There is still an economic war on the poor and middle class. That is why thousands of protesters in America alone are protesting against corporate greed and profits via the OWS movement. Washington's cutting vital social benefits are increasing in this time. Unemployment in some places is more than 20 percent. Cuts can be done to Pell Grants for college students, federal wages, LIHEAP (the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which is needed to help impoverished families that have heat in the winter), CHIP (the Children’s Health Insurance Program), community healthcare centers, and other programs. It isn’t just those programs that are in risk of being cut or eliminated completely. The other programs in risk of having their funding cut include the following: nonprofit health cooperatives, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other disease prevention programs, WIC (or Women, Infants, and Children. WIC are grants for supplemental foods, healthcare, and nutrition education for low income families), Head Start (or parental involvement services, health, nutrition, etc. for low income families with children), the EPA, the National Park service, etc. These proposed cuts on our infrastructure will sustain Wall Street, militarism, favoritism, waste, and fraud. Many Republicans want these cuts to be a reality. The President Barack Obama even desire some of these cuts to our social safety net as means to compromise with the Republicans on the debt issue. Washington's new FY 2012 budget agreement cuts billions more from vital domestic programs. LIHEAP lost another $1.2 billion, a 25% reduction year over year. Labor, health and education allocations dropped $1.4 billion, including $225 million by eliminating 22 programs, many related to job training. In addition, Pell Grants will end for another 100,000 students, and those getting them will only receive $5,500 for another year. Overall, $1.36 billion will be lost over several years. Even the Super committee (that was formed by the August Budget Control Act of 2011) couldn’t agree on cuts by the November 23 deadline. So, automatic reductions of $1.2-$1.5 trillion will occur over the next 10 years beginning in 2012. The Super committee is also known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction. If the social contract is cut more, there will be less jobs and more public anger. The President finally signed the payroll tax cut and the unemployment benefits extension. The unemployment benefits will go on until February 29, 2012. Medicare doctor reimbursement cuts were postponed. Federally financed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae home buyers will pay an extra $15 a month on a $200,000 mortgage to cover the $33 billion cost. Some Republicans like House Speaker John Boehner wanted to extend the tax policy for a year. The Democrats again compromised with the Republicans on promoting a toxic oil pipeline from Western Canada to America’s Gulf coast (The Friends of the Earth protested this policy as this pipeline can harm waterways in America since it has tar sands oil or a dirty fuel). Big Oil wanted it and even conservative Democrats. Some populists want to have the 2009 Making Work Tax Credit to promote more stimulus than a payroll tax holiday. It would give workers a refundable tax credit, increasing the size of the paychecks. At 6.2% of earned income, it provides maximum $400 for working individuals, $800 for married taxpayers filing joint returns. An indefinite payroll tax holiday extension according to some won’t make massive economic improvements like the Making Work Pay Tax Credit can. Some Republicans want to end Medicare as we know it since its creation in 1965.
To understand government in America, you have to understand the American Constitution. The Preamble is a vital part of the Constitution. The Preamble is like the introduction to the rest of the documents of the Constitution. The Preamble talks about what is the purpose of the government existing in America (or what are the reasons why the government was created in the first place). The Preamble gives the government the right to promote a more perfect union, to establish justice, to ensure domestic tranquility, to provide for the common defense, to promote the general welfare (like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, and other benefits to the people), and to secure the blessings of liberty. These purposes of the Preamble are rather clear cut and transparently defined. To understand the American government, you have to learn basic governmental definitions as well. The consent of the governed is when the people are the sole origin of governmental power. That means that the people make up the government not a select group of unelected, individuals at all. The separation of powers in America means that the government is divided into 3 branches (which are of course the legislative, executive, and judicial). Checks and balances mean that one branch of government exercises some control over the others. One example is that the executive branch can issue a veto that can negate the legislative branch passing a law (and the legislative branch can’t overturn the veto when the Congress has given 2/3 of approval in overturning the veto from the President of the United States). Federalism is when governmental powers are divided between the national government and the state government. In other words, there are certain actions that the federal government can do alone. There are certain acts that only the states can permit. Subsequently, there are duties that can be done by both the federal and state governments (or concurrent powers) like levying taxes and handling other responsibilities. The rule of law simply means that in America, the U.S. Constitution is the supreme law of the land. All individuals living in America and all American citizens are accountable under the law (while they exist in American soil). In the Constitution, many Articles are in it to define the organization of the national government. Article I of the Constitution forms the legislative branch of the national government. This national government has 2 houses of Congress to make laws. Article 2 deals with the executive branch’s powers and Article 3 outlines the power of the federal courts to interpret the laws (the Supreme Court can’t make the laws. An amendment is a formal revision to the Constitution. This is sometimes necessary, because the USA changes all of the time. You need remedies to give citizens more liberty and new amendments can help create a better society). For a new amendment to be created, there must be a proposing of an amendment and then the ratifying of an amendment. In order to propose an amendment (as found in Article V of the Constitution), you can have a 2/3s vote of both houses of Congress (or require a national convention required by 2/3s of the state legislatures). To ratify an amendment, you can get approval by 3/4s of the state legislatures or have acceptance by conventions in the 3/4s of the states.
The Ron Paul campaign is an interesting campaign. For a man promoting personal responsibility, he tries to deflect responsibility from the newsletters he published (even if he didn’t directly write those foul words). Some of these newsletters are signed in his name. At the bare minimum, it’s a bad management style that was displayed by Ron Paul. Ron Paul said that he supports the 99% and oppose the Wall Street bailouts. That’s fine, but he refuses to support the social safety net in a great fashion. It is obvious that the establishment hates Ron Paul. That’s easily proven in how the mainstream media promoted Mitt Romney as a moderate, pro-status quo candidate. The elites love the status quo. I don’t hate Ron Paul. I just don’t agree with him on some issues. Ron Paul would institute a flat tax at the federal level and cut all federal aid to states including funds for unemployment insurance. Then, he'd cynically leave it to financially broke states to provide what few services they could to the poor and middle class. The domestic economy would fall into chronic stagnation. Ron Paul is allied with the John Birch Society. The JBS was created by reactionaries and funded by the elite in order to stir well meaning conservatives into embracing nearly fascist philosophies. The Vatican, the Jesuits, and the CNP have huge ties with the John Birch Society. The JBS is in the Right part of the Left/Right Paradigm. Ron Paul wants to get rid of the public education system, except in a state or local capacity. Tons of poor people will suffer if all of the social contract is gone from the federal level. The economic philosophy of the Austrian School (as embraced by the late Ronald Reagan, Thatcher, Milton Freidman, Pinochet, and others) has been tried before. It has been called by us Yanks as trickled down economics. It hasn’t worked in Chile. It hasn’t worked in the United Kingdom and it definitely hasn’t worked in America too. In fact, the greed and selfishness (as promoted by Ayn Rand) contributed to our present Depression condition. The reason is that corporate bankers used greed and extracted wealth from the people in an evil fashion. It’s ironic that the same people that love the Governors of Iowa and Wisconsin hate some of political policies of Europe. Many of the social democratic countries in Europe have a higher standard of living than America. Europe isn’t perfect, but to have social legislation is fine with me. This social contract is called protections sociale to the French. Yet, some Europeans (not all Europeans) are incorrect to have such a xenophobic attitude to the more multiracial and multicultural cultural dynamic in parts of Europe. In that fashion, we Americans are more progressive than Europeans in terms of our thinking on immigration. Although, it is great to have social democracy like parts of Scandinavia has. It’s great to give ordinary people in America decent education, decent health care, and decedent jobs to all peoples with a modest income. It’s just natural for any human being to promote harmony with Nature, justice, peace, freedom, and anti-colonialism.
Abraham Lincoln didn’t believe in Samuel Huntington’s imperialist rhetoric (as he called for the clash of civilizations or the war on terror), especially by the time he died. Ironically, the Brzezinski, Kissinger, and Huntington faction helped to create al-Qaeda and other Afghani guerrillas to fight in the anti-Soviet Cold War. Back then, President James K. Polk wanted to make territorial concessions to the British in dealing with the then Oregon territory. Other folks didn’t want compromise with the British at all. Lincoln exposed the Anglo-American bankers and Southern racists that wanted warfare globally. Lincoln even questioned some parts of the Mexican War as a Congressman back in 1847. I don’t believe Lincoln was perfect or god, but Huntington is wrong on issues as well. Abraham Lincoln was pro-Henry Clay. He wrote in 1859 that, “…I was an old Henry Clay tariff Whig. In old times I made more speeches on that subject, than on any other. I have not since changed my views." Senator Henry Clay was Lincoln’s mentor and political guide. Clay promoted a protectionist tariff in 1843. This caused growth in the economic development of machine industries and raised wages. The Polk administration still wanted a tariff reduction as supported by the British and the slave-owners. A Lincoln supporter was James G. Blaine. He was 17 when he was present in the 1847 Lexington speech. Blaine continued Lincoln’s legacy until his death in 1892. He was the Secretary of State and he spread nationalist economics and anti-imperial solidarity (from America to Ireland, South America, Russia, India, and Korea). Lincoln allowed the beginning of the Transcontinental Railroad in order for resources to spread more rapidly across the North American continent (instead of supplies going across the Atlantic Ocean to spread resources across the world. This travel across the Atlantic Ocean was long and tedious). The robber barons stole the railroad system after they were built. The government used the Homestead Act and other programs to assist settlers and farmers in the West. This same goal of infrastructure development continued in the times of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy (including in our time in 2012).
By Timothy
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