GUEST OPINION

American Politics:  Lesser of the Evils

 

The Evolution of Mediocrity

 

 

Once upon a time in America there were great leaders, the economy was strong, everyone shared in living a successful life and the people were happy and proud to be Americans.  The American worker was the best in the World… but that was then and this is now.

 

So, what happened?

 

First, the American Two-Party Political System has failed the people.  In always vying for power & control, each party has lost its way.  To gain more for itself, each party focuses on the acquisition of millions in campaign contributions and exchange of favors.  $ucce$$ is measured in dollars.  There is little pride, honor or respect.

 

There are fewer candidates for office who are intelligent, charismatic, honest, ethical and QUALIFIED.  During the past several generations, the public has evolved apathetic and distrustful of their leaders.  Worse still, we have developed leaders who are barely mediocre.

 

As voters, we have learned NOT to vote for the best candidate, but we continue to vote for the lesser of the evils.  Consequently, we have lost our edge across the World’s stage.

 

The Corporate Industrial Complex has helped to ensure that the American worker remains unemployed by outsourcing America jobs overseas or by laying-off Americans and hiring only foreign H-1B visa holders.  The American worker is becoming extinct, as is the prehistoric Wooly Mammoth.

 

While more Americans become jobless with no income, they also are becoming less educated.  The process extends to limited or no health insurance coverage, taxpayer bailouts of large corporations, higher costs of living expenses and increased energy needs.  For most Americans, costs continue to overshadow income.

 

We must consider whether these ongoing occurrences in the demise of the American worker and our political system are conscious forethought or is it a stumbling bumbling process of ineptness and fool-hardy socialism leading to communism.  I vote the former.

 

It is difficult to believe that those who are mismanaging our government and corporate industrial enterprises are accidently corrupting our political system and plunging American lives into an economic abyss, from which there is no escape.

 

Our leaders are lying to and misinforming American citizens.  They tell us what we want to hear and then immediately do what is demanded by their wealthy special interests.

“I will have naught to do with a man who can blow hot and cold with the same breath.”

----  Aesop (620-560 B.C.)

 

Consequently, here in the U.S. most Americans are in crisis mode.  No matter what we are doing we are losing.  We have evolved into a people who elected the lesser of evils; however, all the evils will exterminate us in the short and long term if we don’t band together to make significant change.

 

What can we do to get back on track?

 

If we dare, we should do the following:

 

• Recognize that the two-party system is failing most Americans and our economic well-being and simply vote for the MOST QUALIFIED person for each position
• We must limit significantly or eliminate excessive campaign contributions with loopholes so that wealthy lobbyists, corporate jackals and/or extremists are UNABLE to purchase the best government money can buy, as they currently are
• Next we need term limits in government positions.  Any elected official gets 2 terms max!!!  Officials must work harder and quicker for the public good.  After two terms THEY ARE GONE!!!  Like crop rotation.  Call it LIP --- Legislative Incentive Plan!!!
• Above all else, we must ensure that Americans have jobs and that citizens are given first consideration above foreign workers.  Sorry, some will call this “job racism” but it is common-sense
• Either strictly enforce the current immigration laws or legislatively change the laws and policies
• Every American citizens must be able to purchase a COMPLETE health care plan that is affordable
• Educate children to become successful in real world applications, becoming valuable members of our society and giving back to the community.

 

Think about it.  All these suggestions will ensure that we maintain a continuous flow of fresh, honest and ambitious variety of elected officials and citizens who will NOT be bought and who will perform their duties in the best interests of the community they serve.

 

Future leaders and workers each must be citizens and QUALIFIED for the specified positions.

 

In addition, all American citizens are provided jobs and are consider first by prospective employers.

 

All Americans will have health care that provides complete and affordable coverage.

 

It is time to raise our standards, elevate our ethical behavior and establish REAL community-oriented priorities by eliminating self-centered and greedy objectives by providing jobs for any America who wants one.

 

Finally, we need to get the U.S. back on-track.  Contact your family, friends, neighbors, media and government representatives to “get the ball rolling.”  Together we can do this!

 

 

Peter Stern

in response to the endless push to impeach Pres. Trump

Right, let's all keep focus on the impeachment "movement" while our nation is attacked from within by socialist and terrorist agendas, the middle class sees no relief from the democrat side, nothing is being done re: immigration reform and illegals, growing homeless and street populations, ever-increasing Cost of Living Increases that jump way ahead of our income capabilities, inflation, and medical expenses that have surpassed our monthly mortgages and growth every year no matter how much insurance coverage we purchase....a.k.a., OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES!!!

Let's not give our attention to resolving these issues....let's just let Democrats control our lives and direction.

Truth is the 2-Party System has failed American Citizens and is ruining our American Lives! Americans need to demand that lawmakers FINALLY WORK TOGETHER to fix what is broken. Get rid of all these bums in Washington who get paid much better than we do, who don't have to worry about medical coverage or retirement packages and who refuse to work in our best interests!  We need term limits!  We need grounded people who actually work for us!  Keep government out of our lives!

A Nation More Divided...

In response to California Looks to Lead the Trump Resistance

A Nation More Divided...

It’s time Californians and ultra-libbies grow-up!  We don’t need more national disunity and chaos.  Americans must unite and choose some issues we can all agree on, say, creating more good-paying full time jobs and more affordable health care with significant coverage...not the current bare minimum with high premiums and highest-ever yearly deductibles.

Seems doubtful this will ever happen since extremism has conquered the US.  Illegal immigrants are still ILLEGAL, yet they feel entitled to the same rights, perks and benefits as American citizens are supposed to have --- but we don’t have them either, thanks to an administration that places Americans on the back-burners.

Imagine if Hillary won and Conservatives acted as violently as the activists and rioters are doing.  The media would be ranting about it every day.

Opposing "excessives" within our society need to move more towards the center and start working together to fix our urgent issues.  It's long overdue.

Americans need real health care

NEEDED:  Real Health Care for Americans...

 

In the US whatever health care program we accept and provide should cover Americans COMPLETELY, no co-pays, no out of pocket expenses, no hidden costs.  Affordable Care Act, a.k.a., Obamacare, does not work for many Americans despite what is said about it.

Medicare is the closest program that works for most Americans who use it, but there are still additional costs and Medicare only pays 80% of all costs accepted by Medicare.  The remaining 20 percent must be paid by the recipient.  Yes, you could always get an additional Medicare Supplement that would pay the remaining 20 percent, but you still have to pay the premium for it.

Remember, those on Medicare still need to buy medication out of pocket or via a Medicare Rx Program.

The truth is that affordable health care is still NOT affordable.

Those who worked most of their lives have paid into the Medicare program.  Those who are Medicare recipients continue to pay a small premium and deductible each year to remain on it, yet none are completely covered.

Although I don't support him for President, like Bernie Sanders I believe a Medicare for All approach is the best option for Americans, although the health care industry would fight that to the death... our death.


We still need a real health care solution that works for most Americans.  Medicare for All is the start of that solution.

Time to heal America and to provide for American Citizens first

Both parties share the responsibility for screwing the American people regarding most of the issues, e.g., border security, 30 million illegals living in the shadows, the economy, no jobs, education, high taxes, higher debt to other nations, is there health care after Obamacare?, and many other issues...

Both parties bicker and whine at each other and blame each other for all of Society's ills.

Both parties share the responsibility for screwing the American people.

Both parties want the votes of 30 million illegals after amnesty is provided to them.

SAY "NO" TO AMNESTY!!!

Americans need leaders who know what they are doing and what they need to do to change things for the better for the American people.

Americans first, before Illegal and Legal Immigrants!  That should be common sense.  Don’t give criminal behavior a free pass.

The parties need to work together and rebuild the America we used to know and love.'

Right now we are turning into a 3rd World Nation.

President Obama not seeing clearly...

President needs better vision

Maybe the president needs to clean the White House windows to get a better view of middle America. Twenty million Americans are out of work, while thousands have lost their homes to foreclosure.

Hundreds of jobs are being outsourced to cheaper labor overseas or to illegal immigrants here.  Our children’s education has taken a back seat to the net profits of the corporate sector.  Most Americans lack affordable health care and too many are in debt for over-using credit cards to pay for their daily living expenses.

But we’re fighting expensive wars overseas that we can’t win.   American soldiers continue to die daily in Iraq, Afghanistan and other god-forsaken places throughout the world, while the needs and care of our veterans are not being met.

Never has an American president appeared so disassociated from the reality of the American people.

Social Security and Medicare Programs

Social Security and Medicare Programs

Social Security and Medicare are good, worthwhile and even noble programs that most people pay into their entire working lives to collect benefits when they become elderly or disabled.

Naturally there is abuse in each program by people who try to milk the system, but that is a relatively small percent of the population. Every system isn't perfect, but SS and Medicare are near perfect systems.

One of the main issues with SS is that our Congress continues to permit diversion of collected SS tax dollars to other interests. That needs to stop immediately.

In addition, and I'm sorry to say this but it's true, we need to start replacing some of those deficit tax dollars by slightly increasing the SS and Medicare taxes taken out of our paychecks.  Congress should be forced to return the tax dollars it stole from the SS fund.

Medicare is a perfect example of what we should have accomplished for ALL Americans. It is a system that has been active for decades and for the most part is extremely successful for most recipients.

The Federal Government must institute quicker payments to the medical and pharmaceutical providers, but otherwise the system works.

Naturally, the health care providers don't love Medicare because they can't get paid as much under Medicare as they do under private health care or even Obamacare.

However, Medicare is used mostly by the elderly and/or disabled who have paid tax dollars into the system all of their working lives.

Both SS and Medicare have been proven successful by most standards and by making a few updates and corrections to each program, there is no reason why each cannot continue to remain successful.

The Hoopla about the Affordable Care Act

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the same thing as “Obama-care” but a lot of people still don’t know that.  Polls show that people may like the ACA but don’t like Obamacare.  Go figure.

Systems speaking, there are always glitches and problems with new systems whether in the private sector or in government. As with most new systems, for the most part we have a parallel [health care] system running until the bugs are taken out of the new system.

I was not for the ACA, but I also recognize all the finger-pointing at the new system is yet another political avenue for those against it to rally together to create unnecessary attacks in the hope to somehow eliminate "Obamacare" but it will not happen that way.

The ACA is a major law that must now be continued and fixed along the way, until it is proven to be a bad law that does not help or work for the majority of people. When that happens it will be and should be removed from law by the very people it was supposed to help --- the voters.

Republicans and Democrats need to stop the in-house fighting for every issue under the sun. People need government to work for them and not for the benefits to elected and appointed officials and their special interests. That said, government needs to get out of regulating our daily lives. At the Federal, State and Local levels, government is dictating how we should live much more than it has in the past. It needs to stop.

Extremism at either end of the political and economic spectrums is what is destroying the America we once knew and loved. Once upon a time in America we used to work together, but that was then and this is now. There doesn't seem to be much hope that it will change soon.

A quick word about the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a., Obama-care

The ACA was a rushed plan.  Many legislators could not / did not read the bill in entirety, but it was approved.  There were also some measures tacked onto the bill that had little or nothing to do with the actual bill.

There are more people unemployed, lacking health care than since the Great Depression.  There are more illegals in our nation than ever before.

People who do work can't afford health care because the costs have escalated so much re: premiums, co-pays and out of pocket expenses.  Even if you have health care you can't afford the out of pocket.

And since the health care industry will not deal with all these issues themselves, the government needed to step in.

I don't like the ACA, but I recognize the need for us to do better.  Health care is unaffordable for the majority.  That definitely says something.

It seems like the Republicans continue to bad mouth the ACA and are trying to panic the public with their "information" which is not factual and actually is mis-information.

However, if the majority of our nation does not have health care the rest of us are going to suffer for it.

Extreme Republicans need to stop being idiotic and trying to scare the people.  It's time for both parties to work together.   This hasn't been done in at least 2 decades and it's one of the reasons why Americans have fallen to new lows.

Working together used to be what we did best.   Now we just bickering and disrespect each other.   It's time to change that.

Part of me hopes that the Government does shut down this weekend.  Government may need a vacation so that the rest of us survive a little easier.

My advice to Congress:   Work together you morons!

Instead of Obama-care, Extend Medicare for Everyone

 How much profiteering does the Health Care Industry need?

Private health care insurance is bleeding Americans dry.  Approximately 40 percent of Americans are without health insurance. Another way of looking at that fact is that "You can't get blood from a stone." 

Some in the Washington Capitol want to develop and implement a totally new health care program to insure all Americans.  Obama-care is not the panacea for all our ills.  It is a major program that was passed by the majority of Congress without ever being read and considered fully.

Some critics say that all is needed to reduce current health care costs is to approve legislation that provides malpractice reform and reduces the burden of the paper work.  The message is that developing and implementing such a "safety net" for the health care industry and for doctors/providers would save significantly on the cost of health care, which is naive at best.

Five years ago, here in Texas, Gov. Rick Perry and state lawmakers pushed a bill for health care medical malpractice reform that was approved by the legislature and then approved by Texans in a special election. The "theory" was that doing so would save millions for the industry and in turn for patients to reduce their medical and health care costs.  While the new laws did protect and save money for the industry and providers, health care costs and premiums continue to rise dramatically for insured Texans.

In fact, the ever-increasing costs are causing more employers to cut back or completely drop health care plans for their employees. There are a large number of Texans who no longer can afford to keep their health plans, while the number of Texans without health insurance continues to escalate.  A major concern is that 40 percent of Texas children are without health care coverage.  Obviously, the approved medical malpractice reform legislation did little to reduce health care costs.  In fact, health plan premiums continue to increase.  It is happening in most other states as well.

Furthermore, current health care plans do NOT cover all expenses; most only cover a maximum of 80 percent and have co-pays and/or high deductions before the plans “kick in” coverage.  Consequently, a secondary insurance is needed to cover costs not paid for by the primary plan.  Very few Americans can afford to purchase and maintain one health plan, so forget about two health care plans.

One of the big concerns and a large contributing factor to high and increasing health care costs and premiums is the cost of providing health care and/or ER services to uninsured Americans, to legal and illegal immigrants and many American children, who have no coverage.  The cost of providing health services to these segments of the population is consistently more than any issues relating to malpractice pay-outs and/or the burden of paperwork issues.

In the U.S. there are 12 million illegal immigrants, who at one time or another will need medical services that they can not and do not pay for.  The result is that either taxpayers must finance those services or the burden for payment is diverted from the health providers onto those who pay for their own health care via increased premiums.  Most health care plans increase premiums every 6 or 12 months for various reason, including that of maintaining or increasing high profits.  In the state of Texas, health care providers were given more power and legislative permission to increase premiums for any or no reason and at any time.

As for health care reform in Washington, what is wrong with modifying or tweaking Medicare and extending it to all Americans?  Part of the reason may be that the medical and health care industries fear a 30 percent cut in profits. That may be the foremost reason Congress does not want to extend Medicare.   Medicare is in place and works for the majority of Americans.

Currently, many doctors will not take Medicare patients.  Many do not take NEW Medicare patients, while many doctors do not accept any new patients at all --- whether or not they may have their own private insurance.  There are reasons for these actions --- not the least being that Medicare often cuts its payment to providers by 30 percent.

There are many more significant problems within our health care system than the issues of medical malpractice and the burden of excessive paper work. Yes, these issues may be inherent in the system, but they are not the most important and more costly factors.

While Medicare may contain some problems and issues, it is a health care system that works for most Americans.  So, why not modify the program and tweak the problems and issues in order to extend it to all Americans?  And yes, there is rampant fraud inherent within the system and it is abused by many.  But there is no reason to "reinvent the wheel" to develop a completely new system, like Obama-care.

Another concern with developing a completely new health care systems is that how do we know whether Congress and the health industry could develop a new problem-free successful system?   Why make Americans guinea pigs for an untried and tested system?

In the US, Republicans vow to eliminate Obama-care but they do not provide a better alternative.  The alternative is in front of our eyes.  It is called Medicare and it works.  Extending Medicare for all Americans is the best solution to many of our health care problems.