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Sept 21, 2009 - Picture America after January 20, 2009 by Glendora Rider,
The country is on the verge of a new surge. There is confidence among the people there will be jobs opening up. Confidence, there will be universal health care. Confidence, there will be a pay-as-you go fiscal policy and a reduction of the national debt. Confidence, there will be domestic programs funding relief and assistance for hopeful folks needing to buy homes, send their kids to competent schools and to colleges. Confidence, savings are safe in a sound Social Security trust. There will be a “green”: government focused on new industries (and jobs) to replace oil dependence. There will be stem cell research, cancer research, a national catastrophic fund for prompt disaster relief, people employed in infrastructure restoration, road by road, bridge by bridge, town by town, city by city. Farmers, small businesses and American-made industries will be treated as fundamental to the American way of life.
The troops will be coming home to total rehabilitation, pensions, education, health care, jobs, honor and benefits.
America will be respected throughout the globe once more for strength and peaceful mediation, for generosity and demonstrated standards of freedom and opportunity for all at home and abroad.
Government will no longer lie and conceal its workings. The expenditures of taxes and the collection of taxes will be leveled to ensure equal distribution in a true democracy. . Government will take care of the disabled, those born with less health, less wealth and less chance than others favored and privileged by birth.
Americans will take care to make this come true. Americans will contribute time and mind to community based helpfulness and to active political awareness. Americans will be confident that need can replace greed, truth can replace deceit, and a great nation once again will function as conceived.
After January 20, 2009
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September 20, 2008 - So You Want Government Help? by Don Megnin
Yes, the conservatives are screaming for help in the economic turndown which has caused the stock market to slump, homes to be foreclosed, brokers to search for buyers of firms about to enter bankruptcy, and banks and insurance companies begging for funds because of clients to whom they had given funds to buy homes they could not afford and which they now can not afford to pay back. The conservatives have always said, get the government "out of my pocket", higher taxes are what will impoverish the country, unnecessary "governmental regulation" is an impediment to the free operation of the marketplace. Government should stay out of the day by day activities of a capitalist economy! We are not a socialist society!
For those who don't know, let's review a few examples of what government is for and has to do in behalf of "all of its citizens". Government is and always will be the agency of last resort: when private individuals cannot do for themselves what needs to be done in order to have a free and functioning society established to promote the continuing, long term benefits for all of the people within their borders. Some of the commonalities upon which both conservatives and liberals agree are the following:
1) National defense - Everyone acknowledges that only the military forces of a country can defend the safety and security of an entire population. No one raises any question about the role of government when a country is attacked. Individuals cannot protect an entire society by themselves. They have to be organized, directed, and protected by the their national armed forces.
2) The creation and establishment of a national currency and the creation of the necessary printing and regulatory agencies to ensure its proper use and control is taken for granted because it has existed for such a long period of time and has been most effective in behalf of all of our citizens and internationally.
3) The protection and securing of the borders of a country so that those dedicated to the attempt to destroy it, will be prevented from doing so. No one objects to this requirement either here or abroad.
4) The creation and maintenance of projects which are too vast for any private organization to construct (highway systems, power systems, national grid systems, etc.) It should also be noted that many of these projects such as airport expansions, bridge constructions, protection of national parks, etc., are examples of hidden (governmental) subsidies which largely cover expenses for private entrepreneurs to construct these huge undertakings which they could not do by themselves. The economy of scale must be part of the solution to such vast enterprises.
5) The creation and enforcement of standards of weights and measures which are universal and used internationally as well as nationally is now taken for granted by everyone.
These are a few of the major functions performed and accepted by everyone as the appropriate functions of government over which there seems to be no objection.
The following issues are also national and should be addressed by our government as it is in all of the other democratic systems of the world with the exception of ours.
1) A national health care which covers every individual living in the United States.
2) A prenatal health care system open to anyone living in the United States which lays the foundation for a healthy and definable future.
3) Creation of a pre-school program which assists in the education and health of children from ages three to five in order to prepare them for the educational foundation necessary for their future growth and to maintain our ability to remain competitive in the global environment.
4) Creation of alternative schools for all levels of education so that those who have the interest and ability to become automotive repairmen, carpenters, machine operators, electricians, service workers, etc., can do so. Funding should also be made available for college educations for all qualified men and women so that they can become teachers, bankers, doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, foresters, businessmen/women, scientists, whatever they should chose to become, leaving literally "no child behind".
5) An expansion of social security that covers every man and woman in a national retirement system that excludes no one.
6) Provide relief, assistance, and education to those who seem unable to get a job or have difficulty maintaining steady employment in order to become productive members of their communities.
7) Guarantee incentives to employers and companies such as tax breaks, subsidies, and construction loans in exchange for providing all types of jobs here in the United States.
8) Expand the funding of research and development in all forms of product production and manufacturing which not only provides jobs, but can be at the forefront of developing new products in the decades ahead.
These items could well become the incentive which we need to create new jobs, opportunities, and creative outcomes from governmental funding and involvement in the lives of our people. Some people may call it socialism, but the name reflects the fact that government should and does act in behalf of its citizens whenever they are incapable of doing so by themselves!
