It is if you are part of the two percent of Americans who are wealthy. The rest of us have become slaves to the wealthy. Only wealthy people or people who have wealthy friends can hold any high office in this country. And they all take care of each other on the backs of the poor and the middle class. The Bush administration is a prime example of this! And although I plan to vote for Kerry, I doubt he will make any moves against the Rotten Greedy Rich.(RGR) I would prefer to see Nadar get elected, but we all know he doesn't stand a chance because he is not a RGR. In other words he just doesn't have enough money to BUY his way in ! This is not what are forefathers had fought for and envisioned for the people of this country and its time we, the Working Middle Class (WMC), put an end to it. Unfortunately I don't see anyway to fight this short of a middle class revolution. Would really like to hear all your thoughts on this you WMC's - - - Dave Kaspersin August 2004
Hello Dave, Regarding your letter; it is imperative that all the various sects of the Democratic, Libertarian and other independent parties educate themselves and form a united front on this topic. Besides the nearly don Quixotic efforts of Ralph Nader, it seems national political focus on practical solutions to these dangers was most well defined by the early Howard Dean campaign. That organization is still 600,000 strong and focusing on grassroots campaigns with an eye to taking back America one precinct, one town, one state, one house, and one senate seat at a time. With the landslide election of John Kerry in November our work really begins. We are going to lobby, advertise and hold the new administration's feet to the fire en masse in taking the difficult steps to hold corporate America accountable for the advantages of infrastructure and citizenship they enjoy - often at the expense of the working class. This is an old struggle that people were led to believe were addressed by the legalization and empowerment of unions. The corruption of union leadership has since rendered unionization redundant - i.e. Toyota, Honda, BMW etc., only opened plants in the USA with US assurances that unions would not have government support. Again, education on this topic and active participation are the only remedies. We as a democracy are now at risk of being the proverbial frog in the pan of cold water - not aware the fire has been turned on until it is too late. I may suggest the book, UNEQUAL PROTECTION: The Rise of Corporate Dominance and the Theft of Human Rights by THOM HARTMANN, for a succinct presentation of the boiling process. > From the Amazon site the Book Description: Unequal taxes, unequal accountability for crime, unequal influence, unequal privacy, and unequal access to natural resources and our commons-- these inequalities and more are the effects of corporations winning the rights of persons while simultaneously being given the legal protections to avoid the responsibilities that come with these rights. Hartmann tells the intriguing story of how it got this way-- from the colonists' rebellion against the commercial interests of the British elite to the distorted application of the Fourteenth Amendment-- and how to get back to a government of, by, and for the people. The other most important thing that a patriot can do is to take responsibility and participate in the political process. Start by going to DemocracyforAmerica.com and getting informed about what others are doing in your towns and neighborhoods. Thanks again, Dave. Lonnie Hirsch August 2004 PS. Regarding Kerry's tax plans during this time of sacrifice for "all" Americans, President and Candidate Bush is hammering audiences on the campaign trail with: "He hasn't said where the money will come from! He says get more from the rich. Heh, heh, you've heard that before, haven't cha? Well, you know the rich just dodge. That's right! The rich dodge. And who will pay? Yeah, we know don't we... and we can't let 'em do it?" Wild applause follows. OK, my fellow Americans (especially the a-plodders) which of the following is your president's message here? 1. He and his "base" always dodge taxes? 2. This war is so special and so different from any other kind of war in the history of mankind that we have to give tax breaks to the rich to win it? 3. The President of the United States of America is saying that the Government of the United States of America is incapable of enacting and enforcing tax laws? If number one - It really is time to impeach, prosecute and imprison a president. If number two - The Rapture really is at hand, cause he's bringing it on and knows it. If number three - Our republic is already long-lost, so why are we going through this election process? Let's hit the streets! PSS. I have a rant for you, too... A short one on the working class, the middle class, corporations, corporate media, government, taxation and the new age of slavery. The working class have always been the 'subjects' or 'slaves' of power and wealth throughout the history of man. What we've been taught (since the 1950s) was different about us and America was that corporate power would benefit the working class in developing a powerful middle class - which it did - but not until after the labor struggles of the late 1800s and early 1900s (remember that police and military troops were often turned on workers trying to organize unions or demand a living wage) and the industrial factories of a victorious war machine were converted into making automobiles and toasters, and returning soldiers received veteran benefits allowing them to buy tract-homes at low interest and go back to school for a higher education. This was when a strong and independent middle class came into being. So what has happened to the middle class? Large corporations have won the right to be non-human people and border-less nations. And the population has been systematically dumbed-down. We have become slaves to non-human entities. I'll try to be as brief and succinct as possible. First, let me say that I am not against corporations per se. I have had a few myself and the legal structure (it becomes a living entity) allows for growth and limits taxation on the individual owners so that the corporation can expand and hire and purchase equipment, etc. Over the past couple of decades (the 80s and 90s especially) it is these small, innovative, less cumbersome companies that have kept the US economy afloat and maintaining the middle class through the ups and downs of "treacle down" or "voodoo-economics" and the stocks, bonds, commodities and currencies markets, and mutual funds. These markets and how they generate wealth have become one problem. In my opinon, they have become the seats of power and greed and the corruption and decay of democracy through the demands they can make on governments. Large corporations are beholding to border-less stockholders via stock prices that are determined by quarterly business results. They are forced to turn the fast buck now - not set out on twenty-year plans as humans must. What is the most expensive company asset operating in a developed nation? Workers and their benefits. What helps turn a faster buck? Globalization and the commitment of governments to enforce laws benefiting corporations, not the citizens. Money moves freely (big money, that is) across borders, people don't. (We'll get into this and the new age of slavery, later.) Was Ross Perot's "sucking sound" warning about NAFTA wrong? We all laughed then! How about today? Ask American workers - not economic pundits. Global corporations don't owe allegiance to any nation. They can headquarter anywhere. Yet, corporations use the infrastructure paid for by taxpayers of the nations they conduct business in. They tie up the courts in litigation. They demand patent and copyright protection and enforcement. They demand tax breaks to set up facilities in local communities. They demand infrastructure improvements - roads, energy, etc., paid for in large part by the local governments that compete for their business. Then when there is a business downturn - they re-negotiate terms or just close down - and the remaining debt of these improvements fall to? Yes, unemployed taxpayers. In the 1990s the middle class were encouraged to participate to become upper-middle class - to purchase shares of the future - to grab the brass ring - to take responsibility for our own financial security. The underlying message was, "If you are not rich, too - it's because you are lazy or stupid or both!" So we did. We followed the advice of the paid-pundits and gambled our hard-earn savings and pinned our future needs and dreams on the likes of Enron. When these many corporations cheated and failed - they - not the humans - received the benefit of US corporate law and enforcement. Alan Greenspan is today urging immediate congressional action to cut benefits long promised by our payroll deductions. Where'd the money go? We had the first surplus ever of it's size four short years ago. Social security was, well, secure. Follow the money... If you listen to the media - and most Americans get their news in sound-bites on TV - "the economy has turned the corner" has been a constant drone since 2002. Things are great! What's wrong with You! Well, they are lying to you. Why would they lie? you may ask. Well, because they have business before our legislature - our representatives. It's the business of further consolidation rules and protections for corporations. The first amendment is being trashed. In the 80s some 50 companies owned the major media - newspapers, magazines, radio and TV. Today 5 or 6control information. They have become ministries of propaganda and misinformation. There are no Thomas Paines to be found in corporate news or on the air anymore - they are worried about their own jobs - not America or Americans. Stories are reported as fact before any verification. Most are simple surrogates of the "talking points" of the day from this White House. Manipulation is rampant and the Free Press is bringing about it's own ruin for corporate profits. One household name even exposed one of our secret agents for political retribution. There was a time when this would have been an act of treason during war. Either we are at war, or we are not. This administration wants it whatever way suits it. Scrap the Geneva Conventions as policy and hang the foot soldiers as punishment. The truth is that only corporate profits have turned the corner - benefiting only one segment of today's economy - the ones that benefit from war-time tax cuts - the rich. Large corporations have either cut staff or outsourced jobs or set up plants overseas where the citizenry are not protected by labor and safety laws. (When I come home to America each year I try to buy souvenirs made in USA and other than Hanes T-shirts, they are really hard to find.) All the new jobs in this "turning the corner" economy pay an average of 30% less than a few short years ago - these are US Government data! So we work more for less, while prices rise. Both parents work more to keep up lifestyles; make mortgage and cable TV payments, try to prepare for ever-rising educational costs for their children, etc. And if you should get sick from all this stress - you can be financially ruined in mere weeks. Meanwhile, we now have the second generation of children who have received no moral or social training at home. The prison industry is booming! Is there any wonder? Generations past had mothers at home and the long-term value of motherhood to American society has been lost to the corporate bottom line. Parents are stressed, not home, not a family, and mostly divorced. Kids are fed a steady diet of immorality and brainwash on TV. Buy me and be happy. Happiness can be purchased. It doesn't matter how you get it! Just get it! They have watched two consecutive Presidents of the United States of America lie to our faces, personally, on TV, in our living rooms. One about a most personal and embarrassing matter that really shouldn't have been made public at all, especially at public expense, especially exposed to our youth - And the other about matters that affect every aspect war and peace and our very democracy. Family values? Jerry Springer and his ilk have no shortage of guests(?) or audiences. Reality TV promotes on-camera intimacy and/or treachery. What are the values of America today? Mostly those of yesteryear, I'm afraid. This brings me to globalization and slavery. Bear with me... Did you know the slave-trade today is three times the size of all the forced slavery of the entire three-hundred-year period of African abductions (not counting Indian work contracts of the English Raj in India for sugar and other agricultural slavery in Asia)? Most of these are people seeking the economic promise of globalization. They come from the former Soviet nations, China, India, Africa, Philippines and Southeast Asia. Money moves freely. People don't. In America they pour across the southern border illegally and, in many cases, dangerously. Why can't the USA control its borders - especially during a time of "war"? Slavery of old held humans as workers and treated most as valued stock - like a good plow horse. They had to be kept healthy to be profitable over the long run and were sold for sums amounting to $3,000 in todays money. Eastern European and rural Southeast Asian and rural South American females are sent off by their own men-folk for smaller sums to serve rich nations or capital cities as housemaids, nurses or even secretaries. The problem is these girls become "entertainers" in places like Japan, simple house slaves or concubines in oil-rich Arab lands, but more often, sex slaves everywhere. Their paperwork, IDs and passports, is confiscated by their handlers; they a re bullied or beaten by them and frightened into submission by their illegality, and they are bought and sold for mere hundreds of dollars, back and forth across borders. Their youth and looks are quickly spent. There is no long-term investment. They are disposable. They are not allowed to use preventative measures for AIDS and such. They are disposed of in two to four years. Today Chinese families go into debt to the tune of 25 to 30 thousand dollars to gangs in the human smuggling trade to get a family member a piece of globalization. If these illegals succeed in getting into the US, EU or Japan and find work - at the lowest wages and under the most dangerous conditions since they are illegals and cannot have legal redress - they must send their meagre earnings home to prevent violence and worse upon their families. In many cases, they cannot even use the banking system for fear of discovery and resort to underground brokers and pay high fees and risk theft. If globalization and NAFTA-type trade agreements are so good for the people of growing economies like China and Mexico - why are thousands risking so much to get out these countries? Walmart and Target and Family Restaurant chains are doing pretty good though. Our fruit and veggies are fairly cheap, too. And the beat goes on... Then there are the rich themselves. What an odd breed of human animal. What conflict and unhappiness greed and idle time must finally bring. Philanthropy comes with older money - usually from those that didn't steal it or work for it themselves - but come to suffer the mental illness or the power of guilt in later generations. Then there are the many who thrive on the amorality of more, ever more, at the expense of everything honorable and sacred, like the Bushes... Christian indeed. More on the rich in the next rant. For now remember the old Bible passage, "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into heaven" or words to that effect. What suffering is in store for these poor souls. I pray for their illumination before their reckoning - for they know not what they do nor the results that await... Gotta get to work. Lonnie
Dave Kaspersin
09/03
A message about DOWNSIZING! to all from Dynamic Dave