Republicans and the social contract

Virtually every Republican candidate now says we have to drastically curtail the social security system to avoid massive cuts in the future.  Of course they neglect to mention there are easy fixes available right now, like lifting the cap for contributions from $118,000 to unlimited.  By requiring people making millions each year to contribute 6% to Social Security, the system will be funded for the next 75 years.  Of course, the donors to the republican candidates view the entire SS system with disdain or outright hatred.   Many democrats are calling for expansion of the system as at least a partial replacement for the pensions which are not being offered by most companies today.  In the present employment scenario, many, if not most people will have several careers with different companies.  Most will not offer any retirement plans aside from an underfunded 401 K plan.  In the future, more and more retirees will depend on Social Security for most of their income.  There is a clear difference between the major political parties on this issue.  Where will most Americans stand...DUH!

Greedy Geezers and the Social Safety Net

Throughout most of mankind's history, the elderly have been seen as a disposable resource.   As long as they could contribute to the common good they were tolerated, but once seen as a drag on scarce resources, in most societies they were encouraged to hurry up and die.  Most western democracies have changed that dynamic with social security and other old age pension mechanisms.   These programs allow the elderly to live out their natural spans in relative comfort.  In the US, the Social Security program is celebrating its 80th anniversary and it remains very popular among young and old alike.  It is remarkable that Republicans fought against the program from its inception through the present and yet seem to pay few penalties for their opposition to it and Medicare, which is celebrating its 50th year.  I think most of us can't imagine a society in which the old are consigned to poverty or begging their progeny for shelter, but if it was up to one of the major political parties, we would be heading back to a time where the elderly were considered a mixed blessing at best.  Both Social Security and Medicare need attention if they are to be preserved for future generations.  The fixes are relatively easy at this time, but they require political will and a nudge from voters.  The Tea Party and their ilk, relatively wealthy, older, white Americans seem to feel we can't afford dignity for those of us who didn't win the lottery or inherit wealth or make the many decisions which lead to comfortable retirement.  We need to elect people who would continue an honorable tradition of care for the previous generations.

Crawling through the jungle

I have rarely seen such luxuriant weed growth in any gardening season, and I have been doing this for 40 years.  It was too wet to do much except pull big weeds last night and I was amazed at how healthy and fecund they were.   Usually by the middle of August, heat and drought has slowed the pests and many are throwing out seed heads.  Lately, the red root pigweed and galinsoga have gotten gigantic with nary a seedhead in sight.  With more rain predicted, it's looking like a long term problem for the rest of the season.  As always, the pests seem to outcompete the crops, kind of like The Donald among the republican candidates.  I wonder what Roundup would do to his hair.

Good News, Bad News

Turned on the radio this morning and as usual, the news was bad for Hillary and wonderful for Bush.  Clinton's use of a private server for her e-mails as Secretary of  State is universally proclaimed as a terrible faux pas by virtually every pundit.  Meanwhile, aside from the 30% of voters who thought the Shrub was a great president no one really cares how Ms. Clinton sent or received e-mails.  The system of classifying government documents is so byzantine, I'm sure the dog food served to the Obama's dogs is a top secret "need to know" document somewhere.  The whole "scandal" is a nothingburger which aligns with the Clinton rules.  Meanwhile, Shrub's little brother decides it is time to blame the entire mess in the Middle East on the present administration and there is no pushback from the media.  They merely report the outrageous tripe he spewed at the Reagan library in front of a friendly crowd as if it were gospel.  Without Bush, there would have been no broken Iraq which spawned the Islamic State, but no commenters managed to make that factual leap when reporting the story.  Such is the state of the media today.

Rainy Day not so Blues

While I hesitate to say it, the garden could use a good rain.  The last time I expressed this opinion the NCR got a 3 week deluge that most gardeners and farmers with heavy soil have still not recovered from.  So while I welcome a rainy day, I hope it is more limited in scope than last time.  I hustled home last night and put in some spinach, turnips, daikon and beets.  The beets are probably wishful thinking, although a mild fall could help them mature before the inevitable freeze.  I can hardly wait for the first meeting of "Gardeners Anonymous" next spring.  Hopefully it will keep me from diving headfirst into another season of disappointment.

It's the Obama--Stupid

The biggest hurdle the eventual Republican candidate will face is how to portray the last 8 years as a failure of policy.  All the "can't miss" issues, the economy, obamacare, foreign policy, have all been successes to some degree.  So, aside from the 25-30% who believe Obama is the antichrist, what have the occupants of the clown car got.  At the recent debate, attacks on Donald Trump obscured the fact that aside from god, guns and gays, most of the candidates were more interested in attacking Hillary than the president.  The scenario is looking more and more like the 1988 election where the elder Bush succeeded Reagan by if not running on St. Ronnie's record at least not running away from it.  That would seem to be a wise choice for the eventual Democratic nominee.

Comings and goings

Jon Stewart signed off last night with a parting salute from the Boss.   Going out to the strains of "Born to Run", Stewart left us with a parting sermon on the detection of Bullshit in America.  Any organization which uses titles like "Americans for Patriotic Freedom Family Values and Economics" is sniff worthy.   Of course, he could have been talking about the Republican Freak Show on Fox last night.  The odor of bull by-products was detectable all the way from Cleveland as the Chris Wallace, Megyn Kelly and Bret Bair did their best to undermine The Donald to the advantage of the rest of the Clown Car.  It remains to be seen if their efforts will show up in the next set of polls.  Trump remained defiant amid some audience booing when he refused to pledge to support the eventual GOP nominee.    I hope Stewart remains a public figure during the rest of the run-up to the 2016 elections.   We need his brand of wise satire as an antidote to the BS which will be pitched by both parties.