The Problem with America

As we all lick our wounds after what happened on Tuesday regarding the election I began to ask myself questions and here is what I think the Democrats and the Left keep losing elections in this country.

In Europe the Left made a decision a long time ago that comfort and security was the most important thing to winning elections. They won the the argument in their societies that healthcare should be free to all, that people deserved employment security, that education should be free and that social services should be universal. The establishment of a universal welfare state defanged the right in these nations. This also marginalized religion and volunteerism because the government does those things for the people.

The bad thing about this welfare state is that Europeans do not have a sense of volunteerism or religioisity the plus is that Europe does not have the kind of dislocation-poverty and social problems that the USA has because of the Welfare state. Europe is a bad place to live if you are a
Bill Gates and you want to excel as a businessperson, t a great place to live if you are Roseanne Barr (Working Class- Woman)

In the USA the left made another choice- in the face of social problems the left decided that the way to power was to cobble together an alliance of special interests that together made up a majority.

The American welfare state was never universal- except for the Social Security and Medicare- which can n never be changed because they are universal- the special interest welfare state became a tool that could be used by the right to divide people from their economic interests to support a political point for view outside their interests.

The result of all this is that the left in the USA does not have a coherent philosophy because less Americans have a stake in the government and government programs, Americans are deluded to believe that they can all be Bill Gates- even though this cannot happen for most.

The result of the mobilization of the Right was caused because of the fact that Lyndon Johnson
made a political mistake- he viewed Welfare as a way to uplift the poor- rather than as a safety net for all Americans. The result today is that the Democrats are viewed as the party of "special interests" rather than the protector of people's standard of living.

If the Left in America wants to win elections they need to present a vision that is radical and that needs to be sold to the American people that with them in power the country will change. The left needs to say the following- it is not right that European workers at all levels have lavish welfare states and healthcare and American workers can be fired and layed off for no reason-it is not right that in the name of free trade American industries are outsourced and that these company continue to garner huge profits- it is not right that if you are rich in our society you pay few taxes and if you a middle class you pay allot.

You will notice that I did not mention any social issues. The fact is that liberal social issues are losing issues until the US population views a left wing agenda as a benefit to their lives. Liberal America is never going to sell people on the idea that Gay marriage is a good thing unless they have a whole program that actually changes people's lives.

Most Americans are not comfortable with Partial Birth Abortion and Abortion on demand, but if a National Health Service existed that was committed to making Abortions truly safe-legal and rare they might be able to win over people to that agenda but the feminist pro choice arguments are losers in much of America.

The USA is careening towards a day of judgement- not the false rapture of the Evangelicals- but a day in the very near future when the 85 million Baby Boomers begin to retire. Our society and our welfare state cannot bear these costs- our society and our country is on the verge of many problems. The Right's response to this is the outsource welfare to the 'faith based' and use cultural issues to divide the society. The Left in this country needs to focus their efforts on Economic issues- and on the creation a a real Welfare state-

I would love to hear a candidate say my platform is the following;

National Health Insurance for all Americans, Education is going to be free through college, all Americans should get 4 weeks vacation a year regardless of time served, and Social Security for the elderly will be fully funded. Also, we will not allow companies to to outsource and fire people without making up for the social dislocation that this causes.

Then the Left needs to be honest- taxes will be higher- you may not be able to become a millionaire but you wont be bankrupted by your health problems, you will have time to spend with your family, you will have an old age pension that allows you to live well in old age and if you lose your job you will have time and money to find another one. I think that the left needs to put this type of choice to the voters and I bet you they would win if they had the guts to be honest.