It can be done!

For the first time in what seems like a long time, Democrats and Republicans were able to come together and pass legislation that will help Americans. Of course, it took the deaths of Americans to overhaul food safety, but at least when American lives are on the line our legislators can do something. Thank goodness we can all agree that Americans shouldn't die because of salmonella in eggs and peanuts.

I'm not sure if it's my naivete, my optimism, or if those are really just the same thing, but perhaps this can be a building block for fixing a government that is less and less capable of providing for its citizens.

America needs a lot of things right now: we need to create jobs; we need to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and invest in green energy; we need to reform education; and we need to cut spending/raise revenue (gas tax anyone?). Still all of this will be difficult if not impossible to achieve if we don't trust our government. So perhaps primarily, we need a government that can show people it has the ability to do it's job, legislate and govern.

Passing a bill to regulate food safety seems like an obvious and simple decision, but then again, so do a lot of things that we HAVEN'T done. Maybe this will be a first step in the direction of compromise. As much as I'm happy to live in a country in which people don't die from eating bad eggs, I'd also like to live in a country that is globally competitive, wealthy, strong and tolerant. Right now, I live in that country, but if I want to stay there, it's going to fall on our government to make tough decisions and legislate responsibly. Because even though I'm not going anywhere, America may be, that somewhere just may be the wrong direction.

Congratulations Congress, on ensuring that our spinach is safe. Now could you kindly sit down together again and start to fix our nation's troubles?

White America

Is old and on the way out, soon to be replaced by a younger and somewhat less white version of itself. This isn't new or surprising information, but it is very relevant to our great nation's off-white future.

America - in this amateur historian's opinion - has never been a "white country." But even ifAmerica was, at its founding, a white nation, it certainly isn't now, it hasn't been in quite a while and it's only getting less and less white as the days go by.

So what? Why is this important? Who besides the Tea Party and the Islamophobes cares about how light or dark America is? We all should because if America is to remain the world's economic and moral leader, we can't let our policies and laws be dictated by fear.

Consider for example that America has always been a beacon of opportunity and freedom. The world's oppressed have looked to us when desperate; the world's intellects have looked to us when curious; the world's entrepreneurial have looked to us when feeling entrepreneurial. This is America, land of the free, home of the brave, country of the world's best and brightest. Our country has never (permanently) closed its doors, its heart or its mind to others.

And we won't now, but today's challenges are new. The recession, 9/11 and the never-ending spew of information brought to us by the internet have made many people retreat further into a xenophobic shell. Policy is affected, and America's greatest strength - our ability to attract and absorb the world's best and brightest - is turned into a weapon against us.

Arizona's law, while it will probably have a minimal impact, sends the message that America's doors are closed and we blame others, non-white others, for our problems. As the nation grows more and more diverse, we must live and work together to exploit everyone's strengths. The rhetoric of hatred meanwhile, will isolate and polarize an already dysfunctional government, leading to blocs of regional or other special interest groups competing with one another rather than focusing on the good of the country.

If you don't think this has already started to happen, you need only look again at Arizona's outdated fear-fueled immigration law, or the opposition to the not-mosque at almost-Ground Zero. We push each other away. White America is old, slightly darker America is young. Slightly darker America has the world and the future ahead of it. If only we could learn to embrace the similarities rather than fear the differences.

It's time to stop wishing for this and start doing it. White America, if there ever was such a thing, is gone. Burning Qu'rans, spreading lies about mosques and shipping people out in cuffs is not going to make America better. It's going to make America more polarized. And we can't afford that, but even more importantly, we can't send the message that America doesn't want you because of your skin color, or your god, or your beliefs. America does want you, because no matter where you come from, you've helped build the greatest country in the world. And if we want to keep building, we're going to need your help. So come on white people, brown people, purple people and green. Come on Christians, Muslims, Atheists and Hindus. Keep coming. This is America, there's room for you. You want the same things I do, a good job, a good life, and a safe and prosperous country. Let's build it.

Balancing a Bowles-Simpson Budget

So these two guys lead a "deficit commission" that has just recently published ideas for cutting the deficit. Most people agree cutting the deficit is a good idea. Many people disagree about the best way to do it. Some want to let tax cuts expire, others want to extend them forever and ever.

Many think we should stop spending, but no one really seems to know what we should stop spending on...there's a lot of talk about this BIG idea, but there are few, if any concrete steps for what should be done. Enter Bowles and Simpson, two guys I admittedly knew nothing about before this process. I admittedly know almost nothing about them now. But they've got this idea for cutting the deficit. It involves raising some taxes, cutting others, slashing spending by reforming Social Security, spending less on the military, etc, etc, etc.

The report is immediately rejected by both sides. Democrats are against cuts to the welfare state, Republicans abhor raising taxes. The American government continues to work against the American people who have now been denied an economic recovery because of Republican obstructionism and are currently being denied a balanced budget. What to do, what to do, what to do.

The truth is, this is a sticky ideological argument. Democrats oppose cuts to Social Security and other aspects of the welfare state. These cuts have to happen. The retirement age needs to be raised, at least for part of the population, benefits for public service unions must absolutely be curbed. Republicans think the best way to cut a deficit is to deny the government 4 trillion dollars worth of income. I don't even need to explain the flaw in that thinking. In fact just today, one James Pinkerton of Faux News wrote an opinion piece on why tax cuts will spur economic growth. Pinkerton may have a point, but he wants us to do math without numbers. It's hard to come up with a plan for reducing a large number that doesn't factor in other numbers. Furthermore, Pinkerton's plan that calls for dynamic growth - like many Republican plans - ignores the fact that there are 300 million people in America, dynamic growth isn't going to happen unless we get all of them involved. Problematically, Democratic plans to do just that have been expensive and relatively ineffective.

So what do we do about this deficit. Without having read the Bowles-Simpson plan in its entirety, I'd say there are some solid first steps. A combination of tax cuts and tax hikes are necessary. Again, I mention a gas tax. The government would make a boatload of money and simultaneously encourage innovation and development in a field that is begging for both. On the flip side, taxes for corporations and businesses should fall. People do need to be encouraged to spend and invest. Is this really such a stretch for liberals and conservatives to agree on...really?

And while Democrats are being unrealistic about reforming Social Security, Republicans are just as unrealistic about defense spending. How about this, we raise the retirement age a year or two for all people making more than $X, and at the same time, we cut back on the number of nuclear missiles we maintain. Hell, we're not shooting them at anyone. Why hoard food if you're not going to eat it? Could we compromise here? Could we scale back spending on traditional military gear and encourage innovation by investing in new technologies? Technologies that - like the space race - might have positive spinoffs for all Americans? There you go James Pinkerton. That's dynamic.

And what about taxes? Is it really good to make permanent temporary tax cuts that will cost us 4 trillion dollars? Is that really a good idea? Could we not compromise and agree to extend them for a few years in order to help the economy recover with the goal of letting them lapse then to raise revenue? Is that totally unacceptable? Why do things that seem so easy and simple turn out to be politically impossible? Are we THAT shortsighted?

So as we keep the Simpson-Bowles report in mind, we need to remember a few important things. The Pinkerton hypocrisy - that we can encourage dynamic growth while investing in only a portion of the population - is unrealistic. Similarly, the Democratic idea that we can't cut into a safety net that has plenty of holes anyhow is unsustainable. So we're left with an unrealistic extreme vs. an unsustainable extreme. And yet we can find no middle ground. One side refuses to acknowledge that you can't cut a deficit without slowing spending, and the other side refuses to acknowledge that you can't cut a deficit without increasing revenue.

And so here we are, with a deficit commission report that asks both sides to take a step towards the center, and what do they do? Run from each other. America needs our leaders to put their best foot (and their brains) forward. Now would be the time to do that. If they do, we'll make progress. If not we'll be paying public service unions with tax revenue we're not collecting.

Killers in the Capitol

The title of this post may lead you to believe that death panel bureaucrats are setting up shop in DC. But no, this is something far worse than death panels. I'm talking about actual terrorists. That's right, not imaginary killers, real ones!

According to a groundbreaking report on Fox News, there are terrorists IN THE CAPITOL BUILDING!! I can't believe this is happening right under our noses. I'm disgusted. This is worse than the not-mosque that is not-quite-at Ground Zero. The ignominy of it all! For shame America.

The real problem here is that Fox, like much of the American conservative movement is shackled to the past. News flash for the news station, the Red Scare is over, there is no reason to bring it back. Yes, there are some bad people out there. Yes some of them are Muslim. No we don't need to fear all of them. No they're not infiltrating our schools, our communities and our government. In fact, what the Muslim terrorists are most guilty of, is hijacking our imaginations. I know, I know, South Park beat me to the punch, but seriously, can we get over this? There are a billion Muslims! A billion! If they were really trying to infiltrate our country and "take us over" or whatever these idiots on Fox believe, don't you think they would have done a better job? Or do we believe that even though there are 3 Muslims for every 1 American (some of whom are Muslim) that they're just too incompetent to get the job done? What's going on here people? Can we really not distinguish the bad guys from the 999 million other Muslims?

The best part of this whole non-story? One guy's comment about how people would understand the danger if they were independent thinkers instead of being part of the commie collective. Yeah, that's the problem, I can't think for myself. I'm too busy being terrified of Muslims because Fox says some of them pray in the Capitol Building.

Fear is a powerful weapon and it's being wielded deftly by the political right to further an agenda of...of I don't even know what. Maybe these people are just scared. I can't imagine Murdoch, slimy though he may be, is dumb enough to sit around all day scared of his shadow because of the Muslims. Maybe for Murdoch it's a simple money game. People pay to be scared. I pay to see horror movies, some people pay to fear Muslims. Whatever the reason Fox spews this kind of poison, and whatever the reason some conservative politicians embrace it, it's deadly for America. The world is a little place. Believe it or not, you can actually build a bomb out of a toner cartridge and have it airmailed from Yemen to America. You think doing our best to isolate Muslims is going to discourage the crazies from doing that kind of thing? Or maybe our violent rhetoric just reaffirms their views and pushes more people into their camp.

All I know is that there are Muslims praying in the Capitol and I find that absolutely unacceptable. No one should be praying in the Capitol. Church and State should be separate. But that's an issue for another day. In the meantime, I have Muslims to be scared of...yikes!

Green Prosperity

Between 2010 and 2035, the world is going to use 33% more energy than we do now. That number is going to increase even more as the population and standard of living worldwide also increase.

According to the this estimate, most of the world's energy demand will still be met by fossil fuels. I respectfully disagree. The filth of fossil fuels coupled with the untapped potential of clean energy makes it a near impossibility that the world won't make the transition from coal and oil to the sun and the wind.

When this happens, and it's only a matter of when, not an if, will America be the country leading the world forward or the country sitting on the sidelines. I'm still banking on the former, but the time to act is now. It's a relatively short period of time, 25 years, but if America is willing to take the appropriate steps, it's more than enough time for a fledgling alternative energy industry to blossom.

I want a gas tax - it keeps money out of the hands of terrorists anyhow. I want subsidies and tax breaks for companies investing and producing alternative energy products. I want a tax on carbon emissions. I want all these things because I want America to be the world's best in 2050 just like we were in 1950. I want these things because I want to live in a prosperous country and a clean world. There's a way forward that's visible even in the future haze of pollution. We know what needs to happen, it's all a matter of taking the necessary steps. If we do, we'll usher in an era of green prosperity that will benefit all Americans.

Now the question is, do we have the fortitude to do it?

Moving forward, looking back

Midterm elections are usually bad for the party in power. That's what people like me are telling themselves after "an historic day" for Republicans. Sure, it's true, midterms are bad for the power-wielding party, and Democrats were easy targets since there were very few Republicans in either branch of Congress on whom voters could focus their ire.

So the House of Representatives will be filled with a number of freshman Republicans just as it was filled with a number of freshman Democrats two years ago. As an American, I'm doing my best to be optimistic. Maybe the two sides will find a way to cooperate and enact the kind of policies that will promote economic and social growth. Maybe.

What I fear most isn't a return to the 1950's; there's no way Republicans will be able to repeal healthcare and there's no way the Tea Party will have enough influence to handcuff us to their vision of the yeoman farmer. What I fear most is a failure to move forward, because too many of the people we elected yesterday are looking back. No, they won't be able to actually move us backwards, but they may very well be able to prevent us from moving forward, a scary prospect when you consider that China is leapfrogging every obstacle in their way to supplanting us as the world's leading power.

The American government can't afford not to function, and given that it's hardly functioned for the last year, yesterday's results are worrisome.

Aside from hoping for a reversal of fortunes in 2012, here's what I'm looking for from the government between now and then:

1) A commitment to rebuilding the economy. Well duh. That's what all the anger in this election was about anyhow. It's the economy stupid, never forget that. But Democrats and Republicans are at odds about how to do that. Some ideas. Extend the Bush tax cuts for two years. Yeah, it costs the government some money at a time when most people think they're spending too much, but getting out of the recession is much more important than getting out of debt. One logically follows as a result of the other. Both sides could get on board with this.

Tax gas even more. Yes, I said it, raise gas taxes. It works like this: we're making the Earth dirty and we're not investing in the technology of the future. Let's make revenue with a gas tax while simultaneously spurring green innovation in a realm which Mr. Obama saved (at a profit to the government) from complete extinction. The auto industry is revived and well and is one industry which could expand hiring, innovation and profits. Why not do this? Maybe because Republicans loathe taxes, but this makes a lot of sense. Perhaps if it were offset by tax breaks for companies that invest in alternative energy...

2) A commitment to improving healthcare. All this talk of repeal is bunk and Republicans know it. Even with a majority in the House, they can't make it happen. BUT, the new healthcare isn't perfect, and it can be reformed. Republicans already have some good ideas about how to do this, most notably with tort reform which will drive down the cost of malpractice insurance, thus eliminating the practice of performing unnecessary tests so as to not get sued.

3) A commitment to stability and accountability. Americans were and are pissed about the bailouts even though they were necessary and ultimately, cost next to nothing (perhaps even making money). Nevertheless, we don't want to be on the hook for bailing out banks and finance companies when they are irresponsible. Voter anger on these issue may have been unfocused and misguided, but it's real and it's legitimate. I don't want to have to bail out the banks ever again. I want a system that is stable, politically and economically, and I want the people running it to be held accountable for their actions. I think Democrats, Republicans, and most importantly, the American people, can all agree on that.

So in my opinion, we've taken a step in the wrong direction, but this is America and Republicans aren't stupid. The American public wants results and the onus is on both parties to deliver. Maybe these elections will serve as a wake-up call to everyone involved, and we can start enacting policy to put America back on the path it's been on for the last century, the path of the world's economic and social leader.

Go Vote

America needs you today. It's not any secret who I want you to vote for, but it's important that you get off the couch, step away from work and VOTE! Today, Americans will decide if they want to stay on the difficult path to the future or do a 180 and scamper back to the safety of the 1950s. I fear that too many will choose the latter, but if enough people turn out, we could stem the tide of lies and fear-mongering and keep America focused on our bright future.

Every election, Americans must make choices. And rarely are they as black and white as they are portrayed. Republican candidates and the Republican party have some good ideas for fixing our country. They also have a lot of bad ones, and worse, they're willing to scare you into believing that the best thing for our country is to run away from the future and hide in a fog of nostalgia.

Though it's easy to find safety in the way things were, we can't live in the past. Americans must look forwards, not backwards. It's a sign of fearfulness to be constantly looking over one's shoulder. America is not a country of fear, it's a country of hope. The future is bright, but we must make sure that the people we select to lead us into that future actually want to go there. Because if we pick the people who would rather pine for the 1950s, or worse, the 1790s than look forward to the 2020s then we'll find ourselves living in the shadows of our former greatness.