Do poor people need our help? I mean, in being poor and staying poor. Can't they do that all by themselves?
Many republicans don't think so. They truly believe that democrats, and the social safety nets are designed to create and to keep poor folks poor. The reason? Votes. Votes and power. The numbers. How's a one percenter gonna catch a break in this poor world, out-numbered by so many poor against him, keeping him up on that shining city on the hill?
I see this a lot in republican arguments. It's cheap rhetoric designed by and for cheap people who stop just short of flat out saying that democratic principles cause poverty because almost no idiot would believe that. We wouldn't have so many poor people if democrats didn't need them to survive! And they can't say that, following in their footsteps, every single American could be wealthy, because that's pretty far-fetched too. But, they can say that democrats keep people poor, strictly for votes, because any idiot would buy that. And, they do.
There's 310-some people in this country. Millions are poor and tens of millions are working poor. One or two percent are what most people would regard as rich and .01% is rich beyond any of your wildest dreams. They have quite a bit to say in how things are done in this country. Think Koch brothers and then think about names you've likely never heard of that have even more money than them. To be ferrer, the Koch's can actually be rather generous with their money. That doesn't make them your buddy but they donate cash and buildings for some pretty good causes. They might be hedging bets in case there is a Hell but I think they do it because they can, because they have so much money- why not? They just like their altruism to be their idea, not the gubmints. Also to be ferrer, they probably never say gubmint.
I think the Koch's are smart men and surely realize that you can't have 310 million millionaires lounging around America. Who would do the work? I wrote yesterday that capitalism works best when practiced well by as many capitalists as possible. At least that's the way I see it. The problem we have today is the small percentage who gain the bulk of the wealth, literally as each minute goes by. I feel comfortable in saying they have too much because they are comfortable in believing that they need more. And they think they deserve it. Worse, millions of lesser tea and re publicans believe they deserve more as well. I know of a security guard in Bumfuck, Kentucky who thinks it is just awful to punish success with taxes and the redistribution of wealth.
I'm also comfortable in saying this because so many are comfortable in saying that poor people have too much. How the fuck could that possibly be true? How sublimey is that?
The internet is full of largely apocryphal stories of poor people purchasing filet steak and lobster with food stamps. Maybe it happened once. Could there be welfare abuse? Sure. But why are you offended by random persons who might enjoy a better meal than you on occasion, on your taxpayer dime, when Wall Street banksters do the same 365 days of the year, also on your dime? We're all so vitriolically penny-wise and pound foolish when too-big-too-fail banks are bailed out and hungry people are fed. We ignore Wall Street and want to burn down Main Street. Or, more precisely, Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Poor people, oddly, are easy pickings. There are so many of them yet they have no real power despite the efforts of the democrats who cultivate and water them on a daily basis.
Who are you going to vote for, the politicians who are trying to help you or the one's that are trying to eliminate you? Decisions, decisions...
Republicans are equally confused by unions backing democrats over republicans. They see conspiracy there. Why don't the ungrateful union bastards support the party that wants to eliminate them? It's a puzzler...
You know, maybe politics is a market share thing? Maybe democrats got the short straw and took the millions of poor and middle class and the GOP got the fewer in numbers, upper class and filthy rich. Think maybe they could trade? Or would if they could?
With so much money on the table couldn't the republicans woo all people, rich and poor, and totally wipe out the democrat party? I mean- poor folks are out there for the taking. If you are jealous and long for their votes, do something for them. A really great first step would be to not fuck with social programs. A lot of poor people might sit up, take notice and say; "Maybe these republicans deserve my vote? That Louie Gohmert seems like a likable guy. Ted Cruz too. With them not fucking with us and the democrats helping us, it's not so bad to be poor in America."
Well, that's just never going to happen. It may make sense but not of the fiscal variety.
A long-time friend of mine posted on Facebook that her son spent New Years Eve in the penthouse of the Trump Tower in Chicago as the guest of the son of the man who paid $17 million for that level. Who is this man and how did he gather such wealth? I don't know. Does it matter? You and I probably wouldn't know his name anyway. My friend said she told her boy that it's all downhill from there. Indeed. And uphill seems to get higher every day.
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