People these days, especially the Tea Party folks, are talking about "taking back our government and the American Dream." They seem to think that social programs like universal health care will destroy the American Dream. The problem is, they don't realize that the American Dream has already been eroded beyond their ability to understand it. The American Dream was always to be able to open your own business, grow it and eventually become wealthy; this was the promise of democratic capitalism. Little do most people realize that this dream is no longer available to most Americans and it is not because of "too much government" or "too much regulation" or "social programs." It is because the huge and powerful corporation owners and shareholders have skewed the business playing field to benefit them and only them.
When I was a kid in the 1960's, government regulation meant that big corporations paid 29% of all the taxes in America; now de-regulation has allowed them to pay between 0% and 5% of all taxes. Instead, small businesses now pay HIGHER taxes than big corporations. What's more, Big Oil, Big Pharma and many other big companies enjoy government "subsidies" or better words for these would be "corporate welfare." These corporations have so taken over our government that they now get the laws they want and skew things to such a degree that the American dream of owning your own business and growing it into personal wealth has fallen to the wayside.
Small businesses as a group are the largest employers in this country yet they pay the highest taxes of all businesses and are government regulated to death, literally. More small businesses fail within the first five years than ever before and the owners lose, their employees lose, we ALL lose.
When will Americans wake up and realize that it isn't Obama, socialism, government regulation, universal healthcare, or big government that is stealing their American Dream; it is the big corporations and they need to be stopped?
Most Americans are too busy fighting about things like gay marriage, abortion and prayer in schools to realize that these polarizing issues were fed to us to divide us so we won't fight to get back the American Dream from the big corporations. Divide and conquer, make people fearful with TV programs that spout doom and gloom, get people to believe in scarcity and they will fight like hungry wolves over everything. Keep them busy fighting and tearing each other down; keep them busy watching denigrating, competitive television shows so they don't see how their American Dream has been stolen from them. Anesthetize them with superfluous and mindless "entertainment" that dumbs them down and polarizes them.
How do we stop this corporate robbery? That's easier than anyone would think. We the people vote and if we gather together instead of allowing those big media and corporate folks to divide us over polarizing issues, we can rise up and vote out every incumbent in office. We can notify congress that each newly voted in senator or representative will only get six years to do the jobs we voted them in for; two to get their feet wet, two to get some work done, and two to wrap things up. After that, we elect new people and start the six years over again. We TELL each newly elected congressperson that WE are imposing TERM LIMITS on them and then we STICK TO THAT. We tell them that we impose these term limits so they spend their time getting the work done that WE want them to do instead of pandering to special interests to get re-elected. We tell them that if they still pander to corporate and special interest groups, we will not even give them six years; we will vote them out sooner. This means WE have to stop being complacent and take responsibility for keeping track of each newly elected person and re-elect them to the point that they get six years in and ONLY six years.
The next thing we can do is STOP SPENDING. Hop off the consumption conveyor belt and only buy what you absolutely need. Use recycled things (shop at thrift and used goods stores) swap things (use freecycle online for that) and get good at being careful with what you do have. Be less wasteful. If we all stop spending, yes, some more people will be left with no jobs but as we get more self sufficient at growing our own food, recycling and reusing things, living simpler, being frugal, it will hurt us less if we do lose our jobs.
Big corporations will have to hear us because we will rob them by attrition of what they value most; MONEY. Hit their bottom line and they will finally hear us roar.
If every American stopped wrapping themselves in some polarizing position and started doing this, imagine the changes we could make!
It is time for ALL of us to arise from our stupor of the past decades and work for the government we deserve and stop the corporate take over via attrition.
When I was a kid in the 1960's, government regulation meant that big corporations paid 29% of all the taxes in America; now de-regulation has allowed them to pay between 0% and 5% of all taxes. Instead, small businesses now pay HIGHER taxes than big corporations. What's more, Big Oil, Big Pharma and many other big companies enjoy government "subsidies" or better words for these would be "corporate welfare." These corporations have so taken over our government that they now get the laws they want and skew things to such a degree that the American dream of owning your own business and growing it into personal wealth has fallen to the wayside.
Small businesses as a group are the largest employers in this country yet they pay the highest taxes of all businesses and are government regulated to death, literally. More small businesses fail within the first five years than ever before and the owners lose, their employees lose, we ALL lose.
When will Americans wake up and realize that it isn't Obama, socialism, government regulation, universal healthcare, or big government that is stealing their American Dream; it is the big corporations and they need to be stopped?
Most Americans are too busy fighting about things like gay marriage, abortion and prayer in schools to realize that these polarizing issues were fed to us to divide us so we won't fight to get back the American Dream from the big corporations. Divide and conquer, make people fearful with TV programs that spout doom and gloom, get people to believe in scarcity and they will fight like hungry wolves over everything. Keep them busy fighting and tearing each other down; keep them busy watching denigrating, competitive television shows so they don't see how their American Dream has been stolen from them. Anesthetize them with superfluous and mindless "entertainment" that dumbs them down and polarizes them.
How do we stop this corporate robbery? That's easier than anyone would think. We the people vote and if we gather together instead of allowing those big media and corporate folks to divide us over polarizing issues, we can rise up and vote out every incumbent in office. We can notify congress that each newly voted in senator or representative will only get six years to do the jobs we voted them in for; two to get their feet wet, two to get some work done, and two to wrap things up. After that, we elect new people and start the six years over again. We TELL each newly elected congressperson that WE are imposing TERM LIMITS on them and then we STICK TO THAT. We tell them that we impose these term limits so they spend their time getting the work done that WE want them to do instead of pandering to special interests to get re-elected. We tell them that if they still pander to corporate and special interest groups, we will not even give them six years; we will vote them out sooner. This means WE have to stop being complacent and take responsibility for keeping track of each newly elected person and re-elect them to the point that they get six years in and ONLY six years.
The next thing we can do is STOP SPENDING. Hop off the consumption conveyor belt and only buy what you absolutely need. Use recycled things (shop at thrift and used goods stores) swap things (use freecycle online for that) and get good at being careful with what you do have. Be less wasteful. If we all stop spending, yes, some more people will be left with no jobs but as we get more self sufficient at growing our own food, recycling and reusing things, living simpler, being frugal, it will hurt us less if we do lose our jobs.
Big corporations will have to hear us because we will rob them by attrition of what they value most; MONEY. Hit their bottom line and they will finally hear us roar.
If every American stopped wrapping themselves in some polarizing position and started doing this, imagine the changes we could make!
It is time for ALL of us to arise from our stupor of the past decades and work for the government we deserve and stop the corporate take over via attrition.
