Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part II

 

It looks like the American public, or some significant portion of it, is waking up.  There is now a new populist uprising in the making.  Long beaten into submission, the cowering lumps of disengaged despairing doormats have finally seen the writing on the wall, are breathing a new life, and getting ready to strike back at their oppressors -- the 1% and the .1% and the .01% -- who just about have it all, but want even the few remaining scraps.

The statistics have been clear for some time.  Everyday Americans -- the 99% -- have been getting royally screwed. Government of the people, by the people, for the people has been turned into a hollow slogan, a fading recollection of a noble, now irrelevant, improbable, and ostensibly inoperable idea.

In spite of the best efforts by the media -- always in service of the rich elite -- to hide the rotten news mounting during this democratic devolution, people have grown increasingly aware of the problems and outcomes.  They didn't need to look at charts and statistics.  They felt the pain personally.  Individual wealth for everyday Americans is shrinking. Wages and purchasing power are in decline.  People are in debt up to their eyebrows.  Schools, roads, whole communities are falling apart.  The water isn't even fit to drink.

The Sanders/Trump populist uprising is the inevitable result.  Eventually, the pain becomes unbearable and people understandably look for some way or some one to fix things.  Sanders has some great ideas, Trump has a big mouth.  They each in their own unique and characteristic ways represent a "savior" to the masses.

But neither of these men, or any presidential candidate for that matter, can get the job done.  That is written in stone.  Read the Constitution.

How does it get done?

We get it done.  Sure, you can follow the campaign, go to your favorite candidate's rallies,  watch the battle for the presidency unfold on the boob tube.  After all, it's the best reality show in town.  Better than Mud Wrestling With The Stars!

Then, when you want to actually do something for yourself, your family and friends, your community, your country, please tear yourself away from this insulting media circus and begin to actually change the world for the better.

Forget about the labels.  Forget Democrat, Republican, liberal, conservative, right wing, left wing, socialist, Green Party, Tea Party.

Americans actually agree on a lot of important things.  Arguably most!

With all of the shouting, the cage fighting of the Republican debates, the far more civil and intelligent but still largely irrelevant Democratic debates, muddled by the sports-team-like coverage of all matters political by our entertainment-oriented media, you wouldn't know this.  But most Americans actually share a host of values and priorities, and even more surprisingly, specifically agree on much of what needs to be done and not done.

Here is a short list of things U.S. citizens by sizable majorities agree on:

75% of Americans want a federal minimum wage of $12.50 per hour.
63% of Americans want a federal minimum wage of $15.00 per hour.
75% of voters want fair trade agreements protecting jobs, workers, the environment.
76% of voters want a cut back on military spending.
76% of voters want the U.S. completely out of Afghanistan.
79% of voters want no reductions in Social Security, 70% support expanding it.
79% of voters want no reductions in Medicare.
80% of voters oppose the "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision.
68% of voters think taxes on the wealthy should be increased.
71% of voters support massive infrastructure renewal.
74% of American voters are for ending oil industry subsidies.
93% of voters want GMO labeling on their food.

These are huge majorities!

These astonishing and powerful consensuses get lost in the trivialization, marginalization, and other weapons of mass distraction and sheer propaganda we all endure just trying to find out and understand what's going on.  We are teased, taunted, cajoled, manipulated, titillated, dazzled, disturbed, and generally overwhelmed by the main stream media.

But we are not informed.

If anything we are confused, sometimes outright misinformed.

Thus we lose focus.  We can't keep our eye on the prize, because from watching television we have no idea what the prize even is.

Worst of all -- and it almost appears to be intentional -- we are divided.

We are set against one another, encouraged to vilify and blame others, the very people we actually agree with on a lot of things, the very people who are our natural allies as we fight for our survival in the class warfare the rich and powerful wage on us.

Turn off your TVs.  Hide your smart phones under the mattress.  Let the screensaver on your computer do whatever it does -- swimming fish, go-go dancers, shooting stars -- and don't disturb it to watch the latest Trump riots or primary predictions.  It's mood lighting.  Recycle your USA Today, your daily newspaper, your weekly and monthly magazines.

Then . . .

Go talk to someone.  Anyone!

Your neighbor, your cousin, your kid's teacher, that lady down the street who is always working in her garden, the guy who polishes his car three times a week, your ex-spouse, anyone in your community who you can approach without getting shot.

Maybe you could bake some cupcakes or buy some wonderful muffins from the bakery in town.  Or make a trip to Costco, if all the bakeries in your area are now out of business.

Start out with something like this:

"Would you like a cupcake?"

In Part III of this series, I'll suggest where you go from there, while you're munching away on whatever treat you brought along with you.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Putting Boots (Birkenstocks) on the Ground: Part II



 

Extreme? Radical? Or just realistic?

 

We are constantly being lied to. We are being sold wars  we don't want. 
We are having our best social programs cut. Our jobs and tax dollars are
being shipped overseas.  Our treasury is being looted by Wall Street
banks and corporate oligarchs. Our education system at all levels is
being systematically destroyed. Our privacy and personal freedoms are
being whittled away. We are being asked to work harder for less money.
Our minimum wage is so minimum, no one can possibly live on it. We are
told we have to tighten our belts while the rich are carting away
billions from the public till as tax breaks and corporate subsidies.
7-11 clerks and fast food cooks pay higher tax rates than corporate CEOs
and rich Wall Street bankers.

How long does this have to go on before the American people have finally 
had enough?

The typical American citizen is being shafted on so many levels, what
totally astounds me is that there are not outraged mobs in the streets
demanding the heads of the politicians and the cold calculating country
club elites they serve.

Okay . . . okay . . . mass insurrection is not going to happen. At least not for now.

So it seems obvious to me that since we're not going to have a revolution in
this country, the very least we can do is replace the elected officials
in our federal government who have been the cheerleaders and
implementers of these onerous policies. The very least! 

I've stated over and over that we need to replace at least 500 of our
legislators, then put someone in the White House who understands and
serves the needs of all Americans, not just the filthy rich. I've even
dug up that old electoral battle cry: "Throw the bums out!"

As a result, I've had people say I'm extreme . . . out-of-touch . . . radical . . .
and even call me an ungrateful, unpatriotic, American-hating whiner. I get it.
Attack the messenger.

Let's be honest here. If our government on practically every critical front is
headed in completely in the wrong direction and I say it's time to clean
house . . .

Am I extreme?

Am I radical?

Or am I just being realistic?

I am proposing here simple, straightforward tests, applied locally within
each community. These are based on the electoral strategy outlined in my
recent book, "An Unlikely Truth." Just ask yourself . . .

• Did my congressman or senator vote against raising the federal minimum wage?
  If he or she did, it means that this elected official is voting against
  the stated will of 72% of the American voting public. Apparently the
  demands of the greedy businessmen who fill his or her election campaign
  coffers are more important than people being able to earn a decent
  living.

• Did my congressman vote for the Ryan budget in the House or did my senator
  vote for continuing tax breaks for the rich in the Senate? That
  vote would go against the 71% of the voting public who think the wealthy
  should bear more of the burden, as they did for most decades of the
  20th Century. Supporting historically low income tax and capital gains
  tax rates means more money into the pockets of the already wealthy, paid
  for by the rest of us who are struggling to make ends meet. It's Robin
  Hood . . . but in reverse.
  

• Did my congressman or senator vote for a defense budget which included the infamous F-35 advanced fighter jet, arguably the biggest boondoggle in the history of the nation?
  A whopping 75% of American voters want serious cuts in the defense
  budget. Voting for any of the bloated defense appropriations budgets
  means throwing away money on worthless defense projects while schools,
  streets, bridges are crumbling. It's putting bombs and bullets above
  quality of life.
  

• Did my congressman or senator vote for continuing oil subsidies for the oil industry? Alright, profits were a little off last year. So the Big 5 __ BP, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell __ only made $177,000 per minute.  Cry me a river! That
  added up to $93 billion in total profits. 74% of Americans want the
  government to stop throwing money at the these behemoth corporations and
  insist they start paying their fair share in taxes.
  

• Did my congressman or senator vote for funding attacks on Libya, Syria, Iran,
  the Ukraine or extending the waste of American tax dollars in
  Afghanistan, which 69% of Americans now oppose? Americans are sick of war.
  Fed up! Every dollar spent on these misadventures is one less dollar
  for critical needs here at home. Estimates for the wars in Afghanistan
  and Iraq are in the upwards of $6 trillion __ that's trillion with a 't'. That adds up to 12,000,000 good paying jobs here in America. Think about it!
  

• Did my congressman or senator vote for any legislation which cut benefits,
  raised the eligibility age, or tampered with the rate of increase of
  Social Security payments, for example, the "chained CPI" skullduggery?
  Such a vote, or even thinking about such a vote, is in direct
  opposition to the clear voice of the American people, 79% of which want
  no changes to the most popular and successful federal program in
  history. Putting the squeeze on our elderly, who have worked hard all
  their lives and can barely survive on the pittance that the program now
  provides, may be the most heartless, sinister, pathological proposal to come down the long pike of heartless, sinister,
  pathological proposals. The money to pay benefits would be there if the
  Social Security trust fund had not been raided to pay for unfunded wars
  and tax breaks for the rich, and having everyone's savings replaced by a
  bunch of government security IOUs. More to the point, those responsible
  for this theft should not only not be in public office. They should be
  in prison.
  
• Did my congressman or senator vote against labeling foods that contain GMOs? If he or she did, then this elected official is at odds with 93% of the voting public. Yes . . . I said 93%!
  And keeping people ignorant of what they're eating and exposing them
  to potential health hazards as dictated by the giant food and
  agrochemical conglomerates like Monsanto is the choice your legislator
  is consciously and unconscionably making.

As far as I'm concerned, a 'yes' on any single one of the above questions is a knock out.

Zero tolerance. Time to look elsewhere. Time to stop voting for the same ol' same ol'.

My reasoning is this. If your senator or congressman accepted what is
effectively a bribe __ lobbyist favors, campaign donations, expensive lunches or junkets 
or whatever __ on one critical issue where there exists a major consensus among the 
American voting public and in your voting district, it means that at some time in the 
future, if enough pressure is applied by powerful corporations and their cutthroat lobbyists 
 on other critical matters, your same representative will ignore you, his or her constituents, 
and vote lockstep with moneyed interests. If it happened once, it'll happen again. Politicians 
must be put on notice: We're watching and there is no margin for error. Or chicanery. Or excuses.

Of course, they'll him-and-haw, create a tsunami of obfuscation and evasion to
justify that one "compromise" or trade-off. I say we take the higher
ground and leave the guy to drown in his own bullshit. Then suggest to
Mr. Got-Lotsa-Excuses Legislator we've heard enough, point to the
parking lot and tell him, "Don't let the screen door hit you on the way out."

Remember, elected officials want your vote. They will tell you what you want to
hear to get you to check the box. Too often, once they are in office,
they conveniently forget that the promises they made were in effect a contract
with their constituents. A verbal contract. Based on what they said
they would do, we voted for them. There's a bond of trust and
responsibility operating. And if they can't honor any single one of
those commitments, then why should we trust them to honor any of them __
past, present of future __ after they disappear inside the Washington
bubble?

We have to keep focused . . .

It doesn't matter whether your current congressman or senator has a pleasant
smile, looks dashing when going to church on Sundays, has enchanting TV
ads showing him or her at the local Kiwanis Club annual bake-off
fundraiser, is a model family man or woman, and gosh-by-golly is again this year 
the Grand Marshall for the Independence Day parade down main street of your 
home town.

What does matter is whether he or she is listening to you,
or taking marching orders from the deep-pocketed campaign donors who
pay for those TV ads full of patriotic slogans and empty campaign
promises, those slick video bites and photo ops designed to fool you
once again into voting against your own interests and needs.

Is it extreme to expect honest representation?

Is it radical to want a functioning democracy?

Or is it just realistic to expect our system of government to work for all of us, 
not just the privileged and powerful?

______________________________________________________________


I am doing what I can to address the destruction of our democratic system.

Without taking back our government, nothing will change.

In my new book, An Unlikely Truth,　I offer an electoral strategy which I 
believe can effectively remove the crooks and liars from office, and begin to 
restore representative democracy to America.

An Unlikely Truth (Literary Vagabond Books) is now available worldwide in 
 every popular ebook format and as a deluxe edition paperback.

Throw the bums out!

 

72% of American voters are for raising taxes on the wealthy.

That equates to 108 million people.

76% of American voters want to cut back on military spending.

That's 114 million people.

72% of American voters want a federal minimum wage of $10.00 or more.

108 million people.

74% of American voters are for ending oil subsidies.

111 million people.

79% of American voters want no cuts in Social Security and Medicare.

Over 118 million people.

93% of American voters want labeling of GMOs in their food.

That's nearly 140 million people!!

But none of this gets done!

The simpleand insulting truth is that a mere 500 or so men defy the will of
millions, that the very people we elect and send to Washington to create
laws that protect our interests, refuse to represent us, ignore our
clearly stated will on these crucial issues and many more.

They ignore "we the people" and do the bidding of "we the rich". Until 
we confront these play-for-pay lapdogs, they will continue to serve a tiny
elite minority of rich and powerful oligarchs and America will continue
its slow but certain decline. You and I will live like beggars and
America will become a Third World country.

We've all been appalled by recent events. We've watched as our government 
was shutdown. We've been horrified by the fight over the debt limit. We've 
seen the systematic destruction of our democratic way of life.

So what can we do? With millions of dollars of fat cat money floating
around, the voice of the regular guy has been drowned out. There has been 
no way to get rid of the crooks and liars. But I believe now there is.

How did that old expression go?

"Throw the bums out!"

We do this using a new, unique and powerful strategy
for taking on the corrupting cancer of money in politics __ an end run
around the iron grip which Wall Street, big banks and corporate
oligarchs now have on our political system. This sledgehammer approach
gives the 500 corporate toadies in Congress, who arrogantly sit inside
the Washington DC bubble and ignore the very people who voted them into
office, a simple straightforward ultimatum: Do your job and start
representing "we the people" or collect your pink slip.

It's a no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners method for cleaning up the corruption
among our elected officials and putting people in office who will do our
bidding. It forces the men and women we choose on election day to start
taking their orders from us, instead of the deep-pocketed puppet
masters who have effectively stolen our government by buying off our
senators, congressmen, even our president, with huge campaign donations.

This is an election year and people are frustrated and angry. Congress 
started the new year at a historically low 13% approval rating.

I say we channel that frustration and anger into a unified and constructive
effort to restore true representative democracy to our country.

It's up tous. But something has to happen immediately. We are fast 
approaching a point of no return, beyond which the specter of a
rigid totalitarian state looms. Either we replace our current legislators 
or they will replace our country with one we don't recognize.

Look around. It's already happening.

So either we rise up now in a bloodless coup at the polls or we rise up 
later in the streets. Revolution in the streets will not be bloodless and I 
suspect it won't end well. The blatant and ruthless dismemberment of OWS 
was a warning.

Time to unite and act decisively.

Hopefully it's not too late.

Sometimes truth comes from an unexpected place and from an
unlikely messenger.

It doesn't matter the source. It's still the truth.


[ This originated at the author's personal web site . . . http://jdrachel.com ]