Shared Sacrifice - The New Buzzwod That Means We've Been Had
So I was watching C-SPAN this morning and I was left angry by the words of two of our Represenatives - a Republican and so-called a 'Blue Dog' Democrat.
It seems the new buzzword that means everyone in America is about to get screwed is "Shared Sacrifice". That loudmouth Republican Representative Joe Walsh (IL) said it this morning and so did the less loud but just as doltish Representative Mike Ross (AR) who came on after him.
Hell, even Barack Obama said it in his pitch the other day on the debt ceiling, only he used the words "Equal Sacrifice."
Hell, more like "Separate but Equal."
I am ANGRY. The money that gets taken out of my paycheck and yours; the money that you pay in taxes for the house you live in and the land it's on; the money that gets paid in sales tax for every little thing we buy - we are held accountable for every little penny of every percentage the government says is our debt to pay.
And so what are we supposed to get in exchange for our money? Streets, roads, bridges, parks, clean water, clean air. Scientific and medical research. We pay for the administration of our country.
Somewhere along the way people fought to use part of OUR money to educate our children and help the old when they have given their all and their best to society, and time has claimed their energy and they can no longer work.
As medicine has progressed, we give Medical care to those who are old to make their lives more comfortable and to those who's labor does not pay enough for them to afford medical care on their own.
We ask for so damned little. And what do we get in return? A war against people we don't know and don't understand for the same reasons that we've always gone to war against people we don't know and don't understand: because we don't know them and we don't understand them and we fear and hate what we don't know and what we don't understand.
We invest more in a single bomb than my school district has seen in my lifetime. We spend far more to kill than we do to live.
We have killed millions and what has it gained us? A broken economy and politicians who want more of our money, more of livelihoods and more subservience from us. They don't need us anymore and really could care less what we think. They want our money and our silence. That is all.
Corporations take their vast wealth and do they invest in their workforce? No. They use their money to influence politicians to relax or eliminate rules that keep us all safe. It is easier, not cheaper, but easier, to line the pockets of a few politicians than use their money to help their employees.
BP has killed 11 people. Massey Mines killed 29 people. If I went out and killed 40 people right now, I'm pretty sure I'd be in jail.
No one has been held accountable for the negligence that murdered these workers. These men who had families who loved them. We didn't even have the guts to continue to boycott BP and run them out of business for fear of hurting the "franchisees" instead of the "franchisers."
When bridges collapse, and mines cave in and oil rigs drilled too deep explode and people get ill and die from tainted water supplies, we can only sit by and wonder how it all happened because we are admonished that it is tantamount to treason to suspect that deregulation, corruption and collusion between our representatives and our corporate masters have any part to play.
A country that is often quoted as the "richest country in the world" is still participating in the barbaric and immoral practice of making it's people beg for crumbs of medical care, and sometimes, just plain die for lack of care.
Our children lag behind the rest of the world in education, despite how much pressure we put on teachers who can only do so much in over-crowded classrooms and on salary's that do not compensate them enough for the responsibility entrusted to them: the shaping and educating of our future. We punish teachers for having the audacity to teach. We make them jump through hoops and starve through training all in the name of making sure they're "qualified". Meanwhile the teaching profession is suffering - not from those who are unable, but those who are unwilling to endure the undeserved slings and arrows.
Our "representatives" ended our Space Program. A symbol to every American of our commitment to progress, innovation and exploration. And our representatives have killed it. With the the last shuttle flight, we officially ended our era as "Those who Produce" and solidified our status as "Those Who Consume". After all, we can hitch a ride with Russia to the space station for a few billion dollars. It's not like we could use that money for anything else.
We, the American people have sacrificed a third of their paychecks to fund their needless and expensive wars. We sacrifice our men and women to fight those wars. We have sacrificed our lives to corporations who find us expendable. Baby boomers have sacrificed their retirement plans for second careers and to give their adult children and grandchildren a home; those same adult children who reached for the American dream and have been smacked down through job losses and foreclosures. We have all sacrificed our retirements and savings to corrupt companies like Enron and World Com, Lehman Brothers and Citi Corp.
We have sacrificed any faith that we ever had that the people we elect to represent us want to do anything more than bankrupt us and make us subservient to them. And now the little bit of help we can get when we're too old to work, our "representatives" are trying to convince us we can't afford.
How dare they ask us to sacrifice Medicare and Social Security?
How dare they ask us to give a little more of our paychecks and to pay more in property taxes?
How dare they ask us to shut down our most noble effort, the Space Program, to quash and stifle progress, innovation and our audacity to dream and hope among the stars.
How dare they tell us we can afford more war but we cannot afford healthcare, education and safety. Not against terrorists, but against the corporations who employ us.
No. We, the American People, have sacrificed enough. It's time for the people we elect to either move forward with this ridiculous debate or step aside and begin again.
If it isn't time for the Revolution now, when will it ever be?
It seems the new buzzword that means everyone in America is about to get screwed is "Shared Sacrifice". That loudmouth Republican Representative Joe Walsh (IL) said it this morning and so did the less loud but just as doltish Representative Mike Ross (AR) who came on after him.
Hell, even Barack Obama said it in his pitch the other day on the debt ceiling, only he used the words "Equal Sacrifice."
Hell, more like "Separate but Equal."
I am ANGRY. The money that gets taken out of my paycheck and yours; the money that you pay in taxes for the house you live in and the land it's on; the money that gets paid in sales tax for every little thing we buy - we are held accountable for every little penny of every percentage the government says is our debt to pay.
And so what are we supposed to get in exchange for our money? Streets, roads, bridges, parks, clean water, clean air. Scientific and medical research. We pay for the administration of our country.
Somewhere along the way people fought to use part of OUR money to educate our children and help the old when they have given their all and their best to society, and time has claimed their energy and they can no longer work.
As medicine has progressed, we give Medical care to those who are old to make their lives more comfortable and to those who's labor does not pay enough for them to afford medical care on their own.
We ask for so damned little. And what do we get in return? A war against people we don't know and don't understand for the same reasons that we've always gone to war against people we don't know and don't understand: because we don't know them and we don't understand them and we fear and hate what we don't know and what we don't understand.
We invest more in a single bomb than my school district has seen in my lifetime. We spend far more to kill than we do to live.
We have killed millions and what has it gained us? A broken economy and politicians who want more of our money, more of livelihoods and more subservience from us. They don't need us anymore and really could care less what we think. They want our money and our silence. That is all.
Corporations take their vast wealth and do they invest in their workforce? No. They use their money to influence politicians to relax or eliminate rules that keep us all safe. It is easier, not cheaper, but easier, to line the pockets of a few politicians than use their money to help their employees.
BP has killed 11 people. Massey Mines killed 29 people. If I went out and killed 40 people right now, I'm pretty sure I'd be in jail.
No one has been held accountable for the negligence that murdered these workers. These men who had families who loved them. We didn't even have the guts to continue to boycott BP and run them out of business for fear of hurting the "franchisees" instead of the "franchisers."
When bridges collapse, and mines cave in and oil rigs drilled too deep explode and people get ill and die from tainted water supplies, we can only sit by and wonder how it all happened because we are admonished that it is tantamount to treason to suspect that deregulation, corruption and collusion between our representatives and our corporate masters have any part to play.
A country that is often quoted as the "richest country in the world" is still participating in the barbaric and immoral practice of making it's people beg for crumbs of medical care, and sometimes, just plain die for lack of care.
Our children lag behind the rest of the world in education, despite how much pressure we put on teachers who can only do so much in over-crowded classrooms and on salary's that do not compensate them enough for the responsibility entrusted to them: the shaping and educating of our future. We punish teachers for having the audacity to teach. We make them jump through hoops and starve through training all in the name of making sure they're "qualified". Meanwhile the teaching profession is suffering - not from those who are unable, but those who are unwilling to endure the undeserved slings and arrows.
Our "representatives" ended our Space Program. A symbol to every American of our commitment to progress, innovation and exploration. And our representatives have killed it. With the the last shuttle flight, we officially ended our era as "Those who Produce" and solidified our status as "Those Who Consume". After all, we can hitch a ride with Russia to the space station for a few billion dollars. It's not like we could use that money for anything else.
We, the American people have sacrificed a third of their paychecks to fund their needless and expensive wars. We sacrifice our men and women to fight those wars. We have sacrificed our lives to corporations who find us expendable. Baby boomers have sacrificed their retirement plans for second careers and to give their adult children and grandchildren a home; those same adult children who reached for the American dream and have been smacked down through job losses and foreclosures. We have all sacrificed our retirements and savings to corrupt companies like Enron and World Com, Lehman Brothers and Citi Corp.
We have sacrificed any faith that we ever had that the people we elect to represent us want to do anything more than bankrupt us and make us subservient to them. And now the little bit of help we can get when we're too old to work, our "representatives" are trying to convince us we can't afford.
How dare they ask us to sacrifice Medicare and Social Security?
How dare they ask us to give a little more of our paychecks and to pay more in property taxes?
How dare they ask us to shut down our most noble effort, the Space Program, to quash and stifle progress, innovation and our audacity to dream and hope among the stars.
How dare they tell us we can afford more war but we cannot afford healthcare, education and safety. Not against terrorists, but against the corporations who employ us.
No. We, the American People, have sacrificed enough. It's time for the people we elect to either move forward with this ridiculous debate or step aside and begin again.
If it isn't time for the Revolution now, when will it ever be?
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