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There is no rural vs urban, no white vs black, no gay vs straight, no educated vs less educated America.
They are fallacies created to keep everyone distracted and powerless.
The real fight, and to quote James Madison, is "between the minority of the opulent vs the majority". The poor majority.
If you are not in the 1% and you're screaming at someone from the other end of the political spectrum over gun rights, abortion, race relations, gay rights, religion, immigrants, hijabs, wedding cakes, welfare, drug addiction, birth rates, single parenthood, terrorism, angry Yale college students, who has privilege and who doesn't (hint, if money is concern, you ain't privileged, no matter your skin tone) or a host of other slights and micro aggressions, you've been had and the masters of the universe dance in glee at the ease of their manipulation.
So for those of you who fight back and forth about Cheeto Jesus and Skankels. That's not where they party's at. As long as congress remains the same, everyone's [MOD CUT/profanity]
So do a stranger on the internet a favor - watch this documentary (free on Netflix). Yes, it's Noam (get over it). What he has to say about what our founding founders really had in store for us, the loss of manufacturing jobs, the 50's and 60's being the best time for America (yes, crazy enough that includes black folks economically) and the game being rigged against you, liberal and conservative alike, will hopefully refocus your scope.
If you don't want to watch the documentary, then my takeaway would be to vote the bastards out of congress. Regardless of party, vote for the newbie, the untarnished rep who hasn't been bought by the banks. Green, Conservative, Libertarian, Socialist or Jedi. Vote the incumbent and main parties out. It's pointless to have voted a rouge like Trump in if the real power levers are the same as they ever were.
Last note. I'm a liberal city dweller, with a master's degree, Hispanic and female, and I love this country. I fit the profile of the enemy, but that is a lie.
My parents were immigrants, now citizens, one a physician and other a business owner and gave me and my sister a life that my cousins abroad could only dream about. I say this because some of my best experiences have been in rural America. I think there is a quiet beauty to small towns, a stillness that I find very comforting and an openness that was difficult to find when I lived in NYC. So as a liberal, I don't think that people who live in rural areas are racist or whatever the latest trope is. That has never been my experience and I look forward to my next road trip. (Hey Montana, just waiting for that snow to thaw!)
Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Festivus and a Great Whatever You Celebrate. There's the fight of our lifetimes ahead of us, and none of us will get out alive if we don't come together.
Good post, OP. The fight "between the minority of the opulent vs the majority" pretty much defined the Bernie Sanders campaign and it resonated with a lot of people. I believe in the coming days it will begin to resonate with even more. We are a huge majority with a vast amount of potential power if we would only choose to come together and use it. Which is why that opulent minority keeps all of those bogus "issues" you list front and center to make sure we stay divided. They know they are screwed if we are ever intelligent enough to see through the ruse.
And thanks for the movie recommendation. It's next on my list of Netflix viewing.
I read that Madison quote and was like...that doesn't sound like something he would have said.
I looked it up and he said the opulent minority need to be PROTECTED from the majority. He knew that in a democracy, the majority can vote to take what belongs to the minority. People are inclined to covet the possessions of those who have more, even if they earned it honestly.
That said, many of the "1%ers" are rich due to crony capitalism, so I don't apply this concept to them. They didn't earn it honestly.
I read that Madison quote and was like...that doesn't sound like something he would have said.
I looked it up and he said the opulent minority need to be PROTECTED from the majority. He knew that in a democracy, the majority can vote to take what belongs to the minority. People are inclined to covet the possessions of those who have more, even if they earned it honestly.
That said, many of the "1%ers" are rich due to crony capitalism, so I don't apply this concept to them. They didn't earn it honestly.
Yes, you're quite right. Thanks for clarifying on the thread. In the documentary, Chomsky makes the argument that Madison's sentiments were quite common for the ruling classes throughout time, just that the solutions offered were different. He uses Aristotle as an example.
"Aristotle also made the point that if you have, in a perfect democracy, a small number of very rich people and a large number of very poor people, the poor will use their democratic rights to take property away from the rich. Aristotle regarded that as unjust, and proposed two possible solutions: reducing poverty (which is what he recommended) or reducing democracy."
Madison felt differently, sharing John Jay's thought "The people who own the country ought to govern it." But to your very lucid point, those who owned the country during Madison's time were more philosophers than corporate raiders and therefore the true and best stewards for the new country. Now, however, those who own the country are rotten to the core.
Yes, you're quite right. Thanks for clarifying on the thread. In the documentary, Chomsky makes the argument that Madison's sentiments were quite common for the ruling classes throughout time, just that the solutions offered were different. He uses Aristotle as an example.
"Aristotle also made the point that if you have, in a perfect democracy, a small number of very rich people and a large number of very poor people, the poor will use their democratic rights to take property away from the rich. Aristotle regarded that as unjust, and proposed two possible solutions: reducing poverty (which is what he recommended) or reducing democracy."
Madison felt differently, sharing John Jay's thought "The people who own the country ought to govern it." But to your very lucid point, those who owned the country during Madison's time were more philosophers than corporate raiders and therefore the true and best stewards for the new country. Now, however, those who own the country are rotten to the core.
I side with Aristotle and Madison on it being unjust to use the state to take what belongs to others. However, my take on the solution is sort of a mix of those two.
I don't think reducing poverty alone will make a major difference, because our desires are kind of relative...poor people today are objectively much richer than anyone living centuries ago, even royalty, but they're still unsatisfied. They want what other people have. It's envy, not simply their needs being met.
I also don't believe in giving anyone political power to "govern" or rule at all, so I don't fully agree with Jay either. I want to eliminate the state completely so nobody, rich or poor, can use that power against others. I also believe that a freer economy will lead to a wealthier society in general, which raises everyone's standard of living.
I don't care if there are rich people out there if they have no government to take control of. Their wealth alone has no bearing on anyone else's wealth in a free society. That's where I tend to digress from more Marxist anarchists like Chomsky.
Last edited by T0103E; 12-20-2016 at 03:50 PM..
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