Political Psychic

Daily Rants about Politics

Someone just called into the Ed Schultz radio show a minute ago with that idea – and I was blown away with how much it would mean to U.S. based workers. It would be a party that is about pushing for fair wages, protected labor rights, health care, and all about rebuilding the middle class. The Democratic Party sold out to corporations, along with the Republican Party. Both parties allowed workers to be steamrolled by corporations.

With the passage of the unlawful gift given to corporations to fund any pro-corporate candidate they want (which will further drive down wages, jobs and living standards), the left will need to push unions to fight fire with fire. They have been deemed the same right as corporations to fund candidates with unlimited amounts of cash. We need to be doing some serious push-back in our country – against the powers that be.

Pushing back is exactly what the Fox News created, corporate-owned astro-turfers over at the Tea Party have been doing – and have made fools of themselves by showing off their racist, hatred, pro-violent agenda. They are nothing less than offensive – and the corporate-owned media has given them nothing less than the royal carpet treatment in showing off their disdain for health care and public services.

It’s time to fight back by creating a third part on the left. It’s not enough to have the Green Party today. It needs to be about more than the environment right now. It needs to be about protecting the middle class – and rebuilding it. Rebuilding the middle class will rebuild our country. Trickle-down economics destroyed the middle class, by exporting jobs and rewarding the rich by taking away from the poor. The Reaganomics proponents have argued that helping the rich helps the poor – by allowing money to flow downward. The truth, as has been proven over the past 40-years, is that it doesn’t flow downward – it flows sideways – by flowing to other countries, bleeding jobs and the economy dry of its once wealthy middle class.

The truth is, that’s exactly what the neocons WANT – to see very few with an excessive amount of capital. In other words, they want to see a return to a monarch-like class system – where you are literally born into wealth, and only those with the proper bloodlines (i.e. white), can have a chance at fighting for what might be left to gain from.

We are well on our way to becoming such a nation. And the Republicans are only interested in “playing the system” in order to make wealth happen – instead of “playing by the rules” (which they deem is “only for pussies”). There needs to be a stronger fight for the middle class. The Democrats are too disconnected, even though their intentions are still more honorable than those on the right. It’s simply not enough.

So, let me get this straight. It’s not the fact that there are no jobs out there. It’s that I’m somehow not motivated enough because I’m being coddled and spoiled with my incredibly generous unemployment benefits package. Unemployment benefits only pay about 20-50% of what you were making in your last job – which is barely enough to cover rent or mortgage payments, alone. And of course, there’s the cost of gas and food. I am somehow living high on the hog? Even when I’m collecting unemployment benefits??? So they’re saying I’m a “welfare queen” now??

Wow.

I used to make a couple of grand per paycheck. Now it’s 200 a week. Oooooh, ya got me there….I’m sooo livin’ it up on my big fat weekly check!!

I can always…ALWAYS…count on Republicans to come up with the biggest doozies to offend the thinking-class in this country.

Another favorite past talking point was “if you help the homeless and the poor, you’re helping to keep pan handlers, drug dealers and scam artists in business – they’ll never learn how to make a living on their own”. As if being homeless and poor wasn’t bad enough – you have to worry about being labeled a “scam artist” when you ask for help.

And, I especially love hearing them say “I don’t want my tax dollars going toward some bum who is gonna buy drugs with my money”.

So they’re totally fine with paying for wars based on lies and massive fraud and abuse by military contractors.  But helping the poor?  That just makes their blood boil with rage.

I really hate saying this, but…Republicans have ice water running in their veins. That’s all there is to it.  How can these people be so g-damned mean and evil when they are asked to help others? And then they are so blissfully happy when they are told about people across the globe dying from our bombs and military strikes?  Especially when it was all based on lies?  Why on earth is that sooo okay with them??

They talk about post-9/11 moments as if they were golden and beautiful. The only thing honestly beautiful that I can remember about it, which only lasted a month or so, was how everyone was united as a nation and as a global entity. Color and gender, nationality and language, race, stature, class, etc – none of that mattered. Everyone had their flags flying.

However, during that time – and ever since then – it’s been nothing but a paranoid freaky fear festival among Republicans — and we have all suffered ever since. It’s all about keeping people divided – and making sure no one trusts “the other” among us.

Republicans don’t love “unity” when it comes down to who we are as a nation or global force — they only love it when people are united against “the other”. When people are pitted against eachother, treated as if they must view eachother with suspicion and fear, it brings out the worst in all of us.

Republicans don’t want us united – they want us divided. Their motto really is “divide and conquer” – not “united we fall”.

So, going back to my original point…

Instead of helping eachother out, it’s all about fearing the poor, the foreigner, the unfamiliar cultures and lifestyles.

Being unemployed sucks. But I guess that’s not what they want to believe or try to understand. They want to view 10-20% of the country as “the other” – and still call themselves “compassionate conservatives” at the same time.

Oh, and one more thing…

If you’re wondering about why conservatives are all for giving tons of money to foreign countries. They’re not doing it out of love or compassion. They are doing for the exact same reasons a loan shark would do it: to kick you down when you can’t pay it back. Republicans and crisis are like insurance agents turned ambulance chasers. They want you to call them the hero – but you realize they are the bad guy when they demand 30% interest on that 90-day million dollar loan. Read “Confessions of an Econonmic Hitman” if you don’t believe this.  If you’d like to read excerpts of the book, read it here.  Here’s a Wikipedia summary on it.

Oh, and one more thing.  The most frightening thing to a Republican is an educated public.  This is why they’re rather have a bunch of uneducated goons filled with hate fighting their battles, instead of a civilized and educated public that will more than likely vote for a Democrat instead of a Republican.  If you haven’t heard yet, Kansas City just voted to shut down half their schools due to budget issues.  Instead of trying to cut corners on waste, they shut the schools down instead.  That should help them create more impoverished, uneducated goons to fight their battles.

Ugh…

Howard Zinn – author of “People’s History of the United States”

Howard Zinn believed in the working class – or rather, the middle and lower class and their ability to change history.  He believed in the greatness of regular, working people – like you and I – and what they did to change history. He believed that true change came from the bottom up, and not from the top down. Movements like the Tea Party movement are called astro-turf movements because they are coporate sponsored for profit. They recruit working class people to do their bidding – to go out into the streets on behalf of the wealthy (like the health insurance companies, etc) to make it appear that they are connected with the working class in this country, when in fact they are not. They are sponsored events, for profit, whereby tickets are sold and celebrities are provided in order to draw a larger crowd. Their cause is not about the middle class, but about shouting down the opposition – the out-of-work class of people who get absolutely no media coverage, despite the size of their crowds.

The media is mostly owned by the wealthy class, which in turn tries to suppress the opposition – the voices of those who have been hurt by Reaganomics, exported jobs and industries. The few who have benefited from such policies are the benefactors and supporters of today’s astroturf movements.  What made Howard Zinn so special was his focus on the rebellions of the working class and the strikes they held throughout history. From the farmers’ strikes of the 1700′s on through the 1970′s, with Cesar Chavez’ farm workers strikes. Today, few people are willing to strike in public. We have been trained as a people to “put up and shut up” – to be afraid and submissive. The very thought of protesting invokes images of riots, armed police on horseback, water canons, and worst of all jailtime and the threat of being labeled an “enemy combatant”, which will more than likely generate a file at the FBI that will put you on every terrorist watch list. This is all thanks to George W. Bush’s Patriot Act and Homeland Security, illegal domestic wiretapping, and cointel-pro programs.

Howard Zinn died the other day, and his writings will speak to generations to come, much the same way Ghandi’s and MLK’s do for us today.  Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this very inspiring book.