In most of my blog posts, I am usually railing against things that I dislike. The current GOP, racism, stupidity, hypocrisy, and the Minnesota Vikings immediately pop into my mind. And it is easy to blog about those things that you have a distaste for. Take the government for example. The viper's nest that is congress can be described as the place that is a big sucking black hole that rips Americans of their hopes and dreams. And that is a mild description of that place. Pair that with the sports teams in D.C. and you have one big cluster.
But from that place, there are some things that have actually happened that helps Americans. The Affordable Health Care Act or Obamacare, if you prefer. There are reports of Healthcare companies actually giving rebates to their customers because of the over inflated prices that they have been charging. Healthcare companies have to pay 80% of their premiums that they get from people on actual healthcare for their clients. (I know, what a concept!) So people are actually paying less for their healthcare. The insurance companies that have been raising rates at double digit rates for the past years are now actually having to hold their rates to lower increases or in some instances at the same level or even lower them. This is causing calls of Socialism by the GOP. It is socialism to give subsidies to companies like Exxon-Mobil and BP, so until you want those to end, shut the hell up about any sort of socialism.
The American economy continues to limp along. It is expanding, unlike what it did under our last Republican President. The past 3 years, each and every month we have had private sector jobs increasing. That should show an economy that is real strong and growing by leaps and bounds. So why doesn't it? The public sector cutting jobs right and left. If the public sector (government) would have just kept the jobs that it had in 2010 and not eliminated them, the Unemployment rate would be down to around 5 to 5.5%. The economy would be plugging along at a good clip and we would be hearing that the American economy is looking strong and will get stronger. But the sequester and the cutting of public jobs has kept the economy sputtering along. I list this as a good thing because I still have in my mind the economy losing tens of thousands of jobs each and every month. That was a disaster. Right now, the GOP is choking the economy. That cannot last forever.
The evolution of what is acceptable for a "typical" American family. Gay people can now marry in 13 states and Washington D.C. As we learn more about human physiology and biology, we are understanding that being gay isn't a choice, it is the way that we are born, whether we are hetero or homosexual. That allows more people to be eliminated from second-class status here and gets us closer in America to becoming a true society without prejudices concerning sexual orientation and the display of our affection to one another.
The discussion of how our government operates in regard to surveillance and the privacy of Americans is also a good thing. Since 9/11, we have went overboard about security. We traded some of our rights in order to feel secure. The government has went way over the line where they should have been stopped. Some of that has been from congress. Some of that has been from the Executive Branch of our government. And the people that we expect to stop those excesses the Judicial Branch, have went right along with the other two. Now since people are finding out what the government has been doing, there is push back on what the government has said is constitutional and they are scrambling to ensure that their programs will hold up to constitutional scrutiny. That is good for those of us who want government to operate out in the open as much as it possibly can.
Let's talk American energy independence. Right now, America is the leading country in Solar power. Of course, that means that the GOP is fighting to cut off any investment in it from our government. Electric car technology is advancing each and every year. More people are conserving more and looking at ways to become less dependent on their local energy companies. They are growing more of their own foods and looking at local ways to solve problems. That is a good thing.
There are other things out there. Look at how California has bounced back utilizing some of the principles that Democrats have spouted over the past decade. We finally have a few Republicans that are standing up to the Tea Party who are hypoctrites, through and through. We are pulling out of Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a major upheaval and exchange of ideas going on internationally. And while that does come with bloodshed and a couple of false starts for democracy being spread, remember, America didn't start out as a Democracy and there was around 90 years of simmering resentment before our Civil War.
Not everything out there is great in America. Racism and profiling is on the rise. You have simmering resentment from each and every racial group. We have screwed up majorly on our foreign policies. What we say are values are in regards to democracy and the capitalist system is not extended to anywhere past our borders. We also will not support people who we say are our friends if we believe that we can get further ahead by backing others. There is way too much stalling and obstruction in Washington. The government doesn't respond to the citizens. It causes problems for individuals and businesses all the time. But until someone can come up with a better way to govern, we need to work within the system and take the positives that we see and try to extend the principles from them into the problems that we have.
Sometimes perception is everything. At first, I was supportive of the fast food strike. What seems like a lifetime ago, my first “real” job was working at a McDonald’s in high school. I learned how to work a cash register that computed everything for me. I learned how to count inventory and what FIFO means. I learned how to cook a mean Quarter Pounder with Cheese, but I also had timers that told me when I had to do everything. 