Cracking Open the Liberal Nut!

 RUMINATIONS  1 Response »
Oct 062011
 

The following commentary was not written by Johnny Irish, he has posted it to preserve the anonymity of the writer:

Written by: EssaySea

I would like to share ideas that, to some, follow the edict of reason. I don’t kid myself into thinking I will single-handedly change your viewpoint, but as a fellow American, I’m hoping you’ll let reason overrule tradition, upbringing and community influence. For people of any religious faith, when arriving at conclusions, I hope your community hasn’t convinced you that you have to be a conservative, liberal or anything in between or else you’re “betraying” your faith. Religion derives no politics and therefore the religious community should not dictate politics.

Anyway, I’d like to give insight to the inner workings of ideas/conclusions that are, more often than not, labeled “liberal”, and provide an understanding of the motivation behind the progressive movement, so often labeled “liberal”. I’d also like to point out some fallacies commonly argued against some of these values by conservatives.

1. The poor person, especially one in need of public assistance, is just lazy. This is not only wrong, but just plain mean. It’s the ultimate “blaming the victim”. It assumes that wealth is somehow directly related to hard work. It’s not. Hard work is often required, but wealth has much more to do with opportunity…and opportunity is influenced much more by the social constraints of any society than by personal work ethic.

Opportunity must deal with prejudices, fears, education, etc. The simple fact is the “haves” receive more access to opportunity than the “have-nots”. This is also unavoidable, which is why reasonable people don’t attempt to change this fact, but attempt to shape other societal forces (fiscal policy) to minimize the negative impacts and hopefully minimize the gap between “haves” and “have nots” as much as possible so that the opportunity gap is as small as possible at the start.

2. Tax breaks for the wealthy creates jobs. This is an outgrowth of the trickle-down/ supply-side economics that has been popular for a while. It hasn’t always been the “conservative” view (Kennedy had it first), but it’s always been wrong. There’s plenty of economist published work out there to discredit it if you wish to find it, but I’ll get back to the jobs point.

The creation of new jobs is a business decision. I address this myth as an MBA, not a “liberal”. The decision by a company, particularly a publicly owned one, to expand operations (job creation) is one that must be driven by the belief in the possibility of expanding one’s bottom line…either by discovering a new target market, or the belief that you can expand your market share of the existing market by appealing to consumers desire for higher quality, cheaper prices, etc. This type of decision must stand up to the rigors of a thorough cost/benefit analysis, and will or will not occur based on the previous factors regardless of a company’s tax structure. If a company attempted to expand operations when these factors were not present, or conversely, chose not to expand when these conditions did exist, they would have hell to pay to their shareholders.

Also, the idea that because the government gave the company a tax break, the shareholders are going to approve the decision to just pour that money back out by hiring people just because they have extra money is ludicrous. If the time isn’t right, the “extra” money will need to either be re-invested in the company or paid out in dividends.

Long story short, job creation happens based on market/industry behavior and the company’s health within that market. Tax structure has nothing to do with it. I know that may be a little heady for some, but think of it this way: The “tax cuts for the top helps everybody” theory is often expressed as “a rising tide lifts all boats”, which seems to make sense at first. The thing is, the rising tide will not change the rowboats to yachts, and if everyone just got raised the same amount, then proportionally speaking, the poor are still just as poor and the rich are still just as rich aren’t they?

Everyone knows that just because I have a $5 bill now doesn’t mean it’s worth 5 times as much as the $1 bill I used to have. Currency valuation is all relative/proportional. A million pesos doesn’t make you rich.

3. The Founding Fathers’ ideals were more along the lines of “every man for himself” and less “help thy neighbor”. This is also false. Although the Founding Fathers did cleverly remove any criticism of slavery and class oppression from Thomas Jefferson’s original draft of the Declaration of Independence because they judged profit more important than freedom, one must notice that they chose not to put such ideals in writing…and rightfully so, they’re far from noble.

The ideals they did choose to publish were those of “all men created equal”, “promoting the general welfare” of all citizens, and “securing the blessings of liberty” (liberty being commonly accepted as a person’s right to choice). So, although the Founding Fathers may not have lived up to such ideals in their personal lives, they certainly knew that the ideals born in the concepts of equality, altruism, and freedom of choice were the nobler.

It’s also worth mentioning (in light of the modern immigration debate) that one of the reasons we threw off King George in our Declaration of Independence was:

“He (George) has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands”.

The Founding Fathers were not against immigrants. They knew the “Great Experiment” which is the USA requires immigration. It requires seekers of opportunity and requires a system that will allow them to succeed. Any philosophy, and especially any policy, that is not based on the idea of allowing both newcomers and existing members of the society to experience, equally, every benefit it has to offer, and instead proposes that the X group of people is detrimental to our society as a whole is a bad one. That’s how it starts. If anyone asks you to buy into an idea that blames a certain group for a societal problem, a bell should go off in your head.

Americans are not to divide people into “us and them”. If you are here (and I mean physically, not as defined by any document), then you are one of us and we will work your needs and desires into our Great Experiment as we meet the challenges ahead. That’s what we understand the USA to be. That’s the America we understood to have helped liberate Nazi Germany. That’s the one we want around for our children.

I see the modern conservative movement as being based very much on exclusion and not enough on helping your fellow man. I think much of it is a remnant of the cold war, except now they just replace the Russians with Homosexuals or Mexicans, or “liberals”, etc. Remember: these are the types of characteristics they would often attribute to “the commies” back in the day…the anti-socialism thing is most definitely playing up that fear.

The “average Joe” conservative literally thinks socialism is another word for communism, they don’t know the difference. Hell, they don’t really even know what communism is, they just know that Ronald Reagan and most of the 80′s action heroes fought against it – I could have used Kennedy or Ike, but that’s really a generational thing. Anyway, this type of thing bothers us because we see it as a school of thought born of perceived “loyalty” rather than logic, reason, compassion etc. which are the ideals of western civilization.

Every person should be aware of the power of ideas for both good and bad. Especially ideas centered in “love it or leave it”, “these people are dragging us down”, “the rest of us are paying a price because ____ people are getting away with something”, etc. These are the ideas that are often sold to the masses as some form of patriotism. Mislead patriotism is but one small step from nationalism, and that’s just plain dangerous.

After what this world has seen, every country must be wary to avoid that slippery slope, and we Americans especially simply because of the power we possess. And I beg of everyone not to think this is implausible. Look what we’ve done to homosexuals – we almost placed persecution of them into our federal constitution a few years back – not to mention the hate crimes that occur regularly; to immigrants (i.e. the damn “foreigners”) – I’m sure you’ve heard of these vigilante groups out there shooting people crossing the border. It’s madness, and it’s done while waving an American flag.

4. The idea that because I experienced a hard time, others should have to do the same. This is simply contrary to most of the known leadership strategies. Think of the family dichotomy…the point is to help the young ones avoid the “hardships I had to face when I was a kid” etc. A leader within the public sphere has the same responsibility. He/she hopes the next group will not need to “learn the hard way”, but accept our help (both advice (policy) and funding (social programs)) and lead their next generation of Americans to prosperity that will hopefully exceed their own.

Who do you know that would choose to help certain of their children succeed, but punish their other children if they asked for assistance as well? As far as that example is concerned, what parent do you know that would focus help only on the children who already have the most natural ability to succeed, and blame their more handicap children for being “lazy” or “needy”? It just doesn’t make sense, yet we do this all the time on a state/national level.

Anyway, I hope all that helps. They’re definitely worth thinking about and I hope whoever reads this does just that. I’d like to point out that I’m not just defending some liberal viewpoint and that there are some ideas traditional liberals and I would disagree on, but the conclusions I reach are more than likely to fall on the “liberal” side. I feel this is due more to my being influenced by events in Western civilization such as “The Age of Reason” and “The Scientific Method” than by any predetermined “left or right” or “red or blue” which I’m supposed to belong to.

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What’s it going to be when you don’t know me?

 RUMINATIONS  1 Response »
Oct 052011
 

Declaration of ImmigrationSome of this might sound familiar if you’ve read the news article, but to this subject I felt obligated to add yet another opinion piece that elaborates more on the subject.

The Alabama Legislator passed a Bill, H.B 56, which will require all public schools to request proof of citizenship from all new students enrolling in the schools. The Bill will not require the schools to expel or deny any students an education, and is claimed to only be in place to gather data to calculate the cost of illegal immigration in the public school system to the tax payers of Alabama.

As a result, yesterday record numbers of Hispanic students were absent from Alabama schools and many Hispanics in the community are claiming it is for fear of being reported to authorities and/or being harassed based on status. Many students withdrew from the schools and some families even plan to move out of state.

Alabama House Bill 56 has more than likely even affected some Hispanic students that are considered citizens based on birth – anchor babies – for fear that illegal parents will be arrested.

More concerning, to this writer, is that yesterday, and over the weekend, many Alabamians hailed the new law and voiced elation over the fact that these students are leaving and families are moving. Some internet commenters have gone as far as to hail the new law as a loop-hole to the Federal Law that requires all public schools to provide an equal education to all children, regardless of class, race, religion or national status.

Many of the remarks allude to Alabamians being freed of the tax burden of illegal immigrants, who as they claim, “pay no taxes, all the while using Medicare benefits and collecting unemployment…”

The callousness of comments like these are striking to my sense of moral obligation. These are human beings and they, like us, deserve basic liberties. The US Constitution does not “grant” us our Rights, as is so commonly stated by some, they are not given to us by this document or this country, they are basic Human Rights that are “protected” by the US Constitution. Which makes me ask, how can so many people stand by and applaud any law that is encumbering to “Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness”?

Here are a couple facts for those people who might think this way.

1. Many illegal immigrants work two or more jobs.

2. Most illegal immigrants work on payroll, meaning they pay into our Social Security system and all other income taxes.

3. All illegal immigrants cannot draw from that social security system.

4. Very few illegal immigrants benefit from any social medical programs.

Everyone pays taxes in this country of one sort or another, most through retail and income or payroll taxes. Most Americans will actually benefit from illegal immigrants paying into a social security system that will never assist them.

Illegal immigrants provide money to the local governments through the retail taxes, much of which supports the needs of legal citizens; they pay their taxes to this country, which does not claim them, because they are looking for a better life for their children or even just themselves.

Sure they can be called “criminals” by proponents of stricter immigration laws, but what laws have they really broken that weren’t written out of fear or intolerance?

Anyone who thinks that these people should “find a legal way to gain citizenship” has never truly tried to understand the immigration process in this country, and by saying such, is speaking out of ignorance. Yes, there is a system in place to provide citizenship to immigrants, but much of the process requires education qualifications, literacy qualifications, money, work qualification, etc…and even then, it can take a decade or more to even get consideration. What kind of a system is that? Most of these immigrants can’t even access the system that claims to offer them a path, but we expect it to work for them?

I’d like my readers to try thinking from the perspective of an impoverished Latin American, trying to provide for your family in a country that has the Cartel shaking down school teachers for a percentage of their pay. If you can’t do that, try looking your child in the eye and think what it would be like to tell them that they can’t eat for the second day in a row because there’s just not enough money to buy meals for everyday of the week. Imagine raising your child like this and not being able to envision a future any different.

Most of us can’t visualize doing any of these things because we have no idea what it’s like to walk a mile in their shoes, yet there are plenty of people that are quick to judge absent of this knowledge.

In all honesty though, I’m less angry about the law than I am with the comments I read from the supporters. If the supporters of this law merely hailed it for its effort to gather statistical data to calculate the actual cost of illegal immigrants on the public schools systems, and left it at that, then I might have even come halfway – though I recognize that the US Census already covers this data sufficiently.

I might have thought, “Meh…” and left it at that, but the truth of the matter is, hundreds of children have left the school system and have been left with little certainty when it comes to an education and/or a future, and that comforts proponents of this law and laws like it. Not only does it comfort them, they want it to happen to countless other children across this country on a National level.

Actual text from the Bill – “compelling public interest to discourage illegal immigration by requiring all agencies within this state to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

This just doesn’t sound like statistical data to me or any other intelligent human being. And this, along with other immigration bills adopted by the state of Alabama has made it one of the harshest states in the country when it comes to immigration.

Laws like these and the support behind them makes me think that some people just don’t realize that these are people and often times – and in this situation – children we are talking about…kids, not animals, not criminals, but kids that require the care and strength of a community; they don’t need to fear their community.

These kids will grow up seeing the hatred and intolerance that we Americans have created out of ignorance. This law and others that have been adopted are specifically targeted towards brown skin; illegal immigrants do not carry a sign, and so they look no different than legal immigrants. Regardless, Alabamians right now are sending a clear message to the Hispanic community, legal and illegal alike, “you’re not wanted here…”, and the whole country is hearing it.

I don’t care what anyone says, or what argument that you might have against my view, when it comes down to it, my moral obligation is to the child, the human being that is like me, a brother of sorts, not to a law written by man, or some perceived necessity towards Patriotism.

I saw one or two comments that hailed the fact that the immigrants were fleeing Alabama for fear of persecution. These comments alluded to the design of illegal immigrants fleeing to “Blue States” and leaving the “Red States”. Here’s my opinion on that; I’ll take those hard working immigrants that pay so much into our Federal and State tax system if I’m allowed to rid bigots out of my state…I’d say it’s an even trade. I’d also bet that many folks in the trade are larger recipients of the many social welfare programs and still get tax returns every April. It will be a race to the fiscal finish.

If you don’t like being called a bigot by some social commentator, well…tough, try some introspect. I’m a bigot too; I’m a bigot that got put in my place by knowledge. Not but a few years ago I defended laws like these, I preached the need for immigration control, and I complained about the Mexican speaking McDonald’s workers and the guys standing in the street selling roses to those passing by.

I didn’t know why I felt this way back then. I surely didn’t dislike any of the immigrants I had met in the past – and I had met some and befriended a few – and I had surely never been directly affected by any individual or group of immigrants. So why did I feel this way? Because I was bigoted; I believed that I had some special privilege that these people didn’t have. I am an American after all, this is my country and I would have been damned to let some immigrants steal it from me.

I’m an American…what does that mean? — The Marine Corps has a saying, “God, Country, Corps”, and for some reason when immigration is the subject, this credo rings in my head. I’m not a religious man, I am an atheist, but the notion of Gods, a God, or some higher entity is not lost on me, and I understand that, for many people, God always comes first. So I have to ask myself, why would so many people that believe in one God or another be so uncaring to the children in Alabama right now? Is that what their God teaches? Did their holy book teach them about borders?

There are so many good Christians, Muslims, Jewish, and any other religious believers in our society and I hope these people stand up and protect the Lamb from these Lions. Being a former Christian, I know that there is no room in the Good Book for this ignominious mentality, behavior and intolerance, and it pains me that we, as human beings, allow it to happen to our brothers and sisters alike.

For you who are religious and feel this way, I say this of my comments…I don’t want you to stop liking God, I want you to start being like God. And I’m not asking you to change your mind today; but I will ask you to read your Holy Book and highlight every section where the righteous removed the meek from their borders.

I don’t care about borders, and I feel like I should care more than someone who knows religion. I care about people, after all, what are our borders without the people that have made them so strong, those people that are the immigrants of the past?

Of course, I feel like the hypocrisy is clear…the hypocrites claim to believe without knowledge of their own belief system, and are, in no way shape or form, adhering to their God’s teaching. I am assured of this when they can, in the same breath, praise a lord and hail the uncertainty added to the future of those hundreds of children in Alabama and call for the same to be done to thousands of others throughout the Nation.

So if you’re a bigot, be one, stand up proud and say you’re a bigot, but please stop trying to hide behind silly arguments about taxes, welfare, Medicare, Social Security etc…there’s no grounds. If after real introspect you truly believe you’re not a bigot and it is just that you deserve to be here more than they do, then I say to you, when your bloodline started in this country, aren’t you glad people like you hadn’t been able to force your ancestors out?

Lastly, I would like to express to anyone who feels it’s their patriotic duty to support immigration laws, this is not “your country”, this is our country, and it’s a country that was established to provide an opportunity to our ancestors, it is freedom, it is liberty, it is choice, and it is opportunity…but most importantly, it is ours to give, not ours to take.

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“As the King Knelt Down”

 RUMINATIONS  1 Response »
Aug 152011
 

milo winter's tea party

I have been very successful lately of avoiding any current events and news affecting this country and the world. Why? Because I just got fed up, as we all should be, but ignoring it won’t make it go away.

We all now know that our friends up in New York have decided the U.S economy is no longer worthy of a triple ‘A’ rating, and it’s become very apparent that we’re double dipping in this recession. It was nice to believe things were getting better for a spell; we started spending more, the housing market looked like it might turn a bit, and people came out to look at the sun again.

Then the Tea Party decided that the best thing for this country to do would be continue giving the rich tax cuts, reduce government spending on social programs, continue spending money on National defense, and defend their corporate sponsors with their very last breath. A bit dramatic, but how far from the truth is it?

I can’t lay all the blame on those vocal few court jesters, they’re not the only ones to blame, the rest of Congress allowed themselves to be held hostage, the President signed the budget, and we didn’t march through the streets of D.C.  or any other city demanding the Tea Party and their political puppets shut the hell up.

When did we stop defending the unemployed and poor in this country? I’m already aware that we gave up on our children years ago when we decided that we were going to send them to a public school system that abides by a “zero tolerance“ standard that expels and arrests seemingly normal students for writing on the desk or bringing a Lego toy to school.

Reality needs to set in soon for the apathetic in this country; we’re losing a battle to ideologues and corporations and everyone is going to feel the effect before it’s over.

I don’t mind that you’re a Christian Mrs. Bachmann, but that doesn’t mean you need to indoctrinate the rest of the country. That goes for you too Mr. Perry and any other Social Conservative in this country that thinks everyone needs to adhere to your principles for this to be a great Nation.

Mitt Romney wants to treat corporations like they are people too. That’s fine with me, go ahead and tax them the same way you tax the middle class or give the middle class all the tax breaks that the corporations get. Let the average citizen decide who gets put into office just like the corporations do…that’d be a nice change.

Nope, think again, we won’t have any of that; it’s too much to ask to have our country back. We’ve seen the last of “We the People”; it’s no longer in our hands.

I used to think it was obvious that the majority of us would never allow anyone to control our lives.  But since we would put people in office that want to enter our bedrooms and tell us to stop doing “that”.

“We the People” prefer putting people in office that would allow a child to starve in the streets before someone else flips the bill for their food or healthcare.

Worse than that, we put people in office that will take all of our hard earned dollars and line the pockets of financial institutes, mortgage companies, and Wall Street executives, before turning it over to the people who need it to keep a roof over the heads of their children. 

Well I guess I was wrong in my thinking.

No, since that’s who we want to run this country, it is obvious “We the People” are content with letting the Court Jesters run the kingdom while we all sit back, being content to play the Fool.

On a daily basis I see comments or emails about how spoiled rotten our children’s generation is, and how our generation – played outside, said the Pledge of Allegiance, said prayer in school, got smacked by mom or dad for being bad, never wore helmets while riding a bike, etc…

Those poor spoiled kids; we never got to get arrested for saying “I’m gonna get you if you eat the last of that…” in the school lunch line.

No, those spoiled brats get to explain to the police why they are carrying an aspirin to school.

They get to grow up and enter a workforce that has no bargaining rights for their wages and healthcare. Those little bastards don’t know how good they got it. And we, being so proud of how we grew up in our rough and tough unspoiled way, well we’re the ones who cleared the way for them.

I guess we should tell them to take their helmets off for this next ride. Tell them to take it like us older generations do, because this economy, this country, we’re going to be taking a ride and it’s going to be a rough one for 98% of us, but we can handle it, because we didn’t have cell phones when we were kids, our parents just yelled out the window when dinner was ready.

I don’t feel sorry for me, nope; not at all…I’m one of the lucky ones; I’m not a child.

 

 

*** Writers Note:  I added a link in the fourth paragraph of this article to a march in D.C in October, I’m going to be there with my kids; I hope to see every one of you there too.

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“The Path Ahead”

 RUMINATIONS  2 Responses »
Aug 102011
 

Path through the woods at Harleston Firs, Northampton

I was recently challenged by a friend of mine to write something based on a status line I posted on Facebook:

“See that path in front of you? That path has been laid before you, the one that you’re supposed to take, the one you’re told to take through life…just like everyone else. If you follow that path, you’ll be following all the rules, you’ll always know that you did what everyone wanted you to do and you’ll make it through…

See that path in front of you? I dare you to step off and make your own.”

Because I’ve been having trouble with finding the motivation or time to write, his challenge came as somewhat of a cumbersome task at first, but after a bit more time I realized, it might have been just what I needed.  His challenge to me was to take these three words “the path ahead” and write something that is worth reading.

My statement had no real inspiration; I wrote it because I thought it.  After looking at it more, I can say that the idea doesn’t seem too original and I can guess that there are probably a million other quotes floating around the internet that are similar, most probably written or spoken by people much smarter or more inspirational than I.

What does the quote mean to me?  It means that I’m tired of seeing lives engulfed by the status quo.  It’s simple to me to define it for myself, but it’s ambiguous enough for others to find their own meaning.

Let’s give it a shot:

“The path ahead” is static, it’s a bad connection with the world and it needs to be shut-off.  The voices that tell me how to raise my children need to be silenced.  The talking-heads that tell me who’s right or wrong in the world need to go away.  The spiritual guidance that so many have to offer, but so few understand, needs to be ignored.

“The path head” is nothing more than the path that everyone thinks they need to follow because it’s what’s already written in the books.  Somehow, some time ago, some people became the authority on one issue or another, and we’ve accepted that as precept.  We’ve accepted a world controlled by demagogues and we’re blinded by our own desire to please these people.

This isn’t an attempt at nihilism, I see value in having principles and I understand the need for structure in society.  Recalcitrant behavior without purpose is just as caustic to me as persons who are docile to all authority without question and tractable without contemplation.

How many people in this country have an opinion, no matter what it is, of the justice system, governance, and social system, but have never read the US Constitution or browsed through the “Federalist Papers”?  How many understand the jurisprudence involved?  How many persons belonging to a religious sect have studied/researched the origins of their belief, or even fully read their holy books cover to cover?  How many in our society cast judgment on others without stepping into their shoes?

People do this because that’s what they were taught, or “that’s what “Joe the Plumber” is doing so it must be right”.  Many people have religious conviction because they were indoctrinated from birth and have never actually checked to see if the shoe fits.  Many people follow a political party because that’s what mom and dad believed; they’ve taught you everything else, how can they be wrong?  Humanity is recidivism at its worst.

My humanity gave me the tools to live a life as I desire.  I’ve been gifted with the ability to reason, we all have, and yet we somehow continually subdue reason for the simple solution.  We accept too often that we’re not the authority on our own lives and lend ourselves to the didactic ilk.

“The path ahead” of me has stones, weeds, and shadowy figures.  I want to stub my toe, prick my finger and feel the hairs on my arm stand up.  

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He’s a “Stupendous” Fake, But You’d Never Know It

 HEALTH, RUMINATIONS  4 Responses »
Jul 182011
 

insecurity

I struggle with what can only be described as insecurity on a level that no one who knows me would believe. On the outside I portray myself as a very confident and open person, but on the inside I’m always telling myself that I’m not good enough for one reason or another. Often times I feel like a phony that has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of everyone who knows me, and until today, I don’t think I’ve ever come out and told anyone the extent of my insecurities.

Recently I told someone on a discussion board that despite my boldness on the site, I am truly very insecure, and when I typed the words and sent the message I felt a bit of relief sending it. That may sound weird to many of you, but it can’t be describe as anything else; just relief, small as it may have been.

I don’t know where all of my insecurity stems from at all. I’ve never had many major problems with…well anything. Worst I can say is that I’ve been slightly overweight – at least in my head – all my life. I moved or had new friends in and out of my life my entire life, so I guess that could be a factor as well, but for the most part I have no real excuse for feeling this way.

Though this has always been a problem for me, I can say it’s never been a problem for me as much as it has been in the past few years. I met my wife in 2005, started a new career in 2006, kids have come into the picture, and for the most part my life has completely changed from the way it was…you know, when all I cared about was me.

My new career was a confidence booster for around five minutes until after I walked into the office and realized that everyone in there was smarter than me, they all new exactly how to do their job better than I did, and I was pretty sure the boss was just waiting for me to screw up so I could be fired. Problem is, it’s been five years and I still feel this way; I feel this way on any job I ever do. I make it a habit of finding jobs and then looking for a reason to move on because I am so sure that any day they’re going to ask me to leave. Even the jobs I excelled at in the past – winning awards and recognitions – I was certain that it was just because I was able to pretend I am good at what I’m doing. And the Oscar goes to…

So sure enough, I’m constantly stressed about finding another job that I can do well. One that won’t make me fake job performance.

Friends are people that have come in and out of my life since as long as I can remember. If I actually tried to count the people I’ve considered “good friends” at one time or another I don’t think I could possibly do it…it would be in the thousands. If I tried to count how many I felt really knew me, and thought if they did really know would like me, it would be easy.

My kids…me as a father; I’ve written about this in the past and anyone who has read those ruminations can maybe now see where it stems from. No matter how much I try to tell myself I’m a good father and how hard I try to change my bad habits with parenting, I always fall short in my head. Coincidentally, I’m the one telling my wife constantly how good of parents we are in comparison to others, but I can’t help but feel that it’s actually just her that is worthy of being called a good parent. Me, I can’t seem to convince myself that I’m doing “okay”. I worry everyday that my son is going to grow up and hate me because I’m not nice enough to him today or my daughter is going to realize that daddy isn’t that fun.

I sat in my son’s room this past weekend – they’re in Kansas – and looked around and saw a child that is influenced by everything in the world right now. He doesn’t let a thing pass him up without taking in something he will later use. It hit me that I’m just that to him, an influence, and I panicked. Yes, I actually panicked, thinking it was too late to make sure he loved me when he grew older. I wanted to rewind time to when he was a baby trying to climb out of the crib and I would put him back in; instead I would have held him in my arms until he fell asleep. I wanted to go back and let him sleep in the bed with my wife and me all the way up until his sister was born. I wanted to hold him more, since now he doesn’t like it when I do.

My daughter I shower with love and affection, she rarely gets in real trouble with me, and loves being around her daddy. Yet, I still feel like I’m doing it all wrong with her too…I don’t understand at all why, but I can’t shake the notion. Things that go through my head range from not disciplining her enough – spoiling – to not being the way mommy is with her – doing crafts, library visits, regular playground trips. I give her T.V time, bedtime stories and the occasional family outing to the park or something. What does that add up to in the long run? Not much. I can just see her memories of me when she gets older.

Marriage, oh marriage…it has been a bear. I like to believe we have a healthy relationship that is strong enough to withstand many hardships, but I’ve also convinced myself that she doesn’t feel the same.

I married a woman considerably younger than I, who is, to say the least, beautiful, but I think most that know her would go as far as to describe her as stunning. She’s extremely intelligent beyond that of most women I’ve ever dated, and she is so strong willed and driven. I love watching her with our children; I don’t think there has ever been a time that I’ve not thought I would like to be just like her as a parent, and at times in other ways.

Since the beginning of our relationship I’ve been thinking she is going to snap out of it any moment and wonder why she is with a Joe like me. Of course I’m not good enough for her, of course there’s so much better she can have. I’ve created a world where no matter what, I’m an outsider and I can never be anything but one. Because of this, I’m always afraid she’s looking for better…or at the least, not concerned with me at all. Do you know how straining it is on a relationship to have one person be so insecure? Not to mention the strain on my psyche.

Recently, I even stopped calling my own mother as often as I used to because I began believing that I was bothering her by calling so much. I convinced myself that I could hear the annoyance in her voice when I called. And I rarely call my own brothers because I know they don’t want to talk to me, why would they? That’s what I think anytime I consider calling them…and I only will if I have something to talk to them about, I can’t just pick up the phone and call to say “hello”. As for my father, I get nervous talking to him face-to-face, I always end up saying something stupid and then wanting to back pedal out of the conversation. My own father makes me nervous…it doesn’t make any sense to me.

I certainly don’t know if things will change. I am always trying to work on things with my wife and kids, but I’m still convinced that I’ll never succeed. It is pretty fair to say that if I’m interacting with you at any given time, you can bet that in my head I’m reeling about how I’m coming off to you at that very moment.

I don’t know what to say about this, I don’t know why I’m like this at all. I didn’t intend to let all this out here on “World Free News”, I didn’t intend on letting it out at all. I definitely am not eliciting any sympathy or praise from readers, friends, and family, even that would seem …well elicited, and will feel undeserving to me. However, I’ve come to realize that writing has become an outlet for me. I’ve starting noticing that if I write it and read it I can actually understand it better. Better than just knowing in my head that it exist.

This goes for everything I write, not just this issue. And with only a tad bit of irony, this insecurity has become a problem for my writing. I’ve started to convince myself that I got lucky a few times and that I can’t ever match or exceed any of my past pieces, so I’ve stopped for the most part. It has become too stressful to write a piece without judging it harshly. I’ve written and deleted four articles or pieces like this in the past 2-3 months because I thought people would think I am an idiot. And they very well might after reading this, who knows.

I usually either start or end my writing pieces by explaining to the reader why I’m writing the particular piece, but with this one I can’t. I don’t know why I started writing this. I don’t have time to write today, but I just did. I opened up a word document to spell check the word “stupendous”, after I did that I stared at the blank word document and started typing. Maybe it’s self imposed therapy or maybe I just thought someone else feels the same way as me.

 

Writers note:  This piece was in no way meant to assess blame or responsibility on anyone mentioned or others that assume mention.  The feelings and thoughts written in this piece are a reflection on the writer’s inner-thoughts and perspectives based on a strictly emotional response.  The purpose of the writing is to portray the insecurities felt by a person that shows a confident demeanor in daily interactions.

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The reflection of God can be found in man…but only if man acts as God

 RELIGION, RUMINATIONS  3 Responses »
May 312011
 

Obama lays a Wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns

“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” – Isaiah 6:8, King James Bible

Not likely will you hear this verse uttered at a memorial service by a Muslim, and it would be less likely that you would hear them spoken by someone who has contempt for the people they memorialize. But this was the verse that was quoted by President Obama this Memorial Day as he laid a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Why would I refer to the President as a Muslim or as someone who holds our soldiers and this country in contempt?  I wouldn’t, I’m merely offering a bit of satire to the propaganda that is often preached by a certain ilk in this country.  Propaganda claiming that the sole intent of our President is to undermine the strength and unity of this country because of his Muslim heritage.

Now, I’m not ignorant enough to believe this rhetoric, which is often repeated by those that are spiteful of our sitting President, but I’m amazed at how many people repeat this message as if it were true – or even believe it is true.

I’m no expert when it comes to religion, but even I realized that these were the words of a Christian, and one that meant to honor those they were spoken about.  Though, I do recognize that Isaiah is also a Prophet that is taught in the Muslim religion as prophesying the coming of both Jesus – yes the Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as a prophet – and Muhammad, I think it’s a far stretch to tie this quote to Islam since the Quran does not quote Isaiah or even include mention of Isaiah.

So, when hearing the President had quoted this verse, I asked myself, “Who could actually believe this man is a Muslim?”  I guess the answer can only be given by someone who thinks it.

I’m also reminded that those people can’t find it in them to act or speak as their Lord Jesus Christ would.  These people who fight against social programs that would benefit the less fortunate forget an important verse in the book of Matthew;

“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” – (Matthew 25.35-40 ESV)

Jesus was not speaking of himself, he wasn’t saying, “give me what I need to survive and I will give you passage to heaven.”  He was saying when you serve others you serve Him.  So why is it that many of those who fight so dastardly against social programs often relish in their own holiness? – Not to say that all who are religious are this way, just that many that are this way are speaking as Christians.

I’ve written about the hate and intolerance often spewed out by these same people towards Muslims – not wanting a mosque near ground zero, or even in their city, and burning Qurans to defile the muslim religion.  Hell, the man that did that was a pastor…had he not read his own teachings?

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” – (Matthew 5.43-45 ESV)

This man prayed for the death of our President, he speaks words of hate for Islam and he burns their holy book.  Yet I didn’t see a public outcry by the Christian community to condemn his actions, and I remember some saying that it was “stupid that the Muslims are rioting over this…”  I’m not a religious man, to say the least, but I recognize that if I were, and people hiding behind the values of a nation and the virtues of a religion burned my holy book, I’d be upset by the action as well.

But speaking outside of this one man’s actions, think of how many people in this country blame Islam for 9/11.   - “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” * – Think about how many people hold open-contempt for American Muslims or just Muslims in general over the actions of only a few men?  – “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.”* – How many of these people do you think claim Christianity as their religion?

I’m ready to see more Christians openly speak about the needs of the poor again and defend much needed programs.  I’d love to see more Christians come out and defend Muslims and Islam against the hate and persecution of the extremist…I’d love to see the real Christians regain their voice.  And for the record, you can remove the word “Christians” in this paragraph and replace it with “Muslims” or any other religion and I’d still love to see it.

President Obama stood before that memorial to the men and women who have died for this nation and he commemorated their sacrifice with Christian words, with honorable words, doing so without condemning the enemy of those fallen soldiers.  He reflected the true values of a virtuous Christian; yet, this man himself has been criticized by the Religious Right as an unholy man and enemy of this Nation…

…makes me think maybe that “snake” in their new party symbol has more meaning than “don’t tread on me”.

* Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5.3-12 ESV).

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Dealing with Demons – A Follow Up

 HEALTH, RELATIONSHIPS, RUMINATIONS  2 Responses »
May 272011
 

reaching out

Most of you remember me writing recently about my brother, Lum, and the tragic circumstances that led to his death.  Well, I was pleased to receive a letter from a reader, and friend, who gave me a great feeling of relief knowing I had touched at least one person with my brother’s story.  Though, I did receive a lot of feedback, none actually had told me how, or why it moved them the way this reader told me with the story they shared.

I asked permission to share the feedback with you all, and was given the thumbs up in hopes that it may help anyone else who is out there struggling with drugs and alcohol, as well as any other “inner” demon. Demons that very seldom release you to live a normal life with those who love and need you in their life.  This was my reader’s message with very little editing for anonymity:

“Travis,

I’ve wanted to write to you for a long time, but I’ve had no time for a thoughtful message. Your story about Lum pitched me into deep reflection. Because I knew Lum, and because I suffer the same illness, I’ve been contemplating so many of the aspects that your story touched in my heart.

My heart was heavy for you, your brothers, and your parents. The pointlessness of the alcoholic death, the seemingly connected dots leading from his abuse experience to the end, the bitterness over choices that might have diverted the tragedy, if only the players had taken other actions. There is such desperation to know, to understand, to explain and divert the alcoholic (or substitute drug addict, if you prefer) path.

Sadly, it is my experience that the alcoholic path stands alone and separate from the experiences we have. And, I do not in any way here minimize the abuse that Lum suffered. That abuse is criminal, it is evil. It was terribly, terribly wrong, and deeply sad that the perpetrator abused Lum, and undoubtedly, countless others, known and unknown. But I’ve wanted to write you from my perspective as a recovered alcoholic. I share only my experiences, and I am not making any commentary about what your path or your brother’s path has been.

I write to you, asking that you respect my anonymity, and share this email only as you think it would benefit someone who suffers from the disease, individually or through a loved one.

My experience is that my alcoholism is separate from the experiences, painful or loving, that I’ve had throughout my life. My repeated turn to the bottle had less to do with what was happening and more to do with how I reacted to my own life. Good, bad and indifferent, my response was to drink. Deep inside of me, I believed that I was inept, ugly, stupid, and unlovable. I remember feeling this way even as a young girl. I don’t know why I viewed myself with such loathing- it no longer matters why, or if someone was to blame. They were my emotions, and I silenced the inner tyrannical train of self hatred thinking with a drink. Sometime in my early adolescence, I discovered that alcohol washed me sweet with ease, joy, warmth. I could talk to people, fit in, feel lovely, clever, such relief! Sweet liquid relief.

So began the cycle at age 14 that wound me through eighteen years to a point of daily suicidal ideation, panic attacks, and dark, lonely depressions. These things happened to me, not in any particular sequence, and forgive my frankness, if it lacks censure: Arrests, DUIs, counselors, medications, psychiatrists, hospitalizations, evictions, homelessness, running away, unfaithfulness, treatments, lost relationships, teen parent, broken marriage, lost jobs, waking up in the beds of strangers, unfaithfulness – I stole, I slandered, I lied, I cheated, I fought, I judged, I starved myself skinny, I sold drugs, I manipulated.

It was a dreadful cycle of this vicious crazy, lonely mind, driving me into obsessive thinking and self-loathing, drinking for relief, behaving like a maniac while intoxicated (see above), waking up more shameful, angry, lonely, humiliated. I was crippled in a self-incarcerated cage. I tried many things to manage the drinking, but I couldn’t leave it alone for an extended time, so that I could do the much needed inner spirit work. I tried to exert control over people and circumstances, and always the alcohol. I cycled through beer to liquor to wine. I limited quantities. I established hours and days that drinking was acceptable. I tried changing places and people. I used prescription and illegal drugs to manage.

In the end, I drank daily, using sedatives and marijuana upon awakening, until 4 PM, the Self-Prescribed Drinking Hour (Unless it was the weekend, then I thought it was brunch, so it was acceptable to drink in the morning). I had daily panic attacks, I was suicidal. I hated myself, my life circumstances, and I had no idea how to get free of the trap I felt locked into forever. Terrible things had happened; I’d be unemployable for a long time, absent emotionally for my children, a wild screaming banshee when drunk, or I’d be passed out, blacked out, urinating on myself.

I don’t know why I was blessed with a moment of clarity, and I have no idea why me, and not others. But that is what happened. I had a spiritual experience. I hadn’t believed in anything in fifteen years. I prided myself on my human secularism. I thought God was for fools- sheeple who couldn’t think for themselves (I’m not advocating any spiritual path for anyone here; this has just been my experience).

I hunched over the steering wheel in my van, in a parking lot, screaming and crying out in pain. I felt like my heart had been ripped from my chest, Indiana Jones style, because it was so chokingly, suffocatingly painful to wake up to reality. I whispered, “If there is a God, take this pain away from me!” (Arrogant to the end- just thinking about how I felt, and if God loved me, he’d make me happy!) My pain did not go away, not at all, not for a long time. But I instantly had the sensation of a presence with me, a loving kind spirit. My spirit was moved. I wept. In that moment, I knew I was not alone. What relief and hope that gave to me!

About two weeks later, I was led to Alcoholics Anonymous and I’ve been on this path since 2005. External clean-up includes being a present, loving parent to my children, completing grad school and becoming employable again, leaving a terribly sick relationship and learning how to develop healthy ones- friendships, familial relationships, romantic, paying the bills on time, even returning library books instead of keeping (stealing) them. ;-) The blessings have been heaped upon me!

But the inside job is what has blessed me most. I’m on a spiritual path, with a loving Creator that has a definitive, good purpose and future for me. I no longer hate myself. I can look in the mirror today. I couldn’t do that a few years ago.  I can stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of God’s kids.

I pray for peace and healing for your family, Travis. I don’t know why Lum had his path. I drank with your brother in his last few years. I do tell you that his experience and your family’s pain is not in vain. You gave me such a gift, for whatever it’s worth, Travis. You remind me that this disease is deadly and progressive, and your story serves to reaffirm my commitment to AA, and being for my children what I could not be drunk. Please continue to share your experiences. Those are the stories that renew my spirit to help new drunks coming into AA. It might not comfort much to know that others like me can benefit from your brother’s life. But, your story was a gift to me, and I am deeply grateful.

Much love to your family, and I will keep you all in my prayers.”(sic)

 

This one reader made this writing worth the pain it took to put into words my brother’s story.  When the reader mentioned that it might not comfort me to know that others can benefit from my brother’s life (and death), it could not have been further from the truth.  Knowing that his life, and tragic death, can be a wake-up call to any one person in this world, a child that is waiting on a mother or father to get sober and commit to being a parent, or to a parent that is hoping to feel the warm, loving embrace of a troubled child again…that to me makes my brother’s death much less tragic, and only adds to his legacy of selflessness.

Many of us hurt every day without giving those around us a clue that there is a problem.  More so, many of us ignore all the signs that a loved one is suffering.  It’s so much easier to join in on the charade that everything is alright.  Getting involved means you have to open up your own emotional barriers or, subjecting them to embarrassing scrutiny.  What we don’t realize is that not becoming involved usually makes that person feel less “normal” than the people in their lives.  They feel ostracized because they don’t feel the same internally as what people around them are displaying externally.  We are adding locks to their “self-incarcerated cage”  – to use the words of my friend.  Suffering comes in all forms, alcoholism, drug use, depression, anxiety, and many more.  All have one thing in common, the person feeling it usually feels alone in their battle.

I’m no expert on this matter, not in the least, and I probably only know as much as the next guy, but I want to open myself up to discussion with anyone who struggles with demons, or knows someone struggling and doesn’t know how to help.  Not because I can make it better, or have the end all solution for you, but because it’s time for you to make a change.  And if that change comes from me offering to help, so be it, if it comes from recognizing that the person you share your life with can offer you support, so bit, if it comes from theism, so be it, or if it just comes from recognizing that you are not alone in your struggles…so be it.

Make this existence about you, not your demon.  If you know someone struggling, do what you can to understand their problem, ask questions, research the problem and offer support.  Turning a blind eye is easy, but pain felt from loss is much worse than the pain of dealing with the problem.

As a person that is offering support, you may not be able to force a change, but you can be there when the time is right.  As a person that needs support, realize that we all hide our inner demons, you can change that demon into strength and go on to live the life you’ve always struggled to have.  If you open yourself up to the right people, someone will step up to help you on your personal path.

There is a solution to the problem; you just have to ask…

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Will the Osama bin Laden Legacy Prevail?

 RUMINATIONS  No Responses »
May 032011
 

Well, I may have been the last person on earth to hear of the demise of Osama bin Laden. While most people were dancing in the streets, reading their twitter announcements or watching it on the news, I lay in my bed staring at the ceiling trying to sleep. Monday when I finally woke, not feeling well and consequently playing hooky from work, I went directly to the kitchen to make pancakes and see if they set well in my belly. As I settled to eat my breakfast, my wife nonchalantly stated, “Oh yeah, did you hear, they killed Osama bin Laden last night”. Um, no…hadn’t heard…it was nearly 12 noon, Monday.

Since I have heard the news, I have had mixed emotions all together. Firstly, I was elated to hear that after ten years we could put to rest the fear and turmoil of 9/11. I felt no jubilation over his death, I just felt sincere joy that it was done. I felt happy that there was an end on the horizon.

Secondly, I felt regret that it took this long to accommodate this closure for the country. I ruminated on the years we’ve spent at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the good men and women lost to combat in those countries, only to find the head of al Qaeda in Pakistan and have him removed by a large effort accomplished by such a small team.

I reflected upon all those people who died on 9/11, either in the towers, on the planes, at the Pentagon or the brave first responders, and I wondered can we ever really consider this an end? Do the people that were affected by the loss of these 2,749 people consider this an end? Their loved ones are still gone and nothing will ever change that for them.

I still have the horrifying images of 9/11 in my head, and that will never change. Though I have no regrets that this man was stopped and I am secure in my knowledge that he will no longer be masterminding any other attacks on this country and those of our allies, it’s with deep sorrow that I remember why he had to be stopped in the first place. With that sorrow came the fear that he may be easily replaced by others wanting to fill his legacy.

Lastly, I felt shame. As I reviewed the news, blogs and discussion boards I saw a country torn in support or conflict of one thing or another. There were arguments ranging from claims that it is horrible to celebrate the “murder” of a human being to whether it was President Obama or President Bush that could claim the victory.

I am appalled and shamed at the notion that a country that was once united over the tragic deaths of so many became so divided in the years that followed. So much so that when we as a country should be united in the knowledge that we have achieved some kind of victory in these ten years of uncertainty, we somehow remain divided by party or ideology.

This man that was killed Sunday was an enemy of all that is Western. He declared war on this country and others, stating that it was every Muslim’s duty to kill the western infidel. We can be thankful that his words were only taken to heart by the few extremists that have tainted the name of Islam, but we must not forget what else this man claimed he was out to accomplish.

This man was out to create a Holy War between Muslims and the western religions, through hate and fear. He accomplished that, not only from the aspect of terror, but through the actions and words of our own citizens, those people who gather to burn Korans, those who protest the building of Mosques in their town, or those who preach the hate and destruction of Islam.

In a time when we should be celebrating our ability to remain strong and confident in the face of evil, I am ashamed that many in this country reflect the behavior of extremism and hate. Those people allowed Osama bin Laden to accomplish this one goal through their intolerance and fear.

With these thoughts it occurred to me that the legacy of such a vile man need not be carried on by a person from his ilk. His legacy is fear, hate and the desire to divide men for the destruction of the Western Civilization. It seems that Osama bin Laden may very well have planted his seed in this country on 9/11 and unless we can come together and stop the spread of his legacy in this country, we will become nothing more than a reflection of his accomplishments.

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The Federal Reserve’s sleight of hand…

 RUMINATIONS, U.S. NEWS  1 Response »
Apr 212011
 

federal reserve scheme

Remember that old adage, “give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime”? I hear it so often when discussing social programs with people, and every time I hear it, it’s in reference to people using the government “dole” to keep their heads above water.

How does this adage work when you’re giving a fishing pole to the man with a pasture full of cows, a coop full of chickens and a pen full of pigs? Even more so, how does it work when you are taking the fishing pole from the guy you’re supposed to be teaching how to fish?

How about the old adage “burn me once shame on you, burn me twice shame on me…”? What happens when there is no shame? Does it keep going to three, four and five times?

Imagine this scenario: You are sitting at the blackjack table in a high end casino in Vegas and in walks a “fat cat” gambler with gold and diamond rings on every finger and a Cheshire Cat smile. He goes around to every blackjack table and asks three out of five people sitting at the table to give him some money so he can go double, maybe triple, that money and return it to the people he borrowed from, splitting the winnings accordingly of course.

Now imagine he starts winning, and he’s winning big, so the other two of the five people at all the tables decide they need to get in on this and they give him their money as well. I mean why not, it’s a sure thing, right? Nope, there’s no such thing as a “sure thing”, he starts losing, losing really big, so much so that every person that invested in him loses their part of his winnings, and the initial investment has dwindled to -40% returns.

Now all those people at the blackjack tables can no longer do their own gambling at the tables because they tied all their money up with this one hotshot gambler and he’s not doing so well. The casino mangers see that they’re about to lose a lot of money if the “fat cat” stops gambling and the people walk away from the blackjack tables, so they decide to make a very charitable and drastic move. They’re going to give out a bunch of money to make sure people keep gambling!

The managers go around to all the crap tables, the roulette tables, and the poker tables taking cash from each and every person, telling the players it will all be returned through discounts and “specials” throughout the casino, hotel, and restaurants. So, here’s what they do, they bring a mountain of cash over to the “fat cat” gambler and tell him to keep gambling. Yup, they give it all to the Cheshire smiling “money maker” and tell him it’s on the house…just pay us back if you win…if you don’t, not to worry, we’ll get more.

This is a very unlikely story right? How many casinos are going to actually give money away to one or two big gamblers to try to keep them gambling and not require a return on their investment? The answer is “none”, not a single casino is in the business of giving money away, especially to people that are responsible for losing their business money from other investors. So what about governments, and more directly, what about our government?

I’m not about to tell you the same thing I’ve told you in the past about our Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) money, and big corporations eating it all up with no help to the general public. I’m about to take it a step further than even I knew until today. I’m about to tell you something that should have you and every person you know spinning with anger at the travesty that we call the Federal Reserve.

Just recently Rolling Stone Magazine published an article titled “The Real Housewives of Wall Street”, written by Matt Taibbi in the April 28, 2011 issue that hit stands on April 15th. I have to credit a friend for forwarding the article to me – Mike my blood pressure thanks you.

This article reported on recent findings by House and Senate inquires into TARP disbursements that were, until recently, not followed by either Congress or the office of the President. That’s right, remember way back when, in 2008, and there was that big hoopla about TARP money being handled by one central committee and the head of that committee having complete control of how the money is disbursed and who gets it? The US population was up in arms about this and that idea fizzled out really quick.

Instead, it was decided that the Federal Reserve would be responsible and everything would be fair. Except for what I mentioned earlier…our elected officials gave that money to a group of unelected appointees to do with what they felt was best for this country.

Taibbi says it best in his article when he writes “It is as though someone sat down and made a list of every individual on earth who actually did not need emergency financial assistance from the United States government, and then handed them the keys to the public treasure.”

Our taxes dollars that were meant to stimulate the US economy and help the average American return their economic status to “somewhat safe” was given to banks in Mexico ($9.6 billion), Korea ($2.2 billion), and Bahrain ($35 billion) – as the article states, this at a time when we, the US, are borrowing money from the Middle East at a rate of 3%, we are lending their banks money at rates as low as one quarter of one point.

Does that register? Think of it this way; we are giving these banks money basically at no interest to lend back to us at a 3% interest rate…meaning, we’re paying them money to make money off of us.

Not only are we doing that with foreign banks, but we’re doing it with our own banks, many of which got us into this mess in the first place. We paid the debts of the gambler and kept them as our own, and then paid them for the privilege.

And then countless more billions were lent – at extremely low rates – to Japanese car manufacturers like Toyota and Mitsubishi or used to purchase securities in other foreign automakers in Germany and Japan — Nissan, Mitsubishi, BMW, Volkswagen, and Honda. These are manufacturers that are in direct competition with US car companies that we subsidized with billions of dollars.

In Rolling Stone’s interview with Warren Gunnels, an aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, they quote him as saying; “Our jaws are literally dropping as we’re reading this…every one of these transactions is outrageous.” Referring to the 21,000 transactions of Federal Reserve spending they are reviewing. I’d say that is an understatement, “outrageous” is one or two instances, this is “criminal” in my opinion. But it gets worse…much worse.

Rolling Stone introduces us to a company called “Waterfall TALF Opportunity” which received a mere $220 million from TARP, which is not much in comparison to other payments. The thing with this company – and Taibbi describes it in his article as “a true sense of what the “shadow budget” is all about” – is that it was founded in June 2009, after the entire crisis began and TARP was already being disbursed, it does its banking in the Cayman Islands, avoiding US taxes, and the owners are two Wall Street CEO…wives.

That’s right; the owners of the company are none other than Christy Mack and Susan Karches. Christy Mack is the wife of John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley – who received nearly $10 billion in government loan money and more than $19 billion in TARP money – and Susan Karches is the widow of Peter Karches, a close friend of the Macks who served as president of Morgan Stanley’s investment-banking division. So, at this point without a bit of irony, neither women have a lick of experience in running any type of financial company that anyone is able to uncover.

Furthermore, with only an initial investment of $14.87 million, the two Wall Street wives then used the $220 million they got from the Fed to buy up a bunch of securities, which include $253.6 million in commercial mortgages managed by a company that John Mack used to head up called Credit Suisse. The $253.6 million value is estimated by the Federal Reserve however, the Federal Reserve will not explain how it arrived at this estimate. The Rolling Stone article puts the icing on the cake with this finding; “Of the $220 million the two wives got from the Fed, roughly $150 million had not been paid back as of last fall — meaning that you and I are still on the hook for most of whatever the Wall Street spouses bought on their government-funded shopping spree.”

The Rolling Stone article goes into great detail about the shady dealings of this company and some mention of other transactions the Federal Reserve has had with other ultra-rich types, but given that I’m trying to give you a synopsis I should not regurgitate it all for you. However, I do encourage you to read the article if you have any confusion on the type of “shell” game the Federal Reserve and the Wall Street types are playing on the general public.

What’s important to take from this is that every day in the news we watch as two sides of our elected government officials battle over programs that provide assistance to the “less privileged” in this country, or even around the world for that matter, and we watch as these same politicians nearly shut down the entire government over disagreements on whether to cut spending or raise taxes.

Yet, behind the curtains, where no average American has been allowed to look before, we find that the true destination of the welfare spending is in the pockets of men and women who live lives that many of us can only dream of. Given this knowledge and the knowledge that these same people are given more tax incentives and tax breaks than the average American as well, you have to ask yourself, “who’s to blame here…is it shame on you or shame on me?”

Welfare has a whole new meaning to me. We provide for the poor in this country not because they are too “lazy” to go out and get work and earn money as many argue, we provide for the poor because the ultra-rich have more incentive to “fail” than any other American in this country. Their failure results in people in our government, such as Ben Bernanke of the Federal Reserve and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, scrambling to “provide” first and foremost to pad their pockets.

These executives went to the Fed and put their hands out saying, “they couldn’t invest anymore of their money unless the Fed could guarantee they return a profit on that investment…”, and that guarantee was our tax dollars. That doesn’t provide jobs to the unemployed, nor does it provide healthcare to the uninsured…what it does is divert funding from much needed programs and gives Wall Street and their wives a new $13.5 million house in the Upper East Side of New York.

Think of it, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars went to just two Wall Street wives…what else will they uncover when they finish going through the 21,000 transactions? How much will they tell us? What the hell will we do about it?

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Just Open Your Eyes and Listen!

 RUMINATIONS  No Responses »
Apr 082011
 

Peasants for Plutocracy by Michael Dal Cerro

I’m not sure how it all happened, or even if it happened in my life time, but what I am sure of is that we, the people, have lost control of our politics; of our country.  Sadly, to me, it hasn’t been more apparent than this last decade.  Politicians, parties, and people have become so polarized that we are more concerned with “hurting” the opposition, that there is really no more focus on getting the job done.

I defend democracy, and this great Republic daily, I love this country for what it’s supposed to be and at the same time, I hate what it’s become.  We’ve become a country of average Americans who are being ruled by the corporatist beneficiaries.  We’ve lost this great republic and watched it become a Plutocracy, much like what happened to the Roman’s before the fall of the great empire.

The rich have shoved their hands so far up our backsides that we’ve become puppets in their game of chess against …well us; the average American.

— I recently read a document – or report – that opened up my eyes a little more to what’s going on in this country.  I followed it up with a few more just to verify that I was being given facts, but much of my numbers come from this one report, which derives the numbers from many different sources…which are cited in the link  —

In this country 42% of financial wealth is controlled by the top 1% and 93% of all financial wealth is controlled by the top 10% of the country.  Yet, when it comes to the government reaching in pockets for debt payment, it’s the 90% that are burdening the cost.

Alone, the bottom 90% has been encumbered with 73% of all debt.  Meaning, much of our wealth is actually tied to our debt, such as our homes, our cars, etc…

That same 90% of our society only owns 12% of all investment assets in the country; the other 88% belongs to the top 10% category.  What does that mean?   Let me tell you this, in 2008, only 19% of the income reported by the 13,480 individuals or families making over ten million dollars came from wages and salaries, the rest were all dividends, trusts, and/or liquidated assets or bonds.

Since the bubble burst in 2007, the average American wealth per household dropped by about 36%.  In that same time period, the wealth of the top 1% of households dropped by a mere 11.1%.

It means that when our economy took a turn for the worst and the average American looked to the government leaders for help…the government started handing out money where they thought it most important.

The problem is, they thought that it was more important that the money be used to prop-up Wall Street and to bail-out large — too big to fail — corporations.  Which translates to this, the government threw our tax dollars at…you guessed it the top 1%.

Basically, they kept that 42% of this country’s wealth stable and happy by making sure their stock values stay high or their bonuses are in place so they can keep on making money while the average American is left holding the tab.

Our politician’s version of bailouts demonstrates who is controlling our political system, and it’s no longer the people, it’s no longer the other 90-99% in conjunction with the top 1%.  The average American has been systematically cut out of the equation and it was done so with our support.

I heard recently — and I can’t remember where — a quote, “the average American donates time and money to get their politician elected, while the big corporations spend money on lobbyist to get the same politicians in their pockets to do all of their bidding.”  That bidding, in this instance — and many others — was to make sure they weren’t affected by the mistakes they made.

Those same people went on a massive media campaign to blame the average American for the current economy.  We heard all the talk about how people were taking loans and buying houses they couldn’t afford, spending money they didn’t have, etc…and most certainly it was true, but that was not something every American did, it was a mistake a few made.

But because banks decided it was time to start giving loans to people that were too naive to understand what they were getting into — telling them “every American deserves to own their own home” — and Wall Street started buying the loans in bulk, and then selling them to other larger corporations in packages as mortgage backed loans, we’re supposed to believe that we are solely at fault for what’s happened?  We’re supposed to believe that we should burden the entire debt while the puppeteers collect all the “rewards”?

How hypocritical is that of these people?  Many Americans have lost their home through foreclosure or been laid off because there wasn’t enough money to go around.  Even many who weren’t culprits in the scheme of it all lost homes or got laid off because of the effect on the job market.

We have had millions of foreclosure filings since the onset of this recession, millions — yet if you try to go to the government for your bail-out, it’s not there.  Even the so called “mortgage modifications” are near impossible to get from your providers, why, because they have to burden some of the loss.

What about our retirement?  Many of us participate in 401k or Thrift Savings and we’ve taken a big hit to our overall stock portfolio.  But you see the losses we take in our portfolios are not enough to put a large burden on the U.S. economy; we just don’t hold that much.  But unlike the average American, many of the top 10% hold bonds in their companies and not common stock.  And because they are bondholders they have been protected at all costs during this crisis. When AIG propped up Goldman Sachs they were paid 100 cents on the dollar for their bad decisions.

So what am I pissed about?  Who am I pissed at?  Well, I’m pissed at everyone; I’m pissed at the corporatist for manipulating the government to their needs and in some cases ideologies.  I’m pissed at the politicians for selling our country to the highest contributor.  And I’m mad at the average American for sitting back and letting both of these culprits use them as the pawns in their game.

We sit around and let a governor take away collective bargaining from middle class government workers, and then watch another push to remove minimum wage and child labor laws in his state and we do nothing.  The new republican congress is attacking our social programs, cutting money from education, Medicare, and other much used — by the lower classes — programs, and we let them convince us it’s what is needed to balance a budget.  This is in the same fiscal year we allow that same congress to extend tax cuts to the ultra-rich.

We’ve let these people convince us that their needs are shared by us.  We bailed out banks that turned a profit this year, and gave bonuses to the top executives…along with avoiding all taxes.  The corporations that we were bailing out and giving tax cuts to, most of them paid less taxes this year (percentage wise) than the average American…

Bank of America – turned a profit of $4.4 billion, after receiving a $1 trillion bail-out, and then received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the same government.

General Electric – $26 billion in five years receives a $4.1 billion dollar refund.

Goldman Sachs – only paid 1.1 % of its income in taxes in 2008, 1.1 %, after earning $2.3 billion and receiving $800 billion in bail-outs.

Citigroup – Made more than $4 billion in profits in 2010 and they only paid what…nothing, they paid zero dollars in federal income taxes.  However, we did give them a $2.5 trillion bail-out.

Am I too ignorant in economics and finances to see the real picture?  Why are we, as average Americans, not up in arms about this?  Are we completely convinced by the talking heads that “this is what’s good for us…” and we don’t care anymore?

I care!  I care that I’m being told that it’s better to give these corporations tax breaks and bail-outs, because in the end they will create jobs for us and then we will benefit from their wealth.  Bull-hockey!!  It was crap when Reagan tried it and its crap now!

Many Americans are getting so far behind that they can’t afford to wait anymore.  Maybe had the government used that money to fund programs that really helped ‘Joe Schmo’ where it was needed rather than help pad the pockets of the top 1%,  I’d be willing to take more responsibility.

Maybe if I weren’t being told that I’m not getting a cost of living raise for the next few years so we could cut government spending, all-the-while that same government is telling me that they are going to extend tax breaks that give multi-billion dollar corporations millions to billions of dollars in tax refunds…well maybe I’d be more sympathetic.

I mean, when they first announced that I’d not get the cost of living raise for two or more years, my first thought was, “that sucks, but I need to do my part…”, but now, now I see that they are trying to cut Medicare for the elderly and make them flip the bill.  People who, some, can’t even afford to pick up some of their much needed prescriptions.

“The Republican budget is unfair because it ends the Medicare guarantee for seniors while giving away tens of billions of dollars in tax subsidies to Big Oil.” – Nancy Pelosi via TPM.com

Our congress is being held hostage by the so called “Tea-Party”, because the Tea Party backed politicians don’t want to negotiate deals with democrats, they want it their way or no way, and we’re the ones that are going to inherit their ideologically screwed country!  They’re not the majority, but they have the money backing them.  Groups like this are being funded by big corporations and private citizens, people who are spending more money lobbying for their personal benefit than most Americans spend or make in three lifetimes.

Most Tea-partiers don’t even know what they are supporting — Shut down the government, remove unions, repeal the inheritance tax, healthcare – these are the benefits that most of those people share along side of the average American – directly.  They’ve become puppets for the rich…and it’s actually working.

The inheritance taxes, otherwise known as the “death tax”, is something that will never affect 99% of the population, yet idiots like this are out there fighting against it…why, because families and corporations like this tell them that the democrats are socialist and this is just another part of their socialist agenda.  A mere 1.5% of Americans actually receives an inheritance of $100,000 or more.

It’s not, principle, it’s not “keep your hands off my money”, it’s anti-government or anti-democrat sentiment, pure and simple…it’s political, religious or government ideology gone nuts!  But repealing the tax, it would help someone, it would benefit the ultra rich to have it repealed — the ones mentioned in the linked report — it would help them tremendously when it comes to not giving back to this country — a total of $1 trillion dollars in tax revenue.

That’s what the Tea-party is demanding, they’re demanding we, cut social programs like Medicare and Medicaid and make the elderly pay the debt, they’re demanding we curtail collective bargaining and make the teachers pay the debt, they’re demanding we close the government and make the middle-class pay the debt…and they’re demanding we repeal inheritance and estate (death) taxes and return nearly $1 trillion dollars to the ultra-rich 1% in this country.

Do you want to know why I’m so mad right now?  Because I’m sick and tired of reading in the news everyday about how another Tea-party backed junior senator or state governor is getting strong support for a bill that goes against everything that is beneficial for the average American.

I’m sick and tired of watching as the two big parties go toe-to-toe over something that can be compromised, I’m tired of paying a ton of taxes every year and hearing that the corporations my tax dollars bailed-out are paying bonuses to their CEOs and receiving tax refunds, and I’m tired of worrying what’s going to happen when my kids are forced to adhere to the religious and political ideologies of the vocal minority.

I’m just tired of living in a society where everybody is so apathetic to the needs of others.  I want my voice to be heard, I want to be able to scream louder than the vocal minority, and I want people to open their eyes to what’s happening right in front of us.

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The Death and Life of my Brother, Lum Culliton

 RELATIONSHIPS, RUMINATIONS  16 Responses »
Mar 242011
 

Lum Culliton

It’s very difficult for me to put into words the pain the death of my brother brings to me; it’s easier for me to illustrate how he lived his life.

Lum, although very troubled in his later years, was a very loving and caring individual who would have easily given everything of himself to help a person in need.  I remember once many years ago talking with him about joining the military, we were in our uncle’s backyard in St. Louis Missouri. I was very young and, naturally, I thought that joining the army meant that I would have to go to war and maybe die. In my discussion with him I conveyed my concern about this fear, and my brother, Lum, looked at me and said, “You don’t have to worry, I’m the oldest brother, I’ll be the one to go, so you won’t have to…” This made me feel great, it made me feel protected. That was Lum to me, that will always be Lum to me, and nothing could ever change that for me.

In September of 1995, I lost my older brother to a tragic accident. That was almost sixteen years ago, and it seems like it was both a lifetime ago, and just yesterday. However, it was long before his death that something inside my brother changed. Though he was never a bad person, he was a person that had lost a little of himself with every passing year.

Early in my brother’s life there was a man that took it upon himself to abuse him. He used his status as a school vice principal to molest Lum. This man, Roger Stowell, had a history of abusing boys, but he always managed to be swept around and allowed to do it again and again.

It was different back then; back then it was easier to ignore the child or the [parents] and just make the problem disappear. But in these situations the problem just doesn’t go away, it manifests itself in the child’s behavior and emotional well being. What happened to my brother in the years after his abuse proved to me that his abuser, Roger Stowell, was an evil man —

— My brother, Lum, was three years older than me and he was the one person in this world that I always looked up to. He was a small guy, but he walked tall, he carried himself with more pride and happiness than I know he ever actually felt.

I wanted to be him when I was a child. I wanted to have all the girls pay attention to me the way they did him. I wanted to be able to run as fast as him and climb as high as him. I wanted to be as tough as him. He was my connection to growing up, he is my memories of growing up, and he was always there, even when things weren’t going well for him.

I smile every time I think of us as kids fighting neighborhood kids right after moving into a new place — I guess we had to prove ourselves or something, I don’t know, I think I just did it because he did — and I smile every time I think of Lum and me sneaking around the playground in our Superman and Spiderman underwear acting like superheroes.

We got brought home by the police for the first time when I was seven or eight for climbing on top of the shopping center near our apartment and leading the military police on a foot chase across two buildings…imagine the APB on that call. I always tell people it’s not our fault that they left a ladder leaning on the building, but the truth is we loved to get into trouble together when we were young; we did it all the time.

He and I had fun all the time, there wasn’t much we were scared to try and the only thing we were scared of was Pops…other than that it was fair game. We were best friends that got to share a bunk bed and spend our nights talking until neither could manage to stay awake any longer. This is the innocence of childhood that Roger Stowell wanted; this is what he took from my brother.

Even as a teenager Lum took care of me. My brother began abusing drugs and alcohol very soon after being molested. I remember a time, while living in Germany, he was admitted to the hospital with blood alcohol poisoning after a day of partying with friends. That’s who he became, he wasn’t the guy who could have a fun time with only a couple of drinks…he was the guy that had to see how many he could have.

But even with his pain and his abuse he would steer me clear of things he would do. My first recollection was in Germany; he sat me down and told me that if he ever caught me doing acid (LSD) he’d kick my ass. He told me it’ll make me go crazy and I needed to stay away from people doing it. We had many of these talks through the next few years…my brother had no problems doing it himself.

Later, when we had moved to Virginia, I had a very hard time making friends my first few years, I was teased by other students on a daily basis for my first two years of school there. My brother, once again, became my best friend during those years…though I’m not sure I ever told him.

One night, when we had just moved, I remember hearing him sneaking out of a window in our rental house on the lake. I decided I was going to follow him and see where he was going. I didn’t have to go far…he was sitting at the end of the dock. I sat down next to him and noticed he was smoking a cigarette so I asked him for one…he refused to give me one.

We spent many nights on that dock talking about how much we hated being in Virginia and how we wanted to go back to Germany. We talked about the friends we missed, and he gave me advice for dealing with the people in school that messed with me. I eventually bought my own cigarettes and joined in on the bad habit…it was something we could do together.

Years later, when I was living in my first apartment with my, then, girlfriend, I turned my back on my brother for the first time I can remember.

Lum had served in the U.S Army for a few years before getting kicked out for alcohol abuse, when he returned home he managed to get into a lot of trouble with my parents and pretty much everyone else. He hadn’t changed as a person; he had just begun to make more and more bad decisions. He had begun living on the streets of Fredericksburg after losing his apartment that he had shared with his girlfriend.

I remember waking up one morning to the sound of knocking on my apartment door; it must have been 6am. We had one of those ground floor entrances to our second floor apartment, so I looked down to see who was at the door. I saw Lum standing there staring at the door waiting for it to open.

As I went to go down the stairs to get him, my girlfriend stopped me and told me that I couldn’t let him in. I let her talk me out of letting my own brother in because we were afraid he wouldn’t leave. He knocked on my door for more than five minutes that morning and every echo through that stairwell was a pain in my heart.

I turned my back on the one person in this world that should have been able to come to me for anything. To this day it’s the worst memory I have of who I was back then.

I remember the day my brother died. My mother called me and told me that he was missing. She said that he had been out drinking with some friends and they had said they think he fell from a cliff. My mother told me that they had not found him and the searchers were still looking.

I convinced myself that he was fine and was probably just trying to find his way back…I didn’t know to where. My mother’s voice, though she tried to sound strong, told me a much different story. That day I went to a church near my home and I prayed that he was alive. That day I cried in church…

The last time I had talked to my brother we had fought. We lived on different sides of the country, he was in Arizona and I was in Delaware. I had gone to Arizona because Lum was getting married after having a beautiful baby girl.

After his ceremony we fought because I wouldn’t go to his reception party. I told him I couldn’t go because I couldn’t be around a group of underage kids drinking since I held a clearance for my Air Force job. He told me I was being snobby — I was  —

— I’ve learned many things from my brother. Some from his life and some from his death. I’ve learned to never again allow someone to take control of my life and the relationships in them. I learned that no matter how bad I feel like things are for me; there are so many others that are suffering as well.

I learned that you can’t just shut the door on abuse. Talking about being molested or abused is still considered a taboo subject. Parents don’t want to put their children through any more than they’ve already gone through, kids don’t want to talk about what happened, and people who have never experienced the abuse don’t recognize the cry for help.

I learned it is better to take the time to address the problem and to talk about the effects of abuse. And I learned that my brother had no reason to be ashamed of what happened to him.

In 2007 Roger Stowell was arrested at the Tampa Airport returning from South America, he had been carrying child pornography. It was his wife and son that had finally turned him in to authorities after finding the stuff on his computer.

My mother finally got to see justice served to the man that was responsible for abusing her son. She sat in the courtroom with her son’s ashes on her lap as Roger Stowell was sentenced to prison. Roger died only months later at the age of 72; he became proof of years of immoral living surfacing only before death to stand as a testament to his life.

Some years later his son wrote my mother asking for her forgiveness and he talked of his own life living with this monster. He shared his personal struggle with alcohol and drugs and seemed to feel that he was somehow responsible for his father’s actions.

I took the time to write him back trying to explain how I, as Lum’s brother, felt he should handle dealing with his father’s immoral life. I told him that he had important choices to make in his life; I asked him if he would use Roger Stowell’s evil deeds to bury himself under regret and sorrow or if he would continue to question whether he could have done more sooner. I tried to convince him to try not to hide his misgivings with drugs and alcohol and reminded him that he could make the choice to change the course of his life.

I told him that I’d like to believe that maybe he could do what my brother was never able to do, by living his life as well as he could and as long as he could. I wanted to let him know that what he does with his life now is a direct reflection of how he lived and how he will be remembered.

I in no way wanted him to let the actions of his father burden him in his life and who he could very well become. I told him that the abuse was perpetrated by Roger, and there is nothing he could have done to change what happened. I wanted him to begin the healing process for himself and his family. I told him he had the chance to make a difference in the lives of everyone around him every day, but for him to do it, he must be certain of his desire for wellness of self.

I told him to be a father to his children — the kind of father he never had — to treat them well and hold them dear, so that they may never struggle as he had. I asked him to instill upon them the intrinsic worth he will have to learn on his own. I asked him not to become another victim of Roger Stowell.

I guess in a way, when I wrote the letter I was writing to my own brother and asking him to save himself. I wanted this man to be able to live a normal life; a life that my brother never had.

I wanted to move forward myself with my brother’s death and part of that was dealing with his life, all of his life, and recognizing that my brother was truly the child I remember. He was the boy with the shaggy red hair and big front teeth. He was that little boy jumping on my father’s back while Pops tickled me on the ground. He was the boy that raced me to the bottom of the pool. He was the boy that stood beside me on the playground when other kids would pick on me. He was the boy that told me as a child that he would surely go to war and die before he allowed it to happen to me.

My brother never got to see his daughter’s first birthday, he died at the hands of abuse, be it drugs and alcohol, Roger Stowell’s actions, or the echoes of past criticisms from peers, family or even his own, all of which he never seemed to dismiss. These abuses controlled and steered Lum into his final years with is family and friends, many will say it took over his life and some will say it changed who he was before passing. I can’t say for sure if it was either, all, or none; all I can attest to is how I remember him now.

I remember his presence, up until his death, as exuberant to say the least. He had a way of getting your undivided attention and making the best of your company, and through our hard times he never failed to bring a smile to my face. This is how I deal with not having him here with me today, and I believe that is who he was and how he would want us all to remember him. Therefore, I chose to forget his abuses and only carry with me the lessons I have learned from them, as I think my brother would have done given the time and opportunity.

 

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Then they came for the Unions….

 RUMINATIONS  2 Responses »
Mar 142011
 

wisconsin union protest

So I was having a short political discussion with my mother the other day, this happens often, because she had sent me a message that had famously quoted Martin Niemoller;

“First they came for the communists,” he wrote, “and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

And I responded to her;

“The next assault will be on minimum wage rates and work hour regulations.”

This man, Martin Niemoller, though famous for this quote has a similar story that I found to be interesting.  He, as a Lutheran Pastor, originally supported Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Party.  He did so because he didn’t like that the “other party”, Social Democrats, did not share his ideology in the Christian belief.  Not that there were no Social Democrat Christians, but that the politics didn’t promise to protect the ideologies.  Much like many Social Conservatives do today, he aligned himself with the people who tout religion and nationalism, thinking his interests were protected.  In the end he spent eight years in a prison/camp for speaking out against the Party after Hitler took power.

So after this discussion with my mother I started thinking, do all those people out there who support this man, Governor Walker, fully understand the working of the unions and the reasoning behind this assault on the unions?  Probably not, or else we’d see a much larger response to this latest move of corporate strong arming of the middle class.  They’d understand that this man is not working in the best interest of the country, and the majority class of citizens, he’s working for his political and financial gain.  He has found that the Corporations are the citizens who have the money to give him gain in both arenas and he told his state last week, “I don’t care what you want or need…the money wants me to do this…”

In the end, we saw that this was not about budget repair for the Governor and the GOP.  The bill that was pushed through had been stripped of all the financial wording and only removed union backed collective bargaining rights of public employees.  In January he had proposed and signed a bill that extended tax cuts to corporations operating in the state.  In Wisconsin now, more than half of the corporations that make more than a million dollars per year pay no state taxes.  Yet the Governor of Wisconsin feels that public servants such as teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, etc., are given too many bargaining rights and are over compensated with benefits?  To me, all this essentially removes any such claim of concern for the fiscal status of Wisconsin and is just the first assault on the unions, of which I’m sure we’ll see more of on a national level.

Most people now days have no clue what this all means, they’ve grown up in an era where the benefits of unionized employment are commonplace, much like air-conditioning or automatic transmissions.  It’s just there and it’s expected to be there, but what was there before unions stood up to the corporations?

For a long period before the “Great Depression” the economic balance of this country was greatly skewed.  The wealthiest one percent of Americans maintained over 40% of the county’s wealth, and enjoyed a long period of economic prosperity through ever increasing income and wealth.   Whereas, the other 99% of the country remained in poverty and rarely saw their income increase at the same rate as inflation in this country.

And when the “Great Depression” devastated this country, the middle class were the people who lost their jobs and became the sacrificial lambs for corporate America.  When corporate America started feeling the effects of the downed economy they began to cut the pay of the laborers, or required them to work more hours without more compensation.  They placed their boot on the necks of the lower classes and demanded higher production at lower costs, all without taking cuts themselves.

It was the unions, not the politicians that put the power back in the hands of the people.   Unions gave the people a united voice, nationally and locally, and demanded reasonable pay, hours, and working conditions.  No one man can do this alone, no matter what merit you stand on, if you stand alone you fight an uphill battle.  The corporations know this, and it’s what they want…this is what Gov. Walker just did in Wisconsin, now the “money” is moving on to other states, because they know that if they can defeat the union in Wisconsin, they can defeat them almost anywhere.

This is what corporations don’t want you to know, this is what Governor Walker is launching an assault on.  They aren’t concerned with “Socialism” or “Communism”, that’s just propaganda used to paint you and I in a bad light without us even knowing it is being done.  Most people hear those two words to describe unions and they assume that there must be something wrong…well they’re right, there is something wrong with unions, but there is so much more that is “right” about them.

Much like my piece on “Democracy”, all good things come with the failures of humanity’s imperfections.  It’s called a “red herring fallacy”; they distract people from the true motivation of the topic by presenting a false, yet presumably relevant, issue to the topic.  Now it’s not about you losing your minimum wage, your employee benefits or your 40 hour work week, it is about whether you support “Communism” and/or “Socialism”.

We don’t even have to be involved in a union to benefit from the work of unions.  Everyone in this country has felt the effects of unionized bargaining in one manner or another.  Well, that is unless you are in the top one percent in this country and didn’t start at the bottom to get there.  As I mentioned, you don’t have to be in a union to get paid minimum wage, or to be required to only work 40hrs for fulltime work.  You don’t have to be in a union to work in a safe work environment, and you don’t have to be unionized to participate in an employer provided health care insurance program.  But every one of those is a result of union bargaining.   Do you like having your paid leave?  You think the corporations like to pay you to go on vacation?

Laborers and regular employees do not get paid tax dollars by the corporations, the pay comes from bonuses and salaries for the top one percent.  However, it is quite the opposite in the public sector, when the Governor or other leaders of that state can cut pay and benefits to these public servants, they can then provide that money to corporations in the form of well…tax cuts.

This is why I am amazed that so many people are showing support for this Governor and this mentality.  I can’t understand why these, presumably, working class citizens are ranting against those protesters in Madison Wisconsin and demonizing unions.  Maybe they’re not familiar with the history of unions, or maybe they’re comfortable with that boot on their neck…

…Personally I don’t mind being poor, but I don’t like being told by others that I’m not “poor enough”.

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