Middle Class Populist

Archive for September, 2009

Have you contributed to support the political agenda of your social betters today? Why not just go to a football game? Rachel Maddow quoting www.OpenSecrets.org has revealed that many football teams are contributing to Republican Politicians. No let’s be clear I have no objection to the CEO’s and executives of the various football teams taking money out of their deep pockets to support their politicians and political philosophy! But I object that they are sticking their hands into my pocket to pay for their agenda when Middle Class Americans go to a football game!

However it goes beyond what Rachel Maddow mentions here. Read the rest of this entry »

The issue is not just Universal Health Care nor the increasing use of racist language against our President. The issue is the CLASS WARFARE being waged against the Middle Class by the effete snobs of privilege who want to keep Americans dependant upon them. Yes they do “use” racists but the issue of the rhetoric against President Obama is far more than racism. The issue is the blatant funding by corporations who want to undermine “Individual Freedom” and instead make us subservient to the Corporate Collectives! Without health care as you grow older your “Individualism” is made subservient to the Corporate Collectivists! Just look at how they are financing not only Republicans but blue dog Democrats! Now they want to undermine campaign financing laws. The video below is funny but the message is true!

Corporations are now to be viewed as “persons” with citizenship rights. Well I did not see any of these so called “persons” in the 1960’s reporting to my draft board! Though I did see them report for profits in the war then latter CUT AND RUN with blue collar and white collar jobs to the foreign lands. These “corporation persons” have the loyalty to America of a whore! Yet in this era of “licentious permissiveness”, to use the Nixon era right wing lingo they so proudly whined, where is the sense of “responsibility” to the nation that gave them birth, growth and yes profits?

Yet today the bleeding hearts in the Republican Party and their fellow travellers, the blue dog Democrats, seem to believe that Middle Class Americans should pay for the political agendas of our social betters! Where does the money come from when insurance companies finance their K-Street operations and give contributions to disrupt Town Hall meetings and our democratic processes? They get this money from Middle Class Americans in the form of higher insurance premiums and/or reduced benefits!

Supreme Court Justice Sotomoyer challenged that view as one of her first acts in the Supreme Court. Where are the Tea Party advocates when the Corporations impose on us “Taxation Without Representation”! Make no mistake about it. This is CLASS WARFARE being waged by these effete snobs of privilege against the Middle Class. We need to be like Western Europe that not only has Universal Health Care but follow the Germans with eleven week paid vacations every year! Or Sweden with sixteen week paid leaves for parents after the birth of each child. Oh dear me then we may not be as “productive” to the needs of our social betters! Why must Middle Class Americans subvert their “Individualism” to the “Corporate Collectivists”? Why don’t more Democrats get some testosterone!

As I have said countless times before in this website. I am not against millionaires or billionaires! Hell I want to be one also! Nor am I saying that all wealthy people are greedy! The issue is balance! That is why we need election reform, universal health care and a fair progressive income tax. The time has come for the Silent Majority, America’s great Middle Class, to stand up and take our nation back from these effete snobs of privilege!

Frankly I am tired of these stories by Fox News concerning Acorn. I make no judgement one way or the other let the chips for where they may. My concern is why the same standard is not applied to Halliburton. After all it was a Halliburton subsidiary that has caused the deaths of many American soldiers due to bad electrical contracting in the construction of military bases in Iraq. (See video below)

We Democrats have to many important issues facing our nation and our party to get bogged down in defending Acorn. I make no judgement about their plight one way or the other. Let the courts handle that. I understand Acorn is sueing Fox News because the conservative activists who made an undercover film in one office did not mention they tried the same stunt in several other Acorn offices but where thrown out. But then again Fox News, you know the news channel that purports to be so unbiased, is always focusing on any item to smear Obama since he had a minor association with Acorn. The issue is why Haliburton is not held to the same standard?

To bad Fox News doesn’t share the same vigilance to stories that have effect our troops in Iraq. Nor does Fox News cover the funding of so-called grass roots movements like the Tea Party advocates. This latter group loves to chant “No Taxation Without Representation” yet they don’t seem to care that Middle Class Americans are being taxed to finance the K-Street operations of insurance companies! As if our lives are simply to serve the interest of the Corporate Collectivists!

Well after his attempt to turn the hallowed halls of Congress into a Town Hall Meeting, Congressman Joe Wilson will not apologize! In fact many in the media are blaming his reaction on racism! I believe it goes much further. Joe Wilson was attempting to emasculate the liberal message in the halls of Congress as his fellow travelers have been doing in the town halls and streets of America. (See Video Below)

President Barrack Obama has been called:

• An elitist.
• A mere Celebrity.
• Muslim
• White hater.
• Communist
• Fascist
• Noncitizen
• Death panel advocate
• The New Adolf Hitler
• Seducer of children’s minds
• The Anti-Christ

Yet despite this he continues to stick to his idealism that political debates can be civil. Yes I read his book and I understand the idealism he wants to serve. But these are Republicans and they have no values! These are the people who have attempted to switch the nation’s attention from the war and economy to the “great threat of Gay Marriage”. The time has come to hit back hard. Why haven’t Democrats attacked Sarah Palin for her connections to the Alaskan Independence Party? I am so tired of writing on this issue that I will not repeat the same information over and over. But just imagine if Barrack Obama had even half the connections that Sarah Palin has to the Alaskan Independence Party but with a Black separatist party!

QUESTIONS: Where is the news media? But then again were was Barrack Obama assaulted his character? Where were the Democrats when John Kerry was being hit by the Swift Boat gang while George Bush never finished his National Guard commitment and no one in the Democratic Party seemed to care that he was the Commander In Chief?

ANSWERS: Liberals and Democrats have become soft wimps letting Republicans get away with murder! Why not just roll over and “meow” like a pussy cat?

The time has come to go on the attack. Do like the Republicans – play to people’s greed! We need to focus the population’s attention on the fact that America’s wealth has become skewed! No one is against people becoming millionaires. But the Progressive Income Tax is just reality saying hello to the vast sense of “entitlement” that many (not all) of the upper 2% have.

We need to focus on:

• Middle Class Americans working a year for the compensation  paid to a Corporate Executive in one day or less! Instead of letting Conservatives telling us to pay attention to what day into a new year our taxes are finally paid, we need to focus on how many days do we have to work to equal just one day of a CEO’s pay. What do they do to merit such compensation while the President of the United States makes a mere $400k yet has world responsibilities!
• Why should we allow corporations to finance the Tea Party and Anti-Health Care movements! Why should they have their hands in my pockets with higher premiums and/or lower benefits. This constitutes “Taxation Without Representation”!
• We need to stop the corruption of democratic processes in the service of the Corporate Collectives!

I do not believe we should over focus on the race card as that will be turned against Democrats. We are assisting the Republicans by not being forceful and going on the attack! We Democrats need to not just go on the defense but launch a massive CLASS WARFARE counter attack!

The time for acting like wimps is over. What do you expect when:

• Bush gets away with his National Guard cut and run commitment
• John Kerry can be swift boated without a strong counter attack.
• We Democrats had control of both houses of Congress in the last two years of Bush’s administration and yet we did not end the war! -WIMPS! “Meow”!

As I said in prior posts, Americans love action figures! We Democrats have not been action figures in most areas. The time to get some testosterone is NOW or loose the Congress in the next election. President Obama and our Democrats in Congress must remove the word “meow” from their vocabulary! Appeal to the greed of the average American while the effete snobs of privilege whine about their sense of entitlement! The time has come for America’s Silent Majority to stand up and take our nation back from these effete snobs of privilege! (I love to use Nixonian right wing lingo).

President Obama better learn this is not simply the “silly season” in politics but the “corporate funded season” to undermine him as President! Furthermore this is an act of class warfare against the Silent Majority who came out to vote for Obama and have real change! Why are the idiots who get bused to Anti-Health Care demonstrations and to Town Hall Meetings be funded by corporate elitists dipping their hands into my pocket? When corporations give funding to organize these so called Tea Parties and Town Hall Meeting riots they are taxing Middle Class Americans as these corporate funds have to come from somewhere. They cause either higher prices and or lower services delivered by health insurance companies!

In the video above Rachel Madow gets into the issue of corporations funding these idiot protests. Every American has the right to protest. I will not deny even a conservative the right to scream. But when they are bused at my expense, I do not want to hear their nonsense about “taxation without representation”! It is bad enough that the super rich have deeper pockets then Middle Class Americans to fund their agendas. But they want instead to reach into my pocket to fund their agenda!

Let me use the analogy of a whore! She will whine, moan and twist with phony paid delight unlike a wife or girl friend. Well that is the conservative’s connection to their ideals. If I make a contribution to a political cause it hurts. If the company they invest in shows even the slightest drop in profits they will call their broker and break their link with that company. Unlike a mom and pop owned small business these super rich will CUT AND RUN! Middle Class Americans cannot switch their connection to a health insurance company with the commitment of a whore! We are stuck. But then again they can cut us off at their leisure! We need a public option! What happens if you loose your job?

As I have outlined before in prior posts, Americans respect “potency” and “action figures”, as these messengers are more important than the “message”. Our President has been verbally assaulted on the floor of Congress by these thugs who want to turn the hallowed halls of Congress into another clown show like they have done with town hall meetings. The time has come for either President Obama to lash out or at least commission Vice President Biden to lash out with class warfare lingo that will appeal to the “rational greed” of Middle Class Americans! Yes you heard me correctly! I am not worried by generating bad karma! Under Bush and Reagan the Republicans have waged class warfare against Middle Class Americans! I am just using the lingo of Ayn Rand, the icon of the right wing, when I speak about “rational greed”. The time has come stop allowing the message and image of liberalism to be emasculated and castrated by the right wing news media pundits.

If you are Middle Class and have “self respect” the time has come when we have to question the licentious compensation paid to Corporate Executives. They are paid more than the President of the United States! Yet what responsibility do they have! These effete snobs of privilege have the heavy chore of “which nation” to off shore America’s blue collar and yes WHITE COLLAR JOBS! This is not just a blue collar issue! It is not a “worker issue” but an “employee issue”. We Democrats need to assist white collar employees to unionize! Ask any computer programer about how technical jobs have been outsourced and off shored! Every college graduate will face the same problem in the next decade! No we don’t want to get involved in setting salaries, nor do we want to stop people from becoming millionaires!

But there needs to be a balance. No one earns millions per year from their contribution to society! Well if someone came up with a cure for a disease that is an exception. A rational progressive income tax and inheritance tax is a must in a free and democratic society!

As a progressive liberal Democrat or better a “Euro-style Social Democrat” I want my party to win and achieve the goals we elected Barrack Obama to achieve. Today I heard a short clip by our President! Basically he said that he still believes in rational debate and that he wants the news media to make rational debate more entertaining then the shout outs of town halls.

President Obama better heed the lessons of history! On the rear of a one dollar bill we see the reverse image of the Great Seal of the United States. In that seal the eagle holds both the olive branch and arrows. The time has come to start using the arrows or be made a laughing stock by the right wing who have no respect for rational debate! This is even a national security issue because if the President does not show some testosterone then the enemies of America could see him as weak!

I wish the President came out more forcefully for a public option in his speech but none the less I am heartened that he dropped the “professor” style and came on more of a “pit bull”. In the excerpt below we see him attack the Republicans for their smear tactics. I believe he should have been even more forceful in his attacks on the Republicans. Being that he is speaking to Congress and should act “Presidential” he can still leave some face saving mechanisms for the Republicans but go on the attack even more.

I grew up during the Vietnam era and became painfully aware how Republicans can use the scare tactics. I believe we Democrats need to use the very language of Republicans but with a different twist. The best defense is an offence. We Progressives need to go on the offense. The President did to his credit mention that :

“We are not going to put a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor nor are we going to allow an Insurance Company bureaucrat to stand between you and your doctor”.

I believe that is a very important point. That insurance companies have been placing bureaucrats between patients and doctors. I believe he should have been even more forceful on this point and given examples from more peoples lives using the term “bureaucrat” and “framing” it with insurance companies and the Republicans!

The important point is to use “Republican Speak” with all their cliches and “re-frame” the terms to cast questions on Insurance Companies and Republicans. For example instead of merely countering that the Republicans are LIARS for the “death Panel” allegations against Obama’s insurance plan, liberals need to use the very term “death panels” and pair it to the decisions of Insurance Companies and Hospitals!

President Obama has condemned many of their behaviors but he must link the term “Death Panel” to Insurance Companies by calling them such. A sad death panel example is illustrated in the video below. I don’t mean to use this person’s death for political gain but my dad also died because of a “death panel” in the hospital would not take aggressive action to cure him after they infected him with “hospital resistant pneumonia”. I will not detail that in this post but latter as it is to emotional for me. But check the short video below it is just one example of how “DEATH PANELS” are at work in insurance companies!

Some of you may have noticed in my prior posts that I do this re-framing of “Republican Speak” all the time! For example I love to talk about “CUT AND RUN” Capitalists when refering to companies that seek off shore tax havens. When refering to Iraq I love to term it the “Republican Social Engineering Experiment”. When refering to how Corporations behave to individual employees I use the term “Corporate Collectivists”. In prior posts when refering to corporations and their “fellow travelers” in the Republican Party escaping their tax responsibilities I talked about this being a “Republican era of licentious permissiveness” and the need for “law and order” along with the term “Silent Majority”. These were Republican Speak terms from the Vietnam era! Those old enough may have had a chuckle while those younger may not understand the sarcastic humor I was using toward Republicans!

My point is rather than “just” counter the Republican lies we Democrats need to use their lingo with a new twist and frame. We need to be aggressive. One more example needs to be mentioned.

When talking about the “need for government intervention in some areas of society as being justified” instead use “Republican Speak”. Let me show you.

We need to protect the rights of the individual in this era of the massive corporations! It is a false notion that as governmental power decreases then individual rights increase! When the agent of a democratic society, which is the government, reduces it’s scope another power enters to fill the vacuum! That power is the Corporate BULLY! With their paid lobbyists from K-Street they effect the decision making processes of our society and force the individual to fiance their agendas by charging higher prices and/or reducing services. This is “Taxation Without Representation”. Where are the Republicans and their tea parties?” See my article “A tale of two Americas”.

It is bad enough that Corporate Executives have deeper pockets to give to politicians. It is even worse when they dip their hands into the pocket of the “Individual Citizen” to finance their agendas via higher prices and/or lower quality of goods and services! When a corporation funds K-Street operations and makes political contributions the money has to come from somewhere. It comes from us!

If we had a single payer Universal Health Care system then we could switch jobs easier! Our Individual Freedom would increase in relation to the corporation! But the effete snobs of corporate collectivism do not want that day to come in America! Instead in this era of licentious permissiveness we pander to the Corporations and their collectivist agendas!

By using “Republican Speak” we can not only undermine their arguments but go on the offensive. We must also appeal to the “GREED” of the general population. the Republicans have waged “Class Warfare” against the Middle Class. The recent Bush Tax Cuts being  just one example. We need to point out the extreme disparity of income and make people question why someone should make so many times more than they make.

What’s that your afraid of generating bad karma? Wake up the Republicans are appealing to greed all the time. They try to pit white collar employee against blue collar. Race against race. We liberal progressive Democrats help them when we talk about “workers”. No change the term to “employees”. White collar employees are being screwed by corporations also. I know I use to work for AIG as a computer operator!

“Universal health care” – Just one more means to take back our country from these effete snobs of privilege!