Reading the forums on Occupy Wall Street sometimes gives me pause. It's filled to the brim with rabidly anti-government Libertarians who think that Americans are mindless consumers who buy baskets of useless garbage on credit while watching TV which brainwashes them. Social Security, Medicare, hell, any government program is a conspiracy to weaken us unsuspecting primates and they are the heroes out of some B Movie come down from on high to bring their gold standard to teach the savages that government is ALWAYS evil and that the bankers wouldn't act the way they do if the Fed would just be abolished.
Wow.
I have friends who are Paulbots. They're intense. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy's stance on foreign policy (mostly). If you say anything remotely negative about him they will rip open your throat and dance on your entrails. I see a lot of that on the OWS forums. Telling people to buy less for Christmas and to not use a credit card is good advice, but guess what, people don't use their credit cards for that. I mean, sure there are the Paris Hilton wannabes who come home to mom and dad with a $25k bill, no doubt. But guess what? They're not as many of them as you think. We have a shitty welfare state that goes to banks and millionaires, and no solution to health care. A lot of people pay with credit cards for FOOD, GAS, RENT, and HEALTH CARE, not the latest in merchandised garbage from China. Higher wages and more emphasis on maintaining jobs instead of shipping them overseas or digitizing them would be nice. To the libertarian mind, America is a herd that is ignorant of the infinite possibilities that exist. Any situation has a logical, possible response, no matter if your house was simultaneously hit by a meteor and a herd of wild jackals during an alien invasion in a snowstorm. You should have a million in the bank to cover anything, and the government is always at fault, otherwise, corporations wouldn't do what they do (although sometimes it sounds like they're defending actions by corporations/banks that had no government impetus). Don't have a million? You're useless, it's so easy! (actual quote)
Then there's the idea that if government so much as looks at you the wrong way, it's wrong. There was a discussion on S.S. The guy was trying to explain that the employer pays for it. I mean, I thought that it was deducted from your paycheck? You work, make a hundred bucks, your employer gives you like ninety (or whatever) and sends the other 10 to the federal government. The guy emphasized the idea that the business was FORCED (like I give a damn about that, I think it's fine to force businesses to do certain things in certain situations, get over it) to give the money to the fed. Well, guess what, great! As long as S.S. is funded and millions of seniors have some money to fall back on in their retirement, all the better. Ah yes, I'm sure that everyone can plan 30, 40, 50 years into the future, forecasting every twist and turn of fate. I personally am saving for my retirement, but in case something awful happens between now and then, S.S. will at least be there. My only beef is that I don't like people raiding the fund, not the fact that the fund exists!
They're fun, fine people until you hit that button and then they spew. They accuse you of MSM indoctrination and tell you to stop spewing propaganda about the "poor class" (something they really don't give a shit about but won't fully admit it) while at the same time spewing propaganda about their own candidate! I know it's bread and circus already! I can still find Bachmann appalling! I like Paul on his drug laws and on his ideas for ending our militarism. They're great, hats off to him. Maybe he's coming around to using taxation to recover money from economic activity that does not create wealth. I can only hold my breath. But I'm sorry to say, effective, efficient government DOES work in terms of assuring there is a floor for people. I want Glass Steagal, I want rules instituted on the financial sector, I want a higher minimum wage. I'm also willing to take another look at the tax code, and change the corporate tax rate if we can rethink all of these entitlements we give to companies. I like unions, sue me. When I mention any of this to them I am some programmed sop, marching to the beat of the corporate fascist state, unwilling to be de-linked from the matrix.
It. annoys. the. crap. out. of. me!