Just One More.... Maybe?
At the present, I see a divided nation. This years campaign has done a large amount of damage to our country. We have a group of people celebrating, and gloating that they are right and everyone who wasn't on their bandwagon was wrong. We have another group (that I am affiliated with) that feels that this is the beginning of the end of the world. Both sides need to shut the fuck up for a moment.
To Kerry supporters: although our candidate lost, he put up a fight that normally doesn't happen to an incumbant president. It was a narrow victory. Just under half of our country spoke up and said what we stand for and believe in. We want outsourcing of american jobs to stop. We want healthcare reform. We want the war in Iraq to end quickly, so our brothers and sisters can come home. We want better education for our children.
To Bush supporters: your choice won, but by a slim margin. I for one am hoping that what a majority of Americans believe is true: Bush is the best man for the job. Just please, quit talking about a "decisive" victory. He won, and barely. It means that a majority, but not most, americans think he is the better candidate.
To all Politicians: quit the mud slinging, bickering, and throwing out terms like communism and fascism. Both sides have their valid points. Minimum wage needs a raise. The Democrats proposed $7/hr. Its at $5.15/hr. right now. How about... $6.25/hr? The american at the bottom needs it. The poor and middle class are struggling. Reach out a hand, show you care. Health care needs reform. Kerry's plan for universal health care, it would be a blessing, but I've read some reports where it wouldn't be feasable (way too costly). Still doesn't hide the fact that healthcare is at an all time high. Lower priced drugs, more doctors, and how about more government aid for major medical procedures?
We also need to quit bringing up old, already decided issues. Pro-choice or pro-life, no one is a fan of abortion. The issue was decided years ago. The President can't make it illegal. Its a Supreme court decision from the past. Its staying that way. Bringing up abortion is about as relevant as running for Presidency, and being against slavery, prohibition, and supporting women's rights to vote. Its not current. (note: Bush's pro-life stance is so far to the right, his assistance to the abortion debate is pulling money from such abortion programs as ones that have proven to lower teen pregnancy. They will lose funding now. More pregnant teens = more abortions. Get your facts before you base your decision on the abortion debate.)
Many of our politicians have gone farther to their respected ends. The right is more conservative, the left is more liberal. We need some compromise, so that a true balance of what is best for the country is met. The present division this election has caused is disgusting. It all started with the swift boats, and got bigger with the national guard, missing explosives, flip flops, flu shots, and every other big ball of mudd that was thrown. All that fighting and bickering may have gotton Bush the presidency, but it also got a large percentage of the population to hate our president. I, and many people I know, firmly believe that Bush is the embodyment of Satan himself. THAT is how strongly many people feel towards him. Its not good for the country for over a third of its people to hate our leader.
We need a little peace, love, and understanding.
I'll go back to hugging my tree now. I like being a Nu-Hippy.
I may have to write up a post on what a Nu-Hippy is one day...... like when I wake up.
To Kerry supporters: although our candidate lost, he put up a fight that normally doesn't happen to an incumbant president. It was a narrow victory. Just under half of our country spoke up and said what we stand for and believe in. We want outsourcing of american jobs to stop. We want healthcare reform. We want the war in Iraq to end quickly, so our brothers and sisters can come home. We want better education for our children.
To Bush supporters: your choice won, but by a slim margin. I for one am hoping that what a majority of Americans believe is true: Bush is the best man for the job. Just please, quit talking about a "decisive" victory. He won, and barely. It means that a majority, but not most, americans think he is the better candidate.
To all Politicians: quit the mud slinging, bickering, and throwing out terms like communism and fascism. Both sides have their valid points. Minimum wage needs a raise. The Democrats proposed $7/hr. Its at $5.15/hr. right now. How about... $6.25/hr? The american at the bottom needs it. The poor and middle class are struggling. Reach out a hand, show you care. Health care needs reform. Kerry's plan for universal health care, it would be a blessing, but I've read some reports where it wouldn't be feasable (way too costly). Still doesn't hide the fact that healthcare is at an all time high. Lower priced drugs, more doctors, and how about more government aid for major medical procedures?
We also need to quit bringing up old, already decided issues. Pro-choice or pro-life, no one is a fan of abortion. The issue was decided years ago. The President can't make it illegal. Its a Supreme court decision from the past. Its staying that way. Bringing up abortion is about as relevant as running for Presidency, and being against slavery, prohibition, and supporting women's rights to vote. Its not current. (note: Bush's pro-life stance is so far to the right, his assistance to the abortion debate is pulling money from such abortion programs as ones that have proven to lower teen pregnancy. They will lose funding now. More pregnant teens = more abortions. Get your facts before you base your decision on the abortion debate.)
Many of our politicians have gone farther to their respected ends. The right is more conservative, the left is more liberal. We need some compromise, so that a true balance of what is best for the country is met. The present division this election has caused is disgusting. It all started with the swift boats, and got bigger with the national guard, missing explosives, flip flops, flu shots, and every other big ball of mudd that was thrown. All that fighting and bickering may have gotton Bush the presidency, but it also got a large percentage of the population to hate our president. I, and many people I know, firmly believe that Bush is the embodyment of Satan himself. THAT is how strongly many people feel towards him. Its not good for the country for over a third of its people to hate our leader.
We need a little peace, love, and understanding.
I'll go back to hugging my tree now. I like being a Nu-Hippy.
I may have to write up a post on what a Nu-Hippy is one day...... like when I wake up.
posted by Michael at 11/04/2004 02:12:00 AM
Times
6 Comments:
i did it! man it felt good... now i have to start integrating music back in... big breath, it is possible to blog about something else...
and as usual you are right on in what you've got to say...
i'll leave you with what i told a friend last night:
man, this is all we have, we have to call it our life. do we want to spend it in misery fighting each other, killing each other, hating one another OR do we want to spend it appreciating each other's uniqueness and beauty, listening to one another, loving one another, caring for each other?
the whole point is to take that idealism into your life and work to change yourself and create a butterfly effect...
i'm not saying life should be hearts and flowers, but i'm a happier, healthier, more mentally stable person when i treat everyone i come across as a real person that i could know and love. it changes the way i do everything else in my life. when i fall back into the trap of anger and hate again it's always like a hurricane slamming through my life fucking everything up.
Well put. I think I might be back on posting my usual stuff soon. I just desperately need to remember my ideas behind the "Nu-Hippy" and hope I don't keep these discussions I have going with my republican friends.
I wish FOX news went off the air. I see way too many complacent, sore winner, mightier than thou republicans forming daily because of a narrow presidential victory.
DAMNIT!!! I'm doing it again. Yet another political tangent. I need to find something unimportant, humorous, and possibly immoral to post about. That is always fun.
While I agree that politicians need to stop mudslinging, I can't totally get on board with your platform in that paragraph. Do you know anybody that is living on minimum wage? Do you really contend that an extra $1.10 an hour is going to substantially improve anyone’s life? You touched on education which is the actual key to this wage question. People that do not learn (whether its their choice, bad parenting, or some other situational force you want to blame it on) are unable to advance in our society. At some point raising minimum wage is only going to bilk money out of small businesses. $5.15 is fine for part-time teenager type work. Someone that has not put forth the effort enough to improve themselves beyond minimum wage....WILL NOT have a better life at an increased minimum wage. Education reform is what is needed. I don't know if I am totally on board with the voucher plans, but I'm sure that inner city kids would rather spend the government’s educational money for them in a better school in the suburbs. I would rather spend the minimum wage increase in some form of teacher pay raise. All teachers would be required to perform to higher levels, but the money would do better to attract the best and brightest (neither of which are predominantly teaching at a high school near you). People like to pose the evil face on VP Cheney, but I do agree with the analysis that education is the key (not minimum wage increases, higher welfare programs, larger WIC checks).
The second point you are FAR off bounds on is job outsourcing. Did job outsourcing not happen under Clinton? MORE jobs are insourced to America from other countries than we outsource to other countries. AND these jobs are higher paying jobs requiring more education. Manufacturing jobs will continue to go oversees as free-trade in a global economy increases. You can’t enjoy an information explosion (the Internet) and then berate it when it leads to global commercialization. Neither Bush nor Kerry can STOP outsourcing. It has been a largely politicized buzzword. China has far more people, far fewer government regulatons, and FAR cheaper labor….there is no way we can compete with that when you have to pay a worker in Indiana at least $5.15 an hour (or up to $7 under the Dem plan). Kind of interesting…the minimum wage idea that you propose would most likely INCREASE the outsourcing problem you dislike. Isolationism doesn’t work and is bad for the economy as a hole, so you can pick your battles. I contend that education reform is still the best solution to multiple problems. America must continue to be the place where global companies choose to do business because we can offer the best and brightest hard-workers on the globe (our high schoolers currently have lower test scores than the same age children in several countries).
Ok, this is a commentary on a post I did a LONG time ago, so forgive me if it is a little rough....
The minimum wage needs to be raised since it hasn't been touched in ten years. Thats a lot of years of inflation. Its also a reverse trickle down theory. The worker on the bottom gets more money, their supervisor then gets more money, so their manager gets a raise... they all start spending more money, which their increased spending would bump up the economy. Do that Increase in minimum wage in October of 2005 I can see next Christmas's retail sales being very high.
Education reform is a necessary measure, but I am very anti-voucher program. Inner city kids wouldn't benefit from the voucher program at all. A poverty level family from the inner city wouldn't be able to transport their child to a better school in the suburbs. With so many children being able to choose different schools, there wouldn't be a bus for them to take from Humbolt Park to Northbrook. It would only benefit suburban kids who live in so-so neighborhoods with bad schools, that then went to private schools, and would just end up hurting the public school system, by pulling more money away.
Outsourcing can't be stopped, but right now there are far too many loopholes in the system. Large corporations have a tax break for sending jobs overseas. They are taxed at 22% instead of 30% (if I remember the numbers correctly, its been months) for outsourcing jobs. Just a few changes in the tax codes, would make it a little less lucrative for companies to send jobs overseas. In conjunction with some tax cuts for jobs created in the US, it would stimulate employment in the US.
I do agree wholeheartedly that education reform is a top priority. Our students don't have the education that they need to face the world today. Another problem is that our students are not being guided properly to reach their goals. They lack mentors. I know I was lost as to the proper steps to be taking. Took me well into my adult years to finally begin to figure it out.
Oh, just to add on...
I'm not looking to stop outsourcing completely. There are some jobs that an American worker is just too expensive to hire to do. There are a lot of skilled labor jobs that are going overseas that we need to keep in this country.
anonymous: just in case you do come back, I checked my IP addy tracker, and see you came here via my profile, so it had to have been through a post on another site. Political arguments aren't quite my main thing, unless its tormenting die hard Republicans.
So many of their ideas are good on paper, but lack practicality (like the voucher program) that it drives me insane. One of the reasons why I fled the party (I was once I die hard myself). Now I sit on the liberal side of the moderates.
If you see my more recent posts (go to the main blog) almost all of my writing is comedic. If your gonna be funny, you have to keep up with current events. Thats me.
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