I think many Americans can sense that something is not quite right in our society these days. The health care industry is overly complicated and too expensive, the big industries have too much control over our government and our laws, and in general I think many Americans feel like our government fails to put the general welfare of the people, and our environment, at the forefront of their priorities.   

This is a huge, complicated mess, and most people get overwhelmed thinking about it. The forces at play are major corporations and politicians which leaves most individuals with little options except hope.

This blog is an effort to break down these issues into core elements and search for a simple way to make a big difference in a short amount of time. I have a simple solution, that if adopted, could eliminate health care problems and would allow ‘We The People’ to hold our government accountable for the general welfare of all Americans.

This first writing will outline the basic idea, and in subsequent writings I will go into more detail about downstream implications.  

I believe the root cause plaguing American society today is:

Our government does not hold Industry accountable for the issues caused by the products they create.

Two quick examples of this:

1. Many of the products we consume into our bodies end up causing most of our health care problems. Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer make up the majority of health care issues in this country and although these diseases have various causes, the major contributors to these diseases are in the products we consume, namely alcohol, sugar, and chemically treated foods.
2. Our environment is polluted with one-time-use plastics. The plastics companies produce this stuff by the billions of tons, and today almost everything we buy is wrapped in some type of plastic that we throw in the trash, which ends up in landfills and our oceans, and is beginning to be a major problem for people and all life on this planet.

‘We The People’ are left to deal with these issues on our own, with little to no help from the industry that created these products. So, not only do we tax our people to sustain our armed forces and maintain our society’s infrastructure, but we also must spend taxpayer money to battle the problems that many consumer products are creating in our society, and we are losing that battle.

What if there was a way to make Industry share the responsibility for the problems their products create?

Actually, we already have a system in place that would work. The DEA uses Drug Schedules to classify controlled substances.

From the DEA website: Drug Scheduling (dea.gov)
“for example, Schedule I drugs have a high potential for abuse and the potential to create severe psychological and/or physical dependence. As the drug schedule changes– Schedule II, Schedule III, etc., so does the abuse potential– Schedule V drugs represents the least potential for abuse.”

What if we created Schedules for all Consumer Products?

We could have Schedules for ‘legal’ drugs. Per the existing Schedules for controlled substances, a Schedule 1 drug has no currently accepted medical use and high potential for abuse. Alcohol and cigarettes are just two products that would be immediately classified as a ‘Schedule 1’ legal drug. As the schedules get higher, the products are better for the general welfare of our population.

Schedules for Plastics would focus on the plastic material being put into consumer markets. Does it break down into molecules that harm the earth? One-time-use plastics would be Schedule 1, because they contribute significantly to the pollution of our planet and are harmful to the earth. Plastics that are meant for longer term use, like a vehicle or a kayak, are made of more stable chemicals and would have higher schedules.

If we had all consumer products classified into Schedules, then our government could tax those industries with respect to the Schedules of the products they create. We would need an independent organization, like EWG for example, to be a responsible party and manage our Schedules with honesty and integrity.
: Environmental Working Group – Know your choices | Environmental Working Group (ewg.org)

Imagine if a small amount of money from every pack of cigarettes put into a store went into a fund to help fight cancer. A small portion of every alcoholic beverage on a shelf went to fight heart disease. A small portion of every plastic bottle of water went to help battle pollution.

Of course, Industries would transfer the additional cost to the consumers. This would cause a simple, yet critical, shift in how Americans think about spending money.

After all, our true vote in this country, is with our dollar. Every single day, we vote with our dollar, and that makes a bigger difference than any vote you make at a polling office for a government official. Every dollar we spend, supports the industry we buy products from, and that runs our economy.

This simple shift would cause a ripple affect across America, and into our government, that would benefit the general welfare of all Americans.

For example:

Industries would start investing in technologies that create products with higher schedules. Once their products increased in Schedule, that would reduce their tax burden and increase profits. This puts the incentive for industry in the right place and shifts the primary focus of our industry towards creating products that contribute to the general welfare of the population.

This industry shift would create a whole new army of jobs across all industries, all focused on creating products with higher schedules. This would also shift the focus of our colleges and produce varying new college degrees to support this new shift in technology, management, inspection, and classification.  

This would start to normalize the cost difference between products with high schedules versus low schedules. Businesses would be taxed less on higher schedule products, and they could sell them for less. Similarly, businesses would be taxed more on lower scheduled products, so they would have to charge more to make the same profit. This would stimulate our economy for small businesses that produce superior products with higher schedules. At the same time, it would burden huge chain stores that import cheap products, with minimal quality, so they can sell them to us for less and maximize their profits. One example result is that Fast Food would cost the same as more wholesome food.

One of the biggest benefits of this idea is that it will change the focus of our government and more importantly our politicians we choose to represent us. When the schedules decide how much money industry will need to pay the government, that severs ties to many of our existing corrupt laws designed to benefit certain industries that contribute most to political parties in control. Schedules on Products would allow America to see which products our elected officials are supporting, with our money. If they spend their time making deals with companies that produce Schedule 1 products, it will start to look like their intentions are not with and for the people of this country. It will look good in the eyes of the people when politicians support industries focused on products with higher schedules. Over time, this will shift our political landscape so that it is more focused on what is best for general welfare of our society and environment.

This gives all Americans a new language to relate to the products we consume. Product schedules become something that Americans think about before they spend their dollar (or cast their vote). Over time, product schedules become a part of our daily language, and how we relate to the products available in our stores, and that’s when the real change will be felt in our society.

Another benefit of this approach is that it provides a common platform where all activist groups in America can combine forces. Most of us are familiar with isolated activism efforts to stand up to big industry, like fighting for clean food & water, less chemicals in farming and agriculture, clean energy, and an environment we can give to our kids. These isolated movements are usually no match for big industry with deep pockets and a staff of lawyers on hand. If all activist groups in America had a common cause to unite behind, then they would have a fighting chance. I think all activist groups can get behind an idea like ‘Schedules for Society’ and create a movement, or maybe even a long-overdue revolution, in our country.  

Interestingly, the Founding Fathers of the United States thought about this long ago. The United States Constitution uses language that supports this idea of schedules for consumer products, and actually gives congress the right to lay taxes on industry per those schedules.

~ I think this lays a good foundation for more in-depth articles on the various facets of his idea and how it might look if implemented in our society, and potentially other places in the world.