The left’s suicidal insistence on political purity

The needs of the right are simple.

So long as you are pro-rich, anti-poor, hate those who are not white or not Christian, love guns, and hate abortions for poor women (rich women always can get abortions), you will get the vote of the right-wing.

You can be a lying, crooked, con artist, a draft-dodging, irreligious hypocrite. You can “shoot someone on 5th Ave.” You can be a psychopath or have every bad characteristic known to humanity.

It won’t matter to the religious right. You will get their vote, and not just their vote, but their passionate, unrelenting, angry support.

Yes, the needs of the right are simple.

Into a bizarre future: why the liberal promise of true liberty is ...
What the left wants

No so, the left.

The left is far more complex, so complex, in fact, that is is impossible for one human to meet all their criteria.

You could be pro-poor, anti-rich, pro-black, pro-brown, pro-gay, pro-trans, pro-Jew, pro-Muslim, pro- or anti-abortion, pro-Christian, pro-atheism, pro-women, pro-government, pre-reusable energy, pro- or anti mixed marriage, anti-government, pro- or anti-socialist, pro-immigration, anti-nazi, pro- or anti-guns, pro-or anti-death penalty, pro-or anti-deficit spending, pro-equality, pro-or anti-states’ rights, pro-or anti-democracy, pro- or anti incarceration, pro- or anti-union, a social liberal, a progressive, pro- or anti-military, pro-or anti-police, or any combination of the preceding.

You could be a Keynesian, a communist, pro-or anti-globalist, a Marxist, or a revolutionist, tough on crime or easy on crime.

No matter which of the above you favor, you would find yourself opposed by the majority of the left.

You would not be considered “pure” enough or “too extreme.”

And that is why an incompetent, unintelligent, immoral, swindler like Donald Trump, who clearly hates the duties of the President, but loves the power — that is why he polls well above what one might expect, no matter what he does or fails to do.

If a left-leaning politician is discovered cheating on his wife, he is done or at least, impeached. When Trump cheats on three wives — and brags about it — that is a feature, not a bug.

If any family member of a left-leaning politician takes money for doing nothing, that is a scandal. For Trump, nepotism is a way of life.

When Obama wrongly promised, “You will be able to keep your current health care plans and doctors,” it became an endless, political scandal, on both the left and the right. When Trump wrongly promised, “Mexico will pay for the wall,” the right-wing shrugged.

Consider a left-leaning politician caught cheating on his taxes. Compare that with Trump Foundation.

Trump has hired, then fired, more administration people than any President in history, demonstrating an astounding level of executive incompetence. Who cares? The right-wing worships him. For the left, it would be a terrible black mark.

All of the above is why Joe Biden will have November competition from the left. I don’t know who they will be, but whoever he/she or they are, they will take votes from Biden and in so doing, help Trump stay in office.

No one can be “pure enough” without being “too extreme” to satisfy enough of the left.

As the campaigning goes into the final months and weeks, almost as much criticism of Biden will come from the left as from the right, while very little criticism of Trump will come from the right.

Watch for it.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The elevator problem in a COVID-19 world.

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

If you were reading this site on May 5, 2020, you saw “The surprisingly simple way to open America in 14 days and avoid a depression.”

The message was:

If you wear a mask, your virus-carrying saliva will not be transmitted to others. And if everyone else wore a mask, their saliva would not reach you.

Additionally, your own mask does afford you some protection.

So, if everyone wore a mask, the double protection would simulate a form of “herd immunity.”

We would not have to close down businesses. We would not have to wait for a cure. We would not have to wait for a vaccine.

Normal life could go on.

Today, I read an article about the problem with office building elevators. Here are a few excerpts:

The Elevator Arises As The Latest Logjam In Getting Back To Work
Written by By Lauren Weber, Midwest correspondent, Posted on June 11, 2020 by Jerri-Lynn Scofield

As America begins to open up, the newest conundrum for employers in cities is how to safely transport people in elevators and manage the crowd of people waiting for them.

If office tower workers want to stay safe, elevator experts think they have advice, some practical, some not: Stay in your corner, face the walls and carry toothpicks (for pushing the buttons).

Not only have those experts gone back to studying mathematical models for moving people, but they are also creating technology like ultraviolet-light disinfection tools and voice-activated panels.

To mitigate those risks, elevator experts stress, those riding elevators should wear masks, resist touching surfaces as much as possible and use items such as disposable tissues or, indeed, those toothpicks to touch the buttons.

Also, use hand sanitizer frequently.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends limiting time in elevators and taking one-directional stairs instead, when possible, as well as maintaining 6 feet of distance.

Karen Penafiel, executive director for the National Elevator Industry Inc. trade association, also recommends people face the elevator walls and not talk to minimize the spread of respiratory droplets that could carry the coronavirus.

The article also included the following illustration:

Do you see anything wrong with this?

–Resist touching surfaces.
–Disposable tissues.
–Toothpicks to touch the buttons.
–One-directional stairs
–Stay in a corner
–Face walls
–Ultra-violet light
–Hand sanitizer
–6-feet distancing
–Don’t talk
–One person per trip
–Avoid touching walls and handrails

Not only are they burdensome, impractical, and some are downright silly, but they don’t solve the problem: The COVID-19 virus is transmitted primarily by airborne saliva droplets inhaled.

That problem is addressed best by wearing masks.

–Six-feet distancing in an elevator is mostly impossible, but anyway, 6-feet is insufficient.
–Face the wall or stand in a corner? Really? Never heard of air circulation?
–One-directional stairs? Have you ever worked in a high-rise office building? (I don’t get the “one-directional” part. The person behind you will walk right into your droplets still floating in the air.)
–Carry toothpicks, tissues? Let’s get real.
–Don’t talk? How about don’t breath, cough, or sneeze?
–One person per trip? You’ll get to your office just in time to leave.

And look at that illustration. The person isn’t even wearing a mask, the #1 transmission preventative. In the entire 1,000-word article, the word “mask” appears just twice, inconspicuously.

If everyone wore a mask, you could take an elevator without worry. If you touch a button, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer. That’s it.

No need to find a corner to hide in. (There are only 4 corners.) No need for ultra-violet light (which has not proven to work on COVID-19). No need to walk up 40 flights of the “UP’ stairs, and then find the “DOWN” stairs to walk down. No need for impossible and useless social distancing in a closed elevator.

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

We don’t even need a N-95 masks. Ordinary, cheap, surgical masks, like the kind outside of hospital rooms, will trap our saliva just fine.

If everyone else wore one, we all would be protected. COVID-19 would become less a problem than the seasonal flu (which also would be stopped by masks).

Doctors and nurses have been wearing those cheap masks long before there was a COVID-19 virus. Why? To protect their patients.

Remember this slogan:

MY MASK PROTECTS YOU; YOUR MASK PROTECTS ME. WEAR A MASK.

Every elevator building should mandate masks and give out free ones, and those who violate should be prevented from entering.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Your America on the brink. Don’t give Trump the excuse he so desperately wants.

Every dictatorship in history has begun with a strongman (not necessarily a “strong man”), assuring the populace that he is interested only in protecting the people, usually from “outsiders.”

Most dictators are psychopaths, who are interested only in themselves, believing as they do that the entire world revolves around them.

Donald Trump is an extreme psychopath, according to the Robert Hare Checklist of Psychopathy Symptoms.  Amazingly, he meets all 20 criteria.

He also is a dictator wannabe, who already has indicated he is ready, willing, and able to send in his military to maintain his version of  “Law and Order.”

He is begging you for the opportunity.

To protect your America, you must not give it to him.

Hitler and mussolini
Dictators seldom sieze power. The people give it to them.

STAFF NEWS & ANALYSIS
Here’s What the Revolution will Look Like
By Joe Jarvis – June 10, 2020

In 2018, the Pentagon held a “War Game” depicting a scenario where the military would be deployed against the American people.

The Intercept has published documents detailing the background information on the exercise.

The Pentagon imagined a disenfranchised Generation Z, strapped with college debt and no opportunities.

They have lost faith in the American Dream, and believe the system is rigged against them.

So they rise up.

To be clear, the scenario is fictitious, and shouldn’t be interpreted as being based on real intelligence. However, the Pentagon tries to make the War Game scenarios realistic.

And it certainly identifies real reasons why people are pissed off at the establishment.

“The system”, from the Federal Reserve to the Police State, has kept people under the thumb of the government, and their corporate cronies.

The US military clearly thinks this is along the lines of the threats they will face over the next decade. The exercise material details the scenario:

In early 2025, a cadre of these disaffected Zoomers launch a protest movement. Beginning in “parks, rallies, protests, and coffee shops” — first in Seattle; then New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; Las Vegas; and Austin — a group known as Zbellion begins a “global cyber campaign to expose injustice and corruption and to support causes it deem[s] beneficial.”

During face-to-face recruitment, would-be members of Zbellion are given instructions for going to sites on the dark web that allow them to access sophisticated malware to siphon funds from corporations, financial institutions, and nonprofits that support “the establishment.”

The gains are then converted to Bitcoin and distributed to “worthy recipients” including fellow Zbellion members who claim financial need…

Gen Z’s most militant members have essentially taken to privately taxing large corporations and other institutions to combat income inequality or, as the war gamers put it, using the “cyber world to spread a call for anarchy.”

Now here we are in 2020, and sadly the military being used against the American people has become a distinct possibility.

And it starts in Seattle.

“Welcome to Free Capital Hill”
A section of Seattle has declared itself a Free Autonomous Zone.

Protesters, who claim they have the support of the businesses within the area, have set up roadblocks, and occupied an abandoned police precinct.

Police and National Guard units pulled out of the area, though helicopters are still monitoring the situation. Police barricades and walls have been used by protesters to create a defensive traffic flow through the area. There are reports of armed citizens guarding the entrances to the area.

The police department sign has been altered to read “People Department.”

Donald Trump is capable of seizing on this as an excuse to order his military to “prevent looting and to keep the peace.”

It is exactly how dictatorships are built. They begin with your anger at the government and a feeling of helplessness.

Then the anger is stoked by a dictator-in-waiting, who blames the media and “outside agitators” for all your troubles.

Then the dictator steps in because he is “the only one” who can bring peace to you and your nation.

The result is indeed peace, but a kind of peace you do not want — it is a heavy-handed, deadly peace that comes with the elimination of your civil rights. 

Trump has made no secret of his ambitions. He doesn’t even make a secret of his lies.

So long as his own political party does not have the morals or courage to call him out, Trump will continue to lie with impunity.

His followers will engage in “Whataboutism” attempting to normalize the outrageous.

Today, Trump defends the Gestapo officer policeman, a man who already had multiple complaints against him, and who unnecessarily pushed down an elderly man, nearly killing him.

Trump’s defense consists of the usual lies and false accusations about the elderly man being an “agent provocateur,” “the Fake media,” “outsiders,” and the “antifa,” a so-called “organization” that does not even exist as an organization. (It simply describes diverse people all of whom have only one thing in common: They oppose fascisim. No wonder Trump hates them.)

And here come Trump’s usual, invented conspiracy accusations against the Democrats, Hillary, Obama, George Soros, and the Washington Post, and the New York Times.

In creating false enemies, he works right from the dictator’s playbook

This all may seem quite new and exciting to the people who hate the government and blacks, but living in America, they don’t truly understand the horrors of dictatorship.

They yearn for someone to protect them from immigrants and people whose ancestors came from  “shithole” countries, as Trump promises.

And then come the wealthy, who see Trump as the man who can provide compliant slave labor for the factories — low-wage workers who dare not protest harsh working conditions or bigotry lest they be violently attacked by a cruel military.

Trump is singing a very familiar siren song. We have heard it so many times before, down through history, it is a wonder anyone still is fooled.

Those who believe him will see their lives and dreams shattered by a terrible reality they never had anticipated.

Protestors should be careful not to go so far as to provide Trump with the excuse he craves. March, protest, speak, write letters, but do not attack police or destroy property.

You need allies, but rioting and property destruction will give you enemies. It’s what Trump hopes you will do.

And in November, you know what to do.

VOTE.

Be prepared for the GOP first to try to deny you the vote.

Then, Trump will deny his defeat, claim the election was rigged, and in the two months from the election date to the inauguration date, attempt to seize the Presidency using his command of the armed forces.

Don’t let it happen. Your America is on the brink. Dictators seldom seize power. The people give it to them.

Donald Trump 2016: Texas rally - POLITICO
“I will save you from . . .”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

A perfect example of why the bonding system is a useless example of bigotry

Last August, we published, “Money Bail: The pro-rich, anti-everyone-else “tax” on the accused.” which followed a post in 2016 titled, Money bail: Another foible of the Gaps

The thrust of both posts was the money bail for criminal accusations is an example of bigotry, primarily against people of color, but more generally, against the poor and middle-income groups.

Today, we see another example:An achievable step towards justice for all: End money bail ...

Bond raised to $1M in Floyd’s death
By Steve Karnowski Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — A judge on Monday set $1 million bail for a Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in George Floyd’s death.

Derek Chauvin, 44, said almost nothing during an 11-minute hearing in which he appeared before Hennepin County Judge Denise Reilly on closed-circuit television from the state’s maximum security prison in Oak Park Heights.

His attorney, Eric Nelson, did not contest the bail — raised from the $500,000 initially set in the case — and didn’t address the substance of the charges, which also include third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The ostensible purpose of a money bail bond is to assure the accused will return for trial. The money supposedly provides an incentive for appearance. And presumably, if he does appear, the money the money would be returned.

Using that as a rationale, explain why the $500,000 bond was increased to $1 million, and later to $1.2 million.

The answer is that the judge considered Chauvin to be a flight risk, and so probably:

  1. Will be unable to raise that much money or
  2. Will be loathe to skip out on that much money.
  3. If a bondsman is used, he will act as a bounty hunter, assisting in the capture of a fleeing felon.

If #1, then clearly the judge wanted to keep Chauvin in jail, so he made the bond so high that in his opinion, no police officer could raise that much.

But why? Is Chauvin a flight risk? Is he a danger to the community? If so, the more rational alternative would have been just to deny bail, which judges do all the time.

Why make it dependent on ability to pay? Does raising it from $500 thousand to $1 million make him less of a flight risk? Does it make him less a danger?

If #2, the reality is that the money will not be returned, at least in its entirety. The average person cannot raise that amount from family and friends, so he will use a bondsman. But before bond money is returned, the bondsman will deduct certain fees, beginning with a 10%-15% fee.

Additionally, there may be more fees you probably never heard of:

Travel Fee
Credit Card Processing Fee
Change of Indemnitor / Co-signer Fee
Cancellation Fee
Failure to Appear (FTA) Fee
Court Appearance Fee
Finance Fee
Check-In Fee
Electronic Monitoring Fee
Forfeiture & Bail Enforcement Fee

There is a difference between “bail” and “bond,” but for the purposes of this post, we’ll treat them the same. The actual amount of bail depends on the judge and on state law.

Theoretically, bail has a merciful aspect. Trials can take a long time, and if the accused is found innocent, he will not have spent time in jail for a crime he did not commit. But, as we have shown, the full amount of bail never is returned.

A bondsman might keep some. The jurisdiction might keep some. A $1 million bond might result in only a half million returned, if that.

If #3 above, the opportunity for uncontrolled, untrained, ruthless bounty hunters should be considered obsolete, a relic of the lawless West.

All of the above indicate weaknesses in the bail system, but the real weakness is it is so manifestly unfair.

While judges supposedly take “ability-to-pay” into consideration, the reality is that the very wealthy rarely are unable to make whatever bail is authorized, while the poor seldom are.

More importantly, bail is a punishment without trial, not for having committed a crime, but rather for having been accused of committing a crime.

An accused suffers plenty of punishment, even without bail. He is arrested, must go before a judge, often must pay for an attorney, often must spend some time in jail, and there is the public humiliation.

To additionally impose the costs of bail seems to violate all norms of fairness, especially for an innocent accused.

Our justice system has no answer for that. Under any legal system, merely being accused imparts some measure of punishment. But for the innocent, it is a nightmare.

It could happen to you. It could happen to me. So at the very least, we should seek ways to prevent the innocent from being unduly punished.

I disagree with the entire bail concept. A person should be kept in jail for only two reasons: If he is a real flight risk and/or a danger to the community.

In both cases, he merely should be kept in jail, rather than the rich being allowed to post bond while the poor languish.

The American system of “innocent-until-proven-guilty” should preclude bail, for bail too-often constitutes punishment of the innocent.

Infamous Ferguson, MO debtors’ prison.

The “innocent-until-proven-guilty” concept  also extends to wealth. Are people who can afford bail more innocent than people who cannot?

America officially (though not actually) has rid itself of the horrible debtors’ prisons. 

America also should have rid itself of bail, for exactly the same reasons.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

  1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
  2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Social Security for all or a reverse income tax

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10.Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY