hammock of wealth
..or perhaps GOP pseudo-
adult-men and/or women would be more clear. This observation of mine is about
maturity not masculinity.
Normally and to be fair I would include women in the title of this rant about the alarming decrease in normal adult development so manifest in the GOP, as Marsha Blackburn, Michele Bachmann or an even tighter fit, Virginia Foxx are, all three, prime examples of never-made-it-past-high-school-level-theatrics. But a woman as republican presidential nominee? republican men had to be shamed
(or more probably, advised it could hurt them) into appointing one woman as a
token on their committee to discuss women's issues, hence the focus on pseudo adult-men.
Either way, the old adage: 'With age comes Wisdom' is just not there. What we get are tantrums, lying, inane conspiracy theories, some even dangerous (Cliven Bundy militant crowd et al | aka F0X & friends) with flat out denials of environmental science, any science; social, evolutionary or otherwise in service of a "Starve the Beast" economic platform.
Paul Krugman has named it:
The answer is that like that ice sheet, his partys [republican] intellectual evolution (or maybe more accurately, its devolution) has reached a point of no return, in which allegiance to false doctrines has become a crucial badge of identity.
Whining, reactionary kneejerk responses instead of reasoned answers. A bunch of immature loser crybabies whose positions as lawmakers are bought and paid for by the 1%ers to do whatever and only what the 1%ers desire. Nothing that will help the middle class worker, protect our environment or secure a future of shared prosperity for all.
This is where Paul Ryan comes in. The pampered boy "genius" the GOP has leaned on (worships) as their economic policy guru, voted to be second in command (Vice President), lost that bid yet once again is now seriously considered Presidential timber, and just the man to set the "conservative" fiscal agenda for the country. Un-f'cking believable.
Except it's not. Not any more. This is the republican party today
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So, in servile deference to their "betters" - the 1%ers - comes this latest republican attempt to curry favor.
Paul Ryan's 'Blame the Poor' summer poverty tour:
A retro narrative blaming joblessness on those hurt by the 2007-2008 financial, tax payer bailed out crash that irresponsible republican Wall Street/high finance gambling and subsequent partisan/politically motivated austerity has wrought. And this latest spun up crap is also another ploy to excuse giving even more money to the already $bloated while ignoring proven solutions that would strengthen the economic fortunes of the vast majority of real people and their families
“It is not bread the poor need, it is Soul; It is not soup, it is Spirit.” – Source: Walter I. Trattner from “Poor Law to Welfare State” | 1974 | about the same time the Powell memo came out: Part of a corporate blueprint to dominate democracy that was taking off in the 1970's.
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Coming out of the last great depression when wealth disparity was at an all time high, there was massive unemployment, and it stayed bad like that for far too long.
With so many people left hungry and homeless a whole range of ideas and "philosophies" about the poor began to take hold in the "conservative" world on how to deal with poverty. Conservatives spun up a narrative 140 years ago, that today's GOP are now trying their damnedest to convince us of as truth; pushing the same austerity bullshit agenda as the solution for today's jobless numbers.
It's the same destructive idea - nothing new
Blame those out of work for "not having a soul" or "lacking in spirit". That helping to feed the poor is actually hurting them. That extending unemployment insurance (that every worker has paid into) is some how harming the workers.
Unemployment that these GOP pseudo adult-man shills have spent the better part of 6 years now slashing funding with a political purpose; rejecting numerous jobs Bills; working to tank the economy rather than admit their trickle down, voo-doo, fairy-dust hogwash doesn't work. Never has worked, and never will work except for the already filthy rich.
Everyone knows "conservative" movement economic policies do not work despite what the Pete Petersons of the world say.
The titans of industry know it doesn't work for middle Americans, Wall Street knows it, Walmart knows it doesn't work and actually has middle class taxpayers pay for their poverty wage employees. They want poverty and the cheap wage labor that comes with it
No one except the non-rich workers who still vote republican, against their own interests seem to be unaware that modern "conservatism" is not about "free markets" or liberty or anything else. It's about greed, paying no corporate taxes, polluting without restrictions or financial consequences/penalty and getting labor for the lowest cost no matter who suffers and that includes a natural healthy environment
And as Paul Ryan is now pimping:
We are at a moment, where if government's growth is left unchecked and unchallenged, America's best century will be considered our past century. This is a future in which we will transform our social safety net into a hammock, which lulls able-bodied people into lives of complacency and dependency.
We are indeed at "a moment". A moment that isn't new, isn't honest, isn't a solution and happens whenever the wealthiest need reinforcements to their system rigging so that
90% of all gains go those most wealthy
We already know what this is - It's bullshit
We already know what works. Proven in fact and practice. Share of the nations income during the late 50's and 60's that built a strong productive middle class was much more fair because workers received more of what their labor, NOT "capital", produced. That share tracks directly with the top marginal tax rates.
Paul Ryan’s so-called "modern" solutions touted by the RWNJ's as progress and a "path to prosperity" are really nothing more than a 2014 adaptation of a trope going back nearly 140 years during an era of Robber Barons of a Gilded Age: “The Left is offering a full stomach & and empty soul” because of a “tail spin of culture in our inner cities”
Which makes me wonder if Ryan's deep concern with the so-called cultural "tail spin" of "inner cities" extends to the mountains of Appalachia and what is being disparaged by the right as 'the draw'. I must have missed that. But the good people of Kentucky sure didn't miss the Dem governor's cooperation with and expansion of Medicaid in those parts.
My source: Politics Nation’s Reverend Al Sharpton May 14, 2014 | Reverend Al Sharpton interviews Arthur Delany on his article (video @ link):
Paul Ryan's Approach To Poverty Is Straight Out Of The 19th Century where Arthur Delany singles out Trattner as yet another copycat on the same theme that can be traced dating back as early as the 1870's
This summer, Ryan plans to unveil a new blueprint for tackling poverty, the culmination of his work with Woodson and his trips to poor neighborhoods.
Despite their calls for a new approach to poverty, however, Ryan and Woodson's ideas are extremely old-fashioned. Indeed, they echo conservative views about welfare going all the way back to the English Poor Laws of the 17th century, which categorized poor people according to their deservingness of help. These ideas have gained popularity at different times since then in response to different crises, like when "tramps" terrorized American towns in the 1870s..
- emphasis added
Tackling poverty? No. Spinning an old narrative to justify those who don't produce anything useful, to
steal the lions share off the backs of workers who do.
This is exactly how an immature underdeveloped adult reacts. Threatened by the thought of taking on responsibility and actual work. Holding themselves above others fearing that without greater wealth they would not measure up. It's a sick need to deprive others to distinguish themselves with the security blanket of a "higher rung" on the social ladder; where self aggrandizing and the notion of entitlement is measured in money not in ability and honest work
My other trusted source; Joy Ann Reid of 'The Reid Report'
Here Joy Ann Reid speaks with Arthur Delaney and Mychal Denzel Smith @ the Nation
(short ad – sorry) Joy Ann Reid @ MSNBC: http://www.nbcnews.com/...
Where is this lack of maturity and self discipline coming from that we can see in today's republicans? I hesitate to use the term childish, because children are..well they're children with much of life's lessons yet to learn. But these punks we see mocking, slandering, lying, cheating, faking, bloviating, stealing, pandering, hurting others, are a whole different creature - the GOP
The objectivist "ideology" seems like at least one major source.
Many young pre-men were drawn to "the collective" ; from a past comment where in 2011 Digby wrote: "The Totally Awesome Ayn Rand Teen Club" referencing an article on the seduction of youth to the Ayn Rand philosophy titled: "How Ayn Rand Seduced Generations of Young Men and Helped Make the U.S. Into a Selfish, Greedy Nation"
Paul Ryan may not have gray hair, and Rubio hasn't yet lost all of his as the younger of the GOP's possible Presidential prospects, but the level of thinking in the ideas from the right is as reactionary, simplistic, dishonest and as over-proven to be unsuccessful as those coming from the older republican leadership could possibly be. The last republican choice, never-to-be-President-Romney; a perfect example of a man aged boy I can think of. Maybe Newt - waaaah I had to sit in the back of the plane - Gingrich is in there somewhere, or Rand Paul thinking he's fooling anyone with his use exploiting of populist ideas he theorizes about and pretends to support. Sean Hannity, Steve Doocy, Limbaugh, all of F0x..
Or the Louie Gohmert's - really, an actual idiot serving as a congressan?
And then there is Ted Cruz - carnival barker, charlatan, huckster, blowhard, and coward. All of these one word descriptions overrate him as a person and underrate him as a threat to democracy.
Okay forget them. We Dems could/should/must make it known that there is no good to come from the republican party with the people in charge right now; maybe as it has been all along, but with more proficient talking liars in past days when skillful lying meant something to the right (see Karl Rove/Frank Luntz). Now, any subtlety, nuance or even plausibility has been abandoned, almost sneered at by the RWNJ's for being too wimpy, exposing the full measure of down right petulant incompetence so plain to see.
Or it could be the demographic "threat" to white leadership hadn't yet sunk in until there was an AA President in the White House, elected, then re-elected by a solid majority both times; many hatreds resurfacing causing fear in those to lose the mask revealing their ugliest, racist, misogynist/homophobic sides so plainly
We can not move forward with these stunted people. We can't compromise a solution out of them either. they are greedy selfish assholes. We must tend to our own concerns and defeat them.
I will agree with Paul Ryan on one thing though; If pampering someone can make one lazy, and even stunt personal growth, having never experienced real hardship and hard work, then yes, the hammock of wealth has proven that to be true - imo
We need mature, reasonable, compassionate, intelligent, work hardened and time tested grown-ups as our elected representatives and in our courts. We have the opposite on the right. They must be removed. We need qualified Grown ups - and I don't mean gray hair or the number of years of age
P.S. unemployment insurance and other vital social programs are only part of a wide range of issues this rant isn't even touching on, where college age kids prove to be more grown-up and possess a higher degree of sophistication in their understanding of and coping with the realities of life than today's republicans. I'd link to examples, but they are too many to number and too hard to miss.
Also too I'm no psychologist and no brain about fiscal stuff so this is just a carpenters take on what seems almost unreal to see going on
Note: this message/rant is aimed at all workers, especially those that vote republican. I'm hoping to help change some minds. Why continue to vote for half baked chickenshit corpo brown-noser pseudo adult-man shills like a Joe Walsh type idiot begging for access to the uber wealthy country club crowd living high on the hog thanks to our underpaid labor, undeserved tax subsidies, and loopholes only they can afford?
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Thanks for stopping by and putting up with me as I didn't offer any solutions with my long winded rant that most all here @ Daily Kos aren't already tuned in on (progressive caucus various budgets), and allowing me to help this good thing that both Joy Ann Reid, Reverend Al Sharpton and other good people in the links are working so hard spreading the word and pushing back hard on this unfair assault on people :)
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* Wall Street including supply side representation as a structure
Just one more thing Paul Ryan knows what does work: -> Keynesian economics
attribution: hammock of wealth via Crooks & Liars | unable to attach attribution to image itself