The end is just the beginning

Over the past week or so your feed has most likely been flooded every hour with at least one thought or update from me on the recently passed Health Care Reform bill. I want to some up those thoughts into one note so every one knows why this issue is so important to me and what I think it says about the direction our country is heading in.

In early November of last year, we watched in triumph (for my HFA friends), or in dismay (for the majority of my Auburn friends), as our nation made history and elected its first African-American president and also gave our Democratic Party a sweeping Congressional victory that gave us epic majorities in both chambers. Indeed, it seemed change we could believe in was just on the horizon, and the nightmare of the past eight years could finally begin to be corrected.

More than a year later however, the political reality has come crashing down around us and it seems the unifying election mood that gave our president a 10,000,000 vote victory has returned to the polarized state of affairs we were in at the height of the George W. Bush train-wreck.

To what do we owe the collapse of that unifying spirit? Is it, as some would say, the inability of this president to fix the economy? Or to bring the troops home as promised, even after winning a Nobel prize for PEACE? Perhaps. I hear the argument that he has accomplished “nothing” nearly every day. Is this why there is so much anger out there?

I believe there is something deeper, more fundamental, that lies at the core of this renewed polarization of our country. For this, we must look at the Tea Party Movement that has sprung up in the past year. Republicans point to this and call it a grass-roots anti-government movement that is rising up against the “tyrannical” despot in the White House whose agenda means to lead this country down the path of “SOCIALISM!!” The Tea Party however, has revealed itself to everyone who does not support their message as a movement based on erroneous lies and extreme racial undertones. Every Tea Party rally is dominated by middle-aged to elderly Caucasians who have a common enemy in the White House: A black man. If this were not true, the Tea Party would focus on the actual substance of Obama’s plans and not Obama the man. Sign after sign compares him to Hitler, or Stalin, or some combination thereof (never mind the fact that these two leaders had completely opposite ideologies and fought a war against each other to hash this out). Even more offensive however, are the signs likening our president to a Voodoo witch doctor, or a monkey, or a terrorist. Not including Obama, the Tea Party also engages in some of the most offensive hate rhetoric of the Hispanic race (of which I am a proud member) that I have ever heard on a national scale. The blatant race-bating in these acts is obvious. And most shocking are the protesters with guns at their side and cross-hairs on their posters.

If anyone had any doubts about what the Tea Party Movement really stands for, we were all given a first-hand look this past weekend as law-makers made their way to the Capitol to debate the Health Care bill. Tea Party protesters repeatedly shouted “Nigger!” and chants of “Kill the bill, then the Nigger!” at black representatives. Rep. James Clyburn was even SPAT on by a number of protesters. James Clyburn, who fought and gained his rights over forty years ago in the civil rights movement, who has seen the worst of what racial hate can produce, was made to relive that hate on Saturday by the Tea Party. Rep. Barney Frank, an openly gay man, was repeatedly called “Faggot” and yelled at in lisps by the same protesters. Incidents such as these are not extreme examples; they are snap-shots of a movement who engages in such activity across this nation. They are snap-shots of a few extreme members of the white community who simply cannot accept that we put a black man in office and that he is trying to lead.

While the incidents outside the Capitol were shocking, what went on inside the building was even more shocking, but for a much more positive reason. For the first time in over a century of failed efforts, Congress finally passed a bill to reform our disastrous health care system. What happened this weekend was an historic moment in the history of this nation, and its ramifications will be felt for decades to come. Finally, insurance companies will no longer be able to drop a patient from care when they need it most because they come down with a serious illness. No longer will they be able to deny a patient because they are already sick, or have a pre-existing condition that could make them sick in the future. No longer will they be able to arbitrarily raise their premiums unless they can truly justify why to their customers. And what should be seen as a crucial victory for college students like us across this nation, we will no longer be booted from our parents‘ insurance plans at the ages of 20, 21, or 22. So long as we are in school or living at home, we will be able to stay on those plans until we are 26.

These reforms became law yesterday when President Obama signed the bill. I would welcome any argument as to how these measures, which are the pillars of the bill, constitute a “government take-over of health care”, or “socialism”, or “Marxism.” The cruel fact is that the fringe elements in this country (i.e. the Tea Party movement and the ultra-conservative members of Congress) have been allowed to take control of this argument, and pardon my French, FREAK THE LIVING SHIT OUT OF THIS COUNTRY. It is what they are best at. Tell people the government is taking over and people will riot in the streets. “The government will come between you and your doctor, ration care, kill grandma if it wants,” they say. The idiocy of such claims is obvious, yet these fears still run deep in this country as I write this.

Today, it is time to take back the debate, and to set the record straight. Nothing about this plan constitutes a government takeover. No one will be coming between you and your doctor. It’s a minor epiphany for some to realize, I know, but our health care system has never truly been “free” as those on the right like to preach. There has ALWAYS been someone between us and our doctors. It’s called an insurance agent, who determines to the cent how much care we are allowed. And the cruel truth of that system is that he does not care how healthy we get, or how much that doctor makes. The insurance agent only cares about how much money he can bring home to his share-holders who pay his salary. The American health care system to this date has been the story of a few profiting on the life or death of the many. It is sick. It is immoral. It is inhumane. Yesterday, we took the first step toward ending this gross system.

Call me a liberal ideologue if you will. Call me a socialist. Call me whatever you will. If being these terms means that I care, then so be it. I embrace it. I write this not as a political hailing of our president and the Democratic Party. I write this because I CARE. Because for over a year, the stories of the thousands who have been murdered by our health care system have haunted me. This is not political. This is LIFE OR DEATH. The Congress and the president have delivered a life-line to 32 million people who did not have one before, and to the rest of us who could have lost ours at any moment to the hands of greed and the selfish monster of Capitalism gone unchecked.

It is time that this nation begins to view health care not as a commodity to gamble and purchase. It’s time we view it as a RIGHT. How can the greatest, wealthiest nation in the world have sat by while its citizens perished at the hands of a system that we had all the power to transform and make right?

Today, we take the first step. If the Tea Party calls for a national push to repeal this bill, then I believe it is time for the Progressive movement in this nation to finally mobilize and take to the streets in response. Let the conservative politicians speak of a “populist revolution.” If they dare try to take away what we have just gained, we will show them what a true revolution looks like. A revolution of the working class, the down-trodden, the people who have been the toilet water in which the wealthy have expelled their feces on since Reagan. If the Tea Party thinks they can take control of this country they are surely mistaken. It is time for we as liberals, as intellectuals, as compassionate souls, to take to the streets and meet them every step of the way. The stakes are high, but in the history of this nation one movement has triumphed time and again. African-Americans, the elderly, women, gays, Hispanics. All of these groups have seen what the Progressive movement in this country has done. We have worked tirelessly for the freedom and equality of ALL. We shall NEVER let the other side tell us that we stand for anything short of absolute freedom under the law.

This past weekend, the Progressive movement has once again championed new freedoms. This time for all of us. This week we have gained the freedom to be healthy.

Let no man dare take that from us.

Alan Grayson Tells It Like It Is

Alan Grayson, a Democratic Congressman from Florida, recently thrust himself to the fore of the Healthcare melodrama. On Tuesday Night he spoke on the floor of the House to characterize the Republican "plan" for healthcare. His characterization, though simple and short, pretty much sums up what our friends to the right believe needs to be done for Americans.

"1. Don't Get Sick 2. And if you do get sick... 3. DIE Quickly"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-usmvYOPfco

Yup, bold I know, but that's actually quite accurate of the Republican plan that seeks to do absolutely nothing save for maybe adding another zero to the bottom lines of Insurance Company and HMO CEO's. Predictably, the Republicans freaked out over Grayson's remarks, likening them to Joe Wilson shouting out "LIAR!" in President Obama's joint session of congress addressing the Healthcare Crisis. I can do nothing but laugh at the right's response to Grayson. We'll just get this over with now. Grayson's remarks can be compared on NO level to those of Joe Wilson. Grayson waited his turn to speak on the House floor like he was supposed to and gave his opinion. Though it may have been sarcastic and scathing, perhaps even overly harsh, he did nothing out of standard protocol. Joe Wilson shouted out during the President's speech and called our President a liar in front of the entire national government. His actions were inappropriate and offensive. Grayson did not come close to Wilson's outrageous behavior.

In addition to the fact that Republicans are likening this incident to Joe Wilson, I find it equally amusing that they're upset about what he said in general. When Chuck Grassley says that Obama is going to "pull the plug on Grandma", and Sarah Palin says that Obama's plan will create government run "death panels", they really have no room to talk. It seems the conservatives can dish out blatant lie after blatant lie, but when a Democrat actually stands up and takes them on they run away to the media kicking and screaming.

Republicans are famous for making outlandish and inflammatory statements. It's what they're best at. It's the only way they win elections as they manipulate the ignorant American populace. Their sweetheart Sarah Palin has gained immense fame over statements such as these. It's pretty much the only thing she can do: Lie and misconstrue. God forbid she'd actually have to pick up a newspaper or a research report and finally learn something factual.

This debate has done nothing but outline the extreme differences in our nation's two political parties. It has exposed the Republicans as nothing more than the lying hypocrites that they are. But ultimately that is "conservatism". It means keep things the way they are because they work for a few of us and they make an even smaller few very rich. Conservatism does nothing but move us backwards, keep us stuck in our ruts, and weakens the masses in this once great nation. And they have been extremely successful in this nation at achieving their goals. Nowhere in the world do we see a conservative movement as powerful and alive as in this nation. While the rest of the world has seen liberal trends since World War 2, our nation continues to flounder around in these petty idealogical squabbles. It is pointless and stupid. As long as the Republican party continues to exist in this nation we will never truly move forward and realize our full potential. They are the party of lies. They are the party of theocracy. They are the party of fear. God bless Alan Grayson for finally standing up and calling them what they are: Supporters of an industry that profits from murdering its consumers.

A Revamping

I'm back. I think. All three of my readers will be excited to know that I intend to blog my Freshman year through college! And by the way, how's it going Amelia? I miss you in my life. And you too Sarah.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, fate has led me to the plains of Alabama and I am now in Auburn, Alabama, attending none other than, AUBURN! I love it here. Things are great. New friends, new classes, and FOOTBALL. I love everything here save for the...less than friendly political climate towards those who think and feel as I do. Those who know me know that I've never ever been afraid to stand up and fight for my beliefs. However, recently I've been terrified. Well okay, not terrified but a bit nervous about letting people know what I believe for fear of being outed as "that guy." Being a liberal is almost as bad as being a Bama fan here.

So needless to say, I need an outlet. So I'm getting back to blogging. I'm going to change the color scheme and I've deleted a few of the old posts that made me cringe inside when I looked at them. So this blog will be reflections of a liberal in one of the most conservative areas of one of the most conservative states in our union. Boy this is going to be fun.

WAR DAMN EAGLE

Alright, the latest editorial to be published in the Decmeber issue of The Knightly News. So here's the pre-screening:



“Okay…I’m a loser. But really, I’m okay with that.”
By: Eric Austin, Editor-In-Chief

I was perplexed recently by a comment on my Facebook from an anonymous person.
“You opinionated piece of… Expletive Deleted” is what the comment read. Needless to say, I was angered and responded accordingly. As the day went on however, the comment stayed in my head. Not exactly because of what was said. After all, I am one of the most politically opinionated people in the school and have no problem with saying it. So the fact that I may have angered a few people is no surprise, and frankly, I care not. It was the nature of the sentence, and really the fact that it was said in the first place (in an Honesty Box message of all places) that angered me.
I often feel like I am an oddball in today’s teenage America. I am very passionate about a great number of things. While the average teenager is just trying to survive his or her high school government class, I get angry and passionately discuss things in government while the rest of the class gives me those “how does he know all this?” looks. I am a self-proclaimed dork. I watch the news for an average of three hours a night, and then think about it for another two. In A.P. U.S., I remember one class period when I went through every election in the country’s history and tried to decide who I would have voted for based on the issues of the particular time period. Really, who does that?
My cousin tells me that “I’m obsessed.”
“With what?” I ask him.
“I don’t know,” he responds, “You’re just obsessed.”
My cousin, and many others who I encounter, cannot seem to understand why I care so much about things that seem so disconnected and out-of-touch with my daily life. All I can say to defend myself is that I am a passionate person. I am capable of feeling the strongest of feelings for virtually anything. It seems that this is something that the everyday teenager is not concerned with. They are concerned with other matters such as pop culture, or sports, or the opposite sex. While I do care about all of those things (particularly the opposite sex), they are not extremely high on my priority list. I feel more comfortable writing editorials than I do watching The Hills or Sports Center.
One can only imagine the feeling that a young adult feels when he can’t name the artist who sings the hottest song of the week. It’s not like I could tell the truth and say, “Well I might know who sings that hot jam, but unfortunately I was too busy listening to NPR and that intriguing story about wind energy to change the radio station to find out.”
Most American high school students find it strange and foreign to see someone who cares so much about the world that is happening beyond the walls of his own selfish life. While Hume-Fogg is a special case, at the standard high school, people who started freaking out in class about the auto-industry bailout wouldn’t make it through the day without getting shoved into a locker.
Sometimes I feel so overwhelmed by the constant surge of thoughts that swell through my brain that I just want to scream “Stop!” Indeed it would be much simpler to only have to worry about what I planned on wearing the next morning, or trying to impress the girl that I like. But just as I begin to think like this, I’ll see a homeless person on my way to school and the simplicity is lost and the swelling in my head is back.
I keep myself content by knowing that one day I plan on actually doing something with the passion I have. I’ll never know who wrote that Facebook comment, and really I don’t want to. Someone who hates another simply for being passionate about something clearly is distraught because they have nothing of their own to be passionate about.
So to anyone out there who really cares, don’t worry. Our day will come. One day these passionate dreams will become reality, and I’ll wonder why I ever cared about who sings that song that all the other kids are freaking out about.

I'm Back....With an Endorsement

So I havent been on here for quite some time. I'm terribly sorry for my absence, however college apps, summer, and work all got in the way. There is alot on my mind right now, but nothing sums it up more than my editorial that will be published in the Knightly News on thursday. The published edition will be a little bit different, but here is the first draft:

Editor’s Endorsement: Barack Obama for President

Close your eyes and take a trip eight years back in time. Welcome to election night 2000. Americans tuned in across the nation to find out who would lead them for the next four years. The campaign took on a new level of competition in the last few weeks as George W. Bush closed the gap on Vice-President Al Gore who should have won easily after the economic boom of the Clinton years. Of course it was not meant to be, and after a few “hanging chads” were looked at and the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in, the election was over. Ultimately the man with the most votes did not win, and five men in robes in Washington decided that George W. Bush would carry our nation into the future.
Now open your eyes and welcome to campaign 2008. The America of today would hardly be recognizable compared to the America of 2000. Our economy is crumbling before our eyes; our nation’s military is stretched to a dangerously thin level in two wars overseas; millions of Americans live without healthcare; returning veterans are treated like second-class citizens. The list goes on and on.
This is one of the most, if not the most important election in American history. In this crucial time for our country, we need a leader who has the vision to carry America forward. We cannot continue to drive farther along the eight-year train-wreck that was the presidency of George W. Bush. Barack Obama is here to take America off that track and give our country hope for a better tomorrow.
Barack Obama will bring his bi-partisan spirit to Washington to end the political gridlock that has put a stranglehold on our nation’s progress. He offers solutions to the real problems that Americans face that George W. Bush and his Republican cronies have ignored for two terms. Barack Obama will end the elitist Bush tax cuts that favor only the wealthiest five percent of Americans. He will cut taxes for 95% of the American middle class, the ones who need it the most.
Obama will work to make healthcare affordable for every American, and those who still cannot afford it will receive a government plan. It is simply appalling that the richest nation in the world does not provide essential care to its citizens. Healthcare should be in the public interest, not the interests of the insurance and drug companies. Barack Obama understands that.
In the area of foreign policy, Barack Obama will put to death the ludicrous idea created by the Karl Rove smear machine that claims that Democrats cannot keep America safe. Obama understands that the key to a sound, diplomatic policy is sitting down and talking tough with our adversaries, not dropping bombs. In Barack Obama’s administration, force will be the absolute last means of dealing with our foes. Obama will revamp America’s image to the rest of the world, and we will once again be able to work hand in hand with our allies to bring terrorists to justice wherever they may be operating.
Obama will end the War in Iraq and bring our troops home with dignity, giving them the care that they deserve when they get home.
John McCain, Barack Obama’s Republican opposition is an honorable man and has lived an honorable life dedicated to public service. No one questions this. But in this crucial election, a John McCain victory would be detrimental to America’s future and essentially mean a third Bush term. John McCain’s economic plan will benefit the richest of the rich and continue to destroy the middle class. While John McCain touts his foreign policy experience, it is clear that the decisions he would make as president will make us no safer and only give us more wars. John McCain’s sites are set on Iran, and his idea of making America safe is declaring a Holy War on the nation of Islam. Though John McCain served in the armed forces, he will do nothing for our nation’s veterans, as he has consistently voted to slash benefits from the Veterans Administration and will continue to so as president. Though he was tortured for seven years in a prison camp in Vietnam, John McCain seems to have no problem with America torturing its enemy combatants.
The choice in this election could never be clearer. This is a turning point election. We can continue on the road we have been on for these disastrous eight years, or we can make a turn toward a better tomorrow. It is Barack Obama who will make this turn, and this is why I have endorsed him for President of the United States.

Me

Danielle often calls me an old man. This is very true in some ways. I watch the news for at least two, sometimes three hours a night. I get more angry at the news than when I stub my toe, or burn my popcorn. Most of the time I'd rather listen to Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, or NPR than the local pop station. I look around in AP U.S. and realize that I'm inticed by Mr. Babb's rambling while everyone else looks like they'e about to kill themselves. So if all of these traits make me an old man, then I am an old man. Guilty as charged.
But I just think I'm different. Sure I may have some of the same interests as an adult, but I have the youthful exuberance of someone my age. I relate to people my age, and simply don't understand the depressing existence of adults. I am a kid. I think somehow I always will be. I never want to be called what is a "realist". Someone who looks at how much the world is going to screw him and accept what he can get within society's limits. I never want to be this. We are part of society, and we will set it's limits. I am an optimist. A humanist. A hopeist. Yes I just made that last one up, but that's what I am. I look at people and try to see that there is good somewhere there. I know where I want to go in life, but really have no idea how I'm going to get there. I just know that I am going to get there.
There is a reason why I come closer to crying when I see a man sleeping under a bench than when someone I know loses a close relative. I don't know what it is. But I am going to find out. There are just so many thoughts always swirling in my head. I am literally always thinking about something. Whether it be political, idealistic, or very personal. Regardless of what it is, I always feel the same flame burning inside of me. This is my passion. My passion for what I believe in, and my passion for other people. I love seeing other people's happiness, even if I dont know them, though I can often not find that same happiness for myself. Just smoke weed, say some of my friends, that'll make you happy, and quell those thoughts of yours. It just doesn't work for me.
Anyway, that's Eric's personal blog. You'll get one of these every now and then. To some it all up I have no idea who I am, only what I belive. I'll figure it out eventually. I just want to be able to transfer that fire inside of me into a fire that the rest of the world can use. In essence, I want to change the world. I said it. Call me corny, call me a self-rightous ass (I really dont think I do much for myself). But that's what I plan to do, and let any "realist" out there try to stop me.

...and by the way, Vote Obama. He gets it.

We All Need To Get Cute

I veiwed a documentary yesterday called Taxi Cab to the Dark Side. It was about the Bush administration's policy of torture for the "suspected terrorists" captured in Iraq and Afghanistan. My Dad had talked me into going and before I figured I was in for just another two hours of reporting about the fucking moronic president who is George W. Bush and his minions. In most ways this movie was just another Bush attack, but for some reason it touched a nerve and now I'm pissed. Not necesarily pissed about the content in the movie, basically the military is holding 83,000 men from Iraq and Afghanistan in prisons around the world, and none have been brought to trial. It is estimated that only 1 percent of them are actually terrorists. They are subjected to daily interogations and torturing. If you're saying, "Well we're the U.S., there's no way we can torture!" Well see the movie. Trust me, we torture. (Still showing at Green Hills).
So the movie made me angry, but as the day progressed, I began to get more angry not just at this administration, but at the entire state of our nation in general. Why aren't people freaking out about this kind of stuff???!!!! The Bush adminstration is filled with men who if the rule of law was actually applied to, they would be impeached and jailed easily. Going one step further, with the torture issue, the U.N. should put them on trial as War Criminals. Because by all definitions, that is exactly what they are. Criminals. For the past seven years, these evil men have hijacked this nation from the history that once made it so great. The Greatest Democracy in the world has now given rise to the most powerful despot in the world. George Bush has no checks on him. The laws that were supposed to govern him have been completely thrown out the window. The constitution means nothing to him. Warrantless wire tapping of American Citizens, torturing of foreigners, and the suspension of the most basic right to a fair trial, and the right to know what you are being accused of. Gone. They are all gone, and yet we deserve it. The fact that this country is in the shitter and will remain there for decades is entirely our own fault.
The public of this country is gone. They are simply out to lunch. We have become a nation of blind consumerism and poisonous religious faith. That is what America is. Jesus and Wal-Mart. People simply don't care. Our democracy is being eroded, our country is going down in flames, and no one seems to care. In Europe they would have been rioting on the streets 7 years ago. Hell, this man was not even elected!! The other guy got more votes!!! I just now realized how outragous that actually is, and yet there was no outrage. The American people have to wake up and salvage what is left.
When I was venting my concerns to a good freind last night, she tells me, "Its cute that you care so much, Eric!" It's cute that I care!?!? Why must it be such a rare thing for someone to actually give a shit about their country and not the next thing I'm going to buy or the next sunday sermon at church? Religion is great for people to have, but it does nothing positive for a secular democracy. I am tired of feeling like an outsider and an abnormal person simply because I care. We should all care. We should all be rioting in the streets over this bullshit. I am so sick of it all. I'm sick of the ignorance. I'm sick of the stupidity. I believe in the ideals that this nation was founded on to the very core. But I simply cannot say that I believe the herd of blind sheep that the American people have become will open their eyes in time to save those ideals from the evil men who are destroying them more and more every day. Ignorance breeds despotism, and in the end, we'll get what we deserve.