The Consequences of the Votes Not Cast!

Elections in 2010, 2012 & 2014 were about getting a US Congress that says more than, "NO!" to President Obama...  We failed!

2010, 2012 & 2014 were about taking state legislatures and governors' mansions back from Republicans...  We failed! 


Failure in 2010 allowed for gerrymandering that has tried hard, with some success, to keep folks prone to voting for Democrats away from the polls.

Too many folks accepted the lie that a vote doesn't matter and do not vote; obviates/abets gerrymandering.  A vote is the key to Democracy! Every vote counts!

1% may have most of the money, but 99% have almost all the votes!


We can not all be bought... When we, the overwhelming majority, do not vote we give our power away for free!

Senators Sanders and Warren are pushing a great, progressive action plan...  If we don't get Democrats, Progressives and Independents to the voting booth it is all for naught.


Register and Vote in every election!

Economic Q & A:

Questions:
Q: Who operates retail businesses, that pay minimum wage, during the school year?
A: Adults, often with families to support. The adults can't just go home after school or for summer vacation!



Q: What does business do?
A: Invest in an enterprise to create a product or service... Customers buy what you’re selling and you get back more than you put in, or you fail.



Q: What’s your return on investment if very few people are confident enough to spend money?
A: Not much... Your business may sell what people want to buy, but when they aren't confident (don't spend money) your business still fails.



Q: What’s the return on investment from education?
A: Knowledgeable folks to staff your business. ROI is about 20 years for a college grad (pre-K to Bachelor's degree) and 15 years for a high school grad... There’s absolutely no monetary value on an educated workforce; No bankable return on investment.

Education is a long, complex and expensive investment with no direct, cash value; no for profit business can tolerate this cash free ROI.



Q:What’s the ROI on common carrier infrastructure: roads, bridges, water mains, sewers, waste water treatment, airports, seaports, electric power grid, telecommunications grid, etc…
A: People, materials and product can be moved about; life's boring because everything works. There’s no cash value on this return either.



Q: Research and Development (R&D): Capable of being large, complex and expensive... Starts with, “what if,” and goes to some result that may not have recognized value (money or otherwise) for a long time. What is the ROI?
A: Nobody knows... Requires a belief in crystal balls and fortune tellers to get predictions.



Q: What does regulation do?
A: It defines the, “playing field,” and rules of the game. Officials (government) must determine who’s playing by the rules and be able to penalize the rule-breakers. Following the rules might mean no more than predictable, day to day functionality... An environment where one succeeds or fails, on a level playing field, based solely on merit.



It takes a great deal of planning, research, development, time, money and effort to create an environment where an economy can function, let alone thrive. If the background prep is done well: rules are followed/updated/enforced and there are customers with money to spend... Then, and only then, will capitalism work. An economy thrives only if all participants do their part and pay their share of the costs involved.

Chasing Shadows!

Democrats are spending way too much time trying to raise money like Republicans... A fool's errand!



1% may have all the money, but 99% has almost all the votes.



One might find a case about political spending to take to court, but it's going to need to go all the way to the SCOTUS. This time the court's decision must repudiate the notion that paid political access is, somehow, equivalent to free speech.



Or, one could point out (to as many folks as possible) that a bill to rectify the situation requires a US Congress that actually works with the President... Something we Progressives, Liberals, Independents and Democrats did not vote for (because, to too large a degree, we don't vote) in 2010 and 2014.



We can not all be bought, but when we don't vote we give our power away!

Your Vote is the Key to Democracy...

Voting is the key to a democratic republic, and too damn few of us exercise that key responsibility. When those who are supposed to represent us realized that most were not paying attention they succumbed to the temptation to feather their own nests; at the expense of whomever it required.



The elected officials, and their entourages, are happy in their comfortable digs and have continued the very human trait of protecting their turf.



To return to, "of, by and for the people," we must all register and vote in every election; some must become candidates (Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently, for the same reason). We can not take back what we have given away quickly, because we've allowed folks to fortify their positions. But, if we, the people, don't start soon the end result is feudalism; a system that favors (and entrenches) the top 1%.



One might find a case about political spending to take to court, but it's going to need to go all the way to the SCOTUS.



One could point out (to as many folks as possible) that a bill (bills/laws) to rectify the situation requires a US Congress that actually works with the President... Something we Progressives, Liberals, Independents and Democrats did not vote for (because, to too large a degree, we don't vote) in 2010 and 2014.



1% may have all the money, but 99% has almost all the votes.



We can not all be bought, but when we don't vote we give our power away!

Dear Democrats,

I'm constantly bombarded with requests for donations via e-mail! Panic-sounding notes repeating the message, "the Republicans are kicking our keisters," raising funds. Rep. Doggett and Sarbanes came to Austin, TX to rally common folks to send more money! Even Paul Weyrich knew what conservatives had to do: fewer voters! When fewer folks make it to the polls the crowd with the most determined base wins; most often conservatives.


So, persuade voters that their votes don't count and then follow through with voter blocking rules, laws and gerrymandering: conservatives almost always win.


Sound familiar?


We don't need to match funds with Republicans. We do have to keep the Internet neutral and use it to propagate the message, "Your vote does matter!"


"Funny or Die," Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Oprah Winfrey, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Robert Reich, Senator Warren, etc... web sites need to spread progressive messages vital to restoring the USA we know, love and need to bring back to the fore: the New, New Deal and the Greatest Society.


Registering voters and reminding them that their votes matter so much that some are trying really, desperately hard to block it.


Raising money is important, matching Republicans dollar for dollar is not important!


Voting is incredibly important! Voting is the basis of Democracy!

Job Creators...

Customers are the job creators... Without customers there are no businesses.


D'oh!


Customers are reasonably compensated employees.

Eat to Live: Industrial Agriculture vs. Sustainable Agriculture.

Genetically modified organisms (GMO) are a result of genetic engineering (GE) and they are not perceived as, “evil,” but as the most recent, lowest, level attained by unsustainable, industrial agriculture (IA).



IA promotes monoculture (enormous fields of one, identical crop) that forgoes the natural competition between the pests of different plants; requires the application of chemical pesticides. Avoids the natural remediation (legumes bring nitrogen from the air back to the soil, whereas other plants must get that nutrient from the soil) available from interleaved plant species; requires the application of chemical fertilizers. The promoting of monoculture, found nowhere in nature, requires the application of chemical herbicides. It might be important to highlight the definition of the the suffix  -cide: killer!



IA also promotes confined/crowded animal feeding operations (CAFO) that puts a great many animals in a very limited, unnaturally so, amount of space; such that they are constantly exposed to their own waste product. Large quantities of antibiotics, approximately 80% of the antibiotics used in the USA, are included in the daily life of the confined livestock. Antibiotics were also discovered to promote more rapid physical maturity (growth) in livestock, so the antibiotics are prone to being abused even for unconfined animals.



CAFO also feed corn to ruminants, creatures that evolved to survive by consuming and digesting enormous quantities of various grasses, to add fat (flavor and texture) to the protein content while simultaneously causing increased flatulence.



The constant exposure of flora and fauna to increasingly higher levels of: antibiotics, pesticides and herbicides has led to super: pathogens, pests and weeds. So, the corporations that profit mightily from IA step in with GE created GMOs. GMO corn that produces it's own pesticide (Bt corn) is fed to cattle, people and used to create a great many processed foods... What could possibly go wrong there?



GMO plants were created to tolerate higher levels of applied herbicides and pesticides without harm to the plants thusly modified; probably one of the factors in the phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD) in bee hives; disappearing the primary pollinators of food crops. Increased application of '-cides' is also harmful to farm workers and to soil microbes; microbes already under assault from the need to plow/till soil annually (exposing soil and its beneficial microbes to drying sun and winds).



GMO apples hide the fact that apples oxidize (turn a brownish color) once sliced, create pseudo-salmon (frankenfish) that gets much bigger, faster; more product, falsely labeled as salmon, to market (more money).



Once again asking, “What could possibly go wrong?”



The answer is that there hasn't been time for sufficient, peer reviewed, scientific inquiry to answer that oft repeated query.



That is not calling GMOs, “evil.” It is an attempt to call for a halt to the race to profit from the next generation of IA... A time to pause and consider the, properly peer reviewed, methods of sustainable agriculture.

One of the Main Reasons for Government...

Profit trumps responsibility too often in business. Unenlightened, self-interest driven economics is the reason you need rules, regulation and enforcement from government; enough power to reign in the corrupting  influence of money.



That's the theory, but it only works when everybody registers and votes in every election; routinely replacing elected officials. Politicians and diapers should be changed frequently, for the same reason.

Solutions to Political and Government Problems Start Here...

When talking about politics and government the problems vary, but the start (the beginning, etc...) to solutions does not: voters must register and vote in all elections.



1% may have most of the money, but 99% have almost all the vote! We can not all be bought. If we do not vote we have given our power away for free!