Sometimes We Make Sausage, Other Times... Progress

Poe Hall From the Court of the Carolinas

If you happened to friend me on Facebook, you probably already learned that I had a meeting on Monday with a Doctor about PSY 499 work. The good Doctor is a young man, perhaps younger than myself, with a very quiet demeanor. His German accent only adds to his charm, and I described him to a couple of people as "adorable". In fact, even though we have had very little contact with one another thus far, I'd be willing to say I have a little bit of a crush on him. This is hardly a new phenomenon for me, as I have had exactly four crushes on men in my life. Of course the good Doctor is married, and his wife is quite attractive in her own right, if the photo on his desk is an accurate depiction. To be honest, I'm not sure where I was going with that!

At any rate, we only spoke for about fifteen minutes, but it was enough time for me to feel like an idiot, albeit a well-spoken idiot. The Doctor is very intelligent, as are most Europeans when compared with us lowly Americans. He attended the prestigious Max Planck Institute and is currently studying emotion and cognition in adults and the elderly. He asked me simple questions for which I felt like I had no good answer, though I flapped my lips and came up with something to fill the silence. Honestly, how do I get caught up on a question like, "What are your goals for the future?" or "What sorts of things would you like to research?" After giving it some thought, I think it has something to do with motivation.

The Fortunes of Futures Passed

Fortune Cookies Are Getting Morose

I'm not one for backup plans. Generally, I make my mind up, I go in a direction, and I see where it takes me. If I end up someplace good, then I'm happy. If I end up someplace not so good, then I'm not so happy, but I deal with it and accept my fate... at least for awhile. However, I'm starting to wonder if I shouldn't start trying to create a backup plan, in the event this whole going to Graduate School and becoming a professor thing doesn't work out.

The thing is, I don't see myself as becoming anything other than a college professor. Well, at least not realistically. I've had a fantasy for years now about creating a company with my friends for the sole purpose of saving the world from itself. That whole God complex of mine enjoys reveling in that fantasy. But, the job of college professor is uniquely suited to what I consider my strengths, while still allowing me to indulge in some of my weaknesses. For instance, I love giving presentations in front of groups of people. I enjoy reading up on some obscure bit of knowledge, breaking that knowledge down into a set of presentation slides, and teaching it to people who didn't take the time to learn what I just discovered. Also, I enjoy being a little judgmental (that would be classified as one of my weaknesses). Asking people to write a literature review paper, or other such assignment, would allow me an outlet for looking down my nose at students who seemingly can't find their ass with a roll of toilet paper.

Health Reform Even a Conservative Should Love

This week my friend Osterberg, a hopeless Conservative, engaged me in a debate on healthcare. For his part, the argument against healthcare reform surrounds the issue of who should pay for it. Naturally, he resents the rich being made to pay higher taxes to support Obama's healthcare plan.

I'm not sure why Conservatives are such selfish bastards, especially since their Christian Bible says that it's harder for a rich man to get to Heaven than for a camel to get through the eye of a needle. Perhaps their Bible doesn't say that, but I'm pretty sure that the Jesus in their Bible never charged money to heal the sick. And since Conservatives are fond of pretending that the US is a Christian nation, why can't they see the value of government curing the sick for free? It's sad when increasingly atheistic European nations actually promote so-called Christian values like caring for the sick and the poor more readily than the US!

With regard to the money question, why can't Conservatives see that, even with higher taxes, they will actually make more money in the long run if the US has a Single Payer Health Insurance System (which ISN'T what Obama is working toward, but which is easier for me to argue the case for than that twisted clusterfuck of a program he IS promoting)? Currently, health insurance is a costly burden for companies to provide for employees. Small businesses often forego offering it at all. Even Wal-Mart has been criticized for not providing health insurance to more of its workers, instead encouraging them to use Medicaid. Several years ago, the head of General Motors said the company spent more on healthcare than on steel for its cars! And a major reason that US manufacturing jobs have moved to Canada and Mexico is because those nations provide free healthcare for all their citizens. If the US provided Single Payer healthcare for all, then companies would save untold billions of dollars every year. And, since Conservative CEOs are selfish pricks you can bet that alot of those extra savings would go right into their wallets. Of course, it would also save more US jobs, as well, since companies would have less cause to move elsewhere.

But, would Single Payer Healthcare benefit Osterberg financially? Well, yes. Aside from the obvious savings his family would glean from using the system, his wife happens to be a dentist. There are currently around 50 million uninsured people in the US. Some of them most certainly live in Osterberg's town. If they were to suddenly be covered by a Single Payer System there would be more people seeking dental care. That means more clients for Osterberg's wife which means more money for his family. And, of course, I have no idea if her practice provides health coverage for her employees, but, again, Single Payer would save her business money if that is the case.

There is NO logical rationale for opposing a Single Payer System. Even after taxes, opponents (and of course US society at large) stand to gain more than they would lose in the long run. If only the Conservatives would stop reading the Book of Genesis long enough to see that for themselves!

Have fun and keep living life... and tell your Senators and Congressmen that you want Single Payer Now!

A Socialist Storm is Coming

Over the last few weeks I've been reading articles and watching video clips which have me convinced that the US is slowly and inevitably edging closer to socialism. And I, for one, will welcome its arrival with zeal.

First, there was an article from The New York Times which discussed Norway's continued economic prosperity in the face of the global monetary downturn. Thanks to the idea that government should exist to benefit its citizenry, Norway saved/invested hundreds of billions of dollars as a sort of rainy day fund. As a result, the nation was able to continue serving the needs of the people without any major disruptions. In fact, their economy has actually grown slightly during the downturn. I seem to recall that the US had a similar budget surplus at the end of the Clinton administration. Of course that was before the "wisdom" of George W. Bush took care of that when he chose to give the money "back to the people" to spend as they saw fit.

Then, there were the plethora of articles I read over at World Changing which show that, again and again, it is Europe which is leading the way in the movement to combat global climate change. As before, the European ethic of working together toward the societal greater good pushes them to innovate in the fields of energy production, conservation, and sustainable land use management.

But what do these topics have to do with the US? Well, I think that, thanks to the Internet, more Americans are becoming aware of the fact that the so-called socialist nations of Europe have already come up with effective solutions to the problems which plague our society, but with few, if any, of the negative consequences which US conservatives have attempted to use to vilify those solutions.

Take, for instance, this article from Wired about the socialist nature of the open-source movement. Literally millions of people take advantage of, and participate in, the open-source movement in one form or another. All are encouraged to share their information and resources freely with the rest of the world. People voluntarily pool their talents to create free software solutions (such as Gimp and Open Office) which rival the best, most expensive, software on the market. There are even open-source architectural solutions being devised to solve global housing deficiencies. All of this contributes to the greater good of the larger society. Add to that the benefits of flexibility and diversity of resources inherent in an open-source mindset, explained in some detail in this talk from TED, and you can see that the lumbering corporate mindset endemic to capitalistic business organizations could, one day soon, be a thing of the past.

Of course, in a way, capitalism is already forcing us to live as socialists. The consolidation of companies, thanks to deregulation, has forced most people to now do the work of two or three people and to work 60 or more hours a week even though their salary only compensates them for 40 hours! It isn't much different than being an open-sourcer, when you think about it. You're voluntarily doing more work for no extra compensation because you think its for the greater good. Although, capitalism convinces you that the "greater good" is you keeping your job rather than your job actually being beneficial to those around you. There are some companies which have made efforts to take care of their employees first, such as Malden Mills (makers of Polartec fleece) which continued to pay its staff while their factory was being rebuilt after an explosion. Unfortunately, those stories are too few and too far between to be considered a trend just yet.

I'm looking forward to the changes which our society will undergo over the next decade or two. Eventually we may learn that doing what is right for our fellow man can ultimately become the most American thing we can do.

Have fun and keep living life... and start working for the greater good.