More ruminations, rambles, rants and raves from the downhill side of the mountain.
Just so you know exactly where I stand vis-a-vis today's polarized politics, let me recommend this organization to you.
And I also recommend my gentle employer to you as well. The Barnes & Noble Affiliate Network, which seemed to have stopped working, is back in operation, so the links and banners are working again.
Now, go buy some books.
And I also recommend my gentle employer to you as well. The Barnes & Noble Affiliate Network, which seemed to have stopped working, is back in operation, so the links and banners are working again.
Now, go buy some books.
Links:
Fox Den: Creative (i.e. Fiction)Writing
A Pilgrim's Progress
Ian's Knowledge Modelling Weblog
Future Scan: Future Studies Department University of Houston at Clear Lake
PLSJ (aka Anne, the Anthropologist)
link
Lost in Transit
link
Coffee Grounds
Traveling in Style
Slacktivist Recommended with a bullet!
Hoofin To You: Bridgewater, NJ politics
Inadmissible Evidence
Big Black Van
Overflow
In Spite of Years of Silence
Metamorphosism (Mig's new blog)
Real Live Preacher
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Alas, A Blog
A Fistful of Euros
BuzzMachine
Eschaton
Pedantry
The Poor Man
Barefoot and Naked
Boing Boing
Craigblog
Fafglob
The Road to Surfdom
link
E-Mail Me
My Other Blogs, Journals and such
Fox Den: Creative (i.e. Fiction)Writing
A Pilgrim's Progress
Business/Economics/Future Studies and other Social Sciences
Ian's Knowledge Modelling Weblog
Future Scan: Future Studies Department University of Houston at Clear Lake
PLSJ (aka Anne, the Anthropologist)
link
International
Lost in Transit
link
New Jersey New York Pennsylvania and Delaware
Coffee Grounds
Traveling in Style
Slacktivist Recommended with a bullet!
Hoofin To You: Bridgewater, NJ politics
Inadmissible Evidence
Personal/General
Big Black Van
Overflow
In Spite of Years of Silence
Metamorphosism (Mig's new blog)
Real Live Preacher
Blogs with Attitude
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Alas, A Blog
A Fistful of Euros
BuzzMachine
Eschaton
Pedantry
The Poor Man
Barefoot and Naked
Boing Boing
Craigblog
Fafglob
The Road to Surfdom
link
E-Mail Me
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And finally, here are a few books I might recommend for your edification and amazement.
What's the Matter with Kansas?
Wednesday, October 30, 2002
The Middle Class in America is under attack. It is at war, whether individual members of that class know it or not, and it is losing. On the one hand, the members of what William Julius Wilson once described as "the Underclass" are demanding more and more of the pie as their right. On the other hand, the very rich, the top 1/10th of 1% of the economic pyramid, are taking an ever larger slice of the pie for themselves. That means that there is less and less of the pie left for the once lily-white middle class. It isn't taxes that are taking away the middle class lifestyle, it is the greed of the plutocrats.[Aside: I should note that not all of the super rich are greedy, rapacious bastards; there are those few, those exceptions to the rule, who still subscribe to the ideals espoused in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. Unfortunately, they are few in number.]
One of the things that has made this country as great, and as strong, as it has been, is the fact that we have always had a large, vigorous middle class. The middle class is what has provided the stability and the social mobility which, in turn, has given us a political system that has remained viable for over 200 years. However, this is all being jeopardized by the conservative push to establish a hereditary economic elite. Because that is exactly what abolishing the inheritance tax will do. Once the inheritance tax is gone, there will be nothing standing in the way of the very rich families using their wealth to create ever greater fortunes. Money, like uranium, can reach a critical mass at which point its accumulation becomes self sustaining. Removal of the inheritance tax on large fortunes (anything over 7 digits in size) threatens to establish an aristocracy in time, and that would mean the end to our Great Experiment.
Since 1980, we have had Republicans in the White House for 14 of those 22 years, and for six of the years the Republicans didn't control the White House, they did control the Congress. They have been pushing their ideology for all that time, and I think that we are beginning to see the fruits of it now. The 80s were the "me" years where greed and selfishness was no longer sanctioned by society. By the 90s, not only were greed and selfishness no longer sanctioned, they were considered appropriate behaviors. The underpinnings of our democracy, a sense of duty and a knowledge that we are all in this together, have been badly eroded. And, while there is still time, I believe, to repair this damage, the window of opportunity is not infinite.
That's it for tonight. More to come later...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005
