Mel Haas Politics
What I most strongly support politically is the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. There is nothing in there for the Gun Nuts,
KKK, and Trumpites.
Most of us repeated these words in
grade school, high school, scout meetings, sports events, and civic ceremonies.
I did many times in the Army. I was proud to do so. "for all" encapsulates a fundamental aspiration of
American democracy: that liberty and justice should be universal, reflecting a
commitment to inclusivity and equality in society.
Our Declaration of Independence
states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are
created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
"all men are created equal,"
The US Constitution starts with,
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more
perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the
common defence, promote the general Welfare, and
secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,"
"We the People"
I understand and believe these
words are true, and they apply to every human being who resides in control of
our government.
What can we do to assure inclusion for those excluded?
Key Insights
The Declaration
of Independence is the defining document of the United States of
America. Our constitution, laws, and all forms of our government follow from
this document and belief. We all have the rights of life, liberty, and freedom
to pursue Happiness. The US government exists to secure these rights.
There is no other purpose of
government. If some other aspect is there, it should be removed. The
Revolutionary War was fought to remove the hurtful and inhumane purposes of the
government of England. Here is a spectacular lecture given by Jamie Raskin, our
representative in Congress, who supports this view. Cruelty & Our
Founding Documents
Remember that the purpose of a just society and government is to protect
everyone's inherent right to life, liberty, and freedom to pursue their own
happiness. Everyone means every person under the control of the government.
This is a moral and ethical imperative. Threats to the life, liberty, and
freedom of anyone because they are dark-skinned, poor, speak Spanish, swam the
Rio Grande to get here, or voted for Hillary is just plain evil and
inexcusable. Politics is the basis of our government. Our vote is the mechanism
we use individually to guide it as we believe to be right, ethical, and moral.
Our current government is actively
causing the death of hundreds of thousands of us, restricting the liberty of
tens of thousands of us, and dashing the hopes, dreams, and potential of all of
us. Instead of protecting the "unalienable Right" to life, we have
politicians actively jeopardizing the lives of people living here, killing
people they pledged to protect. Evil people by their incompetence, direct
actions, and purposeful inactions. Immoral, greedy, unprincipled, grifting
people, i.e. Republicans. My personal political aim would be to get each of
these horrible people voted out of our government.
The Nov 5th election illuminated
the largest group of underserved people in the US.
Voters to Elites: Do You See Me Now? (NYT
11/10/2024)
"The diploma divide became
the most important chasm in American life. High school graduates die nine years
sooner than college-educated people. They die of opioid overdoses at six times
the rate. They marry less and divorce more and are more likely to have a child
out of wedlock. They are more likely to be obese. A recent American Enterprise
Institute study found that 24 percent of people who graduated from high school
at most have no close friends. They are less likely than college grads to visit
public spaces or join community groups and sports leagues."
Eighty (80) years ago, it was
obvious that more than 4 years of High School was needed to engage with the
social and technical post-war world. That never sank into the US political and
social system, and we still have a 4-year cutoff between those with not much of
a future and those with higher education and more time to grow up. People with
fear and anger about their (and their children's) future vote for the demagogue
that feeds that fury.
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/the-clearest-indicator-is-educ-eVSZeu2ySXWxfhp0Kln8Bg
"Addressing these educational
disparities remains a critical challenge for ensuring a more equitable and
stable society."
Many other modern governments offer free public education
before and after K-12.
(Our grandson in San Francisco
goes to a Catholic private high school because the public schools there are so
underfunded. Kids mostly flunk the state math test at our nearest Silver Spring
junior high school. It's real, and it's here.)
Fascism,
Trumpism
Fascism is a form of far-right, authoritarian ultranationalism
characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition, and
strong regimentation of society and the economy. It rose to prominence in early
20th-century Europe. ... Fascists believe that liberal democracy is obsolete.
Here is a list of Early warning signs of fascism
in the US Holocaust Museum. A copy hangs on the office wall of our Congressman,
Jamie Raskin.
Powerful and continuing
nationalism
Disdain for human rights
Identification of enemies as a
unifying cause
Supremacy of the military
Rampant sexism
Controlled mass media
Obsession with national security
Religion and government
intertwined
Corporate power protected
Labor power suppressed
Disdain for intellectuals &
the arts
Obsession with crime &
punishment
Rampant cronyism & corruption
Fraudulent elections
Our
future seems bleak to me. I think fascism has evolved into our modern age. In
WWII, it was power by the military and mob violence. Fascist use of speeches,
newspapers, and radio to incite racial hatred. Now it concentrates on the
internet, social media, and small-group cult idiocy. Still racial hatred,
but now more inclusive. A much broader spectrum of skin color is despised.
Republicans - What's at Stake -
Lives and Future
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/12/republicans-fossil-fuel-industry-crony-capitalism.html
"The essence of the Republican strategy boils down to favoring their
patron industries, maintaining 100-year-old tax subsidies for fossil fuels, and
pushing hard for environmental deregulation that allows companies to pollute
and dump and accelerate our frightening rush toward climate change.
Environmental harms from pollution are real costs that
polluting industries should bear, just like their other costs of production.
But thanks to Republican interventions, the American public instead bear these
costs in the form of millions of avoidable illnesses and hundreds of thousands
of lives lost annually to pollution from coal-fired power plants, harmful
pesticides sprayed over millions of acres of crops, and toxic chemicals that
are everywhere, even in the fabric of your living room sofa. In the Republican
worldview, "liberty" and "freedom" are the unfettered
ability of their political cronies to rob Americans of their health,
well-being, and lives."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-life-expectancy-republican-policies_n_5f45845ac5b6cf66b2afc90c
We are at war between good and evil on every front:
infrastructure, climate change, public transit, affordable childcare,
preschool, community college, trade school, child poverty, wealth gap, equity,
voting rights, gerrymandering, dark money, and gun violence.
There are powerful Republicans and
a few scumbag Democrats using the whole arsenal of politics to enrich
themselves, stay in power, and impede progress toward change. They don't care a
whit about the number of deaths they cause or the grief and misery they inflict
on people. They are evil, evil people and should be called out on that by
everyone, the mass media, and all the Democrats.
Health
Care
Everyone has the right to life. A life
preserved by the best health care possible. It is immoral and unethical to deny
health care to any segment of society. Our infant mortality rate, the high
death rate of poor people, and lower life expectancy than other countries are a
disgrace. Our government is actively taking away life. I believe health care is a fundamental right,
birthright, of everybody. Claimed in the first part of the declaration that
founded our country. The US government has the responsibility of protecting our
right to life. Our right to excellent health care. The crappy insurance
policies we have are not doing the job of protecting the lives of us who
already have them. Many countries do better by every measure (lower costs, longer
lives, less infant mortality, no medical impoverishment).
Race
Here is an excellent summary of our
country's failure in race relations by John Oliver:
https://youtu.be/hsxukOPEdgg
Abortion, Contraception,
Sex Education
It is not reasonable to separate the issues of abortion,
contraception, and sex education. The Roman Catholics, Muslim Sects, and many
of the Evangelical Christians preach and fund efforts to ban all three. This is
pure evil incarnate. Abortion is prevented most effectively by appropriate sex
education, ready knowledge and availability of contraceptives, and intelligent
discussion and public argument. Public demonstrations and shouting about
"baby killers" are counterproductive, offensive, and stupid.
From Mark Fury, "If you
are against abortion, but not against poverty, prejudice, greed and fascism.
You are a hypocrite."
The recent law passed in Texas to
impoverish innocent people who inadvertently aid a pregnant woman in getting an
abortion is an atrocity. It is supported by too many religions, in my opinion.
And is motivated by hatred of people of dark skin, the poor, immigrants, and
people who voted for Hillary.
Here is a
sermon by Bishop Baron, The
Most Pressing Moral Issue of Our Time. He points out that humans begin at
conception and must be protected and nurtured as a moral and legal principle.
What I believe to be valid and important. What the Roman Catholic Church he
represents fails in every respect to do. Hypocrisy. Mendacity. Cruelty. The
pressing moral issue is to preserve and nurture human life for all people for
all their lives, not just the first nine months. Actions should be
advocated and discussed for the health and welfare of parents well before
conception and children for a lifetime after.
Violence
Violence will not stop until the country
stops producing the people doing the violence. https://mel.lwbook.net/Violence.html
Democrats
To keep things simple here. I support every one of Elizabeth
Warren's plans for our country's future, as do many
Democrats. A vote for almost any Democrat is a vote for the essence of her
ideas. She articulated the issues much better than I could. She presents
remedies clearly and in-depth. Please read everything on her web site. And vote
the scoundrels out.
Human Rights
What I most strongly support politically is the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. There is nothing in there for the Gun Nuts,
KKK, and Trumpites.
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2/15/2025 2:20 PM