I want to move to France
Posted: February 25, 2011 Filed under: politics 3 Comments
This morning saw another small and flimsy barricade that was standing in the way of the US becoming an oligarchy fall when Governor Walker’s State Legislators held a ‘flash vote’ to force through the bill to deny organizing rights to the state workers and teachers. They are calling it a ‘flash vote’ because, like a ‘flash mob’ will put on a performance in the middle of a public space before any of the onlookers can realize what is happening, the ‘flash republicans’ got the vote to happen so quickly that the onlookers (i.e.: those opposed who were not told in advance) did not have time to vote before the final bell was rung. Reporters said that many of the Democratic legislators could be seen pushing their vote buttons in an attempt to vote when the vote had already been ended.
The stakes are much greater than the pensions of Wisconsin teachers and snow-plow drivers (although, if you were one of those people teaching or plowing in Wisconsin, those things would be important). I used to comfort myself with thinking that my ideological opponents and I could find common ground and create solutions that, while they might not be ideal, would represent the best for all. I thought that hope was the essence of modern democracy. As that hope fades, I’m forced to wonder if we will no longer be living in a democracy.
I used to be more optimistic about this country and its future. Now I want to move to France. Why France? Because I don’t speak French. If I lived in France, I wouldn’t understand what was going on and I wouldn’t know how badly I was getting fucked by whatever nascent French ultra-rich oligarchy is using the economic ‘crisis’ to enrich and empower themselves at the expense of the public much like is happening here. I’d be blissfully ignorant. Plus they have better healthcare and good food. And it is pretty. And I like wine. And England and Germany and Italy (all places I like) are nearby.
a) Your facts are wrong.
b) Annecdotal stories about corruption in Florida 30-70 years ago are irrelevant.
c) I'm sure your boss will remember your loyalty to the cause of his wealth preservation when the time comes.
Corporations are making record profits with sweet tax deals. For example, Captial gains tax is only 15%.
Meanwhile the middle class marches steadily toward oblivion.
Union and teacher bashing is the GOPs scapegoat proselytized by Fox news, Beck, Rush and the others who hate working class Americans.
It's a brilliant bait-and-switch: hang the recession on the working people while the rich get richer. Genius, really.
Unless you've lived with your head under a rock the last decade, you know that the recession was brought on by the banks and Wall Street.
Now they are getting all sweet deals and the firefighters, police officers, teachers, and government workers are being blamed for all our financial woes.
What's amazing is the number of idiots who have been brainwashed into thinking that this somehow has anything to do with unions.
At least not all of us have been fooled.
The money to pay for our middle class culture is there… it's just been redistributed to the tops 2% of the country by the Republicans.
Oligarchy is exactly correct. There will only be mansions and slums once the unions fall.
Amen, Mr. Chappel. I think both political parties share blame for the current state of the 'economic minority' (whom I would describe as the middle-class-on-down)… the republicans for herding us towards the cliff and the democrats for mostly standing by and occassionally wringing their hands and uttering an ineffective protest. Tea partiers and their ilk are like the kapos in the workcamps; sucking up to the masters while being 3x as viscious to their fellow prisoners in hopes of getting a few scraps from the master's table.