First thank you so very much for those of you who are reading my blog. I am a small voice in a very big pond.
Oh Russel Brand your long curly hair, your scruffy patchy beard, your weird awesome British accent, and wild demure satire, what would we be without you.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/24/actor-russell-brand-reduces-bbc-newsman-to-stunned-silence-with-diatribe-against-corporate-oligarchy/
Russel Brand's diatribe on the social mess that we call our political systems says it all. The disparaging difference between the upper and lower class in the US and across the pond in Europe and in the UK is the result of a hierarchical social system that establishes a political, social, cultural elite.
So to answer Russel's question, the indirect question that while he himself isn't the expert, isn't the person to ask about what would be the best alternative to what we have and there are better ones out there, I have an answer. I have a clear, decisive answer.
If you watched his interview Russel Brand touches on the cornerstone issues of our society right now. He states clearly what is already well known to many that our political system is broken. It focuses on supporting an elite few, be it political elites, corporate elites, and the supper rich, while ignoring to a great degree and even harming the poorest of our society. All the while we vote within a system that drives poor kinship, poor laws, and partisanship. The biparty system in the US is disruptive to our country and is ruled by two parties not interested in protecting the best interests of this country and it's people.
The truth hurts but we can fix this. We can fix it without loss of our democratic system, without the loss of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, and we can do it while boosting our economy, our ability to fix our environment, and ultimately to solve many of the problems our country is facing.
We need to change the dichotomy of the political race. Remove the opponent aspect of running for a senatorial race and you remove the antagonism. Give each state three guaranteed senatorial seats. One for Dems, one for Republicans, and one for the Independent (subsets of either the Democratic or GOP can't run for the independent seat). No one party would have a majority in the senate and to get any law passed the parties would have to work together. A similar effort would be done for the house. The current electoral structure for the house of reps is based on population. Because of gerrymandering many states have lopsided districts making it easier for one party or the other to elect representatives. Instead of allowing this to be done. All states would be put into grids of four mile by four mile squares. Each square would be given a rep. Rural areas would be joined into singular groups. These sections would then represent equally each district and prevent gerrymandering. Any section of a state that has no population would not be given a rep.
Requirements for running for office would then be lowered. Making it so that no senator or rep can spend more than fifty thousand dollars on their campaigns. Limiting this amount you discourage attack ads, illicit spending, and influences from elites.
Denounce the Citizens United ruling and make it so that corporations aren't people under the eyes of the law. And change how, when, where, and why lobbyists can speak to elected officials.
Start a flat tax with a tiered deductions rather than a tiered tax with complex deductions.
The tax would sit at 51% of income. Deductions would be based on income range, availability of health care through your employer, dependents, cost of living in the area, and industry. The same tax would apply to businesses. Non-profits would have a 90% reduction so long as a minimum of 80% of all earnings went to their non-profit cause. Non-profit causes would be limited to social causes. Not-for-profit organizations would be given a 50% deduction with a similar limitation to the non-profit orgs but their causes wouldn't necessarily be limited to social causes.
Remove the exemption of churches from paying taxes unless they claim non-profit or not-for-profit status in which case they have to prove any "earnings" goes to either a social cause or a cause that helps others.
Mandate that all people in the US must have a job if they're able workers (excluding obviously teenagers and children and those who are retired). This also would mandate that all US businesses must hire US citizens before they ship jobs over seas with a 10% cushion. This would ease any issues with immigration and would allow us to have an open border policy for foreign workers.
Insurance; while we would maintain the private insurance industry we'd extend and offer medicare to all people in the US. Making it much like the NHS in the UK or Canada's health care service. By making everyone pay an equal portion of their taxes into paying for health care, everyone would also be equally covered. This would leave private insurance companies to cover any gaps or to provide extended insurance for other forms of medical care not covered by medicare. This means that people can just get the care they need at any doctor anywhere in the US. Preventative care would be easy, and emergency care wouldn't be held up by insurance coverage issues. No one would go bankrupt due to high doctor bills and, medical costs overall can be reduced. It would also mean that we can remove the profit motive out of curing people and focus on real cures and real medicine instead of allowing pharmaceutical companies from pushing drugs that cause problems.
We'd need to mandate fair housing, making sure that no one is every homeless again. States under this mandate would purchase abandoned or empty houses that have sat on the market for more than a year and turn around and rent or sell the houses to people looking for a home. People who are homeless would be placed in these homes on low or no pay rent until such time that they care hired or trained or educated to be hired in a position which would allow them to pay for rent or purchase of the home. Movement out of these homes we be up to the person placed in them. If the don't wish to purchase the home or rent but to move, they can. Because of the mandate for guaranteed work and health insurance the many problems that occur that cause people to be homeless would in fact be fixed.
Because everyone would be working we could then raise minimum wage to meet everyone's base needs. while making it so that upward mobility is easier to access. I'd personally raise minimum wage to at least $15/hr. With more money in people's pockets they'll spend more and ultimately buy more powering the economy.
Renewable Energy
So to answer Russel's question, the indirect question that while he himself isn't the expert, isn't the person to ask about what would be the best alternative to what we have and there are better ones out there, I have an answer. I have a clear, decisive answer.
If you watched his interview Russel Brand touches on the cornerstone issues of our society right now. He states clearly what is already well known to many that our political system is broken. It focuses on supporting an elite few, be it political elites, corporate elites, and the supper rich, while ignoring to a great degree and even harming the poorest of our society. All the while we vote within a system that drives poor kinship, poor laws, and partisanship. The biparty system in the US is disruptive to our country and is ruled by two parties not interested in protecting the best interests of this country and it's people.
The truth hurts but we can fix this. We can fix it without loss of our democratic system, without the loss of our constitutionally guaranteed rights, and we can do it while boosting our economy, our ability to fix our environment, and ultimately to solve many of the problems our country is facing.
We need to change the dichotomy of the political race. Remove the opponent aspect of running for a senatorial race and you remove the antagonism. Give each state three guaranteed senatorial seats. One for Dems, one for Republicans, and one for the Independent (subsets of either the Democratic or GOP can't run for the independent seat). No one party would have a majority in the senate and to get any law passed the parties would have to work together. A similar effort would be done for the house. The current electoral structure for the house of reps is based on population. Because of gerrymandering many states have lopsided districts making it easier for one party or the other to elect representatives. Instead of allowing this to be done. All states would be put into grids of four mile by four mile squares. Each square would be given a rep. Rural areas would be joined into singular groups. These sections would then represent equally each district and prevent gerrymandering. Any section of a state that has no population would not be given a rep.
Requirements for running for office would then be lowered. Making it so that no senator or rep can spend more than fifty thousand dollars on their campaigns. Limiting this amount you discourage attack ads, illicit spending, and influences from elites.
Denounce the Citizens United ruling and make it so that corporations aren't people under the eyes of the law. And change how, when, where, and why lobbyists can speak to elected officials.
Start a flat tax with a tiered deductions rather than a tiered tax with complex deductions.
The tax would sit at 51% of income. Deductions would be based on income range, availability of health care through your employer, dependents, cost of living in the area, and industry. The same tax would apply to businesses. Non-profits would have a 90% reduction so long as a minimum of 80% of all earnings went to their non-profit cause. Non-profit causes would be limited to social causes. Not-for-profit organizations would be given a 50% deduction with a similar limitation to the non-profit orgs but their causes wouldn't necessarily be limited to social causes.
Remove the exemption of churches from paying taxes unless they claim non-profit or not-for-profit status in which case they have to prove any "earnings" goes to either a social cause or a cause that helps others.
Mandate that all people in the US must have a job if they're able workers (excluding obviously teenagers and children and those who are retired). This also would mandate that all US businesses must hire US citizens before they ship jobs over seas with a 10% cushion. This would ease any issues with immigration and would allow us to have an open border policy for foreign workers.
Insurance; while we would maintain the private insurance industry we'd extend and offer medicare to all people in the US. Making it much like the NHS in the UK or Canada's health care service. By making everyone pay an equal portion of their taxes into paying for health care, everyone would also be equally covered. This would leave private insurance companies to cover any gaps or to provide extended insurance for other forms of medical care not covered by medicare. This means that people can just get the care they need at any doctor anywhere in the US. Preventative care would be easy, and emergency care wouldn't be held up by insurance coverage issues. No one would go bankrupt due to high doctor bills and, medical costs overall can be reduced. It would also mean that we can remove the profit motive out of curing people and focus on real cures and real medicine instead of allowing pharmaceutical companies from pushing drugs that cause problems.
We'd need to mandate fair housing, making sure that no one is every homeless again. States under this mandate would purchase abandoned or empty houses that have sat on the market for more than a year and turn around and rent or sell the houses to people looking for a home. People who are homeless would be placed in these homes on low or no pay rent until such time that they care hired or trained or educated to be hired in a position which would allow them to pay for rent or purchase of the home. Movement out of these homes we be up to the person placed in them. If the don't wish to purchase the home or rent but to move, they can. Because of the mandate for guaranteed work and health insurance the many problems that occur that cause people to be homeless would in fact be fixed.
Because everyone would be working we could then raise minimum wage to meet everyone's base needs. while making it so that upward mobility is easier to access. I'd personally raise minimum wage to at least $15/hr. With more money in people's pockets they'll spend more and ultimately buy more powering the economy.
Renewable Energy
On the matter of securing energy in the US we could power the entire country on solar panels and wind turbines. Germany in 2012 reported a green energy density of 400 megawatts per 1 million people. With that density of green energy density in the US we'd produce three times the amount of energy we'd need in a year.
With new technologies that are making energy storage easier we could stop our dependence on fossil fuels in the US in a matter of half a decade if we were to just implement the available technology.
By stopping all subsidies to oil companies and gas companies and putting that money towards the implementation of green technologies and green energy production the US could be energy independent in the matter of a decade.
And if we can do that we can be the model for other countries to move away from fossil fuels. This in turn would stem the issues of global warming or global climate change.
Food Production
With new technologies that are making energy storage easier we could stop our dependence on fossil fuels in the US in a matter of half a decade if we were to just implement the available technology.
By stopping all subsidies to oil companies and gas companies and putting that money towards the implementation of green technologies and green energy production the US could be energy independent in the matter of a decade.
And if we can do that we can be the model for other countries to move away from fossil fuels. This in turn would stem the issues of global warming or global climate change.
Food Production
A Singapore company is working on creating highly condensed green houses that produce a volume of food to feed millions of people while producing the food from within the city. The green houses could be built in any city and maintained by volunteers and paid workers and they would produce local fresh food year round that would be cheap and easily transported to local markets. By producing food locally and selling it locally we remove the middlemen of transport which skyrocket food costs. This means fresher healthier foods at a much lower cost.
By implementing what I've laid out here, we could as a country fix many of the social ills we face today. We could wipe out poverty, wipe out homelessness, wipe out hunger, and change the face of our country transforming us back into the leaders of the world we once were.
By implementing what I've laid out here, we could as a country fix many of the social ills we face today. We could wipe out poverty, wipe out homelessness, wipe out hunger, and change the face of our country transforming us back into the leaders of the world we once were.
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