Home
>
Politics
Global Warming Denial
4/6/15
At current emissions rates, CO2 is released into the atmosphere nearly twice as fast as it’s removed. Our "atmospheric bathtub" is filling with CO2. We must stop and reverse this because, at current CO2 levels, more energy is absorbed from the sun than is emitted back into space. That's why the planet is warming and regional climates are changing! To prevent further warming we must cut CO2 emissions at least in half, not just halt increases. Despite flawed "common sense" thinking used by global warming deniers, global warming is an existential threat to life on earth. Billions will die, more species extinct. The physics of the system tells us that waiting for "direct, incontrovertible" proof sufficient to convince deniers is not an option.
Politics
Conservative Criticism of 'Much of What's Called Socialism is Just Pragmatic'
2/17/16
This article addresses comments prompted by my referencing my article on why Much of What's Called "Socialism" Is Just Pragmatic relative to a meme on FB. The meme is typical of those posted on Facebook by "conservatives" against Sanders and their caricature of socialism.
Rather than engage in point-by-point exchanges on FB that quickly age into obscurity and end in being a waste of time, I write articles like this with sections to which I can refer in future exchanges. That's why I wrote the article on why Much of What's Called "Socialism" Is Just Pragmatic.
I refer to the Poster's objections as comments, rather than criticisms, because they do not at all address the concepts in my article and are, therefore, non sequiturs. The comments appear to be radical reactions to the "conservative" caricature of the word, "socialism", not to the understanding I endeavor to convey.
Politics
Much of What's Called "Socialism" Is Just Pragmatic
3/19/15
Many freak out at even the mention of the word, socialism, but many policies that some call "socialist" are not really socialist at all. They're actually merely "liberal" because those policies are pragmatic to address failures and weaknesses of "free market" capitalism. They're what works. This article reviews some of the economic factors that produce these failures & weaknesses and why the right kind of government is necessary to prevent systemic failures.
The needed policies should not be seen as strictly "socialism" because they're not about "collectivism" for collectivism's-sake. They're necessary because individually-logical decisions can be collectively irrational, that's because systems have emergent properties.
Their existence means systems do not behave in the same way that the individuals who compose them behave. The "freedom" to make some individually-logical decisions can bankrupt you, sicken you, kill you, and/or undermine the economic and national security of the United States of America, and be an existential threat to life on Earth.
There is little to no freedom in the midst of system failure when Americans suffer, and even fail, through no fault of their own as in the 2008 Great Recession and before that in the Great Depression. Because of the systemic failures inherent in laissez-faire capitalism, when it succeeds, even on its own terms, by producing "growth" and wealth, it fails the vast majority of Americans.
Evil lies at both the extreme right and left. With the far left, people are cogs in he machine of state. With the far right, people are commodities to be bought and sold. At neither extreme are they valued as humans. Liberal is the pragmatic center between the extremes. Liberal means valuing true freedom: individual freedom and being free from system failure.
The very use of the word, socialism, can provoke, and has provoked, negative reactions against what's actually a caricature of the word. That's thanks to over six decades of propaganda against the word by those who profit from the system as it is. They oppose admitting, much less addressing, its weaknesses.
I address the issues raised in one such negative reaction in Conservative Criticism of 'Much of What's Called Socialism is Just Pragmatic'. Though the criticisms do not address any of the issues I raise here, they have been helpful in prompting me to thoroughly research them. Thanks to these criticisms I've added sections to this article on different economic systems. I make clear the distinction between economic systems and governing systems. Conflating them is a mistake that confuses understanding. Any economic system can become authoritarian or dictatorial in the absence of a well-functioning democracy, the lack of which has led the U.S. to be a plutocratic sham of democracy.
Politics
Lies About: The Difference Between Democrats and Republicans Perfectly Expressed
4/15/15
This is a perfect example of the clueless ignorance of too many "conservatives" and their penchant for perverting reality and the positions of those they oppose because they don't understand reality, business, or economics.
Politics
Guns Nuts Galore
10/13/15
An emotional president Barack Obama speaks after the shooting deaths of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPA
Politics
Nutty for Guns
10/11/15
Politics
Democrats, Who May Be Social Liberals, Don't Address Root Causes of Economic Problems
12/2/14
Politics
"Market forces" vs the "free market"
10/15/14
Reject the Stormwater Question 1B tax. The costs of infrastructure required to handle stormwater should have been included in residential and commercial property costs as they were built. Any initiative, like 1B, that does not impose impact fees on developers to pay for necessary infrastructure as they build should be defeated. Otherwise we violate fundamental economic principles that depend on market forces to properly regulate supply and demand. And we insure never-ending implicit growth subsidies, more growth, and more taxes. Don't just say "NO" to growth. Let market forces guide growth naturally.
Politics
Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret ... and Capitalism
9/23/14
The film informed me of something about which I had no idea: animal agriculture is the number one factor fueling global warming. I knew it played a role, but not that big. In this article I describe the role of the economic externalities inherent in "free market" capitalism. Vegetarians and vegans are described in the most venomous terms: terrorist, treasonous. That's because, if you're one, you're a threat to the fundamentalist religion of capitalism itself. And, you're a threat to the profits it allows. That global warming is an existential threat to life of earth be damned.
Politics
City for Champions vs City for Developers
9/23/14
Growth proponents maintain that those opposing growth, in particular those opposing the "City for Champions" proposal, will "cost the city thousands of jobs and a bright future." They're wrong; more of the same, adding taxpayer financing, won't fix fundamentally-flawed policies.
|
