Laura Wells – Solutions

Florence Nightingale, social reformer, statistician (!), and the founder of modern nursing, said, “I attribute my success to this: I never gave or took an excuse.”

Her “no excuses” policy seems like a great lesson for everyone, but don’t get me wrong. I know very well there are reasons — systemic reasons — that affect every single one of us and make it difficult for us to succeed at what we dearly want to do. But today, let’s look at “no excuses” related to our politicians.

Some US states have what’s called a “trifecta.” That’s when one political party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Here is a website with a map showing the current trifecta states.

In case anyone thinks that turning from red to blue should solve all your state’s problems, look at California. It has had a blue super trifecta for more than 10 years, since 2011. A super trifecta means one political party has the governorship and super majorities in both houses of the legislature, which pretty much means they can do what they want to do.

So, Democratic leaders of California, why not implement policies that a majority of people would like? Policies that other countries less wealthy than ours already have.

• Create a great public education system with tuition-free higher education. California used to have that — let’s have it again.
• Implement public banking, and invest in the state and localities, not Wall Street.
• Tax the rich. Duh. What individual needs a space program more than people need food and housing?
• Initiate a real Green New Deal, with meaningful jobs creating a better environment.
• Establish the nation’s first statewide, improved Medicare for All healthcare system. With a surplus in California’s budget, and a pandemic in the land, why not? Besides saving lives, a better healthcare system will even save money.

In this two-party system, the favorite excuse of the Titanic Parties is that the other Titanic Party “won’t let me do what I really want to do!” When a state has a super trifecta, however, Florence Nightingale has the right approach: no excuses.

Why don’t they use their super power to do what their voters want? Unfortunately, they don’t believe they need to. They believe they’ll still get re-elected, whatever they do. Their voters have “nowhere else to go” except the other Titanic Party, so from their perspective they just need to be a little bit better than them. The “progressive” states and politicians set an upper limit of what we can even hope for or expect, for ourselves and for future generations.

Politicians hold those beliefs because there’s been a strong propaganda machine for decades whose lie can be summarized by the dogma of Margaret Thatcher. She was British prime minister in the 1980s and a great friend of US president Ronald Reagan. Her dogma was TINA: There Is No Alternative.

Many of us are working for all kinds of alternatives, from political parties like the Greens and Peace and Freedom, to more cooperative ways of living, eating healthier food, living more lightly on the earth, and creating more meaning in our lives and occupations. We prefer the belief of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, TATIANA: That Astonishingly There Is An Alternative!

In closing, here’s to health — of you individually, and of our systems, all across our states, nation, and world.