There’s an old saying, “If you don’t know you’re in a war, you’ve already lost.”
Americans seem to know that corporations and the wealthy are accumulating the power and wealth of this nation for themselves. They seem to be aware that politicians are bought off and serve their corporate backers’ wishes, doing all they can to pass laws that enrich the wealthy and blocking legislation that doesn’t (ie, benefit 99.5% of Americans).
And yet, this awareness seems totally disconnected for many Americans from the concept of class warfare. Somehow, through the onslaught of conditioning we’ve been subjected to since childhood, hyping materialism, capitalism, the American Dream and “You too will be a millionaire one day!”, many Americans still seem to stop short of recognizing that they are in the midst of a war that they are losing. Yet, it is the case and the proof is in the news every single day.
It is not difficult to understand for some who are living in crisis and have to be most concerned with the immediate, trying to cope with paying their rent or mortgage this month, finding a job, buying food for the week, paying for health care they can’t afford, or scraping up enough to send their children to a local college. They don’t necessarily have the luxury of time to reflect on and recognize the systematic assault over the last 30 years and see that the most recent events are actually a part of a long term battle plan to rob and subjugate the American People.
And to be frank, many people just take life as it comes, taking each incident on it’s own and not looking for patterns of behavior or how the latest incident fits in with past ones. The problem with that is that when powerful and wealthy entities want something, they create an overall strategy. They work with and pay professionals to design and develop “war plans” that identify the desired goals, the projected obstacles and how to overcome those obstacles. They recognize the power of media and public opinion and have over the years bought up the media and put a facade of “personal responsibility” and “freedom for all Americans” over their true motivations of greed and dominance.
They have sown social conflict and discontent among Americans, both to profit off of it financially and polarize Americans. As long as people are lured into playing their game of division, the “peasants” can be fooled into going at each others’ throats while the wealthy quietly steal their homes, jobs and futures right out from under them. Divide and conquer, especially when the armies are 306 million vs. 1 million. As long as The American people continue to see the enemy as other Americans, who do not have a great share of wealth or power in this nation, the wealthy who do have that wealth and power (and are increasing that) remain safe.
The only fear that the wealthy and corporations have…is of Americans acting in their own best interests. The one vulnerability they have is that they are less than half of a percent of America’s population and we still hold elections where majority rules. It only takes 51% of Americans in 51% of districts to say, “We will only elect someone who will tax the wealthy their fair share and prevent laws from passing that only benefit the wealthy!” and things could change dramatically. That is the power of a democracy, that is the power of a united people.
We don’t have to live with diminished expectations, we don’t have to give up on handing our children a better standard of living than we had. We don’t have to give up on good schools, unpolluted air and water, peace, equality for all or economic justice. We can have all of these things but only if we are willing to throw off our Snuggies and open the door and get into the streets to stand up for The American People.
As I said at the outset, Step One in winning this war is to say loud and clear and accept in your heart, “There is class warfare going on right now against us.” The advancing armies of the wealthy have invaded and annexed our Media, our Politics, our economy and they are marching on our public services and safety nets now. They can’t be appeased, they live only to conquer and pillage. We have the numbers, we muct join together and go to the streets to defend our democracy and nation.
One aspect of this class war is so Orwellian. As the wealthy conduct their assaults on the American People, anyone who stands up to complain is pilloried by them and their MSM cronies as “calling for class warfare”. They have redefined the term “class warfare” as applying only to those who try to defend themselves from the class warfare being marshaled by the wealthy against 99.5% of Americans. And to their discredit, politicians and talking heads are often cowed by this label, quickly backpedaling from taking on the wealthy’s war on America and retrenching to say, “I just want fairness.”
That’s bullshit and needs to stop. IMO, the correct response, when asserting that the wealthy are at war with Americans and being asked by an MSM drone, “Are you advocating class warfare?” , is, “Hell no, I’m trying to fight against it as all Americans should! The wealthy have been conducting class warfare against The American People for 30 years and that’s long enough! Americans have to come together to win this war because we are indeed in the midst of class warfare and if we don’t unite and fight back, we’ll lose!”
War was officially declared on 99.5% of Americans when Trickle Down/Supply Side economics was promoted and implemented under Ronald Reagan. One need not be an economist to understand the basic theory here: Wealthy people should get money from the rest of us because they are more powerful and wiser and will spend it in a way that will bring a fraction of it back to us after they have taken a share for themselves. From there, the destruction of our infrastructure and the middle class and class warfare was intentionally begun by the wealthy and Republicans.
As an example, let’s consider tax cuts for the wealthy. It is a simple see-saw. Sitting on one side are the social services and commitments of the federal government that benefit nearly all Americans. On the other side are tax revenues. When a huge chunk of tax revenues are removed from one side of the see saw, the other side comes crashing down unless one of two things happen, more tax revenue is placed down or services are removed.
What needs to be understood is that the wealthy’s goal is different than 99.5% of Americans. They do not want the see-saw balanced, their goal is to get rid of it, removing every penny of theirs from the tax revenue side and fuck everything else. They don’t need public schools, they don’t need aid for the poor, they don’t need Medicare of Social Security. If it all collapses, so what? More opportunity for private industry to pretend to be the answer and suck even more money out of Americans’ pockets while delivering worse and corrupt services.
They profited from the destruction of our economy. They will profit from the destruction of our standard of living. They want to see effective government that benefits the majority destroyed. This has been a long term strategy, demonizing government and unions which stand in the way of their plutocratic utopia. Each crisis that results from a previous crisis they created, they use to carve off rights, freedom and finances from the majority that they then shove in their own pocket.
What’s happening in WI makes this crystal clear. The same people who profited from and caused the economic collapse, are now saying that because the economy is troubled for some unknown reason, the solution is giving them more tax money and taking it from working Americans (from whom they’ve already robbed of home equity and retirement money).
Meanwhile, most Americans can’t afford not to have government and a fully funded social system, public schools, Medicare, SS, etc.
There is not a morally acceptable argument for Exxon and Bank of America to take advantage of this nation’s infrastructure and all of its citizens (i.e., heavy Exxon tanker trucks use and destroy our federally funded highways) while paying $o in taxes but there is a rational one. Greed, camouflaged as “capitalism”.
So, using the issue of taxes just to illustrate, we are in a mercenary war with the wealthy. They want to horde and build greater piles of money for themselves and have planned to accommodate that by crushing social funding such as education. Meanwhile, they want to bleed “the peasants” by making them pay a greater and greater share of total tax revenues to fund everything while also forcing them to subsidize their wealth and that of their corporations through tax cuts just for them.
And consider the outsourcing of jobs to foreign countries. This works two-fold in their war against Americans. First, the wealthy slash their expense of manufacturing and greatly increase their profit margin, then have all of this subsidized by the workers they’ve fired because on unemployment income, they can only afford to buy cheaper things made in China and sold at Walmart. Secondly, the exporting of jobs has created a huge pool of available workers which allows the wealthy to offer lower wages and worse or no benefits for jobs that can require twice the work as before (“Hey, if you don’t want this job, there are plenty of people out there who would.”)
So, in this aspect of the Class War the wealthy are engaged in, they have weakened unions, made their workers more compliant and desperate to work at lower wages for providing more labor. Shrinking wages have also forced people to bury themselves in debt so by buying things on credit cards, they end up giving more and more of what pay they do get back to the wealthy in the form of interest and fees. And the kicker is that by becoming buried in debt, they become even more willing to be treated and paid poorly to keep their job and pay their ever-growing bills. A vicious cycle indeed, created by some very vicious people.
This is a war and we have been losing it. Now, it has reached a new and more dangerous phase. The wealthy now have control in many states and in the House. They are now totally free to spend unlimited billions to fight and win this war and though some Americans are stepping up, the American People by and large are just looking around bewildered as their wealth and power in this democracy are being annexed by the wealthy.
The attacks on our society by the wealthy can’t be stopped by individuals acting alone, the wealthy have too many resources as well as the whole commercial and much of the political infrastructure to use against Americans. We MUST come together to push them back, on the internet through this site and others, through social networking like Facebook and Twitter but ultimately as we witnessed, Egypt only overthrew their domination by taking physical action and getting in the streets. We need to do it all.
Our fellow citizens in WI, OH and elsewhere are fighting this war with limited resources, they need us to join their ranks because they ARE us. This same attack on working Americans is coming to your state soon and if the wealthy get momentum from crushing The American People in WI and OH, they will come to your state with even more confidence, energy and force.
Previous generations had their moments to put aside what divided them and come together to fight for this nation and it’s future. Now is our time to make the decision and make the commitment, to accept our duty to past generations of Americans who fought for the freedoms and the benefits we stand to lose now. It’s time for us to do the same as they did for our future generations, to invest our time and energy in protecting what America is, spending a day joining a protest here and there, reaching out in person or over the internet to others to inform them and encourage them to become involved, communicating with our elected officials about what we expect of them if they want to continue representing us and much more.
Though it was not of our choosing, we are in a war with a force that seeks to destroy the America that has been and that we believe in. This war is real and being fought each and every day. If we choose at this moment in history to step up and confront this threat together as fellow Americans, there is no question that we will prevail and so will all the aspirations and values we all share.
Yesterday morning, I saw a truck belonging to a roofing company with a large magnetic sign on the back that read “We’re Not Hiring Until Obama Is Done.”
My first thought was “Well that just looks like pure spite on the part of that individual.”
But as I continued my drive to work, I thought more about it. Maybe it’s not just that individual. Maybe that sentiment is fairly widespread among the “employer class,” at least around here. It’s like they’re saying to the rest of us, “Don’t you dare support the Democrats. You LIKE having a job, don’t you?”
I think you are spot on.
Wisconsin GOP Bill Allows State to Fire Employees for Strikes, Walk-Outs
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/03/wisconsin-walker-union-republican-senate-budget-bill
Everyone must understand that they are next in line to be scrud by the fascists; the cry of protest in America should ring out “YOU ARE NEXT”.
first they came for the cheeseheads
I can barely see straight at this moment. What has just happened in Wisconsin is a pivotal moment in American history. Watch the fumbling by most news organizations as to how to react to what has happened. There will be many outlets that got the talking points in advance. They will try to carry the meme of the uber-wealthy.
I truly believe it will come out soon is how many of the GOP were threatened with recall elections by groups like “Americans for Prosperity” and “Crossroads” whatever other BS they put in propagandized nomenclature.
Talk about the ultimate over-reach and reach-around. Watch today’s circle jerk very carefully, most news is owned by huge corporations. The sooner we get most Americans to realize this and realize it is the same tried and trued gambit, the sooner our nation will become a government of representatives of ALL of its citizens and not just that of those who have cheated, rigged democracy, stolen, lied, and attempted to fill the bottomless pit in their very soul they attempt to fill with such conscious-less actions.
God bless the intent of the American Dream.Let us now make it a reality and not just hollow words.
Very well said, HypnoToad.
So let’s look at how this is being played out.
Pat Buchanan ( a very smart person in my opinion, but someone willing to lie or carry the water at the drop of a hat) said on “Morning Joe” this morning ‘We ran those ads yesterday that they are working on..”. How much clearer evidence can a thinking American have that this all has come down to how much money a particular voice has and now in control the majority of our currently not come to the conclusion that we now in the United States of America what seems to now equal a “state run media”?
Let the stoning begin for my willful ignoring of forum protocol…
Pat Buchananan just made (I watch news on a DVR so it was not just made in fact) some BS claim about how we should not succumb to mob rule when it comes to this sort of thing, when clearly the polls have shown this is not mob rule but rather the voice of the majority. Many of these people will say whatever bullshit to make themselves wealthier and more of a say than their fellow American citizens. Revolutions have been formed on less. And what needs to happen now is a revolution of rational thinking and not succumbing to more primal reactions.
Hypno…
I don’t believe that stoning is used very often in this realm… typically slow roasting over a bed of coals until tender is the preferred method of chastisement, but only for actual errors in the rules of comity and polite society. Protocol?
::snort!!!!::
Just sent the link for an interesting blog very much on topic. Most have probably seen it, but in case not:
The Birth of the People’s Party
By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog
08 March 11
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/274-41/5200-the-birth-of-the-peoples-party
Thanks, Nana. FIrst time for me. The comments below the article are interesting, to say the least.
USUNCUT held rallies up and down Florida today in support for workers everywhere. This is from Jax.
Awake the State-Jacksonville
This will be posted tomorrow as well:
UPCOMING DAYS OF ACTION
http://www.usuncut.org/
Action map for Saturday March 12th
Chicago
Madison, WI
Minneapolis
http://usuncut.org/blog/upcoming-days-of-action
WHEN: Saturday, March 12, 2011
WHERE: Your local Bank of America branch/other egregious tax dodger near you
WHAT: National Day of Action
DETAILS: Gather all of your friends/coworkers/neighbors/teammates/students at your nearest Bank of America branch or tax dodger of your choice. Draw attention to the fact that your jobs and educational futures are at risk because BofA gets away without paying taxes. Get creative. Alert your local media. Have bail-ins, teach-ins, sing, dance, have fun! (At the time of this post, this is merely a suggested date of national action. If you’ve already planned an action for a different date in your community, feel free to move forward.)
——————————-
WHEN: Saturday, March 26, 2011
WHERE: Local Bank of America branches/local offices of other notorious tax dodgers
WHAT: Global Day of Action
DETAILS: US Uncut, along with UK Uncut, Australia Uncut, Canada Uncut, Mexico Uncut, France Uncut, Netherlands Uncut and Sudan Uncut will all collectively demonstrate as one in cities across the globe. Target Bank of America and other egregious tax dodgers. Creativity and international solidarity are the overarching themes of this protest. Our voices will be impossible for our leaders and our corporations to ignore if they come from every corner of the map.
Plan your actions on our action map, and make sure you include locations for a meetup prior to the protest as well as the chapter organizer’s contact info. Take pictures and shoot video, or it didn’t happen. Tell everyone you can. Call your local papers, radio stations and TV stations. Promote the protests on your chapter’s facebook and twitter pages. Stay tuned to the website for more info. Updates are on the way.
The revolution will be tweeted, liked and shared.
We, the People, Win.
Whoa! Great!!!
If you are on FB or Twitter, please pass along.
Done. Just linked to it on FB.
Thank you! I’m a Tweeter now.
Good luck to you. The font is too small for me, and I find it hard to confine to just 100 something characters.
Only visit FB to add info and links. They ask too many personal things there, and want me to be friends with people I don’t know, so I stay away. 😯
BREAKING.
” Tsunami alert issued in Japan after a 7.2 magnitude quake strikes off coast, Japan Meteorological Agency says.”
I don’t think I felt it, I wasn’t sitting down.
NOW this sounds like a fabulous idea!
March 12. I’ll be there.
This what they mean by getting our country back? Giving dictatorial powers to some one called “Emergency Financial Managers?” Sounds like feudal overlords to me.
Amid shouts from protesters, Michigan Senate sets vote on emergency manager bill
This is fucking amazing ❗
Truly! Who are these ’emergency managers’ replacing- and who gave them their authority?
(and who’s paying those public salaries??)
BTW, for a salary like that, I would move to MI myself and become one..
jkkFL, Not to show my age, but this “blows me away!” An appointed person can dissolve local entities, school boards and call election on taxes? What happed to your vote? You are right, who are these “private sources” paying for these people? I have been shacking my head for an hour now since I first read the article.
(btw, Polk County rules 😉 )
LMAO!! You Do live in a beautiful part of the state 🙂
I like the ‘countrified atmosphere’!
I just live in Mickeyville.
So, what do ya say- We spend a year in MI, come home rich and spend the next year thawing out?? 🙂
jkkFL, I no longer live in FL. I did work many years/times at the Mouse House, never for but at. In fact I built EPCOT and the studios (well, a couple other thousand helped me. 😉 )
Rachel just had this story on her show. This is unbelievable.
Outsourcing of actual governance! They are too cowardly to take responsibility and know they would be recalled if they did what these “managers” will do. They are counting on being able to get away with saying, “I didn’t make those unpopular cuts–HE did!”
This should be stopped via injunction immediately. The senators AND the governor should be impeached immediately for dereliction of duty.
Farmers with Tractors Will March or Roll on Madison this Saturday !!
They got a mention on Rachel Maddow last night.
http://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=205:tractorcade-moves-farmers-into-budget-debate&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=324
Great link, Patsy! The short link for the page is:
http://bit.ly/fAc2VO
Meanwhile, today in OHIO!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUEA9392t3s&feature=player_embedded
And rallies in Indiana!
http://proamlib.blogspot.com/2011/03/big-day-for-hoosiers-workers-rights.html
Thanks for the vid, bito. maybe folks in Ohio aren’t as kow towed as I once thought. This is uplifting news.
KT, and one more video:
Scott Walker: Forget You
Oh Bito that is way too hilarious, you know the original word is not “forget”
Patsy, I didn’t know that!! Now it is even better! 😆
No kidding Patsy, I was about to make the same comment. Would have been WAAAAY more appropriate with the original word!
Bito–thanks for that laugh!
Cher, what happened to today’s daily post?
I saw it earlier, but don’t see it anywhere now.
bito, pretty funny and right on the money too. Disco is the perfect setting for a Walkerite.
Laughed my butt of- then sent it to all my red relatives! 🙂
b’ito, 2:20 a.m. here and home from a hard day’s night, laughing myself silly over this wonderful vid.
“You won’t even take our call unless our name is Koch…”
😆
Ohio is stirring…ample backsides are finally out of the La-Z-Boy and on the move!
I saw part of the Kasich state of the state address before work today. (Almost typed “state of the union,” — Kasich would faint at the word “union” describing any kind of speech.) And he started to make a comment in favor of the union-busting bill. Screams and shouts of outrage came from the gallery. But he had packed the house with his cronies, and when he made a sanctimonious comment about how “some people need to learn how to be tolerant of people with differing views,” his claque stood up, cheered loudly and applauded to drown out the protesters in the gallery. He looked quite smug after that.
It’s good to see this vid of people who were likely locked out of the chamber. Lots of enthusiasm there.
Patsy, what people may not realize is that WI farmers are a real conservative (in the traditional sense) bunch. If you lose the farmers in WI, you can pretty much kiss any conservative support in the state goodbye.
I wonder how these guys are going to be portrayed by the RW radioheads…. thugs? unemployed nobodies? greedy government workers?
Ought to be interesting to see what spin they try to put on THIS.
PW, So true on the conservative thing,
I remember it to be that way with the farmers in Ohio and Illinois!
But now those Farmers are in a “”””Union”””” ARGGGHHH!
They are organizing!
Unionized Farmers Thugs! Beware,
they will put socialism in your wheat, your corn, your hay…
your horses and your dairy cows will become commies!!!
Commie Cows!!!
Help that cow is looking at me!!!
Patsy, soon our breakfast tables will be loaded with boxes of Marx-O’s and Lenin Chex.
And as for the cows….
[img]http://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/images/joinwfu.jpg[/img]
LOL Kes!
Those commie cows are on the moove!
Patsy, I also posted a photo of what the tractorcade will look like Saturday (on DP). It’ll be totally amazing!
The “Walker Bill” is also an attempt to PRIVATIZE ALL PUBLIC UTILITIES so as the Koch’s can BUY them.
HEALTH CARE is ALSO ATTACKED in this bill, as it eliminates the VERY RIGHT TO FORM A UNION for workers at the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics (UWHC) as well as for the recently unionized HOME CARE WORKERS.
Evidently, that $9-per-hour minimum wage that home care workers negotiated (though the state failed to pass the contract) is apparently TOO MUCH MONEY for the State to pay to ensure that individuals are able to live with dignity in their own homes. Walker ELIMINATES the PUBLIC AUTHORITY (the Quality Home Care Authority) that Wisconsin created in 2009 that allowed for the unionization of home care workers.”
Face it.
Walker exposed himself as the LYING CHARLATAN that he really is when he was STUNG by a reporter on the phone last week… in front of the ENTIRE COUNTRY, & he is now being investigated by the NON-PARTISAN, INDEPENDENT Wisconsin Ethics Board.
Blagȏ was ejected for MUCH less.
There will be no need to wait to recall this corrupt miscreant, as his pending IMPEACHMENT will likely be sufficient impetus for him to QUIT (just as his Alaskan doppelganger did).
He’ll be vacating the Governor’s Mansion by LABOR DAY (an apt deadline) at the LATEST.
He’s FINISHED.
Hoisted by his own, ignorant petard.
That said, I must give him props for one thing;
He is the MOST EFFECTIVE union recruiter & organizer of the 21st century.
He sure has done a lot to energize his opponents.
Like they say, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.
Yep. We’ve been talking about it for weeks. Despicable.
How do I say this, Scott Walker, you are a totally sick M**&&%6^ F#@=^% er!!
I love all animals, kitties, doggies, bunnies, horses, any animals.
This really makes me sick.
This is completely immoral, how dare he.
this is in his “budget”
http://thepoliticalcarnival.net/2011/03/06/walkers-budget-okays-disposing-of-unclaimed-pound-dogs-to-university-research-facilities/
[img]http://i56.tinypic.com/2chxqg7.jpg[/img]
Oh…..what a cute baby!
How could anyone NOT see that darling dog and not fall in love?
Calling Dr. Mengele, calling Dr. Mengele!
AdLib: I really enjoyed your post. What do you call class warfare when the other side does not fight back or, as you pointed out, does not even realize an attack is underway?
My only, albeit tiny, objection to your post is a compulsive (ok, and admittedly improper) desire to rework your title somewhat. I want to include the term ‘war crimes’ because I honestly believe the fraud being perpetrated upon the American people by the wealthy in this country is a crime.
As you accurately point out, class warfare is certainly being waged, but it is purely one-sided. And there are times when Democratic Troops appear to be completely absent from the field.
The other reason I’m anxious to include ‘war crimes’ in your title is that the Dems have superior firepower in their arguments and positions, yet the Republican war machine seems always able to frame or recast the context of the debate in a manner favorable to them. This seems to me to be a self-inflicted crime as well. How and why does this keep happening?
There were no death panels — with the possible exception of Governor Brewer’s. There was no government “takeover” of healthcare… and I am still suffering from traumatic stress disorder over the fact that the nation is still questioning and talking about Obama’s citizenship. MEDIC!!! INCOMING!!!!
And our Democratic Commander in Chief seems to have folded the passionate colors he flew so boldly during the campaign. He absorbs attack after attack from the right in a most gentlemanly-like manner… which is fine…, but I’m looking for a mad-as-hell Commanding General — someone willing to stand up and say something along the lines of the following:
“My fellow Americans, we are at a crossroads in our nation’s history. We are spending one-third more than we are taking in in the way of taxes and this cannot continue.
There are those who say America’s best days are behind it, that we are taxed too heavily, and that the only way out our current financial situation is to cut spending on everything but Defense.
But my fellow Americans, I see another way. We can ask corporations who currently pay little or nothing in taxes to contribute a fair share. We can look at the $665 billion dollars we spend annually on Defense and ask ourselves. Do we really need to spend 32 times more than Canada? Do we want to gut Social Security for future recipients so that we can continue to give tax cuts to those in our society who do not need them?
America is currently engaged in two wars and while I do not discount that we have enemies or propose that America disarm, I am suggesting that more Americans are threatened by unaffordable healthcare than by Al Qaida. Social Security is, in many cases, all that stands between millions of Americans and poverty. At the present rate of taxation, Social Security must also be considered at risk.
I am also saying that if America must go to war to protect its interests, that we should pay for these wars as we go and not add them to the debt burden of our children.
My fellow Americans, taxes in the United States are at their lowest level in sixty years. Americans pay ten to twenty percent less in taxes than other industrialized nations. By maintaining these unrealistically low tax rates, we are failing to invest in America and along this path lies our certain demise.
I say to you that our taxes are too low. We need to go back to rates that allow us pay down the deficit and invest in America once more. But there is something else that is too low in America — it is the rate at which our corporations employ Americans. For too long, American corporations have invested in their overseas manufacturing plants at the expense of creating jobs in this country. Every day as your Commander in Chief, I ask Americans to risk their lives and be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Well, America I ask you this. Is it too much to ask that our corporations put America and Americans before the goal of maximizing profits?
And I also say to you that the median family income in this country has remained stagnant for too long. We can do better. We should do better and we should begin this process today!
These are facts, my fellow Americans. And here is the question. What kind of America do we want to build? Do we want an America where all Americans have a realistic chance of achieving the American dream? Or do we want an America for the rich… and by the rich?
It is the choice before us. I believe we can afford Social Security. I believe we can afford to pay our teachers a fair and living wage. I believe that all Americans should have the right to collectively bargain. And I believe it is time that American corporate interests stop funding a war on the American people in the form of low wages and the manipulation of the American political system for the benefit of a privileged few.
I leave you with this final thought. An America without its middle class is not an America that you or I will want to live in. We can correct the path we are on and build an America that works for all Americans – not just the wealthy elite in this country. To take this path requires only honest debate and decisions made in the interests of the American people — ALL of the American people. Thank you… and good night.”
SB2 – while it might feel good to have a mad-as-hell CiC, I knew, going in, that was not who Obama was. I’ve been awed by the achievements he’s made up to and including the amazing feat of appearing to give away the Bush tax cuts for the rich while GAINING almost everything he would otherwise not have secured. Only 14% of the package benefitted the rich – the rest, all 86% helped working people, families, and small businesses. And the GOP bought it.
I see Obama as the embodiment of “walk softly, carry a big stick” rather than fire and brimstone. He has gotten huge amounts done with his understated manner.
What does concern me is the degree to which the Senate will stand up to the House in its infinite awfulness. I just don’t read it yet. I hope they let loose the dogs of war on the GOP noting that they are not doing one damned thing about JOBS but are giving away all the programs that benefit people already hanging by their fingernails. I HOPE but don’t KNOW that there’s something in the works with the Senate stating in conference committee what Obama did in the lame duck – “C’mon guys (I suppose the GOP will have some gals there such as Michelle) what do you REALLY want here? Here’s what we will give you (name the few bones) and you’ll give us – everything else.”
Since that’s how things have gone in the lame duck, I’m hoping for an instant replay.
I do not need Obama to pound the table. I need him to get results and to do it however it works. I will leave it to him. I do believe that if you give the GOP enough rope – six inches will suffice – they will garrote each other with it. That’s all I ask. They are already doing SUCH a good job in Wisconsin!
Lady, you make a number of great points. Humbly submitted, however, while you personally may not need a CiC to pound the table, some do.
The Pugs ran the table in the last election due in part (IMHO) to the Dems not controlling the message. Demoralized Dems stayed home in droves. I think a lack of passion from Dem leadership is a large part of the reason.
President Obama is a good manager. And as you say, he did a great job keeping us out of second recession and helping the country begin the climb out of the hole that GWB and no-pulse Cheney dug for us. But leadership is also required. Leadership is the art of getting people to give or do more than they themselves think they are capable of. It requires passion, adrenalin, inspiration. Green eyeshade-type management isn’t going to get the base to turn out.
I’ll vote in November. You’ll vote in November… but how many won’t vote because the passion that Obama displayed on the campaign trail is no longer evident?
Obama’s cerebral nature appeals to me. Kinda nice to have brains in the White House, but the collective Democratic clock is being ‘cleaned’ by street-fighter politicians on the other side. Dems really need to see some points on the scoreboard now, or the campaign messages of hope-and-change-part-two will likely be tuned out.
Thanks for responding. ‘Tis how I learn.
Bob, while I agree in the practical sense with C’Lady, I believe you are (unfortunately) spot on. Obama DOES have it in him. We’ve seen it. He needs to unleash it and I bet he will nearer the election. But it may be too late for many among the base.
You are a loyalist, it is admirable. I’ve seen 50 years of legislation that revolves like Goldam Sachs front door. On paper my situation should look improved, but the net result is a negative. My highest income was achieved in 1985-86 despite doubling my education. Walk softly and compromise, finish by validating the countries second worst journalist before a superbowl.
You posted about your work with FDA(?) chicken regs and the complex legal minutia. How do you stay so positive? I wish DC, the DNC and democrats would make their stand now, but we only take steps foreword to mitigate the quick time in reverse. If IN, OH and WI among others hadn’t been such underdogs they too would have caved to demands and this would be not even been a blip. The took the nothing to loose stance and gained the world, that is winning strategy in a recession. I can wait, no real change subtle shifts, 30% cc interest but full 3 week notice for monthly billing, lots of new $7hr jobs, austerity to battle debt. War is waged but not because we like it…meh it’s a mess, NSA and Homeland is out of control but polls say people are still scared. 4 years and dems let the tide slide but 2012 may get hot from bagger fallout? I don’t carry an end is nigh sign, more like will work for food.
I was half asleep when I saw this on RT TV America yesterday morning. Some American grain option traders were being interviewed and the sociopaths were callously discussing water being traded on the markets in the future because they foresaw money to be made. They admitted some folks would go without water as pipelines divert it to other areas. I have to look into RT TV further. As I said, I was half asleep but what I heard and digested disgusted me and sent chills down my spine. Pardon my French, but the matter of fact tone these assholes spoke in made my blood boil. PW has been calling these mofo’s sociopaths for as long as I’ve known him via these sites. PW was and is spot on in that assessment, they are that and cuss words I will not post here. I’s a lady I is!:)
I’ve been trying to find an old comment of mine here and ran into this, and can’t help but comment.
Sociopath: Unconcerned about the adverse consequences for others of one’s actions.
I have long said and deeply believe that most C-level executives of large corporations have to be sociopaths. It is a requirement for the position. Why, you may ask.
Well, let’s think about it for a moment…
You are a middle level manager or executive with ambition. You know that your corporation (or, for that matter, most corporations) are not meritocracies. The way to get ahead is to lie, cheat, steal, stab your friends in the back, and climb over your mother if you have to, not only to get to the next level, but to “prove” yourself to upper management. Corporations do not ‘select,’ in a Darwinian way, for anyone with a conscience.
So, if you are the ‘best of the best’, have some connections, have proven yourself over and over again to be ruthless, and have some luck, you, too, can run an international conglomerate! You will have to make daily decisions about who literally lives and dies. You will listen to and decide on issues that have a cost (human lives) and a benefit (profits) and make decisions based on that. And you will go home in a limousine and sleep like a baby. Why? Because that’s what sociopaths do.
I do not believe for one second, ANY C-level executive when he speaks or writes about his feeling for “his” employees or how the business benefits people. It’s all crap for public (that’s YOU Binkey!) consumption.
This is not a rant about my distaste for large corporations, but I have met some of these so-called people, and have spent 10 years in NYC dealing with these creatures, and have thought long and hard about why they are the way they are so as to better screw them over at every opportunity in negotiations. Nothing beats first-hand experience.
Years ago I would have totally agreed with you about C-level executives being sociopathic, but I married a man who is “Unconcerned about the adverse consequences for others of one’s actions.”, only because he is oblivious to that kind of emotion. While he was a million $ a year success in business (now retired and broke), he failed to keep long term employees due to this inability to recognise how his actions and words affected other people. He is only unconcerned because he is unaware. He has something called Aspergers Syndrome. Underneath that seemingly uncaring surface, he has a heart of gold, and an honest sincerity in what he believes, much of which is diametrically opposed to what I believe. But when arguments are put to him rationally, with charts and graphs and photos, he can and does have the occasional change to his views. Most recently being his change of heart over the issue of mandatory detention for boat people, and is now counted among those who oppose the practice.
My point is, these kinds of people are not ‘dishonest’ in the sense of being blatant thieves, and they are not necessarily uncaring. Most sincerely believe they are right in the way they conduct business, being actually unaware of the effect of their practices.
This does NOT excuse their actions or behaviour, and I am NOT making a case for all exec’s being Aspie, but it might explain some of it. And it could form a basis for how to get through to some of them.
Fox- No bigger scam coming than cap and trade. Big oil and coal might be fighting it, but Wall Street can barely keep from drooling on itself as it prepares to feast.
I agree with you there, and I do believe that the ‘fight’ that oil/gas/coal are putting up is a sham. They are also very much looking forward to the money making side of cap & trade.
This issue, currently being touted as a ‘price on carbon’, aka a tax, is about to bring Julia and her government down, thanks to the spin being put on this by the opposition (with the help of a Rupert majority owned media), while they devise their own scheme to do the exact same thing. A thorn by any other name still hurts like hell.
The state & federal governments have been selling off state owned assets as fast as they can, and then screaming how this ‘carbon tax’ is going to cause us all to pay double for our power and petrol. No chit? Of course it will cost more, because the government won’t be running the power companies, Kellog Brown and Root (aka Halliburton Downunder) subsidiaries will! Prices will go up, quality of delivery won’t, and the profits will go through the roof.
Australia has been blessed by a huge growth in the Middle Class over the past 2-3 generations, but that has come pretty much to a screeching halt, although the majority are not aware of it… yet. We now have the most expensive housing in the world. The average 3br 1b 40 year old house in the city is selling for $2-5 MILLION! Where I live, a house like my Mum’s in New Mexico would go for $750,000 easy, while in Roswell the executor can’t unload it for $36,000. Rentals in cities start at $300 per week for a 1 br in a dingy neighbourhood!
The banks and mortgage companies get their claws into 90% of newly wed couples, because “it’s just un-Australian not to own your own house and block of land”. These people are all working, some 2-3 jobs, to maintain a middle class standard of living, while pumping out babies (one for dad, one for mum, and one for the Commonwealth) to help populate a vast country. All to the detriment of their children and the stability of their families.
The bubble is about to burst. Many of the entitlements that are guaranteed to each and every citizen and permanent resident of this country are going to suffer due to the cost of multiple natural disasters. Insurance companies are refusing to pay many, if not most claims, insisting that a ‘flood’ and a ‘river rise’ are not the same thing at all. Tens of thousands of home-owners, small business owners and farmers will never see a single cent from either insurance or the government. Yet they still shoulder the debt they have on those homes and businesses and farms. The state of Queensland government has no insurance at all!
The war on the middle class has begun here. Raise taxes, cut entitlements, cut public sector wages (we threw the last government out over WI type ‘right to work’ laws) a little more this election cycle, a little more next election cycle, state by state until the fortunes of the middle class plunge under the weight of a burden that is not shared by the resources companies (BHP, BP, ALCOA, Rio Tinto, Koch industries, etc)that chew up the land and spit the wealth into big steel ships and sail it away, to the sound of cash landing in their overflowing ‘Scrooge MacDuck’ vaults.
Australia has been Americanised in very many ways, most of them good. But this latest falls in a similar category to baggy jeans worn below the unders. It’s ugly.
That’s old news here in CA where private water companies already control significant distribution and want their hands on all the rest. Yes indeed, you are right – the coming water wars will make oil look cheap and the politics child’s play.
Science channel covered it in detail last week.
The MSM, try as they might can’t stop the Michael Moore speech in Madison yesterday from making news. They choose not to cover it, par for the corporate owned MSM course. Kudos to Sec. of State Clinton for spanking American media royally and causing hissy fits in their shareholders boardrooms.
As many know, I was saying and posting Class Warfare and Citizens Unrest on HP months ago. I was called the typical foxbot names, commie, socialist, Che, etc by many. I’m no Kreskin, and I wasn’t alone. No one could have predicted WI on 11/2/2010. Scott Walker has been such a gift on so many levels. I don’t see WI or the nation going away no matter what the outcome is in WI. When you have over 500,000 folks collectively statewide in WI protesting in the cold going on three weeks, that’s a movement. Spring is around the corner. There were several hundred folks protesting foreclosure fraud outside of the home of BofA’s CEO today in D.C. The Summer of 2011 could be a long hot Summer with folks taking it to the streets in record numbers nationwide over numerous issues that effect all of us. I plan to be one of them.
I don’t think that the MSM wants to promote the idea of “destroying capitalism”.
They are doing a good job of that themselves. Week three in WI, and the mood nationwide getting angrier by the day, IMO. Adonai, I do see a long hot Summer ahead, Blackwater won’t be able to stop it.
Tfl- I often get too excited when listening to Moore speak and forget he is so easily ignored by msm. I daydream about a public round table hosted by him with Chavez and Obama.
Foxy– just caught your comment. I love you!
[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/21eq9ty.jpg[/img]
Great chart, Patsy! Can you please link to it? Thanks!
Opps I am waiting on the link…
Good stuff,putting it on my wall, eeeeeeeeeeeee.
I am not sure if this is a repost and I am checking into the source.
The Missing Link …..
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/tax_breaks_infographic.html
Kudos to Patsy!
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/tax_breaks_infographic.html
[img]http://i51.tinypic.com/21eq9ty.jpg[/img]
I just read on DailyKOS that the last Dem and GOP budget proposals end up at the same spending around $1.6 trillion. The big difference is the GOP budget contains no increases in revenue and mainly targets programs they don’t agree with ideologically.
The real fiscal impact of course is negligible because it only addresses a small portion of the budge. Until revenue is increased both sides are just playing games.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/03/07/953503/-Durbin-draws-line,-McConnell-rejects-Democratic-proposal-to-cut-$10-billion
That is the message to keep pounding in their thick skulls, they are so evil. I wrote some pundits asking them to stop submitting to the cuts assertions of the gop, we need to raise taxes not cut them.
ghsts– your emails have been working. There has been strong push-back from MANY pundits on those false assertions. I have posted about a dozen stories on consecutive Daily Planets about the lies from the Right–AND the Media–on the budget cuts. They were written by pundits on many news and big-blog outlets. Good Job!
This graph is fantastic, thanks Patsy!
Patsy – I would take this further…
What are the downstream costs that could be avoided if:
Early Childhood programs
WIC
Teacher training
After school programs
Job training
Community health centers
Title X family planning
are NOT enacted or funded?
It’s easy to say no to things in the present, ignoring the consequences of inaction in the future since it’s so easy for politicians to disconnect themselves from those very same consequences.
I call it the “Who ME????” form of governing. See it all the time, and it’s disgusting. And expensive.
2nd song, Dumbing Down:
http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Finn
An uneducated populous is much easier to control.
ABsolutely brilliant – these are powerful tools for US Uncut!
This is the giveaway that Bush gave away, and just on the cusp of altering our policies, stupid voters either did not vote or sent us Teabaggers who LIKE giving money to giant corporations.
We have to keep this front and center. We have to demand at state and federal levels that whatever is given to corporations MUST have promises fulfilled or we exercise ‘clawbacks’. If we’re going to audit low income people on the off chance they got $1300 in EITC unjustly, why would we NOT do the same for corporations that got $13 MILLION without a thing to show for it.
My new slogan when they whine we have to do this to “create jobs”?
PROVE IT.
Prove something is a “job killer”. Prove the money we gave generated the results that were promised. Prove that it’s being spent wisely and in the interest of the people. Prove that pensions are a drain on general fund revenues. Prove that civil service employees are “overpaid”. Prove that you have to keep the fund managers who screwed up because no one else can unravel the mare’s nest they made.
PROVE it, giant corporations, that you deserve this money. Instead of talking about the ‘deserving poor’ let’s talk about the ‘deserving RICH’ – much harder to find.
choice – This is a rant I have saved and used for a very long time, and it goes along with your “prove it!” challenge…
There are 3 pillars of conservatism these days, and only 3. They are:
1. Tax cuts help ‘the economy.’
2. Deregulation helps ‘the economy.’
3. Privatization is cheaper and more efficient, therefore it helps ‘the economy.’
Let’s debunk each in turn.
1. There is absolutely NO historical evidence that tax cuts grow the economy. CBO reports going back 50 years show that as soon as the Reagan tax cuts became effective, the GDP flatlined around 2.5% and hasn’t changed much since. Alan Greenspan has admitted in sworn testimony to Congressional committees that tax cuts for the rich return a -20% to the economy. (20 cents on every dollar of tax cuts literally disappear and they don’t know what happened to them)
2. Savings & Loans in the 90’s and now banks and insurance companies …. need I say more?
3. I challenge ANYONE to name any effort, program, or initiative of local, state, or federal government that was privatized that became cheaper or more efficient or both. Citations please.
I’ve asked that question for 20 years and have only ever been given one or two examples.
You are absolutely correct. On ALL points! When the Public Policy Institute of CA did an in-depth assessment of “jobs leaving California due to high taxes” they found it was a small fraction of ONE PERCENT!!!
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. But even the corporate statistics are made up!
We have tapped into fundamental truths in WI, OH and the rest of the nation – people are now seeing the reality behind the screed. We have to keep that momentum going, and Obama made very clear that is OUR job. Tell the truth, work like hell. We can do this.
Great matchups. This is very to-the-point.
I am less optimistic. What is going to end class warfare is the death from old age of southern white baby boomers, who long for the good ole days.
History teaches us that the rich can sucker the poor in just about anything. White slave owners convinced poor southerns to fight a civil war, in which these same poor whites would have benefited from paid labor. By convincing them that they were at least better than slaves, these people fought against their own economic interest.
Huckabee knows what he is saying. By reassuring them that something must be “wrong” with our president being black and intelligent, speaks to their core assumptions, that they are indeed better than those “liberal” who embrace diversity. Our president represents an assault against themselves, or more importantly, the superiority in which they believe.
Hi Bizz! From you comment, it appears that you think most of the country has Southern attitudes and that they are like Baggers. I think that’s awfully skewed. Have you read the latest polls about Wisconsin? 65% support the unions against Walker. Have you read the polls about rejecting DOMA and DADT? Both of those show major shift.
Beck’s viewership is down by 1/3 this year. I could go on and on. I think you need to look around a bit more. I know that if we only read the news from HP, and even the sites I visit–all Progressive– all we hear is how disgusting the Repubs are, and they ARE! But I think we can’t see the forest for the trees. There is more actual good news than you might be aware of.
However, look to see what states Obama did not win, mostly in the south, and center of our country. Mississippi has the most concentration of African Americans, yet, it is still in the red column. Out of 77 counties in Oklahoma, he failed to win one. Until a certain segment of our population want to take us back to the good ole days, when blacks, and women, knew their place, the rich will be able to manipulate them.
Reports from OK is that they are all having buyers’ remorse. That’s good news.
True identity politics always trumps economic interests which I believe you are describing.
I have to admit I’m pessimistic too. There simply is no consensus that things are the way Adlib describes beyond the progressive blogsphere. That would require a well educated and involved electorate. Even within the progressive movement their is no consensus on how to act and what the resulting system should look like.
If it comes down to any kind of war that fundamentally changes the system I’m afraid it’s much more probable we would end up with something more akin to absolute fascism instead of a progressive Utopia.
Remember folks if it comes down to real war the other side has all the guns. The White Army would win in America not the Red Army.
KQ your post made me realize how living where one does effects out views. You live in Red State hell; I live in Blue State…well, not Paradise, but better!
I don’t know where Bizz lives, but probably not California. As do AdLib and ChoiceLady. That may have someting to do with optimism/pessimism. Maybe we (from the Red state and the Blue state) are both equally wearing blinders.
EDIT! PatsyT and SueInCA live here too! So sorry, fellow Californians. 😳
Absolutely Cher we are all influenced by our environment.
I also read what both sides say just to see what the “enemy” is thinking. I don’t read as much because it’s hard to stomach but I think it’s still valuable to get perspective. Because you can be stuck in a virtual bubble as well if you just read articles posted in the “progressive” blogsphere.
Absolutely, KQ. But it’s not just the bubbles from the Left or from the Right. What has been so helpful to me is that in the process of writing the DP every day, I find myself reading actual plain reporting. There really is a vast middle. There really are people who are not bombarded by my type of partisanship. And the news is not that bleak. (Not that great either!)
Some of the BEST WORK is being done in Ohio which is red. Some of the BEST WORK is being done in New Jersey – red. Good stuff is being raised everywhere. What CA has is a better political climate – but that also makes us less energetic about finding non-governmental solutions (or did before this year’s budget. We may not be so able to be indifferent after the 10th when we see if the GOP works with us to put tax measures on the ballot.) Anyway – it’s NOT about red and blue STATES per se; it’s about communities because that’s where it begins.
I know those for whom religion makes your flesh crawl, this suggestion might creep you out – but start with some progressive churches in your area: United Church of Christ, Unitarian Universalist, etc. – you’ll have to check them out because with the exception of those two, it’s hard to say who’s doing what. Some Black churches – AME especially – have amazing projects going on. Beware of Pentecostal and Evangelical churches though (save Evangelical Lutherans – that was George Tiller’s church) because they focus on personal salvation ONLY, and “good works” don’t enter in much. And they will want to ‘harvest’ you – eeeuuuwww.
Find out which churches are “open and affirming” or “welcoming” because that means they are LGBT friendly, and if you’re there, you’re no enemy to social justice. Then work on something simple – community gardens, human rights, justice for the homeless etc. Don’t discount activist Catholics either – this is not about sex. It’s about justice for those in need, and that point many Catholic churches are amazingly good. Building circles where people are united on justice issues means higher probability of wading in on justice for ALL people and questioning of the existing power. Look for Community of Christ churches – their central focuses are PEACE and immigration rights.
Will you find a lot of churches so dedicated? Depends on where you are. United Methodists are boffo nationally on every issue – the SOUTHERN Methodists are NOT. I could not work without my UMC folks – but that’s here, not there.
No easy answers. Just a lot of work. But if you don’t ask, you will never find out. BEgin with web sites – many reveal a lot about what a local church does and what it believes. They are and can be amazing in their progressive social values. And they have willing hands and often amazingly open minds.
Good luck.
With you and Cher on the environment thing. Folks in WI, OH, here in CA and other states that are purple or blue are seeing momentum grow against the RW, Kochs and Repubs.
In red states, I don’t think much would be appearing to change with Repubs digging in their heels.
I can say that the same coalition that created the Uncloak the Kochs rally is continuing to grow and collaborate on upcoming actions.
So, even though it may not be as visible in the red states (with no help from the MSM trying to keep it out of the news), things are changing and brewing.
Remember that US Uncut started in MISSISSIPPI! What we will see is pockets around the country, red, blue, purple states, where people are just plain fed up. During every era, especially the Progressive, we had massive movements around the nation. MN’s Farmer-LAbor party is the holdover of that fusion (and about to become visible again in WI!) The Tenant Farmers’ strike UNITED white and Black sharecroppers in the 1920s. (Part of why the KKK arose again, so we need to be mindful of that.) Matewan was the mining strike that did the same in W. Virginia. During the Depression unified action among people with nothing more to lose became commonplace. Post-war unionization integrated and fused Black and white workers.
We lose our sense of society when we let capital distract us with Bright Shiny Objects (cf. our discussion about HGTV and its play to snobbery). It became easier to segment us after WWII when we stopped living in communities and began living in suburbs. We still do, but our defenses are down – our FENCES are down as neighbors band together in blocks to make gardens out of backyards and open urban spaces.
We are building back the sense of community. Will it happen quickly? Nope, and there will be strong pushback of course, always has been. But we have some strong foundations laid especially within lower income, more diverse, urban neighborhoods, and some suburban places are following suit.
Desperation makes for renewed bonds of mutual interaction. When you don’t have a choice, you begin making NEW choices. That’s what we’re seeing. It’s up to us to keep it moving.
That may be a piece of it but by far not the biggest problem…The copofacists now running the show did not and do not care if the president was any color at all as long as they can control him and the system.. The systemic corruption of government by the corporatist is so deep now i wonder how it will be possible to crow bar them out of it..We are basically being run by A Mafia in the form of people like the kotch’s Murdocks Rothmorgans etc etc etc…the government has been turned into the henchmen for these rich old money families that have been at the manipulation of this country for years and years now…its only NOW starting to become apparent to some and still off the radar for most..they have the power they have the guns..But we have the numbers..And they live off us…if we stop letting them they will wither…
Undo the massive systematic deep seated brain washing of the American culture and we may have a chance..Otherwise welcome to your corporate serfdome…
But it gets worse, because the president is African American, it is easier to rally the base against a black man.
The “greatest” generation, who were depression era babies, were able to keep these people in check, however, that ended with the civil rights movement, which turned the once populace south, into republicans.
Not all of us Southern whites have to die, you know.
I was born and raised in the rural South, solidly working-class, but I’ve managed to become a liberal who embraces diversity. I am not one of those people who gaze into Thomas Kinkade paintings, longing for the “good ol’ days.”
It IS possible to grow and change, and I’m living proof. Ignorance is not an untreatable condition. The medicine is experience and education.
Oh God – I’m soooo glad. Kincaide has sold out to the Dominionist Christians who just loooove his work because it is freaking ‘heavenly’ and white.
Of course people in the South grow and change. US Uncut started in Mississippi. “Alabama Arise”, a movement to make their tax system more progressive, had widespread support (and the Christian Coalition in OPPOSITION 0 can’t win ’em all) and things ARE changing as more Yankees move there.
I don’t think the big enemy today is the pure race baiter but it is a combo – the racism of yore coupled with Christian Dominionism that justifies slavery even as it pitches to Black audiences.
That said – I see a lot of rumblings nationwide against the ultra right, and I am not confident but AM hopeful that we will keep the momentum rolling right into 2012. But it’s on us to do that! If we don’t work, the trolls win. We cannot let that happen.
It’s not all Southern, it’s amazing at the ignorance and the racism in the Midwest. It’s partly because the job market is so bad – I think someone has to be the bad guy and the Tea Party has touched a note with a lot of people who will vote against their best interests.