Do you think women should get reparations?

@badminton Are you willing to have your taxes increased significantly to help pay for all of this?

@RedBaron Yes.

@badminton Good luck with enough people agreeing with you to make a difference.

@badminton A really good idea. And the churches could be invited to be at the forefront of sponsoring and supporting universal education and healthcare systems. That would test the ethical authenticity of many congregations.

@SunshineGirl But not at the forefront of paying for all that. If it’s even possible, it would require big tax increases, which many people would oppose.

@RedBaron If we did not give huge tax cuts to corporations and billionaries, if we banned off-shore tax havens for the wealthy and corporations, if we passed a very small tax on transactions in securities, 1/4 of 1%, we could easily afford universal healthcare, free college and good public transit.

@badminton If pigs had wings, they could fly. If your aunt had testicles, she would be your uncle, or at least gender fluid.

@RedBaron Literally weeks before the French Revolution no one thought the French aristocracy would ever fall. Then Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were led up to the guillotine before a jeering mob of thousands.

@badminton And?

@RedBaron Change can happen suddenly and unexpectedly.

@badminton Not as likely here as there’s no monarchy.

@RedBaron I think it would be worth putting the question to rhe electorate occasionally rather than just automatically assuming that low taxes are popular.

In the UK the government put a tiny precept onto National Insurance (a payroll tax that funds health and welfare payments) specifically to reduce hospital waiting times. It was widely accepted because people could see what it was funding and they supported that. Now the same government has reversed that decision so they can be said to be cutting taxes in an election year. The extra money in pay packets is so minuscule that most people will not notice it, but they will certainly notice when the health service deteriorates 😟

@RedBaron No, the U.S. does not have a monarchy. What we do have is an oligarchy of wealthy corporations that have subverted our political system. They bribe our politicians of both parties with campaign donations. To get the money the politicians must do the biding of those doling out the bucks. The only solution to this miserable situation is [u]real campaign finance reform[/u].

President Biden made an important first step at reining in campaign donation corruption with the DISCLOSE Act. It requires "advocacy groups" that run ads to influence elections to disclose any contribution above $10,000 that they receive. And foreign entities would be completely banned from making any contributions for these ads. Much more needs to be done, but the DISCLOSE Act is an important step.

@SunshineGirl And our mechanism for that at the federal level is the House of Representatives.

Individual states frequently place propositions on their ballots in state elections.

Tax increases are generally unpopular, no assumptions necessary.

@badminton And what are you doing to make all this happen?

Posting about it on a small website like this doesn’t accomplish anything.

@RedBaron I vote, write letters, donate to organizations in favor of all of the above.

@badminton Good for you, doing what you can. There’s no magic wand.

@badminton absolutely we are moving in that direction? I hope so ive been pushing for it.