{"id":2538,"date":"2019-02-24T12:08:40","date_gmt":"2019-02-24T20:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/?p=2538"},"modified":"2019-02-26T10:29:51","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T18:29:51","slug":"ack-im-conservative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/?p=2538","title":{"rendered":"Ack! I’m conservative!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Erik Dolson
\n\"\"<\/span><\/em>I received a text from the Bernie Sanders people yesterday, asking if I was on board with his new campaign to become president. I told them \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

No, because <\/span> Bernie is stepping on his necktie. Elizabeth is scaring people. Too many others are saying “YES!” to fringe ideas.\u00a0Bill Clinton and Obama know what the message has to be. Is anyone listening?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Message: \u201cAmerica is facing challenges and is under attack. We need to face these challenges and attacks with policies that benefit ALL Americans, not just the top one percent (Republicans) or one-issue groups (Democrats). <\/span><\/p>\n

Owners of capital are investing in automation, not in people.<\/span> We are losing jobs to Asia, and to robots that build cars or pick crops.\u00a0<\/span>Our economy will founder if Americans don’t have work: social security, medicare, infrastructure, military, all depend on America working \u2014 and buying. To work, Americans need health, education, and infrastructure, not tarrifs, monopolies, and corrupt politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

America’s health care system is a relic left over from WWII. We have the most expensive medical care in the world, but our health is just average in terms of outcomes. Why? Because special interests take advantage of their power in Congress to line their pockets with our tax dollars.<\/span><\/p>\n

For solutions, Conservatives and Democrats can together look to the free market, but not the hoax we have today.\u00a0<\/span>Government should not get into the business of making medicine, Ms. Warren, but Americans should be able to buy the least expensive high quality medicine from any place in the world, Mr. Romney. <\/span><\/p>\n

We need to lower “barriers of entry” so new companies with new solutions can enter the market. Reduce patent periods. Enact policies that favor investment. And ultimately, either break up or restrict oligopolies that are killing Americans with their profiteering by jacking up prices by 200 percent, 500 percent, 1000 percent on drugs that have been around for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

Medicine should be tested by our government for quality and purity. It is not “bureaucratic” to ensure health and safety. How does it happen that blood pressure meds sold to millions of Americans were made with chemicals from China contaminated with carcinogens? How does it happen that insurers or pharmacy benefits managers did not tell patients these drugs were contaminated?<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to accept that robots have arrived and are taking what used to be high paying, middle class jobs. We can not prevent this, because other countries will outcompete us if we do. But we do need to guarantee that the information age does not lead to an age of American impoverishment, even more divided between those who own robots and those without jobs, which is where we’re headed now under Republican management. This will involve hard redefinitions, but if Americans don’t have income, businesses don’t have market.<\/span><\/p>\n

If we pull apart, we will fail. If we pull together, we are unbeatable. Everyone in America, Democrat and Republican, libertarian and socialist, has a stake in the outcome. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly, the Republican party has decided to lie to America by claiming that tax cuts were evenly distributed, that we can’t afford decent health care for all, that a rigged economy\u00a0 represents a fair and honest playing field. These arguments are the result of money buying power to rewrite laws in their favor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Democrats have tough disagreements. Gay rights versus a baker’s liberty to choose for whom to bake a cake. The difficult line between abortion and a woman’s right to choose. Individual freedom to achieve versus the right of an individual to fail, and expose all of us to the reality of being human.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything can’t be done, and Democrats should not try to do everything, or promise everything. But generally, the Democratic party offers the best chance of success for farmers in the midwest, for displaced factory workers in the northern states, for coal miners left out in the southeast, and for coastal cities facing massive disruption as the world grows hotter as the result of unfettered greed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But to develop a winning strategy, Democrats HAVE to listen to people outside their own tiny circles. So, no, Bernie, you are not the right candidate for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ideas are what Democrats have to sell. ALL of America is the market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Erik Dolson
\"\"<\/em>I received a text from the Bernie Sanders people yesterday, asking if I was on board with his new campaign to become president. I told them \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

No, because Bernie is stepping on his necktie. Elizabeth is scaring people. Too many others are saying “YES!” to fringe ideas.\u00a0Bill Clinton and Obama know what the message has to be. Is anyone listening?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Message: \u2026 Read more\u2026 → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[426,491,580,151,433,581,445],"class_list":["post-2538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-democrats","tag-medicare","tag-policies","tag-politics","tag-republicans","tag-social-security","tag-trump"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3mcOb-EW","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2538"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2563,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2538\/revisions\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/erikdolson.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}