector. So why are we drawing the line on healthcare? It seems like arguably most important!
...and that is why UFOs exist John.
fin