Edition II - 2024
Well, it is a new year and time to make all of our wishes come true, even knowing that none ever will. Here is the list the RCJ would like to have come true in this new year.
Israel has been a disruptive element in global geopolitics since it was simply “declared a state” in 1948. War in the Middle East began the next day and has never ceased. It has become common to believe that peace will never exist in the Middle East. Israel is rightly seen as a U.S. proxy in the Levant, part of the U.S. empire, and having Israel in place is anti-Democratic, completely ignoring the desires of the majority of the people living in that region of the world. It is the injustice that (legitimately) created a sense of "victimhood" in the Jewish community, but it has metasticized into a general rationalization for retribution infecting almost all of global society.
Donald Trump has clearly participated in the destruction of democracy in the United States, and clearly engaged in acts of insurrection. He rides the worst instincts of humankind and can only rule by threat of violence. That’s not the type that will sustain America, and certainly not the influence that will make America a good place to live.
Get rid of our present system of primaries and caucuses that put uncalled for importance on Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. None of those states are representative of America, as a whole, but they serve to kill the candidacies of all but the pre-ordained winners. The system guarantees maintenance of the status quo, even when the status quo is not of benefit the broader American public. Establish direct voting. Why, given our present technologies, are we still voting as if it is 1860?
The supreme court should offer decisions on legal issues, but should have no decision-making authority. Members should serve limited terms and be subject to ethics rules.
Repeal or revise the Second Amendment, which sets the stage for revolt against governance that may feel unacceptable to certain special interest groups.
Outlaw the gambling apps, shut down the casinos. Why on Earth have we developed a whole culture that channels American incomes into the bank accounts of gangsters?
Only 46 percent of the players in the NFL have completed college degrees, which would seem to indicate that they weren’t in college to be educated, but rather to play football. Only 21 percent of the NBA players have completed degrees. Most shocking to this writer, is that only 4.3 percent of MLB players have completed college degrees.
Football is big money for universities, with programs averaging $31.9 million in revenues annually, of which $15.6 million are profits after expenses. That money mostly goes to scholarships for athletes, for building facilities for athletes, for hiring coaches, covering sports operation expenses, and finally “college sports teams support other academic and student services, such as academic advising, tutoring, mentoring, counseling, etc.” (based on data from the Knight Commission). Most importantly, sports teams get alumni to donate in the form of grants.
“According to the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), most public universities rely on state appropriations, tuition and fees, grants and contracts, and endowment income to fund their academic programs and faculty salaries. College sports revenue, on the other hand, is usually restricted to the athletic department and its expenses, and does not contribute to the core academic mission of the university.”
People who don’t like college sports offer these arguments:
It seems to this writer that college sports enable a group of entitled, violence-prone thugs to get a lot more out of society than they contribute, which is mostly group catharsis and an “us versus them” ethos that is harmful to society as a whole. Give me Harvard vs Yale, Army vs Navy, as those competitions existed in the early 20th century, when every player on the field was a legit student playing sports for fun.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islamism are all based on the same Jewish writings, and they are all false, created for social-political purposes, eventually to be high-jacked by special interest groups. The result is a world built on lies, which clearly has been unstable from the beginning.
Fund journalism that covers the world with dispassionate, factual reporting on events and situations. Get the advertising out of journalistic coverage. Lose the nightly 22-minute news shows.
What if there was a world journalism fund, a mechanism for ensuring that reporting is not corrupted by big media business interests?
Provide guaranteed housing for every employed person and reestablish mental institutions for those needing that type of care. Where would the funding come from? Corporations. Those responsibility-dodging business enterprises force employees to participate in community-benefit programs that are really just marketing for their for-profit endeavors. The big money flowing through corporations could solve big issues in our society, which are not addressed when all money flows to the top one percent of society.
Provide a guaranteed income for every citizen, requiring various levels of contribution (time) from every capable citizen. This will become more critical in 2024, as we start to see massive worker dislocation due to advancements in artificial intelligence.
Provide the living situations and services required to make getting old in America something we see as a societal value, rather than a public burden pending a death sentence. Eliminate basic expenses, such as utilities, for citizens who have worked hard their whole lives, and deserve the break.
Require personal responsibility for business enterprises. Corporations were illegal, in the early years of the United States, because they separate corporate officers from any responsibility for the bad things their businesses might do. That is nuts, an institutionalized form of corruption.
This is something the public would have to do, it couldn’t be legislated. Pop culture is something manufactured by monied interest, and the focus is not on public or social well-being. To the contrary, the focus is on creating the kind of commercialism that has deleterious effects on society. This is across the board, from the redneck country folk who sell alcohol and social unrest, to the Hip-hop community that sells superficial excess as a thing to be pursued.
Get rid of the present public education system in favor of small, community-based schools, with curriculums focused on learning skills that will prepare students for their place in a work-oriented society. For damned sure, get rid of a middle school concept that pits coming-of-age bullies against younger innocents, not yet ready for that bizarre aspect of life in America.
Modernize our power generation systems as advancements in technology allow. End the burning of fossil fuels.
Presently, we have franchise operations run by competing doctors. We should have standardization of health care for all Americans, a guarantee that everything possible will be done to provide citizens with a high quality of life.
Native Americans are appalled that rich people are using the Moon as a burial ground for their ashes. We Europeans stole this country from people who, in many ways, were far more spiritually advanced than us. We need to honor that as part of our payback for that original sin.
Rather than create another special interest group, with special privileges, roll benefits into all American communities through guaranteed incomes and provisions for proper health care. Put an end to racial redlining and everything else that works against the Black community, but don't create another point of conflict with White Americans who have also been screwed by our corrupted system of governance and economics. America pays a heavy price for the street violence and drug culture that largely comes from the Black community, which is partly a symptom of our country's mistreatment of Blacks. Personal responsibility, however, should be the thing that characterizes American culture, not thuggery, superficial commodification, and rhyming to stolen beats. Fairness should be universally applied. If anyone is going to receive special benefits as recompense for our corruptions, it should come from our corrupt corporations, and our cosseted one percenters.
Life is unfair and it is a challenge for every living soul. If there is any purpose to our lives, it must be to learn how to cope with the terrible injustices foist upon us by unenlightened humans. Let us be bigger than they are and show how immune we are to their horrible manipulations, as opposed to whining and finding rationale for our own shortcomings.
Grass Valley, California
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