The candidates really can’t talk about unemployment, can they?  You may say it’s because unemployment in our country isn’t anywhere near the worse it’s ever been.

I’m sure that Obama and Clinton have spoken about under-employment.  This is where an American, indeed, has a job, but the job doesn’t pay enough to raise a family of two.

So they won’t speak about unemployment but sometimes will talk about underemployment.  But this nation isn’t really suffering from either.  It’s suffering from overemployment.  Yep, unemployment numbers look promising if one doesn’t take into account the fact that, many times, the very same person may hold jobs for two different employers and still fail to make ends meet.  What are they going to do about “overemployment”, the condition under which people spend their entire life being employed?

None of the candidates have made the campaign promise to re-level the playing field so that it’s once again fair for American workers.  This, of course, can only be done by turning back the clock to the time when tariffs ensured that Americans wouldn’t lose their jobs because they’re unwilling to work for a few dollars a day.

It’s gotten so we “Progressives” have become satisfied with what Obama and Clinton have proposed to solve the problem of accessible health care, although neither propose what’s right and just.   

This country has a name, The United States of America (although, in truth, it’s The Former United States of America) and it’s represented by a very lovely flag. 

However, this country isn’t its name nor is it a smartly designed piece of cloth.  This country is the land and the people who inhabit that land.  Fighting for one’s country does not have to entail uniforms and weapons.  In fact, I know that this is an unpopular position to take, but the military personnel in Iraq are not fighting for the land and the people who inhabit the land which is called The United States of America and is represented by a tri-colored flag.  Those who killed and died in Vietnam were not fighting “for their country” either. 

What’s right and just is for the citizens of this nation to become “real world” patriots and fight for their country by defending the land and the people that inhabit it.  If we stopped paying for our military and its wars, we could all fight for our country by paying to help those who’ve been tossed aside like worn wash rags by greed-filled, wealth driven corporate humanoids.  That’s not only right and just, but it’s patriotic as well.  It not only supports our troops, it supports all of us.

I admit I’ve presented the problems.  Some may think that this is a War And Peace length bitch session.  I’ve not proposed a solution.

Many of my articles do point to the cracks in the walls, but I’ve been known to recommend steps towards solutions.

I really hate to pick on old Thom Hartmann again.  As an aside, I think the reason I express disappointment in some of the things that Thom says is because of the great admiration I have for him and for what I believe he really stands for.  He lets it slip out on occasion and it’s nothing like what Kerry, Clinton (either of them) or Obama propose.  I think when someone to whom one looks up says or does something that we know is somewhat disingenuous it hurts a whole lot worse than when someone that we expect to be a dick is a dick.

Nonetheless, Hartmann suggests contacting members of Congress.  If any of you have made a habit of doing that as I have you’ve probably got the reams of form letters and letters “agreeing with” you while disagreeing with you.  If you save emails, you’ve probably got folder upon folder of the same kind of communications.  You’ve probably spoken to enough interns to be able to make a decision concerning which ones to hire and which ones not to hire (thought I was gonna say something nasty about Bill Clinton, didn’t ya?).

Contacting members of Congress about the welfare of our nation is akin to contacting the fox concerning the welfare of the hens.  The addiction to money and other favors that can be and are provided by wealthy lobbyists representing wealthy “special interest” groups trumps your phone call, email or letter any day.  Asking members of Congress to fix a process which, as is, benefits members of Congress has been, at least for me, a joke in the genre known as black humor.

Another solution is to go to Democratic Party meetings and become active in the party.  To a certain extent, one may be successful doing that.  However, just as software providers always include a “free trial” of the next best thing within the packaging of the “thing” we purchase hoping that we’ll pay for the “next best thing”, attending local Democratic Party meetings makes it clear that in order to proceed to the “next best thing”, one has to begin to pay.

Electing Democrats, it’s been suggested, no matter how much what they say sounds like what a Republican would say, would at least get a Democrat in place.  Makes sense to me.

 1  |  2  |  3  |  4