Worthy of Discussion?

Virginia woman cited for
animal cruelty for driving
with bound goat in car trunk.

One problem with our (so-called) democracy is that it’s democratic. That is, citizens have the right to do and say all kinds of things that are basically not even worthy of discussion or consideration. Take the Orly Tate matter, for example. The Supreme Court let stand her $20,000 fine for filing frivolous lawsuits. So what does she do, she appeals the decision! This is not worthy of even 30 seconds of time. More importantly, take the Mosque at Ground Zero controversy that has occupied the news for days now. Again, it is really not worthy of consideration, it is a non-problem made into one by Republican terrorists who make an issue of anything and everything that might be used against President Obama. Muslims have the legal right to build a mosque on private property wherever they are able, period. Muslims are not enemies of the United States, they have complete freedom of religion just like the rest of us, or at least legally and morally they do. This whole business is a non-issue.

Similarly, consider the absurd tax cuts for the wealthy that Bush managed to con us into. They are about to expire as they were planned to and ought to. There is no cogent reason for tax cuts for the wealthy to continue, especially at a time of virtual national emergency over the economy. There should be no discussion of this, none, the argument in favor of continuing the tax cuts is basically absurd. This, again, is really a non-issue that should not require more than a passing thought.

More importantly still, the argument about socialism. Republicans and some others are carping incessantly about Obama being a socialist and trying to turn our country into a socialist state. It is obvious that most of these people, and most of their arguments, are basically too stupid to warrant any consideration whatsoever. In many ways the U.S. already is a socialist country: we have public schools, public libraries, public swimming pools, the Post Office, Medicare and Medicaid, Police Departments, Fire Departments, a Forest Service, highway maintenance, social security, farm subsidies, food stamps, a huge military establishment, and so on, all funded by public monies. People who should know better apparently do not. A woman who has worked as a public school teacher all her life rails against socialism, an old man wants to retire, partly on social security, hates and fears socialism, farmers who gladly accept farm subsidies with one hand shake the other hand hatefully at socialism, those with no medical insurance get treated with public money, and on and on and on. I live in a “right-to-work” (non-union) state. People here are free to work without belonging to a union and tend to despise unions. They work a 40 hour week instead of a 60 or 80 hour week, they earn at least a minimum wage, they work 8 hours a day, they usually get at least some benefits in terms of medical leave, vacations, and such. Where do they think these rules came from, the benevolence of businesses and corporations? They came from the unions, often socialist unions, the very unions they profess to despise. So what is with these people? Are they merely ignorant or also stupid? How long do you think our society would exist without government action? This “issue” that appears to be so vitally important to many, is not really much of an issue, to be on Medicare and complain about socialism, as many do, is either stupid or ignorant, to say nothing of completely ungrateful.

I do not understand these people and I have learned from experience that trying to reason with them is much like having a conversation with the chronically mentally ill. I would venture to say there is not a single family in all of our county that is not benefitting in one way or another from the government “dole,” and this can even extend to the Future Farmers of America who sometimes received funds for merely raising their livestock for show. Our love affair with privatization and free market capitalism has led us very close to complete disaster as a nation, some things are far too important to be left to private industry interested merely in short term profits at any cost, we will have to change or pay the rather severe consequences. But “socialism,” never! Let’s call it something else, like Reasonabalism, or even Commonsenseabilism, or Cooperatism, perhaps even American Beaveratism, but at least try to live as human beings once again rather than the corporate savages we are becoming.

LKBIQ:
Socialism needs democracy like the human body needs oxygen.
Leon Trotsky

TILT:
The North American Beaver population was once more than 60 million.