In our country we cling to the idea that one day we might be rich. We should all just stop dreaming that fantasy and realize that very few will actually become “rich”. You can buy all the lottery tickets you can stuff in your pants and you will still lose. One ticket will take it all. Are you really feeling that lucky today? It’s time to let those that have unspeakable wealth step up and save this country. I, for one, have no trouble taxing the wealthy. It’s time we got the rest of the country to realize that there is no shame in a truly graduated income tax. It’s also time to take care of those people that are struggling to make ends meet. This can be accomplished if we set our priorities straight as a nation.
I am tired of the boogey men that we continually chase as a nation. For years we were afraid of the “communists”. They were the boogeyman and we had to hide under our desks at school because they were coming to get us. Since the world trade towers were destroyed and a couple thousand people were murdered on September 11th, 2001 we have feared the terrorists. They have been, for the last nine years, the new boogeyman. As President Bush said many times, “We are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” However, politicians have kept us in a constant state of fear for most of my life. This fear is used to control how we think and essentially how we vote. It determines how we view the world and whether we trust our neighbor, both those next door or those who border our countries. In the past couple of years we have been led to believe that we are all closeted “racists”. This, I believe, is another form of control over our thoughts and especially our actions. The boogeyman is the fear of racism. Since President Obama began his run for the Whitehouse, it has been difficult to separate the fact from the fiction in terms of the racial divide in this country. While I know there are racists that think they are better than another race, I believe there are far more people that don’t really care about the issue of race. I have said a thousand times, “Poor is poor. It has no color.” It is time we bonded together as a nation and realized that much of our fear is man made, created by an establishment of politicians that must find a way to control its masses. Racism is the new boogeyman. If we don’t think exactly as predetermined, as we are told we should, we will be labeled a racist. I really think this is all to control us.
This week we heard the ridiculous saga of Shirley Sherrod. This woman was taken out of context and we spent the week once again defined by racism. During this time much else was happening. Congress finally passed the unemployment extension. However, they did not include the tier 5 people in this extension. These are people that have been unemployed for more than 99 weeks. http://all247news.com/unemployment-extension-calls-for-tier-5-addressed-to-obama-congress-growing/1979/
There is no real sympathy for these people other than platitudes of praise for their on going strength in adversity. We also didn’t hear much about this sad statistic. http://mentalhealthnews.org/suicide-rates-among-soldiers-increases/841674/
The suicide rates in the military are on the rise. How can our country be at war continuously for the past nine years and not expect this breakdown in morale? While we are busy contemplating the ridiculous story about Shirley being a racist this is going on. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gLEgHCUafX_i3fRDvfq626CUAyWgD9H4R3LO2
It seems that we must cut funds for education and every other thing in this country so we can continue to spend money on these two wars. The troop surge in Afghanistan is costing our nation and our children. Just today I saw the news that Western Michigan University is upping their tuition by 7%. While this is all happening did you notice this week when Hillary Clinton went to give aid to Pakistan? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/19/pakistan-aid-hillary-clin_n_650776.html
The point of all of this is if we are kept busy with the current boogeyman, we will be kept out of the loop of what is really happening in our country. We must stop fearing the boogeyman and force our country to step up and do the right thing by its citizens. So, yes, if this means more taxes for the rich and wealthy to help pay for these things that must be done, then I am all for it. If politicians truly can’t find a way to extract our soldiers from these two wars, then let the rich pay for it. If politicians can’t find a way to fund health care, then let the rich pay for it. If politicians can’t find ways to fund our schools, then let the rich pay for it. If the rich pay enough, maybe we will get out of the wars. If the rich pay enough, maybe they will work harder to open some factories here so they can benefit from some special tax break and hire more workers. I’m all for taxing the rich because the rich will make sure some things get done when they feel the pinch that the rest of us feel on a daily basis. I’m tired of hearing about yet another rich person’s wedding before I hear about real news. Aren’t you? Today we are bombarded with the Clinton wedding garbage. Who really cares? Not me. I want real news and I want the wealthy to step up and save our country. I think if you start to have some sympathy for the wealthy, just check out what these athletes get paid and think about your own hard earned paycheck. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/more/specials/fortunate50/2009/index.html
Do we really need to see the wealthy and yet another of their many weddings?
This comes from the “Who Rules America” website. http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 38.3% of all privately held stock, 60.6% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top 10% have 80% to 90% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and over 75% of non-home real estate. Since financial wealth is what counts as far as the control of income-producing assets, we can say that just 10% of the people own the United States of America.
If you still have sympathy and feel that you can trust the political system check out this article and think about how these people vote for their own best interests. http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/13/senators.finances/
It is time for the wealthy to step up and help our country climb out of this recession, get out of these wars, fix our infrastructure and take care of our economic problems. Let’s stop fearing the political created boogeyman and start working together for logical solutions to our many problems. Let’s stop putting the rich on a pedestal by watching their weddings, lifestyle, games, movies and start living our life elevated by being educated to what is really going on in this country and what we might be able to do to set things right. FDR said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” The truth is the only thing to fear is an inactive electorate that is uneducated and over stimulated with the lust for wealth and afraid of the current boogeyman.
I just had to add this list of the richest members of Congress….both Dems and Repubs:
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-richest-members-of-congress-2009-11#olympia-j-snowe-r-maine-1