Reality and the Inevitable

Because I believe in reality I also believe in the inevitability of certain things. Reality, I believe, ultimately wins out over everything else. This is why I believe certain things will inevitably come to pass in American society. I could be wrong, of course, I often am, but I think the following things will happen, perhaps not in my remaining lifetime, but not too far in the distant future.
It is inevitable that Gay marriage will eventually be the law in most probably every state in the union. It is now the law in eight, public sentiment is in favor of it, and it can only be a matter of time it will become national. No doubt some states will hold out for a time but ultimately it will not make sense for the country to be divided into those that do and those that don’t.
It is equally inevitable that the Bush tax cuts will disappear and the tax code will be revised so that the wealthy will pay a greater share than they currently do. Again, this makes perfect sense, and while Republican dimwits will try to keep it from happening they will eventually fail.
Drugs, at least certainly Marijuana, will become legal. The criminalization of pot never made sense in the first place, has created a social disaster filling up our jails and making criminals of perfectly decent citizens, and is increasingly being challenged in different states. It is only a matter of time, I think a short time, that it will happen. If nothing else it will be legalized because it will become too expensive not to legalize it. Personally, I believe all drugs will eventually be legalized as the drug problem is a health problem, not a political problem. Reason will prevail and drugs will be seen once again as a medical problem. As in the case of marijuana, all drugs will be legalized because people will no longer be able to deny that the so-called “War on Drugs” has been an abject failure and will be found to be too expensive to continue.
More importantly, I predict we will eventually have a single-payer health care system, most probably based on something like Medicare for all. Our current health care system is simply absurd, is far too expensive for what it produces, and realistically will have to be converted to a far more sensible system. Insurance companies are simply an unnecessary burden we bear because of the current fear of socialism (that will also eventually disappear as we convert to a more social democratic society).
The Supreme Court decision allowing corporations to donate unlimited amounts of money (speech) to political campaigns will be overturned. It is now obvious this was an absolutely ridiculous decision, probably the worst and most hare brained ever by a Supreme Court, and has clearly converted our (sort of) democracy overnight into a full-blown plutocracy. As this is already obvious there is no way it will be allowed to stand (unless, of course, we fall prey to a true fascist government complete with secret police and brownshirts, which I think will not happen).
On much shakier ground I think it is inevitable that Israel will fail as an apartheid nation. They will eventually be forced, as was South Africa, to concede the civil rights of all people including the Palestinians. Most probably a two state solution will be imposed at last by the world community, Israeli racism and colonialism will be curbed and someday, inevitably, justice will be served.
All of these things are inevitable, they almost certainly will eventually transpire, but the wheels of democracy turn so slowly I sometimes wonder how we manage to survive at all. If we truly operated as a Republic, with elected officials charged with making decisions and managing our country, things would be better. At the moment, as our elected officials have no interest in anything but getting re-elected and looking out for themselves and their corporate sponsors, we suffer little more than chaos.
Although I do not have much faith or confidence in the American electorate, or even the Unite Nations, I suspect that eventually everyone will come to their senses and realize that none of the above things we are currently doing make sense, either rationally, morally, or financially. Even after all these years I still cling to my primitive beliefs in justice, right and wrong, and the eventual power of reason. Probably pretty stupid and naïve, I know, but I can’t help it.
Some of the best lessons we ever learn are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom and success of the future.
Dale E. Turner