The Sage Observer

It’s Time For A Change

          When fantasy flows, everything glows; but, when it ends, life is grim. The great American fantasy, folks, is over; and it has been over for some time. It is just that we have been slow to open our eyes, our old living in the past relishing the afterglow of the prosperous fifties, and our young looking forward to conquering the world, unknowing of the past, taking the present for granted. Anyone knows that if you leave your purse, a symbol of your wealth, unattended in a shopping cart in a supermarket, there will be those who will try to steal it from you. Why in heaven’s name, therefore, would you not think there are those who would steal your rich and valuable democracy, and you the victim, be prepared to defend it?

          We understand the gun. As soon as a gun is fired, it has our attention. We act! We most certainly have no difficulty operating in that mode. Violence is our heritage. We have had one war after another throughout our history. We can win that kind of war whenever we want (when we are allowed—that is), but beware. Wars are the seen. It is the unseen by which we are threatened. It is the “thinking” wars wherein we fall short—where we are vulnerable and slow to act. It is the political con artists by whom we are threatened. Their propaganda, mind control, vast riches, and power are overwhelming, aided and abetted by our obsession with self, comfort, and other weaknesses. Not unlike a cancer, they spread and conquer while we “sleep”; and they are doing it now—right now, before your eyes!

          An election is coming. It will be here all too soon in November of 2016—the time will come quickly. Let us be awake and alert as well as informed of the issues—the seen and the unseen. In the course of political action by you, you not only have the power of your vote at the ballot box, you have the power of where you spend your money. If you support the corporations and the “big” money, that might just be what you get—their interests. If, on the other hand, you support those who represent the people, you just might get someone who supports you and your interests. If you study and do your best to “read between the lines”, you will find that this dilemma crosses party lines. The Corporatocracy and Power Elite who run our country isn’t bounded. Neither are they necessarily American or their interests American—witness the foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation (Ref: Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Government and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich by Peter Schweizer), outsourcing of jobs to slave labor abroad, i.e. globalization, the many corporate inversions (Ref: my blogs of July 7, and August 29 of 2014), and the massive decrease in government revenues from corporate income taxes over the past years.

Oh yes! Let me not forget the, also massive, tax cuts to the very rich, the top one percent of us, during the past thirty-five years. Do you remember when the top rate was around ninety percent? It is now down to thirty-five percent with some paying fourteen percent (Ref: Willard Romney’s tax return published before the last election). Trust me. That fourteen percent is much less than some of you are paying. Patriotism seems to stop when it comes to paying one’s fair share of taxes according to one’s ability to pay as should be the rule. And it doesn’t stop here. You don’t have to go very far. The average working man today doesn’t earn any more money (adjusted for inflation) than he did in the late seventies just before Reagan came into office. Pretty words don’t put food on one’s table (Ref: Capital In The Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty).

Well now—where does that bring us? For whom do we vote? At times, it seems we’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t—so to speak. In my mind, it’s time we vote for true representatives of the people. Not those who espouse the interests of the people and then, when the “rubber meets the road”, follow the demands of the “monied” interests, i.e. theirs—I’m not talking about those kind of representatives, the two-faced kind. I’m talking about those who truly have the interests of the American people and the nation at heart—party notwithstanding. I am talking about those who practice what they preach. Among others, not the least of whom are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. True populists, they represent the nation and the people.

There are many very serious threats confronting our nation today, domestic and foreign. I dare say they threaten our very sovereignty as a nation and a people. In my mind, however, one must have their domestic problems under control before they can address those that are foreign. You have heard the saying many times, “United we stand. Divided we fall”. Again, in my mind, as I have said many times before, our first and foremost problem as a nation is that we the people must take back our democratic republic from the control of the Shadow Government controlled by the Corporatocracy and Power Elite. Our government must, once again, return to being a government “Of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Representatives must represent the people, corporations must serve the people, and ALL must serve the interests of The United States of America. This says it all!

How do we do this? I hope you read this, Bernie Sanders.

We must take money out of elections, i.e. politics. By this I mean we must have taxpayer paid political campaigns. Taxpayers are paying the bill indirectly through prices they pay in the marketplace anyway. Where do we think these billionaires get their money in the first place? All direct contributions from any source, personal or otherwise, should be outlawed.

Standardized national regulations and controls should be established over all elections throughout the nation with the elimination of gerrymandering; and every qualified citizen must have the right to vote, including convicted felons who have paid their debt to society.

Control over all lobbying and lobbyists should be implemented including the prohibition of lobbyists becoming elected representatives and elected representatives ever becoming lobbyists.

Establish a system of public access to healthcare for every qualified citizen of our nation modeled after our present Medicare system. It should and must be funded from a stand-alone, self-liquidating fund similar to that presently administered by Social Security from which all expenses are paid and into which all designated tax receipts are deposited. All taxes collected for the fund must be identifiable as such and the tax rates adjusted each year so as to “even out” surpluses and deficits each year.

The Social Security fund must be revised to act as a reasonable retirement plan for any and all citizens when they retire. Income and payments to and from the fund should be automatically adjusted annually so as to “even out” surpluses and deficits each year and eliminate lost time and money wasted by constant political bickering.

We must implement a comprehensive reform of our Federal Tax System beginning with Federal Income Taxes. I’m sure this is already in writing and on the table. There are those who have been working on it for a long time. It’s just a matter of doing it. Obviously, it should be progressive in its rate structure and based on the “ability to pay principle” While I’m doing this, let me add an applicable comment. We know what our needs are, and we know what are needs are going to be. We know these things. We have been working on them for a long time. So let’s quit the s_ _t. Let’s raise the necessary taxes and “gitter done”. I believe Thomas Piketty (Ref: above) said the top rate should be around eighty-five percent. The life of our country is at stake. During the 50’s our nation experienced the highest standard of living in history (Yes, including the “little guy”) and the rich did all right for themselves in spite of their taxes. It’s past time for the “gluttons” to get off it.

A long range plan must be established to pay off the national debt and it must be mandated that the plan will be followed. In conjunction with this, we should remove the cap from our debt; and, again, eliminate lost time and money wasted by constant political bickering. It’s long past time to conduct the business of our government like the business it is. As I have said in past postings to my blog, our elected representatives should be big enough to make the right decisions about money management without being treated like a bunch of school kids.

Although there is much more, this is enough to swallow for one sitting, so I am going to sign off for now. I am also not going to comment about our threats from foreign sources. There are too many unknowns behind the scenes or under the table, rendering me vastly unqualified. But I do wish to add one last thought relating back to paragraph six, above. When we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, we were told something to the effect that we were going to bring democracy to them—to their people. I think our government should practice what they preach and bring democracy to America. Instead, our representatives, not unlike Judas of old, have sold us out for “pieces of silver”, i.e. money and graft.

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