Equal Incomes and Outcomes?

For some of us life is a race;

for others it's a spectator event.

While few gather booty with style and grace

many manage only to pay the rent.



Now progressives want to yank everything

towards establishing income equality,

while conservatives hate to support anything

except equal access to opportunity.



Is opportunity our great American playing field,

or is income the gridiron of our success?

Should we rig the system for equal income yield,

or tweak it to assure the same access?



As if such a thing could be done,

manipulating society to evolve a certain way:

everyone marching to the same equality drum,

consuming consumer goodies every day!



This sometimes great notion to level the playing field--

do we apply it toward the start-point or the resultant end:

should we guarantee incomes with diverse outcomes to yield,

or provide equal opportunities that equally pretend?



This question is for each person to decide,

and I know not course most make take.

In which theoretical society will you reside?

Will you excel, or make as everyone the same mistake?



Glass half-Full

The Great Disconnect

Down in de hood dhey don't get it what honky be doin' 
out in de wide lands where cream 'o de crop be acruin',
while out dhere where dhe green grass meet dhe smooth curb
dhey don't get it what dem po'boys be doin' to disturb
dhe status quo and de way t'ings are
cuz dhey don't get the gravy but only smell it from afar.
You know the state of the country it aint right;
I say you too tight;
You say me too loose.
You act like engine, make me de caboose?
You even got a clue, man?
We gotta make a new plan if we can;
R u hearin' me,
or r u fearin' me?
Shit! now h'yah come do po'. 
Even if I be friend, dey see me foe.

 
Peace and safety be upon them that work hard and do the drill
is what they say out in the wide lands filled with froth and frill,
while in the hood where the stoop step meet the street curb
hoods don't get what honkys skim out suburb.
Out here they're okay with the way things are;
they get the gravy; they drive the car.
They see the way things are as being all right,
and they're comfy being a little uptight.
They don't get loose,
aspiring to drive the engine, not ride caboose.
They have no clue, my friend,
preferring the same old plan, than to begin again.
They're not hearing dhem,
but they are fearing "them."
They say let the Po go--
let them search and seize the po'.
 
Now over in the Beltway everything is fine,
though talking heads strive to make events rhyme
by pontificating waltz in five-four times,
perpetually towing both Party lines,
keeping Libs on Left and Cons on Right:
maintaining constant Left-Right Fight.
Thou shalt not offend me! saith the Lib on the Entitled floor.
Thou shalt not tax me! saith the Con at Liberty's door.
Occupy, Occupy! rings out the Activist refrain.
Fortify, Fortify! cries the Reactionary in our never-ending game.
Don't destroy the middle class! and let them toke on grass!
You rob the middle class with tax! so Elites can sit on their ass!
Out! damned corporate ogres! the Left exhorts.
Oh quit your pouting! the 1% retorts, from their resorts.
Congress gets nothing done, because of you!
Government is the problem! Tippecanoe and TeaParty too.
 
Meanwhile all the masses come and go;
they twitter with glitter of the latest show.
 
Glass half-Full

Happy to be a Radical Centrist

Thank God, the autumn years of my life have landed me in position of being a radical centrist.

The Democrats are fixated on entitlements, victimhood and income inequality; the Republicans are obsessed with guns, selfishness and romanticizing what this country used to be.

Here's news for you Democrats: Roosevelt (may peace be upon him) died, a long time ago.

And news for the Republicans: Reagan (God bless him) also died, a little while back.

Lately, the residues of these two legacies have polarized toward two extremes: wild-eyed progressives on one end, chubby conservatives on the other. But what the world needs now is, as Dionne Warwick sang, love, sweet love, whhich means, politically: people in the middle like me, lest the whole dam American experiment fall apart. Blessed are the peacemakers.

As a 63-year-old boomer, I identify with the protest that was raised by young whippersnappers in the streets of Chicago during the Democratic convention of 1968. I would love to have been there, but I was a student doing a summer job. Even so, I also appreciate the protest that Tea Party people have raised, in recent decades, against our debilitating welfare state. I probably shoulda been there too, at the tea party, but I had to work that day.

Both Movements have their legitimate, appreciable place in the history of this great free nation. And both have their respective bowel movements to dispose.

There's a lot of work that needs to be done, regardless of who pays or doesn't pay for it. We gotta keep the planet clean, while keeping things together on the home front.

It's time now for both sides to acknowledge that the other side has a right to be here too, because, you know, none of us are just going to "go away."

Although each of us will, in due time, go away from this life.

I find myself, as a maturing centrist, continuously fascinated with and appreciating the legitimate talking points of both extremes, left and right. So I offer some advice for you all you extremists out there, all ye SDSers and John Birchers, all ye libertines and libertarians:

To you Occupy activists, and all ye who are so progressively inclined: I feel your pain, but its probably best that you just find a job instead of hanging out in the street with a sign. If you can't find a job that suits you, get a part-time gig and then start creating, on the side, a job of your very own design. Maybe it's a garden on a vacant lot or in your back yard. Maybe it's just helping old folks and kids cross the street, or collecting sunshine. That would be better than waiting for the government or the dreaded corporatacracy to generate the right job for you. Your mission to improve the world begins with providing for, and managing, your own household.

To you Libertarian preppers, and all ye who are conservatively inclined: Don't be dogmatic. Dismantling the federal behemoth too abruptly would put thousands or millions of workers on the street who are probably not prepared to pull their own weight, and then we would have a real mess on our hands. I know that you yourself are self-sufficient, or wannabe. You think you can do it all on their own and you do understand that you didn't build that road and all that, but the days are coming when you will find it expedient to share a little of what you've got with others who are less fortunate. And it just may turn out that it's not the tyrannical feds, but rather God himself ,requiring this benevolence of thee.

Come ye, all Americans.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus. Find your center and say: Om ready to be the best that I can be today, and the world will be a better place as a result of it.

Glass half-Full

Mr. Mondale, Roosevelt and Reagan

Walter Mondale tells a story about FDR’s funeral that sharpens our understanding of what it means to be a liberal:
In the spring of 1945, President Roosevelt’s body was being taken from Georgia to Washington on a train. Thousands of Americans cherished the President’s legacy with expressions of respect and mourning as they stood in memoriam near the train tracks and in stations along the way.
Former Vice-president Mondale tells Diane that one such man was asked if he had known the deceased President. The man replied that no, he did not know Mr. Roosevelt, but, the man volunteered: “He knew me.”
A characteristic of great leadership is surely that those who are governed feel a respectful affection along with political and patriotic identification with the leader. Franklin Delano Roosevelt had served Americans in the oval office for twelve years, through a long economic depression and a world war. Americans’ love and fond recall of him were, no doubt, deeply heartfelt on a national magnitude, most acutely on that mournful day in 1945.
Mr. Mondale mentioned the mourner’s response to FDR’s last solemn journey to our capital city. Then he added an eloquent statement that Americans need to know that their President is looking out for them, and holding their best interests at the forefront of his mind, his actions and policies.

Therein, we catch a glimpse of the difference between a liberal and a conservative. Conservatives don’t generally have that need,
or they do not cultivate it, to view the President as some benevolent provider; they would rather do things on their own without the government’s meddling, thank you.
Most conservatives these days will tell you that the President’s job is to keep the government out of the way, so that enterprising, self-sufficient folks can exercise their freedoms without regulatory interference. It’s not the President’s job–not his government’s job either– to give us the warm fuzzies or make sure we are all well cared for. We have dads for that, and God, thank you very much.

So there you have the main difference between conservatives and liberals, aka Democrats and Republicans.
Nevertheless, I must disclose that this Republican would more likely be moved to tears at Mr. Roosevelt’s immense contribution toward our national well-being, than, say, anything that Mr. Reagan did.
Except when he told Mr. Gorbachev to tear down that wall.
That tearing down the wall thing really tears me up.