The American Dream
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There is a new poll that was conducted by the Harvard University School of Public Health and Harris Interactive. It shows that there is a very clear distinction between the Democratic and Republican perceptions regarding healthcare in America.
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Republicans overwhelmingly think (68%) that America has the best health care system in the world, so in other words it doesn't require fixing. Of the people who consider themselves allied with the Democratic political party only 32% agree that the American health care system is the best in the world.
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Much more money per person is being spent on healthcare in America than in any other country. But in America there are almost 50 million people who do not have health insurance. And America is well below the top tier in terms of overall life span, and also well below the top in terms of child mortality rates.
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What can we deduce from this? In general Republicans are less concerned with helping out disadvantaged people. They can be described as being obsessed with profit and getting rich. So they are somewhat more willing to "step over" other people to get the money they crave. Greed. And apparently they find it easy to ignore the suffering of the downtrodden, thinking "This could never happen to me."
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This split between the greedy money grubbers and people who have a social conscience is nothing new. Two thousand years ago a Jewish carpenter turned prophet was outraged by the bankers setting up shop inside of the church. In the UK they have the same split between Tories and Labor. Germany has the same conflict between the Social Democrats and their greed driven opposition, the Christian Democrats. Think about Scrooge and Tiny Tim.
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After the great economic crisis caused by financial speculation occurred in 1929 President Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the conclusion that the free enterprise system, capitalism, and the free market economy was doomed unless the government implemented some essential regulations, laws, and controls on banks and investment houses. This from a man who was from the very most upper social class in America. The concept that one of the core duties of the federal government is to protect the ordinary people from the powerful and wealthy was new to America.
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Under the Republican administrations of the actor Ronald Reagan and the father and son team George Bush I and II, many of these regulations and controls protecting the American economy and normal middle class people have been scrapped. The free market and de-regulation has been the altar they have worshipped on. Their mantra.
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Because banks are no longer properly regulated, the home mortgage industry implemented the largest scam on home owners ever to ever take place anywhere in the world. And because they were no longer properly regulated they bundled these substandard loans and sold them off around the world.
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American Republican businessmen didn't want to implement child labor laws, environmental laws, or the minimum wage. They wanted to do whatever they felt like, with no oversight from the government regulators. So they donated large amount of money to help politicians get elected who would do what they wanted: Scrap these social conscience laws.
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To get around the minimum wage, child labor laws, and environmental laws a great many companies shut down their production facilities in America and had companies overseas begin making their products. They supported the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and other similar swindles which allowed them to get around these laws protecting the environment and the middle class, common working man.
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Because of this de-regulation the American economy has lost much of its manufacturing base. This devotion to free trade, and the tremendous amount of money that has been spent on waging wars in various countries around the world, has resulted in the unprecedented fall in value (devaluation) of the American Dollar.
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This is just the latest chapter in the same old story. One sees it all over the world. The Robber Barons versus the great majority of common working people.
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What can any of us do about this?
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No longer blindly follow the creed of the free market. Markets require a certain amount of government regulation or there will be a continuous cycle of boom and bust. Support (and vote for) politicians who oppose the Robber Barons. In general this means not voting for the Tories or the Republicans. The conflict between Senators Clinton and Obama is almost certain to destroy the chances of either being elected. So in the year that it was completely CERTAIN that there would no longer be a Republican president, America may well end up with another one.
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And when anyone who earns less than $150,000 per year begins extolling the virtues of reduced governmental regulation and supporting free trade, take the time to try and straighten them out.
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