Lawlessness! Violence and looting! Shootings! Police killing!
Casinos opened and churches cannot!
Small businesses devastated! Mass unemployment!
Civil Liberties violated! Pandemic out of control!
We cannot have 4 more years of Biden - Trump - Biden - Trump? Who's president again?
Sitting around the campfire on many summer nights, I stare into the sky and often ask why I feel different.
There are certain functions of society that should not be privately owned and operated. They are too important to risk being driven by a profit motive or a political motive, over the public good. These functions of society are integral to the health and well being of the nation as a whole. These should be free of a profit incentive and political incentive while strictly operated by specific mission. There should be strong oversight to ensure that corruption and waste are minimized. There should also be open policies for the contributions of those within the function to create continued improvement in meeting the mission. Their budgets, policies, and practices should be transparent and open to public scrutiny. These functions should be governed and managed ONLY by elected officials with NO political appointee anywhere in the system. Governing boards should be 4 year appointments and the top governing official (elected) would serve for 10 years, reporting to the governing board.
1) Education - Pre-school through 4 year College. We need a public education program that provides the opportunity for all of our citizens to obtain a solid education that includes a 4 year degree. Private schools of any kind, should not receive tax dollars. All tax dollars, local, state and federal, should be dedicated to public education institutions only. There should be an elected local board of education for each school district. Then a state board of education. To be eligible to serve on the state board, you must have served on a local board. Then a national board requiring local or state board experience. The Secretary of Education is then ELECTED to a 10 year appointment and reports to the national board.
Private schools are free to operate outside the governance of the local, state or national boards of education. They are privately funded and privately operated. Pure and simple.
2) Judicial System - Our judicial system needs a huge overhaul. There's a mix of how judges get on the bench. Some are elected. Some are appointed by Governors. Some are appointed by Congress. https://ballotpedia.org/State_judicial_elections,_2018 These positions of great power, clear up to the Supreme Court, have become highly politicized and very centrally controlled. The position of Attorney General, the heads of the CIA and FBI, are increasingly politicized and centrally controlled. If the Judicial Branch of government is intended to be a separate and equal balance of power, we have a problem. And it's trickling down. The policies, rulings, and practices enacted are creating greater mistrust and unrest. As one of the pillars of a strong democracy, the judicial system cannot be allowed to crumble or fold into one of the other two branches of government - Executive OR Congressional.
Privatizing any part of the Judicial system is equally alarming. We have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world including China and Russia! Something is wrong. It's certainly not all caused by privatizing prisons but profit incentive for imprisoning our citizens cannot be a good thing.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/uk/06/prisons/html/nn2page1.stm
3) Health Care - We spend more per capita on healthcare than any developed nation. We spend a significantly greater percentage of our GDP on healthcare than any other developed nation AND most of them have a universal health care system.
There was great resistance to the Affordable Care Act provision that penalized those without health care. Many felt they still could not afford or that they didn't need or want health insurance. Reality is that whether it's an accident or a sudden unexpected illness, nearly everyone is going to need health care at some point in their life. When someone without health care lands in the hospital and cannot pay, it increases health care costs for everyone else and can leave them financially devastated.
We need to quit talking about it and do it. Look at the other developed nations and adopt the best solution. Just do it. The idea that we can't is ridiculous. This really is a matter of life or death.
Those are the three things that I believe are the most important issues in this election. The health of our nation and the health of our democracy are at stake. We cannot have a strong economy or a more united nation until we address these three things. And they are just the place to start. We need to get involved and get educated on the issues we believe are most important. We need to talk about those issues and our ideas for solutions.
Things are getting really weird. Remember the pizza scandal associated with Hilary Clinton in the last election. Supposedly she was involved in some child sex ring and a pizza shop.
Now it's back. But it's bigger. Walmart is in on it. The whole democratic party is in on it. There's a satanic fright added in the mix. When you see a meme on facebook, go to the associated source. I saw one recently and went to the "source". http://crime.awm.com/ The website looks like a digital version of the National Enquirer. Here are some of the headlines - "Chelsea Clinton Just Admitted Something That Everyone was Suspecting", "Inspiring Celebrity Weight Loss Transformations - Find Out How They Did it", "Farmer Spots Large Python Spitting Up His Meal, Devastated When He Realizes Who is Missing" and there is a video with that one!
A group called QAnon is saying Trump is saving the world from a satanic ring involving child sex trafficking and cannibalism. AND Trump is saying "Is that a bad thing?"
Watch for all this to get weirder. There are otherwise reasonable people that are believing these things. I'm not sure what we can do about it except encourage those we know to be careful about what you are taking in. Slow down and do some rational thinking. If it feels crazy, it probably is crazy.
This might be a handy link for those who want to start attacking Kamala Harris - https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kamala-Harris Hopefully Encyclopedia Britannica isn't too liberal a source to be credible.
A political ad quickly began running as soon as the announcement was made that she would be VP pick to run with Biden. "Phony" and "Radical"? In actuality she is very authentic and tough. There's nothing "phony" about this woman! She's been known for years to be a centrist, able to balance a strong record on law and order with fighting for progressive policies to ensure that justice is balanced.
A meme was floating around already claiming she wasn't born in the US. Sigh! How long before there are demands for copies of her birth certificate? And how long before her religion is questioned? And soon it will be "not really black" - resurrected from the primaries.
Already the president has called her "nasty", a term he loves to use for any tough woman. This from the nastiest president in our country's history.
We could quickly make a checklist of every attack that will rise up. Anything that was used against Obama will be on the list - the one's above and more. Anything that has been used again women will be on the list.
We will hear and see snarky comments about her hair and how she dresses. Someone will surface who says she was a mean boss. There will be accusations that she got certain things because she was a person of color.
But this woman is tough enough, smart enough and quick enough to handle it all. And as I see all these emerge, I will just shake my head. I'll say to myself 'I expected you to be one who would jump on this one". You'll look foolish to all but those who are fools too.
Let's talk actual policy. Let's talk about approaches to problems and who has the best plan. Do some homework before you jump on a bandwagon.
Update: As I see new ones, I'd add them. If you see any, comment below. It will be interesting to see the list. I won't add ones that seem to actually address a policy or position question.
8/13 "Why does Kamala Harris identify as African American when she's Jamaican?
8/14 Fox news running story with BLM person saying Kamala is "not black enough."
Recently I learned that there is a free privately owned camp site along the bike trail near here. One man has been camping there every summer for 7 years with one mission and one benefit. He welcomes campers and make sure the sites are clean of trash so it can stay free and open to the public for camping. There is no other motive. There is no financial benefit to the land owner. This one man ensures that it remains an open and welcoming space. He doesn't do it for financial benefit to himself so why does he do it?
Sometimes we believe in something bigger than ourselves. We all need to believe in something bigger than ourselves!
Our system of doing things for monetary gain is a human created system. It is wrong. To survive in this world we must adapt but it is spiritually wrong. Spiritually, we need to learn our gift and our passion and follow it. Nothing is spiritually small when it is our gift and our passion. Together we can! It may not put wealth in our coffers this day. But we are planting seeds of inspiration. I know - spiritually - that the work of this one man - for seven years - is valuable in ways I cannot measure by dollars. Bless him! And Bless the land owner who shares his insight! May this space - this place - provide more inspiration and blessing to all who learn of this story or find their way to this special place.
