A Sickening Class War Assault

14 Comments

1. 

   Richard Bachman on April 21, 2011 at 4:39 pm

   Wish that it were so.  Because the Republicans have obligingly set the ball in the sweet spot of the tee with their bulldozing style assault on the middle class.  And by doing this they have essentially dared the Democrats to step up to the plate and take a hearty swing.

   But my fear is that if the Democrats choose to even step up to the plate with a bat in their hand, that they will choose to bunt instead of trying to hit it out of the park.  

   Because it just wouldn’t be a good show of bipartisanship to expose the fools and win the game in a run-rule. I’m afraid my expectation is that they will do everything they can to play this game to a tie.  And then try and sell it as, “Hey, we didn’t lose, now did we?

2. 

   Quentin on April 21, 2011 at 4:44 pm

   The U.S.A. is a classless society. You just need to watch some T.V. to find that out.

3. 

   Phil Perspective on April 21, 2011 at 5:07 pm

   I think you know my answer to your question.  I’ve been ready for a while now.  And I bet I know what Brendan’s answer will be.  😉

4. 

   Davis X Machina on April 21, 2011 at 5:37 pm

   Major problem: No US-based tumbrel manufacturing capacity exists, after it was all off-shored in the ’80’s. And we don’t do pitchforks — Ames True Value shut its WV pitchfork plant almost a decade ago.

   I’m not even sure we can still do torches.

   • 

     Indianadem on April 21, 2011 at 6:36 pm

     Hmm… wonder if there’s anything good about homemade pitchforks in this? Maybe its time to read it.

   • 

     Oscar In Dallas on April 21, 2011 at 6:41 pm

     But we make a whole lot of baseball bats hereabouts…

     • 

       Indianadem on April 21, 2011 at 6:51 pm

       Good thought Oscar. Now I remember, the Louisville Slugger.

5. 

   Indianadem on April 21, 2011 at 7:11 pm

   Response to GOP attacks in the midwestern theater (Wisconsin front) of war seems enthusiastic so far.

   MADISON, Wis. — Opponents of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker were back at work Sunday on recall efforts targeting Republican state senators who supported the new governor’s overhaul of public employee union rights.

   Petitions for the recall of the third targeted senator were filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board this week.

   • 

     Errol on April 21, 2011 at 8:37 pm

     midwestern theater, wisconsin front – love it.

6. 

   TarheelDem on April 21, 2011 at 7:23 pm

   Do you think that Jon Stewart will go all “anti-hyperbole” over this headline?

   Because, this is what set it off:

   “Their basic view is that no matter how successful I am, no matter how much I’ve taken from this country… I now have no obligation to people who are less fortunate than me, and I have no real obligation to future generations to make investments so they have a better future.”

   Against this, we have Thomas Paine:

   The two modes of the Government which prevail in the world, are —

   First, Government by election and representation.

   Secondly, Government by hereditary succession.

   The former is generally known by the name of republic; the latter by that of monarchy and aristocracy.

   Those two distinct and opposite forms erect themselves on the two distinct and opposite bases of Reason and Ignorance. — As the exercise of Government requires talents and abilities, and as talents and abilities cannot have hereditary descent, it is evident that hereditary succession requires a belief from man to which his reason cannot subscribe, and which can only be established upon his ignorance; and the more ignorant any country is, the better it is fitted for this species of Government.

   On the contrary, Government, in a well-constituted republic, requires no belief from man beyond what his reason can give. He sees the rationale of the whole system, its origin and its operation; and as it is best supported when best understood, the human faculties act with boldness, and acquire, under this form of government, a gigantic manliness.

   As, therefore, each of those forms acts on a different base, the one moving freely by the aid of reason, the other by ignorance; we have next to consider, what it is that gives motion to that species of Government which is called mixed Government, or, as it is sometimes ludicrously styled, a Government of this, that and t’ other.

   The moving power in this species of Government is, of necessity, Corruption. However imperfect election and representation may be in mixed Governments, they still give exercise to a greater portion of reason than is convenient to the hereditary Part; and therefore it becomes necessary to buy the reason up. A mixed Government is an imperfect everything, cementing and soldering the discordant parts together by corruption, to act as a whole. Mr. Burke appears highly disgusted that France, since she had resolved on a revolution, did not adopt what he calls “A British Constitution”; and the regretful manner in which he expresses himself on this occasion implies a suspicion that the British Constitution needed something to keep its defects in countenance.

   In mixed Governments there is no responsibility: the parts cover each other till responsibility is lost; and the corruption which moves the machine, contrives at the same time its own escape. When it is laid down as a maxim, that a King can do no wrong, it places him in a state of similar security with that of idiots and persons insane, and responsibility is out of the question with respect to himself. It then descends upon the Minister, who shelters himself under a majority in Parliament, which, by places, pensions, and corruption, he can always command; and that majority justifies itself by the same authority with which it protects the Minister. In this rotatory motion, responsibility is thrown off from the parts, and from the whole.

   When there is a Part in a Government which can do no wrong, it implies that it does nothing; and is only the machine of another power, by whose advice and direction it acts. What is supposed to be the King in the mixed Governments, is the Cabinet; and as the Cabinet is always a part of the Parliament, and the members justifying in one character what they advise and act in another, a mixed Government becomes a continual enigma; entailing upon a country by the quantity of corruption necessary to solder the parts, the expense of supporting all the forms of government at once, and finally resolving itself into a Government by Committee; in which the advisers, the actors, the approvers, the justifiers, the persons responsible, and the persons not responsible, are the same persons.

   By this pantomimical contrivance, and change of scene and character, the parts help each other out in matters which neither of them singly would assume to act. When money is to be obtained, the mass of variety apparently dissolves, and a profusion of parliamentary praises passes between the parts. Each admires with astonishment, the wisdom, the liberality, the disinterestedness of the other: and all of them breathe a pitying sigh at the burthens of the Nation.

   But in a well-constituted republic, nothing of this soldering, praising, and pitying, can take place; the representation being equal throughout the country, and complete in itself, however it may be arranged into legislative and executive, they have all one and the same natural source. The parts are not foreigners to each other, like democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy. As there are no discordant distinctions, there is nothing to corrupt by compromise, nor confound by contrivance. Public measures appeal of themselves to the understanding of the Nation, and, resting on their own merits, disown any flattering applications to vanity. The continual whine of lamenting the burden of taxes, however successfully it may be practised in mixed Governments, is inconsistent with the sense and spirit of a republic. If taxes are necessary, they are of course advantageous; but if they require an apology, the apology itself implies an impeachment.

   Why, then, is man thus imposed upon, or why does he impose upon himself?

   Paine is, of course, arguing with the conservatives’ favorite sage Edmund Burke.  But substitute “the rich” for “the King” and you get a sense of our mixed system.

   Makes one wonder the response if progressives started parading their “Second Amendment rights”.  My guess is that the paranoia would equal that around the Black Panthers self-defense efforts against police brutality in the late 1960s and 1970s.

   Woody Guthrie, on the other hand, used a guitar that advertised, “This kills fascists.”

   • 

     MNPundit on April 21, 2011 at 11:30 pm

     Thomas Paine will lose. His statement is so much longer, no one will bother to listen to the end of it. If you can say it in a soundbite of dubious veracity like
     “I earned this, no one can take it away from me” you’re that much closer to winning.

7. 

   Brendan Skwire on April 21, 2011 at 7:30 pm

   I’ve been calling for this for years, and I advise everyone to read Lucy Parsons, who knew what was up.

8. 

   americanforliberty on April 22, 2011 at 2:25 am

   Millionaire Republicans call it “class war-fare” when their as to pay their fair share. Republicans call “it balance budget” when they start class warfare against the poor and middle class.

   Republicans have no sense of “we” just me..me..me.

   • 

     americanforliberty on April 22, 2011 at 2:27 am

     “asked”