To understand the underlying goals of the current administration you need to know one name: James McGill Buchanan.

He was an economist who felt that our shared democracy imposed an intolerable burden on the rich and (shockingly) that this democracy needed to be overthrown in favor of the rights of billionaires.

The radical right of today owes its power to the relentless pursuit by the Koch Brothers and others of this despotic vision to retain all wealth for the owners, and away from the “greedy” nation (and its people).

This end goal has been shrouded in secrecy but the results (austerity for the poor and middle classes, more favors lavished on the rich) are becoming visible in the current health care debacle and will become  even more clear in upcoming tax proposals.

Understanding their true goals (total hamstringing of any government restrictions on capital) should strengthen our resolve to resist this evil and greedy cabal.

I don’t get it. If I advertise that a bottle of snake oil will make men tall, fit and handsome with no effort, and make women slim and beautiful, ditto, then I will be indicted for fraud and at a minimum have my product removed from the market and have a hefty fine levied.

And yet, when politicians lie about far weightier matters (WMD’s in Iraq; Global warming is a hoax; Tax  breaks for the rich grow the economy) they seem to have a free pass. Even when their lies are immediately shown to be untrue, and followed by other lies, nothing ever happens.

We need an institution that is free to investigate and expose these outrages. Oh yeah, it’s called a free press. And those who neck-slam or verbally attack reporters need to be shunned by every responsible person, not praised and elected (or re-elected).

We will hear a lot this Memorial Day about freedom. I have to ask whether the freedom discussed is really the freedom we need.

We owe a tremendous debt to the men and women who fought and died in WWII. That indeed was a struggle to defeat a monstrous threat to the freedom of everyone in the world.

But since then our wars have been more about freedom for U.S. corporations to dominate other countries economically, and for us to have in place compliant regimes which would abet our efforts at global domination.

FDR knew that freedom for the individual required economic independence. Tremendous effort has gone into reducing that freedom by the erosion of unions, the outsourcing of good jobs, and the predations of insurance and financial corporations. All have effectively reduced our freedom to live a full and meaningful life.

As we mourn those who died fighting for our freedom, let us resolve to continue the fight for economic freedom, now more endangered than ever.

We are all familiar with the concept of shock absorbers. We know that when they work well, we have a smooth ride but when they break any pothole becomes magnified into a traumatic earthquake-like disturbance.

Our oceans are today functioning as those shock absorbers for our climate-changing emissions. The oceans have absorbed zetajoules of heat and are already expanding, leading to sea level rise. They have also absorbed gigatons of CO2 leading to ocean acidification, which can end up destroying the oceanic food web we all depend on.

Don’t wait until our global shock absorbers break down under the stress. Keep pushing for the kind of measures California is leading on; renewable-energy powered cars, adding costs to pollution-spewing industries and conserving energy where we can.

If we were aliens exiled from our home planet and seeking across the universe for a new home, just imagine how spectacularly beautiful our planet Earth would appear.

Abundant supplies of fresh water; ecosystems of miraculous complexity; and an atmosphere suitable for life, with weather mild enough to grow food and supply abundant opportunities for recreation.

If you look anew at our planet as that miraculous oasis, then you should be willing to do all in your power to resist the capitalist greed emanating from Washington D.C intending to despoil everything beautiful those aliens (and us) are seeking.

Our beautiful planet is at grave risk. Please resolve to take bold action to keep our beautiful home safe from being destroyed by these inhuman capitalist oligarchs.

Our nation is sleepwalking towards disaster. We have allowed our democracy to degenerate into a corporatocracy. We are allowing our so-called leaders to gut the environmental, financial, and electoral protections so painfully won over the past century.

Money is at the root of this evil. As long as politicians care only about getting re-elected, and as long as elections go to the ones with the most money, the .1% will continue to define our destiny.

Supporting AB14, the California Clean money act will at least let us see who is pulling the financial strings that play the tune that our craven politicians dance to. Perhaps that will energize the national wake-up movement that we need so badly.

 

Sad to say, we have become like post-invasion Iraq. Our politics have now become violently sectarian, with each side not trusting the other, and not willing to share power with the hated opposition.

Given this fact, the Democratic opposition must clarify its position, and stop being the party of Republican-lite.

Until the opposition party defines itself in outright progressive fashion, and cuts its close ties to Wall Street and its corporate donors, it will correctly be perceived as part of the problem rather than a potential solution.

It is clear by now that people are looking for an alternative to Trump’s radical attacks on democracy and good government. We must relentlessly return the Democratic Party to its roots, and have it restore its relationship with the working class in America rather than continue to speak progressive while acting corporate.

 

A few years ago during the Arab Spring, citizens tried to throw off the yoke of authoritarian regimes, and move towards true democracy. Ironically, in this American Spring we seem to be moving swiftly in the opposite direction.

We have as our leader someone who has empowered extremist oligarchs to eliminate many of our hard-won protections, seeking to impose a free-for-all atmosphere, where corporations are free to pollute the environment and exploit their customers.

This in conjunction with appointing a group of racist anti-government extremists to positions of great authority, the other half of the White House “wrecking crew” currently taking devastating aim at what remains of our democratic institutions; the courts, universities, a free press and respect for the truth in general.

In the face of this attack on our freedoms we must register and vote, resist and organize to save what’s left of our great national heritage.

If you think that income and wealth inequality in the United States are growing ever more dire, you should Google Economy for the Common Good. Instead of focusing purely on profits (which enrich the shareholders and corporate executives while ignoring any and all costs to society), it measures those  things that matter to the whole of society. Things like:

Do products and services satisfy human needs?
How humane are working conditions?
How environmentally-friendly are production processes?
How ethical are sales and purchasing policies?
How are profits distributed?
Do women and minorities receive equal pay for equal work?
Are employees involved in core, strategic decision making?

These matters are being seriously considered at the highest levels in Europe. Since we have worse inequality than they, perhaps we should be considering them too. It could also provide a popular alternative to Trump’s emerging non-regulated extreme Capitalism.

A good article about the common good economy

We all know the term “Crocodile tears” as representing rank hypocrisy, feigning grief at something that was really intended.

We need a new term “GOP-odile tears” for the rank insensitivity shown by Trump/Mulvaney while taking a meat-axe to the Federal budget. Justifying cuts to the PBS budget, they claimed that “a coal miner should not have to pay for public TV”. Where were the Republicans when countless miners lost their pensions in owner-friendly bankruptcy proceeedings? Where were the Republicans when mine owners deliberately evaded OSHA regulations and miners died?
Answer: taking campaign donations from those same owners, and little more.

We need politicians who care more about their constituents than their campaign bankers.