I’ve been arguing recently that today’s right wingers do not seem to have anything to offer for the future they seem to be raging about figures from the past like Obama and Hillary. Bitching about those that are highlighting the problems of the here and now like racism and the pandemic, but they have nothing to give for the future, except saying nothing needs to be done about climate change. To me politics has always been about the future the vision of what it could be, it is about saving for a better future. What are your visions of a better society? And have you any ideas of what could be done to achieve that goal?
Publicly funded elections. As long as politicians are beholden to corporate monies, the country will continue its swirl down the toilet. Affordable colleges and universities. Free trade schools. That's all off the top of my head. I'm a bit hungover.
I have been advocating for many years (Decades ???) for a 'proper' democracy !!! This will require: 1. Abolition of the monarchy 2. Abolition of the House of Lords 3. Establishment of a directly elected second chamber 4. Election of a President 5. Reform of the House of Commons election system by establishing STV as the election process.
A better society, I believe, begins with caring about our fellow man/woman as equals. How about the "golden rule" ?? "Do unto others as you would want done to you." God's laws. To the rich & powerful out there - would you want to be taken advantage of?? Would you want to be forced to work for poverty pay in 2020?? Be forced to lose your health care insurance?? Be forced to work 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet?? (with all that job time away from your kids, and the resulting bad effects of not being there for your kids??) If NOT - why do you treat your working people so poorly?? Right now, we're just pieces on a corporate, money-hungry chess board. There is some light in this tunnel. Some forward-thinking companies are adjusting to a team approach with shared benefits - and not most of the money going to the CEO. If everyone had a job they were proud to go to everyday, that paid well enough to afford them a decent standard of living for their families, and health care was recognized as a RIGHT - a NECESSITY - and not a luxury for the few - many of society's problems would likely disappear. But corporations being what they are - entities endlessly looking to squeeze another dollar out of the system - continuously eliminate jobs with automation, robots, computers/software, and offshoring to the lowest poverty -level countries they can find. Large segments of any population with few jobs that pay well often turn to criminal activity to make ends meet. Many of today's jobs pay so little - in 2020 dollars - that families cannot sustain themselves in a decent way. Health care is increasingly pushed onto the individual so corporations can escape that responsibility & fatten their bottom lines. And when those individuals are paid so little, they can't afford to buy their own health care insurance. Then the cost of millions of people's health care gets pushed onto everyone else - and their rates go up to help pay for those without health insurance. Endless cycle. Greed and lust for power are the roots of most any society's ills. 1 - Get money OUT of politics!!! Give "X" amount of free air time to ALL candidates to get their message out. Money breeds corruption. 2 - Eliminate ALL paid lobbying. No more "behind closed doors" secret meetings by highly-paid lobbyists when an ordinary citizen can't get a meeting with their Congressman. "We the only certain people" ??? 3 - Limit presidential pardons/commutations to proven-beyond-doubt wrongful convictions. Eliminate crony pardons/commutations. 4 - Eliminate the FAT retirement pensions and tax-payer-funded health care for life for ALL members of Congress. Forcing the same conditions on them as the avg. citizen will cause them to see & experience the struggles of the avg. citizen. As it is now they are living in a protected, tax-payer-funded bubble. They work for us - not the other way around. They ARE NOT ROYALTY. 5 - Make it a reality that we can ALL have health care insurance. Have calculus experts find a monetary formula that makes it possible.
I've heard the Queen could technically declare war. The elected officials would probably not go along with it but she is still a queen just like it's the 14th century. Also she is above the law. So she could speed or posses drugs and the courts would not do anything. I don't know if that's true but the monarchy is strange for an American. They get taxes to do nothing on the idea that it's good for tourism. It seems like it has a lot of old world thinking tied into it. Like when I see the English monarchy on TV they still have the streets closed off with 100 police protecting them. If you meet them you are still supposed to bow. The king of Norway uses the public bus. He has armed bodyguards but still I can't see Charles on a bus.
We could end the war on poor people and instead, wage a war on poverty. Outlaw predatory lenders. Make traffic ticket fines proportional to a person's income. Perhaps community cafeterias in poor neighborhoods so nobody goes hungry. Set tuition rates relative to a person's ability to pay.
How about making universities actually USE the HUGE endowments they have accrued to help pay for students' tuitions??? Why is that money just sitting there instead of helping students get their educations???????
I heard an interesting idea from Penn Jillette regarding a public higher education system. It was completely different from our current system. Something set up like community centers, where you can take whatever classes you want instead of being locked in a specific program. People would be welcome to study any topic that interests them. Degrees would be available for anyone who can prove their knowledge on the subjects. Plenty of people are self taught and a system to accredit them I think could empower a lot of people.
And for those that dont believe in G-D Or YOUR G-D? What Laws apply then? What about "Do what thou will be the whole of the law"?
