- August 20, 2008 • 5:02 pm PDT
- + responses
I read an article yesterday about McCain calling Obama a socialist, it really wasn't much of an article but the comments were more to the point. The comments section was really interesting as they often are, particularly since blogging began. We seem to have found our voices, well-done Americans. Now stop acting bullies on the play ground and start paying attention to what is really important.
Most of you sound like programed robots, and I hear the same responses over and over. What is wrong with America? If you know your history then you will have read about the gilded age. America before the turn of the century (19th to 20th ) when the rich were rich and the poor were . . . really who cares. The rich were building grand estates spending money on themselves and enjoying life. A few and in comparative numbers a very few, of these rich people even worked and owned corporations they built the rail system in this country helped establish the growth of the banks and even a few philanthropic endeavors. This is the time of the so-called robber barons, indeed. They were that. We really enjoy the stories that are super imposed on these people. We have an entire mythology about this period in history and were it not for the robber barons... Others would have no jobs. That this is not true seems to be of no consequence, just some really good stories about the fantasy life. Don't worry it's all here again. Now we give out tax credits and special status to corporations and individuals. These my darlings are the reasons for the current state of affairs. These people are not care takers for the country but for themselves. Corporate greed is rampant and the collapse of the middle-class, the heart of America is strong evidence of this. Simply stated the inequity between the classes is destroying this country. The once great infrastructure a pride of our society, built with taxes and American labor is now crumbling and in disrepair, our health system a true model of what not to do, taxes that burden those who can least afford it, veterans that are sleeping in the streets, millions of Americans that go to bed hungry every day and they have jobs. A war that is unnecessary and being financed by borrowed money, and a created gas and financial crisis, created by those who do and will profit by misery of others. Our unions are nearly broken, the dollar like much of America, an international joke. The media, the bastion of free speech is now a wholly owned subsidiary of greed incorporated. Americans hear only what the moguls want them to hear. The counter balance to that might be the currently popular form communication found through the internet, which is more affordable and more accessible outside the borders of this country. Of course that makes sense if one doesn't want uncensored communications leaking out to the public. We have become so conditioned to believing what the government or corporations tell us is true that we rarely question what is said or what is valid. We really must be more cynical and more aware of the truth.
The workers made this country great and it is the workers who will rebuild this country. Unions help the workers, normally the quietest and most reluctant to fight for themselves, to gain a fair wage and honest benefits. By helping the workers the unions help to preserve the integrity of the corporation and the balance between the classes. In the sixties the minimum wage provided about an equivalent of ten dollars of buying power, prices were in line with this and families could survive and thrive on this income. Since then although worker productivity has increased by 70+%, wages based on inflation have increased by two percent. Corporations are now exporting the better paying jobs and leaving the American worker again to carrying the burden of the greed of the wealthy. Most of these changes in America can be traced back to a seminal moment, Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers, the beginning of a slow and determined movement of the wealthy to gut the best of America for the sake of their momentary satisfaction. The so-called virtue of the free-market and how if it allowed to operate will heal all problems is the great mythology. The examples are too numerous to list, nothing happens by
accident there are movers and shakers just behind the curtain. If indeed the free market simply needs to have room to operate - then why all the bail-outs? Our government is owned and operated by these people, just like at the turn of the last century corporations seem to own the senators and congressman it needs. At the turn of the last century the religious leaders were far more concerned about poverty and the abuse of the American worker. Now I hear them ranting about what goes on in the privacy of our bedrooms, certainly more tantalizing, but over all who does this help. Maybe these religious leaders and their flamboyant life styles are just one more element of the greater problem.
I so much want to see the people of this country take back what is rightfully theirs. Yes, Americans deserve a fair wage for a days work. They deserve a fair and functioning health care system, and an honest government and please once again a press with the guts to speak up about the truth.
Most of you sound like programed robots, and I hear the same responses over and over. What is wrong with America? If you know your history then you will have read about the gilded age. America before the turn of the century (19th to 20th ) when the rich were rich and the poor were . . . really who cares. The rich were building grand estates spending money on themselves and enjoying life. A few and in comparative numbers a very few, of these rich people even worked and owned corporations they built the rail system in this country helped establish the growth of the banks and even a few philanthropic endeavors. This is the time of the so-called robber barons, indeed. They were that. We really enjoy the stories that are super imposed on these people. We have an entire mythology about this period in history and were it not for the robber barons... Others would have no jobs. That this is not true seems to be of no consequence, just some really good stories about the fantasy life. Don't worry it's all here again. Now we give out tax credits and special status to corporations and individuals. These my darlings are the reasons for the current state of affairs. These people are not care takers for the country but for themselves. Corporate greed is rampant and the collapse of the middle-class, the heart of America is strong evidence of this. Simply stated the inequity between the classes is destroying this country. The once great infrastructure a pride of our society, built with taxes and American labor is now crumbling and in disrepair, our health system a true model of what not to do, taxes that burden those who can least afford it, veterans that are sleeping in the streets, millions of Americans that go to bed hungry every day and they have jobs. A war that is unnecessary and being financed by borrowed money, and a created gas and financial crisis, created by those who do and will profit by misery of others. Our unions are nearly broken, the dollar like much of America, an international joke. The media, the bastion of free speech is now a wholly owned subsidiary of greed incorporated. Americans hear only what the moguls want them to hear. The counter balance to that might be the currently popular form communication found through the internet, which is more affordable and more accessible outside the borders of this country. Of course that makes sense if one doesn't want uncensored communications leaking out to the public. We have become so conditioned to believing what the government or corporations tell us is true that we rarely question what is said or what is valid. We really must be more cynical and more aware of the truth.
The workers made this country great and it is the workers who will rebuild this country. Unions help the workers, normally the quietest and most reluctant to fight for themselves, to gain a fair wage and honest benefits. By helping the workers the unions help to preserve the integrity of the corporation and the balance between the classes. In the sixties the minimum wage provided about an equivalent of ten dollars of buying power, prices were in line with this and families could survive and thrive on this income. Since then although worker productivity has increased by 70+%, wages based on inflation have increased by two percent. Corporations are now exporting the better paying jobs and leaving the American worker again to carrying the burden of the greed of the wealthy. Most of these changes in America can be traced back to a seminal moment, Reagan firing the Air Traffic Controllers, the beginning of a slow and determined movement of the wealthy to gut the best of America for the sake of their momentary satisfaction. The so-called virtue of the free-market and how if it allowed to operate will heal all problems is the great mythology. The examples are too numerous to list, nothing happens by
accident there are movers and shakers just behind the curtain. If indeed the free market simply needs to have room to operate - then why all the bail-outs? Our government is owned and operated by these people, just like at the turn of the last century corporations seem to own the senators and congressman it needs. At the turn of the last century the religious leaders were far more concerned about poverty and the abuse of the American worker. Now I hear them ranting about what goes on in the privacy of our bedrooms, certainly more tantalizing, but over all who does this help. Maybe these religious leaders and their flamboyant life styles are just one more element of the greater problem.
I so much want to see the people of this country take back what is rightfully theirs. Yes, Americans deserve a fair wage for a days work. They deserve a fair and functioning health care system, and an honest government and please once again a press with the guts to speak up about the truth.
