We're Liberal to a Degree

Bob Dylan wrote "I'm liberal to a degree, I want everyone to be free, but if you think I'd let Barry Goldwater (a conservtive Arizona senator and presidential candidate) move in next door or marry my daughter, you must think that I'm crazy."

How many of our liberal thinkers might say "I'm liberal to a degree, but if you think that we're for illegal immigration, free college, free healthcare, reparations for all Americans with African ancestry, late term abortion even if the  baby is born alive and chain immigration, you must think I'm crazy." 

Liberals used to be for America's underdog. It could be called the Underdog party. The underdogs were the disabled, the poor, the elderly, American Indians, and people of African or Latino heritage. The underdog label has been expanded. We now also represent the LGBTQ members, illegal immigrants, women in their fight for "equality." The underdog class now even includes the 99% of us who are not in the top 1%, making less than $500,000 a year. 

We are and have been against discrimination, want to improve our public schools, get companies to pay at least a living wage which might vary in each state or even cities in our states, an end to wars in the Middle East, and before that, Vietnam, reducing pollution  and ending homelessness, America's greatest disgrace. We accepted the right to have an abortion in the first trimester, the first 13 weeks. We wanted marijuana to be decriminalized and wanted to help the less fortunate here. We wanted affordable health coverage, not ACA. 

Suddenly, some liberals may have become socialists. Top dogs, the successful of white men have become the cause of all our problems. If we could tax them to death, they will be no income disparity.  Every student should get free college tuition regardless of family income. Even though every president from George W. to Clinton and Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress (Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer) stated that we must end illegal immigration even if we need to put up barriers to keep them out, new liberals now call it inhumane. 

The socialist members also wanted free Medicare for all 325 million of us even though it would cost an additional $3.5 trillion a year. Some candidates are saying that we should end private insurance, so if you have great private coverage, you must lose it and pay more taxes in excess of an added 100%. They must know that there is an easy solution from making it voluntary, to letting private insurers reject any applicant for medical reasons. Those denied coverage would able to get the "public option," a federal program with a share of cost depending on income. This was much like candidate Obama wanted, but was denied by Congress under pressure from medical insurers because it seemed that the public option would hurt their business instead of making it more profitable. 

When have members of one party attacked those of the other verbally and physically? When were they kicked out of restaurants and airplanes?  

Some wanted reparations to Americans of distant African heritage to get tax money, regardless of their income or claims their ancestors were slaves that ended more than 150 years ago. They also have suggested reparations for American Indians. This is something we can agree on. Elizabeth Warren would not be eligible, regardless of her high cheekbones.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

Please Don't Be Offended

America used to be a melting pot. First generation Americans were Americans and wanted to be. They embraced American values like integrity, self reliance, hard work, law abiding, generosity and kindness. 

When my parents arrived during WWII, they didn't come for welfare payments and other subsidies. The benefits were not even created yet. When they applied for citizenship, they were required to renounce their other country and became Americans, only. It was like having only one spouse at a time. 

The new immigrants learned English and raised their children as Americans. The immigrants did not insist on special accommodations. The Jews did not insist that all food should be kosher. Newly-arrived Catholics did not insist on only having fish served on Friday for everyone. 

The first-generation Americans studied hard in school and if they got into trouble and their parents were called in, the parents blamed the student and not the school.

We had Catholic schools and some Yeshivas for the Jews. If  students chose Catholic school, they understood that it would have Catholic symbols and weren't offended.

We had statues of confederate heroes. We understood what they were fighting for but honored them in their defeat. Athletic teams were free to name their teams to no objections.

Since this was a Christian nation, we celebrated Christmas and Easter. Those of us who were not Christian did not object. We said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; today 83% of non Christians do too. Now some are calling the song "White Christmas,"which is a Christmas time song with people dreaming of snow for Christmas. It has been labeled racist because snow should come in different colors.

Many government sites presented the Ten Commandments and most of us realized that this was the beginning of moral imperatives.

People were accepted to college based on merit (except for athletes and legacy applicants).

We believed in "e pluribus unum" - out of many, one. We believed that "united we stand divided we fall."

Things have changed.

We divided our population, calling some top dogs and others under dogs. The top dogs are considered the problem. The underdogs were victims of this cruel American capitalism. Over the years our kinds of underdogs which started being the aged, disabled, and poor began to grow. This included nonwhites, women, LGBTQ, and atheists. They are victims and must be defended. This is the essence of liberalism. 

The top dogs were said to be the problem because they were successful. This list of victims grew also from the poor, to the bottom 99%. A socialist candidate said that those of us who were not extremely wealthy, were all underdogs.

Now people here without invitation have become the new underdogs. Can they be blamed for escaping poverty and corruption? No, but why come here? There are probably more than 50 million Latin Americans who would love to be here. The more we help them, the more will come. 

The idea of a melting pot has become a salad bowl. People are encouraged to take pride in their former homeland, the one they escaped from because they couldn't bear living there. 

We have become a nation of tribes, with each demanding accommodations. Our Muslim newcomers want their customs followed. At one school, they asked that no pork product be served. A Catholic university took down all their religious trappings so as not to offend non-Catholics who freely chose the school knowing it was Catholic. A few other Catholic schools did the same. 

Now the issue is the Pledge of Allegiance, which may offend recent arrivals who would not want to recite this pledge to America, the country that took their families in and provided education including free breakfast and lunch and freedom and other benefits.

Before that some protested the 81 year old name of a football team because it might possibly offend the "injured party." A poll was taken and 90% of the affected group said they didn't care.

Monuments to historic leaders of the Confederacy had to be removed because they might offend Americans whose distant ancestors may have been slaves. These leaders represented that abuse. They have/had been up for more than 100 years.

This fear of possibly offending someone in some group has led us to stifle free speech. Comedians no longer go to college campuses because their jokes might offend someone. Some colleges have banned speakers with different ideas from theirs. Those who think differently are quickly labeled. They are racist, homophobic, sexist,  ethnocentric, hateful, xenophobic, misogamist, and/or isolationist, so their comments are to be disregarded. Their speech must be stifled.

We now have new terms like "cultural appropriation" and "micro-aggression." The former is said to occur when one person dresses or wears their hair the way people of another subculture do, even though we all do it from having our hair straightened or putting it  in dread locks, or dying our black hair blond, though some of these are not being complained about. Micro-aggression is said to occur if someone asks another about their heritage, something that happens to many of us and usually is a sign of interest in the person.

Now the latest issue is the "Make America Great Again" hats. This Was Trump's slogan as it was Clinton's and Reagan's. But people wearing those hats are being banished from restaurants and labeled. They are "offensive." 

We have become a country that favors diversity over merit. To some, diversity is everything. What did whites ever do? OK there was Abraham who realized monotheism. There was Moses who gave the world a moral code. There was Jesus who inspired millions. There was Galileo, Einstein, Freud, Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, FDR,  Henry Ford, Edison, Dr. Salk, the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, every president until the 44th, to name a few. They made America the greatest democracy and economy of all time, but aside from all that what good have they done?

Now instead of "e pluribus unum" we have become "e pluribus pluribus." Instead of "united we stand, divided we fall," it has become "divided we stand, united we fall."

And we're falling.

Please don't be offended.

  

In 1982 Tylenol was poisoned in one location, once. But from then on we have changed packaging so the product won't get poisoned. Now many of our products are too difficult to open, even for the rightful owner. Surely, there's a way to make items easier  for the customer while still keeping us safe. Have we overreacted?

In 2001 the shoe Bomber was caught trying to blow the plane up. He failed and will get free room and board in prison. But since then airline security has been more effective. Not only can't you carry a firearm in your overhead storage bin, you can't bring a lighter or certain kinds of liquids. Now everyone goes through a metal detector, followed by requiring that we have to take our shoes off. I was asked to take all my paper money out of my pockets. When they returned my money I acted angry saying that I had thousands of dollars but they were not returned to me. Have $20 dollar bills been used to blow something up?

There have many reports of sexual misconduct. They came after Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein were found committing disgraceful sexual behavior. I don't know anyone who approves of rape. These revelations led to the me/too movement encouraging women to go public of their experiences of sexual verbal or physical abuse, especially if the accused is a prominent entertainer or businessman with deep pockets. 

Many of the reported assaults were unbelievably bad. But there were more complaints of verbal abuse. We understand that too. A boss repeatedly asks his employee to go out him knowing she doesn't want to. A boss brags about the size of his private part. But what does this lead to? Did a man touch  a woman's rear while both were drunk? Did he try to kiss a date but she didn't want or like it. Are they to be considered sexual misconduct?

My daughter recently attended a class mandated for all employees. They were told that if a man says a woman looks nice in that outfit, or says he likes her new hairdo it is now considered sexual harassment. Is this behavior verboten?

Now our important issue is racism. What America did to the indigenous people here is unforgivable. Buying African slaves and bringing them here to work hard, with no freedom, heartless. After 1865, while slavery had been abolished Jim Crow discriminated against these freed slaves as well as anyone of African descent. I experienced it in 1964 while traveling through the Southwhere there were water fountains and rest rooms that were only for whites and separately ones only for "colored." I am dark and feared being in trouble for using the facilities reserved for whites but the alernative was using a filthy restroom for blacks. I was there when Lester Maddox refused to serve people of color. He was later elected governor.

Have we become too sensitive about even traces of racism. We are not allowed to use the word beginning with the letter that follows "m." If we find that someone, other than a rep singer or a member of the cited group, has, we ostracise the person, sometimes ruining their career even if it had happened only once decades ago. Their ancestors left Africa 300 years ago. We do it to be nice. Was it? We created affirmative action which included bussing students to locations that were foreign to them.  Colleges and businesses were told to give black applicants preferential treatment when applying to college or for s job. Affirmative action was ruled unconstitutional. They were then saying they are giving preferential treatment because of their diversity which lately has a sine qua non for a great workforce and college atmosphere. One wonders how they survived without diversity. Today, diversity trumps excellence and past merit. 

We now have an estimated  11+ million illegal immigrants living here. Recently a caravan of thousands tried to storm the wall. Failing to do so, they must remain in camps in Mexico. The Mexicans are revolting against those who want to get into America illegally. They are against illegal immigration. Now they know how we feel. 

The President wants to build a wall along the border in California, Arizona and New Mexico. The liberals are protesting. Does that mean that they want an open border? If the word gets out, we'll have tens of millions of people to make room for and provide them with all their needs - housing, food subsidies. healthcare coverage, free education, et al.  To be against mass migration from Latin America is said to be a racist and xenophobic. It's not their fault for sneaking in. Are we under-reacting about it it?

After the death of a famous singer, whose medical data was shared by several of the hospital staff, we overreacted. We were now so overacting that it is hard for person to get his own test results while in in the hospital. The hospital administrator was contacted to explain this absurd policy. She explained that if I got the results, I might drop some on the floor of my room and someone could  come in and steal them and use them for some dastardly deed. I told the administrator that if she ever changes careers, she should be a defense attorney.I was told to fill out a form authorizing them to give me permission to give my data to me. Then I was told that I couldn't get the results until I left the hospital.

There has been cases of hacked computers. We don't want to be hacked. Now it seems that whenever we call a business we must provide our logon,  password and secret code, or we can't get helped. I called a healthcare billing agency about yet another error in their billing to me. I said that I wanted the manager call me. She did. We were talking about the billing problems and then she wanted me to prove who I was and  asked for me to verify myself with birthdate, address etc. I asked her why she was doing that then. I asked her do many people call to challenge someone else's charges?

I called my credit union to request a free planner, which I never got last year. The woman knew me and knew that the only reason for the call was the planner. I was asked to give her my account number and to remember how much was my latest transfer. I asked her do many people call for someone else and request a planner for the actual customer? Are we going too far?

It seems with all these issues the problem is not only reacting but also the lack of judgement They can't realize how ridiculous it is.

Misleading Studies

 Many studies by well-educated people seem to get the results they  want. Here are: some examples:

We always heard the experts use the term again and again "income inequality." What is the goal? Is it income equality? That didn't work in Russia nor the countries under Russia's rule.'' The more appropriate  term should be the "income gap."

But the income gap is very overstated. The study measures the income before taxes. It should be measuring the after tax income including bonuses for the well-to -do. The researchers also used the low income people without including the government subsidies which are valued at $30,000 for a family of four. It is $50,000 in Hawaii. The uncounted subsidies in food stamps, Medicaid, breakfast and lunch meals at their children's public schools, the earned income credit, housing subsidies, refundable $2,000 credits per child, and so on. This means that 3% are actually below the poverty level, not 12.5%. But for anyone to be living in the bottom 20% is still unacceptable. The rich are too rich and the poor are too poor.

In healthcare we are compared to the other developed nations. The analysis failed to recognize some causes for this. America has a problem with violence and massive substance abuse. So if a person is rushed to the hospital while dying, this counts as a lost patient. Our people are more obese which causes organic problems like heart disease, kidney failure, and diabetes. This adds to our medical costs but are not found in most first world countries. We are more heterogeneous, with some not seeing a doctor until it's too  late. So our costs have to be much higher. We also do highly expensive operations to save even a fetuse's life while in utero. We count our birth rates counting those who are born dead. Then other countries count only children's death when they are at least one year old.

The U.S. also does needed surgeries very quickly in a few days or weeks. To get a hip replacement might take a week or so. In many of these countries, especially single payer systems, that operation would start in as much as a year. The U.S is still number one in all the serious conditions like heart failure, cancer treatment, brain surgery to name a few. So these studies are comparing apples to oranges. It can only be because the study was biased. 

Then there are the claims that America's public schools are nowhere near that of other first world. Again it is apples and oranges. These other countries are homogeneous, share the same language, values and practices. We have a very heterogeneous country. A share of our public school students can't speak English. Others are from their cultures or a family that put less emphasis on education.  This is not say the public schools are perfect and don't need improvement. I beg to differ. I think that even their curricula are in need of change by teaching students to think as well as memorize as it is now.

The conclusion - don't believe something because you heard it from  experts. We have to begin to think for ourselves.