Not since the election of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan have I been more pessimistic about the future of America.
Given the right-wing takeover of the House of Representatives, gubernatorial offices, state legislatures and the Supreme Court, there is little to be thankful for as we usher in 2014.
My only consolation is to take the long view recalling the words of Martin Luther King that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Let us hope!
Meanwhile, I make myself a promise to fight even harder against the forces of ignorance and malevolence. This means…
1. I must remind my fellow citizens that the recent government shutdown brought about by the Tea Party and other right-wingers cost the country $24 billion. And I thought Republicans were fiscal conservatives.
2. I need to inform people that this week 1.3 million Americans will lose their unemployment insurance – among them some 20,000 recent veterans.
This callousness has dire economic consequences – namely the loss of an additional 200,000 jobs. And I thought the Republicans were all about job creation.
3. I need to point out Republican controlled states are waging a “War on Women.”
Between 2011 and 2013, 162 anti-abortion measures were signed into law in nineteen states and 10 states slashed funding for family planning. And I thought the right wanted less government interference in our private lives.
4. I must stress that climate change is real and based upon decades of rigorous, scientific evidence. The indisputable facts are that average global temperatures are rising; that the polar ice-caps are shrinking and that rising sea levels threaten our coastal cities.
When Fox News reports on this subject, 93 percent of its references are misleading or completely false. And I thought Fox was “fair and balanced.”
5. I must disabuse anyone who will listen that in spite of the Supreme Court decision in “Citizens United” corporations are not “people.”
I will hold fast to this belief until I find one which can walk, speak and fornicate. A corporate entity is, in fact, an autocratic fiefdom that insists its only responsibility is to its top executives and its shareholders. And I thought these “malefactors of great wealth” believed in compassionate conservatism.
6. I must spread the word about our vanishing middle class whose median family income has gone down some $5,000 since 1999.
Of course, our lower class has fared even worse with 46.5 million of them living in poverty – more than at any time in our nation’s history!
As Sen. Bernie Sanders has said…it is unacceptable when the top 1 percent of our citizens own 38 percent of our nation’s wealth and one out of four corporations pay nothing in federal income taxes.
And I thought we lived in a democracy, not a plutocracy.
7. I also must share my concern that we have the worst, most obstructionist Congress in our history. It has failed to pass a farm bill which included food stamp provisions, a comprehensive immigration reform bill, but did vote over 40 times in the House to repeal and defund the Affordable Care Act. And I thought the job of Congress was governance.
8. I need to convince my fellow Americans that the minimum wage of $7.25 is a joke. It prevents workers from obtaining adequate health care forcing them into hospital Emergency Rooms for which, of course, we end up paying.
I must also refute the Republican talking point that fast food employees who receive the minimum wage are, for the most part, high school teenagers. Another lie!
The average age is 29.5 and the annual salary is between $14,964 and $19,126. How do the right-wing Scrooges justify such parsimony?
9. Most important, I must shed light upon myths and misconceptions spewed by Obama-care opponents.
The United States is the richest nation in the world, yet 46 million of us do not have health care insurance and shocking as this may seem – 45,000 die every year as a result!
In Canada, the U.K. France, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and other civilized nations health care is considered a human right, not an unaffordable luxury.
Disregard Republican lies that Obama-care is a “train wreck.” As the law of the land, it has already provided 13 million Americans with rebates from insurance companies which overcharged their policyholders; covered more than 3 million young adults who can stay on their parents’ policies to age 26; and allowed people with “pre-existing conditions” to purchase insurance.
It is now evident that ACA opponents do not believe it will fail – rather they fear its success. In the future, Americans will consider Social Security, Medicare and the ACA as an indispensable components of our safety net.
I hope that in 2014 I will be able to speak truth to power and accomplish one of more of these resolutions.
What is at stake is nothing less than the future of our democracy.
Our nation’s collective morality dictates that we care about the well-being of our neighbors.
We ignore this mandate at our peril!
Dr. Hal Sobel
Great Neck
