Rant part deux!

I'm not really a political person, although I do make sure to vote. Don't get me wrong, I most definitely have my ideas, I just mostly keep them to myself. Not worth arguing about usually. I'd like to continue with the idea that I need to quit reading and watching documentaries and the news, since it alternately pisses me off and scares the hell out of me. Mostly I worry about the future of our country and planet and what kind of shape it's going to be in for my boys as they grow up. I can make my own personal efforts to make a difference for me and my family, but usually feel helpless on a larger scale. This becomes especially true living in Utah with a liberal viewpoint. There I said it, I am, "gasp", a liberal. I don't know where or when that became such a dirty word, but I think it's time it was embraced again. Not that I really have any answers, I am not educated enough or well versed enough to provide them, but I have had these thought roiling around in my head for a few weeks and wanted to get them out.



To fix what ails this country you need to go the base or root of the issue and work up from there. To start, everything comes back to money, so if you want to find any answers follow the money. That brings me to my first thought, to bring about any significant change (on the government side of things), whether it be in health care, finance reform, or anything for that matter, there will first have to be campaign finance reform. Politicians spend far too much time trying to rake in contributions when they should be governing. Then of course there is all the influence those contributions bring, and you can't tell me it doesn't, because if it didn't work you wouldn't be seeing the millions poured into campaigns. That flow needs to be shut off. I'm not sure how or if it would work, but I think there needs to be strictly government funded elections with no private donations. With the way news coverage is everywhere and the ease with which information can be distributed online, I have to believe there is no need for exorbitantly priced campaigns. Bring back going door to door to spread your message, or town halls, or even online forums. Those who vote on the issues will seek out the information, for those who vote strictly based on what animal is next to your name the information doesn't matter anyway. Maybe without corporate money influences, there can be more honest open debate about what's best for the population as a whole.



Last week Exxon Mobil announced earnings for the first three months of the year of $6.3 billion dollars. Are you kidding me in three months they profited $6 billion dollars? That is difficult to comprehend that much money. Ford Motor company posted first quarter profits of $2 billion dollars (pre-tax). I kind of think corporations could be paying a little higher taxes on these obscene profits. I don't buy that taxing them more is going to shut down the economy, especially with all the millions they'll be saving by not having to donate to campaigns.



Health care has gotten out of control we're paying more and more, and receiving less care, and it just seems to continue to spiral upward. The health care bill was great for getting insurance for uninsured, but it really didn't address the problems of what the system is doing to everyone else. I haven't got a clue what to do about that. What I do think is that people need to try and live healthier lives, try to make people healthy before they get sick. If we go to a large root of the problem, it is what and the way people eat. I heard a statistic on TV that in twenty years, 75% of the population of Texas will be obese. People need to become educated about where there food comes from, and what it is we are eating. I think the documentaries Food Inc. and the World According to Monsanto, should be required viewing for everyone. I know it's not feasible to feed the world organically, but what food industry corporations have done to our food supply is criminal. What may be worse is what has been done to the government oversight of the industry and the departments that are supposed to keep citizens safe and healthy. I would really like there to be labelling for any food I purchase that has been genetically modified, I don't think that's too much to ask. Some of the information about food is really scary. As a corollary to this, people need to get off their ass and do something, anything, just be a little bit more active. I feel that if people lived healthier, then we wouldn't have as many reasons to go the the doctor, and maybe health care costs could come down.

I am of the general opinion that the US should not be policing the world. I don't feel we belong in Iraq or Afghanistan, but I'm not sure how we leave, or even if we should at this point. I would really like it for all the troops to come home, not sure if they can. The fact that we spend thirty times as much on defense as the next highest country is ridiculous. Maybe it's time we looked at pairing that down to say fifteen times as much, we should still be safe, and I bet we might be able to lower the national debt. There are enough domestic problems to worry about without trying to fix places halfway around the world that are trying to blow us up for being there.

I'm not touching immigration. No easy or good answers.

We are falling behind the rest of the world when it comes to education. This should not happen. Teaching needs to become an honored profession again, complete with the financial incentive to make it worth it. How can we hope to have a bright future unless we can educate the next generation to lead us there? Maybe some of that military savings could go toward education as well.

I'm slowing down on my rant, I think it's time to pack it in. I feel so much better now! Always good to get things off your chest! Maybe now I can go back to writing funny things about my kids, only 6 weeks left of school, not sure what's going to happen after that.