On a healthy economy and just society

The Wealth Gap—As a democratic socialist…or more appropriately, a social capitalist, or capital socialist (we must not conflate, as most do, democracy with capitalism). It is economically healthy that there are entrepreneurs/owners of super wealth, but those owners to change approximately each generation to avoid entrenched wealth. This can be accomplished with  a redistribution of wealth via a steep progressive tax and stiff inheritance tax. There is no other way. A healthy economy must have money in circulation and entrenched wealth slows circulation. Also, a society cannot have equal opportunity without redistribution of wealth.

The "hell" of a liberal attending a Trump rally

Okay, so I'm going to go ahead and share my experience at Donald Trump's rally in Warren, MI today. We'll start with why I went. I am a firm believer in being educated on ALL candidates, not just the one you're rooting for, so Stephanie and I decided to attend. If you know me, it's no surprise that I am not a fan of Trump due to his racist, misogynist, and popularity-searching "campaign". But I try to keep an open mind, understanding that people have different views and everyone is entitled to their own. 

I wore a shirt bashing Trump, and Stephanie wore a pro-Bernie Sanders baseball hat. We had no intentions of causing a scene, starting any fights, or even speaking negatively towards any Trump-supporters. We stood in the crowd with everyone else, even made small talk with a few different people, asking back and forth about each other's views. A women supporting Trump even complimented our hat and shirt. This is not a post to bash all Trump-supporters. Most of the people we spoke to were very kind to us, as we were to them. Trump came out and started his speech. 

As hard as it was, we ignored the screams and chants of building walls and exporting citizens. We stood quietly and listened to the man speak. Every 15 or so minutes, a scene would happen where the crowd would yell about protestors and Trump would scream, "Get them out, send them out of here!" and the crowd would scream "USA, USA, USA" until the attendees who were asked to leave were escorted out. 

So, about 45 minutes to an hour into his speech, a group of teenage boys (who had been harassing us the entire time while we ignored their comments) screamed and pointed at us, yelling for us to be kicked out. At first we laughed it off, of course we couldn't be kicked out, we were just standing here silently. Wrong. A secret service member and a police officer were there within the minute, grabbed Stephanie and I by our arms, and started to lead us out. One of the Trump supporters we were chatting with even stood up for us, explaining that we weren't doing anything and weren't being disruptive. 

By now the crowd was chanting their USA run and a large portion was also booing us out. The walk through the crowd was very upsetting, being screamed at and filmed, even one man said "Go to China if you like communism so much!" (Communism?? Don't you mean democratic socialism??). But also, along the walk out, some attendees would high five us or shake our hands, and thank us for coming and supporting Bernie. It felt weird to be thanked, due to us not doing anything besides standing quietly. 

As the two men walked us out, one explained that if we returned we would be arrested. Stephanie quickly asked why that was. The man replied with "They don't want you here," to which she said "Isn't it a constitutional right to silently protest?" The officer replied "Not here." The rude remarks and yells didn't stop at the door, for Trump-supporters who didn't get in greeted us with just as much hatred. The walk back to my truck even included a man yelling from his car about how this was for Trump people and that we didn't belong here and shouldn't have come. This kind of hatred is what is ruining this country. To think that my right to protest was taken from me AT A RALLY, scares the hell out of me for if Trump actually became president and got that power. What else would he take away from us if he can't even stand two teenage girls standing silently at a FREE, PUBLIC, OPEN-TO-EVERYONE event? If you're thinking of voting Trump this year, please rethink your stance. This much hate belongs nowhere near the presidency.

https://www.facebook.com/TurnUpTheBass/posts/10206924362926071?fref=nf

The Nation Article endorsing Sanders

http://www.thenation.com/article/bernie-sanders-for-president/

Jane Mayer article: Covert Operations

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations

TPP will negate sovereignty of nations

"These three agreements [Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA)] solidify the creeping corporate coup d’état along with the final evisceration of national sovereignty."
 “It allows corporations to bypass our three branches of government to impose enforceable sanctions by secret tribunals. These tribunals can declare our labor, consumer and environmental protections [to be] unlawful, non-tariff barriers subject to fines for noncompliance. The TPP establishes a transnational, autocratic system of enforceable governance in defiance of our domestic laws.”--Ralph Nader.


http://goo.gl/VLARHb

Republican's "...brilliant smoke-and-mirrors strategy..."

"Republicans have figured out a brilliant smoke-and-mirrors strategy: Since Democrats are the party of big, especially federal, government, political dysfunction in Washington hurts Democrats. Republicans may be the instigators, but most voters don't play close enough attention to politics to ascribe meaningful blame. They just see that they don't like big, federal government, and Democrats are the party of big, federal government."

http://goo.gl/MUTsdn

"...disproportion [income] has reached destructive levels..."

"...But Marx did have an insight about the disproportionate power of the ownership of capital. The owner of capital decides where money goes, whereas the people who sell only their labor lack that power. This makes it hard for society to be shaped in their interests. In recent years, that disproportion has reached destructive levels, so if we don’t want to be a Marxist society, we need to put it right."

Source: "The Middle Class Squeeze" by Charles Moore, WSJ (behind pay wall)