A Dreamy Way To Shake Up Politics
If the government doesn’t get you, corporations will. When the Democrats are in control, government spends your money on expensive toilet seats, degenerate art and teenage mothers. When the Republicans are in charge, they give away the country’s water, mineral and land rights and spend your money on tax breaks to corporations that give their executives golden parachutes.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Isn’t there a party out there that is intent on getting a balanced budget without messing over children and old people? Why couldn’t that party also insist that corporations pay their fair share and that federal lands be protected from lumber-grabbing and mineral-pilfering companies?
Call it the Fair Shake Party. Its animal symbol will be Lassie, the lovable collie with a penchant for saving people who are in harm’s way.
The Fair Shake Party will stand on a platform that embodies the value system of kind, middleclass Americans who want their kids to grow up and be kind, middle-class Americans. The planks are:
Government subsidies will go only to people who are too young, too sick or too old to care for themselves.
The government will pay set-up costs to make able-bodied people, now dipping into the government till, responsible for their own lives. After the initial investment, folks are on their own, except for the aforementioned who simply can’t care for themselves.
Citizens will be required to take courses in conflict-resolution.
Local taxes will go for schools, police and fire protection.
State taxes will be spent on roads, bridges and transportation.
Federal taxes will support a scaled back defense budget, as well as the program that teaches self-sufficiency and the one to help the helpless. Federal taxes will also be used to support environmental laws until corporations and others get the message that no one has the right to mess with Mother Nature.
The arts will be appreciated, learning revered, kindness and goodness applauded and selfishness will be punishable by a fine and a one-year term of community service.
Wall Street will get a conscience; ballplayers and movie stars will give a portion of their exorbitant salaries to build clinics and playgrounds in underprivileged neighborhoods; elected officials will spend more time talking to the people they represent than to other elected officials, lobbyists and the media.
People will be required to take a test on the difference between freedom and license. They will have to understand why their freedoms stop when they interfere with someone else’s. Those who don’t get it will be required to take citizenship courses.
All people who work will be able to make a living. The phrase “the working poor,” will be purged from our language and our society.
FSP candidates can only accept campaign donations of up to $100 from the people they wish to represent. If a lobbyist wants to talk with a candidate or elected official over lunch, then it’s Dutch treat. No golf games, trips to Tahiti or tickets to the Final Four will be purchased for politicians except by the politicians themselves or their spouses.
The first day of every new year, neighbors will get together for a group hug.
That’s the FSP platform. Seems to me that all is in place now for finding the two best persons to head the ticket this year. Some suggestions:
Colin Powell and Mother Theresa.
Cal Ripken Jr. and Walter Cronkite.
Mary Tyler Moore and Magic Johnson.
Nancy Kassebaum and Bill Bradley.
Lassie and Rin Tin Tin.
Let’s assume for a moment that FSP won’t get off the ground in time for this year’s elections. If it does not, then voters will just have to vote for candidates from the existing parties who fit the FSP profile: concern for others, calm and steady demeanor, dedication to preserving human dignity and the environment.
Oh, yes, the Fair Shake Party has a slogan: “Anything is Possible if it is for the Common Good.” That’s FSP. Possible. Common. And, by golly, downright good for Americans who need a fair shake and for the country as a whole.
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