Speak Out 12/25/15

Friday, December 25, 2015

Feeling

the Bern

In regards to the Speak Out comment regarding Clinton and Sanders, I'd like to be perfectly blunt: Sanders is no where near the candidate that Clinton is. Opensecrets.org, fec.gov, and votesmart.org are excellent resources to view past political history and funding demographics. Clearly, Sanders is supported by small donors ('grass roots') compared to Clinton's large money contributors.

In terms of the 'liberal' vs. 'socialism' argument, a distinction must be made. The two realms involved are the economic realm and the social realm. So, the continuum for social issues ranges from liberal to conservative, and the continuum for economic issues ranges from communism to capitalism, with socialism in between.

Socialism is feared and hated because of its believed ties to communism. It is no where near communism. Wake up voters, we are already mildly socialist: highways, libraries, K thru 12, the military, police and fire departments, Postal Service, museums, prisons, subsidies (agriculture, business, student loans, Pell grants, etc.), the courts, public parks, sewers, disability, and on and on. These and other programs are not capitalistic and we cannot trust capitalism to meet our vision statement of government (the Preamble) whilst trying to chase a profit. The Public Good and profit are rarely mutually exclusive, and inevitably corruptible.

Lastly, remember the responsibilities and limitations of the executive branch: none of the promises of any of the candidates will come to be without Congress. Congress (or lack thereof) legislates what the Executive will do and how to do it. Bernie can stump for $15/hr min. wage and Trump can foam for a wall, but neither will occur without Congress approval or funding.

Regardless, I have researched and decided, based on the platform and on the funding, to feel the Bern. Write-in or not, Bernie has my vote, and a couple of my dollars.

A stairway

to nowhere

It is interesting to me to see so many people so stuck in the past that they are willing to raise tens of thousands of dollars to renovate a concrete stairway to nowhere. I guess they like the Alaskan idea of a bridge to nowhere and decided to follow suit.

Any schools

need box tops?

I'd like to know if any of the local schools collect box tops for education from General Mills.