Republicans picture themselves as lords over the country – the American Granthams of Downtown Abbey – living the good life on the floor above the submissive working class – maids, butlers, doormen, etc., which are beaten down by a life-long irreversible social stigma – while the upper crust, seemingly oblivious to anything beneath, is upstairs and insurmountably segregated from the worker bees that make the queen bee’s over-indulgent opulence possible. The workers are banished to the basement and lower quarters where the only “upward mobility” permitted is to fetch tea and lavish meals for the sovereigns perched and pampered on the floor above.
That is exactly how America’s extreme anti-labor devotees picture themselves: Above it all, superior, looking down their noses at folk striving to make a decent living – a Middle and Lower Class struggling with insufficient funds to cover the basics.
Republicans would be Loyalists in the Revolution. They would not be allies to George Washington, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, nor any of the patriarchs – whom they now professedly worship as national heroes. On the contrary, they’d be friends with General Cornwallis while unquestionably paying homage to King George.
“Trickle down” didn’t originate with the Republican Party; it started with monarchs of non-democratic forms of government hundreds of years ago. Republicans are only perpetrating the lie that wealth exclusively trickles down from the upper class and, therefore, the 1%, AKA “the job creators”, should be valued and favored over the working class though tax breaks and total exemptions – a formula which means everyone else has to carry the load of public works, highways and security.
Is there any question why Republicans deafeningly and determinedly call for tax breaks for the wealthy in almost every speech as the all-time panacea for the economy? “Trickle down” and “job creators” are the language of the ruling class residing upstairs isolated from the riffraff. Dogs snatch crumbs falling from the master’s table. Republicans of today do NOT speak the language of the framers of the Constitution – as they’d like their constituents to believe. Their language comes from King George, not George Washington.
When it came time to clean up the BP spill, with whom did Republicans ally themselves? The people? The environment? Hell, no! The welfare of BP [as in “BRITISH” Petroleum] was of upmost concern.
The spill revealed the worst in Republican loyalties. Sympathy for BP was unabashedly displayed on the House and Senate floors. Representative Joe Barton (R-TX) even went so far as to apologize to BP for Democrats and Obama’s attempts to compensate victims.
Republicans Oppose Oil Spill Escrow Fund, Apologize to BP
But what’s more remarkable about the big spill and its nasty aftermath is that the majority in red states impacted by this disaster continues to support the very party that feels sympathy for BP and none for them. The GOP attempted to throw them under the bus, yet they still vote en masse against their own interests. A colossal cult it must be.
Ironically, most Republicans are not rich. They simply vote for the rich hoping that someday they’ll join them. It is more pleasing to identify with the ruling class than the servants that wait on them hand-and-foot. (Which would you rather be: the Granthams on the upper level or a servant with no future consigned to the lower?) Old Lady Violet Grantham gets the most votes in a hypothetical popularity contest, while servants dodging the rats get the least. It’s easy to see once the analogy is drawn.
Amazingly, almost half of American colonists were loyal to the crown and opposed independence. The question is: Which half? The same counterparts living today that consider themselves “patriotic” (i.e., Tea Partiers, Republicans, right-wingers, religious social conservatives) would have been loyalists back in 1773-1787. In fact, the more religious in Washington’s time, the more chance the person was allied with King George III.
Why is that? Fundamentalists are taught never to question authority and to “obey those that have rule over you” even if the laws imposed by the ruler (monarch, dictator, despot, oligarch, or ‘benevolent’ tyrant) are unfair, unequal and against their best interest. The monarch is to be seen as “sovereign” by the super-religious, because “God predestines stations in life and nothing man does or says will change His unalterable sovereign will.”
That same doctrine carries over into the 21st Century – embodied in the Republican Party. The current crop of “Loyalists” envision themselves living in gated communities, surrounded by undocumented servants (which they curse daily), and not subject to the normal travails of the working class, such as being inconvenienced by paying taxes, being profiled for unjust arrest, or living paycheck to paycheck. A monarchial lifestyle is certainly more appealing.
The manifest injustice is not simply the result of racial inequality, but of economic disparity. It doesn’t matter what one’s color is, just so one is rich or poor. The dividing line is clear and the choice pre-determined.
Another obstruction on America’s path is the outdated Democratic Party, steeped in the tradition of surrendering, never behaving in a manner commensurate with the other side’s unjustified outrage and jihad resolve against America’s Middle Class. It’s an old house, worn down by the elements and under attack by pests... a structure that is fallen into disrepair due to neglect and lack of effective strategy. Its political leadership is spineless.
If “necessity is the mother of invention”, the unyielding attack on progressives and the working class is the mother of a better, more powerful political system than what the Democratic Party offers. The saying goes, “One can’t start climbing up until reaching bottom.” How true – especially in our present struggle against an inflamed rightwing determined to condemn the Middle Class to extinction. It’s easier to find one’s way when there’s only one way to choose.
Obama’s support [double-downed with articulate promotion] of TPPA (Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement) is perplexing to Democrats. How can a so-called “progressive” President advocate on behalf of global corporations intent on destroying labor?
No wonder mid-terms are such disasters for Democrats. They cannot help but feel disillusioned with a president who speaks so eloquently out of both sides of the mouth. Sitting out mid-terms is the manifestation of cynicism, justifiably so. The Democratic Party is now at its lowest ebb since 1928 – just before the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression. Obama’s inept political advisers and his lack of support for labor, the foundation of the party, are at fault. He blames poor results for elections 2010 and 2014 on voters. On the other hand, aren’t voters but clay in successful leaders’ hands? He is the source of their malcontent. Republicans cannot suppress that many votes.
What Republicans can’t see (or won’t see) is how destructive their views are; how they, in effect, are damning America back to colonial and plantation days, where a small, elite class with inherited wealth rule harshly over the servant class that has no hope of ever escaping to a better life. The historic disparity of income is a direct result of Republican policies.
And now that our government is not only in gridlock but celebrates the fact, it’s a golden opportunity for them to go after Social Security once more, labor laws, public utilities, education, free press, and hard-working Americans, in general – treating them like Ebola carriers.
Where is the outrage? The very foundation of the America is being undermined – after which the whole house comes tumbling down. So, where are our generals and knights in shining armor? Can they not see that the return to non-regulation and unbridled capitalism means certain collapse? Capitalism only works if regulated. If no one is left guarding the store, soon only snake-oil salesmen with defective and toxic products are left on the shelves. Republican “free markets” are nothing but a license to steal and kill.
In closing, our house is on fire. Now is not the time to focus on the insignificant but do all we can in our power to survive, not only individually, but collectively. If wild animals realize instinctively that winter is soon approaching (which translates into ‘they’d better prepare’), shouldn’t we?
Enough debating with people so hard-headed they’ll never see the truth. I’ve cast my pearls before swine too many times. Rather, prepare yourselves and don’t waste time on those indoctrinated by the extreme – the blind by willful design rather than innocent happenstance. It’s an effort in futility.
We, as progressives, realize hard times are coming (like 1928) as a consequence of the Republican takeover. We need to carry a sense of urgency about our own nation’s destiny. I only wish the urgency carried over to Democratic elites, which personify a weak, antiquated structure over-due for renovation.