The Ivory Tower

The ivory tower is a place where my generation and the one before it have gathered desensitized to the tragedy of our world. They try to act as though they are separate and even superior to the entertainment side of our culture when in fact they are part of the same problem. That of apathy, and defeat. The generation or two before mine may have actually physically felt that defeat, but my generation is desensitized. This new generation of scholars have even less of an urgency to solve the worlds pressing problems. The great minds of the last twenty years have gone into finance, manipulating numbers in order to make more money for themselves and those who are already rich. They are complemented by those who enter the academic world within a specific area of study. They look at their discipline as separate from the outside world. As if their ideas and sphere of influence dies once it hits reality, yet they want to distinguish themselves in front of their family and peers with titles and awards. Like the entertainment business and finance industry, these professional academics are just as selfish. The point of our existence should be to enlighten the others, to expose them to the truth: that there is no self, inasmuch as the self being the center of any one's existence. We are a collective bunch and we cannot allow human body's separate us from the fact that every human being shares the same molecules. What we study at universities is all very important and I respect many fields of scholarly research, but if we cannot feed every human in the world, I see no need for further research in theoretical physics, in mathematics, in history, in sociology, in any of those fields unless they are aiming to fix the biggest tragedy of our known existence: That most people in the world do not have sufficient access to food, water, shelter, and medicine, and that the earth is perpetually being polluted by corporate interests who exacerbate the human problems at every chance of making a profit. Until that problem is solved I see no need for an ivory tower just for the sake of an ivory tower.

My Tax Compromise

I don't understand people who trust corporations over government. Government as it is in the US certainly should not be trusted, but even when people talk about the idea of a corporation and the idea of a government they seem to have more faith in corporations. The corporation is not elected by people, it is not concerned about the welfare of society; it is simply concerned with maximizing profits. The notion that we should trust our health, education, and general well-being to those that ferociously seek a profit is absurd, and the flaws in that trust should easily be recognized. Perhaps at one point, in an ideal world where everyone is born on the same level playing field this anarcho-capitalism idea that's been going around is a lovely thought. But, once a gap develops and you have winners and losers the gap only widens, and it is much harder for the losers to get enough leverage to make up for lost ground. In that scenario the government should act as the equalizer. The world is not black and white, there is no good and evil, and idealism in the sense that there is a pure economic structure that will save the world does not exist. That is why we need to view taxes in a different way. We need to look at taxation, not solely just as a way for government to pay for "entitlements" or public projects, but as a way to create economic equality.

It absolutely should be the job of government and taxation to be the great equalizer, but this also needs to collaborate with what we spend our tax dollars on. We need to cut military spending AT LEAST in half and end imperialism for good. We need to feed people and seriously push to educate them on eating healthy and making those healthy options available, while at the same time sanctioning instead of rewarding corporations that load their food with harmful amounts of fat, chemicals, salt, and other cancer and obesity inducing ingredients. We need health care. That is, free health care for every person. It's being done in several countries. The fact that those countries have flaws in their system should not render the idea defeated. Instead, we need to build upon that idea and perfect a system where no one has to choose between health and bankruptcy. If the Obama health care plan was what we all wanted to begin with (a single payer system, or at least a public option) republican judges would not have as much momentum with declaring Obama's plan as unconstitutional. We also need homes for people. There should not be one homeless person alive that wants a home. Keep in mind, if we have this capitalist system the way we can compromise is to provide healthy food and comfortable shelter to every human being. It is not socialist, but it is compromising with those ideologically opposite.

On top of that, we need education. Our descendents will not forgive us if we do not start investing in education for all aspects of intellectual capacity. We need smart critical thinkers, and no person should be left behind, not one race, not one gender, not one person who is neurologically different. Every single person deserves a college education, and it is in our interests as a society to have the next generation be smart critical thinkers. On my list of needs that a functioning and sophisticated society should provide for its people the top four are food, health care, shelter, and education. That is in no particular order. Obviously, we need food to survive, and shelter and health care also often precedes education for survival, but I believe a society in this modern world should have by now worked out a system that grants these rights to every single human. These are not handouts. This is human beings, perhaps the most capably beautiful creatures to ever roam this earth, coming together as one and creating a brotherhood of people. This should start here, in the US, or heck anywhere. I only say the US because I live here and it has the most power globally at the moment. But these are not handouts, far from it. It is a compromise. For those of you who see the world in a Social Darwin way and think that dog eat dog should apply to every aspect of life, and that we are nothing but animals trying to have as much power and wealth as possible and that should be celebrated, my plea is to compromise. I contest that ignoring our social problems and thinking some invisible hand will solve everything is pure laziness, but I am here to compromise. I am willing to keep this capitalist system for most things, but not when it comes to people's well being and education. The gap is too wide now and the invisible hand on its own has been proven to be quite ineffective for getting people out of poverty, and creating a society of intelligent human beings. But again I am willing to compromise.

President Obama did not compromise this last weekend with the tax deal; he gave in to Republican demands that the wealthy hoard more for themselves. We need to make them compromise with us, we are already a far right country. We are practically an oligarchy, some may even call the US fascist. And even if Obama didn’t compromise this weekend, it would only be a start in making the right compromise to our political ideas, (As I mentioned earlier we don’t only need higher taxes on the super rich, but we need to spend our taxes in a better way). I do not suggest we revolt and take all of your wealth. I only suggest we tax a portion of it, so instead of you making 30 million dollars a year, you make 10 million. So, instead of you buying 5 cars and 2 yachts and 2 mansions, you buy 3 cars, a yacht and a mansion, and allow the rest of us to eat, be healthy, experience the beauty of widening our intellectual capabilities, and collectively do something amazing. Instead of you 1% owning 90% of everything, you share some of it, not ALL, not even most! But some of it so we can end hunger, prevent people from dying of curable illnesses, and become educated. And yes we need a government to regulate and administer this task because they are not for profit, they are inherently for the people. Yes, some lovely billionaires are sharing their wealth now, but those are the limelight wealthy, the super rich of finances and corporate multinationals are not giving up their wealth or even creating jobs, they are hoarding it. On top of that we cannot rely on private charities to always do what is right. Private organizations often discriminate. The Salvation Army does great work, but they also do not give to homosexuals, or allow Harry Potter books to be donated. Government should and could have no restrictions on who they serve, because they are made up of all people. There is no way to make private charities give to everyone equally, but we can do that to a government because we should be the government. We the people need to start this, the government as we have it will not do this unless we get money out of elections. The people need to see that my idea is a compromise and not communism. It is taking a country that is far right and bringing it to the center of the true political spectrum.