Welcome to the
Sturino perspective
One world - Earth One people - Humanity
Everything else about us is fashioned and controlled by the Happenstance of Birth.
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One world - Earth One people - Humanity Everything else about us is fashioned and controlled by the Happenstance of Birth. |
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In Pursuit of the American Dream Religious Fundamentalism, the Barrier to World Peace
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Mutualist Alliance has moved to its own dedicated site www.mutualistalliance.org A quote from George Orwell, "Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." November 7, 2005 From Roosevelt to Rove - America's Undoing I grew up during the time that our elected leaders were promising things like, “Two cars in every garage and a chicken in every pot.” Our high school Civics lessons included grand visions of the future for the vast middle class. We were being prepared for a life of an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. Future wages of the middle class were expected to cover all the necessities of life – and then some. Leisure time and a few frills were expected as a reasonable reward for labor. Things didn’t work out that way for nearly as many of us as was promised. One of our presidents saw the broken promise coming, and tried to alert us to the danger. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his last State of the Union address more than sixty-one years ago said, “We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. “Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made. In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed. Among these are: The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation; The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation; The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living; The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad; The right of every family to a decent home; The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health; The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment; The right to a good education. All of these rights spell security. And after this war is won we must be prepared to move forward, in the implementation of these rights, to new goals of human happiness and well-being. America’s own rightful place in the world depends in large part upon how fully these and similar rights have been carried into practice for our citizens.” Since the time of his presidency, there has been an open, unabashed effort to derail his vision of American society. The New York Times reports today that, “A $54 billion proposal headed for a floor vote this week amounts to budget cuts for the poor and environmental licentiousness. ”Who would lead such an effort? And, why? The only group that has a reason to oppose the implementation of these rights is the group with most to lose, the richest Americans. These are the people who own the means of production. President Bush called these rich Americans the “Have More’s” as he was asking for their money to help him win the election in 2000. Those who comprise the unspoken of American ‘Aristocracy’ happily opened their wallets, and you can be sure they expected them to be filled. But all of this is nothing new. The purchasing of political favors by the rich has been going on since the first coin ever changed hands. The assault on President Roosevelt’s second Bill of Rights began as soon as he died. It was apparent to the “Have More’s” of that time that the United States was headed in a direction which would put a drain on profits. In this new country, with its constitution written purposefully to root out all of the ills of other governments, President Roosevelt was leading the “lower class” toward a richer existence. What is it about the second Bill of Rights that so bothered this ‘aristocracy’? Consider this. 1) Money is not self propagating. No matter how long it sits, money never duplicates itself. Until such time as all manufacturing and agriculture can be mechanized, no amount of money will ever increase without the addition of manual or intellectual labor. By simple deductive reasoning, this is true even for the insurance and financial industries. 2) People who don’t have to worry about the basic necessities of life have the time and the incentive to educate themselves. 3) Educated people understand that money is not self propagating, and will demand a fair price for their labor. 4) Subsequent worker demands for wages and benefits would lead to diminishing the wealth of the “aristocracy.” Simplistic? Maybe -- but true none-the-less. Since 1945, through the careful doling out of money and favors, this ‘aristocracy’ appears to have subjugated the leadership of the Republican Party, and spent the last sixty years working to ensure that the second Bill of Rights never sees the light of day. When President Regan refused to bargain in good faith with air traffic controllers, essentially making them slaves of the federal government, a major blow was struck in the fight against unionization. Since that time, the National Labor Relations Board has not been favorable to union growth. There can be no question that every penny available in the U.S. today was harvested from the physical labor or intellect of those who work for wages. All the means of production in the world are simply inert objects without labor. It is only the workers who can make capital gains a reality. It seems rather greedy, selfish, and arrogant for the wealthy owners of production to expect labor to work for subsistence wages while they flaunt their excess wealth. However, government actions over the past five years have demonstrated an all-out effort to create a rich-poor class structure. Everything that the Republican triumvirate of Senate, House, and Presidency has done with regard to trade, labor practices, and their own spending spree has generously spread the fruits of labor on the table of the rich while setting up those who do the work to pay the tab. But credit must be given where credit is due. All of this has been accomplished with the consummate skill of a magician. Being fooled by a Harry Houdini or David Copperfield is a lot of fun. Being fooled by a con artist prompts a much different response. Either those taken in are angry enough to do significant bodily harm, or too embarrassed to admit they were taken. But when the con goes really well the mark never realizes it, and passes his loss off to some other cause. How well the (neo)con artist gets the job done is entirely dependent on making up a believable lie and providing sufficient distraction so that the lie never gets questioned. The team pulling off the present (neo)con are very good. When the president signs legislation that appears to favor the people he does it with great fan fare. When he’s handing out the gifts to corporations and wealthy individuals, he often does it at 40,000 feet in the shadows of Air Force One. Then, about the time someone might be paying attention, the triumvirate begins talking loudly about abortion, changing the constitution to revise the definition of marriage, or about teaching “intelligent design,” aka “creationism.” Everyone gets riled up and that’s when they put yet another hand in the pockets of the “lower class.” That budget which the congress is working on today was predicted in 2001. An analysis of the final tax-cut package in 2001released by Citizens for Tax Justice states that: “The typical tax cut for the median income taxpayer will be $600 a year. For the 78 million taxpayers in the lowest 60 percent of the income scale, the tax cut will average $347 a year. In contrast, at the top of the income scale the average tax cut will be $53,000 annually–“ Robert S. McIntyre, director of Citizens for Tax Justice reports that. "As a result, over the upcoming years, average taxpayers will pay dearly for this tax cut plan in reduced public services, a return to budget deficits or, most likely, both." One of the more stark comparisons is that the bottom 1% of individuals share in 0.9% of the overall tax breaks, and the top 1% – an equal number of individuals– share 37.6%. The entire analysis can be viewed online at www.ctj.org/html/gwbfinal.htm. This raid on the national treasury in the first months of 2001 should have told us something. To cover up what was really happening, President Bush told us he was giving us a rebate. People on the streets were so happy to receive a few crumbs that they didn’t even see that cake and caviar was being served in the penthouses. Since then, additional tax legislation has continued to enrich the already wealthy owners of the means of production, while significantly lowering disposable income for the vast majority of working Americans. How long will we let it go on? How long will it be before those who have been led into poverty with a dangling carrot of favor for their religious leanings wake up to what has been taken from them. How long will it be before those who are so consumed with passionate feelings against welfare, national healthcare, and any other so called “socialist” idea, wake up to what has been taken from them? How long will it be before small business owners realize that they are not considered part of the ‘aristocracy’, and wake up to what has been taken from them? The list goes on. There’s a lot of waking up to do. Finally, there is the question of pride. Even if everyone wakes up to what is happening, how many will really accept the idea that they were taken in by temporary heros who took advantage of their own greed for money or power? Hopefully both the waking up, and the humility that comes with acceptance, occurs before we are forced to deal with the truth in FDR’s words. ““Necessitous men are not free men.” People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” History has clearly demonstrated that when a greedy, miserly and arrogant aristocracy gains unchallenged dictatorial power, it rarely falls by any means other than by succumbing to an armed insurgency. The foreseeable economic future of our children and grandchildren is much less than it was for us. Something must be done soon. The framers of our constitution provided us with a sane alternative to insurrection, but it will only work if we use it. Hopefully we will not waste the opportunity. We must avoid the future which is being written for our heirs. A future which is now much less promising than the one we had for ourselves. Those who work for wages must work together to support and elect a President and those Senators and Congresspersons who will see to it that we do not revert to a Mediaeval society. Our fate, and the fate of our children, is in our
hands. *************************************** All prior postings are in the Archives.
The links at the left will take you to articles I've written, other websites, and additional insight into where I'm coming from. I try to remain open to new ideas, and have been known to change my mind when faced with new facts or a better perspective. So, whether or not you agree with me, I'd like your comments.
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