Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Scary Words

I am saddened when some fixate upon the words "democratic socialism," and are scared by it.  For it is merely what we use in this age to describe the governments of our closest allies in the world. Though in past ages, the essential principles have been called by other names. 

In 1792, James Madison wrote... (And if anyone doesn't know that name, he was the author of about half of the Federalist Papers, and who took part in drafting the Constitution and Bill of Rights) ...anyway, James Madison wrote a piece for the National Gazette[1] in which he listed some essential principles of what he called "republicanism" to clarify the differences between such a philosophy and the unfortunate events that were taking place in France at the time, under the same name.

"The great object should be to combat the evil" he began, firstly "By establishing a political equality among all"

And yet, today a few are allowed to use unlimited funds to buy some politicians, and to threaten others with slander, even though the natural sensibilities of almost every American tells us there must be a remedy to such madness [2]

Second on Madison's list: "By witholding unnecessary opportunities from a few to increase the inequality of property by an immoderate, and especially an unmerited, accumulation of riches" 

Oh my, such controversy!

Thirdly; "By the silent operation of laws which, without violating the rights of property, reduce extreme wealth towards a state of mediocrity and raise extreme indigence towards a state of comfort"

By what name might we call this by today?

"4. By abstaining from measures which operate differently on different interests, and particularly such as favor one interest at the expense of another" 

And yet today, the Donald Trumps of the world are allowed to steal your land, kick you out on the street, and call you a slob to boot.

Now some may argue that what some rich old white guy wrote 224 years ago is of little importance today. And while there may be merit to such an argument, it cannot then be argued that his ideas are too forward-thinking--too optimistic--I dare say, TOO RADICAL for us to embrace in the year 2016.

No! Far from discarding these ideas, we must try to universalize them, to benefit every woman and man, of every ethnicity and creed, of whatever gender or orientation, and regardless the circumstances of one's birth. 

I've seen enough hearings and legislative sessions on C-Span to know that Senator Sanders stands for such principles tirelessly, unabashedly, and without regard for the direction that the political winds have blown. This is why I believe he has earned our vote. 

If we don't accept the opportunity for a peaceful revolution today--and instead--allow the rich to become more powerful, while the rest of us are pressed more deeply into subservience, it seems rather inevitable that our children and grandchildren can expect tumults more like what the French faced in 1792 instead.


Footnotes:

[1] http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch15s50.html

[2] http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-09-28/bloomberg-poll-americans-want-supreme-court-to-turn-off-political-spending-spigot

Monday, January 11, 2016

"Runaway Inflation"

We've all heard this absurd myth regarding the presidency of Barack Obama.  In 2009, the far-right media pundits mentioned it at least once per hour.  Even on the mainstream media, there were no shortage of idiotic pundits spewing nonsense about how we'd all be having to buy bread with wheelbarrows full of cash.  After 7 years however, the results are incontrovertible, and so, the lunatic fringe seldom talks about runaway inflation anymore. Here is how the last four two-term presidents have performed on the issue at hand:

click image to increase size

In case the reader is curious as to how one-term president George H. W. Bush fared in this regard, inflation was more than double during the four years he was president, than what it was during 7 years of Obama:

click image to increase size

In fact, the last president who served a full term, to preside over a smaller rate of inflation, was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who left office 65 years ago:


As such, it is safe to assume that those pundits who warned of hyperinflation have a complete absence of credibility on any subject whatsoever.