“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.” John F. Kennedy
America is financially imploding. Maybe that’s the best we can hope for until the next election, that is if America ever WAKES UP!
We, the people, are being shoved into an oligarchic society. Many of us see this and will not go silently into serfdom, but how the hell do we stop it?
We need to LOUDLY refer to Republicans as the Party of Greed while reminding ourselves that being a Democrat, the Party of Compassion, is for the people , by the people.
Time To Describe It The Way It Is
Reluctantly, we must confront reality. As contrary as it is to our values, affluent conservatives are blatantly conducting class warfare. It is affecting every element of our society, and the middle and lower classes are losing. During the 80s, rich nonworkers have won bigger, and workers have lost even bigger, than at any time since the depression.
Our disgust with the rich and powerful is outrage, not envy. The only “envy” involved is purely the invention of conservatives. They have effectively deflected the public’s anger from themselves by labeling it “envy,” an unbecoming vice, and directing it at liberals and Democrats.
To try to argue against these charges of “class warfare” and “politics of envy” without mentioning them is demoralizing for ourselves and a wimp-out. It also creates the impression that the charges are correct–or that liberal values are truly unfair.
Because of the negative connotations of these terms to most Americans, we need to pin them on the party that deserves them (changing “politics of envy” to “politics of greed”). It should be incredibly easy to do.
There will always be people who have more than others, the basics of life, including full participation in the governance of the country in which you live, but it should never be a luxury which is doled out based on how much you can pay.
It is time to add GREEDY to Republicans to every reference when regarding them the way they have added LIBERALS to Democrats.
I think you might appreciate this EJ Dionne article: That Was a Short War on Poverty.
I was looking forward to my Golden years but I think I may end up being a dump picker, bottle/can redeemer to help make ends meet.
My hope lies in the next elections to get US back to the America I use to love.
I’m already a dump picker…errr…”trash fairy”…and I faithfully take in my recyclables for extra money. I think I had my golden years during my 20s and 30s.
That is the truth. Because of this debt. Inflation is back. Interest rates will go through the roof. Social Security is under attack. All so that they can be richer. Do they want to be a part of this society that taxes (or did tax) on a scale consummate with standard of living and income? If not they need to clear out because we are going to make people pay their fair share again. They may not want to be around for that one. I one day want to be able to look my grandkids in the eye and tell them I fought against these bastards.
One more time. Its A Society Get It!
Democrats, particularly congressional Dems, don’t have a lot of credability in this department either.
I wish the Dems WERE a party that would stand up for working people, and fight against the corporations and those who represent them. But I really dont think thats the case.
And while my opinion of them is not-that-important, what IS important is that a lot of other people feel the same way.
I dont think that a simple idea like “republicans are greedy” will get us very far, when the Democratic party is so lacking in credability with the very people who this message SHOULD be resonating with.
I admit to being thunderstruck the first time I heard a Repub accuse Democrats of engaging in Class Warfare, and saw the Dems fold their tents and slink quietly into the woodwork. Damn right we are fighting class warfare, one that they started! They are the class that’s killing off any group less fortunate than the richest few. They are the group that is making our country increasingly resemble a feudal society with a very steep pyramid of a tiny, very wealthy class at the top, and a large underclass and almost no movement upward being possible.
We have moved from a very short war on poverty, to a much more concerted war on the poor. The Republicans don’t believe in evolution, but they do believe in Social Darwinism. Those who are wealthy have risen like cream to the top as a sign of their innate superiority and/or direct blessing by God. It’s like the corruption of Calvinism, in which the wealthy persons began to interpret their wealth as a direct sign of God’s grace. That, of course, is not scriptural (for those here who might care about that sort of thing), but they weren’t trying to let people check that out for themselves. The early settlers in New England who tried to impose that sort of Religious society on the settlers found that it did not work very well: People in the underclass had this disturbing habit of moving away where they would not have such stultifying limitations. Why re-create that which many of them had fled in the old world?
Well, we are up against it now, not having a great deal of unfettered frontier to settle, nor infinite resources to use without apparent end. We have to each other and resolve some of these difficulties, or this nation will dissolve into tribalism, as we see happening other places. And there will be no peace in that.
glad to see your writings again rosee, and as you know, I agree 100% with you on this one.
I am completely amazed at the people standing by and letting it happen, that is the sad part.
Greed = Evil, no other way to put it.
peace be with you, and hope the rains up your way did not do any damage.
Glad to hear from you!
Lots of flooding all around us and in downtown Newport, but we are on a hill and know the backways out LOL!
Did some sea kayaking down in Avon, NC last week while visiting my ex and his wife. Great time and summer weather although it did rain a bit there also.
Working on the ark…
glad to see that other people have civilised relationships with their ex-partners!
To me when two people create a child or children you are always connected and should live accordingly “It takes a village”
If and since the Republicans have found it so easy to withdraw from the field of engagement in the War on Poverty, why is it they can not as facilely disengage from the War on Iraq?