Getting close to the debt ceiling cliff. Murmurs from Washington DC
Bernie Sanders, Independent Vermont Senator tells us:
“Let’s not kid ourselves, this
shutdown is not something that just came about a couple weeks ago through Ted Cruz.
This has been planned by the Koch brothers and other very, very wealthy people
from the day after Obama was re-elected.”
And why would they do that? Because they want smaller
government that they think costs them money or might have control over how they
earn their money in the first place. Government regulation? They don’t want
that. Social programs for the sick, elderly and poor? They don’t want that.
Controls against pollution of air, water and soil? They don’t want that; the
regulations would cost them too much to comply with and lessen their profits.
The Koch Brothers forget their wealth was accumulated not by
their entrepreneurial effort and risk taking. No, it was granted by earlier
generations from whom they inherited wealth. They also benefit from government
contracts. They benefited from infrastructures built at public expense. They
employ labor at artificially low wages and salaries while they have no limit on
their own income.
How much is enough? How much pain must others suffer for
their benefit? The Young Progressive Voices offered this quote:
The fact there are the ‘working
poor’ shows class warfare is real, and that the rich elite are winning.”
Students of American history will recall this theme is often
repeated. And it is today as well! Shame
on the ‘leaders’ of the nation who allow this to happen. Without the people –
working, retired, healthy or sick – their wealth amounts to nothing as the
national structure itself falls to pieces like Detroit .
Excesses eventually cause a price to high to pay even by the rich. For
by then all is lost.
Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Charlie Dent shared
these sentiments the other day:
“What he did essentially, Senator
Ted Cruz, basically, he took a lot of folks into the ditch. Now that we’re in
the ditch, you can’t get out of the ditch, the senator has no plan to get out
of the ditch, those of us who do have a plan to get out of the ditch and will
vote to get out of the ditch will then be criticized by those who put us in the
ditch in the first place.”
One can see Dent feels like a Tea Party Hostage.
Scratching our heads doesn't answer the many questions that
exist over this foolish shutdown business, unless you read the following and
truly ponder it:
“If you started a new job and a
co-worker came up to you on your first day of work and said, ‘I am going to
make it my priority to get you fired’…Do you think that would be the type of
person you could have a reasonable relationship with?
When President Obama took office,
the republicans made it clear that they were going to obstruct him and make it
their priority to make him loose his job. Now they’re saying: ‘Clinton Clinton wasn't obstructed on EVERY
initiative he brought to congress, and Clinton
Power and influence. Wealth and elitism. These are not the
trappings of political process. No. Political process is about people of
differing minds to meet and solve common problems for the benefit of the
public’s well being. Solving problems is about compromising and building
consensus. It usually takes this sort of give and take for all to have
confidence that the problems have been accurately defined, the resources have
been properly estimated, and the implementation requirements have been well
designed. This is honorable work – seeking agreement for the common good.
Who was paying attention in civics class? Indeed! Who was
not?
October 15, 2013
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