AVOIDING THE SQUIRRELS

Gather round and listen up.  You need to THINK about this.  It’s IMPORTANT.  The Squirrels are running a long con and you’re the patsy.  The LEAST you could DO is give it some THOUGHT.

All over the Western World we’re being told that ‘austerity’ is the order of the day.  European and American workers need to tighten their belts and lower their expectations.  The ‘system’ is ‘broken’ and ‘unsustainable’.  Sacrifices are called for in order to save the poor unborn grandchildren from mountains of debt.  Oh, the humanity.

Okay, stop right there.  Before you sign up for that world view there are four questions you need to consider: Is the austerity equal, is the system being fixed through that austerity, is what I’m being asked to give up reasonable, and is this really fair and right?  Well, let’s find out, shall we…

Is the mandated austerity equal?  In a word, NO.  Not at all.  We’re being asked to make huge sacrifices while the rich among us lose nothing.  In fact they’re going to get richer.  Lower capital gains taxes, lower inheritance taxes, fewer restrictions on wealth.  How can an austerity plan be fair if an entire class is exempted from the pain?  Doesn’t it seem a little obscene that the people preaching austerity are the same ones who won’t be asked to sacrifice?

Will austerity fix the system and save us from future crashes?  Again, NO.  The current global economic clusterfuck was caused by unregulated speculation by the world’s largest banks and richest people.  A Draconian austerity program won’t change anything, it’ll just put us back where we were before.  The same people will be in charge of the same system and will be encouraged to do it all over again.  Financial institutions must be re-regulated but their current control over the levers of power make that impossible.  Austerity solidifies a broken system rather than improving it.

Is what I’m being asked to give up reasonable?  Enough ‘No’s’.  I’ll let you be the judge.  Here are the things that you’ll need to lose in the name of austerity; health care, public education, workplace protections, collective bargaining, a pension, the ability to retire, and maybe your house.  You know, some of us hippies think that those things are kind of important.  And remember, not everyone is going to give up those things, just you are.  Does that qualify as reasonable?

What about fair?  Again, you be the judge.  Pretend you’re a student in a classroom with one bad kid in it.  Now imagine that each time that kid misbehaves he gets rewarded while every other kid is punished.  When he throws a spit ball he gets recess and all the other kids sit in detention for spit ball throwing.  If he blows off a homework assignment he gets an ‘A’ and you all get an ‘F’.  At the end of the year you’re all left back because of his behavior while he gets promoted two grades.  That’s about what’s happened here.  The wealthy and their banks screwed around with the world’s economy and lost a bunch of money.  The governments they control decided to cover their losses and now they need you to accept austerity so that they can do it again.  They did wrong so you get punished and they get rewarded.  Think I’m exaggerating?  Then answer me this: If the root economic problem was defaulting mortgages and the government passed a trillion dollar fix, why did that money go to the banks and not to just pay off the mortgages?  Wouldn’t that have saved us a recession or two?  Is that fair?

If a thief steals the car out of your garage it shouldn’t mean that you’re a bad driver and need to lose your license.  The ‘system’ isn’t ‘broken’ or ‘unsustainable’, it’s been robbed.  Now the robbers want you to be punished for their crimes through austerity.  And guess what?  Most of you will vote their minions right back into office.  Okay, that’s your right.  But don’t pretend that any of this bullshit is actually necessary or inevitable.  It isn’t.

Let me close with a simple question.  If someone breaks into your house, threatens you and your children, and destroys your property it’s totally reasonable and proper to shoot them.  How many houses, rights, and lives must a bank CEO take before that rule applies?  And wouldn’t that be fairer and more constructive than austerity for the rest of us?  As the kids say, I’m not sayin, I’m just sayin.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.

Hypocrite- A person who’s actions belie their stated beliefs.  A hot steaming pile of self serving bullshit.  For example, Ayn Rand and her followers.

For the most part this blog loathes both parties and spreads blame for our giant political clusterfuck equally between the left and right.  I’m an equally opportunity grump and don’t think either party gives a shit about freedom, joy, or compassion.  But sometimes one of the sides is so spectacularly evil and corrupt that they deserve the full attention of my bile and outrage.  Paging Mr. Ryan, Mr. Paul Ryan.  Please pick up the white courtesy phone on your way to the everlasting hell of hypocrisy and scorn.

In case you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Ryan, he’s the author of the house republican budget initiatives.  For the last two years he’s proposed a budget that’s become the blue print for republican fiscal policy.  Mitt ‘Richguy’ Romney called the budget ‘marvelous’ and has pledged to sign it if he wins.  A republican house and senate would likely pass it so it could realistically become the law of the land. You should probably understand it’s philosophy, especially if you’re inclined to vote republican.

I’m not going to go into all the gory budget details because I’d fall asleep with my face on my keyboard.  I’ll just point out that it increases rather than decreases the deficit, drops the tax rates on the rich, nearly eliminates medicare and social security, guts almost all the programs that help someone who works rather than owns, and leaves the poor and sick to fend for themselves.  In other words it VERY CLEARLY believes that government should only aid the rich and powerful.  That makes sense because Mr. Ryan is a follower of Ayn Rand.  And that makes him an asshole and a hypocrite.

Let’s see, how do I sum up the philosophy of Ms. Rand without losing my temper and shooting something?  How about a simple list.  I’ll try that:

* Rich people are rich because they are inherently better.
* The world is broken down into only two groups, the makers and the takers.  Only the rich are makers and only the makers are moral.
* Government policies should meet the needs of the makers because only they are deserving of support.
* There is no moral reason to help anyone besides yourself.
* Compassion and Altruism are weak and should be avoided.

I think that about sums it up, but I better stop before I’m drowning in rage.  Mr. Ryan is a proud adherent to this philosophy and uses the ‘makers and takers’ language in his speeches.  His budget perfectly reflects the priorities and tenets of Ms Rand’s philosophy and he is not alone.  Most of the right wing of the republican party agrees.  So where’s the hypocrisy?  Why, it’s all around us.  The stench is overpowering.

Let’s start with Ms Rand herself.  Funny how they never mention that she spent the end of her life on Social Security and being treated for lung diseases under Medicare.  As soon as she needed a little help from society she took it.  Lying hypocrite.

How about the Republican party?  Are they telling you that this is their philosophy and letting you vote on it?  Nope.  They hide behind lies and rhetoric.  The budget is called a ‘deficit reducer’ even though it clearly increases the debt.  They preach austerity while handing out corporate welfare like candy from a pinata.  They claim to be protecting your interests when that’s clearly not the aim of either their budget or their philosophy.  The republicans aren’t even consistent in their adherence to Rand’s teaching.  She also believed that the government should never legislate personal morality.  Even though she herself found homosexuality to be distasteful she advocated for equal rights under the law.  Not the republican party line at all.

And this brings us to the big giant stinking hypocrisy at the center of this whole ugly thing.  Mr. Ryan and his ilk also claim to be Christian.  Most, if not all, of his supporters claim to be Christian.  AND THERE IS NO FUCKING WAY TO RECONCILE RAND’S BELIEF SYSTEM WITH CHRISTIANITY.  At least not without a giant fucking dollop of bullshit, denial, and hypocrisy.

Most of the right wing in this country wears it’s Christianity on it’s proverbial sleeve.  Every single poll finds that they’d never consider voting for a candidate who didn’t accept Jesus Christ as his or her savior.  Okay, I get that.  So why do you vote for followers of Ayn Rand?  How can you support politicians who’s philosophical leader was an atheist and preached profoundly unchristian ideas?  I’ve read the New Testament and I’ve read Ayn Rand.  They aren’t compatible.  Jesus NEVER says that only rich people are good and deserve support.  Jesus never preached wealth based morality.  And by the way, neither did the founders of this country.  Hypocrites.

At it’s core Ayn Rand’s philosophy is just a weak justification for selfish, dickish behavior.  If you’re a self involved greedy scumbag it gives you some flimsy moral cover.  Okay, it’s a free country.  Be an asshole, see if I care.  But voters must know it runs counter to the teachings of selflessness and compassion that lie at the core of every major religion on Earth.  Jesus didn’t die so some spoiled prick could by a diamond covered car or pay his country club dues.

You probably heard there’s an election coming up.  I don’t really care how you vote.  The whole system is probably fucked beyond redemption.  But I do care about your soul.  I do care about hypocrisy.  Republican voters are being lied to in the grossest possible way.  Right wing politicians are espousing both Christianity and the deeply anti-christian Randian world view at the same time.  The time has come for conservatives in this country to decide if they’re Christian or they follow Mr. Ryan and Ms. Rand.  BECAUSE YOU CAN’T DO BOTH.  If you cast your vote for Mr. Ryan and Ms. Rand I don’t want to hear another fucking word about God or Jesus or morality from you.  Because you just voted against all that.  Vaya Con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.

Well, I guess it’s time to wade back into the cesspool that is American politics.  It’s time to get our ‘hopeless’ on.  Not just metaphorical or spiritual hopeless.  Actual rock solid, empirically provable hopeless.  As in no possible improvement and probably can’t be fixed hopeless.  So open your mind and close your nose, cause this is gonna stink…

There’s a really simple and elegant way to judge governments.  In a dictatorship the powerful get to set the rules.  In a democracy the majority has that role instead of the rich.  In theory we live in a representative democracy.  Behind all the checks and balances, the elections and rules, the fancy talk and two party vitriol, is this one simple idea: The majority’s voice is more important than the rich and powerful.  We. the people, are in charge.  So is that what’s happening?

Let’s try not to get hyperbolic or partisan.  Instead let’s look at what the federal government has done over the last 10 or so years and compare that with polling data that reflects the will of the people.  And to be fair let’s only look at issues where at lest 2/3 -3/4 of the people are in agreement.  No close calls or party line votes.  And let’s also ignore which party killed the bill because we all know that both parties feed at the same money troughs.  So, what do we have?

* Right now the very very rich pay a much lower tax rate than everybody else.  Almost the entire voting populace thinks this needs to be fixed.  Yesterday the Senate killed the idea, guaranteeing that billionaires continue to pay less than their pool boys.

* The oil companies are very profitable.  No big news flash there.  Since they’re making so much profit they don’t really need to be paid millions of our dollars in government subsidies.  It just isn’t necessary and serves no useful broader purpose.  Left, right and center agree.  So why did congress kill a bill that would have eliminated them?

* No one wants to be at war in Afghanistan right now.  It might well have been a good idea to eliminate the Taliban 11 years ago but enough already.  Polling has been consistent for years.  Bring the troops home now.  Nope.  Well, maybe in 2014.  Maybe.  Some of them.

* Everyone, and I mean everyone, agrees that big money donations are fouling up our elections.  The undue influence of lobbyists and political action committees is universally reviled.  Hell, nearly every politician tries to run as an ‘outsider’ who will ‘clean up Washington’.  There is absolutely no credible effort by the government to change the rules and restore fiscal democracy to the system.  Not one.

* When it comes to healthcare the most popular polling result is to expand medicare to everyone in the population.  This simple solution was never even allowed to be considered.  The Insurance industry is just too powerful.

* Here’s an easy one.  Should the government buy weapons systems that the Pentagon DOES NOT WANT?  Of course not.  Except that’s exactly what congress has done repeatedly.  I’m totally fucking positive that is not what their constituents want.

* After the giant economic clusterfuck caused by the banks pretty much every American not in the banking industry agreed on two things; punish the people who committed fraud and make sure that rules are in place to keep it from happening again.  Neither thing happened.

* Did you know that in some states your employer just gets to keep the tax money that’s withheld from your check?  Or that in many cities big box stores just keep the sales tax they charge you?  I didn’t think so.  But it’s true and the trend is growing.

* The TSA , the Patriot Act, and the despotic clauses in the NDAA are reviled by almost everybody.  They all passed with nearly unanimous votes.

I could go on and on but you’re smart enough to have noticed the pattern by now.  And isn’t just perception.  Larry Bartels, a professor of Political Science at Princeton, did an exhaustive study and concluded that the data proves our elected officials listen only to their wealthiest constituents.  It’s time to face the facts.  The majority of the people of the United States of America no longer have the ability to regulate, tax or control the wealthy and powerful.  We are no longer a democracy.

I’m still not being hyperbolic.  We, the people, are unable elect anyone who can reign in the rich and powerful.  In the last couple of decades there is not ONE SINGLE TIME when the needs of the people won out over the whims of the elite.  According to our very simple metric of whether the majority has control over the powerful or vice versa, WE JUST AREN’T A DEMOCRACY ANY LONGER.  Even our checks and balances are failing.  The Supreme court has devolved from being the ultimate objective arbiter to just another partisan mess.  The Bill of Rights, a document to protect our most important rights from both the government and the tyranny of the majority, has been gutted and left for dead.  Our system has failed.

So now what?  The great shining city on the hill, the last best hope for democracy in the world, no longer qualifies.  True patriots should be weeping and tearing their clothing.  Instead we look for easy scapegoats and fight amongst ourselves over meaningless bullshit.  We call each other names and demonize anyone who has an original thought or speaks up.  We put a lot of ourselves in jail.  Cynicism rules the day.  After all, don’t we have the government we deserve?

NO NO NO.  We deserve better.  I won’t give in to the hopeless.  This system is dead but from it’s bones a better, more evolved system can rise.  The Bill of Rights can be resurrected.  Elections can be made meaningful.  Fear and cynicism can be defeated.  Money and Corporations can take their rightful place at the BACK OF THE BUS.  This is the revolution that needs to come.  And soon.  So oil up those guillotines and pour powder into your muskets.  The American Spirit needs to rise again.  The tyranny of the elites will be ended.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion!

Today’s life lesson:  Even comments made by assholes can lead to interesting thoughts.  Here’s the story…

A while ago I was teaching some ‘at risk’ kids at a public institution.  After class one of the administrators, an asshole, came over and said “So, you think riding a harley, having tattoos and teaching martial arts makes you tough, huh?”.  I laughed in his face and walked away.  Later I couldn’t help but wonder about the question.  After all, any kind of self examination can be useful.

To begin with I don’t consider myself tough.  Those guys who wear our uniform over in Iraq or Afghanistan are tough.  Single mothers working two jobs while raising kids are tough.  I’m a goofball who prefers luxury hotels and high end restaurants to roughing it in the great outdoors.  Having said that I am a biker.  I’ve ridden long distances in hideous conditions.  I am heavily tattooed and some of that shit hurt.  I’ve trained in and taught martial arts for 25+ years and I’ve worked with some pretty edgy people.  I’m kind of loud and opinionated and I don’t back down very well.  There’s not much that intimidates me.  Maybe those things do qualify me as tough in a way.  But I think the asshole and his passive-aggressive question put the cart before the horse.

If I’m tough it’s not because of my hobbies or lifestyle.  I’m tough because I was raised by mean and abusive parents.  I’m tough because it seemed like the best way for a kid to survive in an ugly and dangerous family.  Toughness informs my choices, not the other way around.  Being a biker won’t make you tough, but being a little tough might make you a biker.

Look, abuse and ugly childhood experiences are way more common than you’re probably willing to admit.  Hell, nearly 20% of the kids in this country go to bed hungry on a regular basis.  Throw in bullying, absentee parenting, religious repression, shitty schools, and peer pressure and it’s a fucking wonder so many kids survive as well as they do.  If you spend too much time thinking about childhood in this country with an open heart you’ll weep uncontrollably.

Life’s experiences shape us all.  If those experiences are difficult or challenging one must find a way to cope.  There are relatively few ways for kids who face abuse or a harsh childhood to survive relatively intact.  Some people become addicts.  Some cower in fear.  Some get mean or violent or try to fuck up everyone else’s lives (politicians).  Many settle for repeating the abuse they themselves suffered.  And a few just get tough.  To me it might be the most enlightened choice.

Many of those adaptations are extremely negative and involve violence or abuse directed inwardly like addiction or outwardly like hate or fear.  Sometimes the connection is pretty obvious like when the abused kid buys a gun and shoots up a school or fills his veins with heroin.   Other times the adaptation is subtler, like lashing out at gay people or minorities.  Religious fundamentalism is perhaps just an expression of meanness caused by the self loathing of abuse.  As my friend Tim says, “Guns don’t kill people, bad parenting kills people”.

It’s really hard for a child of abuse or hard times to resist the temptation to ease his or her pain by spreading it to others.  But many of us do.  And we do it by being tougher than the impulse.  It’s funny because toughness isn’t a quality that this society seems to embrace any more.  We’ve replaced John Wayne and Steve McQueen with sparkly vampires and a lot of whining.  But toughness is good.  Ghandi said that only a man who understands his own capacity for violence can choose nonviolence in a meaningful way.  The same might be said of a man who carries the scars of hard times or abuse.  Only the ones tough enough to tolerate it can hope to know compassion and forgiveness.

I’m clearly not suggesting that every biker or martial artist is the product of an abusive home.  That would be ridiculous.  I am saying that our choices are shaped by the adaptations that our environments demanded.  Not the other way around.  So if you see someone who seems tougher than you are give them a smile.  They might be fighting the good fight.  And they are certainly the ones who will lead the revolution.  Vaya con Dios and Viva la Revolucion.