Marvin Jacobson
In 2017 we saw and heard more rhetoric about issues than action on issues facing our nation. The year will be best remembered positively for the “Me Too” movement that swept the nation like a wave, removing sexual predators from positions of power in government and business.
The passing of the tax cut scam was the most damaging to our democracy in 2017. It bordered on insanity, to cut taxes, when we had corporations making record profits, stock market at a record high, crumbling infrastructure, low unemployment and a $20 trillion debt. With our income inequality gap approaching levels never seen in our nation or in any industrialized nation in the world, the bill widens the gap. In the 2018 elections we must vote to prevent the destruction of Social Security and Medicare to pay for tax cuts for the richest among us.
In 2018 the midterm elections will provide us with the opportunity to begin the process of returning the control of our government from the wealthiest among us to we the people. It will require the working class to become more involved in the electoral process, by running for office, turning out to vote, becoming better informed and voting for their own economic interests. The “Me Too” movement by women demonstrated the power we have when we unite for a common cause.
In 2018 we need a push to remove one of the last vestiges of slavery that has come back to haunt us, twice in the last five elections. The Electoral College has its origins in slavery and was created solely to give slave holding states a stronger voice in electing the president. Slaves could not vote, but were counted as 3⁄5 of a person in determining the number of representatives each state had. The artificially-created Electoral College only benefited slave holding states. Slaves would not have had any impact in a direct vote for president, so it was created to please and get slave holding states to vote for the Constitution.
In no other nation that holds elections can the person with the most votes lose an election and it is the only election in our nation that this is possible. In the 2016 election, the candidates running against Trump had 7.4 million more votes. In the last election Florida voters cast 9,165,556 votes for president. With 29 electoral votes they had 1 electoral vote for every 316,000 votes cast. Alaska voters cast 246,588 votes and with three electoral votes they had one electoral vote for every 82,999 votes cast. This alone should make it unconstitutional.
We also need a movement to bring common sense to how we regulate guns. Everyone who wants to keep their six-shooters and hunting rifles should be able to do so. But, we need to draw the line on the type of military grade weapons that are available to the general public with their capability to fire hundreds of rounds a minute. In the District of Columbia v Heller Supreme Court case in 2008, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 decision and said the right to bear arms is not an unlimited right. The case gave individuals the right to bear arms, but gave the government the right to place restrictions on who could buy and bear arms and where.
In the 2018 elections we should make providing health care for everyone a priority and a referendum on whether we should have health care for all. We already provide health care for those over 65, our veterans and we subsidize the health insurance employers provide with tax write offs. We also provide a world class 911 system as a first line of emergency help for almost everyone in our nation. Lake County runs an exceptionally good 911 system that provides our citizens with a sense of security when a health issue occurs at any time of the day.