Went to a Holiday Party last night in my neighborhood and talked politics with some interesting folks. Was told by several that Bernie is the man because he was going to take on the corporations, was going to push for single payer, and was going to take the money we spend on war and spend it domestically. Also spent some time discussing specific issues with some folks.
To recap... These are amazingly pleasant people who are great parents and good neighbors. But when I said single payer means Medicaid for all they claimed to not know much about Medicaid. I told them they were lucky.
When they talked about the high price of college and their student loans I asked them if they saw a correlation between a government loan program, the education lobby, and the rising cost of higher education.
When we discussed energy policy and I mentioned ongoing changes in the coal industry to make it cleaner and the overwhelming need to not mothball coal plants until a workable alternative is actually in place, they mentioned renewables.
When I said renewables wouldn't power heavy industry they didn't follow the logic. When we discussed the need to transition to nuclear power as an alternative and reminded them of the French nuclear success story they focused on waste byproducts. When I said those are buried in the ground in a desert miles from anyplace somebody would want to live they didn't understand.
And finally when I said you can't not have a military and you have to blow up the really bad guys they didn't understand why we couldn't just wash our hands of international entanglements. And when I said that's fine then don't be surprised if we go back to covert operations and propping up somewhat crazy despots to keep the really crazy people in check, they mentioned human rights.
So yeah... Quite an evening. And their votes count the same as ours.
To recap... These are amazingly pleasant people who are great parents and good neighbors. But when I said single payer means Medicaid for all they claimed to not know much about Medicaid. I told them they were lucky.
When they talked about the high price of college and their student loans I asked them if they saw a correlation between a government loan program, the education lobby, and the rising cost of higher education.
When we discussed energy policy and I mentioned ongoing changes in the coal industry to make it cleaner and the overwhelming need to not mothball coal plants until a workable alternative is actually in place, they mentioned renewables.
When I said renewables wouldn't power heavy industry they didn't follow the logic. When we discussed the need to transition to nuclear power as an alternative and reminded them of the French nuclear success story they focused on waste byproducts. When I said those are buried in the ground in a desert miles from anyplace somebody would want to live they didn't understand.
And finally when I said you can't not have a military and you have to blow up the really bad guys they didn't understand why we couldn't just wash our hands of international entanglements. And when I said that's fine then don't be surprised if we go back to covert operations and propping up somewhat crazy despots to keep the really crazy people in check, they mentioned human rights.
So yeah... Quite an evening. And their votes count the same as ours.
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