... And Now, Not So Lost ...

I got great news on Friday.  Well, better than great.  Fucking fantastic news, to be perfectly honest.  I received notice that I have been approved for full Medicaid and it is like massive weight taken off of my shoulders.  I can now get the physical health care and continue to get the mental health care I need.

But this is what Republicans and their conservative allies don't want.  They don't want the millions of Americans who need health insurance to get it.  They have fought and will continue to fight tooth and nail to take away and prevent the 99% from getting the medical and mental health care we need.  They are willing to condemn millions of Americans to a life of abject misery.  If they had their way, I would never have received Medicaid because it wouldn't exist.

I wish I didn't need the help of the government via Medicaid, but I do and I am grateful that the help was there and is now available to me.  Now I don't need to beg my parents each month for money to pay for my psychiatrist and therapist visits.  Now I don't need to beg friends to help pay for my medication.  And now, I can have the host of physical health problems looked at properly and maybe taken care of.

I have hope.  I have some direction now.  I am no longer so lost.

A Christmas Parable

When growing up, there were very few things that myself, my two half-brothers and two step-sisters agreed on.  One that we did agree on though, was our hatred of going to Grandpa and Grandma L's for Christmas.  It wasn't because it was a long drive to their house, because it wasn't.  It wasn't because we didn't like Grandpa and Grandma L, because we did.  There house was always warm and inviting, as were Grandpa and Grandma L.  No, the reason we dreaded going there was because of our cousin Tracy.

Tracy was an only child and she, along with her mom, had lived with Grandpa and Grandma L.  To say that she was spoiled would be understatement.  And on Christmas day, that special treatment that Tracy received was soul crushing.  I think is why Uncle Dwayne and Uncle Bill always waited to bring their families until later in the evening.

While each of us kids received one or possibly even two gifts from Grandpa and Grandma L, Tracy would receive fifteen and sometimes twenty.  We would be required to sit there and watch as she opened present after present.  Each one more valuable than the next.  This would go on Christmas after Christmas.  In my teen years, my parents tried to shield us from it, but it just didn't work.

It was also during my teen years when realized that my Grandpa L was just as appalled at the extravagance lauded upon Tracy each Christmas as we were.  I know that he tried to stop it each year, but Grandma L and Tracy's mom always thwarted him.

Tracy was the 1%.  Through the virtue of circumstances, she was received more than the rest of grandkids (10 of us), combined.

It is through the virtue of circumstances, that the 1% are able to have more wealth than the 99%, combined.  And they use that accumulated wealth and the desire of their allies, to circumvent any attempts by the 99% to share some of that wealth.

This is why  food stamps (SNAP) faces anywhere from $4 billion in cuts over the next 10 years (the Senate version of the Farm Bill) up to $40 billion in cuts over the next 10 years (the House version of the "split" Farm Bill).  This is why emergency unemployment insurance was not extended before December 28th.  This is why the minimum wage was not increased.  This is why Federal employees and Veterans are seeing their pensions cut by 1% each year.

Unlike all of those Christmases of days past, I have a voice that can and will be used against the 1%.  It is my hope that others will join and make our voices heard in 2014 and each coming year.

Stagnation: The Curse of the "Occupy" Movement - Updated

One of the pitfalls of being a successful political movement is stagnation.  Once the original message of the movement has reached the desired audience, the movement needs to strike while the iron is hot and push for permanent inclusion in the political discussion.  The creators of the astroturf “tea party” movement knew that they had a very limited window of opportunity to get their movement permanent inclusion in the political discussion.

The creators of the “tea party” movement corralled the ginned up anger and put their money behind people willing to run for office under the “tea party” movement banner.  It was money well spent.  60 adherents of the “tea party” movement were voted into the House of Representatives, such as Congressman Paul Ryan, helping to sweep the Republicans into power.  A few “tea party” movement darlings also were elected to the Senate, such as Senator Rand Paul.

Even though the “tea party” adherents in Congress are a minority, even within the Republican House and Senate caucuses, they have been able to wield incredible power.  They have been able to force vote after vote on destructive legislation.  They have been able to include destructive amendments in must pass legislation.

But the destructive force of the “tea party” adherents hasn’t been limited to Congress.  In state legislatures and governor’s mansions, the “tea party” has installed itself.  With their new found power, they have inflicted almost irreparable harm to social safety net.  They have pushed for requiring food stamp and unemployment insurance recipients to be drug tested.  They have thrown tens of thousands of childless adults off of their state’s Medicaid rolls and capped enrollment. 

The “tea party” has targeted public and private sector employees by stripping them of their right to collectively bargain and by creating more so called “right to work states”.  They are pushing for the “free markets” not only to be taught as a class, but to be a requirement for graduation.  They are forcing schools to offer elective classes about the bible.  At the same time they are cutting school budgets.

This destruction is all due to the seizing of the moment to push candidates that support the “tea party” movement or are members by those who were the creators of the movement.  They didn’t fall into the trap of stagnation.

The “Occupy” movement, on the other hand, has become stagnant.  Although they once focused the nation’s political discussion on the massive income disparity in our nation, they have become stagnant and have failed to seize the moment.  They have yet to field one candidate to challenge a sitting Democrat or Republican.

Protests have their purposes.  But protests have a limited shelf life.  If they don’t evolve, the core message dies and people forget.  If the core message of the “Occupy” movement is to survive, the “Occupy” movement has to evolve and evolve quickly.  They need to field candidates.  But they need to field candidates who are going to push the core message of the 99%.

My fear is that they are all too happy being protestors.

*Update* I was sent a message during the night on Crooks and Liars that Nathan "Nate" Kleinman is the first "Occupy" candidate and actually had a write up in Politico.