Monday, June 27, 2011

The myth of marriage and slow drying paint.........

There is a metaphor in common usage that describes a situation as being like painting yourself into a corner.  It refers, obviously, to someone who is painting a floor and discovers that their only route of escape is by walking across the floor just painted, presumably leaving tracks in the still-wet paint.  It is, more or less, the perfect description of a self-inflicted error.

In these days of continuous media attention and unlimited access to the internet, such a situation is the worst possible thing for a politician, for whatever error they make will quickly be shared with everyone, inviting bloggers and people far away to feast upon the miss-spoken words.  However, this orgy of the carrion-eaters is not always the result of a casual slip of the tongue.  Sometimes it is premeditation self destruction that can easily be anticipated.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Time to Change the World - pt 2


Before I proceed, I think I should add another example that I omitted from Part 1.  I said that the health care system in the United States is broken, and I can think of no better example than that of James Verone, who walked into a bank on June 9th and presented the teller with a holdup note, asking for $1.  He then sat in the lobby and waited for the police to arrive.  When asked, he said that he did it only because he had several health problems.  He worked 17 years for Coke, lost his job, found other work here and there, but nothing substantial, and he has no insurance and no money to pay for the doctor.

Now more about Part 2
This posting is long, and there are three sections: Solution, Benefits,and Costs.  I must ask that you read them all before forming any opinion or resorting to your pre-conceived notions.  I've played with the order of the sections for a long time, but no other options seem to work better, so...off we go

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Time to change the world, pt 1

A while back I posed this question for my readers in the United States:

Is health care a Right or a Privilege?

In all honesty, I was very surprised by some of the responses.  As I tried to objectively read them, I found myself dismissing some responses, partly, I suspected, because they didn't agree with my own position.  Then, as I thought more about it, I decided that the answers might just be theoretical because the respondent hadn't been on both sides of the question.  That may or may not be some form of rationalization on my part, but I think it's relevant.

In any case, it's time to lay out my answer, explain why, and then explain how that decision could favorably impact the entire United States and solve a bunch of problems that we all face right now.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Haves and Have Nots - the numbers (and candidates) speak volumes

The founders of the United States supported equality.  Well...not really.  They conveniently ignored the slaves and women's rights, but at least in the case of the latter, women didn't have the right to vote, or do much of anything else, almost anywhere in the world, so they weren't that far out of step with the times.  Slavery was a different issue.

In any case, with those notable exceptions, they said that people were created equal.  They wanted equal opportunities, but never suggested that they wanted to control for equal results.  You weren't guaranteed an income or whatever simply because you existed.  That was left up to you.  However, over time, things have changed, and in my opinion, it's not quite working out.

Friday, June 3, 2011

What's in a name?

I'm not a fan of political nicknames.  To me they don't mean much, and usually become just another slur, used to somehow depict that the person or persons being described are somehow inherently wrong, simply because they belong to particular party or ascribe to a particular position on an issue.

The term Liberal used to mean someone who wasn't a Conservative.  Now, of course, the normal use is to decry someone as being...well, almost less than human.  Certain parts of the political parties are now called the Base, and you don't cross them if you want to be elected.  There used to be Socialists and Communists, but they seem to have disappeared, lumped into some other negative descriptor.

In short, most of these terms are little different than that infamous N word, and they carry the same intent for those using them.  There is one term, however, that I find interesting, but only because it is so self-contradictory.  That term is the Tea Party.