These are random refelctions on politics and society. Some are mine, some I collected off the 'net, most are somewhere in between.
Q:How many Republicans does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A:462 - 12 to investigate Clinton's involvement in the failure of the old bulb, 23 to deregulate the light-bulb industry, 16 to cut funding for alternative lighting R&D, 34 to cut the tax rate on light bulbs,53 to design a block grant so the states can change the bulb, 41 to talk with defense contractors about night-vision gear instead, and 283 to pass a law making it illegal to discuss naked bulbs (orscrewing anything) on the Internet.
Besides the Big Two, there are some other compelling parties. The three that intrigue me are The Green Party, the Labor Party, and the New Party. The Greens have the longest-term view, the Labor Party is the most ambitious, and the New Party is the most politically savvy. Which is not to say they don't all do well in all these categories. They sure blow the Democrats away, never mind the Republicans.
Beware Of Dogma
If we want fix a whole lot of problems that middle- and working-class America is suffering from, here are two simple but highly effective things we should do. The first is to set a 32-hour workweek. As part of that, we should set a 8-hour per day maximum, with wages doubled during overtime. This would increase employment (as it has in Europe), and give workers more leisure time to spend with, say, their kids. They should also get at least two weeks paid vacation, guaranteed. Four would be better.
The second thing is, now that the minimum wage raise has passed, let's start a debate on a maximum wage. Imagine how much money that would free up to circulate in the economy! It would decrease resentment against management, but also its relative amount of sway over politics. I would (generously) set it at $500,000, including stock dividends and retirement benefits. People will say that executives deserve more than that, but I have never heard of any person who worked so hard that they merited more than a half-million dollars a year. I cannot accept that it is physically possible to deserve more than 20 people working at the poverty line.
Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes, not need
Just feed tha war cannibal animal
I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a library
Line up to tha mind cemetery
What we don't know keeps the Contract alive an movin'
They don't gotta burn tha books they just remove 'em
While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells
Rally round the family, pocket full of shells-Rage Against the Machine
Worthy personalities on the web: Che, Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (check out "The MLK you don't see on TV), andAlbert Einstein.
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