A house divided cannot stand. While Lincoln spoke of slavery, today it is a different sort of bondage that threatens to tear our nation asunder - blind allegiance to ideologies thoroughly at odds with our social contract and with the spirit of collective action as embodied in our time honored motto, “e pluribus Unum” (literally, from many one), is splitting America, eroding its democracy and with it our infrastructure, the very physical constructs that comprise a great nation.
America’s spending on infrastructure has declined over the past 40 years and is now just 2.4 percent of its GDP, far less than other developed nations. Europe spends 5 percent, for example, and China 9 percent. The American Society of Civil Engineers says that it will take $2.2 trillion over the next five years to keep levees from buckling, bridges from toppling and our schools from crumbling; for maintaining our roads, airports and rails; for cleaning our water and modernizing our electrical grid.
Yet nearly half of our political leadership pledge their loyalty not to the Constitution and greater good of the nation, but rather to their selfish ideals. They’d as soon have fields flood or forests burn, children starve or the sick suffer before they raise a nickel of taxes, which are lower than at any time in the last 60 years and are the lowest in the Western world.
Regardless, America simply must invest in its infrastructure. We can raise the necessary funds through a variety of sources, including direct user fees and energy taxes, bonds and in some cases public-private partnerships. In order to minimize politicization, we must devise a system that prioritizes projects using cost-benefit analyses and non-interested outside evaluators. These could be arbiters from other countries, or authorities from one state could evaluate projects in another state.
The federal government itself should do most of the work. The greatest nation on earth can surely hire all needed personnel — the designers, engineers and workers — to get the jobs done. These federally funded and operated projects will create wonderful job opportunities for our troops returning home and for the many unemployed across the land.
The preservation of America for ourselves and our posterity may be the one goal that can once again unite us all. Together, truly together, we can do anything.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Saturday, July 23, 2011
The Boehner Republican Fraud
The Republican fraud continues to get more bold and blatant. House Speaker John Boehner just said that now was not the time to raise taxes, that doing so would hurt the national interest.
TWO QUESTIONS: 1) Does he realize the taxes talked about being raised are on the top 2%, the ones who raked in trillions from the Bush tax cuts (on top of the trillions they already control) and NOT the middle and lower income earners--the 90% of Americans on whom our nation's economic success positively depends for we live in a post-production society whereby consumerism, i.e. people buying things, drives the economy. It is from these people that wealth has flowed upwards, leaving too little dollars (and way too much debt from past spending) to continue the necessarily high pace of spending required to reach full employment.
2) If not now when is EVER a good time to reverse HIS party's tax cuts (these aren't really tax increases, just a reversal of their horribly misguided cuts that contributed TO our current ills). Why on earth--WHY ON EARTH--would they ever needed to have cut taxes after a Clinton term that saw the rich get richer than ever, that had left us with a federal budget surplus and when things were for most Americans going swimmingly well?? (Answer: to starve govt so as to reduce social programs--they simply hate the poor and downtrodden--notice how quick Bush got rid of that flagrantly false slogan "compassionate conservative?" Hah, what a joke!).
Today's Republican leaders are a bankrupt lot --politically, morally, intellectually. Using outright untruths they play to the worst in our world, to fear, to hate, to selfish greed. These people now obstructing America's recovery, now obstructing true job CREATION and now spending their time on nothing but obstructing a president they don't like are after all the SAME people who PUT US IN THIS MESS--with de-regulation, with tax cuts, with record spending way before Obama took office (they raised the debt ceiling 7 times and by $4 TRILLION) and worse of all...with illegal and immoral WAR! They have no standing whatsoever.
They are and have been the problem, not even close to the solution. (Not that the Democrats have all the answers--too many have sold out or otherwise capitulated to moneyed interests that also influence them away from doing what is best for the greater public interest, but still, there is a major difference between the parties.)
President Obama MUST and WILL act unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling so that we can honor our obligations and then move forward. Congress be damned.
TWO QUESTIONS: 1) Does he realize the taxes talked about being raised are on the top 2%, the ones who raked in trillions from the Bush tax cuts (on top of the trillions they already control) and NOT the middle and lower income earners--the 90% of Americans on whom our nation's economic success positively depends for we live in a post-production society whereby consumerism, i.e. people buying things, drives the economy. It is from these people that wealth has flowed upwards, leaving too little dollars (and way too much debt from past spending) to continue the necessarily high pace of spending required to reach full employment.
2) If not now when is EVER a good time to reverse HIS party's tax cuts (these aren't really tax increases, just a reversal of their horribly misguided cuts that contributed TO our current ills). Why on earth--WHY ON EARTH--would they ever needed to have cut taxes after a Clinton term that saw the rich get richer than ever, that had left us with a federal budget surplus and when things were for most Americans going swimmingly well?? (Answer: to starve govt so as to reduce social programs--they simply hate the poor and downtrodden--notice how quick Bush got rid of that flagrantly false slogan "compassionate conservative?" Hah, what a joke!).
Today's Republican leaders are a bankrupt lot --politically, morally, intellectually. Using outright untruths they play to the worst in our world, to fear, to hate, to selfish greed. These people now obstructing America's recovery, now obstructing true job CREATION and now spending their time on nothing but obstructing a president they don't like are after all the SAME people who PUT US IN THIS MESS--with de-regulation, with tax cuts, with record spending way before Obama took office (they raised the debt ceiling 7 times and by $4 TRILLION) and worse of all...with illegal and immoral WAR! They have no standing whatsoever.
They are and have been the problem, not even close to the solution. (Not that the Democrats have all the answers--too many have sold out or otherwise capitulated to moneyed interests that also influence them away from doing what is best for the greater public interest, but still, there is a major difference between the parties.)
President Obama MUST and WILL act unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling so that we can honor our obligations and then move forward. Congress be damned.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Ground NASA, focus on human needs right here at home
From its first liftoff, the U.S. space program has been a source of pride and technological innovation. Yet it has flown beyond the point of (beneficial) return and should therefore be grounded.
We’ve been learning more about the universe from the Hubble than a galaxy of NASA missions. And the only real game-changing spinoff contribution — and it’s a biggie — was the development of satellite transmissions. But that was 50 years ago. Sure, there’s Tang, Velcro and Teflon, but these were developed independently of the space program even though they were popularized by it (although I think it does get credit for the pen that writes upside down).
America’s next frontier is closer to home — in fact it is right under our feet. Our infrastructure is crumbling — literally crumbling. We have dire human needs that need not only our dollars but our focus and energy. For instance, do you realize that as we soak and as the Midwest flooded, nearly 25 percent of our country is suffering the worst heat and draught since the “dirty thirties” Dust Bowl? The whole state of Texas has been declared a natural disaster area, and more are sure to follow. Why not focus our efforts on creating a water pipeline all over our great nation, so that we can move water just as we move gas? Surely, this necessity will spur innovation just as much or more than the space program — all while tackling a need that will benefit Americans right here on earth.
We already have all the technology we need. In fact we have too much of it, more than we can responsibly handle. Until we can keep the likes of Fox news owner Rupert Murdoch from running a company that for many years committed the most heinous criminal abuse of technology in our modern history, we have no business making more of it.
The space race we’ve won. It’s the human race we’re losing.
We’ve been learning more about the universe from the Hubble than a galaxy of NASA missions. And the only real game-changing spinoff contribution — and it’s a biggie — was the development of satellite transmissions. But that was 50 years ago. Sure, there’s Tang, Velcro and Teflon, but these were developed independently of the space program even though they were popularized by it (although I think it does get credit for the pen that writes upside down).
America’s next frontier is closer to home — in fact it is right under our feet. Our infrastructure is crumbling — literally crumbling. We have dire human needs that need not only our dollars but our focus and energy. For instance, do you realize that as we soak and as the Midwest flooded, nearly 25 percent of our country is suffering the worst heat and draught since the “dirty thirties” Dust Bowl? The whole state of Texas has been declared a natural disaster area, and more are sure to follow. Why not focus our efforts on creating a water pipeline all over our great nation, so that we can move water just as we move gas? Surely, this necessity will spur innovation just as much or more than the space program — all while tackling a need that will benefit Americans right here on earth.
We already have all the technology we need. In fact we have too much of it, more than we can responsibly handle. Until we can keep the likes of Fox news owner Rupert Murdoch from running a company that for many years committed the most heinous criminal abuse of technology in our modern history, we have no business making more of it.
The space race we’ve won. It’s the human race we’re losing.
Monday, July 04, 2011
A conversation with the president
This is a real honor, sir, and I thank you for taking the time to speak with me. Mr. President, I know that we share the same philosophy regarding government’s positive, essential role in forming a more perfect union. I also realize that compromise is the only way forward in such a divided political landscape. However, I wonder if you perhaps have missed some opportunities to use the power of your pulpit to educate, to sway and ultimately to steadfastly hold your ground on the most important, nation-defining issues.
Take health care. Based on your earnest campaign avowals, I thought you would use your power to stand firmly on the immutable principle that public health comes before private profit, and to that end you would not settle for anything less than the only real solution, a single-payer Medicare-for-all system, which as you know is essentially one big self-administered health insurance program that cuts out the unnecessary middle man. Mr. President, forcing me to buy insurance from the private insurance industry — without the competitive counterweight of a public option — leaves me at their mercy, of which they have shown none. Indeed, my rates, which were high before, have gone up nearly 40 percent since this so-called reform. I am blessed to be able to pay it; many cannot.
I was surprised as well that after bailing out Wall Street and the bankers — which I totally agree was essential to preventing a catastrophe even worse than the Great Depression — you settled for halfway reforms, some of which have still not been implemented. Instead of putting the power of your position behind real reform, you let the financial industry continue on their merry way, doling out huge bonuses and re-engaging in the type of reckless behavior that nearly destroyed us all.
And compromise is one thing Mr. President, but total capitulation is quite another. You caved on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich while Republican leaders continue the lie that reversing them will cost jobs and ruin the economy. You need only cite the truth that 670,000 private jobs were lost during Bush’s term in office, and that eight years of Republican all-for-business policies nearly destroyed our economy, the same as they did in the pre-Depression 1920s, when President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of America is business.” Your relative silence gives me little confidence that you will stand strong for our social contract, and not merely for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, but also for programs that literally extend a lifeline to our most vulnerable citizens.
Finally, Mr. President, the wars. It is hard to believe that such treasure, both human and financial, continues to be so wasted. Al-Qaida is long gone from Afghanistan, and in any event the criminal perpetrators of 9/11 themselves died on that fateful day. We face no hostile nation-state that truly threatens our survival, as in World War II, which was a defensive war of necessity. There was therefore never a reason to create this now decade-old war of choice, and if there ever was it is long past the time for it to have ended.
If it is not too audacious, Mr. President, I hope you will end the wars now and always put the people ahead of power and politics.
Sincerely, Richard Dawahare
Take health care. Based on your earnest campaign avowals, I thought you would use your power to stand firmly on the immutable principle that public health comes before private profit, and to that end you would not settle for anything less than the only real solution, a single-payer Medicare-for-all system, which as you know is essentially one big self-administered health insurance program that cuts out the unnecessary middle man. Mr. President, forcing me to buy insurance from the private insurance industry — without the competitive counterweight of a public option — leaves me at their mercy, of which they have shown none. Indeed, my rates, which were high before, have gone up nearly 40 percent since this so-called reform. I am blessed to be able to pay it; many cannot.
I was surprised as well that after bailing out Wall Street and the bankers — which I totally agree was essential to preventing a catastrophe even worse than the Great Depression — you settled for halfway reforms, some of which have still not been implemented. Instead of putting the power of your position behind real reform, you let the financial industry continue on their merry way, doling out huge bonuses and re-engaging in the type of reckless behavior that nearly destroyed us all.
And compromise is one thing Mr. President, but total capitulation is quite another. You caved on extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich while Republican leaders continue the lie that reversing them will cost jobs and ruin the economy. You need only cite the truth that 670,000 private jobs were lost during Bush’s term in office, and that eight years of Republican all-for-business policies nearly destroyed our economy, the same as they did in the pre-Depression 1920s, when President Calvin Coolidge famously said, “The business of America is business.” Your relative silence gives me little confidence that you will stand strong for our social contract, and not merely for the protection of Medicare and Social Security, but also for programs that literally extend a lifeline to our most vulnerable citizens.
Finally, Mr. President, the wars. It is hard to believe that such treasure, both human and financial, continues to be so wasted. Al-Qaida is long gone from Afghanistan, and in any event the criminal perpetrators of 9/11 themselves died on that fateful day. We face no hostile nation-state that truly threatens our survival, as in World War II, which was a defensive war of necessity. There was therefore never a reason to create this now decade-old war of choice, and if there ever was it is long past the time for it to have ended.
If it is not too audacious, Mr. President, I hope you will end the wars now and always put the people ahead of power and politics.
Sincerely, Richard Dawahare
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