Kicking Off Ask Me Anything for the November Challenges
Question: Why do you have the politics you have today?
In real life, outside of my family and a couple of close friends, I rarely talk politics unless someone says something real backwards around me, in which case I speak up. I consider any endorsement of what passes for Republican policy to be backwards, so I'm not going to let anyone subject me to it. I don't go around preaching to anyone and all I want is the same treatment.
That's the root of my politics right there. It's the golden rule. I want to live in a society where people treat other people the way they want to be treated. Republicans want a two tiered system where there is a definite advantage given to white, native born people. They want to explain away the disparity in educational achievement and the rates of incarceration by acting like minorities are stupid criminals instead of using our joint national resources to bring about a better system. If I were poor (again) I'd want to be treated with compassion, not scorn.
Conservatives want a government that puts more money in their pocket and screw everybody who isn't like them. I want a government that provides for the common good. don't believe in a government that foster's an elite class who get to skip paying taxes on their yachts and jets. I think that the effective tax rate for people who live off accumulated generational wealth should be at least as much as the people who clean their houses.
In order to have the kind of country I want, the insane amount of money that gets funneled to defense corporations has to be drastically reduced. Our government has a vested interest in keeping people scared of terrorists, the Chinese, the Russians, Mexican drug lords. None of the money spent towards combatting that lengthens lives the way it would if it were spent on cancer research and improved medical care for everyone.
I want to live in a country with educated people because I believe education to be important. I worked in schools for decades and I know how dedicated teachers are. Republicans have fostered a narrative that schools are failing and it isn't true. They use any excuse to avoid spending money on education, preferring to give tax cuts to those who already have the most money. They want to give money to private schools that allow non-certified teachers to tell children that men and dinosaurs walked the earth together.
I believe in science. Only a fool would look at the rapidly changing climate and think the best thing to do is drill more oil wells, but that is the policy Republicans want. I want to drink clean water and breath clean air and I don't want to be told how spending the money for those basic life giving necessities sin't good for the balance sheet of some billionaire.
So there you have it. Those are my reasons. I don't think the Democratic party has the solution to all those problems, but they are a hell of a lot closer than the alternative. The two party system is terrible. There is too much money in politics. I hope we incrementally change the system to something that better serves more people, especially those that need it most.
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