Elections Bring Hope for Change

I don't agree a lot with Bernie Sanders, but he, and most Democrats, recognize the dangers America faces because our economic system isn't working correctly. We would all like the economy to be growing at a faster rate, but as long as the benefits of that aren't distributed to everyone's benefit it's a worthless exercise -- or worse. Today America's corporations are hoarding money overseas and they're paying an already very low federal tax rate and they're not feeling any pressure to be especially entrepreneurial or patriotic. The effects of this are that the wealth being produced by Americans is being taken off-shore and used to the benefit of other peoples, that the federal government is (to a degree) bought and paid for, so it can't raise the minimum wage rate or the tax rate. One secondary effect is that the slow economy means it's hard for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates or to reduce supports to corporations. Another is that the debt problems means we can't really afford to waste money on military excursions around the world. That leads to other consequences we don't want. We need to pressure the fat and happy lazy rich corporations to pay their taxes, so we can pay down our debts, raise money to build infrastructure and help pay more for education. They should pay their workers more, so those people can put money back into the economy to begin a cycle upward instead of lazy circles in the sky. They should pay the profits they're holding to their stockholders, so it can be taxed. The rich corporations and their lackeys are killing us.

But, elections bring hope for change.

On the Republican side they are committed to not raising taxes, but indeed to lowering them on the rich and corporations. That would only exacerbate the problems.

On the Democratic side there is a radical, a Democratic Socialist, who has no supporters in Congress, and a more centrist pragmatic incrementalist who would happily work with anyone to solve these and other problems.

America has to choose. Let's hope they choose to make progress of some kind. We can't afford to fiddle while Rome burns.