Vote for Joe

This is the day after “Super Tuesday,” and having not even won American Samoa (of course there is the whole: I’m actually running as an independent outside the Primaries thing, but for humor’s sake…), it was back to work as “Joe the Painter.” You most likely have heard of “Joe the Plumber” (Campaign 2008). That guy is actually in my Congressional District! Small world, huh. I’m pictured here checking the current delegate counts — on my coffee break.

The Stock Market dropped this week further than at any other time since the Great Recession of 2008. I have said, for quite some time now, that America actually needs to experience another Depression. This would be very much akin to an alcoholic hitting bottom — and then becoming “teachable.” A good deal of our First World lifestyles have become “gluttonous” as the day is long. (Gluttony, incidentally, is one of the “seven deadly sins” — just in case you’re not getting that from spiritual leaders who have also, for the most part, become quite gluttonous as the day is long as well.) We, all of us, need to simplify our lifestyles tremendously. We need to get back to sharing way more, like what happened in the first Depression It is in this that “community” strengthens incrementally. (The above book, which I’ve been reading, details this at length.) There is a realigning going on, because of the coronavirus, the global warming crisis, and so on. And it’s time for political, and spiritual, leadership that helps point the right way.

As the coronavirus spreads, things are, in essence, globally deconstructing. And we can go with this to realign the world in the right way. Or not. Example: The “global supply chain” is being disrupted. International trade supply transport pumps billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every year, allows for sweatshops in the Third World devoid of any “human dignity,” and the massive amount of cheap consumer products leads to gluttony (a major sin) in the First World. We would do well to return to a paradigm that is primarily about balanced “local production for local consumption” in all the countries — with stepped up aid to Third World countries to help them become as sustainable as possible with the same paradigm in their countries. For more on this realigned economy, see our Economic position paper… For more on how to get more help to the Third World to help them become much more sustainable, see our Foreign Affairs position paper.

I just interviewed someone who taught in both the Law and Pharmacy schools at Ohio Northern University. Fascinating combination, and it gives him quite a unique perspective. He said in this politically charged climate that there is a tendency to make a scapegoat of “Big Pharmacy” altogether, which he believes is wrong. He said that, for one, research and development in the pharmaceutical industry is expensive and those costs need to be defrayed. Secondly, he said that over government regulation of the industry is causing higher prices as well. Conversely, he said in a “free enterprise system” there are often adjustments built in to help those less well off. For instance, he pointed to Prescription Drug Plans in both Medicare and Medicaid. And he said that many of the big drug companies have sliding fee scales people can apply for if they are struggling to pay for a particular prescription. In addition, in Monroe, Louisiana, we researched a “Community Pharmacy” that was run by the St. Vincent De Paul Society. Community members donated money to it, nursing homes provided left over medication after someone, say, died, others donated over-the-counter medication… There’s no reason the latter couldn’t work in every county in the country. For more on our Healthcare Plan, which is somewhat creatively outside -the-lines, see…

Yesterday marked another yearly anniversary of House Bill 9066 that set up Japanese internment during World War II. Some 100,000 Japanese Americans were interred in barracks behind barbed wire fences. In retrospect, history has proved this wrong. But is it over? Immigrants are ‘interred’ in cages at our Southern border. Scores of kids are “interred” in gang war zones in our inner cities. And on, and on… Problem here is, those contributing to this actively, or through indifference, may well find themselves ‘interred’ in an even worse place in the afterlife.