The "Philosophic Divide" Between Republicans and Democrates?

Like most people, my political philosophy sort of centers on Libertarian Principles:

"To each his own"

"Live & Let live"

This was the angle I had in the original version of The New Bill of Rights, but the trouble with having a libertarian point of view is this: it assumes men are going to do the right thing without capitalizing on a person's situation. In other words, Libertarians are naive.

This is where Socialism comes into play. Take firemen for example, if your house is on fire, you don't make 3 calls to get the lowest bid for someone to come put out the fire, nor does the fireman ask, "Do you have fire insurance?" before they'll come put the fire out. You immediately call 911, and watch to see how fast they get there. And, when the fire's out, you don't cringe when the fireman hands you a bill because there isn't one. In other words, our nation's fire department is an example of Socialism in action. It's taking a life or death matter and taking MONEY out of the equation.

Some other examples of Socialism are our Public Schools, the Postal Service, and Police Officers.

I was having this discussion about Socialism, Universal Health care, and Universal College Education with a guy the other day, and he made the comment, if you socialize college education and health care the quality will decline. Then, I reminded him of the 200+ fireman who lost their lives on 9/11. And, I asked him point blank, do you think New Yorkers were getting shoddy service from these fireman who ran into the Twin Towers without regard for their personal safety to save thousands of lives? And, he said, "You make a good point."

Really, the question isn't about a "philosophic divide" between Democrats and Republicans as George Bush referred to in his lastest speech, it's really about convictions.

Do you believe every American deserves health care as a basic human right?

Do you believe every American child deserves a college education as a basic human right?

As I alluded to a moment ago, the essence of capitalism is to capitalize monetarily on a given situation, which is why we don't allow capitalists to become involved in the business of "burning houses." Based on this principle, I say the principles of socialism need to be applied to our children's education and our own well being.

Politicians started a program called, "No Child Left Behind."
Is it Universal Education? No.
Is it a bureaucratic system with a bunch of hoops and arbitrary disqualifications? Yes.
Does every American child have the opportunity to get a college education without being strapped with loads of debt? No.
Is the "No Child Left Behind" program really just a political catch phrase designed to make American people think politicians have solved the education problem in this country? Yes.

Do you think the American people deserve better?

Is this discussion about a "philosophic divide," or are we talking about convictions?

If you saw slightly less money in your paycheck, but you knew your children were going to college, and they would be taken care of if they became sick, would you really miss the money?

Actually, if congress had been looking out for the American people, they wouldn't have gone 8 years without raising the minimum wage. Workers would be getting paid a Living Wage instead of Minimum Wage? (A living wage is a wage which allows workers to meet basic financial obligations like; rent, groceries, insurance, car payments. A Living Wage is currently around $20 an hour right now; this is what the minimum wage should be, but it's not.) This is why I included a living wage in "The Worker Rights Amendment" in The New Bill of Rights.

The bottom line is, there are gaping holes in the United State's domestic policies, and it is due to a lack of rights of the American people. It is for this reason, the United States of America needs an overhaul, which is basically what The New Bill of Rights would be.

I'm not even sure if you would call Universal Health Care and Education: Socialism. Socialism has a negative connotation--really, it's human beings meeting the needs of other human beings, and supposedly that's a bad thing because stockholders and obscene profits are taken out of the equation--it doesn't make sense. There are certain industries that need to be run by the government.

France is a country that has Universal Health Care and Education. French workers also work only 35 hours a week. They get 1 month of paid vacation every year. They have 10 personal days off per year and 5 sick days per year. They call there system a Welfare State because it's a system that looks out for the welfare of all French people equally--in other words, they are proud of their Welfare System, and they should be--Frenchmen aren't treating their fellow Frenchmen like rented mules.

Truth be told, if Americans started figuring out how much better the French have it, we might see American migration to France. Sure, they pay more in taxes, but at least they have something positive to show for it.

On the other hand, social progress happens way too slow in the United States. Around 75 years passed between the time slaves were freed after the Civil War and women were given the right to vote. At this rate we'll see Universal Health Care and Education in about 200 years.

The slow rate of change in social progress inspired me to write The New Bill of Rights. I don't believe things need to progress so slowly. So, I borrowed the idea of creating 10 Amendments from James Madison. The purpose of these new 10 Amendments is to bring about badly needed dramatic social change.

The New Bill of Rights deals with granting new rights to American people much like the original Bill of Rights granted. In effect, these new rights will act as counter measures in the way original Bill of Rights did.

For example, the 1st Amendment: Freedom of Speech acts a counter measure against an oppressive regime in Washington that might like to squash dissent by putting people in prison for voicing opposing opinions--it's happened repeatedly throughout history and continues to happen to this day in other countries.

In conclusion, if Americans adopt The New Bill of Rights, it will create a much happier United States.