Maybe You Have Two Cows

There are some descriptions of various political systems running around the net that are expressed in terms of you having two cows and how each political system affects you.

Here’s one about Democratic Socialism that a friend quoted on Facebook:

Democratic Socialism
You have 2 cows.
You pay your taxes.
You now have free healthcare and free college
 and a government that isn’t owned by billionaires.

I don’t find this to be as useful as it could be. Its tone hints that Democratic Socialism isn’t carefully thought through. Or, at least, that’s how the opposition spins it, unquestioned by media.

I would prefer something more plain and to-the-point. Then again, I don’t know if this describes Democratic Socialism. It just describes what I want. Yet somehow I doubt that Bernie would disagree with a lot of this:

Common Sense Politics
 (as interpreted by Kent Pitman)

Maybe you have 2 cows, maybe not.

Many have far less. Can we stop pretending everyone has it good? People are getting left behind.

People making enough to have a surplus
 pay tax on surplus.

Why are we taxing people who have less than they need to get by? So we can give it back to them later and call ourselves heroes? Leave them alone and get the money we need from the people who can afford it.

Forget this “skin in the game” crap
 about why everyone should pay tax.

Being poor IS having skin in the game. No additional reminder is necessary. The poor are not parasites, they are people society has failed.
And anyway, if you want fewer people, fund birth control.

Rich people pay their fair share
 and stop calling it pain.

Less luxury is not pain. Of course the money for a society is going to come from those who have a surplus. To do otherwise is irresponsible or inhumane.

Corporations pay tax on surplus, too.

Profitable corporations don’t need or ask for subsidies.
And it should go without saying, but...
Corporations are not People.

Corporations pay a living wage.

So employees don’t have to ask for government subsidy. Duh.

The military doesn’t get to waste money either.

No more buying stuff we don’t need just to supply pork to someone’s district.

A healthy and educated society benefits us all.

We pay for these collectively out of society’s surpluses, not by making people choose between these things and basic needs. And we stop calling the money that society pays for these things “expenses.” They are “investments.” It’s not “should we spend on healthcare or education?” but “should we invest in healthcare or education?”

To decide our future, we count citizens, not dollars.

Everyone should participate. Yet another reason education matters: We need well-informed voters. But it’s citizens, not dollars, that need a voice. Money always speaks loudly. Government is supposed to counterbalance that. Any suggestion that money needs a voice in politics misses the point of the Constitution, which assigns no special privilege to wealth, but rather takes it as given that we are all equal.
End Citizens United.
End gerrymandering.
Make voter registration easy and fair.

Fix Climate.
 Now.

Or none of the rest of this will matter.

But, either way... Go Bernie!

---

Author’s Note: If you got value from this post, please “Share” it.