A recent poll showed that by a narrow margin Republican voters support a public option in the health care bill. Overall the poll shows that voters in general prefer the public option by much better than 2-1.
Senators must decide whether they represent their constituents or the insurance industry. We are about to find out exactly which senators the insurance industry has bought.
Gary Goss
Monday, September 28, 2009
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Democrats and Bailouts
We've watched the Democrats and many progressives in congress passively or actively support vastly expensive bailouts of financial giants, automobile manufacturers, huge banks, etc. I've gone along with most of it without being able to put my finger on exactly why. The reason suddenly came clear for me when I read "To Each According To His Greed" by Slavoj Zezek in HARPER'S, October 2009.
We and most of the world, including China, now live in a capitalist system. That is a fact of life. In a capitalist system, who gets hurt the most when a part of the system breaks down? If "X" breaks down in a capitalist system, the rich often get richer. The middleclass gets hurt. The poor suffer intensely.
I understand little about economics, but its obvious that when a capitalist system fails, the poor absorb the pain. Once you see that the poor get hurt the most, the efforts by FDR and Obama to rescue key but failing elements in the system make sense.
As long as we remain in a capitalist system, punishing Wall Street will harm the poor. This, as Zezek points out, is blackmail. We are trapped. For those of us on the Left, the major problem is that we have not come up with a viable worldwide alternative to the capitalist system. And that is what the Left needs to invent.
Gary Goss
We and most of the world, including China, now live in a capitalist system. That is a fact of life. In a capitalist system, who gets hurt the most when a part of the system breaks down? If "X" breaks down in a capitalist system, the rich often get richer. The middleclass gets hurt. The poor suffer intensely.
I understand little about economics, but its obvious that when a capitalist system fails, the poor absorb the pain. Once you see that the poor get hurt the most, the efforts by FDR and Obama to rescue key but failing elements in the system make sense.
As long as we remain in a capitalist system, punishing Wall Street will harm the poor. This, as Zezek points out, is blackmail. We are trapped. For those of us on the Left, the major problem is that we have not come up with a viable worldwide alternative to the capitalist system. And that is what the Left needs to invent.
Gary Goss
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Most Loved Canadians
An old friend of mine who is now a citizen of Canada told me about a recent poll there to find out which person Canadians " most revered." The results:
1. Wayne Gretsky (hockey star)
2. Pierre Trudeau (former prime minister from about 30 years ago)
3. Tommy Douglas. You might not have heard of him. He was a Saskatchewan Socialist and the man who started the Canadian Health Plan.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Birthers and 9/11
In THE FAMILY, author Jeff Sharlet discusses the long history of fundamentalism in the United States, focusing in part on "the family," a secret organization in D.C. that preaches the love of power to the elite and provides venues for deals to be brokered. There are many other kinds of fundamentalists, of course, including some who do admirable work with the needy; but what struck me most was this: the megachurch type of fundamentalists constitute a separate culture.
What I mean is that they have their own very different history books, magazines, music, sciences, candidates, belief systems, social lives, movies, novels and so forth. In their written history of America, for example, Thomas Jefferson was a devout Christian who helped found a nation dedicated to Christ and personal salvation. They home-school their children with these texts, then send the children to a fundamentalist college for more of the same.
Fundamentalists have their own separate facts, which is why Barney Franks found that talking to them is like talking to a kitchen table. Where people can't agree on basic facts, no discussion is possible. There is no way to convince a birther that Obama was born in Hawaii. If you produce a document, he will tell you it's forged.
Before we condemn fundamentalists we should admit (if we can) that the Left has a similar problem in our conspiracy theorists, who are still fixated on the assassination of JFK and 9/11. They also have their own facts, their own books, their own films. There is no way to convince them that the Twin Towers were destroyed by aircraft, although we watched it happen. This is a classic case of "are you going to believe my explanation or your own lying eyes?"
One difference I see between the two groups is that the fundamentalists have done harm to themselves and others, while the conspiracy theorists harm no one, although they do divert energy away from pressing problems like health care.
As for the great middle of the United States, with its set of high school facts and history, which might omit women, people of color, class structures and so on, that's a narrative for another day. See Howard Zinn.
Gary Goss
What I mean is that they have their own very different history books, magazines, music, sciences, candidates, belief systems, social lives, movies, novels and so forth. In their written history of America, for example, Thomas Jefferson was a devout Christian who helped found a nation dedicated to Christ and personal salvation. They home-school their children with these texts, then send the children to a fundamentalist college for more of the same.
Fundamentalists have their own separate facts, which is why Barney Franks found that talking to them is like talking to a kitchen table. Where people can't agree on basic facts, no discussion is possible. There is no way to convince a birther that Obama was born in Hawaii. If you produce a document, he will tell you it's forged.
Before we condemn fundamentalists we should admit (if we can) that the Left has a similar problem in our conspiracy theorists, who are still fixated on the assassination of JFK and 9/11. They also have their own facts, their own books, their own films. There is no way to convince them that the Twin Towers were destroyed by aircraft, although we watched it happen. This is a classic case of "are you going to believe my explanation or your own lying eyes?"
One difference I see between the two groups is that the fundamentalists have done harm to themselves and others, while the conspiracy theorists harm no one, although they do divert energy away from pressing problems like health care.
As for the great middle of the United States, with its set of high school facts and history, which might omit women, people of color, class structures and so on, that's a narrative for another day. See Howard Zinn.
Gary Goss
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