The "Redistribution of Wealth"

The "Redistribution of Wealth"

For a few years now, it's been a pointed question (or statement) from those on the political right: "Do you believe in the redistribution of wealth?"

The sequence of events goes something like this: A non-right wing politician or speaker advocates a policy, the right accuses them of "redistribution of wealth," then labels the policy or the speaker a
socialist, and brands them antithetical to all things American. The problem is that this is a radical coloring of language, and is manipulation of policy towards radical ends. The phrase itself is morally neutral, and is not socialist, or capitalist, or communist.

Public schools are paid for with property taxes. The money flows from every property owner in a school district to the public schools in that district, paying teachers directly in money and children in kind with education.  Public schools are thus a redistribution of wealth from property owners to teachers and children.

Military spending is paid for with federal income tax. The money flows from every individual paying federal income tax to the DOD, paying soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen directly in money, as well as paying the hundreds if not thousands of weapons manufacturers. The DOD is thus the redistribution of wealth from all people paying income taxes to soldiers and those who own and operate weapons manufacturing.

Social security too is redistribution of wealth, since there is no attempt to pay out only what an individual pays in, and college loans are also a redistribution of wealth, where the money flows from young students trying to earn a degree to the U.S. government, which is to say that our young people taking federal student loans are redistributing their own money to the whole population of the U.S.

To the accusation that the redistribution of wealth is socialism, the question isn't one of abstract theory, but of scale and execution: Public schools have existed for over two hundred years in the U.S. Are they a form of socialism? I would argue no; public schools are simply a choice made by the taxpaying public to invest in our future as a country, pay back some of the benefit they derive from having an educated populace, and create a sustainable system that will allow a younger person to someday have a successful life, just as so many of us who personally benefited from a public education have also done. Is the US military the manifestation of a socialist government? I sincerely doubt it.

(The definition of what is socialism is a larger question, but let's start with it being either the government owning the means of production, or of directing the use of all production in excess of that necessary to keep people alive back to the population at large, rather than allowing wealth to accrue in the hand of a minority at the top.  Neither applies to public schools or the military.)

Given all this, it's important to rip the phrase "redistribution of wealth" back from the hands of the radicals. We need to spend money on public schools to have educated children. We also need to spend money on the military to have it be effective. Both of these things have the effect of redistributing money from one group of people to another, and both are ESSENTIAL to a healthy society and a healthy country.

So the next time some political radical asks if you are for the redistribution of wealth, politely reply, "I'm not a socialist if that's what you're asking, but I do believe in paying back some of what I've earned to make the country better for our kids."

Veterans

Just read an article by Joe Klein, "The New Greatest Generation," good
stuff.

If you want to know about the good things in the US military, this is a
great place to start.

Some quotes:

'"The toughest part of leadership is telling people they have to do
something that involves pain," says Eric Greitens, a former Navy SEAL...'
'The inevitable military acronym for the five-paragraph memo is SMESC, and
the mnemonic device is "Sergeant major eats sugar cookies." Situation:
What's the problem? Mission: What's our strategy for solving it? Execution:
What tactics are we going to use? Support: What are the logistics; how many
troops and what sort of equipment will we need? Command: What other
organizations (air strikes, aerial reconnaissance, Afghan security forces)
will have to be involved?'

(I just read about this in ACSC; this is the same format used in CONPLANs
and OPLANs, that is to say, formal war planning documents.)

'They feel closer to one another than they do to either political
party...most of my friends feel politically homeless...neither party
reflected the combination of service and get-it-done pragmatism most
veterans value.'

'I once asked Moore whether the skills he learned in the Army had any
influence on his life as a civilian. "Absolutely! On every big decision I
make," he said and began to tell me about his tour as a counterintelligence
officer in a difficult section of eastern Afghanistan. "People have the
wrong impression of the military," he said. "It is extremely
entrepreneurial. I had more freedom to make decisions there than I do at
Citibank. My commander would tell me what needed to be done, and then it was
up to me to figure out how to do it." '

'There is a basic altruism. Gallina intuitively expanded the notion that you
don't leave a fallen comrade in the field to include the veterans of other
wars; from there, it's a short jump to including civilians as members of
their community too. Veterans are trained to believe that everyone in their
unit rises and falls together. "In the military, it's never about you,"
Lewis told me. "It's always about something larger." '

'"I was looking for something to fill the void. It was like losing your
family." Then McNulty invited him to join an Alabama tornado-relief crew. "I
rented a chainsaw, and within 20 minutes it felt like I was back in the
service again. We shared a common language and knew how to organize
ourselves to work efficiently... '

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2089337,00.html

Tags: links, leadership, war, history, pers, psychology, politics

Politics

I object to elected officials giving televised speeches in front of uniformed military members.

The speech

28 Aug 63

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

Text+ video

video on Youtube

Thanksgiving

I won't be home for Thanksgiving this year, and that's annoying for the following reason (besides the obvious): I had a really good thing to be thankful for this year.

Last year, I was thankful for the Internet. That isn't sarcasm, and it isn't meant to be shallow either. I didn't have something specific in mind when we started talking about our things to be grateful for, but I started on the fact that I was able to stay in touch with friends and family throughout all my travels, and that the Internet was a big part of that.

This year, I am grateful for the fact that the presidential race was not as bloody (metaphorically) as it could have been. Since really becoming aware of politics in college, it has seemed as though the level of discourse in the nation has dropped off, and that the most radical elements of both parties were gaining hold, increasingly creating a rift between groups of citizens (and often doing so over incredibly small issues, things that are beginning to affect smaller and smaller parts of the population, that are taking precedence over much larger issues).

In a time of such divisiveness, it would be easy to unleash the hounds, and really play to the baser human instincts, but this didn't happen. Both candidates fought for what they thought was right, and did so without true viciousness, and I truly feel that the way they both chose to campaign has bettered the country. I had conversation via email with a friend recently regarding the candidates, and I said of McCain, "There are few people in Washington I have as much respect for as John McCain; he has sacrificed more than most people can imagine. I think his true colors have shown lately in his rallies where he has been defending Obama to McCain supporters..."

John McCain had to pause in the middle of a rally, and tell to his own supporters, people (right or wrong) full of anger and fear, that they had no need to be fearful of or angry at Barack Obama.
This was a terrible political move. But it was the correct moral thing to do, and truly was good for our country, and I again reaffirm my respect for McCain's character and leadership. Sadly, his choice will be seen by lesser men both as weakness and as a failed political choice. No one remembers Cincinnatus or Scipio Africanus, but it was men such as these who made Rome great, in their willingness to set aside their own power for the benefit of the nation.

So I am thankful for John McCain and Barack Obama, and the choices they made. It is easy to find politics gone badly wrong. Look to Zimbabwe, or Myanmar, where the "bloody" is not metaphoric. Or try this one out for a change, for myself and others my age: ask your parents about American politics in the 1960s and 70s. They were there, and it was much worse in America then than now. I think of the way I have felt watching our government in action over the last several years, and I think I have only a small inkling of what it was like in the 60s, and none whatsoever of things like Myanmar, and I am thankful.

Kudos

Welcome to the kudos list: people or events getting a thumbs up.

Craig Ferguson

Papa Bear

An exchange at work I overheard:

Fox News was on and Bill O'Reilly was screaming at his guest, calling him a coward.

Guy 1: "Ah, I love to heard that."
Guy 2: "What's that?"
Guy 1: "Bill O'Reilly going off on someone."
Guy 2: "Oh. Who is that?" [It was Barney Frank, Chairman of the House Financial Services committee.]
Guy 1: "I dunno, I just love to hear Papa Bear speak his mind."

My absentee ballot

Just thought people might be interested in seeing an Illinois absentee ballot.

http://www.vote-smart.org Voting guides (that is, information about candidates) for elections from the local to the national level.

Politics

Just some interesting links during this political season.

http://www.usaelectionpolls.com/ Shows combined polling data. Current projected electoral votes: McCain 261 / Obama 243.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ Similar, a little more graphical though.

http://www.factcheck.org/ Non-partisan fact verification. Sarah Palin did put the state jet on eBay, it just didn't sell there.