Allen Clifton of Forward Progressives wrote an article entitled, “10 ‘Horrible’ Things That Would Happen if Progressives Got Their Way in the United States”. I thought that my comment deserved to be a post here.
When I first read the title of Allen’s article, I sadly missed the quotes. I was totally curious what possible horrible things could happen, if Progressives get what they want? I thought that he was trying to be fair and legitimately came up with a few points. I thought to myself what possibly could those be, as health care would benefit everyone, as would education, a clean environment, and much else.
Allen’s list was quite extensive, and I will not replicate the list here. The master, who I still think should run for Ted Cruz’s seat the next time that he is up for election, phrased things much better than I, but he missed a few important points. I highly recommend that you read his article. To give you an example, here is the first one on health care. I will then give mine.
1. Like practically every other major country on the planet, every American would have health insurance: Imagine a country where we’re no longer having to spend all this time and energy on the “health care debate” because, like every other major country on Earth, we treated access to health care as a right, not a privilege for only those who can afford it.
Plus there’s always the fact that countries with single-payer insurance spend much less on health care than the United States and our failed for-profit system.
Oh, the horror!
As Allen stated, Progressives are on the right side of history. Like Allen, I am not stating that I am a Democrat, because I am a cult member, just on the progressives side, but because the cause is just and based on facts. I am an engineer and have always sought out facts. I am fiscally conservative. Towards that end, Republicans are the opposite of fiscally conservative. They are reverse Robin Hood. They want to steal from the poor to give to the rich, literally.
If nothing else, working in the coal industry, means Black Lung Disease, which causes massive amounts of increased burden on society in terms of cost. People’s lives get shortened. Besides, these people can relocate to other jobs. With free education, they can go to school, get certified, and get a meaningful job in the green sector.
What is all this fascination and worry with the rich? They can afford tax accountants and tax attorneys, not to mention have loop holes and the like.
11. Gerrymandering would be a think of the past, as each district would truly reflect the district and not an artificial area to keep a group in power.
12. Elimination of Citizens United would mean that rich people and corporations cannot buy legislation. The power would go to ordinary citizens.
13. There would be no such thing as homelessness. Citizens would have access to mental health.
14. The U.S. would be a country, where all would look up to once again and America would be the greatest nation on Earth leading the way towards a brighter future.
15. The American Civil War would finally be settled with the Confederates losing.
16. LGBT and other groups would be equal to everyone else. The phrase “We the people” would actually mean something.
17. It is hard to create another top-10 list without mentioning Trump’s lover. Why is it that he does not move to Russia? I have never seen such affection towards a murderous criminal in my life. Yeah, like Fiddler on the Roof, to each their own kind. “A bird my love a fish, but where would they build a home,” and all that. Russia is happy, when the U.S. is fragmented. With a unified U.S., Putin and his henchman would be screwed.
18. Speaking of murderous scum, not Trump, which he is, but Putin in this case, the U.S., which has seen diminishing influence in the world would rise up again. Much of the last 30+ years has seen the U.S. in a state of limbo. Legislation goes nowhere, because Republicans hold up legislation, spend months and huge sums of money doing wasteful activities or activities that harm people. Image if legislation would actually get done?
People are fed up with Washington and that nothing gets done. Sadly, most people do not realize, mostly because they are willfully ignorant, that the problem is not Washington. Washington is fine. The problem is the Republican Party. Think back to the 2008 to 2016. The Republican Party was quite literally the “Party of No.” The problems with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that Republicans either did not implement the law and exchanges or fought it at every step of the way. Imagine of Progressives got what they wanted and the ACA went full steam ahead followed by a single payer option, possibly Medicare for All, but I would eliminate that plan and create a better one.
With basic legislation done and roadblocks eliminated, the United States can get onto meaningful things. By the way, one of the fallacies that many people have is that Washington needs outsiders. That is simply dumb. Would you let a 16-year old art student do open heart surgery on you? The answer is obviously no. Running a country is equally complex. That is not someone with whom you would have a beer, I would not have a beer period and I would not have a beer with a low life, but that is besides the point. That is someone, who is experienced, smart, clever, and knows how to get things done. A President should be the smartest person in the room, not the dumbest and know that they know a fraction of what needs knowing, so they want a team of political nerds and nerds in their respective fields.
19. Trump and Republicans want to limit free speech. Notice how they put a gag order on many departments. Progressives would open the spigot.
20. Transportation and infrastructure. Trump talked bullshit, but Progressives would get things done, as the money would get allocated and all the problems fixed.
I will close with something that most people do not want to hear. Destroying things is over night, or relatively so. Fixing problems takes a while. To illustrate a point, break your leg. Now, see how long it takes to heal? Lot of real legislation passed between 2008 and 2010, even with the Party of No. It took time. Already, we see the lowest rate of uninsured people. The economy improves.
Let us continue the fight. I chose Paul Ryan for my cover picture. Let us knock him off in 2018 and get rid of the first piece of trash.