10 radical ideas for the betterment of American society

  1. Become the isolationists we once were.  When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, America had very limited military capabilities, with an isolationist policy.    FDR refused to get involved in Europe’s conflict, and would not have, if Pearl Harbor hadn’t been attacked.   However, in the decades that followed,  Americans have established bases in Germany, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan, and are now even helping bolster Australia’s defenses against possible Chinese encroachment.  We can no longer afford to do all this, even if such policies may serve as a deterrent to ruthless dictators. It is time that we let other countries defend themselves.  Countries, like people, become dependent on handouts and aid.  They come to think of help as a given.  Recently, a desperate Syrian woman got on television cameras, pleading in English, “Please, President Obama, help us!”  I feel sorry for her. But really, why Obama?  Why America?  Why not ask President Putin?  He’s closer!   The American President doesn’t have to rush to the aid of every victim of international events.

 

  2. Institute universal health care coverage for all people (citizens, and non-citizens alike).  There has been much controversy over so called “Obama Care,” but the real problem is that it doesn’t go nearly far enough.  No one should have to worry about whether they can afford to go to the hospital or see a doctor about a medical condition.   If anything is a “given” in today’s society, it is that we all should be have clothes, food, shelter and medical care.  There’s no excuse for anyone being denied.  If we can spend billions sending a roving laboratory to explore the planet Mars and billions more developing an extensive network of roads and bridges for the people of Afghanistan, we can surely provide medical care to all those who need it.

 

 

 

      Sunflowers, oil painting by Mikyong Rodgers

  3. Institute a dollar a gallon tax on gasoline.  This would not only be good for the environment by reducing the incentive to drive, but also reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Half of this tax could go to repairing, replacing and maintaining the country’s crumbling infrastructure, and the other half could  go to the funding of an extensive light rail system, comparable to the Interstate Highway system in the 1950s.  Such a rail system could connect major airports and rail and subway stations, commuter lots, concert venues, shopping malls, major tourist sites and universities,  further reducing our dependency cars and gasoline, and creating a cleaner environment in the process.

 

  4. Abolish the electoral college, requiring instead that presidents be elected by a simple majority.  The last time (but not the first time) we elected a president who lost the popular vote, we got George W. Bush.  Need I say more?   His policies set America back 100 years.  Al Gore won the 2000 election by a sizeable majority, but, in the most ironic way imaginable, in America, the bastion of free thought and the birthplace of the modern democratic movement, the majority most decidedly did not "rule."

 

  5.  Abolish the income tax in favor of a national sales tax.  The conservatives can get on board because it does not penalize the rich for being rich; the liberals can support it not only because exceptions for housing and medical care could ensure that the poor pay almost nothing, but also because the rich would not be able to find escape in the myriad of tax shelters that is currently available to them. It’s the fairest tax, because the more people buy, the more taxes they pay, and those with the least amount of money will still pay the fewest taxes.  And let's not forget the Queen of Mean herself, hotelier Leona Helmsley, who once infamously remarked that only "little people" pay taxes.  Such a move would also save us substantial sums from tax fraud, IRS agents, audits, and tax processors.

 

  6. With the abolition of the income tax, also goes the least logical of all tax breaks…the one for having children. It makes no sense to pay less money in taxes, when each child that is produced  actually costs the government money….in schools, roads, bridges, medical facilities, water treatment plants…the list goes on and on.  China actually has it right.   Contrary to what some believe, China does not have a “one child” policy. They just require additional funds be paid if a couple wishes have a second or third child.  It actually makes good economic sense.

 

  7. Eliminate the House of Representatives.   One of the problems that we’ve been experiencing in Congress lately is that constituents elect congressmen from districts, not state-wide offices.  This sometimes has the unfortunate effect of allowing radical extremists (from both sides) who otherwise would not be elected.   A two-house system is also extremely inefficient, and was only put in place because the founders could not agree on whether or not to have the people elect representatives based on population.  I’d suggest a compromise.  Get rid of the House, have only  the senate, but with smallest states getting 2 senators, the largest getting 4 and the others getting three. This would transform Congress from 425 members to roughly 150, all elected by state-wide ballots.

            click here to for free YouTube video by Steven W Rodgers

               animated musical video from the upcoming  musical soundtrack "Revolutionary Gentleman"

 

  8. Establish mandatory service to the country.  Every citizen should be required to devote one or two years to planting trees, picking up trash, helping the poor, volunteering in hospitals and nursing homes, and, yes, if they feel led, to join a branch of the military.

 

   9. Eliminate the penny, nickel, dime, and the dollar bill and reintroduce the 50 cent piece, dollar coin, $2 and $500 bills.   Inflation is such that a dollar is what a penny was 100 years ago.  It costs more to make the penny and nickel than they are even worth.  The only logical argument I’ve ever heard for keeping them is that we would lose the sayings “a penny for your thoughts.”  or  “Here’s my two cents worth.” Forget about it.  No great loss.  Get rid of it.

 

   10.  Stop wasting precious resources on pursuing perpetrators of victimless crimes.  Stop harassing those who harmlessly engage in prostitution, gambling, smoking marijuana, sodomy, using crack cocaine, euthanasia, and pornography.   Is society really best served by incarcerating those who do nothing  to harm others?  Let’s concentrate our efforts on locking up the people who cause harm, death and destruction, and stop worrying so much about what adults do in their free time behind closed doors.

Your Music Personality

It struck me the other day that you can actually tell a lot about a person based on the type of music they listen to. 

You can even tell a great deal about those who don't listen to any music at all.  I frankly feel that they must be very sad, serious individuals who find little joy in life.  

 

What's more, I'd venture that those with an eclectic range of tastes are also less meticulous, more accepting of others who may be different, more educated and politically more liberal than those who only listen to one genre.
 

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it...that the characteristics that we use to describe music may be exactly what attracts listeners who may have very similar traits.
 

In this brief and admittedly totally unscientific list, the following is, in my humble opinion,  a brief list of personality traits that might describe the listeners of various music genres:

 
 

 Pop / Classic Rock / Adult Alternative        

politically progressive, open-minded, organized, friendly, confident

 

 

 

Grunge Rock / Acid Rock / Hip hop  

extroverted, restless, competitive, cool, aggressive, trendy

 

 

 

Jazz  / blues   

spontaneous, fiercely independent, rebellious, doesn’t like to follow the rules... the type who never reads the “how to assemble” directions in the box.  Your theme is "I Did it My Way"

 

 

 

New Age / Easy Listening   

easy-going, introverted, passive, soft-spoken; to these individuals, peace in life and surroundings is paramount.

 

 

 

Country / Bluegrass  

domestic, simple, down-to-earth, conservative, patriotic;  to these listeners, country and family are of great importance

 

 

Classic/Baroque   

educated, sophisticated, organized, reflective, cosmopolitan, methodical

 

But don't take my word for it.  This is after all, just a casual series of observations I've made over the years, based on the people I know, and some total strangers.  However, do take a look at your CD collection, or those of your friends (or whatever digital contraption passes for a collection these days),  and see if anything rings true for you. I'd love to hear from you.

Anti abortion? Not necessarily a "pro life" position

I know I am treading in heavily shark-infested waters to even mention the word "abortion."  No one knows exactly what is really in people's hearts, but it is a fair bet that at least a third of the world's population think abortion is a crime at best, an unforgivable sin at worst.  What's more, I know that many of these "pro life" advocates love to see abortionists get shot, maimed, or imprisoned (kind of an irony when you think about it).... so for the record, I am not advocating anyone getting an abortion, I have never performed an abortion, and, being a man, have never even had to consider getting one for myself.

In 1992, when Colin Powell was toying with a run for the presidency, he was one of the most popular men in America.  All he had to do is mention that he thought it was a private issue, and his popularity plummeted overnight.

It is probably fair to say that no one on either side of this issue will ever convince the other, and I wouldn't want to try.  I respect any belief that is honestly held and wouldn't want to dissuade someone from their convictions.

The problem is that the whole supposed "pro life" movement has nothing really to do with being "pro life."  Everyone is pro life.  No one advocates abortion, or is opposed to life!  What the entire issue boils down to is whether or not to execute or imprison women who have had abortions.  Period.   I personally am in favor of helping them.  I doubt many of these women are gleeful that they've had an abortion.  I am sure in most cases it is a heart-wrenching decision and is rarely taken lightly.  However, as the law stands now, they may have an abortion if they think it's in their best interest.  If they do not wish to have an abortion, no one will force them.  So what is the need for change?  -- only to decide the severity of the punishment for the those who have had one.

It is, in some respects, an ingenious marketing campaign-- PRO LIFE, as if to say that to oppose them you must, by definition,  be pro death.  This is insincere at best, and they know that.  However, if they were to be honest and call themselves the PRO CRIMINALIZATION brigade, they would lose the support of most all their contributors, who think they are only going along for a pleasant ride, advocating life and all things good and pure, while opposing death and all things evil. For some, at any rate, it is enough simply to assassinate all the doctors who perform abortions.  With no one left to perform them, perhaps the problem will just disappear!   Most people who support the "pro life" movement don't even realize that they are truly advocating death--death for abortion providers, death for the mothers who ask for the abortion.  After all, isn't that what happens to murderers?
 
I am not asking for anyone to change her mind about abortion.  All I ask is that everyone take an honest look at the so-called debate, and ask yourself, do you want to see these poor girls executed (or at least incarcerated)?  If not, then why are you supporting a pro-criminalization movement that would do just that?

Things in the movies you never see in real life

Sure, movies are not supposed to be real.  We know that.   But that doesn't stop me from being annoyed by things that just don't ring true.  Here is a list of 15 things we see in the movies that you rarely, if ever see in real life!~

1.     Lovers kiss passionately in moments of extreme danger or excessive stress, or anything that is not remotely conducive to romantic, tender feelings.

2.    Cell phones work in every conceivable scenario EXCEPT in moments of the greatest danger.  Never mind that in Journey to the Center of the Earth, they were able to receive a phone call from 3ooo miles beneath solid granite....if you go 2 miles out of town and are being chased by a boogie man....forget about it.  No signal.  Ever.

3.     Two people get within half an inch of each other’s faces to have a conversation.

4.    A car always starts right away…except when the driver is trying to flee from a dangerous situation.

5.    A woman runs from danger in the woods…. and trips just as she is about to escape.

6.     Someone gets into a car without actually taking a set of keys out of his pocket

 

 

Water color by Mikyong Rodgers

visit Mikyong's art page

 

 

 

7.    Someone enters a room, expecting to find a person (who is not there) and gets half way through a conversation with the imaginary person before even realizing he’s talking to no one.

8.    Explosions and engines in outer space that actually make a sound (which is impossible with no air)

9.    Mothers preface their children’s name with the possessive “my” as in “My Jimmy isn’t dead!  He’s just lost”

10.Someone pulls up to a hospital, concert hall, school, or police station and actually manages to find a parking space 10 feet from the front door!

11.  Parking is always, miraculously free!

12. People answer the phone and start talking before they have the phone up to their lips, and sometimes even get out two or three sentences with the caller before verifying who is on the other end, as in "Sarah, be careful! He knows we're on to him!  Sarah?  This IS you, isn't it?  Oh oh."

13.  Men don’t say “goodbye” when they finish a phone conversation

14. White men are the only criminals

15. A couple starts off hating each other and then ends up falling madly in love

When Words Can Mean Anything

Original oil painting on stretched canvas

by Mikyong Rodgers

Click here to visit virtual art gallery

I don’t know what anyone is talking about anymore!

I hear people referring to a good friend as “bad,”  a thin girl as “phat,”  a great movie as a “bomb.”   Any time I lament the decline of the English language, however, and complain about the confusion that results from people using language incorrectly, someone will invariably chime in with the obvious cliché:  “language changes!”

Well of COURSE language changes!  That’s obvious, but saying this is a little like cutting off your nose, and when asked why you did it, you respond by saying “Hey, people change!”

Not only DOES language change, it MUST change, but there is a real difference between stupid change, and smart change.  Smart change is modifying the language to help express things that could not have been expressed before, such as 'email,' 'cyberspace' and  'software.'  There were no terms for these just a few decades ago, and they had to be invented… which is a bad thing. (and by 'bad' I really mean 'good')

Stupid change, on the other hand, is using words to mean the opposite of their known meaning, or taking words that already have a meaning, but changing it to the point where no one knows what you are talking about.

Take for example, the word 'vegetarian.'  A perfectly good word (here I really do mean 'good'), meaning one who eats only plant-based food: no fish, beef, milk, eggs or cheese.  Tragically, this perfectly fine word has been misused so often that it has come to mean a non-meat eater, although since most people don’t consider fish to be meat, they can actually eat animals and still feel as if they are morally superior to those who eat poultry, pork and beef.    The ugly word 'vegan' has now come to mean what vegetarian has always meant to begin with: one who doesn’t eat animals or anything that comes from an animal.    Now, I really have no idea when someone says she’s a vegetarian because I don’t know if she is using it in its original context, the modified and incorrect modern use, or some kind of pathetic hybrid. This has not enhanced communication; it has obfuscated it.

'Decimated' is another fine word that is falling by the wayside.   From the root meaning 'ten,' the word 'decimated' means to destroy 10% of something.   If a tornado wiped out 100 houses out of 1000, you could correctly say that the neighborhood or village was decimated.  Today, however, so many people use decimated to mean 'destroyed' or 'obliterated' that I have no idea what they’re talking about now when they use the word.  Stupid change.

A few weeks ago I had a conversation in a bar with a young man on the subject of rap.  I don’t have anything against rap, and I even like some of it, I just don’t call it 'music' because it’s not.  There is no music there.  There is no tune.  They are words recited to a beat;  It is poetry, some of it very good poetry, but poetry, not music.  My young friend, however, said that rap is music because they call it music, which reminded me of the Abraham Lincoln quotation:  “If you call a tail a leg, how many legs does a dog have?  5?  No….4…..  because calling a tail a leg does not it make it one.”

“Yes,” the young man insisted.  “ ‘High’ is ‘low’ and ‘low’ is ‘high’…. words can mean anything you want them to mean.”  Unfortunately, he doesn’t get it.   When words can mean “anything,” they cease to have any meaning at all.

15 questions to ponder

 

Original oil painting on stretched canvas

by Mikyong Rodgers

 

click here to visit virtual art gallery, RainyDayPaintings.com

 

If the garbage company and grocery store raised their prices, claiming the high price of gasoline forced them to do so, then why wasn’t there a corresponding drop in prices when the price of gasoline declined?

 

If cell phone companies charge you extra for going over your anytime minutes, why don’t they refund your money when you are under the limit?

Why does everyone consider 80 degrees and sunny to be the only "good" weather?

If people accept girls playing loudly, wrestling, and climbing trees, why do they scoff at little boys who play with Barbie dolls?

If ATMs are self-service, why do you have to pay more to use one than you do when you deal with actual human beings inside the bank?

If our old, worn-out jeans with holes in the knees are worth nothing, why are teenagers charged premium prices for jeans that look even worse?



If plumbers come to your house to fix a leaky faucet and fail, they have to do it again for no extra cost. Why do doctors charge you for every time you visit, even if they fail to cure you?

If people can go to jail for perjury, why don’t lawyers suffer the same fate when they lie in court to protect their clients?

If titles are supposed to be used as a means of showing respect to others, why do people introduce themselves using their own titles? Isn't it defeating the purpose?

 

If Indian names for team mascots such as Chiefs and Braves are deemed disrespectful, then why do we have teams named the Saints, The Texans and Patriots?  Aren’t we insulting God, Sam Houston and our venerable founding forefathers?  And aren’t mascot names of teams intended to revere, not demean?

 

If, in order to vote in America, you must be a citizen, and to become a citizen, you must know English, then to whom are the signs in foreign languages addressed when you go to a polling station?

 

If phone solicitors are now legally allowed to call us on our cell phones (for which we pay per minute used), then why aren’t we legally allowed to send these companies our phone bills anytime they call us?

 

Why do we still have the nickel and the penny when they both cost more to produce than what they are worth? 



What is the Queen of England still doing on the payroll of the English taxpayer?  If she were no longer on the throne, would anyone really notice?



If Kenya is considered by some to be President Obama's homeland (because his father was born there), why is it that no one considers Kansas his homeland, although that's where his mother was from?

You're Getting Warmer!

original oil painting on stretched canvas

by Mikyong Rodgers

click here to visit virtual art gallery

We’re not in the ice age anymore my friends.  The evidence is overwhelming.  The ice caps and glaciers are melting, the oceans are rising, average temperatures of the air and water continue to increase, bizarre weather patterns have become the norm.

And still, there are detractors. 

Of course, that is part of what makes the world go around.  Someone is going to always disagree with what seems obvious to most.   There are those who still believe the earth is flat, that men never walked on the moon, that the pyramids were constructed by aliens from outer space, and that Sarah Palin is a good choice to run for president  in 2016.  And, of course, there are those who say that global warming is just another liberal scheme to get citizens dependent on the government .  They say that temperatures have always gone in cycles, and even if the earth is getting warmer, we had nothing to do with it, and cannot change it anyway.

Never mind the fact that 90% of all scientists affirm that global warming is a fact.  And let’s ignore for a moment a still more obvious fact, that humans can and have contributed to the phenomenon.  Still…. Are the proposed solutions really that unpalatable?  Would it cause anyone great harm if we were to comply with the very logical recommendations set forth by the scientific community? What exactly would it take to help slow the rate of global warming?.... cutting down factory emissions, creating increasingly fuel efficient cars, encouraging the use of alternative modes of transportation (including bicycles and electric vehicles), reducing the use of electricity, using alternative, cleaner forms of fuel and energy such as tidal and wind power, reducing coal emissions….and the list goes on.

The way I see it, the question of whether global warming is a fact…. doesn’t matter in the end.  The solutions that will help slow the process are good for us all and ought to be embraced.