Stream Of Commute - September 25, 2003
American values, liberty and justice, little guy championing the underdog, growing bigger, in danger of becoming the very thing hated from the beginning, the bully, rather than the benevolent big guy.
first duty as citizen to vote, to be informed, to be involved, to participate, to provide for the means of education for the young and old, ongoing and continuing, critical thinking and current events, knowledge of the workings of the world in terms of citizenship before anything else. no duty to economy, or to anything else. as citizen, to vote. as family member, to support. critical thinking should be taught at all levels of education, in various disciplines but always coming back to current events, the stuff of everyday politics, what's in the newspaper. on the news.
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free labor. labor must be free. otherwise, no free market. if capital can move without restriction, and labor cannot, how fair is that? how free? to whose advantage? only in free nations can labor be free. only in nations where the monopoly of violence is with the sovereign people, citizens. otherwise, as can be seen, violence will check labor, constrict it, enslave it, not just in the backwards parts of the world, but right here in America, where Cesar Chavez was getting beat up not long ago.
otherwise, we make a risky deal with the devil, by asserting that "free" trade will help liberalize and free the rest of the world, rather than have the opposite effect of undermining the freedom and security of free labor at home, by lowering standards and costs by taking advantage of "hostage" labor.
labor cannot move. cannot follow market. politics and violence stands in the way. capital and investment has much more play, and power. this is an unequal condition, that speaks less of a free market than an oligarchical one, a return to feudalism-of-a-sort. a new aristocracy of corporate chiefs and board members, where the company investors buy the right to vote.
you can't call it free jazz if the rhythm section must play from the songbook, without variation, while the saxophonist and guitarist can improvise to their heart's delight. either all are free, or free is not the way to describe it. a little food for thought...
