Treating It Right: Gay Rights As Civil Rights

Greetings all!

This post comes after a brief break in posting last week which I undertook to focus on other pressing work. Fortunately, in the meantime I had a bit of an idea concerning the movement towards LGBT rights that would only be helped by an extra week for the necessary research I had to do. I’m certain that someone has already had this idea before, but that does not diminish its possible impact on American and global society. This week’s quote comes from Fidel Castro, a leader of the Cuban Revolution decades ago and head of the Cuban state for decades. I respect and admire him for keeping up one of very few nations which still has an economy that is entirely centrally planned without ever breaking from his commitment to his ideals.

LGBT rights have only slowly progressed in these last years. In America especially, it has been quite difficult to ensure equal protection under the law for those of different sexualities and gender identities. Since 2000, just eleven countries fully allow for same-sex marriage rights. Many countries deem the practice to be illegal or at least not practiced by the state, and some nations even actively fight against it through brutal means. It is not as though there is no hope; slowly but surely more American states are beginning to recognize same-sex marriage, and the speed with which some countries have recognized equal LGBT rights is promising in some ways. For example, the U.K. currently looks to be the next nation to legalize same-sex marriages after a House of Commons vote strongly in favor of the new law. It’s not often for David Cameron to support a cause typically branded by the left, so it’s somewhat doubtful this will go poorly.

And yet we continue to see hate speech and religious dogma thrown casually in America to fight against the legalization of gay marriage. We tout our hatred for gays and lesbians on our sleeves, and then claim that we fight for ridiculous notions of preserving the “sacred institution” or “definition” of marriage. And while I’d love to rant about how these notions are silly and pointless, there would not be a reason for me to repeat something I made a point of on this site in its early days. Instead, I’d like to present an idea for how we can make progress, rather than why we should. The why should be more than clear by now.

I commend us on the ways we have fought for same-sex marriage rights over the years. By challenging DOMA, holding public protests, and passing state laws legalizing the practice, we are making good progress. At the same time, it will not be enough until we have federal laws which force states to recognize the rights of all couples, whether they like it or not. A question we supporters of gay marriage rarely ask ourselves in America is why it is so difficult to get people to accept the legality of gay marriage. If we are asked this question, we would normally respond by saying it is due to a history of long-held religious prejudice and homophobia which runs deep in the American psyche, especially in the South. By now, we should not excuse the lack of progress on the opposition to ourselves; we should predict exactly what they will say and do because we know what they will say and do to fight us. We must consider that perhaps we are lacking in the strength of our fight. We must consider new ways to challenge status quo of marriage, and that is primarily what I wish to discuss.

We like to note that the fight for gay marriage is not a question of gay rights, but a question of civil rights. This is the truth, of course. However, we consistently do not match our actions with our words. The last time there was a civil rights movement in America, those fighting to change society were not doing so as quietly as we are now. The last civil rights movement we experienced was not one where those fighting to change the status quo did so by legal means. In order to ensure equal protection under the law for African-Americans, civil rights leaders staged boycotts, sit-ins, and marches to demonstrate our need for change. These actions were not legal at the time, but that did not matter to them. What mattered was the injustice done to those of color, and anything that could be done had to be done. The reason that Martin Luther King, Jr. is remembered so well and laid so thickly upon students is because of the example he set of non-violent resistance. By not advocating for riots or planning to endanger the state unnecessarily for his cause, he is touted as a man with a perfect methodology for change. He led by example, and it is time we applied his teachings and the teachings of other civil rights leaders of his time.

By this, I mean that we should not be allowing the LGBT crowd to be repressed without fighting back by necessary means. And if this means taking things to a slightly illegal measure, then so be it. When civil rights activists participated in the Greensboro sit-ins, they were not following the laws of the day. It was not legal to do what they did, yet they did not back down. We must learn to follow in their footsteps. This means that if you are a same-sex couple trying to get married and a church or other institution refuses, you must tell them that you won’t leave until they let you get married. This means that if you are a same-sex married couple that moves to a state which does not recognize your marriage, you must sue the state for your right to that marriage. This means that we should not just stand outside churches and demand equal rights, but that we should enter the churches and demand those rights face to face with our opposition. This means that our protests must be strong and large, and must not break apart when threatened by law enforcement. We must be willing to receive the business end of a fire hose, we must be willing to receive the teeth of police dogs and the harsh strikes of batons. We must be willing to be sprayed with pepper spray, just as protesters in the Occupy movement were. Most importantly, we must not sit silently by and watch ourselves be oppressed. We must follow in the footsteps of those before us, and change our society without violence. If we lead by example and put everything we have into it, we cannot fail. History is on our side this time, and this is the idea I’ve been hoping to express.

That is all for this week, and I hope I’ve provided a full explanation of my ideas. If you have feedback of any constructive kind, I encourage you to leave a comment below. Otherwise, I can be reached for contact at my email at zerospintop@live.com, as well as my Facebook, Twitter, Google+, DeviantArt, Steam, and Tumblr accounts. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

Legalize Condoms: Providing Simple Birth Control

Greetings all!

This post comes in the middle of harsh winter conditions for portions of the country amid several tough political debates. In this piece of commentary, I intend to address a topic not so covered by current media. Namely, I will write my opinion on the provision of Obamacare which requires that all employers provide birth control in their employee health plans. This is not to say the issue has not resurfaced; many religious groups have lobbed legal battles against the provision. I have planned to write something specifically about this for some time, and I feel now is as good a time as any. This week’s quote comes from Carl Sagan, a man who contributed more to the popularization of science and intelligent skepticism than most people on the planet, and for that I am forever grateful to him.

Moving on, the Affordable Care Act does provide an exemption from the birth control provision for religious institutions. However, in order for any employer to be considered a religious institution, it must meet four qualifying standards. These employers’ purposes must be to instill religious values in people, they must employ and serve people whom share said religious values, and they must be nonprofit groups. Unfortunately for them, most of the institutions challenging Obamacare in court do not meet these four standards, and therefore cannot opt out of the controversial coverage. While I respect that the owners and leaders of these institutions feel their freedoms are being infringed upon, there are a few things which prevent them from opting out without meeting the legal requirements already established by Obamacare.

First, I shall argue why these employers cannot deny birth control to their employees without meeting legal requirements. The first requirement in the Affordable Care Act states that the employer must be one which exists to instill religion. Therefore, a Pizza Hut cannot deny birth control because the owner is Catholic (I do not know if this is true; this is only an example). However, business owners have argued that providing said birth control infringes upon their freedom of religion, so they should not have to provide it under the freedoms guaranteed to them by the first amendment. The problem with this argument is that their religious freedoms are not the freedoms at stake here; the owners of these businesses do not have to use birth control themselves. And because they are not a religious institution, they cannot claim that the law infringes on the rights of said institution. The rights at stake here are the employees’ rights to healthcare as provided by their employers as guaranteed by Obamacare. To challenge that right given by this law is to challenge the law itself, which has already been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court. Essentially, the argument becomes moot because it circles to no useful end in the legal system; because there are no reasonable legal objections that can be made, the fight to remove the provision for birth control in this case cannot happen anyway.

The second and third provisions are typically tied together: the institution must employ and serve people of similar religious beliefs. To serve my points here, I’ll be using a Catholic church as my example. Let’s say you are the priest at a Catholic church; you own that church, you employ its workers, and you give sermons to your Catholic congregants. For now, we’re going to ignore all the other people a Catholic church may serve, i.e. by giving to the poor. The new law requires you to provide birth control to your employees, but you reject this. However, you cannot do this without confirming that every person you employ is a Catholic. If even one employee is not a Catholic, you cannot withhold birth control because you do not meet the legal requirements to be considered a religious institution. You may say that it infringes on your personal religious beliefs, but in truth withholding that birth control infringes on the healthcare rights of any employee of yours that is not Catholic. In fact, denying that birth control may infringe on the personal religious beliefs of your employees, in which case you cannot say that your higher position in the church means you can swing your religious weight around. The rights of your employees are equal to your rights, and the more there are of them the more ridiculous your case is.

And now comes the final requirement under the law, which states that the religious institution in question must be a nonprofit group as is codified under federal tax law. This one rarely comes under much scrutiny in America; most religious institutions like churches do fit the legal requirements to be considered a nonprofit, mostly because churches do not typically conduct commercial activities for profit. For the ones that do (say, selling candied almonds from within the building to people whether they are church members or not), they should not be considered wholly nonprofit institutions, and therefore should not be able to opt out of birth control coverage as a result. This is simpler to understand and argue for; if a religious institution is making profits off of its work, it should be able to handle providing birth control as a caveat even if the personal beliefs of the leaders at that institution conflict with providing such coverage.

My last point is one which is especially more contentious to make, in that I believe that no religious institution should be able to opt out of the birth control coverage even if it meets all four legal requirements under Obamacare. While at first glance this is because I oppose the continuous gifting of loopholes to religion in American law, there is a deeper piece to it. By giving an option to opt out to the leaders of religious institutions instead of the employees, we place greater power towards religious freedoms than we do to healthcare rights. And while the United States does not have a tradition of universal healthcare, I still hold this as a right all Americans deserve. By giving the ability to refuse this healthcare, we only obstruct the process towards providing this long overdue right to the American public. And while some may disagree on whether healthcare is a right or not, it is my firm belief that everyone has the right to a life once they've got it. Healthcare is necessary to that life, in my eyes.

That is the end of my argument, and I hope I’ve provided sound reasoning for my cause. As always, I encourage constructive criticism in the comments section. I am also open for my contact at my email of zerospintop@live.com, my Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Steam, Tumblr, and DeviantArt. Good night, and this is KnoFear signing off. 

Public Genocide: The Right and Responsibilities of Guns

Greetings all!

This post comes on a holiday for Americans, notably Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The holiday also coincides with the presidential inauguration ceremonies. Today, we as Americans are intended to celebrate a man and what he did to bring us together and fight against a system which divided us so unjustly. And while the spirit of his fight lives on today, perfection is far from being realized. In particular, a debate over restrictions on firearms has reopened as of late, and it starkly points towards how separate we view things as basic as the Constitution on which we base our nation. As such, I felt it prudent to address the topic in the most useful manner: as a constitutional argument. In light of the points made by both sides of this debate, I see it necessary to present why some points are definitely wrong and some are definitely right. I will not be addressing small points of hypocrisy on either side, as I intend to avoid small issues. This week’s quote is from Mohammad Mosaddegh, one of very few democratically elected Iranian prime ministers prior to the institution of the Shah or the theocratic government we are familiar with now.

Moving on, much of the gun rights debate centers on the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The original text of the amendment is as follows: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” While brief, the basic intention of the amendment is clear; that all Americans should have the general right to firearms as part of the Constitutional Republic we have created. The issue in contention is how liberal or restricted these rights should be. There are some cut and dry things that absolutely any sane person can agree on. First, that our gun laws should not be completely unrestricted, nor should the opposite case be true. People should not be able to have fully functioning tanks and nuclear weapons, yet people should also be able to hunt with something other than a toy water gun.

To begin, I’d like to remind all those people shouting that the Second Amendment absolutely guarantees them the right to any gun they reasonably want. Yes, the Constitution does guarantee certain rights to all people in America. You have the right to free speech, the right to a speedy trial by jury, and the freedom from cruel and unusual punishment. However, something we seem to have forgotten is that attached to each right is a responsibility. While you have a right to free speech, you have the responsibility to ensure that speech does not directly endanger others or infringe on others’ rights in any way. You have the right to a trial by jury, but you have the responsibility to show up in time and to participate in said trial in a legal manner. These responsibilities are a part of life, a part of the Constitution, and are necessary to maintain a peaceful, civil society.

This connection between rights and responsibilities exists for the use of firearms as well. You have the right to own and possess firearms, this is absolutely true. You also have the responsibility to not endanger others with those firearms, and the responsibility to not infringe on other people’s rights with those firearms. This is a key element of the right to firearms that seems to have been removed from the entire debate; the responsibilities attached to every single bullet. You may be able to hold onto a gun in public, but you cannot take it out and point it at people whenever you like. This directly endangers them, even if you do not intend to shoot them. You have the right to own a hunting rifle, but the responsibility to use it only for hunting. You have the right to own a weapon for self-defense if you feel it necessary, but you have the responsibility to prevent those weapons from being used for anything but self-defense. You must also prevent your firearms from infringing upon the rights of others. You cannot keep a person from speaking or expressing their religion with your weapons, in any way. This applies to all of society, and we must remember that.

At the center of our gun debate is how far restrictions on the right to bear arms should go. Before I get into the specifics of how far regulations should go, let me explain why there should be regulations in the first place. Most of us can quite honestly say that humanity is imperfect. We do not treat others in the purest of ways. We envy those with something we want, and when we get it we only want more. We wish horrible things upon others in vengeance, and rarely give to those who truly need or deserve it. My point is that we are unpredictable, and that given a chance one of us always does something wrong, no matter what group we are part of. Therefore, we must be willing to provide basic rules to society to prevent humanity as a group from performing actions which damage us. This is why there are laws against driving drunk, laws against killing people, etc. Laws exist because we are imperfect and we must limit ourselves to prevent awful things from happening as best we can. True, criminals will always break laws. But that is no reason to abolish those laws.

And now we come to the grueling part: how far gun restrictions should go. Guns are incredibly dangerous, and that is why it is very easy to suggest large restrictions on them. At the same time, these restrictions must not infringe on the personal right to use a gun for reasonable purposes. There are only two reasonable purposes towards owning a firearm: hunting for sport or sustenance, and self-defense. It is obvious that we must be willing to increase our support for better mental health in this nation; that is clear. What matters even more when restricting guns is keeping them out of the hands of those that can cause damage without having these issues. Any person can make mistakes, and with guns those mistakes turn deadly very quickly. And in either of the purposes for owning a gun, I will suggest that no form of semi-automatic weapon is necessary.

In hunting, semi-automatic weapons are absolutely pointless. Remember that the deer can’t shoot you back, and has no idea what a gun even is. If you can’t hit a target without multiple rounds that fire at unimaginable rates, chances are that you’re just a bad shot. Instead of forcing people to live in a world with dangerous weaponry intended to kill, in this instance it is better to learn to accept your level of skill or try to improve. Either way, the semi-automatic weapon you’ve got is just not reasonable for hunting, unless you plan on hunting down people.

Self-defense is typically considered a less clear area on semi-automatic weapons, but I cannot see why. It is reasonable to have a gun for self-defense, this I can see. If absolutely necessary, I cannot object to someone arming themselves just in case the worst happens. However, semi-automatic weapons are not meant for defense, they are intended for offense. If thirty people assault you, a semi-automatic weapon would be a great thing to have. But if you honestly expect huge groups of people to assault you, you’re just being paranoid. We do not live in a nation where huge gangs exist in every city, suburb, and rural town, just waiting for someone to walk down the street without powerful weaponry in their possession. True, crime does exist in America. However, it is not so prolific as to warrant use of weapons intended for military-style offense. I’m fairly certain most people can survive any typical assault just by owning a .44 magnum revolver.

This is all I propose for now, outside of more extensive background checks and limits on the sale and purchase of weaponry. However, I firmly believe that the elimination of semi-automatic weaponry should be our top priority, as these weapons are not intended for anything wholesome. They are intended for death.

That is the end of this, and I hope I’ve provided clear reasoning for my wishes. I am always open for contact through the comments and my email of zerospintop@live.com. I am also open for contact on my Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Steam, and DeviantArt accounts if necessary. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

A Lengthy Imagination: Debt and All of its Shackles

Greetings all!

This post concerns a topic I seem to have ignored as a singular topic; I have addressed it in a general sense, yet never directly as its own issue. Namely, debt, both on the parts of debt possessed by individuals and by nations. It seems to be something we talk about a lot, so it’s a great time to address it. This week’s quote comes from Julia Gillard, the current Prime Minister of Australia and head of the Australian Labor Party.

Moving on, debt is an omnipresent topic in both American and European political debates. The U.S. has racked up over 16 trillion dollars in debt, and many other developed nations are currently struggling with unfavorable debt-to-GDP ratios as well. This can become a huge problem on international markets because it scares off investors and buyers; having lots of debt makes people think these countries won’t be able to pay off that debt. Logically, this is sound given the current system of money changing hands in our global economy. If you can’t trust someone with money, you don’t give them money. Unfortunately, just like the “live within your means” adage, you can’t apply these principles to nations. It’s more complex than that.

This is because, as always, governments do not operate on the same levels as individuals. A person works solely for the benefit of him or herself, or a family if they so choose to. However, a government works in cycles solely for the benefit of its constituents (or at least, such is the purpose of government). Government depends on public sector workers to keep it running, and taxes to keep itself paid for. It then uses this money and work force to improve the lives of others; such is the goal of a society that is mutualistic. If a person functioned in the same manner, he or she would probably fall into deep poverty trying to provide for everyone in a matter of weeks.

Because governments function in a manner fundamentally different from the way that individuals function with money, the way that national debt is treated must be different than the way we treat personal debt. Namely, being more forgiving towards debt is an absolute necessity. Allow me to break this down further: governments are not businesses, in any sense of the word. The central difference is that a business holds its first loyalty to its executives and its shareholders; the consumers come second. Such is the nature of private companies; they seek to serve themselves and keep themselves buoyant. A government holds its first loyalty to absolutely everyone in the country; that is why holding a job for the government is considered public sector work. The government holds a direct interest in providing for the interests of the public; if it fails in this regard, the result is often protests, which if not addressed lead to revolutions and sometimes violent civil wars, for example the current Syrian Civil War. While in essence the government still serves to protect its interests of peace and security, these interests are reflected by citizens; it is rare for any populace to be hoping for war.

As such, governments do not focus solely on profits like businesses do. The sole interest of a business is to function so that profits are maximized without directly endangering the stability of the business itself. If that means firing employees and cutting benefits, so be it. If that means creating newer and better products, so be it; a business is directly tied to its own success in a monetary sense alone. Governments, however, focus on giving to citizens rather than to politicians. True, public sector workers up to legislators have salaries, but that is out of necessity; these people cannot work for free in a capitalist society. In the end, the government runs on a model which is purely intended as generous to all, and that is why debt on the part of that government must be treated differently.

I’ll present my example as Greece. Greece is a nation hobbled by the sheer act of paying off its debts; the country recently passed new tax laws in order to service its payments, even though said taxes will unreasonably punish just about everyone in the country that isn’t already in poverty. The EU and Germany have been particularly harsh on Greece, and world markets seem to shift on a dime each time a law is passed there. I’ve heard countless times that we can’t count on Greece to repay its debts, that the situation is so unstable and that is why the Eurozone is in crisis. But let’s be honest; is there anyone out there that honestly believes Greece is poor and unsustainable enough to actually not pay its debts? Does anyone actually think that Greece, a country at the center of world trade for decades, will default and fall into shambles during peacetime? The logical response is a resounding no; we should not be so ready to doubt Greece, a nation which had done fairly well for itself up until the 2008 financial crisis. However, our unreasonable fears over Greece’s ability to pay these debts leads us to shake up international markets and demand austerity from a people that grows increasingly restless over the harsh measures lorded over their heads. If we could learn to forgive these debts or extend the payments to a reasonable timeframe, we likely would not have such an enormous problem over solvency of the Euro. The same is true of Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Ireland, all nations that have either been bailed out or are considered at risk of needing a bailout. If we don’t let our fiscal fears rule our judgments of these nations, we would see that we are causing our own distress. By exercising extra pressure on these economies, we put undue stress on nations that cannot handle it. If we ease up just a bit, I’m sure we wouldn’t be mired in such a mess.

The secondary topic of debt which I wish to address is individual debt. In this part, I wish solely to focus on Americans, so a brief apology to those international readers for not being too global on this. Anyway, we as Americans seem to have an addiction to debt, or rather an addiction to spending which puts us in debt. We consume pointless products using credit cards that we probably shouldn't have in the first place. We rack up student loan debt for colleges we weren’t prepared for and certainly couldn’t afford, even with aid. We obviously have trouble giving and receiving loans from others as a nation; we are compulsive, and rarely consider the ramifications of what we’re doing with our money. However, as with governments, forgiveness and loosening the stranglehold of debt is a viable solution.

Let me ask another question. How many of us know a person who is an absolute mooch. They take your money but never pay it back, mooch dinner off of you and friends and say they’ll “get you later,” etc. Most of us know at least one person like this, especially if you hate them (or are them). Most people would say that because people like this exist, debt should not be so easily forgiven; because there will always be moochers that need to learn a lesson about the value of money. But the thing is, for every moocher friend you have, chances are the rest of your friends are the opposite. They pay off loans quickly, they’re not routinely late on bills, etc. And the most important thing about those moochers is that they will not learn that lesson which debt is intended to teach. At that point, that lazy attitude is typically ingrained, and it’s not something that will change without serious time in jail (and anyone that suggests someone who can’t pay off their debts go to jail for years is far too harsh on soft crime). By keeping the boot of debt on people that honestly don’t deserve such treatment, we suppress the flow of money in our economy. Every payment that comes with interest is damaging our masses of consumers, and under a capitalist system it’s unsustainable.

That is all for this week, and I hope I’ve provided sound reasoning for all of my points. I can still be contacted directly through the comments here, and my email at zerospintop@live.com is always open. I am also available for contact through Facebook, Google+, DeviantArt, and Steam, so ask away as necessary. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

Aggressive Apathy: The Problem of Fatalism

Greetings all!

This post comes as the first of 2013 for my blog, which has finally achieved the URL and name change I desired. While the actual name we have is temporary, the URL is final, and reflects who I am on this site best. This post will be short, but addresses an important point of politics I’ve noticed fairly often these days: apathy. People seem to have given up on politics and on governments in general, saying there is no use trying or arguing because nothing can be changed. This is a dangerous trend in my eyes.

At the core of the issue is fatalism. Many have decided that because there is so much to fight against, that no fight can ever be successful. That because societal norms haven’t changed yet, there is no use pursuing that change. This is exemplified by the people that say all politicians are corrupt, that all political parties are awful. People who denounce politics in general as a dirty business and decide to stay out of the entire process because of the negative blanket they lay over such subjects.

Initially, this would not seem like such a big problem. If some people want to opt out of it all in disgust, why make them stay, right? The problem is not when a few people do this; the problem emerges when this belief of absolute corruption and negativity spreads far enough to convince significant amounts of people to just give up on things. At that point, fewer people care to educate themselves or to participate in democracy, and the fewer participants a republic has the less success it will reap.

But how to argue against this attitude? Other than noting how inherently lazy it is, there are few ways to convince someone with such a belief set that it is worth becoming reinvested. However, there are a few things that can be said for having a little faith in government, politicians, and politics in general.

First, not all politicians are corrupt. This is such an easy thing to see. If it were true, we would be in an even greater mess than we are today. So would the rest of the planet; I seriously doubt we’d be in anything but a severe depression if all politicians were out for money and power. If entire governments were devoting themselves to such pesky inner squabbles, we would have absolutely nothing to show for ourselves in the way of progress. It can be argued that some politicians are indeed corrupt; this is obvious, and it will always inevitably occur. But deciding that because some are corrupt we should quit is just pathetic.

Second, many people seem to have lost faith in governments in general. I have encountered some that say all governments on Earth right now are corrupt and inefficient structurally, and that fighting systems so laden down already is pointless. The problem with this is that, even if it were true, giving up would mean agreeing with the corrupt systems. By rolling over and allowing such evils, these people accede to exactly that which they abhor. Any person who declares all governments corrupt or something along those lines therefore must fight against it; otherwise, they are being hypocrites in the most passive way possible. However, in the end, not all governments are corrupt in the same way that not all politicians are corrupt. Once again, if this were true, it would be more than apparent in our societies and economies by now.

The last point is the most important one, and that is the point of being apathetic politically. I have heard people say that all political viewpoints are awful, that political debate is poisonous, and that there is no point in challenging the status quo. This was exemplified when a friend of mine debated religion with me, and we got into why bad things happen to good people. He, being religious, suggested that because we cannot change god’s will there is no point in trying to change the way things are. He stated that tragedies will occur, and the best thing we can learn to do is accept them and move on with our lives. And while this philosophy is good within reason, it can be extended too far. We should be able to accept that sometimes houses will catch on fire for no good reason and people will die. We should learn to mourn the loss in these families, and then move on from things like this.

Yet we must be willing to try to change the things we have the power to change. If gender inequality persists, we must be willing to fight for the equal rights and treatment of both genders, even if it seems like societal barriers have been set up all around us. If educational inequality persists, we must be willing to make tertiary schooling easily accessible for those that deserve it rather than just those that can afford it. If economic inequality persists, we must be willing to do more to ensure that those getting the short end of the stick can make do while those with more give up a little to make things more tolerable for the rest of us. There are many things we can change if we put some effort into it; we can’t give in. We can’t stop fighting because we’re surrounded. Never lay down your principles; you lose the instant you do. As long as we fight, we don’t lose until we die.

That is all for this week, and all of my old contact sites are still intact. I encourage commenting here, or you can send emails to me at zerospintop@live.com. My Facebook, Google+, Twitter, DeviantArt, and Steam profiles are all also available for contact if necessary. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

In Deep Water: The American Fiscal Cliff

Greetings all!

This post marks a special moment for my blog; this is my 50^th post. I’m glad to see it has come so far since the beginning. This week, I expand upon the topic of the American fiscal cliff, which seems to be the only thing being spoken about in political spheres here these days. I will explain the situation at hand in the easiest terms I can manage, and offer my solution to our looming problem. This week’s quote comes from Friedrich Engels, a man who helped to write the Communist Manifesto and was very much a founder of organized communist ideology alongside Karl Marx.

Onto the topic at hand, the fiscal cliff is not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, the most people seem to understand is that Congress and the president are not acting fast enough to solve the issue. While this is true, it ignores the situation at hand. The “fiscal cliff,” in itself, is actually not too hard to sum up. It is a series of drastic spending cuts and tax increases that will take effect in the new year if Congress and the president do not act quickly enough. However, it is not quite so simple as to be explained in one sentence. For those that would like an easy way to look at this through a graphic form, I direct you to the Washington Post, which published a fairly good tool for finding information about the topic. For those that haven’t picked it up by now, the fiscal cliff is very serious for America. If we go over the cliff, we risk taking on the same pattern of suffering that austerity-laden European nations have fallen in to.

This is mostly because the fiscal cliff is, itself, an austerity package. By combining spending cuts and tax increases on everyone, we will be signing off on a renewed recession. Austerity has been proven as a harmful measure for European countries; we are sure to have troubles if we take on the same policies. First come the cuts; drastic in size, these cuts will very much reduce the burden of American domestic spending. However, the cost is impressive. The defense cuts alone are draconian; even I don’t know if our military could handle it. A large chunk of American jobs depend on the military, and likely won’t survive these cuts. I have long been a critic of American militarism and heightened spending on our defense. And while I would like to see cuts over time, this is too much too quickly. I am not defending our horrid foreign policies; I am defending our domestic employment. Cutting this amount of funding and jobs all at once will leave many people unemployed. It gets even worse when you realize that unemployment benefits are being cut as well, so these newly jobless military workers won’t have much to rely on. Pile that onto an economy sure to be shrinking and we’re looking at a significant amount of people who won’t have jobs for a long time. We should be cutting the military down over time; we need to encourage our government to tear away the military-industrial complex and get rid of our hostile, activist foreign policy. Yet this is not the way it should be done. We should not change this at a huge cost to ourselves.

And these defense cuts are not the only ones planned to take effect. There are sweeping cuts set to take place across most all government agencies, severely damaging public sector jobs where wages have already been stagnant for years. Significant damages will come in the form of cuts to public benefits, such as unemployment and Medicare/Medicaid. The American right has long pressed for cuts to entitlements, but even modern Republicans claim the fiscal cliff must be avoided. When we see this occurring, we should realize how bad things are likely to get. While we will not experience a major recession the likes of which some nations have faced, we will experience a sharp drop in GDP that our populace is not ready for.

However, the real stabs in the back from the fiscal cliff are the tax increases. Strictly speaking, taxes are not truly being raised in many forms by the cliff. Many tax cuts of the past will be expiring, thereby raising overall rates for all Americans in the process. First, the payroll tax cut will expire. This one will be quite the harsh punishment; the payroll tax cut affects all Americans earning a wage, and it isn’t by a small amount. I’d like to see this cut expire for the top wage earners and eventually all wage earners; it shouldn't have existed in the first place. However, letting it go for absolutely everyone at the same time ensures a detrimental effect on the amount common people are paying. Even the lowest wage earners will pay an extra $120 on their annual taxes; this seems like little, but to those under the poverty line it is sharp and unbearable. The expiration of cuts from the 2009 stimulus package will also overwhelmingly harm the lowest wage earners. The largest percentage of their new payments will come from these cuts, unsurprisingly. The expiration of tax cuts and limits on the estate tax will push holes deeper into most all Americans pockets, especially the top wage earners. And then come the expiration of tax extenders and the alternative minimum tax patch, both of which will sting businesses significantly. The last taxes come from the new healthcare laws, of which are not much concern except to the highest wage earners. Combined, these expirations of cuts will have a drastic and destabilizing effect on all Americans. This will be especially bad for those lower and middle class workers that lose their jobs, as a recession economy with few unemployment benefits is not the best place to look for work.

And now, we come to answer the question: what to do? There are a few options at our disposal. The first would be to just go over the cliff, and deal with the economic crap fest we are sure to endure. It would certainly be damaging to our economy; we would be plunged into uncertainty, our joblessness would jump high, and it would mean another recovery would be necessary once more. However, in the end, the deficit would be reduced by huge amounts, solving our so-called debt problems fairly efficiently. Let me state this now: we cannot allow this to happen. A government is not meant to run like a business; debts and deficits should be expected at some points, as they are necessary to keep the country running on business as usual. Without public spending, our country does not have much to go on, and we are already part of a culture where cutting jobs for a quick buck is common. If we allow ourselves on this path, we only contribute to the inequality America has become well known for. Let’s not make ourselves even less equal if we’re given the chance.

The second option would be a grand compromise. It’s a big stretch, but if Congress and the president can work out a large deal which covers how we are to cut spending and raise taxes evenly, we can avoid the cliff. While this would be great, I urge you not to get your hopes up. Our legislative branch has proven to be quite dysfunctional these past years; don’t think that will change because of a crisis. Oh, I’m certain that some work is being done. But I seriously doubt we’ll have something perfect by the time the bell tolls on our economy.

The final option would be some form of imperfect compromise, where either the left or the right gets a larger share of what it wants in order to stave off fiscal disaster. If the right gets what it wants, much of our deficit reduction will come from spending cuts that very much target low and middle income Americans at the expense of America’s wealthiest citizens. If the left gets what it wants, the richest Americans will be taxed somewhat more strongly in order to pay down the deficit. However, either way this happens the side that loses out will still get some of what it desires. The right will get some cuts to domestic spending no matter what; the Democratic Party has shown to be far too willing to negotiate on this for us to expect otherwise. The left will get some tax raises on the wealthy no matter what as well; the Republican Party may be stubborn, but in the end they can’t risk a new recession just for some bogus principles.

My hope is that the majority of our deficit reduction comes in the form of tax increases on the wealthy, while cuts are left as small by comparison. My reasoning why is quite obvious; I’m a communist for a reason. The wealthy have more money to give without suffering. This is fact. Therefore, we must ask that they give more to stabilize our economy. They may gripe about losing money they could invest, but the reality is that those taxes are used for public investments. And when taxes are raised, higher wage-earners are incentivized to hire more workers and increase business in order to make up for the tax shortfall on income. I would hope that anyone can see my logic behind this.

That is all for this week, and as always I encourage constructive comments right here on the site. I am also available for contact at my email (zerospintop@live.com), as well as my Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt, and Steam accounts. I’d like to one last time remind everyone that, the next time I post something here, the URL will have been changed and the blog name will also be changed. This is just a warning to readers; if you’d like to find this site in the future, it will be found by searching for my new name, KnoFear. I’d like to also introduce a co-author on the site, popov89. He is a good friend of mine, and likely will contribute his own work to this site in due time. Good night, and this is KnoFear, signing off. 

The Time to End: Israel and Palestine In A World Of Change

Greetings all!

This post comes after a short hiatus on my part in order to re-charge and plan out changes for this site in the near future. I also took a break to attend to my schoolwork; it’s a necessary thing sometimes, as my education is important. This post concerns the conflict just experienced (and still ongoing) between Israel and Palestine this year. While the violent attacks between the Gaza Strip and Israel have mostly ceased by now, problems are ongoing. With the recognition of Palestine as a non-member state by the United Nations and new settlement plans by Israel in retaliation, the situation has heated up from the relative peace experienced beforehand. My opinions on most of the issues concerning the region have not changed drastically since I last wrote about this, although some points have. And in the end, I’m writing this to make known what must be done to solve these conflicts, and to prevent the atrocious violence we continue to see. This week’s quote comes from Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah, the group which controls the West Bank. I support him and Fatah, and found it fitting I include something from him today.

Normally, I would not post if nothing about the situation or my opinions had changed. This is true of what I am writing right now; while my distaste for Hamas remains, I have switched sides on a major point of contention. After much thought, research, and reflection, I now support immediate Palestinian independence. My reasoning for this is due in part to the recent conflict the region experienced. For every rocket shot at Israel, hundreds more fired at the Gaza strip. Very few Israelis died, yet over one hundred Gazans perished, mostly non-combatants. I realize that every death counts, and that every Israeli had friends and family who will weep over their losses. Yet hundreds more will grieve in the Gaza Strip. I realize now how terrible things have become, and how wrong this all was in the first place.

I split my support for Palestine into two portions accordingly; the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Prior to the conflict, I already supported the West Bank. The Israeli occupation of the West Bank was no better than the Syrian occupation of Lebanon; the Palestinians were trapped away from their home, controlled by a government incredibly hostile to themselves. While Israel no longer exerts direct military control over the West Bank, life has not improved at the pace it should have. The West Bank remains under a tight economic leash from Israel and the United States. Infrastructure and education are in poor condition, and poverty is a nearly endemic problem. At the very least, the West Bank has remained under good leadership. Fatah and Mahmoud Abbas remain paragons of secular strength in the West Bank; their leadership has remained confident that negotiation can lead to a two-state solution. These commitments to secularism, democracy, and peace have fostered my support for the Palestinian Authority and Fatah. In a small piece of land constantly threatened by Israeli settlers, Fatah remains a voice of reason. Impressive, for a place where reason is often cast aside.

I have found the Gaza Strip harder to support ever since Hamas took power in the 2006 elections. To me, Hamas had always represented an antagonistic group which ran perpendicular to Fatah. Hamas is a conservative Islamist group, and supports much of the missile strikes on Israel. Just like Israel and the U.S., I always viewed and still do view Hamas as a terrorist group. They do not have any commitment to peace and few ties to democracy, despite what they may say. Hamas has killed and made its own people suffer in order to appear strong and fiercely independent. I have always viewed their priorities as being out of order, and their policies very much wrong. The Islamism of Hamas restricts Gazans significantly, limiting the secular freedoms that Fatah and all governments should provide. Hamas has also driven the economy of the Gaza Strip further into the ground with their confrontational attitude.

However, the position of the Gaza Strip is a desperate one indeed. They are blockaded by Israel and suffer the economic woes of sanctions. Their infrastructure and education are often worse than that of the West Bank. They are plagued by violent Islamism spilling over from the Sinai Peninsula. True, the Israeli military unilaterally disengaged from the Gaza Strip in 2005. But again, the fear of occupation and settlers remains. The fear of strikes by Israel remains. Israel has taken their land before; it is not beyond Israel to do it again. Especially with an ultra-conservative government in power like right now, under Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud Party. As long as both of these sides retain hostile policies towards each other, the Gaza Strip will suffer more significantly. I might not support Hamas, but I do support Gazans. I cannot tolerate the violence, the death, the hatred that builds between these peoples any longer. I cannot support such blatant, solvable inequality between peoples that both claim a “holy land.” It is not worth it to see such horrors occur.

My final point is as follows: Palestine deserves independence. Not eventually; it must happen as soon as we can make it happen. It must happen now. Israel must agree to stop all settlements and take Israelis off of Palestinian land. In return, Palestinians must stop firing rockets at and sending suicide bombers into Israel. This is not difficult, and these conditions are not unreasonable. If Israel can afford to build Palestinian settlements, it can afford to build homes in Israel for those uprooted by the removal of settlements. The only thing really stopping Palestinians from ending the use of weaponry is Hamas and other militant extremist tendencies. When elections come, replace Hamas with Fatah and the clear-headed leadership of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas has proven to be one of the worst things for the Gaza Strip yet. I can see no reason they shouldn't be kicked out of office. With two states in place, there will no longer be a need to fight. It can all end now. It is up to Israel and Palestine. We must make this right.

That is all for this week, and I am still available for contact through the comments. I can also be reached through my email at zerospintop@live.com, my Facebook, Twitter, DeviantArt, Steam, and Tumblr. However, from now on I will not be using my Google+ for contact. My Gmail usage has become split between three accounts, and is now too hectic for these kinds of things. Two announcements before I go; this site’s URL and name will still be switched at the beginning of 2013. Remember, I will be using the name KnoFear from now on. Also, I am now searching for a co-author here. I will only be accepting a co-author through DeviantArt, and I will be asking my friends first, so don’t expect a position unless all else falls through. The new author will likely be helping with moderating the blog and may even be posting his/her own work. However, there will be more on that later.

For now, this is KnoFear, signing off.