The Essence of Politics

Saturday, August 15, 2009

My Perspecitve: Michigan’s Healthcare Reform

While there is a national debt brewing over healthcare reform, there is also one brewing right here in the state of Michigan. Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon, D-Redford, recently introduced a new health care proposal that he claims would save taxpayers $700 million-$900 million. However not everyone is in support of Dillon’s plan. John Freeman is the Michigan director of Health Care for America Now and he's also a former state representative from Oakland County as well a potential Democratic candidate for governor in 2010 and he says he is disappointed in Dillons’s proposal. Freeman, who has worked passionately to reform Michigan’s broken health care system, says that Dillon's plan would create a greater burden for hardworking men and women. Dillon's plan disregards existing contracts with firefighters and law enforcement officers. It cuts benefits for teachers, undermines the right to collectively bargain, does nothing to ease the burden of health care costs on businesses, and won't cover a single uninsured Michigander.

Freeman goes on to say to that even more troubling, the numbers simply don't add up. To start, Dillon states that Michigan faces a $1.7-billion deficit in fiscal year 2010. Later, he says that number is $1.3 billion. How can we expect the deficit to be solved when the speaker himself doesn't know how big it is? To come up with its figures, the plan relies on implausible assumptions and estimates of estimates. Dillon asserts that 69 of 83 counties in Michigan represents 50%-75% of county health care costs -- all without knowing the numbers for the other 14 counties. Such guesswork is an unsound foundation for any policy. Central to the proposal is an insistence that economies of scale -- the idea that creating a larger buyer will give leverage to reduce costs -- will save the government $100 million-$200 million. Certainly it's true that economies of scale can lower prices -- that's how name-brand retailers offer lower prices than mom-and-pop stores -- but the extent of the savings is overstated. Michigan already pools the insurance of 55,000 state workers. Any additional savings are questionable at best.

Just as Dillon's math is off-target, so are his attacks on state employees. Severing contracts on a whim is no way to do business. Nor is undercutting the right of workers to bargain collectively. It smears our educators, using straw-man tactics to drum up a war against teachers' benefits. Michigan's teachers deserve better. Fact is, public employees -- whether a teacher in the classroom, a police officer on the beat, or a construction worker repairing I-75 -- have shared in the sacrifices, just like every other worker in Michigan. To allege that teachers' health plans are primarily to blame for the budget crisis is blaming the victim. Health care reform is vital for our state, and Freeman’s devoted his time and energy to help deliver the changes President Barack Obama is proposing. With 1.3 million uninsured Michiganders, we need to focus on how to enable more, not fewer, people to pay their medical bills. With Michigan businesses struggling to pay their bills, we need to help reduce health costs by increasing competition. We need to ensure that no citizen is forced to choose between filling the grocery cart and filling a prescription. “That's why the Dillon prescription is one we can't afford to fill,” says Freeman.

However not everyone believes Dillon’s plan is a bad idea. Kyle Olson, the vice president of the Muskegon-based Education Action Group (educationactiongroup.org), a nonprofit organization advocating spending reform in public schools says “Michigan lawmakers should give House Speaker Andy Dillon's proposal to create a statewide health insurance plan for all public employees a hard look for one good reason: what it would do for Michigan's cash-strapped public schools.” By putting teachers and other school staff into a statewide insurance pool, the topic of health insurance would no longer be a point of discussion during teacher contract negotiations around the state. That alone would save our schools millions of dollars per year. State law currently says health insurance must be a negotiable topic between school boards and labor unions. For years, the Michigan Education Association has used this law to pressure school boards into purchasing employee health coverage from the Michigan Education Special Services Association (MESSA), an insurance carrier with close financial ties to the MEA.

Olson says, “The problem is that MESSA insurance is very expensive. In the past, when schools were in better financial shape, they could afford to pay the high MESSA premiums and keep their teachers happy.” But now, with nearly every district in the state facing six- or seven-figure budget deficits, many school boards have been attempting to drop MESSA coverage in favor of less expensive plans. But the MEA won't hear of that. In district after district, the union has fought to maintain MESSA coverage with sidewalk protests, unruly behavior at school board meetings, threats to go on strike or to lead recall efforts against school board members who oppose MESSA. In the Wayne-Westland district last fall, teachers actually walked out for four days to protect MESSA coverage. In most districts, the protest tactics have been successful, and school boards have simply resigned themselves to the extra expense of MESSA coverage.

So one should ask, “Why is the MEA so militant about keeping MESSA coverage in every district possible?” Olson says, “Because MESSA contributes millions of dollars to the union every year.” According to state insurance records, MESSA has transferred more than $10 million to the MEA over the past two years in the form of "marketing fees." In other words, the MEA kicks up business for MESSA during school contract negotiations, and then gets a cut of the profit. And MESSA has more than enough profits to share. According to state insurance records, it currently has fund reserves in excess of $360 million. That's money that was extorted from our public schools by union negotiators who insist on MESSA insurance. Therefore Dillon's insurance plan would end this legal form of extortion and free our public schools from the financial shackles of MESSA. Money would be saved, labor relations would improve, and our schools would be free to increase spending on their top priority: the students.

Still there are others such as Mike Duggan, the president and CEO of the Detroit Medical Center who say, “Unified state employee health plan would be better than what we have now.” Therefore no one can argue that we can’t do nothing when it comes to healthcare reform and while Mr. Olson and Mr. Freeman might disagree on how to get there, we can’t allow this opportunity for Dillon’s plan not to happen. What Mr. Freeman doesn’t understand is what other plans are out there. While Dillon’s plan might not be perfect, Mr. Olson feels that it should at least be considered this year and worked to make it as good as it can be. Mr. Duggan on the hand says, “Anything is better than we have now and he wants some plan to pass that improves healthcare in this state somehow.”

Imagine pushing your loaded cart to the grocery store counter, only to have the cashier tell you she doesn't know what you owe because each customer is charged a different price on each item. But she tells you to go ahead and take the food home and the accountants will do the calculations and mail you a bill in a month. Would any rational person operate a business that way? That's exactly how we now run health care in America. When Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon says there is potentially $900 million of savings by combining the health care plans of Michigan's 3,000 local governments, you have to ask: Can there really be that much waste in the system? The short answer is: yes. Duggan says, “This year, DMC alone will treat employees of more than 500 different local governments: cities, townships, villages, counties, school districts, road commissions, drain commissions, courts, etc. Each of those 500 governments negotiated their own health care plan with their employees, leaving DMC to figure out how to bill potentially 500 different plans with varying coverage, co-pays, and restrictions.”

Duggan goes on to say, “Then, each private doctor's office sends its own bills, and each faces the same complications, often spending 10%-15% of earnings trying to collect for the services provided.” So one needs to ask what about the process to arrive at the health care plans offered by all 3,000 local governments in Michigan? Three-thousand local officials, working on their own or with a hired consultant, each do their best to negotiate with the insurance companies. And you wonder why costs keep rising and each year Michigan's public employees have to keep paying a greater share of health care expenses out of their own pockets. So far, Michigan's public employee unions have fought this proposal out of the fear that one single plan for all 800,000 employees would be too inflexible and could unfairly be used to coerce concessions from all employees. I agree with them. People should have choices when it comes to health coverage. But they don't need 3,000 choices.

That is why Duggan says, “The essential premise of Speaker Dillon's proposal is absolutely correct: If all 800,000 employees banded together in a single negotiation with insurance companies, hospitals and doctors, there is no doubt they could cut waste and get more coverage for fewer dollars. If the public employee unions and Dillon would find a middle ground, Michigan could get the best of both worlds.” According to Duggan that would be a state board consisting of administrators and union leaders that could develop a small number of plans, say four, and solicit bids from insurance companies to get the best prices. The plans could range from generous to basic. Then each local government could negotiate with its unions which of the four plans would be offered. The plan that's best for the Village of Beulah may not be the right one for West Bloomfield Public Schools or the Genesee County Road Commission. Each local union would bargain for the best plan for its members. The state would not be able to impose concessions on local public employees.

“But there's no doubt taxpayers can buy more coverage for fewer dollars if you cut the administrative waste with a single streamlined billing process and then competitively bid the service to those insurers offering the broadest coverage at the lowest prices,” says Duggan. So it should be no doubt there is a real urgency in the state of Michigan to reform healthcare and an even greater urgency for the nation. While Michigan's budget is artificially subsidized by federal stimulus funds through 2010 but in 2011, we face much greater budget cuts and very likely a renewed effort to make public employees pay a greater share of the health care expenses out of their own pockets. So if we were to start a new public employee health care system, no one would possibly design the mess we have today. We have a chance now for a bipartisan effort to make real change for the better. If we don't seize this chance, public employees and taxpayers will all pay the price in 2011? So it should clear that healthcare reform in Michigan must happen now as the debate for healthcare is still hot in the nation. We can’t afford to do nothing.

As President Obama has said in regards to the national debate on healthcare, the status quo is just not acceptable. We can’t just do nothing on healthcare because it could result in an even greater disastrous problem in the future that the state of Michigan can’t manage and afford. So Michigan’s healthcare reform must happen now if our state is to start making cost saving initiatives that balance future budgets. So let the dialogue begin that will result in a bi-partisan solution for healthcare reform in the state of Michigan.

No comments:

Jay-Z - History



(Jay-Z - History)Jay-Z - History with Lyrics

LYRICS : [Chorus: Cee-lo]
Now that all the smoke is gone
(Lighter)
And the battle's finally won
(Gimme a lighter)
Victory (Lighters up) is finally ours
(Lighters up)
History, so long, so long
So long, so long

[Verse 1: Jay-Z]
In search of victory, she keeps eluding me
If only we could be together momentarily
We can make love and make history
Why won't you visit me? until she visit me
I'll be stuck with her sister, her name is defeat
She gives me agony, so much agony
She brings me so much pain, so much misery
Like missing your last shot and falling to your knees
As the crowd screams for the other team
I practice so hard for this moment, victory don't leave
I know what this means, I'm stuck in this routine
Whole new different day, same old thing
All I got is dreams, nobody else can see
Nobody else believes, nobody else but me
Where are you victory? I need you desperately
Not just for the moment, to make history

[Chorus: Cee-lo]
Now that all the smoke is gone
(Lighters)
And the battle's finally won
(Lighters)
Victory is finally ours
(Yeah)
History (yeah), so long, so long
So long, so long

[Verse 2: Jay-Z]
So now I'm flirting with death, hustling like a G
While victory wasn't watching took chances repeatedly
As a teenage boy before acne, before I got proactiv I couldn't face she
I just threw on my hoodie and headed to the street
That's where I met success, we'd live together shortly
Now success is like lust, she's good to the touch
She's good for the moment but she's never enough
Everybody's had her, she's nothing like V
But success is all I got unfortunately
But I'm burning down the block hoppin' in and out of V
But something tells me that there's much more to see
Before I get killed because I can't get robbed
So before me success and death ménage
I gotta get lost, I gotta find V
We gotta be together to make history

[Chorus: Cee-lo]
Now that all the smoke is gone
(Lighters. Up.)
And the battle's finally won
(Lighter. Up.)
Victory is finally ours
(Lighters. Up.)
History, so long, so long
So long, so long

[Verse 3: Jay-Z]
Now victory is mine, it tastes so sweet
She's my trophy wife, you're coming with me
We'll have a baby who stutters repeatedly
We'll name him history, he'll repeat after me
He's my legacy, son of my hard work
Future of my past, he'll explain who I be
Rank me amongst the greats, either 1, 2, or 3
If I ain't number one then I failed you victory
Ain't in it for the fame that dies within weeks
Ain't in it for the money, can't take it when you leave
I wanna be remembered long after you grieve
Long after I'm gone, long after I breathe
I leave all I am in the hands of history
That's my last will and testimony
This is much more than a song, it's a baby shower
I've been waiting for this hour, history you ours


[Chorus: Cee-lo (2x)]
Now that all the smoke is gone
And the battle's finally won
Victory is finally ours
History, so long, so long
So long, so long



Man in the Mirror--By Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson - Man in the mirror

I'm gonna make a change,
for once im my life
It's gonna feel real good,
gonna make a diference
Gonna make it right...

As I, turn up the collar on
my favorite winter coat
This wind is blowing my mind
I see the kids in the streets,
with not enought to eat
Who am I to be blind?
Pretending not to see their needs

A summer disregard,a broken bottle top
And a one man soul
They follow each other on the wind ya' know
'Cause they got nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)

I've been a victim of a selfish kind of love
It's time that I realize
That there are some with no home, not a nickel to loan
Could it be really me, pretending that they're not alone?

A willow deeply scarred, somebody's broken heart
And a washed-out dream
(Washed-out dream)
They follow the pattern of the wind ya' see
'Cause they got no place to be
That's why I'm starting with me
(Starting with me!)

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm asking him to change his ways
(Ooh!)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
(If you wanna make the world a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm asking him to change his ways
(Change his ways - ooh!)
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that..
(Take a look at yourself and then make that..)
CHANGE!

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
(Man in the mirror - Oh yeah!)
I'm asking him to change his ways
(Better change!)
No message could have been any clearer
(If you wanna make the world a better place)


Michael Jackson - Man in the mirror

A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cook






It's been a long time coming but a change is surely going to come in America and the World! I am the Future of America and the World and that is the message that each of us must carry with us each and every day that we wake up on Earth! I am the Future! You are the Future! We are the Future of America and the World! That is way every election is important--primaries, special elections and general! So vote every year and hold our politicians accountable. Hold our political officials accountable by writing them, calling them and making sure they attend meetings that we the people have. "The Time for Change is not Now but Right Now!"

"EmPOWERment By Any Means Necessary" should be our anthem and should be our creed as we make the positive differences in America and the world that so many people beg for and hungry for year after year! A Change is Gonna Come, A Change is Gonna Come, that's what we must say as we say "God grants us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, Courge to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference" each morning before we go about the task of making a positive change in America and the world a reality.



Born In The U.S.A. - Bruce Springsteen


“When will people realize that we are Americans first and foremost, not Democrats or Liberals, not Republicans or Conservatives, not Independents or moderates. We are Americans. Stop putting a political party above America and stop putting any politican above America. America succeeds because of us the people holding our government responsible no matter the political party because the main two political parties are to blame for the condition America is in."—Hodari P.T. Brown

America with its flaws and all is a country I am proud to have been born in. America is not perfect but my love for it is perfect. That’s why all Americans must realize that we are all Americans. In fact we are Americans first and foremost. We are not Democrats or Republicans. We are Americans.

We are not Muslims, Christians or Jews. We are Americans. Too many times we recognize our differences with others rather than appreciating our similarities which are, we are Americans. We are Americans first and foremost, no matter if we were born here or moved here legally. We are all Americans, here in this country to make not only our lives better but the lives of other Americans better so future Americans can enjoy the rights and freedoms that make us all Americans.

We are all Americans. We are one party united under God. We are Americans and this is the only political party that matters. We are Americans and this is our country so let’s make sure that we make America better than how we found it so future Americans can live prosperous and joyous lives. We are Americans and must not ever forget that.

America will prosper as long we make sure we are doing our part to make it prosper and that means we can’t put any political party or politician above America. Long live America forever and long live America’s service to the world. Together, America and the world will prosper for future generations to enjoy America and the world we live in.


Lift Every Voice and Sing


This video of the ' Negro National Anthem' was originally screened at the historic African-American Church Inaugural Ball in Washington, DC on January 18th, 2009. Many of the esteemed individuals featured in this video in attendance and we presented with the ' Keepers of the Flame' award for the monumental contributions to social justice.

This version of the song was performed by the Grace Baptist Church Cathedral Choir, conducted by Derrick James. The video was produced and donated by Ascender Communications, LLC (www.ascender-c.com) at the request of The Balm In Gilead, Inc.

If I Was President--Wyclef Jean




If I was President that is the people's anthem. We all have ideas of what we can do as President and through this website, we will fulfill our deam as a people!

Somethings Gotta Give--Big Boi ft Mary J Blige



Somethings Gotta Give people and it begins today for all us to make sure that something is us. We the people are sick and tired of suffering. Where is our piece of the Dream that so many people dead for so that we all could see today. This is our time people to change America and the world so that the Next Generation has a better future than the past we inherited.

This is our call to service. This isn't about one political candidate or one political figure. This is about us as people coming together to finally leave up to our potential and achieving the great feats that those before us have achieved. This is our moment to lead our nation and our world to greater heights.

Somethings gotta give people and it starts with us the people making it happen. We have to improve our education system in America. We have to rid the world of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We have to go to the streets and lift a hand to another in order to decrease poverty in this world. We have to take a stand today and make sure that the future of America and the world is brighter than it has ever been.

Somethings Gotta Give and that is why we must "Remember Each One, Reach One and Teach One so America's future and the World's future continues to prosper."

John Legend - "If You're Out There"


If you're out there than you need to get started in helping to change America and the world. The world and America won't change until you get involved in making the changes you want to see in this world. If you're out there, than you must know that tomorrow started now and today started yesterday so you are behind in helping to the change. If you are tired of hatred, racism, poverty, war, and violence than the time to change it is now. If you want universal health care, world peace, democracy for every nation, equal rights, and happiness for all than you must get involved now to help the save world.

You must believe in the change that you want to see and you must act on making that change a reality. If you're out there than say it aloud and show the rest of America and the world that you're out here to make a real positive change in the communities we stay in. If you're out there than get involved now. I'm calling every women and men to join me as we take back our country right here, right now. If you're out there than the future started yersterday and we are already late so we have lots of work to do but I know we can do it together as one.

YES WE CAN



Yes We Can accomplish anything that we set out to do! We don't need charismatic or inspirational leaders to believe in ourselves and to take responsiblity for our own faith, we just need each other. Yes We Can build a new America and a new world if each of us would take action now to make the changes that we want to see in the world. Yes We Can control government by holding our political officials accountable for their actions by calling them out when they don't pass legislation that supports the common good of all man and by voting in every election to ensure that we have people representing the people locally, state wide, nationally and in the world.

Yes We Can be great! Yes We Can be what we want to be! Yes We Can be glorious in not only America but the world! Yes We can put action behind our worlds and change the world starting right here, right now! Yes We Can as Republicans, Democrats and Independents become one as we freely think about our fellow men and women and make decisions that will be in the best interest of all people and not one single group.

Yes We Can be the change that we want to see in the world! Yes We Can show the world that the youth are ready to lead! Yes We Can put our egos, our social economic statuses, our religions, our educational statuses and our skin color to the side for the better good of the world! Yes We Can be Greater than we have ever been and help others be Greater than they have ever be!

YES WE CAN and YES WE WILL BE VICTORIOUS IN ALL THAT WE DO! YES WE CAN, no matter what others may say, we will be glorious! YES WE WILL and YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!

YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN is what will be sung from every mountaintop, every riverbank, every household, every school yard, every factory, every sporting event, every college campus and even every place you can imagine in the world is where YES WE CAN, will be said and heard!

YES WE CAN!

Keep On Pushing - Curtis Mayfield & the Impressions


Wake Up People! No matter who is elected to any public office, we have to “Keep On Pushing” as a people to make sure they don’t leave us in a worst state than what they inherited. We as a people have to “Keep On Pushing” to make a difference in the lives of others. We have to have an “EmPOWERment By Any Means Necessary” attitude as we continue to push our agenda that we the people deserve and want better. We have to “Keep On Pushing” to bring about change in a positive way that will benefit all Americans no matter their age, their religion or skin color. We have to “Keep On Pushing” to bring about change that will improve our education system, improve our military, improve our national security, improve our healthcare system and improve our economy. We have to “Keep On Pushing” to bring about change that will leave America’s future in a better than how we found it and that will leave the world’s future in a better state than we imagined we could live it. We have to “Keep On Pushing” to make life better for our neighborhoods, our families and even our quote on quote enemies. We have to “Keep On Pushing” to inspire, to uplift and to guide those who need help spiritually, physically and mentally. We have to “Keep On Pushing ” so that our lives, our future generation’s lives and the lives of those who came before us does not die in vein.

“Keep on Pushing”

A War For Your Soul

A War For Your Soul-regular version from Erisai Films on Vimeo.


The moment has come for us as a nation of people to finally wake up and realize that our destiny and fate in society has rests on our shoulders. We cannot allow the forces of evil and darkness to drain us out. We have to continue to overcome all odds in order to make the future of our nation better and the future of future generations of Americans better. We have to continue to pray to our Lord and we have to continue to uplift each other in prayer as well as take action against those things that are trying to destroy us. We have to stand up once and for all and be the future that we want to be. Now is our time and we shall do together by any means necessary.

This video was created to inspire young African-Americans not to fall prey to some of the problems they face in society. The use of the voice "Master of Darkness" represents evil, which is where the blame of all problems should be placed, and not on any one group of people. This video should not to be used to divide people (Black & White), there are images of heroes that are white in this video, and there are images of Black & White coming together with the words of Dr. King in the background. Some of the images from the past can be unsettling, but they are used to show all Americans how far we have come, and how far we still have to go. This film is being strategically placed in school systems, churches and youth orgs around the country, in hope of helping a lost generation of kids that we as Americans have forgotten. As fellow Americans we must continue to love each other, and take that love and spread it to the rest of the world. **THIS VIDEO IS NOT FOR SALE & I AM NOT ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR THE FILM, I ONLY WANT THE MESSAGE TO REACH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT ANY HIDDEN POLITICAL OR FINANCIAL AGENDA.

Sitting On the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding



"The time for sitting is over! The time for action is now! The time for hope without action is hopeless! The time for change without a positive attitude is a change that we can't believe in! We need change that is positive of helping all people! Our time for action is now, our time for hope is now, our time for change is now and our time to believe that we can do whatever we set our minds to is not now but right now!"

STAR SPANGLED BANNER


The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key

O say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming;
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?


On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner; O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave,
From the terror of flight and the gloom of the grave;
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!


O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land,
Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just.
And this be our motto— "In God is our trust; "
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.

Black President



Our Time is not now but Right Now! Our Time has finally come to change the world not now but Right Now! If you don't believe that we can change the world than watch as we do it by changing your mind into believing in us and what we can do! This is OUR TIME RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!

FIGHT THE POWER



We got to FIGHT THE POWER! We can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch injustices take place. We can no longer sit by and allow our right to vote to become unexercised. We must FIGHT THE POWER for our past, present and future! We can no longer allow our rights to be oppressed and our voice to become drained by the powers at be. We must FIGHT THE POWER and show that we have a lot to say that needs to be heard by the mainstream media. We must FIGHT THE POWER and live up to our potential as dynamic, unbelievable and phenomenal people.


We must not believe the hype but we must become the hype. We are not Harriett Tubman, Marcus Garvey, MLK, Malcolm X, Booker T. Washington, Carter G. Woodson, W.E.B. DuBois, the Black Panther Party, SNCC, or any other activists but we are the fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunties, and relatives of those who came before us to pave the way for us to FIGHT THE POWER! We are not next Generation of leaders who will not be honored and praised until they die but that’s the fight we accept. We are not fighting the power for glory or fame but we are fighting the power for just causes that most men and women will not understand until years or decades later.


We are fighting for our sisters and brothers in Darfur, Georgia, Iraq, Iran, China and Mexico. We are speaking for those who are poor and have no food or water. We are fighting for those who are sick and dying. We are fighting for universal healthcare across the world and human rights for all people. We are fighting for rich and poor! We must FIGHT THE POWER no matter how hard and tough the road may be. We must FIGHT THE POWER for a better today and an even greater tomorrow!


FIGHT THE POWER!

PEOPLE GET READY


“People Get Ready” our time is coming! We have come too far to turn back now. Our train is coming and it is coming in waves. “People Get Ready”, we don’t need a ticket but we need faith and the Lord will help guide us as we take back America and the world. “People Get Ready” our moment is now and we are ready to see the change we want in America and the world. All we got to do is have faith, hope and prosperity. “People Get Ready” to face your fears. “People Get Ready” to face your demons and the challenges of yesterday because today and tomorrow we will conquer & be victorious. “People Get Ready” a change is coming and our actions will make sure that change is a real positive change that lasts forever.


“People Get Ready” because we have had enough of just talking but now is our time to show action. “People Get Ready” to take back America and the world. “People Get Ready” to take back our communities and to make our streets safer and schools better. “People Get Ready” to make all our dreams come true. “People Get Ready” to see a better present for everyone and a better future for future generations. “People Get Ready” to live up to your potential and to help others live up to their own potential. “People Get Ready” to move past hatred, bigotry, racism and sexism. “People Get Ready” to fulfill the dreams of those who came before us and those who will come after us.


“People Get Ready” as we make our actions speak louder than our words. “People Get Ready” to make words mean something again as we put action to back up our rhetoric. “People Get Ready” as we embark on a new journey that will re-write America’s history as well as the world’s history. “People Get Ready” as we make the lives of others better and the lives of future generations better. “People Get Ready” because all we need is faith, hope and action to make this world a better place. “People Get Ready” to make a difference. “People Get Ready” to fulfill the American dream. “People Get Ready" to live out the American Dream as our founding fathers wanted us to live it. “People Get Ready” because our time is now, our moment is now and our moment in time to change America & the world is not now but right now. “People Get Ready” because a change is coming!


Alicia]
(Let me tell you now)
People get ready, there's a train comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
You don't need no ticket, you just thank the lord

[Lyfe]
People get ready, for a train to Jordan
Picking up passengers coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board them
There's hope for all among those loved the most

[Alicia]
There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner
Who would hurt all man kind just to save his own (believe me now)
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner
For there's no hiding place against the kingdoms throne

[Alicia & Lyfe]
So people get ready there's a train coming
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming,
You don't need no ticket, you just thank the lord


“PEOPLE GET READY!”

God Bless the U.S.A. by Lee Greenwood


Lee Greenwood-god bless the U.S.A