The Week: Damon Linker: Why Liberals Should Cheer the Hobby Lobby Decision

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Ederik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

I agree with Damon Linker that real Liberals as I call people who are actually Liberals should support the Hobby Lobby decision. But perhaps I would put it differently. That it is one thing to be pro-choice which I am on most things as a Liberal. But it is another thing to say that you are not only pro-choice and lets take birth control to use as an example and that you believe women should have this right so much that you believe government should enforce that belief on the rest of the country even through law.

I believe in a hell of a lot of individual freedom as a Liberal and that is really what liberalism is about. Liberation and liberty what the word actually comes from. A bit different from collectivist or collectivism or the collective things that well collectivists tend to believe Socialists even. That “individual freedom by itself is dangerous and if you allow individuals to make these decisions for themselves you are giving them freedom to make mistakes that society have to pay for”. Which is the common view of people who are supposed to be the so-called modern Liberals and Progressives. But they aren’t, instead they are collectivists and statists which is very different.

But my broader point is you can believe in all of the individual freedom in the world. But if you don’t match that with personal responsibility and that freedom is not free and that people need to be held responsible for their own personal choices. And that one’s personal freedom can’t infringe on others. Like forcing someone or organizations to pay for your own health care even if it goes against their religious beliefs. That is when and only when freedom is dangerous. When people aren’t responsible for their own personal choices. And are allowed to infringe on others freedom and beliefs.

If you want birth control and decide to have an abortion, by all means more power to you. Just as long as I don’t have to pay for it as an individual or no one else has to pay for it by law. Or we as taxpayers don’t have to pay for it collectively. Which is why I agree with the Supreme Court Hobby Lobby decision. Because they aren’t saying you can’t have birth control, (at least not collectively) but what they are saying is that you can’t force others to pay for your birth control.

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American Enterprise: Charles Murray: It’s Not Liberals That is the Problem, But Progressives

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Rik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

Charles Murray hit it on the head in his AEI article about liberalism and how that is different from today’s so-called progressivism. Even though even what is supposed to pass as progressivism today is really not progressivism either. But some form of leftist fascism and statism. A true Progressive is not a fascist and doesn’t believe in unlimited government to serve or take care of the people either. But today’s so-called Progressives seem to do and have an unlimited view of what government can do for people.

As a Liberal myself I’m finding everyday that I have more in common with real Conservatives. Not the big government religious fundamentalists, but real Conservatives the Rand Paul’s of the world or Libertarians. Because we tend to believe in similar things. That it is not that Americans have too much freedom both economically and personally. But that we don’t have enough in too many areas and tend to agree on things like the failed War on Drugs. Criminal justice reform, the prison industrial complex and the military industrial complex. That these two areas need to be reformed and that when people are educated they are much more qualified to run their own lives than government.

Of course I as a Liberal do not agree with Conservatives on economic policy in general. I would invest a lot more in infrastructure than they would and do not want to over regulate business, but believe they need to be regulated to protect workers and consumers from predators. And Conservatives in general tend to believe that regulations are a bad thing. And perhaps would privatize infrastructure all together in this country. But real Liberals and real Conservatives or Conservative Libertarians tend to have similar goals when it comes to these economic issues, but with different policies. And tend to have similar positions when it comes to social issues as well. That these things should be left up to the individual.

It’s not Liberals that are the problem to paraphrase Charles Murray. But people on the Left who are called Liberals because the so-called Liberals either self-define their politics that way. Or the media is too dumb to tell the difference between a statist or fascist or Socialist or Communist even from a real Liberal. People who truly do believe in individual freedom and individualism and that there is a limit to what government can do for the people especially the central government.

It’s not the Liberal that is alway trying to expand the state and eliminate all disagreeing points of the view to what the far-left preaches in America. About equality and collectivism at all costs. And that “freedom is dangerous even from a personal perspective and that we big central government to manage the social welfare of the country for the good of the country”. But the far-left in America whether you want to call them collectivists or statists or even Democratic Socialists people who believe in the collective and collectivism and that individualism and freedom is dangerous and needs to be limited who believe in these ideas.

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The New Republic: Dean Starkman: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Posted on July 1, 2014 by Erik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

It is true that even since the American civil rights movement that even though African-Americans are doing much better than they were pre-civil rights that they still have a large income gap compared with Caucasian-Americans. And if anything they have even lost ground to Asian and Latin Americans as well. So what does that mean? I would argue for both more opportunity and personal responsibility for the African-American community especially when it comes to men. Government can’t force people to do the right thing. Only punish them when they break the law. But they can put policies in place that leads to better opportunity for Americans who are struggling regardless of race.

We have a one-trillion dollar and growing when it comes to infrastructure in this country. Here’s a wild idea, how about we fill that hole especially for underserved communities that need that investment. So business’s would want to locate there. Lets build new schools and and fix up old schools. And give Americans period again regardless of race the option of where to send their kids to school with their parents making that decision. So our students no longer are sent to school based on where they live, but what is the best school for them. And stop funding schools based on where they are located and instead based on what they need to be successful.

Lets make walking out on your kids whether you are a father or mother illegal and make that crime punishable by having to pay for your kids childhood. So we no longer have single parent single income families unless one of the parents actually died. And lets make education and job training universal for all low-skilled adults whether they are working or not. So they can get themselves the skills that they need to get themselves a good job. As well as make college universal and affordable for all qualified for college high school graduates. And how we would do that is really the subject for another blog.

There are a lot of things that we could do as a country to close the wealth and achievement gap in this country. And we wouldn’t have to raise income taxes on anyone. Or redistribute wealth from the top to take care of everyone else. We could simply do these things as part as annual infrastructure bill that Congress is supposed to pass anyway by law. And pay for these things the way we pay for infrastructure investment in this country which is with energy taxes. And we could tax alcohol, tobacco, junk food and soft drinks or even marijuana is the prohibition is ever repealed to fund these investments.

I’m not a fan of race-based policies as a Liberal because I like to look at what is best for the country and the individual as a whole when it comes to public policy. Just one reason why I do not support reparations for any community that has been discriminated against. But the fact is that African-Americans tend to struggle more than the country as a whole. And these investments would probably benefit them more than anyone else except for perhaps American-Indians. So they would benefit a lot from this, but not based on their race, but because they need these investments more.

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The Fiscal Times: Eric Pianin: Senator John Thune’s Thorny Political Test: Pass the Highway Bill

Posted on June 30, 2014 by kireschneider

Source:The New Democrat 

If Congress were under different and I would just state wiser leadership funding the Highway Trust Fund wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But since we have a Republican House of Representatives that is essentially run by the Tea Party where nothing gets funded or fixed unless their key issues are addressed and generally issues not relating to the current issue like the Highway Trust Fund and since the Tea Party House and their Republican allies in the Senate won’t fund anything that doesn’t come with budget cuts into areas they believe government shouldn’t be funding to begin with, Congress the House and Senate aren’t able to fix problems that 15-20 years ago they wouldn’t have many if any issues addressing.

Tax increases are obviously not the cure to every problem. And in many cases can cause bigger problems especially when they are passed onto people who can’t afford them. Which is why I generally do not support income tax increases on anyone other than people who are doing very well. But in large part we do not fund our infrastructure through the income or payroll tax. We fund our infrastructure though the gas tax and other energy taxes. And we could fund them though mileage standards and taxing low-efficient vehicles more than high-efficient vehicles. Besides the gas tax is a fee that drivers pay to use our highways. So if that fund needs more money to pay for them it makes perfect sense to raise that tax.

But again we have a Tea Party Republican controlled House and even though we have a Democratic controlled Senate that does believe in things like infrastructure investment even paying for it and not borrowing the money there is a large enough Republican minority to block them. So we are caught in a position of what program to cut that hurts which population of people who need that money. Or not doing one of the few things that Congress is supposed to do by law which is fund our highways.

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The New York Times: Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality is Not Inevitable

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Derik Schneider

New York Times: Opinion: Joseph E. Stiglitz: Inequality is Not Inevitable

Source:The New Democrat

As I’ve made this point on this blog before comparing the Scandinavian economies with the United States simply does not work. You would be better off comparing Scandinavia with the small Arab states in the Persian Gulf. What do they call have in common? Small populations that are energy independent and produce enough energy for other countries as well. And in Scandinavia’s case a lot of land to go with those small populations with all that energy. To put it simply Scandinavia can afford to be very socialist with high taxes and big centralized government social insurance programs.

America is huge country that is between two of the largest oceans in the world. With a three-thousand mile border with Canada to the North and a two-thousand mile border with Mexico in the South. We also have three-hundred and fifteen million people and are energy dependent on countries in Scandinavia and the Persian Gulf. And while we are energy dependent countries in Europe and Arabia are dependent on us for their national defense that we as American taxpayers have to pay for. We simply have more limited economic and financial resources now to be that socialist.

Which means Americans have to do more for themselves and where government comes in is to make sure that everyone has the opportunity to obtain freedom both economic and personal. The freedom to manage their own lives without government to take care of everyone. The freedom to be an individual and not try to turn America into a collectivist socialist state. And that means having universal quality education for all students. And not sending kids to school based on whether they live. But instead based on what is the best school for them that their parents would decide. And not funding schools based on where they are located, but what they need to be successful.

Making job training and education available to all low-skilled adults whether they are working or not. So they can get themselves the skills that they need to get themselves a good job and live in freedom as well. And rebuilding this country with a real national infrastructure plan so all communities especially the underdeveloped ones have the resources they need to be economically attractive to business’s with good jobs.

You don’t close the income and success gap in America by taking from the people who are already economically successful to take care of everyone else. But instead empowering the people who need to get themselves the skills that they need so they too can be successful and make it in America on their own.

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Forbes Magazine: Ron Paul: How We Can Solve the Problems With Public Education in America

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Ederik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat 

First of all just to respond to a couple of points that former Representative Ron Paul made about public education in America. As far as the U.S. Department of Education being unconstitutional. The Federal courts have already ruled on this and guess what the U.S.D.E still exists and is in place since 1979. And I’m not a fan of it and don’t believe we need it. And would rather see a White House Office on Education and make to part of the Domestic Affairs Council or something. But it is constitutional under the commerce and welfare clauses as the courts have already ruled. Maybe the commerce and welfare clauses should be what you focus on and whether U.S.D.E should be in place on policy grounds instead of constitutional grounds. That would be a better avenue to go.

As far as homeschooling, I’m not a fan of it, but if parents who are qualified to teach in America decide to do that for their kids, more power to them. The real focus here should be on public schools because parents who can afford to send their kids to private schools will continue to do that especially if they feel those schools are better than what the public schools have to offer. But for everyone else the overwhelming ninety-percent of us public schools are going to be the avenue for them. So you want public schools working better and the means no longer sending kids to schools based on where they live especially if they live in a bad school district which a lot of low-income students do. And instead letting their parents decide where they go to school instead.

Stop funding schools based on where they are located. And instead fund schools based on what they need to do a good job in a fiscally responsible manner. That means changing how schools are funded and moving away from the regressive property tax.

Stop paying educators based on how long they’ve been teaching. And instead pay them based on how well their kids are learning.

As far as students loans and student debt instead lets just make college affordability universal. Free college for the qualified for college students who go to an instate public university. If you go out of state and college financing plan that would be paid for by a combination of students, parents, employers and even government chipping in over a twenty year period to finance the students college education.

Instead of making education in America what is best for the private school industry, or make it what is best for teacher unions we instead should make it what is best for the students themselves. And that means choice within the public school system. Paying teachers based on how well their students are learning. Funding schools base on need and not location. And making college affordable for all qualified students.

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Washington Examiner: Michael Barone: Why Government Isn’t Working and How to Make it Work Better

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Rik Schneider
To put it simply government doesn’t work very well when it tries to do too much, or doesn’t do things that it shouldn’t be doing. There I said it and have made that clear. So there’s no reason to go on with this post. Well not exactly because there’s good government which to me at least is limited to only doing the things that we need it to do. There’s bad government which to me at least is government that tries to do too much. Which is what big government is all about. But then there’s another form of bad government that I call small government which is government that doesn’t do enough. Like addressing the crumbling infrastructure in the country which would be a perfect example.
Good examples of bad government from a big government point of view is government doing too much. Like trying to manager our economic or personal lives for us. Like taxing us to the point that we aren’t able to make current or future economic decisions for ourselves. Like when it comes to retirement which is what I’ve seen from the far-left in America to nationalize the retirement system in the country and make Social Security the sole provider of retirement income. Or taxing us to the point to pay for so many public services that we aren’t able to make those decisions for us.
Or big government telling us what we can eat or drink, or what we can watch on TV or what music we can listen to. Or who we can sleep with or who can marry or what we can smoke. Government will never be perfect anywhere in the world, but it works best when it is confined to doing the things that we need it to do. Leaving the people with the freedom to manage their own economic and personal affairs for themselves and leaving them with the consequences and responsibilities of their own decisions.
With government there to protect us from predators foreign or domestic, finance our infrastructure, see that everyone can get themselves a good education, help people in need get themselves on their feet. But not trying to manage the people for themselves and make decisions for them that they can make for themselves.

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Washington Post: EJ Dionne: The Vital Incoherent Center

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Erik Schneider

Source:The Washington Post

Again it depends on what you mean by liberal and conservative and you do lump Religious Conservatives, Neoconservatives and Libertarians in with Conservatives on the Right and do you lump in Progressives and Socialists, or Social Democrats in with Liberals on the Left. If that is how you do that then Conservatives will be the largest voting block in America. Because that includes the Bible Belt, with the Libertarian West and the Neoconservative large military at call costs traditional American Neoconservatives.

With Liberals or Centrists coming in second because when it comes to American politics Americans tend to have strong feelings on the issues one way or the other and are not stuck in what is called the mushy middle when it comes to Centrists. And Socialists whether they self-define their politics as socialist or not do not make up a very strong voting block in this country. 10-15 percent at best the religious-right badly outnumbering them.

But that is not how I define political labels or make up my mind which political camp people fall in. What I do instead of saying “someone is on the Left so they are automatically are liberal. And someone who is on the Right they are automatically conservative”. What I do is look to see how far to the Right are they. If they are center-right, I call them conservative. A little further Right I call them libertarian. Lets say far-right people who I could call big government Republicans or rightists people who want to impose their social values on the rest of the country through government, I call them Religious Conservatives or Neoconservatives.

Same thing with the Left. Center-left such as myself would be the Liberals. A little further Left people who are a little more government oriented, but do not have a new government program or tax increase to solve all of our problems for us, I would call Progressives. People who are lets say on the far-left  people who believe in big centralize government is the only way to ensure economic, social and racial equality and tend to have big government ideas to solve all of our problems for us. And tend to like high taxes and tend not to like the military or law enforcement, I call people of these politics Socialist or Social Democratic. Occupy Wall Street comes to mind or the Green Party.

If you just looked at the center-right and center-left in America and people who tend to not be against government all together, but who do not want government trying to run their lives for them from either a personal or economic perspective you would see that is where a solid majority of the country is. Whether they call themselves Liberals or Conservatives, or even Conservative Libertarians. And based on that I would say Liberals and Conservatives make up the overwhelming largest voting blocks in the country. With Independents who may consider themselves to be Centrists but have similar views as Liberals and Conservatives. That they don’t want big government, but they don’t want an ineffective government either.

Americans tend to want government to do the basics that we can’t do for ourselves, or that we need them to do as well to see that certain things get done that need to be done. Like protecting the country, protecting the streets, seeing that everyone gets an education. Funding infrastructure, helping people in need get on their feet. These are not big government or small government ideas, but limited good government policies that Americans tend to support whether they are liberal or conservative. And that is where Americans tend to be and we tend not to like the fringes on the Left or Right.

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PBS NewsHour: Shields * Ponnuru on House GOP vs. Obama, IRS Missing Emails

Posted on June 27, 2014 by kireschneider

Source:The New Democrat 

As far as the Republican primary elections last Tuesday, it was a great night for establishment Republicans in Congress. With none of them losing with Representative Jim Lankford winning his primary overwhelmingly. But the biggest victory would have to be for Senator Tad Cochran who has been in Congress since 1973 when he was first elected to the House. In a really bad year for Congressional incumbents with Senator Cochran being one of the biggest porkers in Congress and perhaps the biggest porker in the Senate. Winning his primary against a Tea Party favorite because African-Americans voted for a Mississippi Republican.

As far as Speaker John Boehner’s suit against President Obama. This reminds me of when the Speaker back in 2011 decided to take up the defense of the Defense of Marriage Act that the Obama Administration decided not to defend. Then the Speaker appointed some Republican representatives to defend the law in court. With a lot of people in both parties pretty much deciding that DOMA was dead because of the makeup of the Supreme Court when it came to homosexuality and privacy. And with recent Federal curt decisions going against DOMA. The Speaker’s suit is just as dead because it will probably never even be heard in court at least not while Barack Obama is still President.

As far as the missing IRS emails. The IRS already has a great person running the IRS who has a lot of respect from both political parties. (Perhaps Tea Party not included) They already have multiple investigations into this issue and the Justice Department is looking at it as well. So another House investigation into it looks like more wasted taxpayer money on the behalf of House Republicans. A skill they mastered during the Bush Administration wasting taxpayer money.

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LBJ Library: Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society Speech at the University of Michigan (5/22/1964)

Posted on June 27, 2014 by Derik Schneider

Source:The New Democrat

Whatever you think of President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society speech whether you love it or hate it, or like it, or dislike it, this is one of the best and most important speeches in American history. Because it laid out a vision of what a Great Society would look like with everyone living in freedom and living out of poverty with access to a good education and being able to make a good life for themselves. That was the vision of this speech and what LBJ wanted to create for America.

The problem I have with this speech and perhaps the only problem I have with this speech is how much faith he put into government to create this society. Especially the Federal Government almost as if it not completely that the Federal Government would build this speech by itself for us. What came after this speech was the Great Society Federal social insurance system all really from the Federal Government. Instead of laying out an agenda of how can the country including government, but the people themselves and even the Federal Government together can create this society for America.

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