We must be the change we want to see in the world.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi
I devote a lot of time, energy, and column inches to the things in this world that upset me. A lot of my writing revolves around things I believe to be wrong and/or unjust. There’s much greed, injustice, hatred, and prejudice to be found today; one need not even look very hard. A significant part of our political class is focused on dividing in order to conquer. Since political power and social control seems to be all that matters, some will stoop to any depth, lie any lie, and cheat whomever and however necessary in order to achieve their goals. It’s a pitiful, pathetic way to go through life, but there are those who believe that America by rights belongs to White Conservative Christian males, and they’ll go to any length to see their agenda prevail, regardless of cost or damage done.
As you might imagine, spending most of my energy and attention on people like this takes a toll on my soul (and my outlook). It’s easy to see and define people as ignorant, intolerent, and or just plain evil. While I’m convinced that there are certainly people for whom the shoe fits (et tu, Ted Cruz?), sometimes I can’t help but wonder if I focus on the negative at the expense of other, most positive things.
Sometimes I feel the need to make a case for what I’m FOR, seeing as how I expend so much psychic energy on making it clear what (and whom) I oppose. I suspect it won’t be long before I find myself getting sucked back into what I’ve been doing for the past 12+ years. Every now and again, though, I feel compelled to break of of the mold.
I believe that the largest, most powerful economy in the world can, should, and must guarantee a basic level of health care of ALL Americans, regardless of ideology or socioeconomic status. If countries like Canada, Finland, Norway, England, France, and others can have working single-payer systems, there’s no argument to be made for why we can’t have the same. Regardless of how you feel about Obamacare, there seems little doubt that over the long haul it’s a pitiful compromise cobbled together due to political considerations without much thought given to its long-term viability. While it’s without a doubt a step in the right direction, there’s no denying that millions of Americans will remain uninsured and that politics and ignorance will handicap and hobble its long-term prospects.
Until America has a single-payer system in place, a significant number of Americans will be left out…and if that isn’t an injustice, I don’t know what would be.
I don’t expect anyone to hand me anything, but I don’t believe it’s too much to expect to be able to make a decent living. In my case, I’ve had to deal with age discrimination, which, while virtually impossible to prove, is also impossible to deny. I want to be paid fairly for my experience and expertise, not denied opportunities because there’s grey in my hair and someone thinks they’ll have to pay me more than the pittance they think they can get a younger person to accept.
Beyond my situation, earning a living wage should be a right. No American who works should be so poorly paid that they must depend on public assistance to make ends meet (Yes, I’m taking about Walmart, Target, Kmart, etc.). If you’ve ever tried to make ends meet on $8.50 - $9 an hour, you know what I’m talking about. $15 an hour as a minimum wage isn’t a radical anti-business idea; it should be granted willingly by companies whose success is made possible in large part by poorly-compensated front line employees. If Target’s CEO can make $24 million in one year, paying employees $15/hour and providing benefits shouldn’t be considered a radical anti-business idea. It’s simple fairness.
If you look at the varieties of voter ID laws currently in place in many red states, a reasonable person could quickly draw two conclusions:
Voter ID is a “solution” in search of a problem. Voter fraud is virtually non-existent, yet states like North Carolina and Texas have passed laws that strips the right to vote- perhaps the most basic American right- from millions of poor and minority voters- the constituency least likely to vote Republican. Coincidence? Not hardly.
Republicans are convinced that the only way they can win elections is by cheating. Gerrymandering and voter suppression aren’t bad things to Republicans. In their minds they’re “protecting the integrity of the electoral process” by making it harder for those who don’t identify as Republican to cast their vote. When there are fewer votes cast for Democrats, Republicans get to maintain their grip on power. It’s as corrupt as it is disingenuous and dishonest…but that’s what you get when you vote Republican these days- you elect people who believe in the power of democracy only insofar as it can be manipulated to their advantage.
I shouldn’t have to worry about having the proper ID, or if the name on my driver’s license (or eye/hair color, blood type, etc.) isn’t EXACTLY the same as the name on the state’s voter rolls. I’m an American, and my vote should count. Millions of Americans are going to be denied their constitutionally-guaranteed RIGHT to vote because Republicans believe the only way they can win is to nullify their votes.
I want businesses to pay their fair share of taxes. In an era when cutting food stamps is tres chic, there are corporation paying ZERO taxes. How is it that we decry welfare for the poor and needy as “socialism,” yet corporate welfare is deemed perfectly appropriate?
Oh…right; they’re “job creators.” That explains everything….
Businesses deserve the opportunity to make a fair profit; it’s why they’re in business. That said, businesses shouldn’t be given a free pass if they’re exploiting workers, polluting the environment, or avoid paying taxes. Businesses should have the same responsibility to be good citizens as those of us without an “Inc.” behind our names.
We should be taking food from the table of the destitute and using that money to finance tax breaks for corporations…yet that’s exactly what’s happening. How is it fair that the rich and well-heeled have their own form of welfare, but the poor and needy are begrudged what few crumbs are thrown their way?
Fairness is a concept that should be the hallmark of our tax system. There’s no fairness in a system skewed to benefit that already wealthy at the expenses those at the opposite end of the socioeconomic spectrum. There’s no fairness in a system that shreds the social contract and pulls the safety net our from under poor families and children.
When you get down to basics, all I really want is fairness:
- one person, one vote,
- the opportunity to make a fair, LIVING wage,
- corporations and business paying their fair share of taxes,
- a guaranteed minimum level of health care,
- an end to hiring discrimination- especially when it comes to age, gender, and/or sexual orientation.
Fairness shouldn’t be too much to expect in the largest, most powerful democracy the world has known. Equal treatment and equality of opportunity shouldn’t be radical ideas. The social contract should be a reflection of our collectively recognizing and acknowledging the importance of caring for one another. A basic guaranteed level of health care should be accepted as a human right, not decried as a socialist plot to rob us of our freedom and health care companies of their inalienable right to make obscene profits. People (and their welfare) should come before profits.
Fairness. Equal treatment. Equal opportunity. Pretty simple, really…yet the reality is anything but.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
