An investment in education.

     I'm a geek, so excuse the Star Trek reference, but we live in a society with a very Klingon-like sense of what masculinity is. We revel in glee while we watch people tear each other apart in a ring, and see the shedding of a tear as shameful. And feminism, while it began as something good, ended up keeping men aggressive and spiteful, while making the women more equally so. We favor aggressive action over contemplative thought.

     We need to make improvements in the education system. Yes, conservatives, this is going to a financial investment, but it would pay off. We need gun safety courses in our children’s schools. Yes, this sounds like a paradox, but hear me out. If the media are to blame for the gun violence epidemic, it would be because children only know what guns look and sound like. The visual stimulation presented by the game, the TV show, or the movie contradicts the tactile stimulation presented by the popcorn, drink, or controller. Children need to know what a gun actually feels like. In our point-and-click interface society, they need to understand what true level of power it is in their hands. And those cheesy paper targets should be replaced with life-life dummies, so they know what they are doing.

     In addition, we need to have another part of the course called Anatomical Effects of Violence. They need to see what the effects of common murder weapons are upon the body with the use of ballistics gel dummies. Of course, the young students will be enamored with the fact that they saw blood and gore in class, but the novelty will fade. It needs to be driven home that those dummies are representations of the human body, and that they live in a human body, and despite any feelings of alienation that they might feel at that age, nothing will change the fact that they share that commonality with the rest of humanity.
     Not all violence results in death. This is another point that must be made in this hypothetical class. For the first ten minutes at the beginning of each class session, students should lay motionless on a cot, looking up at the ceiling, with nothing but the sound of equipment beeping. Such is the “life” of many victims of violence.
     Many students took a course in high school, where they carried a baby-doll around for a while, to get a glimpse into the life of a parent. They even carry them home with them. Students should spend a portion of their time in a wheelchair. Something high-tech that monitors when they get in and out of it. Of course, they will spend a lot of time racing in them, but when they realize how much of a life-change it is, it will sink in.

     Yes, these may sound drastic, but when gun violence is so common to where we are little more than a third-world nation dressed in Western suits and ties, we need to re-examine what we teach our children.

The American mindset.

     A lot has been said about what we need to do about tragedies such as Sandy Hook, Aurora, and others. Before action, thoughts need to dominate the landscape. We need to look at the American mindset as if we're looking at the collective consciousness of all of us. We are, after all, social creatures. Here's an experiment. For the next week, once every few hours, when you're awake, look into the mirror and say the following mantra:

"I will not cry.
Nothing's wrong.
Tears are for the weak.
The only help can come from an invisible hand.
Seeking help from other people means opening up.
Opening up is for the weak.
Fear, depression, bad memories, are all in my head.
Where's the invisible hand?
I must have the next big thing.
Material gains will make me whole.
I must look right.
Material gains for my family will make me a good provider.
If I cannot achieve those goals, it's my fault.
Where's the invisible hand?
I cannot turn to another.
I cannot admit weakness.
I must stand on my own,
like a grown-up.
The invisible hand isn't here.
That makes me sad.
But I'm not sad, because that makes me weak.
But if I admit not seeing the invisible hand,
then there's something wrong with me."

After a week, let me know how much your perception has significantly altered.


     In addition, we have this silly "end of the world business." Doomsayers crop up all the time, but not so much as now, with this Mayan calendar bullshit. If society, as a whole, were stuffed into one person, so that person became the embodiment of all of us, that would be a depraved being, with its excesses, self-loathing, materialism, and disenfranchisement. Now, imagine whispering in that person's ear everyday, saying that they were terminally ill and had a short while to live. How would they act?

America needs an enema!

     I knew that there would be resistance in the aftermath of a likely Obama victory; but I didn't expect a bunch of fucking racist morons wanting to split from the country! Jesus Fist-fucking Christ! Let Texas be their sanctuary, then. After a few years, without federal programs such as the Department of Education (which we still need to fix), the FCC, the FDA (which we also need to fix), and sealed of from foreign influences, that hellhole will be teeming with dumb, out of touch, malnourished, xenophobes in the midst of sheer chaos!
      But, I did expect a bunch of senators still holding out on cooperating with the president and the will of the people. I still haven't figured out why they're kissing Grover Norquist's ass. Fuck him! We need to tell them "Do what the people need to get done, assholes! That's why you're there!"

      Before I flip out and throw this computer, I will end this blog entry. We'll see what happens in the next few months.

Before I go out and vote.

      The Twitter and Facebook posts have been posted and reposted. The jokes have been passed around. The arguments have been had. It’s Election Day, and before I go out and vote, I am going to make my formal declaration. I am voting for Barack Obama. This blog entry will explain why.

      Towards the end of the Bush administration, I saw that the economy was falling apart. At the time, I was a school bus janitor and assistant to the school district’s mechanic. The radio was on at work, and I remember a story where senator and candidate John McCain’s financial advisor (his name escapes me) said that there was nothing wrong with the economy, and that it was the “mental economy.”People were just afraid to spend. Many neo-cons were trying to convince the people that Bush’s policies were working, and that the economy was fine. Due to two seemingly unwinnable wars and a faltering economy, and the fact that the prospects of any Republican taking the 2008 election would really just herald W’s third term with a new face, I knew that the Democrats were poised to take the White House. However, being an observer of human nature and patterns of behavior, I was certain that the conservatives weren’t going to sound the economy alarm until that Democratic president took office. As the election season dragged on, and things were taking an even bleaker turn, I knew that such a Democratic president would have their work cut out for them. I knew that they weren’t going to get the job done in one term. The way I saw it, the fixing of America would take two progressive terms from either Clinton or Obama. In addition, someone riding in on that Democrat’s coattails, and therefore continuing that progressive reform for at least one term, would fix America. I didn’t expect miracles, but I did expect resistance from neo-cons digging their heels. I am the neo-cons’ worst nightmare - a voter with a good political memory and long-term vision. This is the main reason that I’m voting the way I am. I understand that he’s not perfect, but at least he’s trying to create progressive reforms. And I’m not going to vote for a third party candidate because it’s destructive, useless, and senseless, unless we can get rid of the Electoral College. As someone said, if we’re “screwed either way,”I’m going with the guy who’ll let me take the morning after pill the next day. Now that the opening declaration has been made, I will tackle the issues that are important to me, one by one, in no specific order.

HEALTHCARE– The Affordable Care Act, though a far cry from the reform that I had hoped for, is reform nonetheless. It has gotten more people insured, and when all of its changes fall into place in 2014, more people will keep their insurance. This is not a government takeover of healthcare. In fact, it promotes a free market competition, and puts a crack in the insurance monopolies.

EDUCATION– Mitt Romney wants to get rid of the Department of Education. “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” This is an enduring truth spoken by Diogenes. The Department of Education not only should be preserved, but also restructured and strengthened. If our graduates are to compete academically with their international counterparts, then we need a nationally standardized curriculum. It needs to be equitable and fair. There’s nothing fair in the fact that high school students in one part of the nation have a well-funded arts program, excellent science courses, and a variety of languages to choose from, while high school students in another part of the nation struggle to keep their arts together and sift through old and outdated books. The threat to get rid of the Department of Education just reeks of the anti-intellectualism that seems to have permeated the neo-conservative movement.

LGBT RIGHTS – Admittedly, it took a while for the president to warm up to marriage equality. However, though a little slow to fight, he is fighting on our side. This is evident in his stance on DOMA and the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. Personally, I don’t like the idea of people who claim they want “small government” cutting my options for marriage in half.

SOCIAL PROGRAMS – This is a blanket phrase which covers FEMA, Medicare, Social Security, veterans’ benefits. There is no reason not to at least raise the social security tax cap. This will continue its solvency. SS is not broke. It is being robbed. Robbed, like many other social programs. They are being robbed by the very people who want these programs privatized. Privatizing these programs also, in turn, would put money back into the hands of the very people who were dismantling them in the first place. Put in those terms, who the fuck would want to sign on with that deal? When set up by the government, the single goal of social programs is providing services to the people. If privatized, there will be another goal taking center stage: looking out for the corporate profit margins.

ROLE OF GOVERNMENT – It’s obvious why politicians under Wall Street’s control want less government. That’s just like why burglars want homeowners to have a weakened guard dog. That makes it easier to rob people. The role of government, to me, is simple: to be the guard dog at the command of the American people.

ECONOMY– There is no reason to believe that trickle-down, laissez-faire economics could ever work. Back when Reagan started it, it was deemed bullshit by those who called it “voodoo economics.” The top dogs have had their tax cuts for over a decade now, why aren’t the jobs rolling in? This Halloween, did we give the richest kids candy, hoping that they’d share it or drop it so the poor kids would get some? How do you think it would work if you distribute Christmas presents like that, too? It wouldn’t. And we shouldn’t believe it would work with people and entities that have made gathering wealth their top priority. We strengthen the economy by building a strong base. The middle class are the true job creators, because it’s their demand for goods and services that motivates the economy.

      I have a few final words to make before I go perform my civic duty. If Romney does win, it would mean that the people have forgotten what got us into this mess in the first place. It would mean that they got swept up in the pandering of a wheeling-dealing salesman. Yes, that’s all he is. The fact that a man can sit at the end of a corporate oval table, and would sell out his own countrymen, means that he would work for Wall Street when he sits in the Oval Office. I know what some of you are thinking: “But Obama’s taken corporate money, too, blah-blah-blah.” Save it. As far as this presidential race is concerned, no candidate has been a cozier fuck-buddy for Wall Street than Willard Romney. If Rmoney is elected, but the Democrats take Congress, I’m unsure if they would be tasteless and classless enough to sink to the Republican level of obstructionism just for the sake of revenge. I wish they would, but they probably won’t.
      If Obama is re-elected, half of the birthers will diverge into a quest for a new goal: getting to the bottom of how he stole the election, forming a new group –frauders. Corporate attention whore and thinly-veiled racist Donald Trump will egg them on, undoubtedly. If Obama’s election is accompanied with a Democratic win in Congress, then we might see more progressive momentum in the next four years. If not, then we’d have two options: the obstructionists might see that we really do want liberal progression, and therefore would soften their stance; or the obstructionists would double down and resist, which would further enflame the frauders, leading to more gridlock.

      Another thing I’d like to say is directed at people who say that Obama is extremely radical and leftist. While I support him in this election, I would like to point out that he is nowhere near as radical, at least as not as radical, as I would be in his place. Among my first acts would be to have the major players of the Bush administration turned over to the UN for violation of the Geneva Convention rules. I would have marijuana legalized. I would have the Department of Education strengthened, with reforms similar to what Japanese schools have. I would send advisors to Europe to study the healthcare systems there, and reform our own with guidelines inspired by those studies. For nearly destroying our economy and putting many Americans in peril, I would have those responsible for the collapse charged with treason. Also facing charges of treason and possible execution would be those who fight for corporations to buy the government. Since the banks want to consider themselves “too big to fail,” then I would enact laws and regulations that would treat them like public works. Having said that, I’m going to put on some martial industrial music, and stomp off to the voting booth.

The anti-intellectual agenda.

     It’s an election year, and that means that the worst of humanity parades itself on TV and the internet just to get our attention, while the best of humanity is drowned out by their screaming. This actually happens all the time, but during election years, it seems to get worse. There’s been something that’s been bothering me for the past few years, and it seems that it’s taken a toll on the electorate and the politicians who pander to them. It’s this fever of anti-intellectualism.
      The driving force is evident when we think of the words of Isaac Asimov: “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’" We see this in all the Tea Party rallies, when someone tries to have a conversation with one of these people. They don’t know anything about what they claim to be upset about, but they don’t want to know anything about it. “I hate Socialists and Nazis, and Obama is one, just like Karl Marx.” “Well, what do you know about those things? Do you know who Marx was?” “No, but this ain’t no history class.” This is a paraphrasing of what I saw in a taping of a Teapublican rally. It sums up exactly what Asimov was talking about. “Your liberal-biased analysis is on the same level as my conservative values-based feeling.”
      I am a firm believer in the idea that, since we’ve temporarily run out of land to conquer, the only territory left to conquer lies in the minds of the public. This battle is waged via radio, TV, internet, and the undermining of the education system. But, when you wake up in the morning, you have choices to make. When you listen to the media, you choose whether or not to exercise the ability to practice what Chomsky called “intellectual self-defense.” This means critically analyzing what is presented to you by the media. This is how you fight back. This is how you stand your intellectual ground.
      Also, anti-intellectualism is at the heart of the reactionary revamping of America that seems to be the agenda of the current Right. Recently, the Texas Republican Party stated their agenda. For right now, I will not get started on the homophobic streak that’s marring today’s politics. I want to tackle anti-intellectualism. The Texan Republicans have decreed that an education system based on critical thinking is a threat to their“traditional” way of life. They revealed something that's at the core of their agenda: "We don't want people who can critically think; we want dumb, obedient wage-slaves."

      The reactionary partner of anti-intellectualism is religious fervor. Yes, many people say “all religions have their fringe.”Well, such cop-out statements are no longer valid as the religious fringe has taken center stage in right-wing politics. Dominionism and the desire to tear down the wall between church and state are becoming more and more popular sentiments among the Teapublicans. As I said, the fringe has taken over the conservative movement. Michelle Bachmann is a dominionist. Rick Santorum wanted to enforce his religious beliefs if he were elected.
The reason behind this religious fervor is another attack on the American mindset. What many adherents to the religions of Abraham, especially Christianity, believe is that everything will be fine once God comes to save the day. So, they sit back and wait and take little action. So, if we were all believers, or if our political system were based on this belief system, we would be constantly told that God will come and enforce His will on the world one day. We would be encouraged to sit back and wait for that magical day, and not interfere with His will. So, the first question we should ask ourselves, when we see politicians running for Theologian in Chief, is this: “Who has an interest in getting people to sit back and wait for Judgment Day, and not take actions right here and right now?”

      This synergy of anti-intellectualism and religious fervor is now taking its toll on an already-failing education system. Some politicians actually want to get rid of the Department of Education. The most ridiculous thing that sticks out most in my mind involves one of my favorite subjects of study – evolution. The reason I find it so fascinating is because everything that we are – sociologically, biologically, psychologically– we owe to the evolutionary path that we’ve taken as a species.
      Those who want to “teach the controversy” say that evolution is “just a theory” that is on equal footing with creationism. First of all, evolution is a theory. However, in the scientific sense, a theory is a huge deal. A theory is a set of laws and proven hypotheses that explain a given phenomenon. Theories, in addition, have been proven time and time again, and are rarely disproven, but are always filled in and made clearer with further experimentation. The reason we don’t “teach the controversy” is because there is no controversy to teach.
     Evolution is the only theory about the diversity of life on this planet. Creationism and all of its bastardizations are not theories. They are stories made up by superstitious people to explain things without going through any of the scientific method. And these stories have never stood the scrutiny of scientific testing, and therefore should never be included in any scientific textbook.
      Beyond the trappings of religious fervor in which the “controversy” is wrapped, there is our nemesis –anti-intellectualism. Let’s review what makes evolution so fascinating. To understand humanity from an evolutionary standpoint is to understand our nature. Throughout history, there have been three ways to conquer other tribes of people. The first way is to obliterate them off the map. This has happened time and again, with the Right’s love of war. The second way is to enslave them. This can be seen in the Right’s attack on the working class. The third way is to weaken them psychological and sociologically. This is seen in the Right’s attack on evolution.
      Conquering a people’s mindset is best done by making them forget who they are. When we learn about our evolutionary path, we learn who we are as a sentient species, as a people. We learn that we are intelligent primates. Primates are social creatures. This means that everyone in the tribe uses their individual abilities to help the tribe as a whole. They look after themselves first, but also look out for their fellow tribesmen. In addition, primates are pack creatures. This means that they follow leadership, but they readily replace that leadership when it becomes faulty. These two traits are deep-rooted in our nature. We learn this through the study of evolution. Using intellectual self-defense, we should ask ourselves every time we see the Religious Right attacking the teaching of evolution: “Whose interests are best served when we stop believing that it's in our nature to look out for each other? Whose interests are best served when we stop believing that it's in our nature to replace leadership when it is faulty, and follow blindly? Who wants us to forget about our primate nature?”

      The world is in trouble. Those who want to undermine our education and mix faith and politics will tell us that the world would be a better place if we just give into a waiting game, and hold out for a superman to come and fix everything. They want us to stick with what hasn’t been working – clinging to Bronze-Age totems and flinging high-tech rocks at each other. However, those who want a more reasoned approach to things want us to understand our primate nature. They want us to see that it is in our nature to help out our other tribesmen. Furthermore, if we do this, we must also do one more thing – expand what our notion of the tribe is. Now, more than ever, we need to get in touch with our primate nature. We need to get up off our smart-ape asses and strive for social reforms that help the tribe. It's time to make our leaders of both parties accountable to the people they lead, or replace them.