Category: For a better world

General observations/questions/suggestions about our world and things that could be done to improve it

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Roll Back the Madness

A lot of the stupid, illegal, and dangerous shit that Tramp and his cronies have done can be quickly reversed by the new administration.

Other things are more difficult like the stacking of the Supreme Court (which must be changed to eliminate lifetime appointments).

The biggest problem are the 75 millions people out there who voted for him. Not all, but most of whom are racists, misogynists, homophobic, and just plain idiots. And plenty of them are elected officials at all levels of government.

Social media has proven to have much more potential for harm than good. But that genie is out of the bottle and may prove to be the most dangerous challenge that there is to the future of democracy.

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We still can’t relax

It seems like I’ve been holding my breath for ten months.

I was so wrong four years ago when I rationalized that Tramp couldn’t do much harm in four years and by then the Democratic Party would get it’s head out of its butt and find a good, young candidate. Well, Tramp has almost killed our democracy, and the Democratic party went with another old white guy. Fortunately their old white guy beat the psychopath old white guy in the old white house. But I fear the damage is done and is so deep and wide that we will never recover.

Is it the culmination of all the mistakes we’ve made as baby boomers who should have been able to establish a new standard for decency, civility, honesty, compassion? But no, Tramp is one of us and he’s a horror show. Not a film fictitious one; he’s the real thing. And he could be just as dangerous out of the presidency as he has been as president.

It’s been a miserable four years on so many levels. Is COVID the plague that we deserve because over 75 million people can vote for such an abomination?

I’m going to try to come out of my bunker and start blogging again – for my own sense of purpose because no one else reads it.

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Make democracy work part 2

The Supreme Court. Supposedly nonpolitical but in reality a political mess.

Yes, the justices need to have long terms to avoid the short term, short leash of political debts. But lifetime? NO! No one should have this kind of job/power for life. Give them a one-time term of 15 years – long enough to outlast any one president or even two, but more than enough for one person.

AND their confirmation has to require a minimum of 2/3 of the Senate. No simple plurality – too partisan for such a powerful job.

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Make democracy work.

As a Government major in the late 1960s I felt so positive that changes were coming because of the activities of my generation opposing the Vietnam war and segregation.  How naive I was. 

My generation – the Baby Boomers – has been what can only be characterized as a failure.  We didn’t bring about positive change.  And we have to admit to having in our midst two of the worst presidents in history. 

Is there hope in the younger generations – whatever fancy but stupid designations used to label them?  I don’t know.  Will they be as self-centered and as greedy as their fathers and mothers?  Will they ever learn that having one sick person among us who can’t pay for adequate health care means that we have failed as a society?  Will they ever learn that as long as children are homeless that Palm Beach mansions are obscene?  Will they ever learn that the
“big lie” is as dangerous as Hitler ever was and lives in the White House?

This is my first suggestion to make government work for the people, all the people, and not be the power-base for the wealthy.

Every elected government office has to have term limits.  And those term limits are designed to both ensure continuity and accountability. 

Term limits for Congress:

Senate – 3 terms of 4 years each.  No more Lindsey Grahams or Strum Thurmonds.  Enough said. 

House – 4 terms of 3 years each.  Don’t make them begin their reelection campaign the moment they are sworn it. 

More to come. 

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We’re all chumps

It’s tax season again and I’m feeling like a first-class chump, a real loser, a victim.

My wife and I make plenty of money and pay what I would have always called our “fair share” of taxes to support the governments – state and federal. But for the past two years I’ve seen that money wasted on insanely stupid things, on hurtful things, on illegal things and I feel so hopeless and angry.

We know the Tramp doesn’t release his tax filings because most normal people would be outraged by either how little he pays or that he doesn’t pay anything or that he probably got a refund. That’s how the big bad boys play the game – let the suckers pay. And pay. And pay.

Isn’t it time for us suckers to take back the system? What if none of us paid? File Don’t Pay. Let them go after hundreds of millions of us. Force them to acknowledge that the system is rigged by the fat cats. Simplify the stupid system and make it equitable – for everyone.