It's a bit of a long read (which is why I have more than usual quoted, though it's barely a drop of what's there), but absolutely worth it if you want to know the history of when our democracy began to become corrupted.
We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to produce the policies favored by the majority of Americans. John Boehner calls on the bankers, holds out his cup, and offers them total obeisance from the House majority if only they fill it.
That’s now the norm, and they get away with it. GOP once again means Guardians of Privilege.
Barack Obama criticizes bankers as “fat cats”, then invites them to dine at a pricey New York restaurant where the tasting menu runs to $195 a person.
That’s now the norm, and they get away with it. The President has raised more money from banks, hedge funds, and private equity managers than any Republican candidate, including Mitt Romney. Inch by inch he has conceded ground to them while espousing populist rhetoric that his very actions betray.
Let’s name this for what it is: hypocrisy made worse, the further perversion of democracy.
Democratic deviancy defined further downward. Our politicians are little more than money launderers in the trafficking of power and policy – fewer than six degrees of separation from the spirit and tactics of Tony Soprano.
Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is filled with people is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: “Why are you here?” But it’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country.
But let me call another witness from the pro-business and capitalist- friendly press. In the middle of the last decade – four years before the Great Collapse of 2008 – the editors of The Economist warned:
A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the (first) Gilded Age. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace….Everywhere you look in modern America... – you see elites mastering the art of perpetuating themselves.
Hear the editors of The Economist...one of the business world’s most respected journals. It is the editors of the The Economist who are warning us that “ The United States is on its way to becoming a European-style class-based society.”
Evidence abounds that large inequalities undermine community life, reduces trust among citizens, and increases violence. In one major study from data collected over 30 years [by the epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their book: The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger] the most consistent predictor of mental illness, infant mortality, educational achievements, teenage births, homicides, and incarceration, is economic inequality. And as Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow has written, “Vast inequalities of income weakens a society’s sense of mutual concern…The sense that we are all members of the social order is vital to the meaning of civilization.”
How did this happen?
You know the story, because it begins the very same year that you began your public advocacy and I began my public journalism. 1971 was a seminal year.
Read on for a synopsis of how this change has been manifesting over the last 40 years, who the culprits are, and why this won't be a quick or painless fix. There's a book that he highly recommends as well.
This paragraph describes to a T what the apathy seen by the general public in recent years. And should make clear why this protest movement is not going to end anytime soon. These aren't only "lazy, dirty hippies" at these rallies - these are angry Americans who want justice, fairness, and equal opportunity for all and if the protests stop, the situation will only worsen until the response is far more violent, and far more damaging to our democracy and stability.
No wonder so many Americans have felt that sense of political impotence that the historian Lawrence Goodwyn described as “the mass resignation” of people who believe in the “dogma of democracy” on a superficial public level but whose hearts no longer burn with the conviction that they are part of the deal. Against such odds, discouragement comes easily.
But if the generations before us had given up, slaves would still be waiting on these tables, on Election Day women would still be turned away from the voting booths, and workers would still be committing a crime if they organized.
So once again: Take heart from the past and don’t ever count the people out.
And if you want to learn more about how economic inequality harms societies, watch the video that I posted in
this thread
"Now, more than ever, the illusions of division threaten our very existence. We all know the truth: more connects us than separates us. But in times of crisis the wise build bridges, while the foolish build barriers. We must find a way to look after one another as if we were one single tribe.” -King T'Challa, Black Panther
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it. ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. ~Winston Churchill
The Tea Party was founded on a sense that something ephemeral had been stolen by someone, and that a movement was needed to "take the country back." Occupy Wall Street is now getting the media attention the Tea Party believes is rightfully theirs, and the perceived slight can only inflame the movement's sense of victimhood. They didn't just lose the country as they knew it. Now they've lost coverage on CNN, too.
Science Chic wrote: It's a bit of a long read (which is why I have more than usual quoted, though it's barely a drop of what's there), but absolutely worth it if you want to know the history of when our democracy began to become corrupted.
We hold elections, knowing they are unlikely to produce the policies favored by the majority of Americans. John Boehner calls on the bankers, holds out his cup, and offers them total obeisance from the House majority if only they fill it.
That’s now the norm, and they get away with it. GOP once again means Guardians of Privilege.
Barack Obama criticizes bankers as “fat cats”, then invites them to dine at a pricey New York restaurant where the tasting menu runs to $195 a person.
That’s now the norm, and they get away with it. The President has raised more money from banks, hedge funds, and private equity managers than any Republican candidate, including Mitt Romney. Inch by inch he has conceded ground to them while espousing populist rhetoric that his very actions betray.
Let’s name this for what it is: hypocrisy made worse, the further perversion of democracy.
Democratic deviancy defined further downward. Our politicians are little more than money launderers in the trafficking of power and policy – fewer than six degrees of separation from the spirit and tactics of Tony Soprano.
Why New York’s Zuccotti Park is filled with people is no mystery. Reporters keep scratching their heads and asking: “Why are you here?” But it’s clear they are occupying Wall Street because Wall Street has occupied the country.
But let me call another witness from the pro-business and capitalist- friendly press. In the middle of the last decade – four years before the Great Collapse of 2008 – the editors of The Economist warned:
A growing body of evidence suggests that the meritocratic ideal is in trouble in America. Income inequality is growing to levels not seen since the (first) Gilded Age. But social mobility is not increasing at anything like the same pace….Everywhere you look in modern America... – you see elites mastering the art of perpetuating themselves.
Hear the editors of The Economist...one of the business world’s most respected journals. It is the editors of the The Economist who are warning us that “ The United States is on its way to becoming a European-style class-based society.”
Evidence abounds that large inequalities undermine community life, reduces trust among citizens, and increases violence. In one major study from data collected over 30 years [by the epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their book: The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger] the most consistent predictor of mental illness, infant mortality, educational achievements, teenage births, homicides, and incarceration, is economic inequality. And as Nobel Laureate Kenneth Arrow has written, “Vast inequalities of income weakens a society’s sense of mutual concern…The sense that we are all members of the social order is vital to the meaning of civilization.”
How did this happen?
You know the story, because it begins the very same year that you began your public advocacy and I began my public journalism. 1971 was a seminal year.
Read on for a synopsis of how this change has been manifesting over the last 40 years, who the culprits are, and why this won't be a quick or painless fix. There's a book that he highly recommends as well.
This paragraph describes to a T what the apathy seen by the general public in recent years. And should make clear why this protest movement is not going to end anytime soon. These aren't only "lazy, dirty hippies" at these rallies - these are angry Americans who want justice, fairness, and equal opportunity for all and if the protests stop, the situation will only worsen until the response is far more violent, and far more damaging to our democracy and stability.
No wonder so many Americans have felt that sense of political impotence that the historian Lawrence Goodwyn described as “the mass resignation” of people who believe in the “dogma of democracy” on a superficial public level but whose hearts no longer burn with the conviction that they are part of the deal. Against such odds, discouragement comes easily.
But if the generations before us had given up, slaves would still be waiting on these tables, on Election Day women would still be turned away from the voting booths, and workers would still be committing a crime if they organized.
So once again: Take heart from the past and don’t ever count the people out.
And if you want to learn more about how economic inequality harms societies, watch the video that I posted in
this thread
Income inequality leading to revolution? Usually only happens in societies where the ambitious poor aren't allowed to rise to the next level. America still allows this. Herman Cain is an example of this, rising from meagre beginnings, he is now a possible President, same with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Only if they aren't allowed to rise, is revolution seriously considered like czarist Russia or royalist France. Nowdays Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are given vast sums to give speeches or be reelected by their corporate overlords.
America, where we corrupt the leaders of the revolution.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
HAHAHA -I just got a robocall from "Justice for All" and they claimed victory on the ATM fees for Bank of America, but then went on to say that BOA is trying to get a backdoor $55 Trillion bailout - yes they said trillion... BWAHAHAHAHA I have to wonder if someone is trying to make these guys look stupid.
towermonkey wrote: When people lose their homes it can also cause civil unrest. Some might not be so civil...
mayb if individuals were responsible with spending they would not be in a home to lose? civil unrest still requires a means of survival whether earned, stolen or given.
Gee, what an ignorant sweeping assumption to make... Yes, I'm sure all of the millions of mortgages that are in trouble are ALL people who were irresponsible with their spending.
towermonkey wrote: When people lose their homes it can also cause civil unrest. Some might not be so civil...
Hey I'm all for it. I'm actually waiting for the civil unrest to increase. Up to this point it's been rather sophomoric. Really... these entitlement pansies on the streets of New York and other cities need to take a few lessons from their socialist brothers in Europe. Start with the Greeks, they'll show you how to churn up some civil unrest. I'd be the first person to tell you that Wall Street and their government abuses, fraud, and criminal activities has reached a breaking point and it's got to stop, but taking to the street and breaking laws, nope, that's not the kind of country we built... mob does not rule. So... hopefully some of the worst elements in the Occupy groups will really over step their bounds, we can get rid of them and then get back to fixing this like civilized people.
