Rich man, poor man; good health, bad health

As stated in the nytimes.com, "The Richest American Men Live 15 Years Longer than the Poorest 1 Percent," which is an absolutely staggering statistic, and is proof positive, that those that have a lot of money, besides having all the advantages that money brings to the table in the sense of influence, material goods, and pleasure, are also considerably healthier than those that have little or nothing, who besides lacking in influence, material goods, and probably pleasure, die a heck of a lot earlier than their very rich counterparts, though both the rich and the poor, are citizens of the very same republic.

In a country in which the quality of one's housing, food, entertainment and material goods, is correlated highly with their income, credit worthiness, and material assets of that given individual or household, it is also clear that money buys better health insurance, better healthcare, and better access to medical facilities and because physical bodies are going to need periodic checkups as well as care, those that have good insurance and can afford to pay for good medical treatments as well as necessary medicines, are going to be a lot better off than those that can't afford to do so, or struggle to do so, and the life expectancy of those that are rich as compared to those that are poor, clearly state this.

It doesn't seem fair that those that are rich and that have all the material advantages to begin with, are also afforded all the health advantages that having money and influence also brings to them.  Further, for those that are in the middle class or thereabouts, the richest Americans still live longer than those in the middle class, as the correlation between life longevity correlates closely with household income, so that, the more household income, the longer the living, whereas the bigger the gap between those incomes, the greater the disparity in length of life between those incomes.

There are probably myriad reasons why very rich people live longer, besides the fact that their access to high quality healthcare is never limited by their lack of monetary funds; of which, a couple of those salient reasons comes down to food so consumed, of which poor people and those on tight budgets are more liable to having to consume food that isn't healthy or properly nutritionally balanced for them over the long term, as well as people with limited income are more prone to living in areas of the country in which their air quality, or their water quality, or their soil quality, or their housing or neighborhood quality, have suspect aspects to them, that over a period of time, are damaging to their health.

While it is true that the rich cannot take their material assets with them, and that eventually, after an extended period of time, that they will meet their Maker, the fact that just being wealthy, means longer life, signifies that healthcare in America is treated more like just another commodity, that rich people can buy more of and of better quality of; whereas for the indigent, they get the lackluster leftovers, and in our mainly for-profit healthcare world, that means, that they get virtually nothing, and are left to die, before their time, for their lack of the means to pay or to have provided for them, good healthcare.

The only King that matters

In this world, countries are led by kings or queens or presidents or by those that are dictators in everything but actual name.  in nearly all of these cases, to actually have a conversation with a king or queen, is something that for the common person is not going to ever happen, though, because they are public figures, one may have the opportunity to see a personage such as that in person, but an actual conversation, done over coffee, or even over a phone, is not going to happen.

Alas, this means for virtually all of us, that we will never be able to engage in any meaningful dialog with the most powerful luminary in our nation, but, in the scheme of things, even though we are not able to -- the bottom line is that it probably doesn't matter all that much.  After all, no matter the title, and no matter how valuable this notable may appear to be, they are not only fallible, but they aren't really going to in all likelihood be able to effectively address any of our personal issues, because they really don't know us, in a manner that would permit them to.

Imagine though, that in this world, there is a being, that is always available to us, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, and not only is available, but knows everything about us; and  in fact, actually knows us better than we know our own self.  This being is infallible, omniscient, and cares about each one of us, no matter where we are in life, without qualification or condemnation.  Of course, this is our Creator, of which this Creator, hears and listens to each of our prayers so made, and is never too busy for us, as well as always being available to engage with us in a conversation, in which, if we are able to successfully quiet our active mind, we are able to thereby hear the words of God in the stillness of our being.

God not only listens to us, but God speaks to us, and if we would only listen for those precious words from the very lips of God, as opposed to allowing the hurly-burly of this world, or other distractions and manmade escapes to get in our way, we would be able to have the most meaningful conversation of our life.  God is truly the only King that matters, for God, alone, knows us, and from that knowing, God is our ever present help in all situations, not necessarily as a means to alleviate us from the perils of every dilemma, but rather God is there to allow us to perceive both perspective and wisdom from whatever that it is, that we are facing, good or bad, so that we are not ever abandoned or alone.

Many a person has cried out that God does not listen to them, or that God is not there for them, or various other vociferous complaints about what appears to be an indifferent God; but the mistake that is made, or the paradox thereof, is that while God is ever present and is therefore everywhere, the finding and the uniting with God in conversation or similar, is an art, that necessitates unwavering faith, dedication, purpose, calmness, and a belief that one will not fully rest until one is completely there and is thereby one with the only One, and hence the only King that matters.

The new royal debt

Those that are our national legislators as well as the executive office, through their continual fiscal irresponsibility, have brought the United States national debt to all-time highs, of which the usdebtclock.org puts the current national debt at just over $23 trillion, as of November of 2019.  The responsibility of paying that debt and suffering to its consequences are not upon our national legislators, or the current occupant of the White House, but are the collective responsibility of the people that make up this nation, and of those yet unborn.

In nations ruled as monarchies, the king and queen of such nations, took on royal debt, for expenses such as the raising of armies for not only the defense of the realm but also for the conquering or the attempting of conquering of other nations; additionally monies were spent on the infrastructure for the monarchy, such as buildings of all types, bridges, roads, and so on and so forth.  In order to service that debt, taxes of one sort or another were levied directly or indirectly onto dukes, earls, barons, and knights, in order to help finance the monarchy debt obligations, and when necessary, the borrowing of monies from money lenders or even other nations was done.  When armies, though, failed in their mission to conquer other nations, or were unable to ravage other nations to the extent that the army was self-supporting, in which the subsequent taxes being collected was not at a rate that was sufficient to pay off the debt, or to even properly service such debt, than those that were part and parcel of the royal court, did not let up on placing the onerous burden of that royal debt, upon its subjects, to make good on, or to suffer the ill consequences of their disobedience to that monarchy.

Today's America has created an enormous national debt load, which has primarily come about from those that are our present day elites working on behalf of very privileged people, either effectively as their representatives, in principle, or in lockstep with the desires of those elites.  This is quite obviously for the present benefit of those well placed individuals and corporations, that benefit monetarily at the great expense of the people as a whole, in which, because America does not have its national fiscal house in order, the dire consequences of this indebtedness falls upon the present as well as future generations that must make good on monies already spent or taken from the national treasury.

This thus means, that though America is nominally a republic, and is in principle, a government of, for, and by the people, it is in reality, a government that has in conjunction with well placed individuals and favored corporations, seen fit to run riot over any fiscal responsibility as well as to vacate its integrity, in their lust to take as much as they can for as long as they can at the expense of the people, in whole.  So then, as in monarchies of old, America and the elites have as their sole objective, to own and to control the lion's share of worth in America, and all others that are thereby born, are born to service those that rule them, and to pay their tribute, willingly, or to suffer thereby the consequences, of having not done their share of paying back that new royal debt.

Prosecutors and their continuous abuse of their duty to the law

District attorneys and prosecutors throughout American jurisprudence, more often than not, violate the law and good governance of that law, in actions large and small, each and every day.  While there are some good District attorneys as well as there being some good prosecutors -- far too many of them are guilty of doing all that they can to harass, convict, and essentially cheat defendants out of fair justice, by utilizing their very effective intimidating tactics of all sorts, to thereby coerce guilty plea bargains, as well as to add excessive charges to criminal trials, and to vacate fair play.

In point of fact, the law as applied in America, can be easily divided into those defendants that are ill educated, impoverished, and poor which are quite often incapable of making bail, when such, necessitates ready cash, as compared to all those that have access to money as well as a good defense attorney, who are educated, and are considered to be of value within their community.   One might think that the law is the law and is always equally applied, and therefore is no respecter of persons, but the law as applied is most definitely a respecter of persons, and most certainly demonstrates real disrespect of those not really considered to be persons, though they are human beings in form.

One of the tricks of the very nasty trade of District attorneys and prosecutors is their reliance on padding on and the adding-on of charges onto alleged criminal activity, which does not require that such additional spurious charges be so added.  So that, a male that has an altercation with their spouse or girl friend, in which no wounds or deep bruises occur and no weapons are used, instead of being charged with something such as third degree of fourth degree assault, finds instead, that they are initially charged with second degree assault, because the District attorney or prosecutor manipulates the police report and interprets such to make the charge more serious, so as to give the prosecutor bargaining power.  As bad as that might be, it often gets worse, because then the District attorney or prosecutor will reach into code book, to add on additional charges such as assault of a female, as well as assault by strangulation, if the perpetrator was alleged to have put at least one of their hands upon the female's neck, in addition to kidnapping, if the perpetrator was alleged to have blocked or impeded the female from escaping, in which, the evidence shows in total, no wounds, no weapons, and no deep bruising.

All of the above in a case such as that means the defendant now has three or four charges that he must contend with, and not too surprisingly is, especially when indigent and incarcerated pending disposition of those charges, in a very bad negotiating position.  On the other hand, a far more fair way to address trumped up as well as added-on charges, is that, when such is taken to trial, each charge of which the defendant is found not guilty of should have the typical median sentencing of that charge, subtracted from the sentence so rendered, when that defendant is found guilty of any other charge.  That is to say, when a defendant goes to trial and is, for instance, found guilty of one charge, but not guilty of any other charges, each of those charges the defendant is not guilty of, should reduce correspondingly the amount of the sentence of the charge that they are guilty of.  This means, using our example, if the defendant is guilty of one charge and receives a sentence of two years, but the other three charges he is not guilty of, in which the median sentence of those combined would also be two years, the defendant would be released.

The point is that trumped up as well as added-on charges should not be made to begin with, but rather the District attorney and prosecutors have a sworn duty to be an advocate of fair and equal justice for all, and not instead to take the law into their own fallible hands.

Mankind's purposeful neglect and natural disasters

In the scheme of things, natural disasters are going to occur, such as in hurricanes, tornados, floods, high and violent winds, earthquakes, and so on and so forth.  These natural disasters in and of themselves can be catastrophic but almost always they also can be amplified by mankind's neglect, incompetency, or laziness.  For instance, though high and violent winds as well as inclement weather could be the cause of a given bridge collapsing, in most cases, such a bridge collapses mainly because of design or construction flaws, and/or neglect of proper maintenance.  So too, hurricanes cause damage through the sustained impact of very high winds, in conjunction with the rising of flood waters that inundates communities, in which, such hurricanes and the locations so impacted by it, often have historical records that demonstrate that a particular area is much more vulnerable to the occurrence and negative impact of a hurricane, yet, construction is still made within that area.  Additionally, dams and levees have been built all over America, in which some of those structures are exceedingly old and in need of replacement or remediation, so when very bad weather is combined with a structure that is already failing, it isn't any surprise that such a structure is no longer able to bend, but breaks.

In all of the foregoing, natural disasters have occurred, in which, mankind is usually culpable to some degree to the damage incurred as well as the human life so lost.  It isn't fair and reasonable to expect that bridges, causeways, tunnels, dams, roads, homes, buildings, high voltage lines, sewage, and levees are able to always sustain themselves when confronted with catastrophic weather or other events, without regard to the proper maintenance and if necessary, replacement of such.  It is one of those unfortunate things, that people, communities, and governments too often expect that things will sort of keep on keeping on, when, in fact, the unexpected will always occur somewhere at sometime, in which those that are not prepared for it, will suffer from that lack of preparedness.  Further to the point, while America does an overall stellar job of responding to emergencies, such emergencies could often be ameliorated quite a bit, if the infrastructure was inspected and subsequently rectified as needed, much more often, beforehand.

The thing is that remediation and the doing the necessary work behind the scenes in order to maintain and to augment things such as our bridges and dams, is one of those areas, that necessitates money, equipment, and personnel, and doesn't seem for many people in government or communities, to be the type of expense and maintenance which is often pushed to the top of the list of things that must be done, and though it is often something that is acknowledged that needs to be addressed, a mere acknowledgement does not get the work done.

Too often in America, what needs to be done today to protect our citizens from the inevitable natural disasters that will occur is put off until tomorrow, and consequently when those natural disasters do come, the price that is paid is often a much heavier price than really needs to be paid; of which more governmental bonds should be issued by State as well as Federal authorities to take care of these infrastructure issues so that we as a people are better prepared to thereupon face those natural disasters which invariably do come.

What is the highest good of knowledge?

The advancement of mankind is built upon the foundation of all those that have considered questions of importance, and have endeavored to figure them out so as to resolve them, and from this, knowledge is gained.  Now then, to know or to learn something of merit, but to keep that knowledge to oneself, is often selfish, though, occasionally prudent or even necessary; whereas to take such knowledge and to provide as well as to teach it to others, benefits society at large.

So then, in a construct in which capitalism and competitiveness seem to be part and parcel of America's being, those that are knowledgeable about certain subjects and things, may be conflicted as to how best to utilize that knowledge, because quite obviously, in most cases, the more that other people have knowledge of a given subject or application, the more competition this thus creates, and the less personal benefit thus ensues.  Additionally, for many people, especially those that work within corporations, there may not be much of a quandary, for that knowledge so obtained, that is accomplished within the company domain, is for better or for worse, considered to be property and possibly proprietary to that company, alone.  For others, who are tinkerers, or scholars, or independent thinkers or contractors, the knowledge that they obtain is clearly theirs to do with what they should will to do, though qualified, undoubtedly, by others that have contributed to such knowledge, directly or indirectly.

To a very large extent, many people believe that the things that they have labored for and have learned, are theirs to utilize for their own benefit, especially if their perception is that knowledge isn't really hurting anybody, specifically.   Though, this may be true, it is certainly selfish, and knowledge obtained but not disseminated, hurts society, in general.  Further, knowledge learned, of which, it is perceived that if such became universal, that this would materially benefit society at large, even when such would come at the personal expense of the person so learning, should be provided as a matter of course to others, so that society at large, benefits.  After all, a good and stable society necessitates cooperation between its members, especially in consideration that societies are created, for the expressed purpose for the betterment of communities.  Further, the basis of a good and healthy community is for individuals to bond together as one, as opposed to a community of individuals, with no implicit or inherent obligations to the other members.

So then, it can be stated that the highest good of knowledge, is to disseminate such knowledge throughout the community for the benefit of that community, so as to materially improve that community's life.  While the choice of what to do about any particular knowledge so learned, is in the hands of that person, so that they are ultimately at liberty to do what they will with such, it is clear that to simply take personal ownership and to thereby keep that knowledge for the specific benefit of that person, and none else, is both selfish and misguided.  Indeed, a good member of society does their part to make their society better, so that, a voice that insists on being silent, when it should speak, is a voice that has not told the tale that needs to be told.

It should be: All for one, and one for all

The United States is a very unequal society, of which, there isn't a shadow of a doubt, that for some people as well some corporations, the United States offers nothing but the best of the best.  These superrich people and these superrich corporations have not only incredible monetary assets, but along with that money, there is often an incredible amount of power.  It would be one thing, if the superrich were simply just superrich, and enjoy all the benefits and accouterments of it, for their personal or corporate enjoyment; but alas, that isn't good enough, for those that are superrich, in order to add to their wealth, game the system in a manner in which recent history has demonstrated that the United States is becoming more and more unequal, with the bulk of its productivity and money accruing to a very small elite of people and corporations.

The Gini index which is an index that measures income inequality, in which the higher the number tabulated represents greater income inequality, tells us, as reported by americashealthrankings.org, that the United States Gini index is at .482, in which not a single nation in Europe is even at .400; and further we are told that just three people own more wealth in the United States, than the bottom 50% of its population, which is proof positive, that this country's progressive taxation system, as implemented, clearly does not effectively work as it should.

Additionally, as reported by povertyusa.org, "38.1 million people…" live in poverty, in this, the richest nation in the entire world.  Further, as reported by cnn.com, "… nearly 2.2 million adults were held in America's prisons and jails at the end of 2016."  When it comes to functional literacy, it is estimated, as reported by gentwenty.com, "… that 32 million American adults are functionally illiterate."   Basically, whether it is health, education, housing, crime, or the overall quality of life, those that are impoverished in America, suffer from the lack of good quality in their life, whereas, those with money do not.

In point of fact, despite minimum wage laws, social security, and governmental programs involving welfare as well as social safety nets, there is a huge underclass of Americans that aren't making meaningful progress, and further that suffer unduly for essentially being birthed into an environment of little or low opportunity, and hopelessness.  In preference to this country stepping up and bringing forth a great society for all, it instead has decided to treat those that essentially have nothing, as people to be oppressed and exploited, without end.  So that, the end result is that this country willingly tolerates poverty, and would rather spend billions upon billions on war armaments and killing, then to actually deal constructively with the poverty and hopelessness within its own homeland -- that need not be occurring as part of this very wealthy nation.

For the elite, this is indeed the best of times, and for the middle class of America that carries so much of the weight of America's misadventures and missteps onto it shoulders, it isn't all that it could be, but it is tolerable; whereas, for all those that are discriminately cordoned into sectors of poverty, crime, disease, and defeat, America is a great lie; that does not represent life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness, but rather represents a new deal, taken away; a lamp that is unlit at its golden door, and a promissory note, forever unpaid.

The problem with America

While the United States is both the richest as well as the most powerful nation in the world, and has a Constitution dating back to the 18th century, it is not currently the country that it should be, and most certainly is not the country that it was founded to be.  For instance, some of the very reasons why so many Europeans emigrated to America, was for the opportunity that America represented, in the sense of freedom in general, and specifically as it related to the freedom of religion, the freedom of movement, the freedom of commerce, and the freedom to not be compelled to having to pay homage through military service or taxation or tribute to autocratic governmental authorities.

While in America, to a certain extent, there can be a great opportunity to create one's own destiny, this is predetermined to a very significant extent by the circumstances of where a given person is birthed, and specifically to the family structure, income, and educational facilities that are available within and around their local community.  That is to say, America can be an absolutely wonderful place to get a great education and to have a real opportunity for advancement and success in one's life, especially when circumstances favor that very thing, by virtue of being in the right place and with right infrastructure around.  On the other hand, there are an incredible amount of communities in America that are impoverished, and are desperately lacking in hope, opportunity, and the general good welfare of those that are birthed within that environment. For those people, the handicap that they will need to overcome is so daunting, that a reasonable chance for good success is more often than not, is not going to occur.

The biggest problem that America has is its gargantuan division between the privileged few at the top that are exceedingly rich and powerful, in stark contrast to the excessive amount of people at the bottom that are poor, oppressed, and exploited, of which these unfortunate people are both impoverished as well as powerless.  This fundamental flaw within America is why it suffers from so much tension, hatred, and hostility, which is displayed by its high violent crime rate, its surprisingly high degree of those that are functionally illiterate, its general incivility, and the overall lack of hope, personified in its urban ghettos.

Further to the point, America clearly has made a determination that rather than to proactively address the systemic problems that it has in regards to poverty, opportunity, equality, fairness, and hope, it has decided to spend inordinate amounts of money instead on its military, thereby taking away from the social welfare monies and necessary infrastructure that could be of real and meaningful assistance to those that have so little. 

To make meaningful change within America is something that necessitates money, dedication, persistence, and the absolute determination to do what needs to be done so that all people within America are afforded at a minimum the basic rights and common decency that a great nation owes to its own people; for this is supposed to be a nation for, by, and of the people, but clearly instead we have a significant portion of our people that have been left far behind, and thereby stand outside our golden door -- lost, forlorn, cold, tired, forsaken, hungry, and hurting.

Every coin has two sides

There is one country, that has more military might, than any other nation or even of all nations, combined; of which that might has been utilized to stop the demagogues of fascism, and to topple regimes of oppression and hate.  Yet, this mighty power, has also interfered again and again in the sovereignty of other nations, and has placed its military bases and means of operation of such all over the world, without really taking into consideration, the inherent rights of those other nations.  Further, it sells armaments of incredible destruction throughout most of the world, all in the name of blood profit, terrorism of all types, and in service to dictatorial regimes.

So too, within this nation, is a written Constitution, dividing the powers that govern it on behalf of the people, into three separate branches, of which no one branch is all powerful; yet, its unelected judicial branch, creates new law and destroys old law, simply depending upon its own partisan views.  Whereas, its legislative branch, seems absolutely beholden to money so contributed, directly or indirectly to those office holders, and instead therefore of being the people's representatives, answer most readily to the hands that feed them. Then, the executive branch circumvents both the judicial and legislative branches, by issuing executive orders that bastardizes Constitutional law, so that the executive can behave in a manner consistent to that of a monarchy.

While its institutions of higher learning are amongst the greatest of any on the entire planet, and well respected for its curriculum and professors, the students so attending, do so at a high monetary cost, though such a cost is easy to bear for those with a great deal of familial financial money, as well as those few that are gifted with free scholarships.  Those, on the other hand,  that cannot afford such or are not accepted to attend such, must find other colleges, of which the financial responsibility of those attending these, are place onto those young students' hands, without any real guarantee that their education received, will merit the cost.

As for its healthcare, it is all really a complete mess, of which, many of its hospitals and well-nigh all of its pharmaceutical companies are permitted to make a profit off of the ill health of its patients.  There is very little transparency in this industry, and despite the state-of-the-art equipment, as well as all of the monies so spent by insurance companies and by patients, the health of the nation in aggregate is disappointingly rather poor.

Additionally, there are a very few people that own an incredible amount of monetary assets, of which these few, have all sorts of extra homes, extra cars, and extra this or that, while barely ever using any of them, of which, though the country has a progressive tax system, as well as an estate tax law, the superrich don't seem to pay much of anything, for the legislature law is bent by the attorneys that are well paid by the superrich, so as to protect and to augment their worth.

So too, despite all the wealth of this dominant nation, there is an underclass living in poverty, of lives that often involve harassment, incarceration, indebtedness, hopelessness, poor health, ill education,  and  despair.  None of this seems to matter to this powerful nation, which claims that it is great, perhaps the greatest of them all, but the reality is that though there is greatness within her, and though its Constitutional structure is great, it is behind the façade, corrupt to the core, and built not to last, but rather to collapse, for it is blind, and knows nothing of what really matters, for it fears to open wide that enlightening door.

Dubious traffic violations and traffic stops

Most people do not desire to be stopped by a police officer when they are driving their vehicle, for a lot of good reasons, of which, some of the most salient are: they don't want to be shot or killed in cold blood, they don't want to be arrested, they don't want to receive some sort of traffic violation, they don't want their vehicle to be searched, they don't want their vehicle impounded, they don't want their time wasted, they don't want their car insurance rates to go up,  and they don't want their stress levels to go sky high.  The bottom line is that police officers carry a lethal weapon and further have the power to arrest people, of which these things rightly frighten those that have been pulled over, irrespective of whether they are guilty of anything or not.

Basically, if traffic stops were something akin to receiving a parking ticket, in which a citation is merely issued by an authorized person that is not a police officer; this thus would represent something that though undesired, is not typically going to be life threatening, mainly because the citation is straight and to the point, and the risk of a whole bunch of other possible negative actions occurring, would be virtually nonexistent.  On the other hand, police officers are allowed to pull over any vehicle that is perceived to have violated any of the myriad traffic violations, and police officers nearly always can find some code that is relevant to why they are pulling over a particular vehicle, such as "failure to signal for turns or lane changes", or "failure to maintain an assured clear distance ahead," and so on and so forth, of which, whether these violations have even occurred is often not clear.  Further, all vehicles are identified with a license plate, of which that license plate identifies the legal owner and the current address on file for that vehicle owner, so that, police officers, with their technology at their beck and call, most certainly have access to the name of the owner of the vehicle, and therefore have a good idea of the probable driver of said vehicle.  This thus makes for an opportunity for police officers to deliberately pull over vehicles that interest them, rightly or wrongly.

After all, just because somebody is driving on the public roads of America, does not and should not mean that police officers have carte blanche to pull anybody over, utilizing supposed traffic violations as their ready justified excuse in order to do so, and thereby providing those officers with an opportunity to search the vehicle or the person, under questionable circumstances.   To the degree that this is done, reflects that rather than America being a beacon of liberty and freedom, it is in reality, a country in which outright discrimination against certain elements of this society, is permitted, by the policing arm of the state, of which studies have demonstrated as reported by colorlines.com, "... that officers ticket, search and arrest Black and Hispanic drivers more often than Whites."

Nobody wants to be pulled over for a traffic violation to begin with, but when that is combined with a system, that allows police officers, to know who they are more than likely pulling over, and to thereby deliberately target certain individuals to the exclusion of other individuals, that is discrimination.  Further to the point, when policing agencies are able to hide behind supposed traffic violations as their reason for their traffic stops and subsequent questioning of the driver of that vehicle, the right of those drivers to be secure and to be treated fairly in their person, has been violated.

What we owe those that were brought here in chains

The slaves that came upon the shores of America did not arrive here in chains, because of wars that America had with those other countries, but rather those that became enslaved were systematically taken from their native land and compelled to come to this country in a condition of chattel slavery.  Those that bought these human beings, treated such as chattel property, and even the law of the land in America during its period of legal slavery, provided little or no rights whatsoever, to those that were enslaved.

While it is true that those that were formerly enslaved are now free, and that even the laws of this great land, now provide to all, at least on paper, the same vested powers for all of its citizens, regardless of sex, race, or creed; the overall net result clearly demonstrates that the overwhelming amount of wealth and justice of this nation, favors those that were of the same race as the slaveholders, at the expense of those that are of the race, that were enslaved.

In a nation, that has aggregate wealth that has never been exceeded by any other empire in the history of the world, this country and its people owe to those that were violently taken from their country of origin, something of real merit in return.  Additionally, all those that were forcefully taken to this country in which their heritage in America was slavery, should be entitled to have a seat at the table of justice, opportunity, and hope.  This thus means, that this country owes all those that have a preponderance of proof that their forbearers were enslaved in this country, something tangible, of which that something, should reflect that value in present day dollars.

For instance, as reported on measuringworth.com, the estimated value of a typical antebellum slave's services in 2016 dollars would be $92,000.  It so then follows, that each person that has a bloodline legacy of slavery in this country, is fairly entitled to be compensated by this national government, to $92,000, and that bonds issued by that amount of money, should be rightly available for those people, when they become of age, without exception to their present state of employment, education, or similar.

In a nation that spends hundreds of billions upon hundreds of billions of dollars, on its war department, such a nation as that, can surely afford to take care of its own people, first.  Further to the point, as reported by stateofworkingamerica.org, "In 2010, the median wealth, or net worth, for black families was $4,900, compared to median wealth for whites of $97,000."  This is proof positive that in order for black families to catch up to those of the race that enslaved them, that the most positive action that will truly allow blacks that have suffered from a heritage of chattel slavery, to get what they so richly deserve for being an integral part of the building of this great nation, is monetary compensation.

After all, it is never too late to do the right thing.  Further, there was never a time when slavery was necessary in America, yet, slavery was part and parcel of America, and its aftermath is still felt here, today.  Those that have suffered so long have suffered enough, and it's high time to pay what needs to be paid, so that justice will finally be served.

War should necessitate increased taxation, curfews, and rationing

The United States has been at war for virtually the entire 21st century, and has continued to be at war with the inchoate "war on terror", which encompasses countries such as Afghanistan.  So too, the United States has recently been at war or is still at war with elements or the countries of Niger, Iraq, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.  Further, the defense budget of fiscal year 2019 for America is $693 billion, proof positive that the United States is clearly geared up for war, ad infinitum.

In all of this war, strangely the United States demands no real sacrifice of its civilian population which doesn’t seem fair to our men and women in uniform that are sacrificing their lives, limbs, and minds to our overseas wars.  This necessitates that in order for Americans to feel the impact of these wars and thereby to make war more tangible to the civilian population of this country, that taxes, curfews, and rationing must be enacted, posthaste, in order for Americans to begin to comprehend that war really is brutal, nasty, and savage.

The first step to waking up the civilian population of America is to implement onto all taxpayers, be they corporations or individuals, a wartime premium tax.  The best structure for that tax is to make it progressive, with a very steep curve at the end, so that the most profitable corporations and individuals would therefore pay their fair share in support of their nation with their dollars.  It is well to remember that, during World War II the top rate for individual tax returns was 94%, and it so follows that this rate should be applied immediately, for the richest of the rich, and should remain in effect as long as this country is at war.  Further, all large corporations of a certain size, should be subject to an extra 15% federal income tax rate, and in addition, all those corporations, that currently circumvent United States taxation laws, by parking their earnings overseas, should pay an annual 20% surcharge for doing so, based on the net amount of monies so held, overseas.

Additionally, rationing of oil, food, clothing, coal, and various other consumer goods must be implemented, with governmental rationing programs put into place, affecting each and every member of this great nation.  After all, most of the wars that America insists upon involving itself in, are directly or indirectly because of oil, so that, Americans must be restricted in the amount of gasoline and oil so used, in all products, in which, the goal of such restriction would be to reduce the consumption of oil products by a meaningful percentage, such as 20%.  Further, it isn't fair that Americans continue to eat and shop as if there isn't war(s) going on, and rationing cards must be issued to thereby restrict the purchase of certain goods in order to demonstrate constraint and some degree of discipline so as to properly align the nation's psyche with the gravity of war.  Also, a general curfew should be put into effect, precluding nightclubs and other businesses catering to drinking and carousing, to forestall such, until such a time as war has been ended, and America is victorious.

In all of this, Americans should be ever grateful, for their sacrifices though perhaps inconvenient are for the better good of their nation, and in specific support of the war effort, at large.  For, how is it possible for Americans to eat, drink, and be merry, when their fellow Americans overseas, are being cut to pieces, by our enemies?  After all, a house divided will not stand, and a nation at war, needs its home front to reflect their patriotic fervor by their communal sacrifice for that greater good.

All employees earning less than a living wage should be paid weekly

In the United States the standard for paying one's employees, is not mandated by Federal law, but is left up to State law, though incredibly there are a few States, that don’t even mandate how often an employee must be paid, whatsoever.  In most cases, employees are paid weekly, bi-weekly, semi-monthly, or monthly, of which, quite obviously few employees would ever prefer to be paid just monthly, and many employees would prefer the frequency of getting paid weekly.  We read in Holy Scripture, "… The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning" (Leviticus 19: 13), signifying that employees of that day and age, received their wages upon the completion of their work, each and every day.

No doubt, never has it been easier to create, process, and to issue paychecks to employees than it is today, in which, in many cases, a lot of employees no longer receive a physical paycheck but instead have their funds deposited directly into their banking account or even onto their smart phone.  So that, changing the frequency of the pay period for employees is hardly a daunting task, which is quite relevant, since as reported by forbes.com, an incredible "78% of workers live paycheck to paycheck."  This so signifies that employees that are struggling, which typically includes those that are making less than a living wage, should at a minimum, be paid weekly, and in fact, one could make a strong argument, that rather than their wages always being in arrears, that they should be prepaid each week, for their anticipated hours of that week to be labored.  After all, when employees are paid their wages, they are essentially being paid for work done earlier in the month, or earlier in the semi-monthly pay period, or earlier in the bi-weekly pay period, or earlier in the weekly pay period, so that, in short, employees are giving to their employers, an interest-free loan which is being involuntarily provided from each one of them in aggregate.  It hardly seems fair for employers to do such, for many an employer has gone belly-up or disappeared, with the employee wages in their hands, making the employees suffer for it.  In point of fact, paying employees for a day's work, at the end of the workday, is about as fair as can be and there isn't any valid reason why employers should be able to hold onto their employee's wages for up to a month.

Basically, employees should receive their wages in a timely and current manner, and those employees that are making less than a living wage, obviously have a real need to get their hands onto the money that they have rightly earned, sooner as compared to later, of which, a weekly paycheck would permit these employees a better means to take care of their bills and creditors of all sorts, rather than pay periods of an even lengthier period of time.  After all, if employers really valued their employees, they would make it their point to do more to accommodate them and thereby to pay them more frequently, for the money that their employees have earned, is theirs, and those that have earned that money have a right to it, which should never involve waiting periods of more than one week.

The Facebook minimum age must be raised to 21

At the current time, the minimum age for an account to be opened on Facebook is 13, which is an absurdly ridiculous and dangerous low age for someone so young to be on what purports to be a social media site, but is in actuality a devastatingly effective social surveillance site.  Additionally, Facebook does not in any meaningful way, even attempt to or is it ever legally held responsible for verifying the age that users claim that they are, signifying that people even younger than 13, can sign up for Facebook, as well as people that are adults can take on the guise of being far younger or even a different sex than they actually are.  This signifies that Facebook accounts are not only not always on the up and up, but that young people that are still quite credulous and vulnerable in many ways are susceptible to dealing with people that are adult predators or ne'er-do-wells as well as exploiters of all types and degrees.

The problems with Facebook are manifold of which the most fundamental problem is the fact that Facebook makes the vast majority of its money through digital advertising, and advertisers deeply desire to know their customer base well, and when they are able to access detailed pertinent information about a given individual, or a given class of individuals, they thus know that their ads will be far more effective.   This thus means that someone as young as 13, is an incredibly desirable target of digital advertisers, because they then have the means to mold such a consumer into their products that these advertisers solicit, of which Facebook is the enabler of this advertiser exploitation of Facebook users.

The United States has deemed it necessary to raise the drinking age nationwide to 21, as well as many of its States have subsequently raised the age to utilize tobacco to 21; in addition, to the minimum age to utilize marijuana is also 21, as well as to gamble in casinos is set at 21.  The reason that this is so is for the protection of young adults, who often can be irresponsible, and therefore these mandated age laws were passed for the better good of our youth.  To therefore believe that children at the age of 13, are somehow cognizant of all the dangers of social media posting as well as being completely knowledgeable about how much of their personal information is actually being sold to outside agencies, is unfathomable; therefore, for the protection of these children, as well as for young adults, Facebook should be mandated by law, to raise its minimum age to access such to 21, immediately.

For all those that believe, that teenagers or young adults could not survive without Facebook, recognize that it is Facebook that has created this dilemma, by deliberately constructing a system that purports to be a social media site, but is in actuality a dangerous and menacing social surveillance site, that specifically puts teenagers and young adults in harm's way; because Facebook analytically analyzes and accumulates and thereupon sells their users' information for outright exploitation for the buyers of such; as well as also creating a construct in which teenagers and young adults can more easily be tracked, stalked, and harmed, all so that the purveyors of Facebook can make their money at the expense of their constituents, that blithely believe that they are on a site that will make the world a more open and connected one, but reality is that Facebook has made them into sheep so as to shear them.

There shall be no kings of any kind in America!

Senator John Sherman of Ohio, stated, “If we will not endure a king as a political power we should not endure a king over the production, transportation, and sale of any of the necessaries of life."  In furtherance of this, the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was passed into law.  The impact of the Sherman Antitrust Act was to preclude monopolies of any sort, and in particular to preclude not only monopolies but conspiracies that would restrain trade and commerce by virtue of any market segment being dominated by any consortium of companies colliding together, or monopolistic in their form.

Incredibly, this law was put into effect, nearly 130 years ago, indicating that businesses even back then, clearly recognized that more profit and more control of trade and commerce would be in their hands if they had either monopoly control of such business to begin with, or by working in collision with other corporations, they could in effect, perform together as a monopoly and reap the immense benefits, thereof.  The upshot, is that any segment of the business world effectively controlled by the very few, in which the citizens of this nation would be virtually compelled to do business with directly or indirectly, would by that lack of competition and viable alternatives, be able to extract more money from the populace, and therefore to enrich themselves at the expense of the public.

In today's world, never have so few had so much, signifying without even taking a cursory glance at the business world that the Sherman Antitrust Act is essentially null and void; and therefore the public at large are the losers, and demonstrating clearly that this country effectively is neither egalitarian nor fair.  To make matters worse, the government, which in theory is of, for, and by the people, and hence is the last bastion to both protect as well as to augment benefits for the people, is for all intents and purposes working hand-in-glove with the largest corporate powers that the world has ever seen, to the detriment of the people.

In virtually any industry of note in America, today, the amount of competition is often minimal, in which there are, at best, a few corporate players at the very top that control well over 50 percent of the market share, and hence fundamentally have pricing and profit control of those markets.  Further to the point, this government, seems to consistently rubberstamp the buying up of competitors and smaller innovators, by those behemoth corporations, so that these corporations are able to successfully year-by-year not only consolidate their power but to thereby increase it and to remain, quite significant.

All of this really signifies, that in a country that has no king that the American citizens of this nation, are effectively paying tribute day-by-day to those corporate kings that control the production, transportation, and sale of the most important products that this country manufactures and distributes.  If, this country will not effectively bring to bear all of its available resources so as to break up these dangerous monopolies of commerce, then these gross disparities of wealth, resources, and influence will continue to favor just the few, at the expense of the many, and thereby subvert our citizenship by making those denizens of this great nation, mere feeble subjects to their corporate kings.

"He who does not weep does not see" -- Victor Hugo

The above quotation comes from Victor Hugo's seminal work, Les Miserables, and such should be taken to heart by each and every one of us.  So too, we read in Holy Scripture, this short passage, "Jesus wept." (John 11: 35)

While this world and the people amongst it, can provide us with times of happiness and joy, it has never been and never will be, nothing but happiness and joy, for there is far too much pain and sorrow that exists throughout society.  So then, all those that try to live only within a construct, in which, they ignore the suffering and pain of mankind, or pretend it doesn’t exist, are the very people that clearly do not see.

To not weep in this world, signifies a personage that does not see the world for what it really is.  Further to  the point, the tears that each of us should shed, while representing many different things at many different times, primarily should be about what is the most obvious thing to see, which is mankind's continuous inhumanity to mankind.  That is to say, there isn't any reason why there has to be wars, or fights, or famine, or any of the other negative things that occur, day-by-day, but these very things, no matter the great prophets and messiahs that have lived alongside us, or the holy books so written, are part and parcel of everyday life, though it need not be that way.

This signifies fundamentally that a huge swath of mankind refuses to learn the most elemental lessons of how to conduct their lives; for those that are unable to see their neighbor as their own self, are truly blind and do not see.  So that, the very first step in correcting wrong behavior is quite obviously to recognize that particular behavior as being wrong, and the second step, which is never going to be easy, is to thereby correct that behavior on a consistent basis so as to fundamentally improve oneself for the benefit of all.

For some of us, that do see, we weep, not just for others, but for our own self, for we know that we have failed to live up to what we could be, and further that we have failed to do the very things that we should be doing.  This doesn't mean that we should stop trying or that we should simply give up, but rather through our own diligence as well as through the help of other good people that care, we must try and try again, for anything of real value, necessitates a consistent and dedicated determination to achieve it.

There are also many different ways to weep, besides just the tears that come forth from our eyes, such as through the abuse of drugs, or through the abuse of alcohol, or through the abuse of others, or through the abuse of our own self; for each of these fundamentally is an acknowledgment that not all is right, in ourselves and in this world, and thereby we weep and will continue to weep, until such a time as we recognize that what we see can actually be changed, and that change begins first with our own self, straightened out, and willing to do what needs to be done, no matter the cost and carried out for as long as it takes, until even, the end of time.

Illusion and reality

Most everyone is familiar with the Bible, and most everyone is familiar with Jesus the Christ, of which, even those that do not believe that Jesus is the son of God, or that all the miracles so professed in the Bible, actually occurred, there is almost always still a respect and appreciation of the moral and ethical lessons that were taught and addressed upon by this Jesus.  However, when it comes to the resurrection of Jesus, there does become even for those of the Christian faith, a divide between those that believe wholly in that resurrection, as opposed to all those that believe that such a resurrection, was at best, perhaps a metaphor, or of good import, but regrettably not literally true.

Many people, especially those in western nations, see their physical body and this physical world as the only absolute reality; so that, without any real deep contemplation, they believe wholly that reality is essentially that which is visible, above all else.  So then, it is true for them to say, that what is visible is reality, and that which is not visible may sometimes be real, but only to the extent that it can be measured by  mankind's instruments in conjunction with adherence to intellectual and scientific theorems.

Yet, as much as they believe their eyes of what is real or not real, even the most ignorant, recognizes that people do age, and that people do change, and that ultimately all that is physical will decay, die and disappear. It therefore follows, that those that believe in that reality appear to be saying that all that is visible is real, yet, at the same time, they are also admitting that all is ever changing, though that change may be minute and of a change process that is often invisible or unnoticeable, but inexorably all does change, and that is the reality that they intuitively believe in.  On the other hand, all miracles that overturn physical laws, such as the raising of the dead, as read in Holy Scripture, or the feeding of the thousands, or the spontaneous healing of those that believe, are considered to be tall tales, merely because it does not fit into their perception of the reality of the laws of this world.

All of this perhaps might make sense, if this world was, for all intents and purposes, the only reality, but, in fact, a world in which all is ever changing, presupposes that such a world is not stable, for the very same person, is an infant, a student, a working adult, and ultimately a retired, old person.  Further to the point, that theory stipulates, that there was a time before birth, when that person did not exist, and that there will be a time after so many years on this earth, when the body will die and ultimately disappear, so that person again, does not exist.   If, this truly is the reality, that there is no existence before physical birth and that thereupon there is no existence after physical death, than obviously it so follows that what is considered to be reality is not actually reality, but is rather an illusion of reality.

It is submitted that this world, and everything in it and upon it, is the illusion, and that which appears to be so real, is merely a story experienced in a temporal physical form; so that the true nature of who and what we really are, never changes, for we are all absolutely immortal, timeless, invincible and an integral part of that which is the One.

Listen to what they say, but then watch what they actually do

Most people like to talk, and especially like to talk about things that involve their own self, but on the other hand, they often aren't so good about listening to what others are saying.  Yet, if we listened more to others, and really paid attention to their words and then to their subsequent actions, we would learn a heck of a lot more about them, and perhaps would be able to be of more relevant assistance to others, by virtue of having listened well and then having watched their ensuing actions.

In point of fact, the words that people speak each and every day are really a very good portal into the psyche of a given individual, so that, rather than trying to spend an inordinate amount of time, talking over others so as to demonstrate our own importance or wisdom, we would serve others better, if we actually carefully listened to their words, but not only that, followed through by then watching and taking into account whether their subsequent actions correlated well or not with the words so spoken by them.

This correlation between the words spoken and subsequent actions is not primarily meant to catch people in their contradictions or hypocrisy, but rather it permits us to create a more complete picture of a given individual, so that we have therefore a better and more thorough understanding of them.  After all, in order to be a good friend, or a good business associate, it is of immense value to actually know the other person in a manner that is accurate, and words being spoken, and goals so expressed, can only be subsequently adjudged correctly if we match up those things with what thereupon occurs.

Further, the more that we know of a given individual, the better we will be able to successfully navigate that relationship, because we are thereby more cognizant of what their words typically mean or don’t mean, by having correlated previous words spoken to subsequent actions, so that, we will, for example, not unnecessarily feel disappointment or rejection when those that have demonstrated their lack of integrity, fail to make good on promises; or, on the other hand, for those that are more modest and undersell themselves, we will thereupon recognize that their words, are often precursors of very good things that will come.

Although there is a multitude of ways to communicate, the most common way though is through the words so spoken, one to another, and if we are unable to give our full attention to what is being spoken, we lose our opportunity to hear well what is being said.  Further, it is important to listen well, for many a person has been supposedly caught unawares by the action of someone that they should have correct and intimate knowledge of, in which, no doubt, good listening, would have detected such a long time ago, and having been detected, perhaps what would occurred, would have been a better understanding between those two parties, and thereby subsequently a different and a more satisfying result.

The more that we pay attention to others, the more that we learn about those others, and good attention begins with good listening and good listeners pay good attention to the correlation between those words so spoken and the actions thereby made.

Dividends and stock appreciation

According to worldbank.org, the total market capitalization of all United States stocks as of 2018 was over $30.4 trillion, in which the overall GDP of the entire United States at the conclusion of 2018 was according to the stlouisfed.org, just under $21 trillion.  The stock market of the United States, though regulated, is an open market, in which those that wish to purchase or sell stocks do so, typically utilizing a brokerage firm, in which the price of the equities so being bought is determined by the free hand of the marketplace.  That is to say, though pundits might indicate all the supposed rational reasons why a stock is going either up or down, in regards to earnings, revenue, dividend yield, future projections, the overall economy, the prevailing interest rate of the Federal reserve, GDP numbers, inflation expectations, and so on, the bottom line is that the price of individual equities at any given point, is what the market will bear.

Whether the stock market is rational is debatable, of which, all things being equal, if the stock market really was totally rational 100 percent of the time, then most days, in which particular equities had no salient news to report, the stock of those companies would be quiescent, but in actuality, stocks move up and down by some percentage, usually within a small range, each and every day that the market is open.  Further, for each stock traded, there must be a seller to go along with the buyer, of which, logic tells us, that both sides must feel that they are getting a fair bargain, or else no trade would take place; yet, in the scheme of things, it would appear that one party probably comes out better than the other, because no doubt, each party feels that they have been on the right side of the trade.

Additionally, when it comes to stock prices, there is an ingrain prejudice for the prices of equities to rise, as the higher a given stock price is, the more profit on paper, buyers of that stock obtain; in addition to the fact that many companies have stock options that only come "into the money" when the stock rises over a period of time, as well as compensation for senior executives are often built around the appreciation of the stock price. So then, the major players in the stock market, including the market makers and brokerage firms, desire for the price to rise, and in general, through also the effects of inflation, equity prices in America over the last hundred years, have certainly risen.

There are many stocks that offer a dividend payment attached to their stock, of which those dividend payments are periodically paid out to stockholders of record, during the year.  At the present time, as reported by multpl.com, the S&P 500 yield in aggregate is under 2 percent, whereas back in 1979 it was 5.24 percent, and in 1950, it was an astonishing 7.44 percent.  The fundamental difference between dividends and stock appreciation is that dividends are absolutely real in the sense that real money from the company's profits are distributed to the stockholders; whereas stock appreciation is something that is not only never guaranteed but can be rather fickle, for a given stock can lose 15 or 20 percent, or even more in one day.  Therefore, those that place their faith that the stock price of a given stock will ever go upward or even remain stable day-by-day, have failed to perceive the difference between cash in hand, as compared to cash on paper, in which, they are clearly not the same thing.

Understanding crime

America does do a very commendable job of keeping track of all sorts of statistics and from those statistics is able often to see patterns and therefore to solve puzzles.  When it comes to crime, the conversation of such, often seems to clearly miscomprehend those numbers, so that reciting how many crimes there are per 100,000 people, or the murder rate in a given city, as proof positive, that things are either improving or getting worse, is fundamentally looking at crime through the wrong lens.

In point of fact, most crime, that is not white collar crime, is often localized, and it is localized because criminals typically ply their trade in areas of the city that they congregate in and are intimately familiar with.  So then, in a given city, crime is never going to be uniform from one community to the next but rather we see that some communities have a very high proportion of crime in comparison to their population base, whereas other parts of the community have virtually no crime, whatsoever.  The reason that this is so, is myriad, of which relevant attributes of crime or the lack thereof, comes down to the income level of that particular area, the schools, the parks, the family structure, the educational level, the density of population, the age of population, and so on and so forth.  In other words, for instance, an area of the community in which all the homes are very nice, single family homes, that necessitate a good amount of wealth to own one, in which, these homes are surrounded by no high-density apartments and in addition, have the accouterments of good shopping stores as well as other good infrastructure nearby, aren't going to have much crime, for the very people that live and congregate there, do not have the conditions that would nurture, criminality.  On the other hand, areas of high density in conjunction with low income, as well as dilapidated homes, and poor infrastructure are going to often suffer more than fair share of crime, because the conditions of that community, pretty much creates crime.

That is to say, the lack of capital, the lack of good infrastructure, the lack of good schools, the lack of good family structure, the lack of education, and the lack of opportunity, poses a clear and present danger to the not only the safety but the overall demeanor and temperature of a given community.  The reason that this is so, is that crime, while it may have many fathers, fundamentally originates from people that are impoverished in the sense of their lack of opportunity, hope, and money.  Those that have little or nothing, and further do not have a lot of constructive things that are available for them to do, are going to be susceptible to criminal activities.

All of this means, that most crime and criminal activities are within the communities that are impoverished to begin with, and while law and order resources devoted to eradicating such crime in those neighborhoods may indeed find much success in prosecuting that criminal element, it will not in and of itself, eliminate criminality, until such time as the conditions that create crime, are ameliorated fundamentally.  While there are all sorts of pundits that demand that people own up to the responsibility for their bad actions, those pundits doing the talking, don't often come from milieus that are hopeless, let alone, forsaken.   

The bottom line is that to find crime and to find the criminals behind that crime is easy.  To reduce and to eliminate crime is the difficult task, and it is not something that simply comes down to "just say no," but rather is dependent upon all the people of this great nation living within a construct in which each of them truly has a good home, a living wage, fair and equal justice applied to all, and a good helping hand for all those in need.  America has the capital to do exactly that, but has made a conscious choice not to do so.  The crime, it suffers from, is clearly the result of a system that fundamentally fails to live up to the tenets of justice, egalitarianism, fairness, hope, and opportunity.  

That then is the true crime.