Saturday, January 23, 2010

Unwilling-Dystopia 2010

I have decided to move things around again and try out some new formats and so on. Internet technology is constantly on the move and I intend to keep things interesting. The former format was very unappealing and really had only been a stopgap format that I used in lieu of format that I actually liked. I was very busy and unable for quite some time to fix this site's formatting adequately, therefore I deemed it prudent to have something online in a format I didn't care for versus having nothing online in a format that did not work.

Point of note: The "Rantings of a Mad Man" and "Highlighted Topics" sidebars will be making a return in the near future.


Cheers!
FlyFreeForever

Something's Wrong With Our World

Something is wrong in our world when the interests of the few outweigh the interests of the many.  Not unlike feudal Europe with lords and peasants, today is ever increasingly divided by wealth.  Corporatism has overtaken this nation and indeed this world in the past thirty years or so.  Corporations, granted the rights of people, with the wealth and influence that no one person could wield, have broken down wall after wall of protections set up to limit their influence on the political sphere, the economic market, and labor.

What can we say of a nation which decides it is legal for businesses, whose wealth is not in question, to play any role in setting the rules which restrict them?  In what just world is it ok for those who are looking out for themselves to decide how this game we call society will be undertaken.  In the end corporations are our lords and we are their peasants.  They own us.  From the clothes we wear to the food we eat.  Lead paint, cheap unhealthy foods, restrictions on welfare, the non-guarantee of Social Security, the forcing of Americans who cannot afford to heat their own homes to pay for health care they can't use  -- examples of corporations run amok.

Peasants depended on their lords for protection, for food, and housing.  They provided labor for the lord in exchange for meager living.  Poor homes, long hours, the force fleecing of the labor-force, and the fighting of the lord's wars against other groups.  We have poor homes, we work long hours or no hours if the jobs go elsewhere because it's cheaper, we train our replacements, we work for a pension that disappears and contribute to Social Security which is not promised to provide for us one day, and we fight wars which make companies like Haliburton rich on the backs of America's new peasant class.

It is corporatism plain and simple and we must fight it.  The rich do not deserve to get richer off our labor.  We are worth proper and equitable health care, food, education, and living conditions the same as the CEO's of any major company.  If not for us, there would be no them.  We must stand up.  We must challenge the system of corruption which has installed the puppets of corporatism into our nation's capital before it is too late.  We have been sent reeling these last few years, blows flurrying from every direction and no were to turn, no where to hide, nowhere left to breathe.  We must fight.  We must reject corporatism.  Stop buying from profiteering companies.  We have the skills to fend for ourselves.  They must realize that it isn't us that are dispensable.  It is them.

IT IS THEM!

Thursday, January 14, 2010

State of Affairs

There are two clear groups forming in this nation currently and while political, they are not divided between Democrats and Republicans.  Rather, on the surface they are played as radicals and centrists.  That is radical Republicans and radical Democrats.  Anyone who does not adhere to the status quo is a radical.  Granted that is the definition of radical for some, granted in political circles, traditionally it isn't.  In politics, "radical" used to be fringe.  Indeed that is how radical is being painted today by those who support the status quo-- the centrists.  However, these are labels by the status quo and are useful for several reasons, however primarily because in labeling their opposition "radicals" through the political model currently in practice, we have radical Democrats and radical Republicans.  Therefore, radicals are divided amongst themselves as well as divided against the status quo.

In actuality the goals of both groups of radicals is the changing of the status quo.  While the centrists will argue that the differences between these radicals are irreconcilable, because they come from different directions and want different things, this is patently untrue.  In fact it is an outright falsehood.  All radicals of which I speak want the same thing.  They want the promises of their childhoods, of this nation, of justice to be fulfilled.  They want to have a good job, to be secure in their person, to be healthy, and to feel good about themselves -- to be prideful of their ability and their successes.  The only difference between these radicals lies in how this may be done.  The roadblock is the status quo.

There are groups in this nation that want things to remain how they are.  While the status quo in itself is not a bad thing, in instances such as this where the status quo harms a majority of this nation's people, it is downright evil.  The top 5% of the people of this nation by wealth control now 98% of this nation's assets.  This must change.  Period.  So long as tyranny of the majority by a few wealthy business owners continues, this nation's people will not be happy.

The radicals of both sides must join together to fight this, "socialists" and teabaggers, because when we fight each other, we will always lose.  Centrists depend on us fighting each other because there are far more of us than them.  If we fight them we'd easily win together, but if we focus on each other then they win.  The status quo remains because of inaction.  Fighting will not work.  Stalling legislation will not help.  And compromise will not help.  We must do both.  For health care there must be both a public option and a private option.  It also must be cheap for all people.  For education there must remain competetive public and private options.  For gun-laws there must be a reasoned approach.  In places where gun violence is high -- urban areas -- gun laws must restrict ownership and possession.  In rural areas where gun violence is lower, gun laws must be more lax.  Likewise, children must be taught to respect firearms for their protective and potential destructive power.  They must be a tool of protection not oppression.  There must be incentives for small business to bring jobs back to our cities, towns, and ruralities.  And a balance must be struck which not only removes the trade deficit but does so intelligently.  For each industrial product imported another of equal value must be exported.  For each crop imported another must be exported.  For each service imported, another must be exported.  Attention to the restrictions of our natural materials must be taken into account instead of market trends and profit.

All of these ideas accomplish BOTH the goals of the radical Republicans and radical Democrats, who in actuality are a majority of Americans.  The only way to accomplish these goals is to stand up and fight for them.  Non-violence is key; violence turns off the public and radicalizes you.  If we do nothing to stand up for ourselves, we will continue to be de facto supporters of the status quo which detriments 95% of Americans.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Winter Break

What a boring winter break!  I'm almost glad, scratch that, I'm very glad that it's almost over.  I don't have that much to say though, so I'm not going to try to force something.  I'll get back to my blog when I'm more stimulated to say something.  Hopefully everyone else has had a good break and I hope 2010 is less busy than 2009.

Peace,

FlyFreeForever