Americans are politically neurotic.

Americans are afraid of taking control. They want more of the nation's wealth. No question. They want more control over the nation's destiny. Certainly. Moreover, Americans need to feel in control of their country just to feel good, and the country needs the people to take control and keep it that way. The power is the people's by indisputable, written right. But Americans can't bring themselves to actually do anything.

Well, some want to do something, but they don't get anywhere. They scare most people. Some of them scare me.

What if American citizens voted to reallocate part of the nation's wealth from the wealthy straight to a highly subsidized, universal health care system? We could do it. It would be our complete right to do so. Anyone that says otherwise is wrong.

What if we wanted clean air, good living conditions, and a secure jobs market? We could have them. They are ours to give to ourselves. And we can give them to ourselves with a completely clear conscience, indeed with pride.

But not us latter day Americans. We're afraid of our own power. What if we make a mistake and screw up the health care we have? What if we scare away all the jobs. What if we mess up? What if we can't stop voting ourselves free stuff and lose control. Better to give control to someone else than to risk taking control and causing a horrible, horrible disaster.

There's no such thing as a free lunch! Communism sits on a hair trigger. If we get make the slightest move toward the common good, communism will explode. Yada.

And it's cool not to vote. And God wants us to work for what we get. But if the other guy gets something without much work, lucky him. And I'm envying again, warring on classes again...shame spiral. Yada.

We have no right to take something from someone else, or ask anything of them, or bother them at all. They might think we're mean. They might think we're freeloaders. They might think we're grasshoppers, not ants. I might think they're right and hate myself. Yada.

The few dissenting Americans who have to change something, however small, about some aspect of their financial lives might resent us for exercising our right to manage our country for the benefit of the people of the whole country. If we take money from the wealthy to give ourselves health security, the wealthy will no longer like us. If we restrict the actions of business to those that consider the benefit of American citizens, then the wealthy and the business leaders of the world won't treat American workers with sincere respect and appreciation like they do now. They'll frown out us!

Hand wringing, wussy neurotics. That's Americans.

We will charge into a crazy-dumb war because some big mouth, momma's boy wussy picked a fight for us, but we won't take control of the country and be vigilant about minding it from now on. That sounds like work. We'll beat up some foreigners, but we won't face ourselves. We've met the enemy. He is us. We surrendered.

We've let control of our own country and destiny, the simple, democratic act of being in charge of our own lives by majority will become some kind of dirty thing. We have a freaking air tight, written guarantee that we are still nice people if we give ourselves what we want to "promote the general welfare," but we don't trust it. Cuz "they'll yell at us."

So we can't do anything at all ourselves but curl up in a fetal position and let a minority ride us hard and put us away wet.

Perhaps so, but it would violate this portion of the Fifth Amendment: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." as well as Constitutional provisions regarding taxation. The income tax required a Constitutional amendment.

Rescind the Bush** tax cuts and end the war, and there will be plenty of money for health care. Clinton was running a quarter-trillion dollar surplus when he left office.

...would be reallocated to health care (or wherever we want) in this post. I assume it would be done completely within the Constitution. That is why I don't specifically say that money would be taken from bank accounts or deeds would be seized. In my view, that would, of course, be going way overboard. I do think taxation and regulation could do everything we need done. It's already used routinely, of course, as is eminent domain and all that.

But I am trying to provoke just the sort of reaction you have with this post. If we take control and rescind the Bush cuts. Indeed, if we raise taxes on the wealthy to recover all of the Bush tax cuts (plus interest), then that is our right. We don't have to feel bad about it or worry that it is functionally equivalent too (or puts us in any way on a slippery slope towards) goons breaking down bank doors.

We basically just do the opposite of what the Bush Administration has done. Then we thank them for showing us how and, maybe, giving us the nerve.

between a people and their government...

We have rights under the contract, economic and otherwise.

Then we won!!!!


WOOT