Sleeping With The Devil; How We're Led To Believe Their Wealth Benefits Us (The Rich's Riches Make the Poor Poorer)

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country" - Thomas Jefferson 

           As we enter this new era filled with challenges to the middle class such as declining wages, limited resources and widening wealth disparity, few in Washington are actually fighting to fix what is actually causing these social problems. With movements like the Tea Party that call for reductions in the size of the government, and the Republicans espouse their purely anti poor, pro-corporation standpoint, there is only so much the Democrats and pragmatic idealists can do to battle such a wave of amoral and corrupt values. We live in a country where the wages of middle class families have actually declined over the past 10 years, while the top 1% in fiscal terms have actually increased their riches by one quarter of a million dollars per year. I don't know about you, but this seems a lot less like a government of the people, for the people, and more like for the wealthy, and by the wealthy.

           It's a known fact that there is such a disparity in wealth between the what was middle class and the now glutton filled upper class but it seems like nobody is fighting the good fight. While there are many campaigns to fight against this sort of injustice, why is it that republicans still somehow, whether effectively or not, are able to eclipse the public debate by crying the old "socialism", "class warfare", "free market" sentiments, while simultaneously pretending to be working for the interest of everybody. Last time I checked, the bottom 99% seems a lot more like everybody and the top 1% seems more like, well, the top 1%.
          Trickle down economics as former president Ronald Reagan called it was a complete and utter fabrication, a promotion of free market and capitalist ideals while merely being just a facade to give to the rich and steal from the poor. The only thing that is quote unquote "trickled down" to the bottom 95% of us is the regurgitated and hardly digested goods the rich accidentally spill, and even then they still get to decide what we should or shouldn't have.

            In Wisconsin, republican Governor Walker and his team of anti-union, anti-worker staffers are working tirelessly at silencing mass organization and collective bargaining by effectively putting us back into the age of monopolistic and authoritative industries. These industries gave absolutely no rights or fair working conditions to their employees in the first decade of the 20th century. Teddy Roosevelt led the fight against these corporations as to not let them sway the government and eventually struck down corporation's right in favor of the people. This is the kind of leadership we need, not the kind that merely seeks to enhance it's own political agenda and fortunes by enriching the rich and taking from the poor.

            Look at the graph to the left. The share of capital income earned by the top 1% since the 1980's has gone up about 20%, while the bottom 80% of American's wealth have actually gone down about 15%. This is the reality of today's America. We live in a society in which people are so manipulated by these economic conservatives that they actually believe that those looking to destroy the middle and lower class are actually trying to help the lower and middle class. If the dollar bills these republicans and tea partiers were receiving could be marked based on income, you'd see that most of these bills are probably stamped with some corporation's logo on the back.

           And the age old cry of class warfare? That must be a joke. The only war being waged is against the impoverished masses, whether it's congressman Paul Ryan's incessant attacks on Medicaid, the number 1 provider of health care for the poor, or the idea that giving tax breaks to corporations and billionaires will actually produce wealth, is a prime example of the paradox Americans live in. How is it, that Paul Ryan, can say "We should cut $800,000,000,000 from Medicaid", a service that cures and prevents illnesses for the poor, but then say "We should give $800,000,000,000 to the top 2% because they are our 'economic engines of growth'". I'm sorry, but this is deplorable, and if you are any bit a decent person, you would understand that this type of behavior is just not acceptable. It's a value that is hardly a value, and is more of a dogmatic attack on the government for his own political gain, while simultaneously pushing down the poor and lifting the rich even higher. It's the ironic sentiment that we as Americans can't afford health care, we can't afford to fix infrastructure, we can't afford to send our children to school, yet we can afford to give billions in tax breaks to corporations and individuals. These entities end up using their high priced lawyers to figure out the best tax loopholes, making the taxes that they are already supposed to be paying avoidable.
          Just the issue alone that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of corporations rights to 'freedom of speech' by allowing them to donate to political campaigns without disclosure is a testament to the unlimited power of the rich. The fact that in some statesm union organizations, the groups that lobby for the average worker in America aren't allowed to donate money to political campaigns, yet corporations filled with billionaire C.E.O's are allowed to donate not only unlimited funds, but don't even have to disclose the amount or to whom they donate to is in it's own right class warfare. It's the average American who is scammed out of his political voice in favor of the richest American. This way the corporations and the rich can move their money overseas, sell off America jobs to foreign countries, evade taxes, and on top of it, elect whichever politician they deem desirable by funding that candidate endlessly. Money is what wins in this country, not democracy, or liberty, or justice, just money.

          This is not an issue of the cleverly coined term 'class warfare', it is more of an issue of fairness. We all have to make sacrifices and give a little bit to get this country back on track, and we shouldn't be starting from the bottom up. It doesn't make any sense to attack the bottom rung of the ladder if you want to solve the problems we face today. Every single one of us collectively, whether you are Donald Trump or Joe Schmoe, we all have to give a little bit. Whether or not Donald pays more or Schmoe pays more is purely trivial. I know one thing for sure, Donald should definitely not be receiving any breaks before Schmoe should. 
          Our priorities and our values have been left in the hands of the wealthy who can afford the lobbyists and the face time needed with the politicians that are sworn to serve the people. We need to understand that if we want to move forward, we cannot put the weight of our budget problems on the backs of the poor. We can't put it on the backs of those who barely have legs to stand on. We have to start with those who can afford it, or at least make it that all who live in this country pitch in their part to get our country moving forward. I'm sorry Paul Ryan, this is 2011, not 1911; monopolies and Mr. Money bags aren't what need to be defended; it's the struggling mother of three who can't afford her mortgage because some C.E.O. has decided to cut costs by laying off his workers, or the financier at Wall Street who decided to sell off her mortgage in a risky investment. It's time to work towards a stronger middle class and not a stronger corporate state. This is more like the United Corporations of America than it is the United States of America. 
          Until we understand that this country's economic backbone is us, the struggling mother, the hard working college student, the back breaking laborer and not the playboy billionaire, we'll be left to be subjugated by the aristocracy that we have been led to believe is actually good for us. If we're going to say that these tax breaks and loopholes are actually beneficial, then I say Phillip Morris should go back to saying their product is beneficial for us too. I mean, both don't look too bad in the short term, right? But it's the cancer that will eventually kill us, maybe not today, but one day. Let's bring back the middle class the way we've brought up the upper class and let's do it in the right way this time. 

Signing Out- John Thomas