Reader Teri L sent a link to a post that sums up a lot of what I’ve been trying to say- but never as eloquently, that we’re in a class war, and as the economic divide widens, eventually, we’ll implode and kiss it all bye-bye.
America will be a third world nation, if we’re not already there now by many standards.
Read this post in its entirety- I think it’s worth a discussion here:
this is class warfare, and it is becoming worse in the US than at any time since the 1930’s. And the outcome of this will be a fundamental test of the US commitment to its republic.
The media stokes the viewing public into emotionally-based and virulently distracting arguments about liberal versus conservative, while the gentried class skins them all alive.
One only has to watch the “news shows” on American television to see the lack of real content and discussion, with diametrically opposed “strategists” hurling sound bytes at each other with all the depth of a schoolyard standoff.
It is comfortable to retreat into an “us versus them” view of the world, and the noble class in the States is all too ready to facilitate that appeal to the darker emotions. People know deep down that it is a scam, and believe that it is easier to go along and get yours while you can, than actually attempting to change a system grown corrupt in an aging empire….
“There’s class warfare, all right, but it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” Warren Buffett New York Times, November 26, 2006.
“The class warfare is over — we lost. I want to make that announcement today. Working people lost. The middle class lost.” Dennis Kucinich, 18 December 2009
And in the short term there will be quite a bit of jostling at the middle of the ladder, by those who fancy themselves, or their children, suited for the new nobility and so seek to perpetuate the status quo, with a lot of kicking and dog eat dog going on at the lower levels as the ladder shortens, trying to knock the immigrant, the less connected, off into the abyss, to feed the beast.
Out of all of this will come something different, and most likely something unexpected. It’s an old story, one that replays over and over. The remedy is sound reason and the Constitution, but these forces have been in retreat for the past ten years at least. Reform and justice have few friends while the looting of a generation is in progress.
via Jesse’s Café Américain: Class Warfare American Style [1].
With a failing fourth estate (the news media)- and a totally unregulated campaign finance system- there is little hope that the rich won’t be able to continue their dismantling of the middle class until the people rise up and try to put a stop to it.
I have thoughts of what that may look like- but they are too grim to share here. Our systems are so intertwined and interdependent, that even small disruptions can cause massive ripples. Look back to Katrina or 9/11 to see how our economy has reacted.
In these mid-term elections, it’s our duty as voters to start asking candidates hard questions about how much longer we’re going to tolerate bonuses for executives that robbed our pension funds and then taken a golden parachute ride. It’s time for clawback, prison and some serious payback.
The question is, will it be done in an organized fashion, or by a lynch mob.
If you question the possibilities of the latter- spend some time at a Tea Party rally looking at the signs- they should give you a good indication of how ugly it could get.
The Tea Party crowd are on the side of the privileged elite. They aren’t themselves privileged, but they’ve been convinced to argue virulently against anything that would do them good. It’s rather the opposite of how representative democracy is supposed to work, with citizens voting in favor of their personal interests.
The Tea Party crowd are on the side of the privileged elite. They aren’t themselves privileged, but they’ve been convinced to argue virulently against anything that would do them good. (Truddick) Yes, dear Truddick, the Tea Party crowd are just like a bunch of potentially self-destructive children; constantly doing the political equivalent of running with scissors or sticking their fingers in exposed light sockets. Lucky for us, we got folks like you and David Esrati to point out the error of our ways and steer us back to the sendero luminoso. Now the Old Bandito, who has seen this planet take a few spins, has watched government proposals and programs come and go. And El Bandito has observed that government programs do three things; cost unimaginable amounts of public money, limit freedom and thirdly and most importantly, fail. From LBJ’s Great Society programs, which didn’t eliminate poverty but institutionalized it, to the stupid War on Drugs, which fills our prisons, limits our freedom and makes the purchase of three bottles of cough syrup a crime, any attempt by the state to disparage a behaviour will do nothing but exacerbate the problem. And by the way, dear Truddick, just which elites have the Tea Bag folks wearing cheerleading uniform and sporting megaphones? Certainly not the Hollywood elite, who think that by being able to recite a line after only 25 takes qualifies them to comment expertly on political issues. Nor could it be the media elite such as CNN and the Dayton Daily News, who cannnot even thru their veneer of fake objectivity conceal their contempt for those who disparage the Great Helmsman. Nor could it be the increasingly unpopular and dangerous political elite, who ignore the will of the electorate on such issues as illegal immigration, serfdom taxation and bolshevized health care. No dear Truddick, the Old Bandito fails to recognize even one set of elites that champions the Tea Bag crowd. And that’s the point; nothing frightens the genuine cultural and political elites like a spontaneous and leaderless uprising. And what does this rabble want from the government? Basically, to… Read more »
2 things about IceBandit:
1) He’s not running for office. With such great wisdom, shouldn’t he be a shoe-in? Elected instantly-
2) I agree with him 100% about the war on drugs, the hollywood elite, and the DDN- all useless.
As to the Tea Bag crowd- and the ‘ol bandito- how about WHAT you are for- instead of all you are against?
One large problem with “the Tea Party crowd” is that it’s not at all one easily defined, homogeneous group. There are a bunch of well-meaning libertarians who I probably agree with on most of the issues, but they’re surrounded by an odd mix of crazies carrying signs with racist, nazi, and “this time my gun isn’t loaded…” signs. These folks clearly detract from the message and credibility of the overall group.
These same folks believe there’s a plot to kill grandma, and that our president was born in Kenya, and Sarah Palin is a maverick.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry, frankly.
And then there’s the fact that these “grass roots organizations” are funded by multi-multi-millionaire oil magnates, etc. It really would be funny if it weren’t true and happening in my country.
I went to a tea party meeting on healthcare. It was really cool. They had assembled about 7 speakers on the topic of healthcare and each gave their viewpoint from their profession. The speaker for the evening announced that interruptions would not be tolerated as it was funded by the speaker at a private setting. He asked for small donations at the end because it was all self funded.
It was very informative and had people that asked for elaborations as well as challenged what was said. I am drawn to the events, because it is primarily libertarians and people that are beginning to realize that freedom is a key ingredient to everything.
To David Esrati: I think it is very clear what Ice Bandit is for. He is for freedom. One does not compromise one’s freedom, one pursue’s their freedom as an absolute. Other people find infinite # of ways to destroy the freedom of others. Consequently, it would appear that Ice Bandit is against everything, but truly and noticeably our well versed friend is only against one thing: The disparagement of freedom. The fact that others can bundle that disparagement into infinite disguises should not reflect onto El Bandito.
Ice Bandit, hopefully I have not misrepresented you.
And regarding class warfare, well, follow the constitution. Stop allowing the use of force to seize the assets of people via the government. Limit the governments role and consequently, you limit the amount and effect of lobbyist and private companies to siphon off wealth from the middle class.
@Robert V. “Freedom” – has all kinds of connotations- and who are we granting that freedom to? So far, it’s been to the robber barons on Wall Street- the freedom to pillage our economic system.
Yep- to have a civilized society, one must have rules- and rules curtail freedom- it’s all just one big slippery slope.
Society has to have laws that protect our natural rights. Such as, do not steal and do not fraud. That is not a very slippery slope.
Anyone that has pillaged the economic system has done it lawfully through means of lobbying, greasing politicans palms to utilize regulation to their advantage. My point, is remove the politicians ability to institute that crap, stop their ability to take from the public and private entity’s will not be able to pillage. Very simple.
Unless of course you believe the entire world should simply be made of angels who will organize our society for us. Freedom wins, even though you attempted to disguise it once again.
Brian – Interesting comments. One thing that I found out the hard way when I was on the front lines of a local political issue is that you wish that 80% of the people that are siding with would be on the other side!! I think that holds true in the Tea Party movement when it comes to some of the crazy signs, etc.
An interesting thing that I saw on MSNBC’s coverage of a Tea Party event in Arizona was there inference that the attendees of the event were all racists who were pissed off since there was now an African-American President in office. The “reporter” for this was their “urban, hip reporter” – a young late 20’s black guy that was trying to look like Lenny Kravitz. He was decrying the fact that some of the people came armed to the event (many Arizonians open carry) and showed footage of a guy at the event carrying an AR-15. He went on to say how bringing arms to this event, especially an assault rifle, was all due to angry white folks. What their carefully edited footage didn’t show was that the guy with the AR-15 was black. (And you liberals claim that Fox is biased??? LOL!!)
I’m curious as to your comment about the grassroots movement being funded by oil magnates. Are you referring to T. Boone Pickins? (No relation to Slim Pickins by the way!!) If so, I think you have the tea party movement confused with the “Drill Here, Drill Now” movement. Thankfully the liberals don’t have any millionaires (like George Soros) trying to quietly fund grassroots movements!! And, thankfully no radical organizations that engage in voter fraud and intimidation like ACORN don’t receive any funding from liberals or from the Federal Government!
By the way, I am one conservative that knows that Obama was born in the US and I don’t think that Sarah Palin is a maverick (although she’s got a pretty nice set of legs!!). As for plots against grandma, well……??? ;)
T. Boone was a funder of the Swift Boat Veterans that helped sink John Kerry. It represents the bizarro world we live in where an American War Veteran is skewered and due to party lines is not defended by those who served. They cheapened the Country and their own service. T. Boone wants the country to be independent of foreign oil by replacing gasoline powered vehicles (OPEC, Venezuela, Nigeria) with AMERICAN Natural Gas and then having electricity produced by Wind Power, which seems to be in line with a liberal way of thinking on Green Energy and a Conservative Way of Thinking by using our OWN resources instead of killing Arabs for theirs.
Several salient points I would like to make concerning the loud booming voice of the American Right. Most of the Corporations that own the media care not a whit about people only profits and maybe not even the profits of their propaganda arm. For the most part people are barraged by pro corporate messages that are not in the interest of the people that actually believe in the message. Soros is David taking on Goliath, but analysis is not an American strong suit as evidenced by the comments on this subject.
@Bubba: Pickens is an example but he isn’t the one I’m failing to remember by name now. Sorry, I haven’t heard his name in a month or two. He may be a chemical company owner involved in the oil industry.
@Greg: thanks for reminding me of some of Pickens’ past. Despite some of his past sins, he may be on the right side of this Natural Gas issue.
I’m starting to remember why I ignored politics for my first 42 years. It’s very frustrating, and the more I hear from both sides of the issue, the more I realize I don’t really like anyone. Anyone. Is this how it happened for you, IceBandit? :-D
I just watched 2 hours of Glenn Beck (opposition research?) and realized that, though he may be a raving lunatic, he actually makes a good point on occasion. I think Olbermann is over the top, too, but I agree with him most of the time. But Beck doesn’t like anyone either. He’s all about the conspiracies of the Progressives to remake America for the last 100+ years, and he says Bush and McCain are progressives as well as Obama. So while I thought he was just railing against Obama, he just doesn’t really like anyone. He just… sniff sniff… really loves his country… sniff sniff… Was he this quiet when Bush was president? Would he be this quiet if McCain were president? Who knows. It’s all very annoying. Where are the easy answers? :-)
when I typed “quiet” I think I meant to type “loud”. See how confused this discussion has made me? :)
I just watched 2 hours of Glenn Beck (opposition research?) and realized that, though he may be a raving lunatic, he actually makes a good point on occasion.
God, I’d hate to watch hours and hours of Glenn Beck on the off chance he might make a good point.
If you’re looking for class warfare and an easy call then I’ve got one for you. I’m trying to convince my homeowners’ association that I should have the right to live in a home of my own choosing. After being sued and losing for charging fees that 60% of the homeowners didn’t approve, the association is redoing the list of covenants and restrictions and hoping to get that 60% approval this time so they can go on a campaign to persecute and prosecute. Here’s number 12 on the list. “No building of less than 1,200 square feet in floor area, excluding open porches and garages, shall be erected or placed upon premises.” My feeling is that people who supports number 12 don’t have common sense in their head or the golden rule in their heart. Here’s what I’ve sent to the board. This preamble should be inserted right after the definitions and before the list of covenants and restrictions. Preamble: The American Dream is to live in a home of one‘s own choosing. Enchanted Hills Community Association shall establish no covenant or restriction that runs contrary to this dream. For example, no exclusionary zoning or square foot restriction shall be imposed. This preamble is superior to any other covenant or restriction and overrides any other. That being said, 60% of the Enchanted Hills votes, as defined below, have established the following covenants and restrictions to apply to Enchanted Hills Lots: Number 12 is classic exclusionary zoning. If you put in “exclusionary zoning” into Bing and then check out Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, listing you’ll see what I’m talking about. Exclusionary zoning has been spreading like cancer across America. In Michigan I would’ve had to go 167 miles further north into mid Michigan to the village of Weidman near Central Michigan University to find a lot where I would’ve been allowed to place my singlewide mobile home and pay property taxes like everyone else. The reasons for exclusionary zoning are primarily to exclude “undesirables” and secondarily to protect property values. Anyplace you don’t see singlewide mobile homes you can bet there… Read more »