Ronny

hey, chimp-loving actor man

are you resting in peace alone?

no crowds there in the ground.
cameras are all turned off now.

remember me? could you now?

your big feet walked all over us.

that hollywood '40s wave smile

under your red-dyed white hair.

are you mingling with my pals?

killed by your anti-gay bigotry
killing the chance to kill a virus,

killing us sooner, you had hoped.

what do you say to quilt people?

do you charm them with a joke?

do you blame the darn russians?

do you cry "mommy'' to nancy?

your own gay son is born again.

jesus-loving son of rightist god.

the fanatics mass to your image,

print it on the fifty, they chant.

you are their addled golden calf,

elevated as the neo-cons' idol

in the face of any human justice,

false liberty's proud demagogue.

Competition

At the heart of Reaganism lies the enshrined myth of the powers of competition in free markets. Unfortunately, truly free markets do not and cannot exist in human society which aspires to honor the rights and dignity of all human beings. Human beings are not and do not behave as commodities in a post-slavery world.

While we do live in a society in the U.S. where people profit from aging, sickness and death, we are seeing the failure of that profiteering in the health care system. The majority of the American electorate acknowledge that this is a serious problem. They also demonstrate with polling that they have no idea what to do about it. This is the cognitive dissonance of Reaganism as it has been sold by Neo-con minions.

Corporate welfare has blossomed since the Reagan era. Multinationals are becoming the welfare mothers of the new millennium. The truly poor and the newly poor, once seen as the working or lower middle class, are dependent on ongoing funding bills in Congress to secure unemployment benefits, which are necessitated by the financial mismanagement and downsizing greed of corporations, whose bail-outs were swiftly paid out.

The relentless brain-washing of the populace by Murdoch media since the Reagan era has duped the general public in the U.S. into equating socialism with Nazi-ism. Meanwhile, Murdoch and his cronies are collecting billions in subsidies and tax exemptions. They are laughing all the way to their bailed-out banks. They are dancing at their own elegant tea parties, while funding uninformed malcontents to disrupt the people's business.

The myth of free markets often merges with the myth of competitive sports in pop culture. And, like the financial markets, competitive sports are a corrupted version of the ideals of team play. Drug-enhanced athletes lie in front of Congress with relative impunity. Sports venues are over-priced gladiatorial displays which represent big money and big profits, not fair play.

Why does all this sound so familiar? Well, human history has a way of cycling because human beings are generally averse to change. And, there isn't a quick fix for that problem as long as universal human rights and universal human education are seen as impractical, lofty ideals. Fighting for those ideals is not a free market principle. There is little profit in it.

Socialism

As I look at the current culture here in the U.S., I wonder if all the hyperactivity I see is a symptom of unmedicated or overmedicated anxiety and/or depression. The obsessive use of smart phones in public by a growing percentage of Americans is disturbing to me as a former psychiatric nurse. I see self-imposed social isolation in the midst of crowds everywhere. It looks like self-imposed autism.

I ride the subway frequently. Subways are marvelous, random microscopes for the scientific and observant. I study my subway cars. I would estimate that, on average, approximately 20-30% of passengers busy themselves with smart phones without eye contact or apparent engagement in their environment. On the posher spans, through wealthier communities, I would up that estimate to 30-50%.

In poorer communities along the subway lines, single passengers who are not focused on their smart phones usually stare blankly ahead and avoid all eye contact with other passengers. Disabled and elderly passengers in the aisles are ignored or buffeted by passengers as they push in or out of the train. In wealthier communities, groups of passengers take over sections of the train car. Often they sprawl over sections of several seats and yell across the aisle, while other standing passengers are packed tightly in the aisle around them. This is overt, antisocial behavior, practiced by the young and middle-aged alike.

I see these behaviors as symptoms of the conscious and unconscious manipulation of the society by financial-capitalist business, government and media. The individualistic materialism of the past two decades has been fostered by media and Reaganite (neo-conservative and neo-liberal) political ideologues, who are hand-in-hand with financial institutions and corporations. The entrepreneurial, anti-tax, anti-socialist messages are unrelenting. Socialism has become a dirty word. Lack of socialism on a very pragmatic, democratic, non-totalitarian basis is a destructive force when human beings are overpopulating their environment. We need look at Haiti for an example of the end point of this.

This trend can take the U.S. in only one direction. Greater class separation, class conflict, violence and the degradation of the overall quality of life. Those with wealth are apparently blind beyond their own greed and need for celebrity adulation by the duped masses. This is not new. It is a sad replay of pre-democratic history. And, democratic socialism is not the cause. It may well be the cure.

Service

This Sunday is National Secular Service Day, sponsored by secular humanist groups across the country. A wonderful idea. Hopefully, those who participate will be inspired to view human services in a new light.

George Bush the First is notable for trying to put a more philanthropic face on Reaganite materialism. After Reagan tore apart as much of the social service system in this country as he could, G.B. the Elder, tried to sell volunteerism as the remedy for all the societal chaos and suffering, caused by Reagan's policies. Well, as we can see from the urban pockets of murderous poverty and drug addiction, the amount of homeless people everywhere and the perversion of the public perceptions of what a socially-responsive government should be, the points-of-light theory of the Reaganites was bullshit.

Human services of good quality, delivered by highly qualified professionals, are superior to any hit-or-miss Republican model of volunteerism and 'social entrepreneurism'. There is no legitimate profit margin in caring for people properly and justly in a society which has vast differences in incomes. People cannot be itemized and made into commodity units. Life just doesn't work that way, as much as GAO CPAs, tax-resenting wealthy people and corrupt politicians would like to believe this.

Every day in this country dedicated, underpaid professionals work miracles with very little support in government-funded institutions: Public clinics, public hospitals, shelters, halfway houses, residential communities for the disabled, state mental institutions, child-protection agencies, public housing agencies. These service providers are my heroes. I have been fortunate enough to work shoulder-to-shoulder with some of them. I have profited greatly as a person by being among their ranks.

So, if you are inspired by a volunteer gig as a service-giver to a worthy cause this Sunday, make supporting the provision of government-funded services part of your practice by actively supporting politicians and officials who sponsor legislation and programs for the poor and needy. Do not begrudge tax dollars which go to helping people. Begrudge tax dollars which go to killing people, for whatever rationalization. Promote and show your willingness to pay for services to alleviate human suffering and to improve the general quality of life in this country.