If you decide to declare class warfare on the poor and the ever-shrinking middle class (soon to be extinct, or so it seems), and yet insist that austerity measures are the best for everyone, you will end up paying a heavy price. Take a look at this chart that shows class warfare. What a perfect display of how unjust and inequitable our society has become. I have news for those of you who think that we all believe that tax cuts, and budget cuts, and all other kinds of what-what cuts are for the common good. A large majority of Americans know those claims are bullshit. We're onto your lies, and that is because so many of us have worked our asses off to help our communities, to help ourselves, and to be a part of the democratic process, and yet we're slipping of the societal grid. We're disappearing.
We're not able to pay our student loans and have money left over. We are not able to pay our mortgages and have money left over. We are not able to pay for good health care and have money left over. We are not able to pay our grocery bills and have money left over. That is because there is no money left over. Even worse, our most vulnerable - children - are suffering. So what about this winning the future, Mr. President, when there are more children in poverty now than there were in 2000? Some of my readers will accuse me of placing too much blame on your shoulders. I understand the history of deregulation well enough to know that you, Mr. President, did not start the process of disassembling the federal government and undermining our most sacred democratic institutions. However, you have been in office long enough to be culpable, and I am particularly disgusted by your outright refusal to acknowledge the student loan debt crisis. People may think that the crisis only affects student debtors. But they are wrong.
Higher education is under assault, and it has been for a long time. It has adopted the worst models from the corporate world (so the institutions themselves are also to blame for the crisis). There are things that ought not be a part of the market or the private sector. Of course, you, Mr. President, wouldn't agree with that. That is because you are a victim of neoliberalism. It's shocking to think that at one point you were a community organizer. Does your old self ever come to you in dreams and ask you why you betrayed the people who put you into office, and why you betrayed your previous values? (Perhaps you are merely a political animal, so your old self, even if he does ask you such questions, means nothing to you).
The Awakening
These last few weeks have been astonishing. Wisconsin is not the only place where people are raising hell, and we stood and watched in awe at what happened in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East. You see, we're tired of seeing our future and country (as well as countries) being stolen from us. The youth are especially angry. You have no right to take our futures away. No right.
So what do these protests mean for the indentured educated class?
It is perhaps too early to know, but something dramatic is happening. Never in my life could I have anticipated a revolutionary spirit like this one - it is something I hoped for in my early 20s, and now I think it is finally happening. We are realizing that our America is being taken from us, and people aren't going to stand by and let it unravel. It is exhilarating to know that so many Americans want something better - they desire equity. Sadly, the desire for things to be fairer for all is regarded nowadays as radical and threatening. Well, we're going to change that attitude. Welcome back, working-class America! I sure have missed you.
On that note, I want to give a special shout out to the farmers of Wisconsin who rolled in on their tractors today to support their teachers, police officers, fire fighters, and other union workers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment