I took part in a survey recently to help steer a Political Action Committee (PAC) I have supported before. I was asked to rank the following as I saw their importance:
- A living wage for all
- Global leadership through diplomacy
- Verifiable, accurate elections
- High quality education for all
- Balanced federal budget
- Health care for all
- Publicly funded elections
- Preserve our natural resources
- Energy independence: clean, renewable sources
- Restored constitutional rights
So this survey was asking me “what do you believe is important for the US Government?” Which got me thinking, what do I believe in, at least when it comes to government? I see both dominant parties as abject failures and self serving profit driven entities and would prefer not to vote for a ‘party,’ neither bleeding heart liberal of cold hearted conservative. So what do I believe?
At the risk of never again finding a good job because someone ‘googled’ my name before setting up an interview, here is what I believe at this point in my life:
- I believe the Environment is important.
I believe we should use taxes to encourage people to do the right thing: tax every pound of waste sent into a landfill, cash back for recycling, tax the sale of items that are not packaged in recycled packaging, tax products that can’t be recycled, and tax products that use production methods that are considered harmful to the environment. Make it economical to go green and painful to throw things out. Higher taxes on Fossil fuels lower taxes on renewable energy. More money for NSF research, tax breaks for green buildings and for retrofitting green technology into existing buildings. - I believe that Immigration is important for the United States and should be encouraged.
We should make it easier to immigrate and harder to cross the border without a pass. We should make basic English skills a requirement for citizenship and offer free classes to all who would be citizens because speaking English will unlock many doors for them. - I believe in the right to privacy and I regret that the founding fathers did not spell it out.
I believe that congress should make no laws limiting what consenting adults can do in the privacy of their homes or what they can and cannot do with their bodies. I believe we may need to amend the constitution to enshrine this law. - I believe that the laws of the land need to be reviewed.
Old laws that have been over turned or are not enforced should be removed from the books. I believe that once this is done every adult in the US should receive a copy of the code of the US for their reference. Ignorance is not a defense. - I believe in states rights.
The federal government should stay out of local issues. - I believe that America needs to work hard to regain the moral high ground.
Immediately cease all covert overseas activities, publicly acknowledge them and apologize for them. Cease all domestic covert activities, publicly acknowledge them and apologize for them. Stop torture, stop arbitrary imprisonment, stop extra-judicial activities and apologize for them. Pay our UN bill. Live up to the treaties and international conventions we have signed. Ask the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq how we can be of service to them and do as they ask. Stop foreign military aid; all of it. Review all foreign aid. Give less money directly, it only encourages corruption. Give more money to the IMF, World Bank, UNICEF, and other UN agencies, Fight to abolish the permanent seats on the UN Security Council. Learn the value of soft power. Spend as much on peace as we do on war. - I believe in personal responsibility.
Make the law reflect this. - I believe in Welfare in so far as a decent pay should be provided for a decent days labor.
If you don’t have a job and need money then report to the local government house for a task at the end of the day, assuming you have worked you will be paid for your work. Come back tomorrow if you need more money. I believe that there is enough work to do that no one should sit at home and collect welfare, you should have to work for it each and every day you collect it. Even if you dig a ditch in the morning and fill it in after lunch (which of course would be provided by others who needed a job for the day.) - I believe in corporal punishment.
The US could learn a lot from Singapore. I don’t believe in rehabilitative punishment 200 years of attempts to rehabilitate have lead to a system that makes things worse. - I believe Capital punishment should be ended.
Because it simply does not work. Either fix the system or end the system. - I believe in what I believe in.
I believe that Church is important to many Americans. So are Mosque and Temple and Synagogue and Shrines and many other things I am not aware of. I believe this means that these things should be dealt with outside of government and that people should not be allowed to force their beliefs on others under the auspices of the government. - I believe that government funded research should be for the good of all.
Therefore the results of government funded research should be in the public domain. I believe we should help to pay for drug development only if that development is aimed at diseases and health problems that affect a significant portion of the global population not 1% of 5% of the global population. - I believe Politics should not be a career but a duty.
I believe to help enforce this we should make a law excluding any and all publicly elected officials from running for office during their term. This means that while in office a politician is not allowed to campaign—for themselves of any other candidate. During a term in office you should be doing your job not convincing people of how well you’ve done your job.
As you can see I will never get elected to public office unless I resort to lying. And this is one of the biggest problems in politics today. The rhetoric does not match the reality. It’s not even the same language. There are too many bad people in politics. It attracts too many corrupt people who have turned the system into one big grinding wheel so that no one of high ideals will ever make a difference, long before they achieve a position where they could make a difference they will have been corrupted and turned into just another crooked politician.
2 replies on “What I believe”
All excellent points; the only thing I have a problem with is this statement:
“I believe we should help to pay for drug development only if that development is aimed at diseases and health problems that affect a significant portion of the global population not 1% of 5% of the global population”
It seems to leave a lot of folks out in the cold. Corporations will drive research for diseases affecting large segments of the population since that’s where the potential profit exists. There’s money to be made there. But diseases like progeria, or as a less extreme example, spina bifida would probably be largely ignored. I’m sure there are many more solid examples out there — and I’m not saying that these are any more or less important than dealing with cancer, AIDS, diabetes, heart disease, etc. but if we limit government funding to what affects the majority, little if anything would be done to help those with less known diseases.
I don’t think that would be the case. Diseases like Spina Bifida that affect a small number of people but are seen as tragic are exactly what big company’s look at treating because while it affects a small population it affects them in the rich countries (as well as the poor.) So big pharma can make money off those in the rich countries who have these diseases and will compete for that money.
But maybe you’re right. The problem I see is that simple diseases like Malaria, Dysentery, Cholera, and Typhoid kill millions each year but drugs to treat or prevent these illnesses (some of which already exist) don’t or won’t make the kind of money that high blood pressure or obesity or impotence drugs will make because the people who suffer from these problems don’t live in rich countries.
Let private companies spend money developing drugs to treat these ‘first world’ ailments. But rather than the NSF funding some, or any, of the research into treatments for these illnesses the government should focus its money on the big problems. Once these are dealt with then you can attack other illnesses. We have to draw the line somewhere because it is not practical to spend money on every disease so this is how I would draw it, for now at least. The first priority should be to help the largest number of people.
One thing that could change the entire system is the rise of the generic drug companies in places like India and China. As these companies and their countries mature and begin to do their own research and development they will be much closer to these large scale problems and so more likely to research treatments for them.