Thank you Heather! The GOP has one objective -the concentration of wealth, and thus -power. Everything else they do is intended to divide and conquer -whether racism, misogyny, cries of "socialism", anti-"wokeness", and more. It's all intended to misdirect anger and frustration.
Even absent the years of evidence that so-called "trickle-do…
Thank you Heather! The GOP has one objective -the concentration of wealth, and thus -power. Everything else they do is intended to divide and conquer -whether racism, misogyny, cries of "socialism", anti-"wokeness", and more. It's all intended to misdirect anger and frustration.
Even absent the years of evidence that so-called "trickle-down" economics does not grow the economy -it merely concentrates wealth, if Americans stopped to think about it they would recognize it as a fraud perpetrated by the obscenely wealthy on workers and the impoverished.
No form of meaningful democracy can survive when wealth is concentrated into the hands of a few.
George, I agree that concentration of wealth is one objective but I don't think wealth is the only objective by a long shot. Small, mean people making themselves feel better about themselves by oppressing others has a whole hell of a lot to do with it.
Fully agree -the GOP uses that from a strategic standpoint. I think that's an important part of the strategy -to shift from personal responsibility to blaming and hating others. To me, that is the "distraction and polarization/divide/conquer" strategy.
Perpetual power (through concentrated wealth) is (again, to me) the objective -by whatever means they can accomplish it. If I can turn my $10 Billionaire into a $20 Billionaire -they can write a big check to Leonard Leo, and create a majority in SCOTUS, I can shift State Legislatures, and I can win with a minority of people (who proceed to vote against their own and societal self-interest).
They play the resentment card masterfully and direct it towards the Democrats who actually try to help the less affluent and working class. Tax the wealthy fairly and raise wages for those who actually go to work every day.
I think that it is safe to say that Frances Perkins, the person most responsible for Social Security and other elements of the New Deal, spoke for us:
"The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. Everyone.
Apart from simple moral arguments of fairness and equity, improving the social, educational and economic lives of the less advantaged benefits everyone, since this injects demand into the national economy and that injects profit into the goods and services providing corporations, not to mention businesses of every kind. That's "socialism"?
You get it Frank. But the GQP see it all as a zero sum game. In their narrow bigoted minds, there is just one little economic pie. "And I am not gonna share it with 'them'..."
What a super powerhouse of a nation we could be if every kid had the same opportunity to create new businesses or thrive in a company. What a nation we could be if everyone had the chance to be nourished with quality food, cultivated with equal education and didn't suffer for lack of proper healthcare. What we could be!!!
Not only would the average citizen benefit, but we would be the envy of the world. Our system of democracy would be emulated and the world would be a better place. Now? The international community looks at us and they shake their collective heads with dismay. Instead they look at countries like Finland. We should learn from Finland and others who provide a social underpinning for the basics of life and support a successful but regulated private enterprise system.
Everything that the wealthy don't want is labeled socialism. Most wealthy are white Republicans, many have received large inheritances, and they use the phrase "what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable" that "I can get if I work at it." See the book The Big Myth for a complete history since the late 19th century of the tried and true strategies of privilege and greed. All lies and jest, as Sinon and Garfunkel put it.
Frank, an open hand and heart to give, builds up, a closed hand and heart destroys. I am on the side of building up, encouraging, providing hope and opportunity.
There is nothing greater than to see the joy on someones face who has just been given a little hope, a little encouragemet, a little faith that they can have a chance at "The American Dream".
In my understanding of this ideal.....it is also the way to build a stronger more productive country...and world.
Thank you, Alexandra. Without a doubt, Frances Perkins is one of the most important persons ever to serve in U.S. government. Sadly, she never really got the accolades that she deserves during her lifetime.
Appealing to deep emotions often “trumps” reason. When people feel threatened we react almost automatically. We are in one of history’s hinge eras when “the center cannot hold” and “things fall apart “ anxiety and discontent are affecting us all. The 2016 election was influenced by the limbic brain on fire election fueled by social media and malign big money and Russian meddling. Hillary won the popular vote none the less. She was too reasonable to prevail by a whisker in so called swing states. Who know he much voter suppression and confusion was the crucial factor?
A lot of people know that something is amiss, but many of them do not know exactly what it is. Into this comes the purveyors of misinformation and pot stirring playing on their fears. I was interested in an article in I think, the NYT about safer places to be in terms of climate change which I think, has become part of the fear without understanding the human role in it or denying that totally. One of the places was the midwest and then near Detroit and in parts of northern Ohio we had an outbreak of nasty tornadoes and flooding in places like Detroit. The wealthy know that this is a problem also and they are determined to get all the money and power out of the system because they foolishly believe their money will save them.
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”— Frank Wilhoit
But that's still a bit abstract. Perhaps a plainer version it that modern Republicans, as a whole, want to dominate not cooperate. They excuse themselves for being bullies.
I have heard that quote and agree with Wilhoit and with you. I fear the people who think cooperate is another word for yield or obey. (It is, if you are a child who must “cooperate” with powerful adults.) I hope someone can come up with a simple phrase to counter the idea that every man IS an island, it’s every man for himself, a dog eat dog world, a zero sum game.
Ironically, the post-Reagan GQP movement to demonize the opposition and use racism as a weapon took a big step when they installed our longest serving Supreme Court justice, a man who has proven to be a racist, misogynist, insurrection supporter, and totally corrupt. The destruction of the US courts has been the destruction of civil rights.
George ‘Rent a Congressman’ has a long tradition. Indeed, I hear that there are over 43,000 registered lobbyists in Washington, at least ten for every member of Congress.
Is it a surprise that a number of 2a.m. Inserts in congressional bills provide relief to individual and corporate fat cats?
I grew up in Haverford, a small suburb of Philadelphia. The local scuttlebutt was that J. Howard Pew, the owner of Sun Oil and with an estate that had 8 gardeners (during the Depression), would make his annual Pennsylvania State Assembly choices. He would offer $$$ and wait for a majority to accept, before he shut the Assembly largesse gate until the next year.
These ‘good old days’ remain writ large in Congress, especially on the Republican side. Why else have taxes on truly rich not be raised to confront what Republicans lament as our ‘debt crisis?’
P. S. One day I got a ride on a milk truck up to the Pew house. (I saw the 8 gardeners being assembled). I was selling magazine subscriptions. I knocked on the door, which a butler opened. I told him my request, but the lady of the house, I was told, was not interested.
Some years later I was teaching at The Haverford School. Ricky Pew (related to J. Howard) was in my 7th grade social studies class. He was bright and extremely shy. He had to leave early one vacation, since the Pew RR car was headed to Florida.
Don't forget about SCOTUS members being appointed indirectly by the wealthy, but they are also good buddies with these wealthy people. Thomas comes to mind.
Yes, love Naomi Klein. Also, of course, HCR, John Kenneth Galbraith, George Lakoff, Barbara Ehrenreich, Noam Chomsky, and, when depressed… Hunter Thompson for a quick “pick-me-up”.
I see below that George agrees with you Alexandra, as do I. The wealthy learned how to manipulate the racism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia of the white Christians to vote for policies that have allowed them to plunder our natioanl treasury, enriching themselves beyond their wildest imaganings - $32 trillion to date. Thomas Frank documented this in his 2004 book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and then professors David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, both with the Univ. of Kansas, sealed it with their study, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump int he 2016 Election, and Why?" Google it.
Somehow the GOP's persistent grip on electoral power doesn't seem to fade away. Once the Democrats had an almost monopoly of Federal power. Is it only unfair practices which have lost them a chance or acquire even a modicum of a chance and acquiring majorities sufficient to get by the Supreme Court, the US Senate? Of course, as Nikki Haley pointed out to Republicans the other night on abortion, there is no way the GOP can obtain a supermajority or even a decent senate majority to shoulder through a national abortion ban, something a majority of Americans oppose. 2024 is going to be another major political struggle. As always, organize, propagate, propagandize on the high or even just everyday moral road. Will look up that book!
Frank, I fear when the Democrats get into power by gaining the White House and majorities in both houses of congress, they become more and more like the Republicans by increasingly ignoring their working class base. I fear that for all the benefits of the Clinton epoch we like to cite, especially the return to not only a balanced budget but a surplus,
came from their alliance with big business and off-shoring of so much of our manufacturing. This left the working class out of jobs and Democrats losing the support of their base.
JohnM upstateNY: Clinton also was responsible for so-called “Welfare Reform,” which turned what had been a federal entitlement for poor, mostly single-parent families into a state-controlled program with lifetime caps of five years (or less, at state choice). As a result, states were able to require punitive obstacles. And since “Welfare Reform” was block granted to the States, dollars in many southern states were diverted into moralistic activities such as parenting classes, drug testing, etc. Actual spending that flowed to families for rent, clothing, etc. dropped from the original standard of FPL (federal poverty level) to 15% of Area Median Income. States with the highest proportion of impoverished Black families ended up with the lowest benefits. Homelessness surged.
John, I too have wondered this but I think there has been a definite shift via the bejeezus scared out of some, by the real threat of dictatorship. The question is, is the shift adequate enough to balance everyone's interests and is it sustainable? I think the public's lack of trust in future actions is reflected in the President's low polling numbers.
I hope we have learned from the mistakes of all our predecessors, from Reagan on, and can take the knowledge (thank you, historians!) so hard won to keep working to attain the goals of equity and fairness. There will ALWAYS be headwinds, but that must not stop us from continuing to sail! Never give up.
... it seems to swing like a pendulum ... has anyone noticed that most candidates and causes appeal for funding through a single resource? Feels almost like being corralled into the chute in a slaughterhouse ... will we ever evolve beyond the polarity of partisan/bipartisan contention?!
It isn't a book. It was published in the Feb. 2018 issue of Critical Sociology, a peer-reviewed journal. You can google it. Today's MAGA are the same as the 1920's KKK. Absolutely no difference. "The Anger Games: . . . ." and Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland" are virtually essential to understand what we're dealing with presently. Racism. Misogyny. Xenophobia. Homophobia.
Alexandra Sokoloff, I agree harming people is a common means and end to power. All the insanity we see and feel reflects an insatiable and obsessive appetite for getting and/or holding onto power. Financial wealth is a form of power in our society, as is fame, for example. Both will get you power and help you hold onto power. But power itself is not bad. It is how an individual or a group uses it ---- to destroy or make better.
I think the racists are afraid of people of other nations (color/religion) because they may find out that these people are better, more talented, more athletic, and smarter than they are.
Money IS power and with it, I can persuade a perfect stranger to give me a sandwich. Or, from the "right" vendor, contract murder for hire. The "right" public official will grant me special governmental favors in exchange for financial help, and these days, most of this latter exchange is not even illegal thanks to the "GOP" for expanding our palette of purchasing options; provided you have the scratch. Political position and violence are also forms of personal power, and can often deliver what you want. Some like to combine all three.
But Democracy is a radical division of power into equal shares. We empower our fiduciaries by combining our votes, as opposed to a Big Boss being born into the "right" family or commanding a personal army. When it comes to matters of state, we are supposed to enjoy ‘ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE’; although there there remain a number of nettlesome barriers to that ideal being fully realized.
"But Democracy is a radical division of power into equal shares."
Unfortunately, the USA is a Social Democratic House of Prostitution, not really a Democracy in the meaning you note.
Sure, I can vote, for, say, Kathy Hochul here in NY. But, once she is in office, lifted there by my vote, her big donors tell her what to do and she does it.
Example: Upon Kathy Hochul's election as NY State governor her highest priority became providing no less than $600 MILLION dollars to one family, the owners of the Buffalo Bills, the Pegula family, in Buffalo, NY, where she is from. The money was, ostensibly, "to keep the Buffalo Bills from moving out of state" except, there was no threat of that happening.
The Pegula family is a very large donor to Kathy Hochul's campaign funds.
So, I can vote for Hochul, but, as part of the Social Democratic House of Prostitution called "Democracy" here in the USA, does my vote matter?
I really cannot say I think it does.
I would NEVER have socialized the cost of a new stadium for football and privatized the profit like Kathy Hochul did, NEVER.
$600 Million dollars could have put a LOT of kids through state Universities here in NY.
I am happy that some folks can enjoy a football game or any other sporting event. But we have turned professional sports (and now college) into a money grubbing machine for the rich to get richer. We have allowed the oligarchs to turn it into a religion of sorts. The worship of sports stars is just another example of redirecting our collective wealth into the hands of a few. Seen from space, it might be viewed as "wow...they haven't changed much since the days of the Romans and the coliseum."
Your story about the stadium makes me want to hurl. But sadly, it happens all over the world where we value the ability to throw and catch a ball more than we value a kids nutrition, healthcare and education. It is simply stupid and cruel.
Bill, you could get me started on college football. The dismemberment of the Pac 12 conference chasing big football money is disgusting. Football plays one game a week with a bye week in about a 14 week season. Other sports (notably women's sports, but I'm going to include both men's and women's basketball in this as well) play two or three games a week. It is one thing for softball (the game I used to umpire at the collegiate level) to have to travel from Seattle to Los Angeles (or vice versa) for a 3 game series. It is absurd to travel to New York or Pennsylvania for a 3 game series. Only slightly less absurd to travel to the mid west for games in March.
We could go a long way towards strengthening education in general by separating "sports" from academic institutions. There are many models other than the American model. Community leagues and club sports can develop athletic talent at all levels. The fact that universities are willing to pay coaches 10-20x what the most accomplished academic scholars and teachers earn is scandalous.
Agreed. Mike Belotti, who coached Oregon for 15 or so years makes more from PERS in a month that I mark in a year (after 28 years service as a cop, an I made more than teachers.
We could go a long way towards strengthening education in general by separating "sports" from academic institutions. There are many models other than the American model. Community leagues and club sports can develop athletic talent at all levels. The fact that universities are willing to pay coaches 10-20x what the most accomplished academic scholars and teachers earn is scandalous.
The other problem, of course, is the system of one state, two Senators. California has 40 million people and two senators. Sixteen states have a combined population of 40 million, with 32 Senators. Ultimately, that fact and the configuration of the Electoral College will probably spell the end of this Great Experiment.
Yes Richard, our "original sin" was the efforts of our founders to weave together disparate colonies with vastly different sources of income and social organization. Their compromises worked until they didn't resulting in the Civil War wherein President Lincoln, a man of the people if ever there was one, forced a reunion which his successor, Andrew Johnson pulled apart those loosened strings of union by allowing essentially the same leadership in the South to remain in power in the service of less disruption and appearing to extend the magnanimity Lincoln, through General Grant, first embraced by allowing the Confederate soldiers to return home with their horses and guns necessary to return to agricultural productivity. We have made the same mistake several times since with such things as the pardon of Nixon by Ford and the failure to hold Regan accountable for his illegal Iran Contra scandal. It seems we as a nation have difficulties providing both appropriate punishment for the leaders guilty of malfeasance while simultaneously showing beneficence to the ordinary people who have fallen under their sway.
Mike, I live in Western NY state, and follow the Bills. Yet, I don’t believe the team needed a new stadium. I agree that money could certainly have been much more usefully invested in education, starting with the Buffalo School District, whose performance ranks among the lowest (with a score of 4/10) in the state and struggles with staff shortages and poor-to-failing student proficiencies. It’s ironic that those same functionally illiterate students are some of the Bills’ most faithful fans. A greater irony might be that the new, fancy stadium might still not lead to a Bills’ Superbowl win…
... right, but it seems to me like whoever is running this game doesn't want kids going to universities - or even schools to educate them for opportunities to get out of the streets with butts in the air - the younger and fresher the better ... sorry to say, that is what I see - in the worst possible way (speaking of prostitution!!) ... and yes, children are being 'groomed' for sex work - only I cannot believe it is just about 'Democrats' ... not a partisan trend - more like the trenches into which we are born, or forced by circumstance ... I give thanks I never brought a child into this sick, sick world!!
Exactly Mike S, she lost sight of her political base in the working class! Too much money concentrated with a few people becomes a power multiplier for anyone with the ego necessary to run for office.
The most “nettlesome barrier” to democratic civil society is enforcement of Justice . We have plethoras of laws “on the books”. It’s not so much “the rule of law” as the actual, equitable application of those laws. We lack this. And it shows. The closer you get to monied-greed, the less enforcement there is. An that seems to be a self-perpetuating cycle: more concentrated wealth, the more hacking/buying/capturing of justice.
It seems Republican Party has two agendas only; get power and protect the wealthy. When the goal is to reach the end, the means doesn't matter. Voter suppression and restriction has been the mantra of the Party since the Civil Rights era. The 1960s was really important for the black community to emancipate themselves from the voting discrimination that had sidelined them from representation, economic participation, access to health facilities, access to transport, access to schools without segregation, access to protests, access to government institutions, access to legal representation, and access to everything that matter to the lives as human beings. But the Republican chose otherwise and since then, it has become their identity.
By reintroducing voter restrictions in 2020, the Party sent a signal that they are out of touch with the common people, doesn't respect voters, racial segregation still runs in its blood, systemic discrimination is possible and within their manifesto, the constitution is inferior to their goals, and that the major aim is to regain and stay in power with whatever illegal means they got.
But one think stands out; the 21 century vigilance has been bolstered with the continuous strengthening of the institutions and the power of social media. Citizens can nowadays act out of the national institutions that perpetuate systemic discrimination and suppresses voters by rallying behind a United common good for the overall public. If Reverend Martin Luther King and Lewis had the social media tools that are pervasive nowadays, racism, voter suppression, economic jeopardy, and wedging disunity among the people would have ended even before the the Congress and the Federal end it. If Republican wants to be in WH, they should speak the language of the common and allow the distribution of wealth. But, I am sorry, that place has been taken by the Democrats.
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You are mostly correct Edwin, except for the Civil War Era. Then, the Republicans were the good guys and the Democrats were the bigots, racists, and snobs. They reversed roles in the 1930's when Franklin Delano Roosevelt fought against the moneyed interests in favor of the American majority. The final switch occurred in the 1960's with the "southern strategy" drew the former Democrats to the newly minted, racist, Republicans. I emigrated to the States in 1958, having always been a Liberal Progressive, I chose the Democratic Party when I finally achieved citizenship in 1967. I'm not suggesting that all Democrats are good and all Republicans are bad. It's just that overall there are fewer greedy, what's in it for me, Democrats than there are in the Republican/Libertarian groups. We need to pass the new Voting Rights Act. We may even need to get it embedded i the Constitution as an Amendment, if possible. Most of all Americans need to accept that we are all the same animal, Homo sapiens, one genus; one species. No sub-species, no sub-groups. There is not a dimes worth of difference between your DNA and mine. (except mine is a hell of a lot older than yours, (:-) )
Happy to note about that reversed roles. Sometimes, in response to their opponents, politicians may not stay grounded in their mission. And I think that is what might have happened in the civil era and the great Deal time. Sure, the New Voting Rights can be the new direction to take. Thank you Fay Reid
I agree with a lot of what you say F.R. But I think Blacks and Whites need to acknowledge that we are "wired" differently, accept our differences and then move on. If man survives, that will happen. There are folks that hope that it will never happen . They're also actively doing things to make sure that it won't happen.
Yes, were anatomically the same. Culturally different. Some try to make it a small thing - it's a big thing ! Overtime ? It will be a small thing but we have to get there.
It is a big thing. But, it doesn't make one less than the other. Differences is a good thing. I really hope we get there. I don't believe for a minute that this is the way it's supposed to be. I was raised to see people, not race. I raised my kids the same way. I wish everyone would. It would be a kinder world. (Yes, I'm idealistic. I can't help it).
"If Reverend Martin Luther King and Lewis had the social media tools that are pervasive nowadays,"
If they had sufficient access. Part of the problem (there are many) with privatizing everything when someone has thousands of dollars to every one that you have, they get heard and you don't. There are some work-arounds, but in a media dominated society underfunded success is a longshot.
I think traditional media has been overtaken by political parties, but social media despite its weakness is distributed and no one can control how people respond unless the company itself suppress it.
Sadly -social media is now mostly controlled by Zuckerberg and Musk. We're working to change that with a public benefit corp. owned social civic network.
But they can predict how persons will respond based on scraped knowledge of their personalities. This makes social media vulnerable to the incivility virus more than any other media.
"Social" media are easily corrupted and distorted by bots and other technologies designed to weaponize the programming behind the platforms. It is a mistake to assume that (say) a Facebook account necessarily represents an actual human being. Far too many of them actually represent nothing but software bots.
So called "social" media platforms are easily manipulated by political organizations, businesses, and anyone else with an agenda and enough money to but the necessary technology. There are plenty of traditional media outlets that have not been "taken over by political partiers."
YES J L! One need only contemplate the effects of the choices a Rupert Murdoch's Fox News or an Elon Musk make with his Earth-Link system in Ukraine, Space-Ex and the hundreds of satellites surrounding our earth that he owns and controls and the former Twitter, now X)!
There's another more insidious way GOPers and big biz more generally have been concentrating wealth and power.
In 1980, meat packers were primarily Black, earning a decent middle class wage, thanks to decades of organizing. By that decade's end, meat packers were mostly immigrant, laboring for barely above minimum wage under atrocious conditions, where amputations were common.
This scenario was repeated in numerous low/no-skill metiers. The details are laid out in a scholarly, yet highly readable manner in Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14 on Amazon but check your local bookstore).
Beck covers the relevant academic economic history, statements of Black leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to this phenomenon, Black periodicals, and gov't commisions on on immigration reform, notably the Barbara Jordan commission under President Clinton, where the Black Texas Democrat who made her name during Watergate on the Judiciary Committee recommended roughly halving immigration numbers, and strict enforcement of immigration reform.
Beck, who'd spent 30 years as an environmental journalist, also used his own reporting. Giving the lie to the notion that there are jobs Americans won't do, he interviewed Black workers recently fired from a poultry plant to enable hiring of immigrants. Would they take their old jobs back if they could, he asked them? No, they told him. The wages would force them to live in their cars, or many to a house.
Beck wishes Americans would care as much for the descendants of slavery as they seem to care for immigrants. He also notes that with the gumption that many immigrants have, enabling them to walk from Central America to the US, they could probably turn their own countries around if we didn't make it so easy for them to stay in the US.
I suppose I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I care about exploitation and abuse in any form. When it comes to the immigration system in the United States, I cannot view the brutality of US foreign policy and intervention in places like El Salvador and separate that from the poverty, violence, and gangs so many attempt to flee from to the very country that helped to create the horror. One doesn't need to look further than Georgia and the School of the America's for the evidence. Many of the people who had the "gumption" to fix their own nations were disappeared and systematically tortured and killed.
So I think all workers should have a living wage, decent benefits, and health/safety laws protecting them from exploitation and abuse, and there should be consistent and clear laws and policy about immigration and a pathway to U.S. citizenship.
And while the horrors of slavery can never be fully addressed by an apology and a check, reparations must be paid to all who have suffered due to historically evil acts, whether addressing slavery, the Trail of Tears, or other past crimes directed by American society at classes of people.
I'm not sure ANY "objective" in this sense is important to the Republicans. It seems to me that they are a "gang." In a different world, they would be rabid socialists. In a still-different world, they would be anarchists. In yet a different world, they would be members of a punitive religious cult.
What matters to them, I think, is the insularity and group-think. They happen to have constellated around "conservatism" as their group-think, but I don't think that drives them. What seems to drive them is strutting about in the view of their fellow gang members.
In other words, they are trying to be perfect little fascists.
I went to see Pan's Labyrinth when it came out, years ago, thinking that it was going to be a fantasy film. Which it was, but.... One of the things that struck me was that, in the beginning, the Captain had recently taken command of his men, and they were demoralized and disorganized. There is the scene where the Captain gruesomely kills the man who was captured while hunting rabbits, and you see the soldiers horrified and cringing at the brutality of it. By the end of the film, you see that the soldiers have become the Captain.
It's Lord of the Flies all over again. Not just the descent into raw savagery, but the clustering of "us" against "them," with rituals that serve to hold the boundaries, and ensure momentary rank -- celebrity -- within the group.
Some may well be burn it all down anarchists, but I think there is overwhelming evidence that it is all about power at any cost. And Pan’s Labyrinth was an excellent film.
This is such a concise and true comment, Mr. Polisner, I wanted to thank you for it. We’re in a daily struggle to fight disinformation and your thoughts are a great help.
There’s an old saying “Sell to the classes, eat with the masses. Sell to the masses, eat with the classes.” Supply side economics is “selling to the classes”, concentrating wealth at the very top. Demand side economics is “selling to the masses”. These are Biden’s policies and they lift everyone.
Very true. Aside from addressing the extreme concentration of wealth, a society must be educated, informed, and engaged for any form of meaningful democracy to thrive.
I perceive a condescension by the intellectuals (who may not be all that "smart") towards those who succeed in life outside collegiate ivy walls, and who have been conned by the media monsters of industry. Get rid of Fox news and this whole country will become intelligent!
Thank you Heather! The GOP has one objective -the concentration of wealth, and thus -power. Everything else they do is intended to divide and conquer -whether racism, misogyny, cries of "socialism", anti-"wokeness", and more. It's all intended to misdirect anger and frustration.
Even absent the years of evidence that so-called "trickle-down" economics does not grow the economy -it merely concentrates wealth, if Americans stopped to think about it they would recognize it as a fraud perpetrated by the obscenely wealthy on workers and the impoverished.
No form of meaningful democracy can survive when wealth is concentrated into the hands of a few.
George, I agree that concentration of wealth is one objective but I don't think wealth is the only objective by a long shot. Small, mean people making themselves feel better about themselves by oppressing others has a whole hell of a lot to do with it.
Fully agree -the GOP uses that from a strategic standpoint. I think that's an important part of the strategy -to shift from personal responsibility to blaming and hating others. To me, that is the "distraction and polarization/divide/conquer" strategy.
Perpetual power (through concentrated wealth) is (again, to me) the objective -by whatever means they can accomplish it. If I can turn my $10 Billionaire into a $20 Billionaire -they can write a big check to Leonard Leo, and create a majority in SCOTUS, I can shift State Legislatures, and I can win with a minority of people (who proceed to vote against their own and societal self-interest).
They play the resentment card masterfully and direct it towards the Democrats who actually try to help the less affluent and working class. Tax the wealthy fairly and raise wages for those who actually go to work every day.
I think that it is safe to say that Frances Perkins, the person most responsible for Social Security and other elements of the New Deal, spoke for us:
"The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." All the people. Everyone.
Apart from simple moral arguments of fairness and equity, improving the social, educational and economic lives of the less advantaged benefits everyone, since this injects demand into the national economy and that injects profit into the goods and services providing corporations, not to mention businesses of every kind. That's "socialism"?
You get it Frank. But the GQP see it all as a zero sum game. In their narrow bigoted minds, there is just one little economic pie. "And I am not gonna share it with 'them'..."
What a super powerhouse of a nation we could be if every kid had the same opportunity to create new businesses or thrive in a company. What a nation we could be if everyone had the chance to be nourished with quality food, cultivated with equal education and didn't suffer for lack of proper healthcare. What we could be!!!
Not only would the average citizen benefit, but we would be the envy of the world. Our system of democracy would be emulated and the world would be a better place. Now? The international community looks at us and they shake their collective heads with dismay. Instead they look at countries like Finland. We should learn from Finland and others who provide a social underpinning for the basics of life and support a successful but regulated private enterprise system.
It's "socialism" in the minds of the gullible and ill-informed.
Everything that the wealthy don't want is labeled socialism. Most wealthy are white Republicans, many have received large inheritances, and they use the phrase "what's mine is mine, and what's yours is negotiable" that "I can get if I work at it." See the book The Big Myth for a complete history since the late 19th century of the tried and true strategies of privilege and greed. All lies and jest, as Sinon and Garfunkel put it.
Frank, an open hand and heart to give, builds up, a closed hand and heart destroys. I am on the side of building up, encouraging, providing hope and opportunity.
There is nothing greater than to see the joy on someones face who has just been given a little hope, a little encouragemet, a little faith that they can have a chance at "The American Dream".
In my understanding of this ideal.....it is also the way to build a stronger more productive country...and world.
Richard, I love that you keep Frances Perkins in the forefront of conversations! She is an American heroine.
Thank you, Alexandra. Without a doubt, Frances Perkins is one of the most important persons ever to serve in U.S. government. Sadly, she never really got the accolades that she deserves during her lifetime.
Seth - it is masterful. Genius strategy on their part, really.
Appealing to deep emotions often “trumps” reason. When people feel threatened we react almost automatically. We are in one of history’s hinge eras when “the center cannot hold” and “things fall apart “ anxiety and discontent are affecting us all. The 2016 election was influenced by the limbic brain on fire election fueled by social media and malign big money and Russian meddling. Hillary won the popular vote none the less. She was too reasonable to prevail by a whisker in so called swing states. Who know he much voter suppression and confusion was the crucial factor?
A lot of people know that something is amiss, but many of them do not know exactly what it is. Into this comes the purveyors of misinformation and pot stirring playing on their fears. I was interested in an article in I think, the NYT about safer places to be in terms of climate change which I think, has become part of the fear without understanding the human role in it or denying that totally. One of the places was the midwest and then near Detroit and in parts of northern Ohio we had an outbreak of nasty tornadoes and flooding in places like Detroit. The wealthy know that this is a problem also and they are determined to get all the money and power out of the system because they foolishly believe their money will save them.
Experts on writing and executing business plans and strategies, it was a natural, profitable shift.
Personal responsibility for you and impunity for me.
That would be a wonderful slogan, as it is the true spirit of Republicans. But the perfect word, impunity, would be a head-scratcher for too many.
A phrase making the rounds is:
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”— Frank Wilhoit
But that's still a bit abstract. Perhaps a plainer version it that modern Republicans, as a whole, want to dominate not cooperate. They excuse themselves for being bullies.
I have heard that quote and agree with Wilhoit and with you. I fear the people who think cooperate is another word for yield or obey. (It is, if you are a child who must “cooperate” with powerful adults.) I hope someone can come up with a simple phrase to counter the idea that every man IS an island, it’s every man for himself, a dog eat dog world, a zero sum game.
Ironically, the post-Reagan GQP movement to demonize the opposition and use racism as a weapon took a big step when they installed our longest serving Supreme Court justice, a man who has proven to be a racist, misogynist, insurrection supporter, and totally corrupt. The destruction of the US courts has been the destruction of civil rights.
George ‘Rent a Congressman’ has a long tradition. Indeed, I hear that there are over 43,000 registered lobbyists in Washington, at least ten for every member of Congress.
Is it a surprise that a number of 2a.m. Inserts in congressional bills provide relief to individual and corporate fat cats?
I grew up in Haverford, a small suburb of Philadelphia. The local scuttlebutt was that J. Howard Pew, the owner of Sun Oil and with an estate that had 8 gardeners (during the Depression), would make his annual Pennsylvania State Assembly choices. He would offer $$$ and wait for a majority to accept, before he shut the Assembly largesse gate until the next year.
These ‘good old days’ remain writ large in Congress, especially on the Republican side. Why else have taxes on truly rich not be raised to confront what Republicans lament as our ‘debt crisis?’
P. S. One day I got a ride on a milk truck up to the Pew house. (I saw the 8 gardeners being assembled). I was selling magazine subscriptions. I knocked on the door, which a butler opened. I told him my request, but the lady of the house, I was told, was not interested.
Some years later I was teaching at The Haverford School. Ricky Pew (related to J. Howard) was in my 7th grade social studies class. He was bright and extremely shy. He had to leave early one vacation, since the Pew RR car was headed to Florida.
Don't forget about SCOTUS members being appointed indirectly by the wealthy, but they are also good buddies with these wealthy people. Thomas comes to mind.
Yes, love Naomi Klein. Also, of course, HCR, John Kenneth Galbraith, George Lakoff, Barbara Ehrenreich, Noam Chomsky, and, when depressed… Hunter Thompson for a quick “pick-me-up”.
I see below that George agrees with you Alexandra, as do I. The wealthy learned how to manipulate the racism, misogyny, xenophobia and homophobia of the white Christians to vote for policies that have allowed them to plunder our natioanl treasury, enriching themselves beyond their wildest imaganings - $32 trillion to date. Thomas Frank documented this in his 2004 book, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and then professors David Norman Smith and Eric Hanley, both with the Univ. of Kansas, sealed it with their study, "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump int he 2016 Election, and Why?" Google it.
Richard, I've read The Anger Games. Excruciatingly enlightening.
Somehow the GOP's persistent grip on electoral power doesn't seem to fade away. Once the Democrats had an almost monopoly of Federal power. Is it only unfair practices which have lost them a chance or acquire even a modicum of a chance and acquiring majorities sufficient to get by the Supreme Court, the US Senate? Of course, as Nikki Haley pointed out to Republicans the other night on abortion, there is no way the GOP can obtain a supermajority or even a decent senate majority to shoulder through a national abortion ban, something a majority of Americans oppose. 2024 is going to be another major political struggle. As always, organize, propagate, propagandize on the high or even just everyday moral road. Will look up that book!
Frank, I fear when the Democrats get into power by gaining the White House and majorities in both houses of congress, they become more and more like the Republicans by increasingly ignoring their working class base. I fear that for all the benefits of the Clinton epoch we like to cite, especially the return to not only a balanced budget but a surplus,
came from their alliance with big business and off-shoring of so much of our manufacturing. This left the working class out of jobs and Democrats losing the support of their base.
I’ll happily take the chance. Repubs are intrinsically evil these days.
JohnM upstateNY: Clinton also was responsible for so-called “Welfare Reform,” which turned what had been a federal entitlement for poor, mostly single-parent families into a state-controlled program with lifetime caps of five years (or less, at state choice). As a result, states were able to require punitive obstacles. And since “Welfare Reform” was block granted to the States, dollars in many southern states were diverted into moralistic activities such as parenting classes, drug testing, etc. Actual spending that flowed to families for rent, clothing, etc. dropped from the original standard of FPL (federal poverty level) to 15% of Area Median Income. States with the highest proportion of impoverished Black families ended up with the lowest benefits. Homelessness surged.
I have never forgiven Clinton.
John, I too have wondered this but I think there has been a definite shift via the bejeezus scared out of some, by the real threat of dictatorship. The question is, is the shift adequate enough to balance everyone's interests and is it sustainable? I think the public's lack of trust in future actions is reflected in the President's low polling numbers.
I hope we have learned from the mistakes of all our predecessors, from Reagan on, and can take the knowledge (thank you, historians!) so hard won to keep working to attain the goals of equity and fairness. There will ALWAYS be headwinds, but that must not stop us from continuing to sail! Never give up.
... it seems to swing like a pendulum ... has anyone noticed that most candidates and causes appeal for funding through a single resource? Feels almost like being corralled into the chute in a slaughterhouse ... will we ever evolve beyond the polarity of partisan/bipartisan contention?!
And, i gather, converting to the GOP? And what, since then, would have made them remain thus? Cultural wars?
I've never heard of the book, Richard. Thanks! Maybe historians will name our era "The Anger Games".
It isn't a book. It was published in the Feb. 2018 issue of Critical Sociology, a peer-reviewed journal. You can google it. Today's MAGA are the same as the 1920's KKK. Absolutely no difference. "The Anger Games: . . . ." and Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland" are virtually essential to understand what we're dealing with presently. Racism. Misogyny. Xenophobia. Homophobia.
Oh thanks so much, Richard Sutherland, for the source!
I looked at it briefly, so I saved it to read later. Thanks for the info!
Is all of a piece. Runaway ego and obsession with pursuit of absolute power.
Alexandra Sokoloff, I agree harming people is a common means and end to power. All the insanity we see and feel reflects an insatiable and obsessive appetite for getting and/or holding onto power. Financial wealth is a form of power in our society, as is fame, for example. Both will get you power and help you hold onto power. But power itself is not bad. It is how an individual or a group uses it ---- to destroy or make better.
Lyndon Johnson famously said you can deprive a white man of anything if you can point to a Black man in worse condition. Honest
I think the racists are afraid of people of other nations (color/religion) because they may find out that these people are better, more talented, more athletic, and smarter than they are.
Karen, I don't have the slightest doubt about that.
Alexandra,
That is the truth. A campaign showing pictures of evil, mean , corrupt , bullies and then a question: “ Is this who you are?”
And then a huge picture of any spiritual leader( Jesus, Mother Teresa.........) and say “call for help”.
Same thing.
Money IS power and with it, I can persuade a perfect stranger to give me a sandwich. Or, from the "right" vendor, contract murder for hire. The "right" public official will grant me special governmental favors in exchange for financial help, and these days, most of this latter exchange is not even illegal thanks to the "GOP" for expanding our palette of purchasing options; provided you have the scratch. Political position and violence are also forms of personal power, and can often deliver what you want. Some like to combine all three.
But Democracy is a radical division of power into equal shares. We empower our fiduciaries by combining our votes, as opposed to a Big Boss being born into the "right" family or commanding a personal army. When it comes to matters of state, we are supposed to enjoy ‘ONE PERSON, ONE VOTE’; although there there remain a number of nettlesome barriers to that ideal being fully realized.
"But Democracy is a radical division of power into equal shares."
Unfortunately, the USA is a Social Democratic House of Prostitution, not really a Democracy in the meaning you note.
Sure, I can vote, for, say, Kathy Hochul here in NY. But, once she is in office, lifted there by my vote, her big donors tell her what to do and she does it.
Example: Upon Kathy Hochul's election as NY State governor her highest priority became providing no less than $600 MILLION dollars to one family, the owners of the Buffalo Bills, the Pegula family, in Buffalo, NY, where she is from. The money was, ostensibly, "to keep the Buffalo Bills from moving out of state" except, there was no threat of that happening.
The Pegula family is a very large donor to Kathy Hochul's campaign funds.
So, I can vote for Hochul, but, as part of the Social Democratic House of Prostitution called "Democracy" here in the USA, does my vote matter?
I really cannot say I think it does.
I would NEVER have socialized the cost of a new stadium for football and privatized the profit like Kathy Hochul did, NEVER.
$600 Million dollars could have put a LOT of kids through state Universities here in NY.
I am happy that some folks can enjoy a football game or any other sporting event. But we have turned professional sports (and now college) into a money grubbing machine for the rich to get richer. We have allowed the oligarchs to turn it into a religion of sorts. The worship of sports stars is just another example of redirecting our collective wealth into the hands of a few. Seen from space, it might be viewed as "wow...they haven't changed much since the days of the Romans and the coliseum."
Your story about the stadium makes me want to hurl. But sadly, it happens all over the world where we value the ability to throw and catch a ball more than we value a kids nutrition, healthcare and education. It is simply stupid and cruel.
Bill, you could get me started on college football. The dismemberment of the Pac 12 conference chasing big football money is disgusting. Football plays one game a week with a bye week in about a 14 week season. Other sports (notably women's sports, but I'm going to include both men's and women's basketball in this as well) play two or three games a week. It is one thing for softball (the game I used to umpire at the collegiate level) to have to travel from Seattle to Los Angeles (or vice versa) for a 3 game series. It is absurd to travel to New York or Pennsylvania for a 3 game series. Only slightly less absurd to travel to the mid west for games in March.
We could go a long way towards strengthening education in general by separating "sports" from academic institutions. There are many models other than the American model. Community leagues and club sports can develop athletic talent at all levels. The fact that universities are willing to pay coaches 10-20x what the most accomplished academic scholars and teachers earn is scandalous.
Agreed. Mike Belotti, who coached Oregon for 15 or so years makes more from PERS in a month that I mark in a year (after 28 years service as a cop, an I made more than teachers.
We could go a long way towards strengthening education in general by separating "sports" from academic institutions. There are many models other than the American model. Community leagues and club sports can develop athletic talent at all levels. The fact that universities are willing to pay coaches 10-20x what the most accomplished academic scholars and teachers earn is scandalous.
Ally, 100% with you on football. It's a humanity-killer.
Bread and circuses. Oh, no - actually, just circuses. And apparently circuses are enough.
The other problem, of course, is the system of one state, two Senators. California has 40 million people and two senators. Sixteen states have a combined population of 40 million, with 32 Senators. Ultimately, that fact and the configuration of the Electoral College will probably spell the end of this Great Experiment.
Yes Richard, our "original sin" was the efforts of our founders to weave together disparate colonies with vastly different sources of income and social organization. Their compromises worked until they didn't resulting in the Civil War wherein President Lincoln, a man of the people if ever there was one, forced a reunion which his successor, Andrew Johnson pulled apart those loosened strings of union by allowing essentially the same leadership in the South to remain in power in the service of less disruption and appearing to extend the magnanimity Lincoln, through General Grant, first embraced by allowing the Confederate soldiers to return home with their horses and guns necessary to return to agricultural productivity. We have made the same mistake several times since with such things as the pardon of Nixon by Ford and the failure to hold Regan accountable for his illegal Iran Contra scandal. It seems we as a nation have difficulties providing both appropriate punishment for the leaders guilty of malfeasance while simultaneously showing beneficence to the ordinary people who have fallen under their sway.
Mike, I live in Western NY state, and follow the Bills. Yet, I don’t believe the team needed a new stadium. I agree that money could certainly have been much more usefully invested in education, starting with the Buffalo School District, whose performance ranks among the lowest (with a score of 4/10) in the state and struggles with staff shortages and poor-to-failing student proficiencies. It’s ironic that those same functionally illiterate students are some of the Bills’ most faithful fans. A greater irony might be that the new, fancy stadium might still not lead to a Bills’ Superbowl win…
https://www.investigativepost.org/2022/01/10/buffalo-schools-struggle-to-catch-up/
Sounds so like the Fall of the Roman Empire: brutal games for the crazed crowd.
... right, but it seems to me like whoever is running this game doesn't want kids going to universities - or even schools to educate them for opportunities to get out of the streets with butts in the air - the younger and fresher the better ... sorry to say, that is what I see - in the worst possible way (speaking of prostitution!!) ... and yes, children are being 'groomed' for sex work - only I cannot believe it is just about 'Democrats' ... not a partisan trend - more like the trenches into which we are born, or forced by circumstance ... I give thanks I never brought a child into this sick, sick world!!
Wow !
Exactly Mike S, she lost sight of her political base in the working class! Too much money concentrated with a few people becomes a power multiplier for anyone with the ego necessary to run for office.
Kathy Hochul has been a disappointment, for sure -- another 'Manchin' Democrat?
I can see that well established Penn State vs. Oregon rivalry will bring a lot of visiting fans to the opponent's stadium. <sarcasm font>
Sorry Ally House. I accidentally deleted my post! LOL!! I’ll go as far west as Northwestern!!
The most “nettlesome barrier” to democratic civil society is enforcement of Justice . We have plethoras of laws “on the books”. It’s not so much “the rule of law” as the actual, equitable application of those laws. We lack this. And it shows. The closer you get to monied-greed, the less enforcement there is. An that seems to be a self-perpetuating cycle: more concentrated wealth, the more hacking/buying/capturing of justice.
It seems Republican Party has two agendas only; get power and protect the wealthy. When the goal is to reach the end, the means doesn't matter. Voter suppression and restriction has been the mantra of the Party since the Civil Rights era. The 1960s was really important for the black community to emancipate themselves from the voting discrimination that had sidelined them from representation, economic participation, access to health facilities, access to transport, access to schools without segregation, access to protests, access to government institutions, access to legal representation, and access to everything that matter to the lives as human beings. But the Republican chose otherwise and since then, it has become their identity.
By reintroducing voter restrictions in 2020, the Party sent a signal that they are out of touch with the common people, doesn't respect voters, racial segregation still runs in its blood, systemic discrimination is possible and within their manifesto, the constitution is inferior to their goals, and that the major aim is to regain and stay in power with whatever illegal means they got.
But one think stands out; the 21 century vigilance has been bolstered with the continuous strengthening of the institutions and the power of social media. Citizens can nowadays act out of the national institutions that perpetuate systemic discrimination and suppresses voters by rallying behind a United common good for the overall public. If Reverend Martin Luther King and Lewis had the social media tools that are pervasive nowadays, racism, voter suppression, economic jeopardy, and wedging disunity among the people would have ended even before the the Congress and the Federal end it. If Republican wants to be in WH, they should speak the language of the common and allow the distribution of wealth. But, I am sorry, that place has been taken by the Democrats.
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You are mostly correct Edwin, except for the Civil War Era. Then, the Republicans were the good guys and the Democrats were the bigots, racists, and snobs. They reversed roles in the 1930's when Franklin Delano Roosevelt fought against the moneyed interests in favor of the American majority. The final switch occurred in the 1960's with the "southern strategy" drew the former Democrats to the newly minted, racist, Republicans. I emigrated to the States in 1958, having always been a Liberal Progressive, I chose the Democratic Party when I finally achieved citizenship in 1967. I'm not suggesting that all Democrats are good and all Republicans are bad. It's just that overall there are fewer greedy, what's in it for me, Democrats than there are in the Republican/Libertarian groups. We need to pass the new Voting Rights Act. We may even need to get it embedded i the Constitution as an Amendment, if possible. Most of all Americans need to accept that we are all the same animal, Homo sapiens, one genus; one species. No sub-species, no sub-groups. There is not a dimes worth of difference between your DNA and mine. (except mine is a hell of a lot older than yours, (:-) )
Happy to note about that reversed roles. Sometimes, in response to their opponents, politicians may not stay grounded in their mission. And I think that is what might have happened in the civil era and the great Deal time. Sure, the New Voting Rights can be the new direction to take. Thank you Fay Reid
Exactly!!! Thanks you. Keep it clear and simple.
I agree with a lot of what you say F.R. But I think Blacks and Whites need to acknowledge that we are "wired" differently, accept our differences and then move on. If man survives, that will happen. There are folks that hope that it will never happen . They're also actively doing things to make sure that it won't happen.
I've always thought the only differences in humans is cultural.
Yes, were anatomically the same. Culturally different. Some try to make it a small thing - it's a big thing ! Overtime ? It will be a small thing but we have to get there.
It is a big thing. But, it doesn't make one less than the other. Differences is a good thing. I really hope we get there. I don't believe for a minute that this is the way it's supposed to be. I was raised to see people, not race. I raised my kids the same way. I wish everyone would. It would be a kinder world. (Yes, I'm idealistic. I can't help it).
"If Reverend Martin Luther King and Lewis had the social media tools that are pervasive nowadays,"
If they had sufficient access. Part of the problem (there are many) with privatizing everything when someone has thousands of dollars to every one that you have, they get heard and you don't. There are some work-arounds, but in a media dominated society underfunded success is a longshot.
I think traditional media has been overtaken by political parties, but social media despite its weakness is distributed and no one can control how people respond unless the company itself suppress it.
Sadly -social media is now mostly controlled by Zuckerberg and Musk. We're working to change that with a public benefit corp. owned social civic network.
I agree with you. It has become algorithm-led, but when the people's voices surpass that, it can be helpful for the society.
But they can predict how persons will respond based on scraped knowledge of their personalities. This makes social media vulnerable to the incivility virus more than any other media.
"Social" media are easily corrupted and distorted by bots and other technologies designed to weaponize the programming behind the platforms. It is a mistake to assume that (say) a Facebook account necessarily represents an actual human being. Far too many of them actually represent nothing but software bots.
So called "social" media platforms are easily manipulated by political organizations, businesses, and anyone else with an agenda and enough money to but the necessary technology. There are plenty of traditional media outlets that have not been "taken over by political partiers."
YES J L! One need only contemplate the effects of the choices a Rupert Murdoch's Fox News or an Elon Musk make with his Earth-Link system in Ukraine, Space-Ex and the hundreds of satellites surrounding our earth that he owns and controls and the former Twitter, now X)!
Let's remove the idea of political party and call the conservative and libertarian politicians.
..and using the word 'socialism' wrongly.
Not you but media.
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
-SCOTUS Justice Louis Brandeis
And as you stated...power is concentrated among the wealthy. That is why the issue of Clarence Thomas’ ethics are so suspect!
There's another more insidious way GOPers and big biz more generally have been concentrating wealth and power.
In 1980, meat packers were primarily Black, earning a decent middle class wage, thanks to decades of organizing. By that decade's end, meat packers were mostly immigrant, laboring for barely above minimum wage under atrocious conditions, where amputations were common.
This scenario was repeated in numerous low/no-skill metiers. The details are laid out in a scholarly, yet highly readable manner in Back of the Hiring Line: A 200-year History of Immigration Surges, Employer Bias, and Depression of Black Wealth, by Roy Beck ($14 on Amazon but check your local bookstore).
Beck covers the relevant academic economic history, statements of Black leaders, beginning with Frederick Douglass, whose sons were downwardly mobile due to this phenomenon, Black periodicals, and gov't commisions on on immigration reform, notably the Barbara Jordan commission under President Clinton, where the Black Texas Democrat who made her name during Watergate on the Judiciary Committee recommended roughly halving immigration numbers, and strict enforcement of immigration reform.
Beck, who'd spent 30 years as an environmental journalist, also used his own reporting. Giving the lie to the notion that there are jobs Americans won't do, he interviewed Black workers recently fired from a poultry plant to enable hiring of immigrants. Would they take their old jobs back if they could, he asked them? No, they told him. The wages would force them to live in their cars, or many to a house.
Beck wishes Americans would care as much for the descendants of slavery as they seem to care for immigrants. He also notes that with the gumption that many immigrants have, enabling them to walk from Central America to the US, they could probably turn their own countries around if we didn't make it so easy for them to stay in the US.
I suppose I'm a bleeding heart liberal. I care about exploitation and abuse in any form. When it comes to the immigration system in the United States, I cannot view the brutality of US foreign policy and intervention in places like El Salvador and separate that from the poverty, violence, and gangs so many attempt to flee from to the very country that helped to create the horror. One doesn't need to look further than Georgia and the School of the America's for the evidence. Many of the people who had the "gumption" to fix their own nations were disappeared and systematically tortured and killed.
So I think all workers should have a living wage, decent benefits, and health/safety laws protecting them from exploitation and abuse, and there should be consistent and clear laws and policy about immigration and a pathway to U.S. citizenship.
And while the horrors of slavery can never be fully addressed by an apology and a check, reparations must be paid to all who have suffered due to historically evil acts, whether addressing slavery, the Trail of Tears, or other past crimes directed by American society at classes of people.
I'm not sure ANY "objective" in this sense is important to the Republicans. It seems to me that they are a "gang." In a different world, they would be rabid socialists. In a still-different world, they would be anarchists. In yet a different world, they would be members of a punitive religious cult.
What matters to them, I think, is the insularity and group-think. They happen to have constellated around "conservatism" as their group-think, but I don't think that drives them. What seems to drive them is strutting about in the view of their fellow gang members.
In other words, they are trying to be perfect little fascists.
I went to see Pan's Labyrinth when it came out, years ago, thinking that it was going to be a fantasy film. Which it was, but.... One of the things that struck me was that, in the beginning, the Captain had recently taken command of his men, and they were demoralized and disorganized. There is the scene where the Captain gruesomely kills the man who was captured while hunting rabbits, and you see the soldiers horrified and cringing at the brutality of it. By the end of the film, you see that the soldiers have become the Captain.
It's Lord of the Flies all over again. Not just the descent into raw savagery, but the clustering of "us" against "them," with rituals that serve to hold the boundaries, and ensure momentary rank -- celebrity -- within the group.
Some may well be burn it all down anarchists, but I think there is overwhelming evidence that it is all about power at any cost. And Pan’s Labyrinth was an excellent film.
They're all about white power. The south is loath to reject its odious "traditions." Everything stems from that.
No doubt that is a part of it.
This is such a concise and true comment, Mr. Polisner, I wanted to thank you for it. We’re in a daily struggle to fight disinformation and your thoughts are a great help.
There’s an old saying “Sell to the classes, eat with the masses. Sell to the masses, eat with the classes.” Supply side economics is “selling to the classes”, concentrating wealth at the very top. Demand side economics is “selling to the masses”. These are Biden’s policies and they lift everyone.
Very true. Aside from addressing the extreme concentration of wealth, a society must be educated, informed, and engaged for any form of meaningful democracy to thrive.
Hence the right wing attacks on education in general and higher education in particular. Dictators always go after the universities first.
Excellent. May I borrow it?
I perceive a condescension by the intellectuals (who may not be all that "smart") towards those who succeed in life outside collegiate ivy walls, and who have been conned by the media monsters of industry. Get rid of Fox news and this whole country will become intelligent!
Faux News is a symptom, not the disease. Ditto for Trumpism. But thanks for demonstrating the anti-intellectualism Asimov mentioned.
Your arrogance is impressive.