Socialism Isn't What Many People Think

SOCIALISM... 

We need to talk about SOCIALISM.. not because it's something we should be worrying about, but because it's something we're going to be hearing A LOT about.. AND we should understand what IT IS.. and ISN'T.

First thing... SURPRISE!! I agree with Donald Trump.. that the U.S. will never be socialist. We will be.. in fact.. ARE a Democratic Socialist country. Now, before you get too excited.. or outraged, let me explain. Actually, that's what this post is all about anyway, right?

So, here we go..

The only truly socialist countries are those whose government owns and runs all industry. No one wants that in the U.S.... not a single candidate from any party wants that.. except maybe, one from the American Socialist Party. Wait.. Is that even a thing? I surely haven't heard of it. Have you?
That's kind of my first point. We don't have to worry about it because there just isn't anyone around who wants it.. not even those uber-liberal, progressives.. like me. 😉

So, all that was just to get to this.. 

Some American Conservatives (it's quite alright if you ARE one, I get it) are going to try to paint many of the Progressive candidates as Socialists... one, very much in particular... Bernie Sanders...aka MY GUY. 😜

Bernie is NOT a SOCIALIST. He's a self-described Democratic Socialist. Even that can't be left as is because very few people have identical understanding of what that means. Let Bernie explain it... “When I use the word socialist–and I know some people aren’t comfortable about it—I’m saying that it is imperative,that we create a government that works for all and not just the few.” He goes on to say... “I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal,” 

Now, if you heard that as I do, you may be beginning to understand. While our country has traditionally looked out for business, Bernie would like to look out for the working class.. people like me.. and if you're reading this, like you.

You know me.. or someone like me. I'm retired.. on a fixed income.. in the lower end of today's middle class. I may even be in the lower class and blissfully unaware of the fact. 😊

Anyway, I paid over $2,000 on my limited income this year. Guess who paid less than me... guess who paid NOTHING.. NADA.. ZERO??? I know you know... AMAZON FREAKING DOT COM!!! Is that incredible?? Or what??? And here's something else... Amazon is actually getting a $129 million tax rebate after making a profit of $11.2 billion... and again.. I paid over $2,000. Shut.. The.. Front.. Door...
And Amazon isn't the only one. These 18 Fortune 500 companies paid ZERO in taxes from 2008 through 2015. Pepco Holdings, PG&E Corp. , Wisconsin Energy, NiSource, International Paper, First Energy, Priceline.com, Amos Energy, General Electric, American Electric Power, Ryder System, Duke Energy, NextEra Energy, Xcel Energy, Ameren, CMS Energy, Sempra Energy and Eversource Energy.

I hope I've made my point, friends.. While the entrepreneurs who drive innovation deserve to be rewarded, they need to pay their fair share of taxes. So back to Bernie. He simply sees, as I do, that the little guy.. the average guy.. the working guy.. nearly every guy and gal that are reading this should be considered, too.

So now, let's talk about Democratic Socialism and how it fits with the good ole USA.
Put simply, we already enjoy it. In fact, our democratic socialist programs not only hold this country together, but they are some of the most popular programs we have. Socialist programs are easily defined as any program that we pay together to provide a service for us all. Think of Social Security, Disability and Medicare. These programs, alone, have changed the lives of millions of aging and disabled Americans. Other programs that we overlook because they are such a part of American life are our Police and Fire Departments, our Public Education, our Highway System, Municipal Water and Sewage Systems, even our government, itself. Anything we jointly pay for through taxes or fees is a socialist program. I hope you're beginning to see there's nothing to fear.

And speaking to that fear. The more conservative folks around us are leery of big change and this is what I'm saying.. it is not a big change at all, as I explained above. We already use it and like it.

One final point... I think the major stumbling block for those who have an aversion to Democratic Socialism is the idea that all men are created equal and we all have equal opportunity to succeed in America.

Let me make a point.. We are NOT created equal. Some are born wealthy, some poor. Consequently.. some are born with unlimited opportunity, some are born with nearly none. Some are born with high IQ's, some are born mentally challenged (and everywhere along that linear scale). Some are born with innate skills, whether mechanical, athleticism, art in all its forms, communication, leadership, etc, some are born with little.

What Democratic Socialism is about is FAIRNESS... providing that equal opportunity for us all. If you honestly think about it, that is good for us all. By helping one another, especially those who need it the most, we help ourselves and our country. There's everything to gain and nothing to lose.

INSANITY

    With the insanity of the ISIS attacks around the world and the poisonous rhetoric I'm hearing in America crowding out many of my other thoughts, here's my view in brief.

1. To refuse to help the very people who are suffering under the persecution of the organization that we have a direct hand in creating, is unconscionable. Many of the ISIS leaders are former Sunni military officers that we displaced in our invasion of Iraq. We can argue about who did too much or too little, but that it is OUR DOING is an unarguable fact. And without ISIS, Syria would be having a civil war. We've done that ourselves. In my opinion, both sides are wrong, leaving the more peaceful and vulnerable running for their lives.
2. To condemn all of Islam because of the actions of the violent extremists (call them ISLAMIC if it's important to you) is just as ignorant as condemning any other religion for theirs. Maybe, it's time to condemn Religious Literalists altogether. After all, religion is supposed to be a pathway to God or whatever word you care to chose for it. The vast majority who identify with ANY religion haven't even read their Religious manual in its entirety. How about you? The various believers are in it to make some kind of sense of this crazy life and get a little comfort, rather than dominate the world.
If you really look at it, your religion is pretty much an accident of your place of birth. If you were born in the Middle East or Asia or Africa, rather than America or vice versa, you'd likely have a different belief system and you probably wouldn't be much different other than your culture. We're all just people or, as I like to think... Spirit land-rovers. And that brings me to...
3. If this world is ever going to get any better, we all need to start thinking about the source of all those religions and the reason we get involved with them... our desire for LOVE. Stop the dividing and condemning and hating and start seeking solutions and living out the love that this world is going to need to change.

Pacifism.... there's a rub.

I got to thinking about this again today for some reason and decided to write my thoughts down. Retirement sure allows a person to the take the time to think about this crazy world... and the future beyond.

As you may already know, I consider myself a pacifist of sorts. I'm honest enough about it to say I can't tell you what I'd do in a situation that required me to choose between violence and passivity. My past would surely condemn me as a hypocrite. End of story.  But, I would hope that I would be able to stand my expanding, peaceful ground and use my intellect (okay...), my calm demeanor (yeah, right) and my smooth tongue (I'm in serious trouble) to disarm the situation or even the person. Good cops do it every day. Of course, they're carrying a small arsenal on their person...kind of cheating, eh? Oh well, some cheating I'm OK with, as long as they don't abuse it. A couple people I'm close to heard that.

Now, in everyday life, it is a very rare occasion that requires us regular folk to even approach the subject, unless, of course, you are still in the habit of frequenting late night drinking establishments. 

But, back to the rub I'm speaking of.. Pacifism is a loser. I know that. But, it is also the only winner. It would not be too hard for anyone who has considered the idea of pacifism to predict the outcome of a fight between an antagonist and a pacifist. Sorry pacifist, it's a knockout. Pacifism cannot work. It wouldn't take long for all the pacifists to meet their maker and the antagonists to rule the world. Most people stop there and go with the obvious, that Pacifism cannot work.

Well.... most people. Then there are those of us who look at the history of the world and where we are right now (Syria, Israel/Palestine, a big part of Africa, Russia/Ukraine, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.,etc.) and wonder... what would it take for the world to find peace. Then pacifism begins to make more sense(at least, in a spiritual sense.. and I'm in it for the long haul). If no one hurts, hits, stabs, shoots, bombs another... BAM, we find ourselves at peace. Whoa, I'm liking it. But, how do we get there? That's the difficult part. It starts with each of us. Whatever community, city, state, country we live in, whatever race we are (let's just go with shades of brown), whatever religion.. Christian, Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism.. we belong to, our neighbors need to hear from those of us who understand this simple principal and want to live in peace. 

As for the picture up there.. I don't care which religion you belong to, all the greatest spiritual leaders will tell you the same thing about violence.. pick yours.. I'm sure it's about peace, love, compassion, living in harmony. I just know more about Jesus' teachings than any other. And contrary to what many in organized Christianity will tell you, he taught Pacifism. It was no coincidence that he died without a fight, allowing himself to be beaten and nailed/tied to the cross, sentenced to death by a foreign governor in his own country which was being occupied by the violent  oppressors of his fellow countrymen.

Heavy stuff to think about..I think I need to lighten the mood. We should all slap some sense into people and get them to understand how simple it is... ohhh... scratch that... I'm a pacifist. Seriously though, each of us who understand this, need to speak up. There are more of us than the world knows. We need to watch our thoughts, our actions. We need to reach out to others in friendship. We need to lift others up, rather than put them down. We need to work at being kinder, gentler people. The more people that do that, the better the world will be, next door and across the planet. We need to stand up for peace. And that is what I just did.

You call it LAZY?

Hey friends..

I've been seeing and hearing some pretty ignorant statements lately. The AFFORDABLE CARE ACT or Obamacare as it is known is bringing out the worst in some people and I need to say something instead of just dismissing the ignorance and hoping they'll one day understand.

The title for people who can't afford healthcare or use food stamps or rely on some other government support IS NOT “lazy”. Yes, there are those who take advantage of any system, from the poorest to the very richest. That is the problem we should be focusing on.. how to prevent and eliminate the cheating, not ending the support programs for the poor.
Instead of “lazy”, try less fortunate. Instead of portraying those less fortunate as wildlife dependent on hand-outs, try showing a little compassion for people that haven't been able to attain your level of success.

In case someone has been living in a vacuum, our economy has changed drastically over the last couple decades. The abundant family-wage manufacturing jobs of my past are being replaced by low-paying service jobs. From Kaiser Steel, the middle-class, economical mainstay of my hometown of Fontana, CA to our Georgia Pacific pulp mill here in Bellingham, WA, well-paying, unskilled jobs are disappearing. 

I am thankful that I was able to find good paying jobs and had the entrepreneurial (had to google the spelling for that) spirit to be able to enjoy a financially secure work-life and retirement. But every job I held was one job someone else couldn't and the competition for all good jobs is getting fierce. I retired as a tugboat operator 25 years after starting out swabbing decks and cleaning toilets. Now, many of those Deck Officer jobs are held by Cadets with a couple years of education. And that same story can be told throughout America. High paying jobs are being replaced by computers and technology everywhere.

Fewer and fewer people have the opportunities that many of us had. The minimum wage is a joke and even our middle class can be bankrupted by any one of a variety of medical conditions. I can only imagine the hopelessness of many young people who are looking at their future possibilities.
Society is changing and we need to be opening our hearts rather than clutching our wallets. This is not about our politics, it's about our humanity. As Jesse Jackson says - 'Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.'

Time on my hands... I like it.

I climbed off the boat for the last time June 13th. I will officially be retired on the 28th. I see now it will take awhile for me to get in the rhythm of retirement. Occasionally, I get a flash of the reality and I can almost watch the big smile rising to the surface from the depths of my soul. Really.

I'm having to make an effort to pace myself. I'm so used to being under pressure to get something done before I have to get back on the boat that I still find myself hurrying. I..... have..... the..... rest..... of..... my..... life..... .

I am now spending more time with my thoughts and maybe accomplishing the most important thing of all - digging deeper into my soul. I'm not sure how working was preventing that. I take that back, I DO know. I no longer enjoyed my job. It was in the way of my happiness. It had become a have to rather than a want to. Now, I only have want to's.

So, here I am writing this just because I can. Life is good and only getting better...

Politics...

I need to get this one off my chest. Your thoughts and comments are welcome here, too.
I used to be very liberal from a "I am my brother's keeper" perspective. As I've grown, my views have moderated and I find myself in the middle of the road in many areas.
I find that there is very little difference in the average man's (or woman's) political views once you get past the labels. Here's a good example:
A popular saying goes something like "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll feed himself for a lifetime".
The conservative view seems to focus on the idea that if you give a man a fish, he might start expecting one every day, and they're right in some cases. I have experienced people who are OK with taking advantage of the generosity of others.
On the other hand, the liberal view seems to be more like "it doesn't matter why the guy needs a fish, it is our responsibility to make sure he doesnt' go hungry". And they're right, usually.
The difference is in the accountability. I don't think anyone, no matter their political persuasion, wants to provide for someone who'd rather get a handout than a handup.
The conservative knows what it took to make it and the liberal remembers the hard times when he was thankful there was hand to grab. There's not much difference. In fact, you could switch the labels and the statement would hold.
In my view, if a man can't learn to fish through no fault of his own, I need to make sure he's fed. And if he is capable of learning to fish, I need to make sure there are good teachers to do the job whether it be me or hired help (and good ones should be paid well).
Do you agree?
JMHO, Les

Just got back from the Dominican Republic...

And it was fantastic! Helen, 6 good friends, my mother-in-law and I went to
Las Terrenas, a laid-back little area of Hispaniola. We laid on the beach, ate camerones, rode horses to El Limon waterfall, surfed (I'm the accidental surfer), ate pescado, rode quads on the beach and in the hills, ate langostino, rode motorcycles, scuba dived, ate langosta, swam in the warm crystal-blue water and laid on the beach some more. Oh yeah, and we ate lots and lots of seafood. You can check out the pics my Picasa site.