Saturday, November 03, 2007
Fallout From The Class War:
November 1, 2007
According to Greg Palast and notable others, there's been a class war in America for quite a while now, and I agree. The idea has been to shrink the middle class, widening the divide between the haves and the have-nots, pushing more people into poverty by weakening education and our support system.
Much of the gains in the middle class was a result of WWII, and one can easily study a little history to see how things like the G.I. Bill helped young men get an education and move up after the war.
It was weakened under Ronald Reagan. When historians finally get enough distance they will see how Reagan's presidency started damaging this country and led us to where we are today. There are those who argue that Reagan caused an economic expansion, but the credit does not really go to him. Very few presidents are the cause of what happens, but as we've seen they have the potential to wreak havoc on the country. (Look at what's happened to the deficit under George W. Bush.)
As an AIDS activist I can never forgive Reagan for the death and misery he caused, but that forgiveness lies in the hands of those who suffered and died, not in mine.
But the corporations and neo-cons who helped widen the divide are starting to see the fallout and blowback of their actions. The housing market is a good example. They forgot that a healthy middle class keeps businesses profitable, from Merrill-Lynch to Wal-Mart. Our economy depends upon people's ability to get educated and move up the economic ladder.
I don't know if it was naked greed or short-sightedness, and I really don't care. But we need to start having a national conversation about the true state of our union. We need to discuss how we can address poverty in this country, because a healthy economy and democratic union flows up as well as down. That's one of the reasons I've been so impressed by John Edwards, because the man is actually talking about this.
But you wouldn't know it from our mass media. That's mainly due to the fact that our mass media is a major part of the problem. There is a reason why people like me have stopped watching TV and stopped following the "news." American mainstream news is crap, and it's also hopelessly poisoned. With people like Rupert Murdoch controlling so many papers and TV news stations we have a mass media that has abandoned its responsibility to the public.
(This also goes for PBS/NPR as far as I'm concerned.)
Instead we have distractions like Bill O'Reilly, Anne Coulter and their ilk. People who should not have such a public forum, but are shoved in our faces because they are a distraction. Their crap keeps us distracted from the real issues that face our nation.
But we have the power when it comes to media. By turning it off or refusing to buy it we destroy the toxic invader and give real voices a chance to be heard. Truly great news services like Mother Jones Magazine, The Economist, and others offer us a news source that covers what truly matters to those of us with a social conscience. When we abandon The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal we take away the toxic voice of men like Murdock, (who recently bought the latter.)
There will always be ignorant people in this (and every) country who have no clue they've been sold a bill of goods. They never led and they never will. It has always been up to the natural leaders and voices of this country to lead, and it is still their responsibility to lead. Now more than ever.
Unfortunately, the inclination has been to contract, to withdraw from the toxic environment. But if we withdraw too far we risk our chance to affect positive change.
I am surrounded by intelligent, caring and highly moral people. My loved ones and friends never cease to amaze me with their perspective, and the things we all try to do to make this world a better place for everyone. I feel like I'm surrounded by natural leaders.
It's my hope that more and more people become tired of the toxic stew our mass media feeds us; the fear, hatred and negativity it spews like brown water from a sewer. And once we have made the mass media irrelevant we can start a real national dialogue about the things that matter most. Here's my short list:
1. Restoring the domestic manufacturing sector in America.
2. Moving away from a Disposable society.
3. Fully restoring the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights.
4. Abolishing "no child left behind" and restoring our educational systems.
5. Ending the failed "War On Drugs" and releasing non-violent drug offenders from our prison system.
6. Overhauling our prison system and the way we care for our prisoners.
7. Opening up job opportunities and education for people of color and those harmed by the drug war.
8. Strengthening American labor unions.
9. Purging the political system of well-moneyed lobbyists.
10. Holding those guilty of war crimes accountable – including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, David Addington and Alberto Gonzales.
11. Abolishing the TSA and replacing it with a sane and efficient system.
12. Abolishing the CIA and getting help to establish an intelligence service that works.
13. Abolishing para-military organizations like Blackwater "Security Systems."
14. Restoring our credibility with the rest of the world.
15. Moving away from coal and fossil fuels, and developing less harmful sources of energy for our country.
16. Restoring our military so it can truly protect our borders.
17. Paying our U.N. dues and start working with that august body.
18. Making sure our children are taught the true history of our country so we don't end up in this situation ever again.
19. Taking back our airwaves and building a new press to replace the hopelessly poisoned one we have right now.
20. And most importantly, restoring the trust and confidence between Americans and truly unifying this country.
I'm sure there are many more things that can be added to this list, like restoration of voting rights to those harmed by the drug war, but the 20 items listed above is a good start.
The point is we need to start now. We need to let our politicians know that we are taking control of our country and they will act as the civil servants they were elected to be, implementing these things we have outlined.
We also need to put the corporations on notice, re-write their corporate charters to reflect these values, and take those charters away from those who don't deserve to hold them.
We have the Power!
