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Saturday, February 23, 2019

My world and thinking

By Rain Trueax

February 19th-- Super Snow Moon

For this blog, I had ideas, multiples-- during the week. Then here the time comes, and my mind is more or less blank as I try to remember what I thought mattered. This was a great week for dreaming-- several of what I call my movie dreams. Once in a while one of those works into a book-- not sure if any of these will.
 
It's raining again in Tucson, which is way unusual for this month, at least in my experience. Friday, we had a rare snowfall, which brought more snow to higher elevations. It's also been colder than usual requiring twice to cover the bougainvillea hoping to protect its beauty for spring. The freezes last a few hours, but the damage takes longer to repair by nature. Bougainvillea are so colorful and say desert communities as much as anything I can think of. Their red blossoms aren't actually flowers but literally leaves.
 


I'm still stymied on finishing the fifth in the paranormal series, that is kind of paranormal and sort of not. Maybe contemporary romance with a fantasy element would better fit it. Have I whined about that before? Possibly, as figuring out genres, when books aren't cleanly in one, can be tricky. The fifth is a book I looked forward to writing once I knew who the hero and heroine were. I will write it but my spirit doesn't feel right for it-- not yet. 
Maybe some is due to following the news way too much. If I was on one side or the other of the partisan divide, I think it'd be more comfortable. I'd go somewhere that reassured me I was right; then go away maybe mad or glad. I see people who claim they read only the NYTimes, Washington Post and listen to NPR. Or someone else goes only to Fox News, NewsMax, etc. They think they get the news. They do--one side of it.
 
One thing about this supposedly fake news-- It's not so much that, in my opinion. It's what they leave out. If something happens that contradicts their agenda (and a lot of the media today has a bias), they just don't cover it, or it's shoved to the back. I got disillusioned during the 2016 primaries where I'd see a headline, read the article and have to get pages into it before they'd admit it was not confirmed. Who reads that far. Many assume the headline tells it all. It does not any more than the title of one of my books says it all.
 
I find myself disturbed that so many people don't understand what philosophical terms like fascism (a method to gain power more than what is done with the power), socialism (government takes over and controls the means of production), or communism (dividing up the wealth) mean. People call something democratic socialism that is really about a growing civilization getting together to do something that they all want but cannot do individually-- like say a better road, food inspection, libraries, etc. Socialism is something more than that but when words get used loosely, they lose meaning. Or worse, they familiarize a people into thinking they know what will happen if they go full socialist or communist.

Today, in listening to some of what candidates have been saying, there are those wanting things done that would be taking over the means of production or dividing up the wealth-- socialism or communism, but they label it under a heading of progressive. Did you know there was a progressive moment from the 1890s to 1920s? It was a period of social and political activism seeking reform of existing systems. It was intended to deal with the problems it saw coming from industrialization, immigration, urbanization, and of course, political corruption. Sound familiar?
 
It is hard to say how big a role the progressive movement played in women getting the vote, more widespread education, or better working conditions since unions were also active at that time and had an impact. The women getting the vote was something that probably had come through the changes in our civilization with more women getting educated including going to college. Teddy Roosevelt, Taft and then Wilson were presidents who considered themselves progressives. Some of whom seem to be respected today for their accomplishments and some not so much...
 
I digress as my question has been what does a progressive today want? And if it's free college tuition, health care, and the government will assure this and pay for it, it sounds like socialism on the way. Government dictating what a business must pay to an employee or how much profit it can make is heading toward pure socialism, where the government takes control over and sometimes owns the means of production. I think people who want socialism should at least study what it would mean if it goes that way and how well it works out in practicality.
 
If say the health care for all goes under the auspices of the government, then there are bound to be rules for who gets it and how much. Fat, smoke, drink too much-- you get less care. Even Obama about his ACA told a young woman that her mother in her 70s might be too old for a heart transplant, even if she was in good health, as what's the payback?
 
In the beginning, benevolent dictatorships are required for either socialism or communism. How do you make a change that big happen without power forcing it? In practicality, it does not end up benevolent, of course. Power rarely does.
 
To add to the latest is a demand for reparations for blacks due to slavery. That is from some of our presidential candidates. I am not sure what they mean by it as one mentioned for better structures. Maybe that means more businesses in black communities for jobs? Do these candidates remember it was race riots that drove out some of the businesses? How do they assure the businesses that they want to come in that this will work-- or does government take the risk for the business? Reparations sound like giving money directly to people. One guy suggested $50,000 for each newborn child in a fund for them... for what purpose?
 
Then comes the question I ask any self-described progressive. How do you pay for the programs? What do you want and what will it cost? That's when I get the instant response-- taxes are good, and everyone should want them. I understand we need taxes for programs that are important. But if those taxes eventually take more than half of what someone earned (very possible even under today's structures given state, local and federal), what's left for housing, food, and dare I say-- recreation? Does anyone truly believe only the rich will pay for the desired things? It rarely ends up that way.
 

At any rate, I am not against programs that people want when it will benefit the country as a whole-- call it what you will. Helping the poor helps us all as who wants people starving or back to breadlines like during the Depression. Affirmative action can be a positive thing if it helps someone, who is willing to work, to break out of poverty. What I am against is not affixing a price tag to them. What else do we buy that we never ask the cost??? To tell that to some on the far left is to infuriate them (I know this from experience), but I am an old woman, who has seen too much of how government can overreach and only benefit the government itself. I want to know the details. They are not easy to find but the devil is in the details as the old saying goes.

I think the worst thing I heard from one of the political leaders suggested that we don't need to figure out how to pay for the things we want-- government can print money... Has it dawned on this young woman that part of the reason you no longer can get a 19¢ gallon of gas is government already figured this out? Socialist countries soon find their saved dollars are worth less and less. Inflation is not so much happening because wages go up or materials. It's because dollars (the monetary exchange) are worth less. When I look at one of my vintage western paperbacks and see 25¢ on its upper corner, I know how this works, and folks who put their money in savings accounts, which used to be typical, they are getting the shaft-- literally.
 
Okay, that's enough, but you might get the idea of where my brain has been. There are so many stories and ideas out there that can suck a person in. Some is nothing I can do anything about. Some is what I better be thinking about as an election looms on the horizon, and I listen carefully to what the candidates say about our big issues. It will determine a lot of the future for my children and grandchildren. At my age, not me so much, but their future matters more to me than my own at this point. 

If you're interested in more on this, this showed up on Facebook Friday. I went to Snopes to see what it had to say, and it had added another meme that is floating around. 

12 comments:

Harold/AQ said...

I was thinking about this last Thursday on UN Mother Language Day, and have settled into thinking that at least part of our problem is that we lack a common culture. We think of English - as we understand it - as a Mother Language, but Americans have come from all over and relatively recently compared to most other countries. Our words carry different connotations, if not meanings, to our neighbors here, and we may feel threatened by the innocent words of others.
In a world of increasing scarcity - with more than 7 billion people on this small planet not to mention polar bears and whales - I wonder how long we'll be able to come up with separate solutions to common issues. Not everyone can have an organ transplant, so how should those be distributed?

Rain Trueax said...

i agree, Harold. To make it more complicated, some want a one world government that would operate similar to the EU; so you'd stay your own country but the rules you'd live under would be decided by someone somewhere else. How could that work? With all the variables ahead like climate change and possible world wars, the future looks scary for many and not hard to see why.

Tabor said...

I think we do not consider broadly the varied types of these forms of government and their advantages and disadvantages...all of them needing smart and benign leaders. I think we can use a bit of this and that. But right now with the super wealthy of 2 percent owning 90% of the money, only a major tax change is going to bring us back to a viable democracy where the voice of the people (educated or not) is going to count for much. I also think we do not consider our citizens as a resource to be tapped for help and protected for posterity.

Rain Trueax said...

my concern is they always say the rich will pay. It never works out like people expect; so upper middle class, who do not consider themselves rich, will in the end foot most of the bill. I don't mind so much. I just want honesty. When they say we will take from the rich and give to the poor, watch out it doesn't mean-- give to ourselves i.e. bigger government programs and higher salaries in government. I was surprised how much Representatives now make. They used to be called the servants of the people. They are way over most Americans. To top it off, most of them end up multimillionaires. How does that happen.

The thing is if we, the voters, want a program, why should we not give up our luxuries for it? It's always get somebody else to pay but it won't end that way with government.

Be honest. That's what i ask and never believe a promise for pie in the sky. It does not exist.

I read that the rich find so many ways to avoid taxes that they will never cover these programs. You may find your cushy retirement ends up so much-- not meaning you specifically but the you who has something they can take.

The statistics on how many rich is uncertain for me as I've seen a wide range for that. But much of the wealth of say a Bezos or Gates is inflated by stock value-- not to say they aren't 'filthy' rich, as the saying used to go.

My main thought on this is if you think socialism is a good governing philosophy be sure you know what that means in reality. It's not the same as voting to pool taxes for certain purposes-- like a fence lol

Diane Widler Wenzel said...

Rain you bring up what causes my repulshion of media talk shows. They not only are fuzzy in their usage of hot button terms like "fake news", they give new meaning to words to suit their ideology. Even Public Broadcasting claimed their news can not be fake because if they report something wrong they admit it and appologize. Well, Public Broadcasting missed the problem. Actually right wingers use the word "fake" in a new sense when they are actually talking about bias. They have used a more emotional word than "bias" in an attempt to raise fear and anger that divides us.
It is such a shame because they do have legitamate perspectives to bring to the conversation. But they do not foster real dialog, the changing of language further divides us.

Rain Trueax said...

You make good points, Diane. I think though the hate and fear are equally being raised and maybe even more so by the left. IF you read both sides, you see it on both sides. They each want to win and never tell the people the cost of anything. That's the sad part. And so many Americans are not paying attention at all.

Annie said...

I looked for a definition of "socialism" on the internet, and there are different ones. Most of them have to do with the ownership of the means of production, but they use different words such as "government", "community", or "society". It sounds less evil when you say "community" rather than "government". Here in Canada we have "free" healthcare for all. It has its problems of course, but knowing that basic healthcare is not something I have to worry about financially, is huge.

It used to be that anyone with a primary school education could find a job, then anyone with a high school education. Nowadays having only a high school education is very limiting. I think that "higher" education needs to be much more accessible for all young people who want it, but how one does that is an unsolved problem. I think that leaving everything to private enterprise has become problematic; too many people are being left out.

Rain Trueax said...

We've found in the US that a college degree does not guarantee a good paying job or any job and with the high cost of tuition, kids are left with horrendous debts. There is an encouragement for getting skilled educations like plumbers, electricians, etc. and they end up making more money than many with a bachelor's. The problem with paying for tuition for all is how to pay for it with college tuition rising much faster than inflation down here. So without cost controls, this is a free lunch, which is what pharmacies seemed to figure out with Obama Care. Yes, our copay isn't bad but the actual cost is sky high to what it was.

Community sounds good but who runs that? Somebody has to be in control. So we elect them and they end up being government.

Annie said...

Rain I agree completely that a college degree is not the guarantee it once was, but it still gives one a better chance than a simple high school graduation. The horrendous debts make it even less of a good option, although "free" post-secondary education might alleviate that. To get a ticket as a plumber, electrician or other skilled tradesperson does require post-secondary education, not to mention apprenticeship, so it also is expensive. I don't think government is evil per se, but a lot of people do. I used to live in the capital city of my country and it is a small city, government is the main industry there. I know very well the kinds of things government bureaucracies and politicians are prone to, but still they are our best option for providing services that we all benefit from. I think we would all benefit from providing our young people with better educational options, I think we would all benefit from ensuring that everyone has access to adequate basic healthcare. I just don't see how one can leave those things to private enterprise, as you point out with respect to pharmaceutical businesses. I think "Obamacare" was a terrible compromise between true medicare and private medical insurance, I hope that gets sorted one day.

Rain Trueax said...

I think the advantage of college is learning about more than one world, broadening perspective. Although from the sounds of it today in our campuses, there has been a lot of propaganda. It amazed me when the students would demonstrate or worse to block a conservative from speaking even when invited by conservatives. Snowflake is what some are called with good reason. I think though it starts further down probably with a fear of hearing alternative views.

The problem with socialism is it puts power in the hands of a few. In practice, they often end up rich (we even see that with our elected federal employees in the states) while everybody else suffers.

Healthcare is an issue that they'll have to work out. IF they pay for it all without control of costs, this won't bode well. We can buy prescriptions cheaper from Canada without insurance than here with it (except it's illegal to do it). Something has gone wrong and if that's not fixed, it won't be good for the government in terms of debt. I don't know if Canada runs debt but with less population, it probably helps keep that down. Plus you don't have to maintain the military we have felt needed for the world.

Annie said...

It’s very ironic that you can buy prescription medicine from Canada cheaper than at home, our prescription medicine is some of the most expensive in the world. Only the USA pays more. And you’re right about the military. The USA is criticized if it intervenes militarily in other countries, and also if it doesn’t. I don’t have an answer, ultimately it’s up to Americans to decide how much they want to spend on that.

Rain Trueax said...

I think this next election could determine at least temporarily how Americans feel about that. I just want them to research it. It won't change my life much, but it might future generations for what is decided.

I know families who went across the border to Vancouver to buy their prescriptions. If they get caught coming back, they have them confiscated.

I don't go to Fox for news other than along with a lot of other sites but this article seemed to fit here-- Things Bernie doesn't want you to know about socialism. One thing about Bernie is his background totally is that he is a socialist of the pure sort. Many others pick up this or that, the usual pop culture, but they aren't socialists as such for where they'd take it.