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Michael Moore correctly describes Senate Bill 5 (Ohio) and the similar efforts in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana as a war on the working class.
In the past. America often belonged to the wealthy, but the working class fought for collective bargaining, the 40 hour work week, vacation time, and work safety requirements. President Franklin D Roosevelt, recognizing that the wealthy were lined up against him, asked for support from the working class. Referring to "business and financial monopoly, speculation, and reckless banking," FDR crowed, "Never before have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred."
President Teddy Roosevelt is described as both a progressive and a Republican. He would not allow the wealthy to dominate, and is famous for his efforts to break up the biggest monopolies in American business, including Standard Oil.
This war on the middle class started in earnest when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, and began the long process of continually giving the richest Americans tax breaks, while running the government on borrowed money. Democratic President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore supported the ruling class by joining in with Republicans to pass NAFTA and WTO, and to deregulate the banking industry. Ross Perot warned us about the “giant sucking sound†of job loss that would occur with NAFTA. He was leading the Presidential race when he attended a meeting on Wall Street, and suddenly quit the race after that meeting.
The Ruling Class took a giant step forward when the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount which then allowed George W. Bush to assume the Presidency. Bush and Vice President Cheney failed to defend America from the 9/11 terrorist attack, and then used that event to start two unnecessary wars, authorize torture, oversee an unprecedented expansion of government. Potentially, the biggest sin of the Bush administration was the enormous tax cuts for the very wealthy. As a result, the top 1 percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent and the effective tax rate for the rich is now lower than at any time in recent history. The cost of the tax cuts and the costs of the war have led to the current economic crisis and provided the Ruling Class a justification for the current attack on the middle class.
In the waning months of the Bush Presidency, Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson asked the American people for 700 billion dollars to bail out the failed banks. This notion was soundly rejected by the American People and Congress voted down the bailout. After a weekend of heavy lobbying, where Congress was told that “there would be people on the streets†if this did not pass, the legislation was passed. As a result of our bailout, the Ruling Class solidified their control over our government and our lives.
I voted for hope and change in Obama's landslide win, only to find out that President Barack Obama represents neither hope nor change but instead more of the same. Among his many failures, Obama failed to come to the defense of the people protesting Governor Walkers Union busting bill in Wisconsin.
So here we are. We have become aware that voting does not change anything, the candidates are pre-chosen by the Ruling Class. Prior to the disastrous 2010 elections that put John Kasich (Ohio) and Scott Walker (Wisconsin) in power, Obama had the chance to prevent the tax cuts to the wealthiest top 2 percent from being extended, and he had overwhelming public support for this position. But he folded his cards and his party was slaughtered in the 2010 elections. The fawning corporate media applauded him for it. The few who still represent us in Congress--Bernie Saunders, Dennis Kucinich, Sherrod Brown--warned us that attacks on the middle class would be next.
In a heartbeat, just a matter of a few months, the Ruling Class attacked the middle class in a way that was entirely unexpected in its ruthlessness. The ruling class was and is entirely unresponsive to the masses of people protesting. We can expect them to come after Social Security next. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision will result in enormous amounts of money being spent against the few remaining progressive members of Congress, and in support of those candidates who represent the ruling class who have attacked the middle class, the poor, and the unemployed.
We have become aware that our leaders represent the wealthy. But we have also seen Julian Assange and Private Bradley Manning fight back against wealth and privilege. We should remember that the arrest of Assange on trumped up unrelated charges and the terrible mistreatment of Manning has prevented Wikileaks from releasing the documents it holds on Bank of America, which presumably are directly related to the bailout.
We have seen peaceful protests in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, throw off or attempt to throw off rulers friendly to the American Empire and instead work towards the American style Democracy that we were all taught to believe in.
Events in the Middle East, Wisconsin and Ohio remind us that we must continue with direct action. We can no longer expect the electoral process to stop the attack on the middle class. Chris Hedges reminds us that “We will have to continue to fight the mechanisms of this dominant culture, if for no other reason than to preserve, through small, even tiny acts, our common humanity. As distinct and moral beings, we will endure only through these small, sometimes imperceptible, acts of defiance.â€
So let us remember that the ruling class retained the massive tax cut for the top 2 percent at breakfast, and then attacked the working class before lunchtime. Before dinner, we can expect the attack on Social Security. We must fight back.
In the past. America often belonged to the wealthy, but the working class fought for collective bargaining, the 40 hour work week, vacation time, and work safety requirements. President Franklin D Roosevelt, recognizing that the wealthy were lined up against him, asked for support from the working class. Referring to "business and financial monopoly, speculation, and reckless banking," FDR crowed, "Never before have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred."
President Teddy Roosevelt is described as both a progressive and a Republican. He would not allow the wealthy to dominate, and is famous for his efforts to break up the biggest monopolies in American business, including Standard Oil.
This war on the middle class started in earnest when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers, and began the long process of continually giving the richest Americans tax breaks, while running the government on borrowed money. Democratic President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore supported the ruling class by joining in with Republicans to pass NAFTA and WTO, and to deregulate the banking industry. Ross Perot warned us about the “giant sucking sound†of job loss that would occur with NAFTA. He was leading the Presidential race when he attended a meeting on Wall Street, and suddenly quit the race after that meeting.
The Ruling Class took a giant step forward when the Supreme Court halted the Florida recount which then allowed George W. Bush to assume the Presidency. Bush and Vice President Cheney failed to defend America from the 9/11 terrorist attack, and then used that event to start two unnecessary wars, authorize torture, oversee an unprecedented expansion of government. Potentially, the biggest sin of the Bush administration was the enormous tax cuts for the very wealthy. As a result, the top 1 percent earn more income than the bottom 50 percent and the effective tax rate for the rich is now lower than at any time in recent history. The cost of the tax cuts and the costs of the war have led to the current economic crisis and provided the Ruling Class a justification for the current attack on the middle class.
In the waning months of the Bush Presidency, Secretary of Treasury Hank Paulson asked the American people for 700 billion dollars to bail out the failed banks. This notion was soundly rejected by the American People and Congress voted down the bailout. After a weekend of heavy lobbying, where Congress was told that “there would be people on the streets†if this did not pass, the legislation was passed. As a result of our bailout, the Ruling Class solidified their control over our government and our lives.
I voted for hope and change in Obama's landslide win, only to find out that President Barack Obama represents neither hope nor change but instead more of the same. Among his many failures, Obama failed to come to the defense of the people protesting Governor Walkers Union busting bill in Wisconsin.
So here we are. We have become aware that voting does not change anything, the candidates are pre-chosen by the Ruling Class. Prior to the disastrous 2010 elections that put John Kasich (Ohio) and Scott Walker (Wisconsin) in power, Obama had the chance to prevent the tax cuts to the wealthiest top 2 percent from being extended, and he had overwhelming public support for this position. But he folded his cards and his party was slaughtered in the 2010 elections. The fawning corporate media applauded him for it. The few who still represent us in Congress--Bernie Saunders, Dennis Kucinich, Sherrod Brown--warned us that attacks on the middle class would be next.
In a heartbeat, just a matter of a few months, the Ruling Class attacked the middle class in a way that was entirely unexpected in its ruthlessness. The ruling class was and is entirely unresponsive to the masses of people protesting. We can expect them to come after Social Security next. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision will result in enormous amounts of money being spent against the few remaining progressive members of Congress, and in support of those candidates who represent the ruling class who have attacked the middle class, the poor, and the unemployed.
We have become aware that our leaders represent the wealthy. But we have also seen Julian Assange and Private Bradley Manning fight back against wealth and privilege. We should remember that the arrest of Assange on trumped up unrelated charges and the terrible mistreatment of Manning has prevented Wikileaks from releasing the documents it holds on Bank of America, which presumably are directly related to the bailout.
We have seen peaceful protests in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, throw off or attempt to throw off rulers friendly to the American Empire and instead work towards the American style Democracy that we were all taught to believe in.
Events in the Middle East, Wisconsin and Ohio remind us that we must continue with direct action. We can no longer expect the electoral process to stop the attack on the middle class. Chris Hedges reminds us that “We will have to continue to fight the mechanisms of this dominant culture, if for no other reason than to preserve, through small, even tiny acts, our common humanity. As distinct and moral beings, we will endure only through these small, sometimes imperceptible, acts of defiance.â€
So let us remember that the ruling class retained the massive tax cut for the top 2 percent at breakfast, and then attacked the working class before lunchtime. Before dinner, we can expect the attack on Social Security. We must fight back.