Musings:
•The Sins of Donald J. Trump (chapter 22).
He has placed his signature on the $100 bill “in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States of America”;
Pardoned six persons who tampered with air pollution equipment in their automobiles in violation of the Clean Air Act;
Brought up the “Greenland problem” again;
Signed two proclamations stripping 90% of the Bears Ears and the Grand Staircase Escalante monuments of their Federal protection;
Signed an executive order directing the National Park Service to install warning signs outside of the Smithsonian building concerning “inaccurate information” about American history;
Signed an executive order targeting birthright citizenship where children of foreign diplomats are concerned;
Announced plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz as an American “territory”;
Signed an executive order directing local and state election officials to submit lists of mail-in ballot voters to the Department of Justice;
Signed an executive order directing U.S. federal agencies to refer to Lake Ontario as “Lake America” on domestic maps and government records;
Denied Federal disaster aid to four Democratic-led states because such aid is not guaranteed unless by presidential determination;
“Suggested” re-naming the State of New Mexico as the “state of New America”; and
“Suggested” that America owns the Moon because the flag of the United States is still there.
•To continue from my previous article:
Karl Marx famously wrote “From each according to his ability; to each according to his need” in his essay The Critique of the Gothic Dragon (1875). “Every person contributes to society by performing their personal skills, talents, and capacity; in return, society shares the goods and services they need to survive and thrive, regardless of how much money they may or may not have.”
Frequent contributor to The Voice, Bela Suhayda disagrees. In a capitalistic society, each individual is encouraged to make as much money as they can, no matter how they do so. That’s why we have rich people and poor people. That’s why we have crooks and victims. Suhayda sees this as the ideal society. If you ask him how rich he is, he will say to you that it’s none of your business. The Chas will wager that he is struggling to stay afloat, just like the rest of us. But he has high hopes, doesn’t he? He trusts his master, Donald Trump, to make him rich so long as he remains loyal to the man who would be king.
What Trump won’t tell Suhayda (or anybody else) is that “free enterprise” is not for everyone, because not everyone understands the “art of the deal.” Free enterprise is for someone who knows someone who knows someone, ad infinitum, and climbs the ladder of “success” until they have reached the “promised land.” He is then able to look down upon those millions who have not understood the art of the deal. This is how it works in a capitalistic society. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer, and the poor become cannon fodder for the rich.
In a socialist society, there is no rich or poor. Everyone gets an equal share of the wealth (created, you should know, dear reader, by the working class).
The Chas posits an America as one giant “union” with a national governing body. The states act as “chapters” of that body, overseeing local affairs. Significantly, there are no legislatures full of puppets of rich people. The national and chapter officials are elected at large by their memberships. This is true democracy. Elections are held every five years, and no one may serve for more than two terms. A judiciary – a “supreme” court at the national level and district courts at the chapter levels, is likewise elected, and the jurors may serve for only 10 years.
Suhayda is worried that the “Government” will steal from the rich and give the lucre to the poor. In a Socialist society, We the People are the “Government” (as The Chas has just pointed out). The national body and the chapter bodies will establish a system of taxation on income on a sliding scale, i.e. the greater the income, the greater the tax. Revenues from these taxing bodies should be able to pay the costs of government with a surplus to be used for emergencies.
In addition to an income tax, there will be a property tax. Since under socialism, there is no private property to fight over. Instead, the tax will be a use tax; the occupier may do whatever they wishes so long as he pays the tax. This tax will be levied according to the size of the property rather than the opinion of some bureaucrat who decides what it is worth. Revenues will be applied to environmental concerns.
Umm, a brief intermission here. Will someone please pick Suhayda up off the floor. He seems to have fainted for some reason. Thank you.
The Chas has read Suhayda’s essay of October 1 and has to laugh. He could have been talking about Donald Trump and company through and through and not missing a beat. Way to go, Bela!
Just a thought.