To Make an Impact

I think all of us who are people of faith struggle with this on a daily basis. And there comes a point in time where I find myself resigned to the fact that politics and politicians are quick to paint themselves as idealistic, but prove themselves beholden to special interests, greed, money, and power.

So I've come to the point that I feel as though we ought to work within the system, flawed and unethical though it may be, rather than try to work outside it. To work outside the system and have it work would insist that we explode it and that was tried during the 1960s with limited success. There is too much at stake and the powers that be will not allow that to occur.

So let me propose something bold.

We in the left-wing elite tend to overlook the plight of the common person. We get so carried away with our own agenda, which admittedly is too far to the left to ever hold sway among all but a few educated people. Faux News fears the power of the netroots but I think they do give us too much credit.

This is the hard truth. The people we need to come to our side most don't read blogs. Few of them read newspapers. Fewer still read books. Most of them get their news from the television if they are even inclined to care about the news. I maintain, and maintain strongly, that the only way to get the attention of the average American voter is through financial means. Their primary concerns are not these grandiose issues we love to dissect, but rather on such prosaic matters as: making enough money to survive, caring for their children, and working to keep food on the table.

We all know that the key problem that faces the average person is ignorance. And I think many of us would agree that the only cure for ignorance is education. So let me propose something that I don't see many people out there clamoring for:

A Free College Education

Report after report has shown that the costs of higher education have skyrocketed over the past few years, putting a college degree firmly out of the hands but the fortunate few who have the financial means to afford it or the courage to take out student loans. I am a victim of the latter, having run up for a mere two semesters of graduate school, nearly $24,000 worth of student loans. I have only managed to pay off a little over $1,500 of that debt.

College is an experience that not only expands minds and counters ignorance but it also nearly guarantees that those who obtain it will make more money and have more career opportunity.

If we educated folks want to grow our numbers and win people over to our side, this ought to be foremost in our agenda.

How do we pay for it? Simple. Let's take money from the wealthiest 1% of Americans who have benefited most from eight years of George the First.

Other options could include:

1. Cutting taxes 10% across the board
2. Instituting a flat tax that taxes all people equally.

Admittedly, these two are Libertarian/Republican ideas, but if politics has taught me anything, it's taught me that just because you say it doesn't mean you have to do it. And these days, spin can justify anything. So am I proposing that we LIE to the American People about these last two points? Well, um...yes. Is this an admittedly deceptive tactic? Certainly. But money and influence comes well before idealism. Idealism has done nothing but isolate the left over the years. Let's be honest with ourselves.

The institutional memory and short term memory of the masses in general is pretty short. I do recommend we institute a free, across the board college education. And I recommend we pay lip service to a tax cut and a flat tax. Is this ethically sound? Maybe, and maybe not, but I agree with Gore Vidal that politics and politicians have never been ethical. It's the way of the world. A President who lied before a Grand Jury and cheated on his wife remained in power and came out of his Impeachment Trial with a 70% approval rating.

It is laudable for both the idealistic left and the idealistic right to point out that character does matter, but I am increasingly of the opinion that idealism almost always loses.

But at least let us have free college education. And while we're at it, let's have universal health care coverage, too. Those two issues will win more people over to our side than anything else.