“So what are you?”
I get that question a lot, followed by either:
“I see liberal stuff on your sites.”
Or
“You quote some conservative stuff.”
My response: “Neither.”
Granted, because my sites are set up as news sites, some perceive more media-liberal leaning posts despite the posting of opposing sites or platforms on the same stories.
To be honest, I am leery of these questions. I assume I’m about to get pounced on for something I posted.
Am I open to civil conversation? Absolutely.
But just to be clear: if you think I am wrong or diametrically opposed to your ideals, feel free to block or unfriend me.
Trust me, I am doing a lot of social media member dumping myself.
That’s because too many Americans are playing the political game – and not trying to solve problems.
Sure, I have some liberal, conservative, and libertarian. But I am not card-carrying for any of them.
I don’t dislike any of them but I pushback when these so-called political beliefs, once in campaign or law-making mode, they, in the words of Jonathan Haidt, in his book, The Righteous Mind, “bind and blind.” And in my view, too many of us have been bound to both parties and blinded to the point of hurting our democracy.
So, let me lay out my solutions and how they stand up to the different ideologies.
Tax Reform: wipe out most deductions. We need a level playing field for all Americans and all companies. Special interests game the system. Plus, deduction remove needed government revenue while increasing tax burden on non-special interest players. Liberal or conservative? Actually both. I think Trump and Bernie on the campaign trail would endorse this.
Entitlement reform: This includes Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare. The goals are to: continue benefits; but preserve the programs; without killing the federal budget. Medicare should be the biggest target. Recipients have paid in 1/3 of the benefits they will receive. It requires sacrifice from all Americans. Hey, I am eligible for Medicare soon too. That includes higher taxes, reduced benefits, raise eligibility age. That isn’t liberal. If anything, it’s conservative or libertarian. In fact, I would say I am patriotic since I am taking a stand that will hurt me financially as I age. How many of you can say that?
Abolish Citizens United: either prohibit all political donations; or prohibit tax deductions for campaign donations. You’re free speech is secured. But why do I have to pay for it in higher taxes? How do you rate that? I would say liberal and libertarian.
Healthcare Reform: either stop the employer mandate or abolish company tax deduction for offering health insurance to employees; increase HSAs for everyone with some caps; listen Governors on their needs for the poor. That’s it! These simple changes would unleash the consumer on the healthcare market, creating more competition, drastically dropping prices, and giving the individual the responsibility of his or her healthcare. Liberal? Did you hear anything about single payer? I didn’t. If anything: conservative and libertarian.
Working Retraining: We need more technical schools for the 21st-century. These can be in person or online. Public/private partnership is needed. The effect: we will see worker initiative. Right now, we are only seeing 5% of workers in NAFTA hit areas taking advantage. Now they will have no excuse. Liberal? Conservative? Neither. It’s common sense.
Infrastructure Investment: Our roads, highways, rails, airports, and Internet are inadequate compared to many Asian countries. Part of that has to be Internet security. That’s the new business highway. Sounds kind of liberal to me.
So, no need to ask where I stand. If you don’t like any of this, then, again block or unfriend me.
Now let me go back to my latte and beer.
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