Some simple truths

A simple analysis of society quickly reveals a few notable aspects.

No matter what political decisions are made there are two general principles about society.  One is that the wealthy will remain wealthy.  The second is that there will always be poor.  Naturally there are exceptions to these principles but in general the fringes remain consistent.

Along with these principles is the fact that throughout history, across cultures, there have always been more people living in poverty than people living in wealth.  And, for all the change the founders of America hoped to create when they declared independence, raising the impoverished out of poverty was the least of their concerns.

The start of any political and sociological discussion should probably begin with the acknowledgment of these two principles.  As Sudhir Venkatesh, a professor of sociology at Columbia, has argued, “You have to come in accepting that there will always be poor people in society and there will always be wealthy people in society, and neither of the two reached that status by their own efforts.” 





On another note, why are so many non-union, non-public employees hollering for the removal of collective bargaining rights for public employees and greater contributions by public employees toward health plans and retirement packages instead of shouting for the same benefits?

Think about this, what if instead of taking away public employee rights, private sector employees fought for the same benefits?

I offered this suggestion to a conservative friend of mine.  His response was that she wouldn't want government health care dictating who her doctors could be.  I suggested that she preferred having a private insurance company dictate who her doctors could be.  She said she has the choice. 

Seems to me that we have the wrong mentality in this country.  Perhaps we should be trying to find ways to live together rather than against each other.  That's all I'm saying.