The American Beer Party

Forget the Tea Partiers. It’s time for real change for real Americans, and that means we need The American Beer Party.

The American Beer Party will support no currently organized or disorganized political party, and that pretty much covers all of them. Current political parties in America consist of the Party of Maybe and the Party of No. It’s time for a Party of Let’s Do It.

We need leaders who will shed their inhibitions and fears and stand up for what is right for all America. Beer is very good at helping one shed those things, and that’s why it’s our guiding force.

Americans are a diverse people who have been forced into two economic classes: those with lots of money, and those with little or no money. Before Ronald Reagan destroyed the "ability to pay" income tax system in America with his trickle down economic theory that pretty much stated we ought to give the money to the rich folks and they’d have enough crumbs falling from their table to sustain the rest of us.

If you’re a beer drinker, that didn’t work out too well for you, did it? After you take a moment or two to buy something from the ads that help pay the bills, I’ll be talking about some truth we ought to be holding self-evident.

We Hold These Truths…

Beer drinkers are the backbone of the American economy. They are American citizens who work locally, if they can find a job, to better provide for themselves, their families and the economy in general. Money earned is converted to stuff bought. Stuff bought helps other people have jobs who buy stuff to help other people have jobs.

Corporate America, led by Microsoft’s Bill Gates, screwed beer drinkers by saying foreigners needed to be brought over here on special visas so they could work. Every person brought over on a visa took a job away from an American citizen. But corporate America wasn’t completely satisfied with that, so they began setting up offices in other countries and shutting down offices where American citizens were working. Just ask yourself this: when was the last time you called Customer Service and got someone you could actually understand.

Now, before you get your drawers in a wad, I’m not against people in other countries bettering themselves. I’m more than happy to take in the tired and poor when we can afford it. We could afford it prior to trickle down economics. Right now, America is sitting on 10% unemployment, actually more than that when you count the folks that have already lost their unemployment money. It’s way too easy to say those folks are not trying very hard to find a job, you know, if you haven’t walked in their shoes. It’s been months since there was positive job numbers. When you have more people looking for fewer jobs, it’s pretty much a given that all of them will not find work.

Universal Health Care for All Americans?

Not having health care for all American citizens is really putting us at an economic disadvantage in the global economy. American employers are paying large amounts of money to assist their employees with health care costs. Their competitors in other parts of the world don’t have that cost, and it is a cost that must be figured into the price of American products and services. Employees are not only paying for health insurance but are also paying out-of-control health care costs with money that could be used for many other things like food, clothing, shelter and beer.

Yes, there should be an excise tax on sugary and fatty products. Yes, there should be a tax on high fat content fast food items. Our government did it to "help" Americans quit smoking. Why not do it to help Americans lose weight? Overweight people are just as much a drain on health care as smokers.

What we don’t need is mandatory health insurance coverage for people who cannot afford it. Simply get rid of Medicaid and expand Medicare to cover everyone. How much would that save in administrative costs alone? Require electronic billing for all claims. That has been proven to reduce costs by up to a dollar or more PER claim. Figure a few hundred thousand claims per day and the savings add up quickly. And I wonder how much the savings would be simply by getting rid of the military health care program?

Curb Your Evangelicalism

America ought not be trying to spread democracy to lands that don’t want it. Nations whose governments are based wholly or in part on religion are not candidates for democracy. Yes, we had a revolution in America to tear ourselves away from the control of another country. That does not mean we can have revolutions in other countries because they cannot do it themselves. Going to war in Iraq was as big a mistake as was going to war in Vietnam. And, come on, let’s admit we blew it in Afghanistan. President Obama, like Richard Nixon, said he wanted to correct the "war situation" and, like Richard Nixon, hasn’t gotten it done yet. It took Nixon into his second term before Vietnam was cleared of American soldiers, if it was ever fully cleared of them. I’m of the mind that Obama might not get that second term if things don’t start happening to help Joseph and Josephine Six Pack.

This is just the first of many rants and raves that will become The American Beer Party Movement.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Marriage Equality.

Click here to read American Beer Party – Supreme Court Debacle.