Are you a racist?

In all likelihood, you are to some extent or another. Even I am guilty at times of falling prey to this. The ways I'm thinking of are far more subtle than you may think though. I'm not talking about thinking you're superior to other races or thinking other races to be more violent and dangerous. Instead I mean that you subconsciously are supporting laws and ideas that hurt minorities while leaving yourself and your fellows unharmed.

While I'm tempted to launch into a discussion about the new healthcare reform, I would like to touch on ideas not so close in mind. For example, the national election day is not a national holiday. The government and many businesses are open full time. While many middle and upper class Americans can easily get off of work long enough to vote. However, minorities find themselves far less able to make time in their days to vote; in poverty, they work more for less, making taking time off from work less possible. Yet, we do nothing about it. We close for irrelevant holidays, but the most important holiday (Elections) has yet to be given the same respect. The one holiday that shapes our government and embodies the very soul of it is left a normal day, a day that deserves no respect. Minorities continue to be unrepresented in elections and the current Election day makes up a part of the reasons for that underrepresentation.

Another dangerous form of our subconscious racism is the failure of our inner city schools. These schools continue to be populated mostly by lower class, minority families and they continue to perform far below their suburban counterparts. However, when inner city students are placed into high performing schools, they score stronger than their white counterparts. The mechanisms in place prevent our inner city students from performing at the level they are capable of. The poor teaching, dangerous environment, and lack of proper materials prevent inner city students from getting the same access to resources that their suburban and rural counterparts receive. As a result, they are less able to get into college and less prepared for skill base careers. We must improve our inner city schools and give all students the same opportunities for success, we cannot let these students fail because of our inability to see the inequity. It is our failure.

The hatred this country feels for welfare is awe inspiring. Yet Welfare programs make up less than 1% of our federal budget. Meanwhile, our military budget exceeds 600 billion dollars a year. Our problem is priorities. We focus on the need to defend ourselves from distant and sometimes made up enemies, and fail to see the conditions of so many of our fellow Americans. These people are not leeches sucking away your blood. Many are in desperate need of assistance just to survive, even when holding jobs. For a country so enthusiastic about Christianity, you seem to have forgotten that your Lord and Savior dedicated himself to the poor and meager. You have failed in your faith if you are so selfish, that you cannot help your fellow human when they need you.

I hope that every single person can recognize the inequities in society and the blinders that prevent them from seeing such noble solutions as basic healthcare, aid to impoverished families. We must be willing to examine our own self and see the successes and faults we have. We have done such amazing things, but there are many more illnesses that we have failed to remedy. Do not sit idly by.

The Number One Reason Why so Many Americans are Idiots

If you hate socialism and everything about it, you are officially an idiot. Not only do you probably lack a proper understanding of the word and use only the negative connotations spoon fed to you by moron pundits on Fox News, but you also fail to realize that socialism exists, and has existed, in our country for a quite a long time. Not only has it existed, but it flourishes both within the United States, and much of the world. Things we expect to see in every nation like publicly maintained roads, police officers, firefighters, public education, all of these are socialist ideas.

 

Do you really want to destroy socialism and all of the unnecessary taxes it provides? If so, I hope you’re willing to fork out the even greater amount of money I’m sure you’ll be paying to be protected by privatized police officers and firefighters. Everyone will be paying for private education as well, which is pretty sweet. Oh, and I guess we’ll need to figure out a way to build and maintain our intricate highway systems without allowing the government to control our lives, m I rite?

 

I’ve only listed a handful of the seemingly endless list of socialist programs that every American utilizes on a daily basis. You hate taxes, eh? Well maybe you should keep in mind that if you weren’t paying those taxes for services, you’d be paying even more money to get them privately.

 

With all of this in mind, I think it’s time I move onto that which you were all waiting to hear about. Socialized healthcare.

 

Is it really all so terrible? I mean, it exists in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and even Cuba, just to name a few. And guess what, their healthcare systems are stronger than ours are, and better for the people. You can say all your bogus claims about socialized medicine that you were, once again, spoon fed by your pundits. But at the end of the day, there is a very simple argument that you would think would convince everyone, yet it doesn’t.

 

Privatized healthcare means that your well being is in the hands of people whose number once concern is turning a profit. For how hell bent you conservatives and moderate liberals seem to be on NOT trusting the government, how are you so quick to trust BUSINESSES? Not just any businesses, but huge businesses. They do not care about you, and they will fuck you over every chance they get. Why? Because they are a business, and businesses exist to make money. End of story. The reason America’s healthcare system is so awful (and it is awful), is because we continue to allow these giant health insurance companies to buy out our politicians and lie to us. We allow these companies to create such baseless fear in us, so that we’ll continue to pay them ludicrous payments.

 

Get over this ridiculous fear you have of “socialism” and wake up. Your healthcare sucks, and it will only get worse if we continue to allow private companies to hold your health in their hands. 

Stop Supporting the Troops

I saw a facebook group today and it reminded me how much I can’t stand the military and the mindless support it receives. The group was titled “Facebook Silence.... Pay Your Respects To Our Fallen and Injured” and, of course, it was filled with people talking about how important it is to show them we care, as if soldiers getting shot at give a fuck about facebook silence. I’m sick of the empty gestures that all these pro-military people make constantly. You aren’t doing anything but trying to make yourself feel good that these people are off dying for no reason. There was a silver lining to the group though, and it was that more people had selected not attending. Absolutely priceless. And the people supporting the group are giving the people choosing not attending shit, like it is a big deal.

 

More than these people, I’m sick of the military and the attitude that most people seem to have about it. If you don’t support the troops, get the fuck out. Even reasonable, sensible people seem to have this mindset. I don’t understand it. You can’t oppose the war and support the troops. The troops are what make war possible. They make a choice to sign up for the military and they understand the implications of doing so. We’ve been at war for nearly a decade now, anyone signing up knows they are going to fight in Iraq or Afghanistan. They know they are supporting a pointless war, a war that has led to countless civilian deaths in both Iraq and Afghanistan. They know that they are in an illegal war in Iraq, a war that Congress never declared and therefore, should not exist.

 

Soldiers are the cement of the American war machine. Until Americans can realize that war is unnecessary, that a standing military is the greatest threat to our freedom, and that we will never know peace until we say no to constant war, there is no hope for us.

 

For those who tell me to get out of the country if I don’t support the military, you’re a moron. Do you not understand that the military, in it’s present state, is not “American.” Our founders were terrified of a standing military and anxious about meddling in foreign affairs. The United States was a neutral, isolationist nation until the first World War! And even after that, we attempted to continue being an isolationist nation. The militaristic system we live in now has only existed for a little over sixty years. It is NOT necessary to survive, we did so for 150 years. Standing militaries are not necessary, even in today’s time. Our armies will not stop some rogue nuclear missile, our defense systems will. We live isolated from all of our significant enemies, with giant oceans on both sides of our nation.

 

We spend 6 or 7 times more money on our military a year than the second largest military spender in the world. How can I say this and people not see the problem in this? Do you realize a fraction of the money we spend on the military could provide healthcare to all Americans? A fraction! You complain so much about our budget, big government. The military is big government. Military leaders have created a bubble protecting them from ever losing anything. What congressmen would dare try to take away funding for the military? Once it has placed itself in a war, we are powerless. Or so they would have us believe.

 

Stop supporting the military, stop supporting the troops. If we have any hope of finding peace as a nation and as a world community, we must take the power out of the military’s hands and return it to the people.