My family and I sat in a Captain D's the other night (a fish place, for those of you outside Saint Louis) and the background music was pretty crappy old pop. My daughter asked us what we thought the most popular songs were when we were 13 (her current age). Sandy and I really had to think about this, and offered up some pretty bad songs we thought were hits back then: All out of love by Air Supply, some Madonna, but then we hit a wall. It is so nice not to know much about pop music.
I don't listen to the radio. I usually listen to songs through my mp3 player, some of which are my own songs, and mostly I do that to study their flaws and to figure out how to write better songs. I also listen to a lot of the bands around St. Louis that are quite local and even more unsigned. B & E and the defunct Poor Man's Burden and Bitch Slap Barbie songs are good examples. I dare you to listen to B & E's song "Mighty Fine Mess" at www.myspace.com/bandelive and not find it meaningful, melodic, unusual, and very witty. Hell, buy the CD and treat yourself to many songs with the same qualities. It is well worth the ten bucks.
I know many of you listen to indie bands, and I just encourage you to do more of it. Myspace hosts tens of thousands, perhaps millions, of bands that write better songs than you'd ever hear on the radio. You can hear it all, instead of that corporate produced crap, and it's commercial free!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Socialism is not un-American
If you live in the United States, you already, and have for some time, live under and likely enjoy the fruits of socialism. Police and fire protection, public schools, and most roads are paid for by the people and administered by the state. No private citizen or corporation owns these institutions or services. You pay for these things through taxes even though you may personally not use them. We do this for the greater good, which is what socialism and democracy are all about. Socialism has always been a part of the United States and most people, except the super rich, benefit from it.
These services noted above are too important to leave in the hands of private corporations who only seek to make a profit off of owning and providing them. These services are too important to simply allow people with the monetary resources to use them. These services are too critical to the overall functioning of society to leave to the invisible hand of the market.
Anyone who claims that the United States is moving in the direction of socialism is already demonstrating their lack of knowledge. The US has always had elements of socialism. The better question, it seems, is if the country is moving in that direction a bit more and whether this is a good thing. When considering this, I urge people to consider what I pointed out above: (a) is the service or institution too important to leave in the hands of profit seeking corporations and the fickle forces of the market? (b) Would the least powerful, including children, suffer the most by being denied the services?
Look, the truth in American society is that some people have it easier than others by no effort or fault of their own. They were born into families that had different levels of economic, social, and educational resources and opportunities. The myth that moving up in social class is freely available to anyone who tries hard enough is really just a myth. Some people move out of poverty, the working class, or the middle class, but most don’t. These folks are in the statistical majority. Democracy, and yes, socialism, is about serving the interests of the majority.
If you like the fact that you can drive on roads, send your kids to school, and have the cops and firefighters show up when you need them, then you like what socialist organization gives you. Yes, most people pay for these services directly or indirectly through taxes, but it is not pay per use, which is what capitalizing these services would do.
So is health care, like public education, too important to society to leave in the hands of profit-driven corporations that would make it more difficult for those not wealthy or without disposable income to enjoy what most people in the world believe to be a basic human right? Yes! The quality of US healthcare ranks well behind many other hybrid capitalist-socialist political economies in Europe that have socialized medicine. Gee, why is that?
So, don't be spreading lies by saying that something that is socialist is un-American.
These services noted above are too important to leave in the hands of private corporations who only seek to make a profit off of owning and providing them. These services are too important to simply allow people with the monetary resources to use them. These services are too critical to the overall functioning of society to leave to the invisible hand of the market.
Anyone who claims that the United States is moving in the direction of socialism is already demonstrating their lack of knowledge. The US has always had elements of socialism. The better question, it seems, is if the country is moving in that direction a bit more and whether this is a good thing. When considering this, I urge people to consider what I pointed out above: (a) is the service or institution too important to leave in the hands of profit seeking corporations and the fickle forces of the market? (b) Would the least powerful, including children, suffer the most by being denied the services?
Look, the truth in American society is that some people have it easier than others by no effort or fault of their own. They were born into families that had different levels of economic, social, and educational resources and opportunities. The myth that moving up in social class is freely available to anyone who tries hard enough is really just a myth. Some people move out of poverty, the working class, or the middle class, but most don’t. These folks are in the statistical majority. Democracy, and yes, socialism, is about serving the interests of the majority.
If you like the fact that you can drive on roads, send your kids to school, and have the cops and firefighters show up when you need them, then you like what socialist organization gives you. Yes, most people pay for these services directly or indirectly through taxes, but it is not pay per use, which is what capitalizing these services would do.
So is health care, like public education, too important to society to leave in the hands of profit-driven corporations that would make it more difficult for those not wealthy or without disposable income to enjoy what most people in the world believe to be a basic human right? Yes! The quality of US healthcare ranks well behind many other hybrid capitalist-socialist political economies in Europe that have socialized medicine. Gee, why is that?
So, don't be spreading lies by saying that something that is socialist is un-American.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)