MAYDAY.US is a SuperPAC to end all SuperPACs.

Hey friends, listen up!

I just supported #MAYDAYUS, a crowdfunded, kickstarted campaign to reclaim our democracy. You can check it out here: http://mayday.us

MAYDAY.US is a superPAC to end all superPACs.

They are pushing for fundamental election reform to get money out of politics, restoring our democracy to one of the people rather than one of the fat cat political donors.

Their strategy is to support candidates who, once elected, are committed to getting money out of politics. The ultimate goal is eradication of the Citizen’s United decision and the unlimited political spending with it through a constitutional amendment.

Don’t think this is an issue? In the 2012 election 0.00042% of Americans donated three thirds of all money given to Super PAC.(Source: http://bit.ly/1lWDWxi). That is 132 Americans donating more than EVERYONE ELSE. This money has bought the lack of policy we have seen since then.

The MAYDAY movement is has single-minded focus of reforming our country’s election process, which will in turn make politicians responsive only to the public’s concern rather than to special well-endowed interests. This inevitable victory on election reform will be a windfall for every other movement with broad public support that has been stifled due to lack of billionaire backing, from LGBQ rights to gun control.

Here is a TED Talk outlining the inception of the MAYDAY movement: The passionate MAYDAY pitch begins at 10:30, but i encourage you to watch the whole video to capture the spirit of the movement. http://www.ted.com/talks/lawrence_lessig_the_unstoppable_walk_to_political_reform

Right now they are gearing up for the 2014 elections. While they are looking for donations, popular support is most important.

If the nation knows the strength and viability of this organization’s commitment to campaign reform it will only be a matter of time before our democracy is restored.

I have never asked anyone to advocate for my issues, but if everyone from Joseph Gordon-Levitt to Steve Wozniak is emphatically endorsing this movement, I think I too should help spread the word.

Spread the word, incite debate, make change.

If there are questions or comments post them here, I’ll do what I can to answer them:)

America’s (Flawed) War on Poverty: The Doomed Current Approach

America’s current approach will never end real poverty.

The current approach is too flawed to completely eliminate poverty.  A failure to address educational issues, family concerns, disabilities, and racial disparities demonstrates that the absolute, pre-transfer, income approach is doomed.  The Council of Economic Advisers indicates that the income approach has not enabled these originally poor populations to escape poverty. “About half of the poorest individuals remain in the lowest fifth of the income distribution after 10 and 20 years, and no more than one-fourth make it to one of the top three income quintiles” *.  Those who are born poor die poor.  Alternatives must be investigated.

*Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 33. Print.1

America’s (Flawed) War on Poverty: Financial Problems

How poverty solutions are enacted is a big issue as well

Financial problems also plague the current poverty measurements as well.  Issues measuring the Consumer Price Index, the index of variation in prices paid by the average consumer on goods and services, understates the real fall in poverty by three percentage points over the last sixty years*.  Additionally, individuals deliberately under report incomes so they can accrue more benefits, hampers administrators allocations*.  This encourages them to become criminals or lazy, rather than working hard to ascend from poverty.  Such a singular emphasis on income results in recipients being able to easily manipulate the system to their own advantage.

*Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 2,8,11, 26,27,33. Print.1

America’s (Flawed) War on Poverty : Logistical Issues

Systemic oversights have led to failings throughout America’s War on Poverty

This problem is that poverty is based on pre-tax income and cash transfers but not on taxes, tax credits, or non-cash transfers*.  Many programs benefiting the less educated, families headed by single mothers, minorities, and the disabled such as SNAP, EITC, and WIC are not calculated in the current poverty index, unlike Social Security*.  This distinction makes it politically difficult to increase funding for these forgotten programs because increasing funding would not have a measureable impact on poverty.  Therefore, it is politically untenable.

*Council of Economic Advisors. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 8,27 Print.1. 

America’s (Flawed) War on Poverty : Victory Amongst the Elderly

Social Security and Medicare have insured the elderly are shielded from poverty.

The elderly are the only segment of the population whose poverty proportion has been dramatically reduced over the last sixty years.  For those over 65, their poverty rate has fallen from 36.9 percent to just 9.1 percent.  This is less than a fourth of 1959 levels.  Social Security is included in poverty measure for these individuals, buffering them above the poverty line.  It is the main reason why their poverty rate has fallen; if it were not the elderly poverty rate would be 54.7 percent.  By itself, Social Security raises 8.56 percent of all American’s out of poverty*.  Since social security is included as income it is measured in the current poverty index and officials are able to properly evaluate its benefit to the elderly.  This solution has not been applied to the other impoverished demographics, leaving them with higher poverty rates.

*Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 26,27. Print. 

America’s (Flawed) War on Poverty: Systemic Racial and Socioeconomic Failings

Sections of the population have not benefited from America’s War on Poverty

America’s War on Poverty has greatly reduced poverty in the United States; however, some demographics are remaining destitute.  This good news is the official poverty measure has fallen 7.3 percent over the last sixty years; only 15.1 percent of all Americans remain in poverty.  Disturbing trends amongst those remaining in poverty indicate segments of the population are not benefiting proportionally.  One third of all those impoverished have less than a high school education.   Twenty-nine percent of single, female headed households are included in the official poverty measure.  African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans all have a third of their respective population below the poverty line.  Meanwhile, Whites and Asians each have only a tenth of their total population below the poverty line.  Finally, while those with disabilities were not originally indexed almost thirty percent of them are below the poverty line today*.  Due to the inadequacies of the absolute, income approach we do not have national data to fully examine those below the poverty line.  They are all lumped together so we cannot infer any solutions from the poverty data.  All we know is those of lower education, families headed by single mothers, native minorities, and the disabled are disproportionally likely to be poor, indicating that the current anti-poverty program is not ubiquitous successful.

*Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 11. Print.

Ending America’s (Flawed War) on Poverty: Thesis

Poverty is a serious, unanswered issue. Lets start with something fun.

Emerging from the shaky growth following the recession from 1960 to 1961,  President Carter launched America’s War on Poverty.  His strategy comprised of “initiatives designed to improve the education, health, skills, jobs, and access to economic resources of those struggling to make ends meet*”.   The primary goal of the War on Poverty was to increase the standard of living of the American people in all dimensions, growing opportunity and strengthening social mobility.  An absolute poverty line was set up and poverty was linked exclusively to income.  As the decades past it became increasingly evident that this solution was not accurately assessing or alleviating poverty.  Shifting away from an absolute, income approach will be essential for the United States to better address poverty in the twenty-first century.  A fully developed relative, post-transfer, basic needs approach, evaluating both income and tangible symptoms, is necessary to liberate America from poverty.

*Council of Economic Advisers. The War on Poverty 50 Year Later: A Progress Report. Washington, DC: United States Government, 2014. 2. Print.

Pay it Forward, Pay it Back: Making College (Debt) Free in Oregon

How will you pay for college?

“The United States has a third of the world’s colleges and universities and nearly all its best teachers” proclaims John D Kasarda.  With these words I feel great pride in American higher education and abject sorrow concerning the student-loan crisis.  The United States might have the best schools in the world, but increasingly costly bachelor’s degrees are out of reach for widening swathes of America’s middle class.  Those who can still afford college are often drowned in debt, forced into jobs they hate just to pay the bills.

This endemic problem must be solved; it is in Oregon that we find a likely solution.

Under the “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back” plan, students in Oregon public universities and community colleges can pay their tuition by promising three percent of their future incomes in the twenty-four year period following graduation.  No money down, no strings attached.  Everyone benefits.  Students of the humanities and other frugal majors will be able to rest easy and be able to pursue their passions without nightmares of debt. Those pursuing lucrative careers will have drastically fewer rivals, jobs will be easier to obtain.  Unemployed beneficiaries of this program will not have decades of credit-scores ruined, they will have not debt to haunt them.  And the specter of student-loan debt is banished, giving a new era of financial freedom for America’s youth.

Education is the cornerstone of the American Dream, in Oregon that glorious promise is rekindled for the twenty-first century.

The bill erecting the pilot program for “Pay it Forward, Pay it Back” was elected unanimously by Oregon’s state legislature on July 1, 2013.  They will evaluate the program and vote again in 2015, to improve it and provide a role model for the rest of the country.  One little state has kept the flame of the American Dream alive, imagine what fifty states could do.  Or even a functional federal government.

7 Words For Bigot

Sometimes you get to talking to someone who is just a bigot.  However, calling people such a word is a notorious faux pas; however, if you could detail the bigots specific sins instead it is more acceptable, even heroic depending on the level of intolerance.  Thankfully, the English language has a plethora of words that can fit all the most irksome antagonists.  Be sure to add these words to your lexicon for the next time your frenemy/debate buddy/quirky grandparent/ Queen of England get under you skin:

Chauvinist– one who has an attitude of superior towards members of the opposite sex.  Generally this word describes guys looking to score and have forgotten their manners.  However, recently I have also seem chauvinist emerge as a synonym for the feminists who are most critical of patriarchy.  Ironic.

Xenophobe – one unduly fearful of what is foreign and especially of people of foreign origin.  These people generally desire to suppress or turn away other people from other nations.  Anyone with anti-immigrant bumper stickers is asking to be called a xenophobe; often these generally nice individuals have logic gaps that cannot be explained.  Be courteous with those bigots of this sort, they often don’t know how unacceptable their manners or.  Or they have a gun.  Regardless, maintain your etiquette.

Jingoist – extreme nationalism marked especially by a belligerent foreign policy.  Similar to xenophobes, Jingoists prefer to elevate their own nation rather than putting down or excluding other nationalities.  Europeans everywhere has been completely riddled with this pandemic.

Homophobe – one who has an irrational fear of, or aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality.  Only in the last decade or so has LGBT rights been a hot-button issue; with the rise of homosexuality in culture and in legal stature homophobes keep coming out of the closet.  More often the word homophobe should be used to shoot down distasteful jokers and overly religious zealots.

Supremacist  – an advocate or adherent of group supremacy, highest in degree or quality.  A broad word, attaching adjectives to Supremacist tailors this evolution of bigot to any situation.  White Supremacist and Aryan Supremacist or two common examples.   The word supremacist has been loosely linked Nazism, so beware skinheads!

Racist– a believe that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.  This word generally describes those who favor one skin complexion over another.  They are around the world, generally using the darkness of skins to justify genocide or systematic isolation.  While in America segregation has ended, the noxious odors of racism still exist along constricting class lines.

Dogmatist – characterized by or given to the expression of opinions very strongly or positively as if they were facts.  While dogmatists usually have good intentions they tend to bend facts and figures while openly ignoring any critical flaws in their theories.  These people are not always bigots, but they do often shut down other commentors ideas on baseless grounds.  Of all the words, this one is arguably the nicest because it is not always a faux pas.

Use these terms with care; sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can send you to therapy for thirty years.  However, if some intolerant fool crosses your path, spill social dribble everywhere, strike him down with whatever word fits best.  Expected results are sulking, stunned-silenece, and the bigots taking a hard look at their outdated opinions.  Be being forced to confront their reality they might change who they are.  And if worse comes to worse, you can always use the B-word to stop them in their tracks:

Bigot – one stubbornly or intolerantly adherent to his or her own opinions and prejudices.  Wide sweeping and social damning, this word is the atomic bomb of the heated conversation.  Careful how you use it, the fallout could be cold shoulders for weeks.  Of course, if you need to use the word than the cold shoulders are a blessing in disguise

Making Martyrs: How Capital Punishment Encourages Crime

Last words are a poignant  mix of religious zealotry, bitter denial, and pained regret; now, the State of Texas posts the last words of every criminal they execute online for your pursuing.  Taylor Lee, one death row inmate, signed off lecturing, “I hope you don’t find satisfaction in this, watching a human being die.”  I do not find any satisfaction, but not because I mourn the passing of a thief and murder.  I am concerned that publicizing the last words of the most malevolent criminals provides role models for future killers, creating more crime.

My paradoxical theory is rooted in the psychological fact that  one of the deepest desires of every individual to feel important.  Self-proclaimed religious martyrs can become idolized by future fanatics looking for absolution and historical significance.  Starry-eyed youth see cold-blooded criminals alongside other celebrities and aspire to chase fame with murderous intent.  Don’t follow my logic?  Nineteen suicide bombers killed twenty-five hundred Americans on September 11, they have inspired an increase in suicide bombers around the world.  Criminals rarely commit sadistic crimes just for monetary and emotional reasons, they have a pathological need for acknowledgement from society.   By publicizing these death row criminals crimes and rhetoric Texas is manufacturing martyrs and crime role models  for America’s errant youth.  This is the opposite of capital punishment’s intention.

I admonish the state of Texas plastering the last words across the Internet like billboard posters for a cool-kids concert.  Capital punishment is one of the most primitive and senseless punishments left in the United States.  Elevating capital punishments status through digital  publication gives a megaphone to the dregs of society pollute the impressionable minds with their sadistic wisdom.  I am not saying that last words should not be open to the public, I am saying they should be somewhere where they would not instigate future terrorism and crimes.  Perhaps eliminating capital punishment all together is the best solution to reducing extreme crime.  After all, there cannot be martyrs if criminals are forbidden to die.