I’ve been thinking about the decline of civilizations and how they relate to the situation we find ourselves here in the United States.
It seems that no matter what kind of political arrangement a country has, it ends up being a fight of the haves vs. the have-nots. Eventually, in all societies, the rich are able to curry favor and buy influence to such a degree that it becomes impossible for the underclass to survive. The demise of the Soviets, the demise of the Czars before that, the French Revolution, Communist take over in China-well, you know, history is full of examples. The interesting thing about communism and its fall in the Soviet Union is that it started out as a revolution against the rich and turned into just what they were fighting against within a century. Somehow, no matter what form of government you have, it turns into a system whereby people manage to corrupt the system in such a way that it benefits a select few who are in power.
I think we are witnessing something big happening here in the United States, and only time will tell whether we will able to survive it as a Nation intact. This financial crisis in particular represents a theft and transfer of resources so large that we are just beginning to see its ramifications. I think it started when we allowed our big corporations to abandon the United States working class in favor of cheap labor overseas. The outsourcing of our industry, along with technological advances that enabled even telemarketing to be sent to countries that paid workers pennies to our workers dollars, was akin to treason economically. That is, if you ask me.
Everyone thinks that patriotism is something vague, like a feeling, like a love that we have for a spouse, but it’s much more than that. Sarah Palin's patriotism is pretty transparent. I wonder how she would wear her patriosm on her sleeve when she was not getting such good paychecks for it.
I think that if you’re patriotic you should be willing to sacrifice. I think that if you’re patriotic, and you are the CEO of a large corporation, you should be willing to work to keep your jobs here in America. I think that the Titans of Industry who claim that they have to outsource jobs in order to compete are not working hard enough, that they are taking the easy way out. I think that when GE, Exxon Mobil and other Companies pay no taxes even when they post record profits, it is a profound rape of America.
In a few short years where I live, I’ve seen Mom and Pop businesses fail at a rate that alarms me. Staples has removed all the small business supply stores from my area. Small hardware stores have disappeared because of places like Lowe’s and Home Depot. Bookstores have gone extinct except for the big chains. The internet doesn’t help, but it has given us some kind of alternative. We see the landscape of America changing at an alarming rate.
And it seems like the middle class is losing out dramatically. Even diaries here on kos have become angry and resentful, with good reason. It seems like we truly are losing our way of life, and nobody can do anything about it. Even our current President seems to have been corrupted by it in record time.
Is there a way out of it? I put the question to the economists in the crowd. They will say we have to elect leaders who lead, but it all seems pretty futile to me. We seem to be on a slippery slope where our Politicians and Wall Street and everyone is grabbing everything they can before it all falls apart. They’re taking billions and billions in bonuses because they know it can’t last. The bankers are continuing their greedy practices if full view because they know if they don’t act now it may be too late in a couple of years.
The Republicans tax cut for billionaires, and their brazen hostage taking of the middle class is so corrupt, so greedy that it almost can’t be believed. And to me, it is starting to look like a conspiracy, like a collusion of all the fat cats. They’re all clawing at one another to get at the remains of the carcass, the carcass that was the United States. Let’s hope we don’t have to go through a Revolution to get our Nation Back.