And separate their political party and politics from the liberty of the freely made decisions in their daily lives.
How important is it to have electricity in your home? How does it get there? Who makes this delivery system possible?
How much do you enjoy having a safe fresh meal on your table three times a day? How is this made possible?
Do you travel? Eat out of your home on a regular basis? Ever wonder about the people it takes to make your night out or your relaxation time enjoyable?
I do!
When I contemplate how awesome it is that I was born and raised in the nation where people have the greatest liberty ever witnessed in the history of the world, I'm grateful.
Further, I contemplate the awesome responsibility that comes with this opportunity.
A nation that offers anyone willing to educate, learn, grow, take risks, work hard and persist to achieve anything their hearts desire.
From this I think back to my original questions.
Do other citizens think about the West Virginia miners who dig the coal from deep within our magmatic mountainsides to fuel our electrical generation plants?
How about the migrant workers who harvest crops each citizen depends upon for the nutritious meals on the table three times a day. Does that migrant worker deserve health care and a living wage?
How about the maid service in the room you enjoy while on a business trip, or on vacation? Or the table cleaner or dishwasher of your favorite restaurant?
I understand that the great economic engine which drove our collective achievements were on the backs of the hard labor of and with the full participation of all the people in America from all walks of life and from every socioeconomic background. These people drove the economic engine of our industrial age under the collective bargaining agreements of their unions and the under the regulatory eye of the peoples representatives.
People prospered as individuals. And as their discretionary income grew they spent money on consumption of goods and services beyond those absolutely necessary for the safety and security of their family living.
These expenditures were made possible by citizens comfort that the greatest social programs on earth were put into place raising generations of people out of poverty were promises to be available for them as their retirement planning projected they would be when that time came.
These programs along with defined benefit programs (union pensions) put people in position to retire with a standard of living above the poverty line. And these same people were kept out of poverty due to an adverse health condition by a social program called medicare/medicaid; a nationally sponsored health insurance program.
These programs have not failed our country, they have made our country stronger. The social security program is solvent through at least 2037.
Medicare is projected to be secure through 2024. The Social Security Disability Trust Fund needs some immediate regulatory action as it is projected to be solvent only through 2016.
Due to the unacceptable temporary tax breaks and poor budgeting by politicians who have been trying for decades to undo these systems, these system are NOT to be touched at this point in time.
During the last 50 years politicians carved out civil and regulatory rules and laws that favor one party over another. Some business entities own tax subsidies (tax spending) that allows them a special beak no other industry receives. The tax base is not as broad as it ought to be in the corporate world partly due to accounting gimmicks known as generally acceptable accounting principles and partly due to the tax code.
The average citizen does not have the time, education and interest to think about West Virginia Miners, Migrant Farm Workers, Table Cleaners or Dishwashers when they make buying decisions for their families safety and security needs.
The time's come to widen the average citizens view of America, to move them beyond political partisan bickering in order to have substantive factual discussions about what brought us to where we are today, and to discuss what is the best path to move the whole country forward.
My internal bias is politicians sitting in Washington DC, maybe elected due to gerrymandering, or political redistricting; or by flat out lying to their constituents when it is these very individuals whom have underfunded our Federal Government for decades.
Why is it that congress allows corporations to take risk, claim bankruptcy, and wash away all debt obtained obtained taking risk and do NOT allow individual citizens to claim bankruptcy and was away all of their debt obtained taking risk?
Why is it some of these vary politicians have the audacity to call fellow citizens "Takers"? Make statements like 47% of us are irresponsible and won't take responsibility for our lives?
Calling the elderly, the migrant farm worker, the table clearer and dish washer "Takers" because they work in a careers that do not offer healthcare or a living wage.
And since the wage paid for these services does not allow these workers to afford the basic standard of living such as food, clothing, a roof over their head and food on their table they enroll in a program for living assistance, food assistance, health care assistance, etc...... they are "Irresponsible Takers"?
If these folks did not perform the jobs that they do, who would clear tables, wash dishes, pick crops so the rest of us can enjoy the three square meals on our table or the business trips or vacations we take each year.
Tell me, how cutting our most successful programs makes America stronger, it doesn't, it divides us and makes us weaker.
Open your eyes, we succeed or fail together, not divided!
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