Yes, there is a financial and political system which rewards the ruling class
and which controls the rest of us economically. And yes, it is in my interest
to be sure that the home health aide who cares for me has a secure income,
good, affordable housing, that her children go to schools that provide a good
education, because we are all dependent on each other, because we all share
this world, because every person has a right to have his or her basic needs
filled and her potential fulfilled. But right now, in this world that we live
in, we are different from each other. You moved away from your home in Renton
because you wanted quiet and to be surrounded by nature, and to own a horse.
You had the imagination and the financial capability to do that. It is highly
unlikely that my home health aide would think of such a move, at least not the
two I actually had, nor would they have had the capability to do that. From
1976 to 2006, I lived in a suburban, middle class, racially integrated
neighborhood. I had one problem. The African American neighbors loved to play
loud music on speakers in their back yards, loud music that I didn't
particularly like. The richest guy on my block was an African American record
producer. He was really nice and had a very nice family. They owned a huge
house with a great big pool and they had lots of parties. And they drove me
crazy because I liked to sit in my back yard and I wanted quiet and bird song.
So you know that I believe that integrated living is the right way to live. But
I kept thinking, "If I lived in a neighborhood where everyone was white and
middle class, my back yard would be quiet. My point is, don't pretend that
differences don't exist. They do. They have to do with ethnic background, with
education, with economic opportunity, with social class. Just think about
where you chose to move and why.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 1:47 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is Much
Stranger Than It Seems
Hmm...no, it looks like we're looking at the subject from different ends.
I do agree that there are differences between people we used to call the "blue
collar Workers" and the "white collar Workers".
But there are differences between Catholics and Protestants, even as we know
them all by the heading of Christians. There are differences between members
of what we call the "Upper Class", too. But I don't think that looking at what
makes us working or middle or upper middle class will get us anywhere.
Dividing ourselves this way simply winds up pitting us against one another.
I see two groups. Each group is full of little groups, all jockeying
for position. But the dividing line comes at the place where we can point and
say, "This person is working for "The Man", the Ruling Class.
Let me try this. You live in the luxury suite on the top floor of a deluxe
hotel. What you do with your time is of no matter, because the important thing
here is that everybody below you in this magnificent hotel works to keep you in
the style you have come to expect. While all of them work to support you, the
services they provide are rewarded, by you, at different amounts, depending
upon how you see their worth to you.
Because you have control over the level of importance of each person's work,
the people in your hotel scramble to secure a more desirable position. Some,
who have no chance of becoming your personal physician or your financial
advisor, join together to attempt to force you to respect their contribution to
your well being, by paying them more money. The people who care for your aging
parents or teach your children, resent the fact that your doctors are paid
better and live in larger apartments. The Janitors curse the upstairs maids
and personal servants as being snobs. The kitchen help calls the maintenance
crew lazy and shiftless.
And yet, they are all under the thumb of you, sitting in your luxury suite at
the top of the world.
As a People, our values of who is most important in our Society, is controlled
by who the Ruling Class values most. For example, we, the working class
people, do not set the wages for professional athletes.
But there is some higher value for the Ruling Class, than the worth of the crew
that maintains the stadium. The brain surgeon demands more
reward(dollars) than his surgical nurse, even though he could not do his job
without her/him. The Ruling Class actually sets the standards of importance.
If we think that we do this, we are sorely mistaken.
The overwhelming majority of Corporate CEO's are men. True, much of our
nation's wealth is held by elderly widows, but the actual control of our
society is controlled by White Men. And of course, we love to bask in the
glory of our closeness to our Ruling Class. So we set up little serfdom's.
We, those of us in this little superior circle, have our PhD's, so we're more
deserving than you. Or because we sacrificed our lives slaving in a charity
clinic, we are more righteous.
Divided as we are, and especially since our divisions are those that serve the
Ruling Class, we are defeated.
How is it that in today's world we need nations? Just because we've "always"
had them. In fact, nations may be coming to an end, replaced by Corporate
Nations that reach beyond our old national borders. But don't we all come from
the same species? As long as we focus on our differences we'll never have a
future for the Human Race.
Anyway, this is a long way of saying that I will stick by my guns...at least
until I don't.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/12/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
So now that I've secured your agreement on that point, let me try to
push my luck on another point, the one that you and I keep circling round and
round.
If we look at Marxist theory, the intellectual framework which you are
using in order to define a ruling class and a working class, you'll
see that there is another class mentioned, the petit bourgeoisie. That
class consists of professionals, small business people, and managers.
Now you and I both came from the working class. And you did work in a
factory for a while, if I remember correctly. But then you got a
college education, and worked as a rehabilitation professional. I went
to college and graduate scool and worked as a social worker. At the
point that you began working in rehabilitation and I began doing
social work, we left the working class and joined he petit
bourgeoisie, or in modern American terms, the middle class. And when
you retired from your state rehabilitation position, you and Cathy
began your own business as contractd workers with the state which
means that you are small business owners. Now, I am not suggesting
that either your or I became wealthy or part of the ruling class. But
I am suggesting that our life styles and values, are very different
from those of a home health aide or fast food worker or janitor. All
of us who aren't part of the ruling class, may share an interest in
changing our economic and political structures. But I strongly believe
that one of the reasons that people on the political left are not
doing as well as they ought to in political organizing, is that they
are not being honest with themselves and with poor and working people
about the differences among us. There is no way, for example, that you
could ever have convinced my father who hadn't attended high school
and who had worked in a factory for most of his life, that you as a
college graduate who owned your own home and other property, were in
the same situation as he, who always rented an apartment and bought
his first car when I was ten years old. My father was not an angry or
resentful man. He was friendly to everyone. But he recognized social
and political realities. Carl, you and I, given our education and the
work we have done, according to the ideas that your parents had, are not
members of the working class, even if our sympathies and concern are with the
working class and even if the ruling class passes laws that impoverish us.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Monday, June 12, 2017 9:52 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is
Much Stranger Than It Seems
Miriam,
Given the fact that we, the working class people are at the mercy of
our two-headed corporate American party, and nothing we can do to
change the direction toward the loss of what freedom we still have,
from outside the System, short of revolution, I suppose that I too,
despite my bluster, would choose to live on a slow, more gentle
downhill slide rather than to be clinging to the edge of the high
cliff above the cruel rocks of destruction, as we now find ourselves.
As much as it's worth, there is still a big difference between the
private Corporate Sector and the Political Sector. The leaders in
Corporate America have the bottom line as their objective...and the end
justifies the means.
The Political Sector are just as ruthless, but understand that there
must be some concessions if they are to carry forth the demands of
their more Greedy Corporate Masters. So, with this buffer in place we
had 8 years of slow decline under Barack Obama. But when
Corporate-Like leaders dabble in politics, we come up with the likes
of George Bush...both I and II. And of course, the Mother of All Greed
driven Corporate Idols, Donald J. Trump.
In Fairy Tale Land, if Donald Trump were King Midas, eagerly turning
everything he touched into gold, Hillary Clinton would be the Old
Woman who Lives in a Shoe, with so many children she wouldn't know
what to do. But at least she would feed them some broth, and send
them to bed...albeit after soundly spanking them. But the difference
is huge, if we have no choice but to endure it for the time being.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've been thinking about that today, about voting for Hillary, after
listening to Chris Hedges. If I'd lived in a swing state, I would
have voted for her because she would not have demolished the safety
net as quickly and because she would not have made speeches that
invited the most racist and prejudiced sectors of our society to
openly attack Muslims, African Americans, and immigrants of Latin American
descent.
We would have maintained a more civilized discourse, even if that
civil discourse is just a veneer. The tone set by our political
leaders, matters. I'd rather have an elitist female President than a
sexist, Fascist, meglomaniac.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl ;
Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 2:31 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is
Much Stranger Than It Seems
Yes! Yes!
In my personal opinion, we are being led by the noses by the
Corporate Pied Pipers. While our attention is focused on the side
rings and the side show, the Main Event in the Center Ring is named,
"The Rape of a Nation". As we are being "entertained" by the Reality
Master, Donald Trump, the Corporate Elite are feasting at the public
trough. I honestly believe that Donald Trump, acting as the Hit Man,
will dismantle most of the public protections fought for and put in
place over decades of hard work. Down sizing Government, without
down sizing Corporations, is tantamount to opening the doors to the
Hen house and inviting the foxes in.
Still, in knowing all of this, I would not have voted for Hillary
Clinton.
We would have gone down the same road, just at a slower pace. We are
living in a dysfunctional nation, in so far as the needs of the
Working Class is concerned. And if the Working Class is not cared
for and nurtured, the entire house of cards will fall in.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Do you get the impression that there's this big show going on, lots
of articles commenting on it, lots of hearings, money being spent,
and somewhere in the background a whole other reality is taking place?
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl ;
Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 12:48 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: American Wonderland: Trump World Is
Much Stranger Than It Seems
Strange, but still, I don't see mention of the Queen of Hearts or
Fiddle Dee and Fiddle Dum.
Carl Jarvis
On 6/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Donald Trump speaks to supporters at a rally. (photo: Chip
Somodevilla/Getty
Images)
American Wonderland: Trump World Is Much Stranger Than It Seems
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
10 June 17
The spring blizzard of the bizarre shows no sign of letting up
When was the last time we had a sitting president and a former FBI
director calling each other liars? And something like 100 per cent
of the population seems to believe that at least one of the accused
liars is a real liar.
That's the new American normal.
The Comey circus produced a holiday atmosphere in DC, with bars
open for business before the live hearings came on. And the TV
audience for the Comey show was an apparently impressive 19
million-plus viewers.
But that's pallid next to the presidential inauguration's 30
million-plus, or the Super Bowl's typical 110 million-plus in the US.
Here you may insert the appropriate comment about how these numbers
reflect American priorities, with football being five times more
engaging than a game where the republic is an underdog.
In this kind of carnival atmosphere, it is little wonder little
attention is paid when the director of National Intelligence
stonewalls the Senate Intelligence Committee rather than answer
questions about presidential law-breaking. Little attention was
paid when the director of the Central Intelligence Agency
stonewalled rather than answer questions about presidential
law-breaking. Even the Senate Intelligence Committee's Republican
majority paid little attention to the stonewalling by top national
intelligence community officials, both Trump appointees. Some
Democrats paid a little attention, albeit decorously.
Republicans will not entertain pointed questions from uppity black
women
The hearing didn't begin to get close to testy until Deputy
Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who was instrumental in getting
Comey fired, refused again and again to answer a simple question.
The question from Democratic senator Kamala Harris of California
(where she was state attorney general) was whether Rosenstein would
assure the independence of the independent counsel, former FBI
director Robert Mueller, who is investigating the relationship
between the Trump campaign and Russian power brokers. Rosenstein
would not give a direct answer, choosing to stonewall by
filibuster. Senator Harris
interrupted:
Sir, if I may, the greater assurance is not that you and I believe
in Mueller's integrity . it is that you would put in writing an
indication based on your authority as the acting attorney general
that he has full independence.
Again Rosenstein rambled unresponsively and again Harris intervened.
At that point, two Republican senators, chairman Richard Burr of
North Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, intervened and curtly
lectured the senator from California on the need for "courtesy." It
looked for all the world like Republicans playing to their base by
trying to put the uppity black woman in her place. As a result,
Rosenstein was granted the courtesy of being allowed to stonewall
like the others, not even giving lip service to future
independence, integrity, or justice.
Senator Burr, by insisting on "the courtesy for questions to get
answered,"
made sure the questions would not get answered. Or rather,
Rosenstein's refusal to say he would do what he could to guarantee
the independence of the independent counsel was tantamount to
warning Robert Mueller that he was on a short leash. Insofar as
that warning is the real message, that is also tantamount to
obstruction of justice.
Isn't it high time to get the FBI working for Trump interests?
And if that weren't enough to reassure the president that the noose
wasn't tightening around his neck any faster than senators who
swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution could
obstruct, the president nominated a new FBI director. That's a
little like the Gambino Family picking its own prosecutor.
The White House's tweeted choice for James Comey's successor is
Christopher Wray, who has been greeted by largely respectful, if
muted acceptance, in the words of The New York Times:
In choosing Mr. Wray, the president is calling on a veteran
Washington lawyer who is more low key and deliberative than either
Mr. Mueller or Mr.
Comey but will remain independent, friends and former colleagues say..
[He] would bring a more subtle management style to the FBI.. [He]
is a safe, mainstream pick..
To emphasize that point, the Times ran a picture showing Mueller
and Comey, with Wray slightly behind them. The picture was taken in
2004, when Wray was in the Justice Department helping to craft
torture policy for President Bush. Wray is overtly political,
having given consistently and only to Republican candidates. In
2004, Wray's testimony about the homicide of a CIA detainee was
characterized as "less than truthful" by Senate Judiciary Committee
chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Wray's most recent high-profile
success was helping to keep New Jersey governor Chris Christie from
being indicted for the criminal closing of the George Washington
Bridge as political payback.
A court allowed Wray to withhold potential evidence against his
client.
If being a dishonest Republican torture-promoter isn't enough to
disqualify, maybe his legal work as a partner in the 900-lawyer
King & Spalding international law firm would serve. His clients
have reportedly included Trump family members. Another partner is
the ethics advisor to the Donald J.
Trump Revocable Trust. And then there are Wray's apparent Russian
connections reported by USA Today (but not the Times). Wray's firm
has a Moscow office. It "represents Rosneft and Gazprom, two of
Russia's largest, state-controlled oil companies." Rosneft also has
ties to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who, as Exxon CEO made a
$500 billion oil drilling deal with Rosneft, a deal suspended by
sanctions imposed by the Obama administration.
Conflicts of interest, dishonesty, torture, corporatocracy, Russian
connections - why shouldn't those be the standards of American law
enforcement? It's the new American normal.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio,
TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the
Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of
America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life
magazine, and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of
Television Arts and Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work.
Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to
Reader Supported News.
e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
