Category: Ideology

Is It An Illusion Of Liberty?

I have been thinking about some people that cherish our liberties but in the past few years those so-called liberties have been eroding away and a special thanks to the Supreme Court for helping the demise.

Below are some thoughts from an author, Stuart Delony, on what we are losing, piece by piece….

It’s that time when we celebrate our freedoms while cooking meat, blowing things up, and conveniently ignoring the erosion of the very liberties we’re celebrating. So between the hotdogs and fireworks, let’s explore if we’re as free as our forefathers intended… or living in blissful ignorance.

Remember back in history class? When we all learned that the founding fathers risked everything to declare independence from British tyranny? They gave us the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and seemingly endless bumper sticker quotes. 

Fast forward to now, and I’m left wondering if those sacrifices were in vain and freedom a relic of the past. Think I’m wrong? Let’s look down a list for fun:

A Surveillance Nation

Our civil liberties are on life support. Mass surveillance has become the norm. Big Brother watches our every move. Sure, we’ve still got the right to protest, but only if you’re okay with being pepper-sprayed, tasered, and/or hauled off to jail. It really doesn’t seem much of an upgrade to tar and feathering.

The Voting Games

Voting is supposed to be the cornerstone of democracy, right? Except it’s not as simple as showing up and casting a ballot. Gerrymandering ensures that politicians pick their voters and not the other way around. Then we’ve got voter ID laws, polling place closures, and purges of voter rolls. Those are just a few of the tricks used to suppress the vote. And don’t even get me started on the Electoral College.

The Rich Get Richer

You’re free to pursue the American Dream – if you can afford it. The top 1% hoard their wealth while the rest of us are stuck in a cycle of debt, stagnating wages, and skyrocketing living costs. The richest 1% of Americans own more than 40% of the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the bottom 50% collectively own just 1%. A level playing field is never an option when corporate greed reigns supreme. The system is rigged whether we want to acknowledge it or not.

A Selective Kind of Liberty

Personal freedom used to mean being able to make choices about your own body and life. Today, reproductive rights are under constant assault, with politicians horny to control what women’s bodies. Doesn’t sound creepy at all. Then there’s LGBTQ+ rights. While progress has been made, there’s always a new push to strip away the hard-won gains.

The Changing Narrative

Is truth truth anymore? Media companies now control what we see, hear, and read, shaping public opinion to suit their agendas and profits. The problem is that independent journalism is on the decline and dissenting voices are drowned out by the din of manufactured consent.

Our liberties are being strip away slowly but slowly and we the people spend our time worrying about bathrooms while you focus on silliness you are losing your rights and liberties.

Don’t blame Trump completely for the Dems have done little to change the direction of this downward spiral…..they promise but their actions are far from proof.

This vote will be a joke told by our great-grand kids and you spend your time worrying about bathrooms.

I hope you get what is coming to you for cultivating ignorance.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“cognito ergo me agitare”

What To Do? Economically That Is!

There are about as many opinions as a/holes in Washington on how to solve the economic crisis in the US.  There are the Keynesians, the Austrians, are the most talked about in these days of turmoil.

Keynes argued that the solution to depression was to stimulate the economy (“inducement to invest”) through some combination of two approaches: a reduction in interest rates, and government investment in infrastructure. Investment by government injects income, which results in more spending in the general economy, which in turn stimulates more production and investment involving still more income and spending and so forth. The initial stimulation starts a cascade of events, whose total increase in economic activity is a multiple of the original investment.

And then there is the Austrian school of economics.

Austrian Economics is a school of economics that emphasizes the spontaneous organizing power of the price mechanism, holds that the complexity of subjective human choices makes mathematical modelling of the evolving market extremely difficult (or impossible) and therefore advocates a laissez faire approach to the economy. Austrian School economists advocate the enforcement of voluntary contractual agreements between economic agents, but otherwise the smallest imposition of coercive force (especially government-imposed) on commercial transactions.

There are the two approaches that are being considered in the nation’s capital.  There are many adherents to these schools, but which will be the savior of the nation’s economy?

To me the Austrian school sounds like more deregulation and that is one of the main causes that let the economy get so out of control.  I will agree that the government cannot spend its way into a sound economy, but having no control over the beast of greed will not do it either.

Tax Cuts? Tax Cuts!

Oh crap…..we are still singing that tired old song?  Repubs have been rattling this piece of crap since 2001…it promises jobs and growth and …and….and….well just about anything you want it to; but what does it really bring with it?

Not much that it promises.
What did the Bush tax cuts really bring forth?

unemployment was up

opportunity was down

poverty went up

income went down

anxiety went up

prosperity was down

And yet with all that, the Repubs just keep throwing the failed policies of the past into the fray of any stimulus plan..  Why?  That is an easy question to answer.  They have NO plan B to offer the people or to save the economy.  And yet again they keep winning elections with no plans for the future other than to cut taxes.

Why?  Another easy one to answer.  The American people are so damn gullible that they believe the tax cuts that are promised will somehow benefit them and make their lives all the much better.  HA HA HA!  Dream on fools!  It only helps those who do not need the help.  Just like the newest stim plan.  The average middle class worker will make an extra $13.oo per pay check–guess that means the vacation to Cancun is out of the question, huh?

The American people are ALWAYS foolish when they hear the word TAX CUT…that somehow they will benefit…they seldom do.  Please Stop Lying To The American People!

Do you remember the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act?  That is the recent stimulus plan that was passed by Congress with little support from the Party of “NO”, the GOP.  Why no support?  They wanted more tax relief.  But the largest part of the plan is $288 billion is for tax relief, and is not that what the Repubs kept screaming about?

They, the GOP, got their way, they got their way on tax relief but yet they still would support the bill.  Reality dictates that they would have supported the Act regardless what was put into it.  It was never about the bill but rather the positioning for the next election in 2010.

Are You Listening?

To the flap trap BS of the GOP, RNC  and conservatives…..you guys have an internal battle royale going on….right now between Steele and Rush…I guess these guys are the voice of conservatism right now…..if so then the GOP is in lots of trouble.

Steele is characterizing Rush as..an entertainer and ugly…Rush fires back and basically calls Steele a joke…..who will apologize first?  My guess is it will be Steele.

All this name calling and capitalism promotion is doing NOTHING to help the GOP to find its way that it has lost during the Bush years.  Oh yeah, they are all “fiscal conservatives”, but where was this concern on spending for the last 8 years.  These guys are not concerned with the ailing economy…they trying to set up themselves for electoral victories in 201o.

The Repubs have NO idea how to fix the economy…they just know that they cannot agree with Obama and his plan.  The only plan they can offer is a tax cuts…HAHAHA…what a plan…we had those for the last 8 years and look where we are now….a new plan needs to be found.

The GOP is not showing any leadership on the repair of the economy…they are showing that elections are more important than the lives of the people they should be representing.