Apr 17th 2016, 23:58:28
An eon ago we talked on General Talk about useful things.
Here are some thoughts.
• Stop union busting and the rising autocracy of corporate wealth and power at the expense of a reasonable wage - and I mean simply enough to take care of a family on.
• Destroy corruption and waste in defense spending and the military industrial complex that perpetuates it at our expense. How much good could we do with the money we overspend on defense if we think critically about how we can effectively guard ourselves with far less?
• Be critical of the negligence some display toward education and healthcare spending for all citizens - as if higher learning and health were not the future and prosperous right of all people.
• Attack tax evasion, job evisceration, and lies about the tax code. A flat tax and any incremental move toward it is so absurdly unfair for obvious reasons it is simply criminal to pretend otherwise. Those who claim to love the country which has made them rich will give back to it with gratefulness. Raise taxes on the wealthy. They'll be ok, and they'll still be wealthy. We've seen that a trickle down economy does not work, and that policies catering to the wealthy do not create wealth elsewhere. The lie that asking the wealthy to contribute will send them packing is tantamount to being held hostage by their demands on the basis of their financial power.
• Legalize marijuana. It's not hurting anything but our criminal justice system.
• Invest deeply in the vast untapped resource that is this nation's incarcerated population. Some are beyond hope, but most are not. Treat them like human beings who've made mistakes, and give them the tools to thrive honestly instead of relegating them to a dim future in a privatized imprisonment industry.
• Open our borders. Racism and stereotypes have no place in politics. The greatest resource we have are our people. The people who want in should be seen as a resource, not a liability.
• Invest heavily in space exploration and research into technologies which will one day enable the colonization of other worlds. No matter how resilient our Earth is, we are blind if we continue to put all our eggs into one basket.
If you care more about the future than the present, if you are unafraid of change, if your open mind welcomes progress and you allow yourself to evolve, if your loving heart embraces other perspectives and takes no joy in destruction or in domination, if you would rather perceive than judge, and give, with guarded trust, because you believe all human beings have equal rights, then you ARE a liberal.
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