A few comments re: Mr. Mullen's remarks.
SOCIAL SECURITY
First of all, I agree with Joel Wendland entirely.
Social Security is one of the most successful government programs in history, and makes the difference between abject poverty and survival for millions of seniors, disabled, and people who have suffered the loss of breadwinners in their family.
I am 29, and unfortunately struggling to pull myself out of serious- and painful- poverty...a long story, and 5 years ago I never thought would happen to me, but that's that...it makes me very sensitive to the notion of losing such a guarantee that Social Security provides...
Do I think "government owes me"? I think we as a society owe it to ourselves...and we owe ourselves much more than just a defense of the meager, inadequate and underfunded social programs we have already won, by the way, including health care as a human right (yes I'm also one of the 45+ million uninsured, and yes I think I deserve quality health care which I have been denied)
OTHER SOCIAL PROGRAMS
1. The "War on Poverty" reduced poverty...period. Would have continued to do so if the Great Society hadn't been virtually shut down due to the war against Vietnam (a point made by Dr. King at the time)
2. Food Stamps help poor people not to go hungry....period.
3. Section 8 housing (though it's been slashed) helps more people avoid homelessness...period (including the homelessness of crashing on a friend or family members' couch or spare bed b/c it's the only way off the street and out of shelters which are often dangerous if even available---this form of 'homelesness' is also a situation I have found myself in--along with the usually-hidden emotional and psychological scars which accompany such poverty)
4. While it existed, AFDC helped poor people take care of their families....period.
MINIMUM WAGE
Mr. Mullen even attempted to make a point out of the obvious truth that the last minimum wage increase (50 cent increase back in the early 1990's if memory serves) didn't eliminate poverty (!!!)
No, and raising it to $6 or $7 won't eliminate poverty easier...since $7 is still poverty wages!!
I am only making $6/hr, no benefits....would a $1 or $2 raise free me from poverty? of course not. would I welcome that raise? damn right.
Even a living wage law of say $15/hour would not eliminate poverty, without the planned economy and full employment that only socialism will provide.
Capitalism thrives on poverty and human misery...it is an anti-human system opposed to equality and true human freedom in the most fundamental sense imaginable.
HEALTH CARE
Mr. Mullen wrote that, "Letting the US government bureaucracy manage our health care system would be a disaster." The concrete facts prove the falsity of this claim. Bureacracy would be much reduced under single-payer free health care for all, as is the case in Canada for example.
In fact, both the Congressional Budget Office and the U.S. General Accounting Office have said regarding US health care "administrative costs" [i.e. 'bureacracy', in this case the bureacracy of hundreds of private insurance agencies----my note]..."...if the U.S. could get [these] costs down to the Canadian level, it could afford to cover all the uninsured." (see Medicare for All! By B.S. Rosen, which can be ordered from www.cpusa.org)
PHILOSOPHY
Mr. Mullen admits that he bases his views here on "more abstract 'philosophies'", since he admits also that opponents to privatization have better numbers than the privatizers.
I appreciate the honesty, although I believe that it is much more than just our 'numbers' that are better....our concrete philosophy is much better than 'abstract' philosophies which justify systems of oppression..and the truth is that the opponents of our scientific socialist working-class perspective have always resorted to "abstract philosophies" (aka "philosophical idealism") to challenge us....
it's the biggest compliment they can pay revolutionaries, I suppose.
Peace and love,
Brad
P.S. Mr. Mullen, I hope you don't interpret this as "flaming"....just sharing my heartfelt views. Thank you for taking the time to post...peace
P.P.S. the ANTI-social programs called "War on Drugs" (really war on the poor) and "War on Terror" (a war on civil liberties, and a war on peace!) have also worked well......(for the capitalists).
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