Our Government of the Corporatocracy and Power Elite

          As you know, I have been talking about this subject for a very long time now. You may even be growing tired of hearing about it—probably are. But I really hope not. This should mean so very much to you, your children, your grandchildren, and all who follow whom you love. As I think about it, even those you don’t. Really! Our very democracy is at stake.

          As we look back over our nation’s history since its founding, we have come a long way, and we have changed mightily. Notwithstanding the many similarities that remain just below the surface, there is little comparison of what we were then to what we are as a people and a nation today. We were born on a farm, an agrarian people, raised in the city during the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and graduated to the current age of technology in which we live, today. We have seen an agricultural revolution, an industrial revolution, a revolution in technology; and, continuing throughout, not the least of which included a civil war, and a political and social revolution.

One can argue the details; but, essentially, our country was born in an age of mercantilism at the advent of capitalism which has given us the highest standard of living in the history of the world. It has, also, given us some of the deepest and longest depressions along with abject misery. Today we are seeing that what it has given us on the one hand, it has taken away with the other—a rapidly increasing disparity between the very rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots, unemployment, poverty, and misery. As prophesied by Joseph A. Schumpeter in his book, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, we are on the brink of seeing the self destruction of capitalism (just as we saw the self destruction of Socialism through Communism) and its evolution into an oligarchy of fascism—the death of democracy and our democratic republic. Those of you who are old enough surely remember Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini in the 1930’s and 40’s.

          Recently, PBS, The Public Broadcasting Service, an American broadcast television network, presented a program titled “The Roosevelts”, a commentary summarizing their history and that of our country from the beginning of the twentieth century through the end of World War II. It displays for all to see a picture of the rise in the Corporatocracy during the twentieth century and the great depression of the thirties. Before that, “tack on” the rise in the Corporatocracy in the eighteen hundreds and the following great depression of 1873. After that, “tack on” the rise again of the Corporatocracy in the last quarter of the twentieth century and the great recession of the first part of the twenty-first. In conjunction with that, take note of the great prosperity in this country during the fifties and sixties, the age of the middleclass, the greatest prosperity in the history of our nation, an age, relatively speaking, when the Corporatocracy was at a low point.

Now, look to the present. I ask you. With the Corporatocracy in control once again, where is the prosperity of the people now. I’ll tell you. It’s “down the drain”. The middle class is disappearing; the underclass is growing larger and larger, the top one percent has exploded, and we have millions of people (not on the books) unemployed, and many, men, women, and children homeless, sleeping in shelters, cars, under bridges, and on the streets while we walk around and over them every day. And where are the jobs? The answer is, they have been outsourced to slave labor overseas while many, too many, of the jobs that remain are priced at starvation wages. Just look at current welfare costs. Exclude corporate welfare, however, in your observation, as it is so great it obscures the welfare of the people.

          Am I opposed to business? No! Absolutely not! We need business. We need leaders. But we need them to serve the needs of man—to serve us. That is why man created business. That is why God created people with leadership abilities. We need business to serve. We need men (elected by the people) to lead. What we don’t need is for them to rule us. Service must be their priority—not profit. Profit is necessary. It is an expense of doing business (I have said this before) just like the rent or the electric light bill, wages, insurance, etc. The good of the nation, the good of the people—must be the objective of all. Rape and pillage of the people through theft and speculation by the Corporatocracy and Plutocracy (the Power Elite) is not acceptable.

          What do we do about this? How do we do it? We do it by doing our job as citizens in a democracy. Citizens have responsibilities beyond their back yard.

For one, we need, once and for all, to determine the direction in which our country should go and go there. Shifting back and forth, changing direction, every four or eight years is ludicrous and, in the end, unproductive and expensive. 

Next, we need to change our elected representatives, most of them anyway, getting rid of those who are just in their jobs for their own interests. We need representatives with values (we need people with values, too) who will sincerely represent the interests of the people.

Third, we need to amend our Constitution, keeping our Declaration of Independence, Preamble, Bill of Rights, and proceed from there. To this end, our first priority must be to take private money out of politics—every penny, lock, stock, and barrel. History has proven, if one penny is left, the thieves will find a way around the rules. All campaign financing must be paid through the medium of taxation. In conjunction with this, we need an amendment to provide for comprehensive voting law reform, which among other things; will eliminate the Electoral College and political gerrymandering thereby enabling the will of the people. I also believe every citizen should be allowed to vote, including convicted felons who have paid their debt to society, upon presentation of proper legal identification. Let us return to being a democratic republic of the people, by the people, and for the people. Let the people govern our nation—not multinational corporations and world governments. The foregoing are the greatest and most important issues facing our nation today because they are the very essence of our democracy, our democratic republic.

It is an obvious problem in our nation that we are badly in need of tax reform. Everybody, in one way or the other, needs the services of government, but they don’t want to pay for them. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, December 4, 1902 thru January 12, 1932, is quoted as having said, “I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.” The fact is (everybody knows this) our government needs revenues to provide the services our people need from government, and those revenues must come from the people and business. To that end, it is only fair that everyone must contribute to those revenues according to their ability to pay, and that ability must be determined by one’s income and wealth. Your politics notwithstanding, everyone knows that our tax laws are way out of kilter and obsolete; and everyone is not paying their fair share in accordance with their ability to pay. Everyone knows this. This needs and must be changed. We must increase the rates within our progressive system of personal taxation, and the effective rates of taxation upon corporations must be adjusted to reality, including the elimination of loopholes and corporate welfare. Corporate inversions must be controlled, if not eliminated, and our lost corporate revenues must be recovered even if we need to increase tariffs on imports to compensate for their loss.

Presently, our Constitution provides for only the Civil Rights of the people. The emphasis is on individuality. What it has not provided for, to date, is the Social Rights of the people (most do not recognize that). Socially, in conjunction with our emphasis, civilly, on individuality, the rule is survival of the fittest (let the devil take the hindmost). We need, in amending our Constitution, to provide for Social Security and Disability Protection, Public Access to Single Payer National Healthcare modeled after Medicare, National Unemployment Insurance, and Public Education, among others.  I have suggested taxpayer paid education pre K through the first four years of college or vocational school, which ever the student chooses, the goal being gainful employment for all. The details can be worked out but attendance would be mandatory with severe penalties for non-participation. Also, there must be no discrimination, money or otherwise. There must be equal opportunity for all. The results will more than pay for the expense in reduced welfare, prison population, and increased standard of living for the country as a whole. Did we not see comparable results from the GI Bill? That’s how I acquired my education. There was no silver spoon in my mouth when I was born at the bottom of the great depression. I was almost homeless.

We need to restore equal opportunity to our people—all the people. This does not mean guaranteed success. It means equal opportunity for success for all. As we are now, equal opportunity is a myth.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

P.S. Did I mention or say anything above about us needing war? I don’t think so. Although we might come to such, it should be only under our lifesaving need. War is negative productivity, gaining nothing in the long run except for the Corporatocracy and Power Elite. Really. What did we gain in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.?

A Selfie

I hope you will forgive my candor; but, over the years, I have observed that people in general (in our part of the world, anyway) seem to be narcissistic, lazy (mentally and physically), and more oriented toward comfort, ease, and entertainment, living a life of relative luxury and caring less for those less fortunate—if it ain’t in our back yard, to hell with it. They just need to get a job.

Except for the twenty-plus million who lost their lively hoods before and during the financial crisis of  2007 and 08 (and still haven’t found work) and those who have come to their senses since, most are still living beyond their means in a false economy, in debt up to their ears, personal and government, fat, ignorant, and deluded. For the most part, they haven’t experienced the poverty and misery of the 30’s (a side of the moon they have never seen) nor that of the present from which they have been temporarily saved, partially by financial safety nets carried forward from the past, e.g. Social Security, healthcare, unemployment insurance, etc., along with vast infusions of cash (borrowed money) by our government. Neither are they aware that, “as they sleep”, their livelihoods and their country are being stolen right out from under them by a Corporatocracy and Plutocracy (Power Elite).  This is sad; but, what is worse, we seem to not to want to know. We don’t want to deal with it. Let someone else. Our future generations—our children, grandchildren, don’t matter.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

You Know ²

          Despite our growing tolerance and de facto practice of sexual and social immorality, for the most part, in our country, fornication, adultery, and sexual sin remain socially unacceptable and legally de jure. We remain true to the Biblical standard until, you know, that special person comes along for whom we have that special attraction; and, you know, they, for whatever unknown reason, has that special attraction for us, you know; and then, all our needs come flowing out—you know (I must get all those “you knows” in there so as to keep up with the modern ignorance English which I hear all the time on television, C-span’s Washington Journal, for example), we just cannot help ourselves—the de facto cuts in. Insofar as our spouse is concerned, well, that’s another matter, now isn’t it? It’s hard to feel another’s hunger when our own stomach is being filled (or full), isn’t it—you know what I'm saying?

Time and events will pass until, down the road, we will revisit this question (That is if we haven’t been maimed, murdered, or consumed by the fire of nuclear warfare or other means of terrorism—our spouse for example). In the mean time, we will “mosey on”, doing our thing, creating children out of wedlock, single parent families, divorce, broken homes, running up the abortion meter and all those things—you know. Of course, Republicans will hate this because, you know, it runs up their taxes and all those things, you know, corporate welfare, outrageous executive wages, and tax favoritism notwithstanding—only Democrats do these things; and, well, everybody knows they are the bad guys, but we will leave a certain president for discussion later—you know what I’m saying?

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.

Culture Needs To Change

          The pundits say, “Throwing money at the education problem won’t help. We have spent billions to no avail” or something to that effect. “We have done this, and we have done that.” We give them welfare, housing, food stamps, and they just live on the dole, none of which has worked”. Perhaps so, but these responses, in my mind, do not fit the reality of the situation. Our problems are much more complex and consist of many variables, the greatest of which are cultural differences in the makeup of our people, differences which we have purposely nurtured over the past hundreds of years since our forefathers came to this land.

Until recently, we have purposely kept our black people segregated. We even enacted laws to insure such. As a result, they have been demeaned, degraded, under-educated, and left to live in poverty, deprivation, unemployment, crime, drugs, homelessness, and the list goes on. In that venue they have gone from a culture of slavery to one we see today. Now we throw a few trillion dollars at them and expect them to think as we think, act as we act, and compete with the rest of us economically on an equal footing as if the past never happened. I must also add that all this certainly hasn't occurred in a vacuum. Many white people have, for a variety of reasons, fallen or been sucked into this vacuum with them.  

I’m going to try and explain what I am trying to say using an analogy. Speaking in general, these people, our underclass (black and white) are like a sports team on a football field with their baseball suits on. We are expecting them to play football, and they are playing baseball. Our economy is capitalism (football)—supposedly highly competitive (another subject for another time). Throughout history we have held these folks in servitude, kept them in the dugout, effectively barred them from the game, and now we expect them to qualify? Are you kidding me? They’re not competitive. They’re not equipped. They don’t fit. They don’t meet the requirements. Of course there are exceptions here and there; there are those who have risen above all this; we all know that; but, by and large, they live in a different world than we do. We must still do all the other things previously discussed, i.e. jobs, education, housing, etc., but we must change the culture too. If we don’t, we are whistling Dixie—pouring money down the drain.

I hear one argument from the black community already. “You’re trying to make a ‘Whitey’ out of us.” No! I’m not!  I want you to become part of the middle class. I want you to have a higher standard of living. I want you and your family to live a better and safer life. I believe you want that too. I think you are sick and tired of sucking hind tit (I am too, by the way). The absolute fact of the matter is that our country can prosper only if our people can prosper, and you are part of our people. Rather than you and us, it must be “We”, we the people. I don’t mean this to be offensive, but let’s pull up our pants, roll up our sleeves, get ourselves educated, gain a vocation or trade, and go to work. And yes, we the people—all of us, are going to have to spend money and do that which is necessary in the process. May God Bless us all.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

A Great Nation

Do you know what it takes to have a prosperous, energetic, and thriving country? The answer is, it takes a prosperous, energetic, and thriving people. No nation, no institution is any greater than the sum total of its citizens or its members, their character, their values, their ambition and drive, their self-respect, their education, their quality of leadership—the degree to which they are civilized. If the people of a nation think only of themselves with little or no regard for their fellow man or their generations to come, they will eventually become a failed state. Have you ever asked yourself why people on our planet have existed for millions of years, and yet recorded history only goes back four thousand or so? Also, have you noticed, within this relatively short span of time (4,000 yrs.), how fast our degree of knowledge has grown and our civilization has expanded? Just think. Grandma and grandpa got away with not having to graduate from high school, but mom and dad had to Today, already, we almost need a college education just to get our “foot in the door”. Knowledge is literally exploding.

I remember back in 1964 while I was with a company in Illinois. There was a film published from BNA Films (I hope I remember the name correctly) on the subject of change. Using a chemical engineer as an example, the film stated that, if on December 31^st of a given year, the engineer was up to date and knew everything there was to know about chemical engineering and, for the next twelve months, all he had to do was study and keep updated on all changes in the science, at the end of the year he would be five years behind. The film went on to make the point that one who couldn’t adapt to change would be as out of place as a nudist trying to sneak through a barbed wire fence. That was fifty-one years ago. How far do you think that guy would be behind now? What will be the demands of our future if the economy of our nation will not be able to provide jobs and a decent standard of living for our people? Is there any doubt in anybody’s mind that education must be a major priority of our people?

Studies have shown us. The human mind learns the most in the early years of life. Positive attitudes and habits, values, knowledge, self-discipline, character, people and leadership skills, are begun during these years. To this end, education must begin in a child’s formative years, at home, in school, and in church or synagogue or wherever one worships, and continue on throughout life. This is a requisite for a strong, prosperous, and happy nation. Education must be mandatory, and it must be comprehensive. When we think of education, most of us think of jobs—math, science, and/or vocational skills; but a real education demands, also, learning in the arts, music, history, geography, social studies, business, finance, political science, and language, i.e. English, Latin, etc. A democracy demands the participation of all the people, and participation in a democracy demands the knowledge to responsibly fulfill the duty. Education and values are the direction we must follow for us to rise above ignorance, poverty, and degradation, i.e. unemployment, homelessness, crime, drugs, broken homes, gangs, and starvation.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net

The Riots In Baltimore

We have a racial problem in Baltimore. We have a racial problem in Ferguson. We have a racial problem all over this country. In fact, we have had a racial problem since before the beginning of our nation. There is no question about this, so why haven’t we done something about it? We know the problem. We know the problem well. Its history is well documented; and we know its causes and solutions—all of them. We are sleeping in the bed we made. So, are we going to solve the problem, or are we going to let it destroy us?

I’m going to discuss this problem; but, before I do, I want to share a few personal observations and opinions with you:

First, we have come a long way in this country since our beginning. Whereas, in the beginning, the color of a man’s skin made a difference, I believe that is no longer totally true—not for all of us, at least. On the one hand, over the years, I have come to know, like, and respect many colored people very much. On the other, there are many whom I don’t like at all and avoid as much as possible. Then again, there are many white people whom I don’t like either for many of the same reasons, and I do my best to avoid them, too. As I think about it, it’s not the color of their skin I dislike. It’s their behaviour. I submit to you that our racial problem today isn’t race. The problem isn’t color. Our people today are more tolerant than ever. The root of the problem today is the behaviour of people—human behaviour. The solution to our racial problems will never be found until we address human behaviour. Then, we will immediately recognize that the problem affects both colored and white—vastly exacerbated by poverty, spawned by joblessness, broken homes, single parent families, lack of education, gangs, drugs, crime, and on and on. Books have been written about this, but the point here is that xenophobia is not the real issue. I believe most of us have risen above that.

Second, there are, at the very least, two extremely important professions serving our nation and our people everyday who in my opinion are underrated, underpaid, and from whom, sometimes, we expect and demand just too much—not infrequently, their very life. I am talking about our police men and women and our teachers. Yes, there are bad ones and there are good ones, but that’s what we pay managers for—to weed out the incompetent whom we shouldn’t have hired in the first place. We can do that.

Third, our Constitution was written from a purely civil perspective. In the very beginning, our Articles of Confederation didn’t even enable us to pay our bills—we couldn’t pay our army to fight the war. There was no provision for taxes; blacks were property; women couldn’t vote; we were effectively a dysfunctional nation, thirteen sovereign countries under one umbrella, the United States of America. When we finally adopted our Constitution, ratified in 1788, blacks were still considered property and women still couldn’t vote. In fact, our bill of civil rights wasn’t included either. It came later. Social rights, on the other hand, were not included in the Constitution at all. Socially, it was survival of the fittest and let the devil take the hindmost as it remains, for the most part, today. One would be deaf, dumb, and blind today, if he didn’t know who is advocating that. My point is that we need to add our social rights to our Constitution as we have our civil rights, an issue almost never mentioned.

Fourth, let me offer one more opinion before I go any further. An ideology of “survival of the fittest and let the devil take the hindmost” is immoral, reprehensible, sickening, and uncivilized. Such is certainly not advocated by Christian Doctrine which implores us to “love our neighbor as ourselves”. It’s inhuman. Animals deserve better treatment. To even approach a position of validity, such a position must be predicated upon the belief that we are all born equal, which is definitely untrue. We are all born equal in the eyes of God; we are all, supposedly, born equal in the eyes of the law; but we are not born equal when we are born. We are born different physically, mentally, sexually, and develop differently from a multiple variety of environmental differences, i.e. geographical, family, religious, political, and economic, etc. Under our law, the constitution, we (everyone) deserves equal opportunity to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, personally, socially, and economically, race, creed, and color notwithstanding. For this to happen, our Constitution must provide for our social needs as well as our civil needs. We are human beings—not property to be bought, sold, and used at the whims of the rich and powerful for their personal comfort and pleasure.

Now, let’s get to our problems and their solution, which, if we don’t solve to the satisfaction of all, I predict will erupt in a ball of fire, misery, and death—sooner, if not later, your choice.

I know I must sound like a broken record; but, first we must take back our democracy for the people, stolen from us by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite. We must eliminate all private money from politics, imposing strong penalties upon any and all abusers. I mean prison sentences for offenders. Our Congress must return to representing the people rather than the multi-national corporations and the very wealth, aka Plutocrats. Our corporations were created by man to serve man—not to rule over him.

Second, we must establish comprehensive voting and election reforms, including provision for a system of multiple parties. This only took one sentence to write; but it is of major importance to all of us.

Third, if we are to eliminate poverty, increase the standard of living and well being of our people, and return our nation to prosperity, we must enable job creation. We must educate our people (All OF THEM), and we must make it mandatory for all to the fullest extent of their abilities, beginning at Pre K through four years of college. Those who prefer not to attend college should be provided with vocational training as an alternate, the goal being to insure that everyone has a job skill and is qualified to hold a job. Everyone who is able must work. Everyone possible, regardless of color, must have equal opportunity, cradle to the grave, to support themselves. School dropouts must be illegal. This education must be taxpayer paid.

Fourth, every citizen should have public access to single payer healthcare, i.e. Medicare for all. This must be a standalone fund financed on a “pay as you go” basis, as is Social Security, by a special progressive income tax earmarked for that purpose and should not be part of the national budget. It must not run a deficit (I firmly believe this, properly managed, will have an extremely favorable impact on total healthcare costs as well as the achievement of a balanced budget “down the road”.

Fifth, Social Security must be brought up to date and continued with livable benefits. As at present, it must continue to be a standalone fund financed on a “pay as you go” basis financed by a special income tax. I believe we should remove the cap from the present tax; and, if necessary, amend it to a progressive tax. In any event, it should not be part of the national budget or run a deficit.

Sixth, and certainly not least, everyone, corporations as well as people, should and must pay their fair share of taxes in accordance with their ability to pay. Patriotism must be requisite to all. We desperately need and must have national tax reform.

In summary, we must enable the restoration of our middle class and the advancement of our underclass to the fullest extent possible. If we can’t restore the standard of living of our people and our democracy, we will never be able to help the rest of the world.

Ronald Miller

Email me at mtss86@comcast.net