Post N extensions

The purpose of this blog is to act as an extension of www.pair2.blogspot.com and is intended to provide extra information , if desired, to the readers of Post N.
 
Post N Extension #1

Factors related to lack of opportunities

    There is more than one reason why some Americans passively accept the deprivation of the opportunity to experience the rights with which they were born.  Some of those are as follows:

1) Some of us lack a basic understanding of what the opportunities to experience our inalienable rights entails. 

2) Some of us don't believe that we were born with or are entitled to the individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  This may be a result of feelings of inferiority.

3) Some of us believe that certain other groups of people don't deserve the same rights as we do.  White supremacists, for example, believe blacks, homosexuals, etc. are not born with the same rights as whites and therefore, don't deserve the same opportunities.

4) Some of us may accept the idea that all of us are born with certain inalienable rights but may believe that the opportunity to fully experience those rights should somehow be "earned".  That sounds suspiciously like not deserving a job because one is out of work.

5) Then there are those of us who are fear-filled victims of abusers.  Abusers 

don't acknowledge nor respect other people's rights and feel they are entitled to do things that negatively affect others even though those actions threaten/deprive others of their rights.

      Child abusers, corporate abusers, bullies, criminals, etc. take advantage of this passive acceptance to increase/enhance their power over others.  Granting any sort of legitimacy to the deprivation of rights or opportunities to experience those rights is not courageous, is not productive for the country and is not patriotic.

END OF EXTENSION #1

 Post N Extension #2

Personal Responsibility

       Post A of the blog Individual Rights and the Culture of Abuse (www.pair2.blogspot.com) states in the Guiding Principles that "accepting personal responsibility for one's behavior is important as is holding others accountable for the effects of their decisions, behavior, etc."

     This seems to be in opposition to the modern value system that finds it acceptable for the government to provide more and more to its citizens in return for those citizens contributing nothing. If one is hungry, the government should give one food.  If naked, clothing.  If pregnant, prenatal care. If sick, health care.  If mentally disturbed, mental health treatment.  The more children you have the more money and resources you can get from the government.  If you are an illegal immigrant, no problem. The government has to support you if you need it.   What is to be gained from being responsible for oneself?

     This sounds like a conservative-minded question and it probably does occur to the conservative minded more often than to the progressive minded.  I am simply trying to think realistically, however.  It would be nice if the Earth had unlimited resources and if so many plants and animals were not on the verge of extinction, and if the ice caps weren't  melting and threatening to inundate every human community at sea level.  It would be nice if there were no negative effects to anything a human being could ever do.  The fact is humans are doing negative things every day that detract from the Common Good.

      There are limits to everything.  Including the scope and degree to which we can maltreat the planet and still preserve any discernible quality of life.  We cannot continue to use fossil fuels at the present levels of consumption indefinitely.  The inner core of the earth will eventually cool.  The sun will burn itself out one day.  Just as there are geophysical limits, there are also limits to the economic resources of the planet.  Until someone figures out a way for everyone to get by without financial resources, it is irresponsible to act with Pollyanna, Utopia-is-right-around-the-corner, money is irrelevant abandon.  Money is not for wasting, especially other peoples' money.  Wasting tax payer money is a violation of rights.  The fact that the highest earners contribute the most of what's wasted does not minimize the violation.  Victimization is wrong.  It's just as wrong to violate the inalienable rights of fat, rich white people as it is to violate the same rights of poor undernourished blacks.

     The irony is that while the wealthy complain about having to support the poor, they depend on the poor to maintain their political power over the middle class.  The poor act as an effective threat to motivate the middle class to vote for conservative candidates.  If the liberals ever get power and raise tax rates on the upper 1% in order to end involuntary poverty, toxic pollution, lack of universal health care, etc., the Upper 1% might stop investing in American Big Business.  If that happens, many middle class workers could find themselves in the lower class.  So the Upper 1% is willing to live with a growing national debt, a whole class of people living without the dignity and opportunity of earning enough to keep their families healthy, 35 million Americans without health insurance (National Center for Health Statistics), millions being sickened and killed by the effects of fossil fuel use.  As long as they remain high, dry, and increasing their net worth, why should they care?

      The rather pathetic truth that occurs to me is that our social problems are growing and coping with them is becoming an increasingly expensive proposition.  One could find studies to support or to refute the idea that crime, drug abuse, having children one can't afford to raise on one's own is correlated with unemployment.  Sometimes common sense seems to have more value than science.  This is one of those times.  Boredom or depression does not encourage responsible behavior.  Not having 40+ hours of one's week occupied by gainful activity is going to make it more likely that one will be bored and/or depressed.  People who are unemployed, bored and/or depressed are more likely to engage in crime, overuse tobacco, alcohol, drugs, and/or engage in unprotected sex.  That's not a pretty picture but neither is living in poverty.  If society/government would give all financially disadvantaged citizens productive decent jobs instead of hand-outs, taxpayers could save millions that are now being wasted.  The very rich have a responsibility to stop resisting paying higher tax rates.  The government has a responsibility to give the financially disadvantaged the opportunity to act more responsibly instead of wasting tax revenue.  The disadvantaged have the responsibility of making the most of the opportunities that come their way.

       Not only do the mega-wealthy use poverty to maintain their political power and deny any responsibility for the resulting violations of human rights, they also blame the people who are poor for their poverty.

END OF EXTENSION #2

Post N Extension #3

 Whose resources are they?

    Then there are those families that made/make fortunes by exploiting the natural resources of this country.  These people are respected, admired, and envied, even though these resources don't legitimately belong to them. 

From a strict moral viewpoint, the natural resources of the American continent and its territorial waters belong to the descendants of the Native American tribes that occupied the continent when the first Europeans landed in the "New World".   There was never an international legal justification for Europeans to "claim" land in the Americas for their Monarchs.  Their standing on it did not make it their land to claim.  For kings to parcel out land in the "New World" to their favorite subjects wasn't morally legitimate.  How can the "ownership" of American territory passing from Mexico or France to the United States be considered legitimate, since those countries stole that territory from the original occupiers?  The occupation of America by Europeans was the equivalent of China marching its army into Tibet in the 1950s and claiming that Tibet was now part of China.  Nothing legitimate about it.
      How many white people got richer in Georgia after President Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the Supreme Court ruling in favor of the Cherokee Indian tribe in Worcester v Georgia?  The Trail of Tears that followed a few years later was only one of numerous immoral and illegal acts against Native Americans that impoverished them while enriching the conquerors. 
      Those who have made fortunes on America's natural resources which were not theirs to begin with, are also responsible for millions of dead and diseased Americans (see www.pair2.blogspot.com, Post M, Fossil Fuels and Human Rights).  Whether it's fossil fuels, gold or copper, the negative effects on the environment and human health are violations of the inalienable rights of those affected.

     END OF EXTENSION #3

Post N Extension #4

What is the answer?

     If we could clear from our thinking the myths about making money, we could face reality.  Some people are very good at making money.  Other people could care less about making a bundle. Both groups of people have the same inalienable rights to life, to happiness, etc.  If, as a nation we ever get to the point where we value universal individual, inalienable rights and are willing to prioritize these in legislation and policy, what would that look like?

a. All disabled citizens and the elderly would receive what they need to stay reasonably healthy.

b. All financially challenged* adults who are able and willing to work would have decent jobs that pay at least a healthful living wage*.

c. All workers would have reasonably safe and healthful working conditions and receive reasonable treatment by employers.

d. All renters would live in units without any of the following due to landlord neglect: unsafe conditions, inadequate insulation, allergens* and/or toxins*.

e. All primary and secondary school students in the U.S. would be prepared for gainful employment or prepared for additional education/training upon high school graduation.  There would be interest-free government loans available for high school graduates that needed it for additional education/training.                            

f. Everyone would be able to benefit from all aspects of the publicly owned/administered Common Good*.

g. Safe and affordable quality food and untainted non-toxic affordable water would be available to all.

h. All man-made additives, genetically modified ingredients and organisms*, and all known allergens in any food produced in and/or sold in the United States would be publicly disclosed.

i. No product nor service marketed in the United States would endanger physical health when used as directed.

j.  No one would be exposed to any health-threatening emissions when such emissions could be controlled by the Best Available Technology.

k. Information about any man-made chemicals (including proprietary formulas) that could threaten the physical health of any citizen who may have been or might be exposed to those chemicals in the future would be disclosed.

l. Citizens would be served by government employees (at all levels of government) whose duties are confined within defined boundaries. When a government employee(s) would violate those boundaries and a citizen(s) suffered harm as a result, the citizen(s) would have the right to just and reasonable compensation for any financial loss from the employer of the government employee(s).

m. We would be served by a debt-free Federal government.

n. We would be served by a fully funded Federal government able to financially ensure all individual rights without borrowing money to do so.

o. We would be served by a Federal Government that does not waste* money.

p. We would be served by a Federal Government that does not use revenue to threaten the opportunities of citizens of other countries to actualized inalienable rights and that does not condone nor support the threatening of those same rights of  citizens in other countries by any American citizen or group, including businesses.
q. We would be served by a Federal Government that does not condone nor support foreign governments that deny their citizens opportunities to experience their individual inalienable rights.
r We would be served by a Federal Government which does not condone, support nor in any way favor foreign governments that have invaded or attacked another country without first being attacked, until such governments rectify their actions.

s. The Federal Government as well as state and local governments would stop subsidizing and giving tax breaks to the fossil fuel industry.  All levels of government would lead the country toward decreasing dependence on fossil fuels by switching to alternative (non-nuclear), American-produced sources of fuel and electricity (see www.pair2.blogspot.com, Post M, Fossil Fuels and Human Rights).  

 END OF EXTENSION #4

*Definitions:

Financially-challenged refers to those adults who meet the current government eligibility requirements for Public Assistance as well as the homeless and those workers who cannot afford a healthful lifestyle because of inadequate pay and benefits.

A healthful living wage is the amount of money necessary for a person to afford to live a healthful lifestyle in a particular location.
The necessities for a healthful lifestyle for most people are a good balanced quality diet (minimally processed, preferably organic), the ability to exercise, hot running water, a warm safe healthful living space, quality health and dental care, the help one needs to kick health-threatening habits.  Some people have specific needs such as allergen-free food and living space, special diets, prescribed medications, food supplements, etc.

 Allergens are substances which cause an immunological reaction such as sneezing, shortness of breath, skin rash, or itching, but that don't have the same effect on the average human being.

Toxins are substances that are poisonous to humans.

The Common Good encompasses that which is owned and/or administered by some level of civil government and which benefits citizens in general but which most individual citizens could not afford. Such things as the infrastructure, libraries, public health protection, environmental preservation, the courts, law enforcement, national defense, firefighting, public education, public parks, public playgrounds, public green spaces, etc. are all aspects of the Common Good.

The term genetically modified ingredients and organisms refers to the products of genetic engineering (GE), which is the altering of an organism's genome using biotechnology.  It does not refer to the products of hybridization nor cross-breeding.  For more info on GMO labeling, go towww.gmoboycott.blogspot.com.

Waste refers to unnecessary spending.  For examples refer to the eighth post of www.socialproblemsrg@blogspot.com and to http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/politics/coburn-government-waste/.