Social Democrat

I think I'm becoming a Social Democrat along the lines of Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders. I think the thing that finally convinced me to become a Social Democrat is that I watched Micheal Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story yesterday, and I became angry all over again. Everyone should watch that movie. I don't know why they don't. But, if you ask most people why they don't, they'll say that they "can't stand" Micheal Moore. But, I really have to wonder where that feeling comes from. Do they know him personally? Or have they been sold on the idea that he is bad and, therefore, should be hated?

I think it's the latter. We've been sold on the idea that he's bad by the propaganda from Fox News, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Bill-o O'Rielly, Sean Hannity, etc., and, of course, our neighbors and friends. Most people couldn't possibly proclaim that they're becoming a Social Democrat, or that they like Micheal Moore, to their friends without fear of being ostracized, of getting "the face," or "the look." What? You like Micheal Moore? You must be nuts! But, if you watch the documentary, I think you'll see a reasonable explanation of how we got here; how capitalism is not the whole story and why we need controls on capitalism. The documentary shows how destructive capitalism is.

But, in fact, we've been sold on the idea that capitalism is so great that we now believe that capitalism is the soul of freedom in America. But, the fact is that Social Democracy would guarantee the American dream more so than capitalism. Social Democracy would provide the means for someone who has little to begin with to climb out of poverty to have more, even to own a business or to become wealthy, if that's the final goal, or to simply live a life with enough security and wealth to live happily. We've all been sold on the idea that only capitalism "will make our dreams come true," "that we can become rich like them," them being the rich fat cats. But, the odds are so high in a capitalistic system, that ninety-nine percent will never become "a fat cat." To become a fat cat, it takes privilege, the best education, access to the best schools, access to the best social network and connections to the richest families.

It is baffling to me that a great majority in America have become so enamored with capitalism, and I'm even more baffled that Christians are such staunch capitalists. In the documentary, Micheal interviews three Catholic priests, two priests of two different parishes and one Bishop who oversees those parishes. They all said that capitalism is one of the great evils of our time. They all said that capitalism is so unlike Christ that there can hardly be anything in capitalism that would agree with Christ's teachings. They said that the only reason Christians could believe in capitalism is that they've been convinced by the right-wing propaganda that capitalism is somehow agreeable with Christ's teachings. Nothing is farther from the truth.

Yesterday, President Obama signed the $800 billion tax cut extension bill passed by Congress. It is Wall Street's bill. Nearly one-third of it transferred huge amounts of tax payer dollars to the most wealthiest capitalists, and increased the national debt. President Obama is not a socialist. He is a capitalist, just like President Bush before him. He is not our man. He is not the man who will bring America back from being sold to Wall Street. In fact, Wall Street already owns America, lock, stock and barrel. It seems to me that only Social Democracy will wrench it back from the fat cats.

In almost every endeavor, America needs to rise up and refuse to participate in selling America to Wall Street. We need to reject capitalistic control. You may like the so-called small government or to have less government, but "something" is going to "govern" our lives, either the government or a corporation. Handing government programs over to corporations just changes the "governor." It doesn't eliminate the program, nor does it eliminate who pays for it. Tax payers will pay either the government, or the corporation that runs it. That's just another tax cut for the rich who runs the capitalistic corporation.

Capitalsim: A Love Story - it's a good documentary. If you subscribe to Netflix, you can watch it on your computer now.

Dave

The Mosque Diatribe - The Great Meltdown

It all started with Pam Geller who writes the blog, Atlas Shrugs 2000. (I'm not going to give you a link to her blog. You're better off not knowing about it if you don't already. As the old saying goes, if you don't want to associate with the Devil, then don't invite him in.) Don't know who she is? The best description I've found is here, on "Loon Watch." She will say anything and do anything for attention, and money, since her blog has advertisers who pay her and she is vehemently racist. Her latest target just happen to be Muslim, who could be anyone, and Arab, who may not be Muslim. Both she and her advertisers like what she does because she is so outrageous that all of the crazy conspiracy theorist read her blog. Before she wrote her "conspiracy theory" article on the Mosque, nobody was paying any attention to it (the Mosque), not even Fox News, who had given the whole story of the Cordoba House a shrug. But, a few loons who read Geller's blog, such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, picked up on the story and off it went into viral mode. From there, Fox News backtracked and its loony bins, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Rielly picked up on it, then Rush Limbaugh and now the virus has spread to the more "normal," albeit right-leaning, talk show hosts and opinion editors who usually keep there heads. Not anymore.

And, everything being said sounds sssoooo reasonable and logical that now we have 70% of the country against the "Oh My God! Terrorist Center - Ground Zero" Mosque and in other parts of the country people are picketing and demonstrating against mosques and good friends on Facebook are showing their so-called patriotism by publishing Toby Keith's latest oh so proud nationalistic clap trap. And, there is not one scintilla of evidence that supports any of the rage or hate. What started out by a bigot is now being used for political purposes to exploit fear, bigotry and hate and it is all paranoia, emotion and fear.

And, you know you're wrong. At least I hope you know you're wrong, or else we continue the meltdown into anarchy. Mob rule has never worked. Rule based on emotion and fear has never worked. In every case I've read about, the ultimate end of fear and emotion appears to be war, and we don't need to look any farther back than the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to prove that point. But, you can go back as far as you want into any country who has ever gone to war, any war. It is all foolishness.

The issue has to do with the First Amendment to the Constitution and, unless you've been asleep or dead, you've already heard that. If you are among the 70%, then you've brushed that aside saying, "BUT," this or that. But, in this case, we should be "sensitive." But, in this case, we can't have a "terrorist training center" in New York. But, in this case, blah, blah, blah. I've even heard, "...the Constitution was written so long ago that it needs to be changed." If you believe that, then you're really out to lunch. The biggest and most meaningful "But" is, however, that all of the arguments against the Mosque are all nonsense.

The First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

In the days when this was written, the Jews were the "other" religion most hated and subjected to every kind of discrimination their neighbors could think up and there were no Jews among those who had the most to do with writing the Constitution. They were, after all, the ones who "killed" Jesus. You've heard that before. In fact, of those men who had the most influence in writing the Constitution, most were Christians, and a few could have been considered "devout" or even "fundamentalist" Christians. One wonders, then, how they could have given so much freedom to "other" religions? Especially to the Jewish religion. I happen to believe that it was their knowledge, and perhaps fear, of what they called "the beast," their term for the "mob," that was more inclined to be filled with passionate emotions and fear than reason. It turns out that they, the writers, were all very well read and had a deep knowledge of history, especially in regards to human behavior. They knew that the beast cannot rule because it goes this way one moment and the other way the next, all based on emotion. John Adams, probably the most influential in the final draft of the Constitution said, "Reason holds the helm, and passions are the gales." But, it appears that today, passions are the hurricanes and reason can no longer hold the helm. The seas are too rough. The Great Meltdown of America has started or is well underway.

So, whatever your reason is for not allowing the Mosque to be built, you need to let it be built, otherwise we've lost our way. In fact, following the likes of Pam Geller should make you ashamed of yourselves. The other question is if  it's Muslims we hate now, who is next? Hindus? Buddhists? Those who don't go to church? Or, do we go back to hating the Jews again? You lost me when you joined the beast on this path. I won't follow the meltdown.

Dave