Comment

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 16, 2018 at 2:39am

Affordable housing

Alcohol-related traffic fatalities

Child poverty

High school completion

Infant mortality

Teenage births

Unemployment

Wages

Age 65-plus poverty

Child abuse

Health care coverage

Inequality in family income

Life expectancy

Teenage drug use

Violent crime

Youth suicide

This study defines the social wellbeing of the U.S. from 1970 to 1998. Production of goods and services rise as Social health declines over the years. 

How do we measure "standard of living?"

~Marc Miringoff, director of the Fordham University Institute for Innovation in Social Policy and 

~ Marque-Luisa Miringoff, professor of sociology at Vallar College. 

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 16, 2018 at 2:10am

OK, change the language, "We are a peace-making people," is a preferred assumption and one that can be developed. Just as making war requires effort, so does making peace. 

Peace doesn't just happen, obviously, but when confronted with the current state of affairs, one can hardly see a way to turn the culture around. 

Creating a "partnership" society flies in the face of capitalism that requires growth even when the planet has limits to growth. Capitalism also requires material consumption to the point when one wonders when is enough, enough? Capitalism needs a poverty class that drives wages down. Capitalism requires war. Capitalism requires socialism for the wealthy while working class people work harder, producing more goods and services; production rises as wages remain stagnant. More good and services mean more profits for the owners of capital as wages remain stagnant. 

A new deal with capitalism requires a revolution in politics and ma...

Does capitalism require endless growth in material consumption?;

Capitalism requires a stable and dependable money system;

Away with economic quackery – capitalism requires capital;

Comment by Ruth Anthony-Gardner on April 15, 2018 at 10:56pm

Bertold, I see "We are a war-making people." as a Dominator Culture assumption which is harmful. Just because we've made war on one another, doesn't mean that's our only possibility. Habitual liars like to say "Everybody lies". It's narrowing, like blinders on a horse. We are also love-making people, caring people, thoughtful people, planners, builders, and music makers. It's similar to the logical error of blaming, which defines the worth of the whole person by one unfortunate choice, instead of using the language of responsibility, which shows respect for the whole person while denouncing the one behavior.

Comment by Patricia on April 15, 2018 at 9:12pm

Yes, pretty simple.

Comment by Loren Miller on April 15, 2018 at 8:58pm

Works for me, Patricia!

Comment by Patricia on April 15, 2018 at 6:11pm

Ask the question, here's the answer.....

Comment by Loren Miller on April 15, 2018 at 3:19pm

The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility. -- Abraham Lincoln

Joan, it would seem as though even the passage of over 150 years has changed the base nature of politics very little. Mark the quote above.

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 15, 2018 at 2:57pm

"War is being made in our name again. Every decision about the war being made in our names is our responsibility whether we want it to be or not, just as every decision, large and small, that produced the current presidency* is our responsibility whether we want it to be or not. The correction of this profound mistake, and the reconstruction of the institutions and norms smashed by this administration* will be our responsibility whether we want it to be or not."

~ Charles P. Pierce, ”We are a War-Making People,” Esquire, April 13, 2018

Comment by Joan Denoo on April 15, 2018 at 2:35pm

"Billions of people believe in human rights, and it is the basis for our legal system, but in fact human rights exist only in our imagination. If you cut open a human you won’t find any rights, yet still everyone believes this invented story, and it enables us to co-operate even with complete strangers."

~  Yuval Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

Comment by Bertold Brautigan on April 15, 2018 at 12:47pm

We are a war-making people. We try to find a way to mitigate this most basic fact. We try to gussy it up with humanitarian gloss and a thick coat of euphemism. But, today, from our armchairs and recliners, we love the boom-boom. On Friday night, you could almost see the entirely justified skepticism with which the TV reporters have approached this administration* drain away at the first cool video of a missile coursing through the darkened Syrian sky. The echoes of how gleefully TV got onboard with the Iraq adventure were quite distinct; Brian Williams was positively giddy reading out the list of Naval vessels involved in the action. God, TV loves itself a good war.

--Charles Pierce

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