There is no such thing as a red or blue state, community or person. The divide is as arbitrary as a bunch of wealthy athletes that put on different uniforms each year and compete. Granted, it is fun to watch and an interesting distraction but at the end of the day they are athletes, not Lakers, Spurs, Knicks, Celtics, 76ers, Pistons or Heat. Ben Wallace (and I am not singling Ben out -so Ben, please don't come looking for me) illustrates once again that it is about green (his move from the Pistons to the Bulls).
The divide is intentional and vital to the consolidation of power and wealth. As long as we organize around red versus blue, abortion versus choice, evolution versus creation, war versus peace we will remain hopelessly divided and conquered.
I am going to conduct a virtual experiment with America right now. I am going to make the following statements and I want America to line up into two lines. (Ok, I'm dividing too, but not to conquer. I have a challenging enough time trying to get my family to pay attention to me, let alone the rest of America.)
(the entire "ABC's of Corpocracy" series is available here)
- I don't care what chemicals are in the water that comes from my tap. In fact, more harmful chemicals are fine with me. (move to line two if you agree, remain in line one if you do not agree).
- A blue sky is highly over-rated. A brown haze is a natural, normal occurrence and I don't mind breathing it, nor do I mind allowing my children to breathe in the, well let's call it "Oxygen Plus". Ok, so still unsure? Respiratory illnesses are costing all of us money. You see land or property is typically cheaper the closer it exists to a source of air pollution. The people who live closer to the air pollution can't afford to buy the nice home with the occasional blue sky in the suburbs. So they and their families breathe toxins day in and day out. They develop asthma, have a higher incidence of illness and can't afford health insurance (and may be working for employers that return higher profits to investors by not providing health insurance). So that means the people most impacted by the air quality that become ill are treated at county hospitals. Paid for out of your taxes. So, rephrasing the question, how many don't mind pollutants spewed into our air by manufacturers, power plants and high emission vehicles and paying for the costs of making poor people sick? Odd, I only see a few people moving to line two. Hey, there's Karl Rove, "Hi Karl".
- You are given $350 billion dollars to spend on National Security. Remain in line 1 if you spend the money as follows... allocate a large part of the money to secure our ports of entry, transit and rail systems using advanced technology and well-trained resources. You also allocate a significant amount to improve foreign field intelligence to gather information and act on credible threats. Move to line two if you ...Invade and occupy a country on a false premise of WMD, attempt to abdicate management of our ports of entry to a foreign country, forget about international treaties, human rights and other forms of international cooperation and require everyone to take their shoes off at airports and claim "Mission Accomplished".
- Remain in line one if you think a precious part of America are the system of national parks and lands. Stay in line one if you want your children (and someday, their families) to enjoy pristine settings in nature, a flowing river or a lazy stream, an unpolluted lake, aged forests that have not been clear cut, an infinite number of stars on a clear crisp night while camping. Move to line two if you believe that every tree you see is revenue for Kimberly-Clark. Every mountain you see may be mined by Barrick Goldstrike. Every river and stream you see is a transport mechanism for toxins to be taken out to sea. Oh, there's Gale Norton. "Hi Gale".
- Remain in line one if you think that we should shift our automobile, truck and SUV purchases to Hybrid technology and other forms of reduced emission fuel efficiency while allocating part of our $350 billion dollar National Security budget to fund vital alternative energy programs at our leading Universities such as MIT, Princeton, Stanford, University of Michigan, University of Illinois. Knowing that ExxonMobil, Chevron and other oil companies have a vested $3.50 per gallon and rising interest in hindering the transition to alternative energy you make sure that they do not participate in the program. Get in line two if you think the Hummer isn't big enough and think we should continue to reward and allocate tax revenues into ExxonMobil, Chevron and Halliburton while they earn record quarterly profits.
- Foreign policy is what we implement to improve our economic strength and standing in the world. It may facilitate diplomacy to resolve conflict if we are well thought of through benevolent strength and maintaining our national integrity by adhering to international treaties and cooperation. Or it may cause a need for military aggression to resolve or preempt conflict if our standing is poor due to mistrust, our abandonment of treaties and a lack of global cooperation. Stay in line one if you prefer to implement cooperative policy, be a beacon of democracy and cause developing, volatile nations to respect us through our humanitarian policies and goals. If you prefer to bomb each country into democracy, regardless of cost and while neglecting our own infrastructure (sorry New Orleans), line two.
- If you believe that the best education is unfiltered information while embracing the fundamentals: math, science, english, a secondary language, computer skills, humanities, art, music; individual attention through small class sizes; safe and secure learning facilities; well-paid educators; extended day and early childhood programs; small and efficient administrative staff; and a cooperative child-parent-teacher-community environment -stay in line one. Everyone else -line two.
- If you believe that higher education -our state colleges and universities should cost in-state students a zero or minimal tuition fee -remain in line one. If you believe that education should require massive student loans, an inheritance or should only be available for the wealthy -line two.
- If you believe that only the wealthy and a percentage of workers and their families should have health insurance -line two. If you believe in the concept of "Life, Liberty and Happiness", and you believe it would be difficult to pursue "Happiness" while seriously ill with no medical coverage then please remain in line one.
- If you would like to pay zero taxes, move to line two. Wait everybody, just one second. Before committing to line two, you can no longer use public services. Need a fire fighter? There's your hose. Say, what's your hose hooked up to? That's public water, don't use that. Need a law enforcement officer. Sorry, public too. Your children aren't going to a public school, are they? How are they getting to the school? They aren't driven by you on public roads are they? Walking along public sidewalks? Better not. The word "tax" has been made to represent pure, unbridled evil. Tax is an investment that we make together as a community of people to provide infrastructure for ourselves and future generations of Americans. It is an investment in our security, our quality of life and democracy. No one likes to have to pay the electric bill, but it is good to keep the lights on -isn't it? Now we may passionately disagree with what the investment is allocated for. I don't like the fact that right now my investment in America is funding the war and occupation of Iraq. I don't like that I am funding initiatives for the Oil industry while they are continuing to earn record profits. My issue with taxes is that we all should provide support to continue to move the concept of America toward its potential for all of us, future generations and the world. But our investment is misappropriated by a corrupt group of individuals that claim to represent us, and instead are completely controlled by corporate interests. In Polisner-world we would continue to fund corrupt politicians. We would give them three meals a day, some basic clothing and one hour of "yard" time a day.
So, taking a quick survey, line two only seems to have this administration, oil executives, defense industry executives and a few "wannabe" fascists. America isn't really polarized. "Red" or "Blue" is a myth . There are Americans that believe in a better, stronger, benevolent America that is moving toward its potential as a beacon of fairness, compassion and opportunity. And there is a small, extremist group of fascists that have suspended the Constitution and are trying to shift as much wealth and power to themselves and their friends as they can.
Just a few thoughts from my over-caffeinated alphabetic mind.
About the Author: Mr. Polisner founded alonovo.com in March of 2005. He has been working in most aspects of Information Technology since 1981 and was an early commercial adopter of the UNIX operating system. Prior to founding alonovo.com, George was a Director at Oracle Corporation. He is a frequent contributor to newspapers regarding political and economic policy and often appears as a guest on radio programs. In fact, when it comes to alonovo.com, it's pretty difficult to get him to stop talking.