Category: General Advocacy

Big Beef

Mike Callicrate

Independent ranchers and animal rights activists don’t agree about much, except that it’s time to stop using federal tax dollars to support the meat lobby. By Siddhartha Mahanta | New America Foundation Imagine if the federal government mandated that a portion of all federal gas taxes go directly to the oil industry’s trade association, the American Petroleum Institute. Imagine further that API used this public money to finance ad campaigns encouraging people to drive more and turn up Read More …

Special Commission Appointed to Investigate Packers Makes Report

Mike Callicrate

National Farmers’ Union | Salina, Kansas | August 22, 1918 Declare the Five Big Packers Control One-Half of Meat Supply of Allied Nations — Have Used Their Power to Manipulate Livestock Market. President Wilson has made public the recently filed report of the special commission appointed some time ago to investigate the alleged monopolies tie to the control of the meat industry by the big packing companies. The commission declares that the five big packers control half of Read More …

UN-COOL

Richard Oswald

By Richard Oswald Not too long ago, the worlds pharmaceutical companies lobbied Congress to drop strict safety guidelines saying those placed an undue burden on America. It was unconstitutional they said, by driving up the cost of medicine. US consumers shouldn’t care where medicine came from. It was none of their business actually, so long as they received adequate assurances of safety and effectiveness. It was the most efficient way, they said, to keep prices low. Pill imports Read More …

Wealth Destruction – The Dark Side of Globalization

Jacek Popiel

The most significant economic development of the last thirty years has been the trend known as globalization. It is characterized by the removal of national barriers to the movement of goods and capital within a worldwide financial system. The result has been the transfer of economic activity to countries of “lowest cost” in terms of wages, work practices and environmental impact Globalization has been “sold” to all concerned on the ground of economic efficiency. The free movement of Read More …

The Way Out of the “Unaffordable” Care Act

Jacek Popiel

As the political battle over the Affordable Care Act grows in scope and intensity we should step back and take a fresh look at the issue: what kind of health care do we want, and how do we get there. The Affordable Care Act – “Obamacare” – is presented as a step towards a uniform health care system, serving all citizens under the same conditions of price and quality. A large number of countries – Japan, Switzerland, Germany, Read More …

Managing the Budget – Deficit through a thousand leaks

Jacek Popiel

The federal budget is out of control and neither party seems willing or able to do something about it. Nevertheless something needs to be done before the current course – endless borrowing while the Federal Reserve prints money indefinitely – results in a dollar panic, runaway inflation and the collapse of U.S. credit. There is a way out of the current predicament. The present situation has two main drivers. Ideological partisanship The established parties are driven by ideological Read More …

Consensus Demands Hard, Measurable Goals

Jacek Popiel

If government by consensus is “the American way” – and it is – why is there so little of it today? There are two main reasons: The first is ideology, a political disease inherited from the last century.  Ideology is a man-made worldview within which all questions are answered up front. It demands total assent and obedience. In the ideological universe any doubt, question or dissent is at best a weakness to be eliminated, at worst a crime Read More …

How the First Amendment Made us Different from Other Nations

Jacek Popiel

The First Amendment to the Constitution forbids “the establishment of religion”. Such “establishment” was common in 18th century Europe. The “established” faith was the one the sovereign had chosen, and was therefore favored and supported by the state. Other religions or denominations were, at worst, severely persecuted; and, at best, given second class status.   In return for state support and protection, the hierarchy and members of the established faith in turn backed the state – and provided Read More …