The Failures of Democrats and Republicans

… the 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting corporate power against democracy. — Alex Carey, Australian social scientist, quoted by Noam Chomsky in World Orders Old and New

Great article in the NY Times from Timothy Egan on how both the Democrats and Republicans have failed main street America:

The Betrayal

Favorite quotes:

Right now, a time when only 20 percent of Americans call themselves Republicans and Democrats are shrinking as well, the independents are disgusted with both parties. In large part, it’s because neither one seems to be on their side.

In theory, there’s nothing wrong with a Congress stuffed with people who don’t have to buy health care on the open market, or worry about meeting a mortgage payment. But in practice, it’s a prescription for misrepresentation.

Would that someone, ANYone, would give us a real, meaningful alternative to the two main political parties. Sorry, the Tea Party and the Green Party are not meaningful, at least not in any positive, constructive way.

The Descent of Christianity…

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; — Amendment 1, The Constitution of The United States

I have a strong belief in the Separation of Church and State, and have grown more and more alarmed/concerned/outraged as the “Christian” evangelicals have pushed specific agendas (prayer in schools, God’s Army, Faith-Based Initiatives, etc.) intended to establish a de facto (if not de jure) Christian state (yes, a Theocracy) in the United States.

This is supported by the increasing religious integration with (and interference of) many areas of public life. By doing so, religion, which should be a private, personal issue between an individual and his or her Creator (of whatever version that individual chooses), has become a loudly shrill and often hypocritical form of public discourse, intended to directly and indirectly affect public policy. As religion (and in this country that means Christianity) grows increasingly public, it descends into an increasingly dangerous place — dangerous to individual freedoms, dangerous to religious freedom, but also dangerous for our economy.

An article from the December issue of The Atlantic, “Did Christianity Cause the Crash?” illustrates this danger, and provides a great look into how it happens.  In the same way that religion is used in a highly organized way to influence political policy in a public way, it can be used to influence economic forces that can cause macro swings in economies. Unfortunately, the danger in this is overlooked because religious leaders now have more political goals than human goals.

One of the established critiques of religion is that it was often used by those in power (often these “power elites” were the ruling class in feudal and other class-based societies) to get those out of power to accept their ’station in life’ and so not to try to climb out of it. The new critique, illustrated in this article, is how religion is used to manipulate people to consume beyond their means, thus enriching the corporate elites (essentially today’s “power elites”).  By saying “It is God’s will for you to be rich” or to “own your own home” (George W Bush’s “ownership society”), it ensures a cycle of economic destruction at the micro (i.e. individual) level. However, we ignore the effect on our macro-economy at our peril, and should remember that we all will be better off (economically, culturally, socially) if we keep religion a personal issue and keep it out of the public, and out of government.

Back in Action

I’ve spent a little more than a year on the sidelines, just trying to survive.

We’re running a small business that is supporting our family in this economy, we have 3 kids about to graduate from high school and are desperately trying to get into college (which we’re desperately trying to figure out how to pay for), and my mom has just had surgery for colon cancer, so things are a bit hectic, and often quite stressful.

We’ve had a historic election (for once, my candidate won!) but the forces of evil (on the right AND the left) are just as intent as ever in destroying our country, and I can either sit back and watch it all fall apart around me or I can try to speak my small, tiny voice for whatever impact it might have.

I have chosen the latter.

I will be reposting my old posts over time, and adding new ones. I HOPE that I will be able to do this regularly, and I hope that it won’t be filled with the anger that I often feel at the morons and idiots and the evil leaders who shamelessly manipulate them.

I hope…

Sayanaro

There are two reasons that have led me to make this blog inactive:

Not enough time to make it fresh and alive. The #1 rule of blogging is to keep the content fresh and well, I just can’t get it done. It’s not that I don’t have a lot to say — I think of several things every day — I just can’t carve enough time out of the day to say anything useful, or clever, or wry, or cynical, which are the things that I want to say.

The things I want need to say are highly opinionated, not all are mainstream, and quite a few would be controversial. At this point in my life I don’t have the luxury of creating a fuss over something that I’ve said that might make people, or even SOME people, angry or upset. As much as I think this is a healthy part of a thriving society, our current version of society doesn’t like, and sometimes doesn’t permit, vigorous dissent.

How Can You NOT See This as Just WRONG???

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. — Rabindranath Tagore

I’m not a particularly flag-waving American apologist. I am often (especially in the last 8 years) angry at America and many so-called Americans. I DO think America is the greatest place on earth to be, but not for the neo-con, flag-wavin’, gun-totin’, self-righteous, self-important reasons that you get to hear on Fox News all the time…

But there are many ways in which there is a sense of right-and-wrong that we get that some parts of the world just don’t, and it makes these other parts of the world less than us. Now, in all fairness, this sense of right-and-wrong is not particularly American, it’s more “western”, but since America gets to be the standard bearer for “western values” (for better and for worse), I’ll make the leap and say that this is an “American” value.

There are practices that are widespread in Middle Eastern and Central, South and Eastern Asian countries that should keep these countries in the 3rd world. The one I’m upset about right now is the practice of selective sex breeding. In humans. Yes this sounds like a laboratory DNA cloning experiment gone terribly wrong. But in fact, this is willful, voluntary, and encouraged practice in much of the world (especially in the rural, poor & uneducated world). The practice is not for any particular practical reason that I can understand. I’m sure that there are historical, perhaps even evolutionary, reasons for this type of practice, but for now, it’s just because having a son brings more “honor” or “face” to the family. And the women (mothers, grandmothers, etc) are just as much a part of the problem as the men.

The practice is certainly unsustainable. The statistics don’t lie. In some areas of India, there are 150-200 less females born for every 1000 males born. In China in 2000, there were 117 boys born for each 100 girls. Sooner or later, this societal practice will just break. It’s too bad that it will have to wait for this. It’s too bad that people can’t just see that these practices are anti-human, and just should not be tolerated.

I’m not against this because of the fact that many of the females that would have been born are aborted. I’m not against this because I think that all children are to be treasured and adored and blah, blah, blah… I’m against this because I just can’t get past the image of all of these girls growing up knowing that they are unwanted, and that they bring shame to their parents and grandparents just because they are not little boys.

The shame is not on the little girls. The shame is on their parents, grandparents, governments, and societies that allow this to happen. As long as this practice continues (in the open, or hidden away quietly) I hope that these countries continue to suffer in comparison to the “western” world.

NOTE: While there is some history of this phenomenon in America and other western societies, it is NOT equivalent to what goes on today in other parts of the world. And for any places in America or in the West that this practice may continue (fundamentalist Mormon societies, for example), these places and cultures, groups or societies should be condemned and legally, politically, morally and religiously persecuted until they are driven out or the practice is stopped.