Democracy. Capitalism. These words are icons for America. They are religious words. Sacred. If you favor any restraint of capitalism you are the embodiment of evil. If you favor any redistribution of the wealth created by capitalism, you are a dreaded communist, or lately, you are a terrorist.

Democracy. One man, one vote. That seems fair but the powerful do not like this idea. One man who thinks like them, one vote, is more like it. The majority of the wealthy have banded together to say that they are America. They say what benefits them and their billions, benefits America. They say that without their hardworking lifestyle and business acumen that America would fail. This is not true.

Unfortunately capitalism weighs negatively on democracy. One of the pillars of democracy is freedom of the press. But to have a voice that is heard, your newspaper, your radio station, your television station must make a profit and stay viable. Thus appeal to the masses is essential. Frankly, the masses are not that interested in foreign relations, relief for indigents, or even health care as long as they are personally covered by insurance. We are self centered. We believe if we are okay then other folks should take care of themselves. So we tune in to see Brittney Spears or whoever the latest blonde bimbo is, being hauled off to jail or rehab. That draws the viewers and raises commercial cash and allows just enough time for news coverage to cover a few sound bites that never explain the news.

If you want to understand an issue you had better be prepared to do some research. You first have to research the spin meisters because when you look up any subject now, the power brokers have flooded the internet with sites that appear to be unbiased with names like "the Heritage Foundation," which are actually spin factories, trying to influence any who are seaching for facts. It is perhaps more difficult than ever to get answers today. I have some questions though.

Why do we not have universal health care for our nation? Many nations have it. The Republicans lead us to believe that it would be ruinous for America. It hasn't ruined Iceland or Germany. If we are so great, why can't we do it better than other places? We spent a trillion dollars bombing and killing a million Iraqis. Could we spend a trillion on health care?

Why are there 10,000 people living on the streets in metro Atlanta? Women, children and old people as well as those good for nothings you might think deserve to be on the street. I passed an old man with a long, dirty white beard, pushing a shopping cart piled up with possessions along Highway 85 in Fayetteville the other day. Fayetteville! That's way out in suburbia. He was bundled up and redfaced, wearing untied boots, and carrying a garbage bag over his shoulder. Walking toward me, he rolled his cart in the lane of traffic and I had to move over to keep from hitting him. I guessed him to be about 50. He was white. I wondered what his story is. He has a story, a long one. Is it a story of addiction, of mental illness, of disaster and tragedy? Is he a veteran, haunted by memories of horror and brutality like my cousin? Many of these people used to have a place in mental institutions until Ronald Reagan stopped the flow of money for mental illness and put them on the street.

Why are more people per capita in jail in America than any other country? Are we safer because of it? Is it cheaper to jail them than educate them?

Why is the government defunding the public shool system? In Georgia, during the current governor's reign, funding for public schools has gone from 85% state funding to 55% state funding. You can hear the creaking and groaning that this is causing on the system. Property taxes are way, way up. In poor counties they can't make up the difference. Class sizes are sky rocketing. Music and Art have to go. The one thing that is proven to create more graduates and raise test scores is low class sizes. Republicans call that "throwing money at the problem." I want to say, "You better throw money at the problem. Lots of it. And soon." I'm convinced that Republicans have a national strategy of defunding public education in order to break the back of public school systems. Their goal is to use federal and state tax money to fund private education. They want to fund segregated schools, and not just white schools, but class schools and religious schools, schools to teach creationism as science, to rail against abortion, to insinuate that blacks are inferior and that jews are to be hated. What other purpose could defunding the schools have? It is not to make them better!

I have other questions, but you probably quit reading before now anyway since you are used to those cute little sound bites (bytes) on TV. Sorry no word on Brittney.