Opinion: It Would Be Nice if Common Sense Returned to American Life

Photo byWalter Rhein

Is anyone else getting frustrated with all the nonsense that seems to be an unavoidable part of modern American life? The latest thing in the news is the train derailment in Ohio. Some people are blaming the previous presidential administration for repealing a safety rule that applied to trains.

Folks, that’s what happens when you deregulate industries. When you remove safety rules you might see a short-term increase in profits. However, that’s like saving money by not changing the oil in your car. Sooner or later, it’s going to cost you more than you saved.

The annoying part is that so many people want to blame the current administration for mistakes made by the prior administration. Everything that happens is always spun for political gain. There’s never any learning that takes place.

The same thing holds with inflation. Working-class Americans are stuck dealing with increased prices that are largely attributable to the massive tax cut for the wealthy signed in 2017. Republicans are trying to make up for the loss of revenue by proposing cuts to our Social Security.

One proposal that’s on the table is raising the retirement age. For some reason, politicians think the public isn’t going to recognize that raising the retirement age represents a cut.

I really can’t understand why the voting public isn’t willing to get behind politicians that have a record of defending Social Security. Do people want to work for their whole lives without any chance of retirement?

Make no mistake, the only politicians that have shown steadfast support for programs like Social Security are those on the political left.

We need more common-sense solutions in our country. What do you think the effect on the economy is going to be if we dramatically reduce the income of senior citizens? It doesn’t make any sense to cut Social Security because we’ll just have to make up for it with other social programs to help senior citizens living in poverty.

Why doesn’t anyone talk about this?

Also, if everyone thinks that Medicare is too expensive, why don’t we allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices? Why can’t we have affordable Insulin?

The United States has a lot of problems. A large number of working-class people are living in poverty. Many politicians in this country are content to call people who live in poverty “lazy.” Why is it that our religious community doesn’t speak out against this form of poverty shaming?

People often blame impoverished people for the national debt. However, if impoverished people were receiving any significant amount of money, they wouldn’t be living in poverty now would they? Isn’t that common sense?

The truth is that the billionaires of our nation get more free government money than anyone. They get them in the form of grants, bailouts, subsidies, and forgivable PPP loans.

What happens is that working-class people are squeezed for every penny. That money is given to the rich who sit around and do nothing. Then, the rich get their taxes cut, and the programs meant to help seniors are cut to make up the difference.

None of this makes sense. When are the American people going to wake up and realize they’re being swindled?

We keep doing the same thing over and over again. Politicians insist on deregulation, and it leads to environmental disasters. Politicians keep calling for tax breaks for the rich, and it leads to a greater tax burden on people who work.

Let’s stop making the same mistakes and try something that works for a change. Let’s try some common sense. We know the solutions that would fix our problems. Let's start putting them in place.