The battle is about power and economics

[Two Americas]

The truth about politics is hidden from us by the political circus and the horse race and the so-called “cultural wars,” and we Democrats have lost sight of where the true political battle lines are. We have been fooled, as much or even more so than our misguided Fox-watching Republican-voting neighbors, because we should know better and we should hold ourselves to a higher set of standards. “To whom much is given - much is expected. “

The real battle is about power and economics - wealth and power, who has them and who does not and why and how it is that way. Compared to that, everything else is trivial and transient. We all know this - we know that money buys justice, we know that the wealthy still enjoy the protections written into the Constitution, we know that money runs every aspect of our lives. We see irrefutable evidence of this every day, all around us. But our politics do not reflect that obvious reality, that "he who owns the gold rules" has replaced the Golden Rule. This internal contradiction between what we know to be true, and what we say and promote politically - which affects almost all Democrats to some extent—is the source of our frustrations and our relative weakness as compared to the days of the party's greatest success.

Politics has always been about power and economics, not values or personal preferences.

The greatest success of the right wing propagandists has been to re-define politics in such a a way that they always favor entrenched wealth and power, always defend the few at the expense of the many.

It is not those who have been duped into voting Republican who have been the most important targets of the right wing propaganda, it is us. We have allowed ourselves be defined by them, we have let politics be re-defined, and we are now forced to operate in a context that makes it virtually impossible for us to win. We see ourselves as the mirror image opposite of whatever lunatic idiocy they come up with—a caricature of “liberals” always as defined by the opposition.

But most importantly, the issues of power and economics have been erased from the political landscape. Since the Democratic party has traditionally stood for the poor and the powerless, in opposition to the Republicans who stand for the wealthy and powerful, the Democratic party has been erased from the political landscape, or at the very least rendered weak and irrelevant.

The Republicans are fighting - and fighting very hard and very effectively - to advance the interests, the needs and desires of the wealthy and powerful few. They don't care about the cultural war issues - those are all tricks to divide and conquer the people. Don't people realize that the super-wealthy are completely tolerant of minorities and GLBT people from their own upper crust circles? That the women have power and freedom? That they all eat organic and buy green? That the women have access to abortion? That they don't carry guns and are very much opposed to gun violence? That they have wonderful health care? That they have no fear from the authorities? That the Bill of Rights is intact for them?

It is to poor people that all of those rights and freedoms and privilege are to be denied. It has nothing to do with "values" or "lifestyle choices" or any of the rest of the nonsense that the right wingers have lured us into battling over with them.

We are being suckered. The reason we don't have more success is because we are not even on the right battlefield. If we can be fooled - and we are so easily fooled - into thinking that half of our fellow working class struggling friends and neighbors are really the enemy, that distracts us from seeing who our real tormentors are, and it cripples us politically.

Why is poverty so important for us? For the same reason that super-wealth is so important to the opposition. All of us a re a lot closer to being homeless than the $250,000 a year Republican voter is to the super-wealthy who control virtually every aspect of our lives now. That is where the battle lines are, not over the cultural war issues.

Every single liberal and progressive cause could be effortlessly advanced within a context of fighting for economic justice. In the absence of that context, all of the liberal and progressive causes will be stalled indefinitely. And meanwhile, as we play out the role assigned us by the right wing, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. That is the true goal of the Republican party, and it is the root cause of every single social problem we are fighting.

Power and economics—that is what politics is about. The people know that, The opposition knows that. We are the only ones who are confused, because we have all of our bright shiny and righteous causes to distract us. Once we get clear about that, we will be able sweep the right wing from power once and for all.

[thunder rising]

1. Did you think of this in '04 and thought to write it now?

[Two Americas]

9. 1965

I first started thinking about this in 1965. As it was for so many of us, the Reagan phenomenon was alarming, but the pressure of making a living and the collapsing left forced us to choose between activism and taking care of ourselves and we hoped for better days. The left was growing weaker and weaker and becoming more and more compromised and co-opted. Activism became more and more difficult, and seemed more and more irrelevant. We hoped that it would all pass, and were oblivious to the ever-growing strength of the right wing and the increasing sophistication of their propaganda efforts. When Clinton was elected, we were lulled into believing that the storm had passed. But all through the Clinton administration, the right grew in power and there were fewer and fewer Democrats willing to fight it.

By the time of the 2000 campaign, I was arguing with Democrats that we were not accurately identifying the threat that was approaching, that it was not politics as usual. I have an email exchange from back then that I had with a Democratic party campaign strategist. I told her that there was big trouble ahead beyond out wildest imagination, that we were going to be flattened if we didn't face the reality and start building public support for the fight to come. She argued that things were fine, and that it was just politics as usual and that all we needed to focus on was getting Gore elected. She asked me what the great danger was that I saw coming. I said "think stolen elections, the Constitution in shreds, endless war, massive domestic catastrophes, think complete corruption of the government, massive debt, the economy destroyed. The people around Bush are ruthless and tyrannical and will stop at nothing, and if we don't wake up and start fighting them now, they will succeed. They are planning nothing less than a coup. They have been perfecting their plans for years, and they are not even hiding their plans very well." Of course I was dismissed as a crackpot.

Now here we are, with many Democrats still unwilling to see the truth and still not ready to fight back.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Glad you made your own thread with this

What we need to do is to remember there are more of us poor folks than of those rich folks. This needs to be made into a pamphlet form and distributed. When the masses realize that all they have to do is unite to lose their chains......

[catmandu57]

12. Exactly

There are a hell of a lot more of us, and that ought to scare the shit out of the piggies. They have to balance things very delicately if they get too heavy handed then the unwashed masses will rise up, on the other hand if they can keep us distracted and placated just enough, then they'll stay fat and happy.
I have a feeling that the balance beam is tipping out of control right now.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. If Americans were like the French population

who get out and demonstrate when they are ticked off, our government would be a whole lot different than it is today. Somehow we've forgotten the Bonus Marchers and the like from our past. If economic times get hard, though, we may see people in the streets again.

[Two Americas]

17. the disconnection

There is a disconnection between the intellectuals of the left and the general public here, especially the blue collar folks, that it not so true in France. By intellectuals, I mean political writers, speakers and thinkers - us.

It is easy to look at the people, and think that the fault is with the audience and not with us. "If only they were more like us" we think. So delusional. Why is it not the case that we should be more like janitors or truck drivers - what makes us special? We have a different skill set, but of what value is that skill set if it is not placed in the service of the greater good? Toilet scrubbers are contributing. Are we? They scrub our toilets no matter how arrogant and elitist we are, no matter what we may be contributing to the betterment of society. Why is it that we think we can we pass judgment on them for their lack of political sophistication? Do we really think that having better ideas, or more knowledge, is of any value to anyone?

I say that we have failed the people, not that the people have failed us. It is our responsibility to communicate political ideas in such a way that people can understand and act on them.

We are in charge of the national political discussion. We develop the narrative. We communicate it to people. The audience we have—the people—is no less educated, no more ignorant or stupid than any other population at any other time, and that never stopped political action from happening in the past. What is different about modern America is not the people, it is the political agitators and activists, the intellectuals on the left.

We are at fault, but the good news about that is that we can change that. The task that we presume to have—making some massive and radical overhaul of the beliefs of millions of people—is an impossible one. That is no accident. That is precisely how we have been turned into the house Negroes of modern American society—shilling for the master rather than for our brothers and sisters in the field. This false distinction—the smart ones and the dumb ones—may be good for flattering ourselves, but it leads to paralysis and inaction.

If we are so smart, how come we can’t talk plainly and clearly about the truth to our fellow working class people in a way that is understandable to them? If we are so smart, then how come almost all blue collar people perfectly understand class struggle, yet we fear it and avoid talking about it?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

26. The problem isn't talking to the masses-it is listening to them

It is easy to assume a lot about working stiffs-the guy that went to work in the factory right out of high school and who has lived in the same town all his life. But if you listen to his story, you find out he is thoughtful about a lot of things--there are things he values, things he knows are trash, and things he wants for his children.

Tip O'Neal said "All politics is local." This is very true. When I talk about the Iraq War to folks, I talk in personal terms rather than general ones. "Is it fair that your neighbor who is in the Guard now is deployed again and again overseas? That's not what he signed up for, you know. Yeah, like you I donated so that he could have body armor. Doesn't it seem strange that the government isn't paying for that, what with these no-bid contracts?"

I find it heartening now that my co-working stiffs have seen through the sham of the tax incentives. We're all worrying, because the housing crunch has put our jobs on the line--its the slowest it has been in the seven years since I've worked for this outfit. Interestingly enough, we're all in survival mode. We all have paid off mortgages and no credit card debt. But how do we go from singular, survivalist thinking to cooperative thinking of the masses?

[Two Americas]

32. excellent point

You make a good point there ayeshahaqqiqa.

We don't listen. We talk and we talk at people.

I had an experience a couple of years ago that relates to this. I was talking to a farmer, long time strong leftist, about the occupation of Iraq. He said that no one was more opposed to what they were doing in Iraq (note that he said "they" when referring to the actions of the rulers, not "we" as so many educated activists do, thereby unwittingly revealing their identification with the ruling class) but that he would never put up an anti-war sign on his property.

I asked why, and found his answer to be extremely interesting. He said that his farming neighbors had a couple of kids over there serving, and he would never want to suggest or imply that he didn't honor their service and sacrifice. He told me about all of the times they had been there for him when he was in a pinch, how long their family had been tending that land, and how much they contributed to the community and how committed they were to farming and to helping out their neighbors. What he would do, and did do, was to set down with them over coffee at the kitchen table and express his thoughts about the occupation of Iraq.

That conversation I had with him goes right to the heart of the disconnection and miscommunication between activists for the Democratic party and liberal causes - largely educated, suburban and fairly well off - and the every day people who are doing the real work to keep the society running.

Many working class people (we intellectuals are working class too, we have just been bribed into the service of the wealthy and powerful with status and money and we think we are in the "middle" or something) see the battle between the liberals and conservatives as a feud between two factions of the aristocracy, mostly about issues of fashion and taste and preferences and lifestyles, and they don't think either group of arrogant and pampered princes cares about them.

[countryjake]

27. As a toilet scrubber, I thank you heartily for pointing this out!

[asdjrocky]

3. One hell of a first post TA, where do I join up?

[Seabiscuit]

13. I'll second that emotion!

[Two Americas]

18. we are it

We are it Rocky. The Edwards campaign has brought us together, and we move forward from here whatever happens.

[asdjrocky]

21. Someone else has alwasys been "it."

So what's next?

[Two Americas]

33. what's next?

Nothing. People won't "go there." All of their hopes are tied up in a candidate, and should that candidate win or lose, there is no next step. People draw a complete blank when asked this question, as though all possible alternatives have been erased from their minds, and as though they lack any imagination and creativity.

We have been thoroughly trained to think that there are no alternatives, there are no next steps, there is no way to ever effect social change. People won't seriously and creatively discuss "what's next" let alone do anything. It is too scary to contemplate, it takes too much courage, it implies too much risk.

One of the reasons that I was attracted to the Edwards campaign had nothing to do with the candidate himself, but rather the discussion going on among his followers. I see a glimmer of hope there that his followers may be prepared to seriously think in terms of "what's next?" We shall see how serious, sincere, and committed we are soon.

[iris5426]

4. K & R!!

:kick:

[Democrats_win]

5. In 2001 Paul Krugman said that this was all about how to split the economic pie.

It's ok to remind people what it's all about. The Krugman article was in the NYTimes magazine and he told the truth as bush give the rich a bigger slice of pie. His most recent article talks about how the new economic "stimulus" package will not benefit the people who need it and who would spend it to stop the Republican recession.

[TahitiNut]

6. Exactly. It's been plain for 15-20 years.

[juno jones]

7. K&R

Well said.

[NGinpa]

8. Easier said that done

If we can be fooled - and we are so easily fooled - into thinking that half of our fellow working class struggling friends and neighbors are really the enemy, that distracts us from seeing who our real tormentors are, and it cripples us politically.

The question is not that they are the enemy, but why they are the ones being fooled by the wealthy few into voting the way these wealthy elite wants them to. Are they stupid, brainwashed, or just confused?? For those of us who do see what is happening, it is very painful to see so many of our economic brethren falling for all this crap and shooting themselves endlessly in the economic head. Why why why does it happen? Is our message unclear or just not getting through?

[Two Americas]

10. I do not blame the people

I blame us. Blaming the people is tantamount to surrendering and denying our own failures and giving up any power we could have to influence the national political discussion. If we recognize that it is we who have failed, there is hope. If we shrug our shoulders and wait for the general public to become enlightened somehow as a prerequisite to doing anything, we are stalled and powerless.

Virtually no one is speaking for and fighting for the weak, the unfortunate, the left behind, the forgotten, the poor. If we were, I believe that the people would be behind us by the millions.

The everyday blue collar people know that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and they know that the two are connected. They know that our foreign policy is based on "the rich man's war and the poor man's fight." They know that the wealthy and powerful few call all the shots, and that the rest of us are losing ground. They don't see Democrats as on their side on any of that, and who can blame them? Where is that message being strongly and unambiguously spoken by Democrats? I have worked and traveled for decades in the poorest areas all over the country, and no anti-poverty message from the Democratic party reaches anyone there, and I never see any Democratic party or liberal activists there.

The job of reaching the people with the traditional Democratic party message may be difficult, but I would submit with absolute confidence that we have not even been trying.

The opposition wants us to believe that the people must be changed before anything can change. They know that paralyzes and stymies us, and silences us. It is a lie.

[Gloria]

11. And how are the two "leaders" addressing this???

By being in bed with corporations who are bleeding us to death.

[Two Americas]

16. not to be too hard on them

They are reaching for the tools that they think will work - appealing to people's better nature, which is fine, but is no substitute for reforming a system that is exploitative; calling for hope, which is fine but is no replacement for clarity; touting their competency and experience at managing the machinery of government to tweak it and mitigate the effects of the exploitation in minor ways; avoiding unpleasant confrontation; trying to please two masters - the wealthy and powerful upon who they are dependent, and the people; looking for the mythical "middle," and seeking easy solutions.

I don't think that the Democratic party leaders are evil people, I think they are using failed approaches and operating under the handicap of self-defeating premises.

[saracat]

15. k and R Great OP!

[OneGrassRoot]

19. Bravo, Two Americas! I agree with every single word in your OP...

and in each response you provided.

K&R!

:patriot:

[NastyRiffraff]

20. You nailed it!

This has been rattling around my head for years...why do people vote against their own self interest?

The "culture wars" are by design; the rich and powerful don't give a flying fuck about gay marriage, or religion in schools, or even guns. But they know they must distract people with anything that turns their minds away from the economic divide.

Kicked, and highly recommended.

[Two Americas]

22. another error we make

I think we are wrong when we think that people should not vote against their self-interest, or are stupid for voting against their self interest. We assume that people would vote in their own self-interest, if only they were smarter about this and could see where their self-interest lies.

We have this all backwards. The Democratic party is not supposed to be about people voting in their own self interest, it is supposed to be about voting in everyone's interest. People do not want to vote in their own self interest. They want to vote for what is best for everyone, what is fair, what is right, what is principled and inspires them. When we try to appeal to people's self interest, we surrender the field of higher social purpose to the Republicans, and they fill that vacuum.

Why do people vote for "get the government off our backs" freedom, and for "patriotism" and the rest of the Republican program? Because the Democrats are not even competing on that field - on the field of intangibles, of principles and ideals.

If we started competing on that field, we would beat the Republicans every time. But "we will raise minimum wage because we know that is all you are interested in - your wallet" will never compete with "spreading democracy" or "liberating Iraq" or "protecting the homeland" no matter how phony and dishonest those claims by the Republicans are. We leave the door wide open for the Republicans when we refuse to strongly stand for the traditional principles and ideals of the Democratic party.

Looking out primarily for our own self interest is the Republican idea. Looking out for your neighbor is the Democratic way to look at things.

[AdHocSolver]

24. Democrats, party leaders and rank-and-file alike, have bought the right-wing talking points.

To most Americans, "patriotism" is all about how much foreign "ass" can we kick. The fact that the U.S. destroyed a society that was no threat to us, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to "save" them from being ruled by a "bad" dictator, and stole their main source of wealth, their oil, has not even entered into American political discourse.

Democrats and Republicans alike are guilty of ignoring the damage done to our military, the number killed and injured, for so little gain, the financial cost, the billions of dollars wasted on a war to increase the profits of a handful of Bush/Cheney crony corporations. The American people will keep on losing until they admit that this war for oil company and corporate profits is a failure for the American people, and demand that it be stopped now. This argument about how many troops to keep in Iraq for how many years "to protect the Iraqi people" is totally stupid.

This war that benefits a few is one of the main reasons the U.S. economy is going down. The offshoring of jobs is the main reason this country has such a huge trade deficit and a huge federal deficit. The corporations talk about maintaining "free trade". There is NO free trade. All our trade is controlled by and for the multinational corporations. What do people think NAFTA, WTO, IMF, and the World Bank are all about? They are agreements to PREVENT "free" trade.

Most politicians are arguing essentially over who can best maintain the same idiotic policies that brought us to this economic and social cliff.

The problem is an American electorate that refuses to understand the economics and the politics that brought us to this plight. Even on DU, many of the posts are so far from reality that it is understandable why the rest of the country can't figure out what the problems are. Americans would rather remain ignorant than actually admit that they don't understand all the empty slogans that the Republicans and Democrats alike spout.

[Two Americas]

25. yes

Democrats accept empire as a given, and accept the idea that corporate interests are identical to US interests.

[OneGrassRoot]

38. Well said...

"The problem is an American electorate that refuses to understand the economics and the politics that brought us to this plight. Even on DU, many of the posts are so far from reality that it is understandable why the rest of the country can't figure out what the problems are. Americans would rather remain ignorant than actually admit that they don't understand all the empty slogans that the Republicans and Democrats alike spout."

:thumbsup:

[Two Americas]

41. everyday people

Everyday people - all of those millions of working poor or near-poor - well know that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, they well know that the foreign adventures the rulers get involved in are "rich man's wars and poor man's fights." They know that the system is corrupt, they know that those at the top are cheating.

Therefore, I say that the people are not ignorant, are not conservative or right wing, and are not the problem or the barrier. They are way ahead of and far to the left from most activists and intellectuals in the most important and fundamental areas - those dealing with power and economics. They are not up to speed on esoteric issues of liberalism so dear to the hearts of the more fortunate and better educated, and may never be. But they would not oppose those liberal causes within a context of serious politics that dealt with economics and power, that had some relevancy to their lives.

Riding a bike rather than driving a car has no relevancy to their lives. Buying organic has no application to their lives. Saving wilderness areas has no relevancy to their lives. Fundies versus atheists has no relevancy to their lives. Gun control has no relevancy when they are hunting to put meat in their freezers so their family can eat this winter.

They can't be asked to care about perfecting lovely little suburban organic gun-free bike-riding lifestyles when they are struggling to survive, and we lose them when we speak with an upper class bias without even realizing that we are. They cannot be asked to be "against the war" when no class distinctions are made between those poor people who serve and die or are maimed and the wealthy who are causing these wars. They know it is a "rich man's war and a poor man's fight" - do we know that? What else are we asking from them? Why isn't that enough? Why don't we build on that?

Are we in fact merely one faction of the royalty, one faction of the upper class having a minor feud with another faction of the upper class over issues that are only relevant to those who are fairly well off? That is how it looks when you look from the bottom up rather than from the top down.

[smokey nj]

23. Kick!!!

[lisainmilo]

28. Great OP!

I too agree with every word and response from 2A! K&R!

[Beaverhausen]

29. Wow- great post

:hi:

[Kansas Wyatt]

30. Thank you!

Until the Democratic Party goes back to representing the poor, working poor, and working class, they will only defeat themselves with their little individual chic special interests.

Empower all or empower none.

[bvar22]

31. Moyers

"The vast inequality of this new Gilded Age didn't just happen.

Nature didn't ordain it, the market didn't require it, and Adam Smith's invisible hand doesn't sustain it.

What happened is the rich declared class war and spent what it took to win.

Not exactly a new story, of course, but the extraordinary new concentration of wealth and power created a juggernaut that makes it harder and harder for democracy to work for all.

The rich buy the laws and loopholes they want from Congress, and from the White House, they buy executive protection of their privileges.

So government winds up promoting the extremes instead of moderating them.

Look at the bill the House of Representatives recently passed to reform accounting and financial disclosure in the wake of Enron.

Despite everything we learned about the gang from Houston, the bill does not close the revolving door between accountants and their clients, nor will it prohibit accounting firms from making millions by selling consulting services to the same companies they audit.

Critics now call it the "Ken Lay Protection Act." And what happened the other day when the Senate voted on regulating energy derivatives, those mischievous devices Enron used to manipulate prices and gouge customers?

Why, Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, that old and faithful friend of Enron, managed to scuttle it.

Then there's the new farm bill that will give more than $50 billion in new subsidies to the richest and largest farms in America.

And the new energy bill that takes your tax dollars and transfers them to the richest energy companies in the country.

Remember our recent story about how Enron used stock options to avoid paying taxes in four out of the last five years?

Well, even as we talk, the White House and business lobbies, with Democratic Senator Joe Lieberman as their point man, are working to block reform of stock options.

Yes, the rich declared class war and won.

All that's left is for politics to divide up the spoils.
---Bill Moyers, commentary NOW, June 3, 2002

[Two Americas]

34. amazing isn't it bvar22?

Moyers describes very clearly what is happening. Yet we cannot get consensus here, let alone among all Democrats, about this.

"If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it.'

Abraham Lincoln

How can we be "for change" when we do not know the lay of the land, when we cannot agree on the challenge we are facing, when we don't know where the battle lines are drawn?

[bobbolink]

35. You are such an asset to DU! Much to digest!

We really need to take this further.... THIS is what the party needs to be about.

:applause:

[blindpig]

36. kick n/t

[OneGrassRoot]

37. Kick for more discussion

It's been a couple of days since I read through the above thread and original OP. But this issue has been touched upon elsewhere at DU, and I was surprised to see so many people here decry "Oh no, don't say the term 'class warfare' - we'll surely lose then!"

What's up with that? Listen, I'm all in favor of unity and equality, which is a big theme this primary season. But how can we GET to unity and equality when there is such a wide - and constantly increasing - gap between the haves and have-nots (or have-littles)?

Acknowledging the inequality of power and resources, now relegated to 1% of our society - the same people, I might add, running the Halliburtons and GEs of the world - is the first step.

No, not all rich people are "bad" or destructive, wanting to get all they can at the expense of others. No, not all corporations are bad and destructive at the expense of others, either.

But, when you have a setup where 1% of our society is controlling....EVERYTHING...from media to education to our healthcare system...there is something fundamentally wrong with the SYSTEM.

Why would anyone hesitate to acknowledge that? Why would anyone hesitate to acknowledge that, given the control many of those in power have - and given the fact that they are HUMAN - they aren't going to part with their power without a struggle?

This is a fundamental problem in our society, and I am forever at a loss as to why DUers would choose to turn a blind eye or simply hope it'll all work out through some sort of bipartisan miracle.

Other than the Internet (for now), the Powers that Be control and manipulate everything about our daily lives. They don't want the average person to THINK about these things, let alone develop the ability to DO SOMETHING about it.

Are there people here who don't feel we're living in a modern-day feudal system? There are charts and statistics galore showing the ever-increasing income disparity and the disappearance of the middle class.

Are there people here who believe we are at a point in our nation's history where negotiation can even the playing field and the 1% will graciously allow the average citizen to partake in a legitimate democratic process?


Granted, what to DO about it is another thread. But identifying the root cause of a problem is the first step.

I'm asking for those who don't believe the above to be true to please step forward and enlighten me as to why you view things differently. I'm perplexed.




:shrug:

:kick:

[blindpig]

39. Root cause?

Just a wild guess.

[OneGrassRoot]

40. Perfect pic. Thanks! n/t

[Two Americas]

42. time for the truth

"If we first know where we are and wither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it". - Abraham Lincoln

Whether you visit the neighborhoods and communities outside of suburbia, or look at the statistics, the truth about "where we are and wither we are tending" is inescapable.

About 1% of the people control most of the wealth and income, control our democracy, and control every aspect of our lives.

There are about 10% for whom the suburban dream is a reality, and the lives of these people are what are presented as "normal" as "the middle" and as "who we are." Television is full of images of this lifestyle - happy, secure, successful, clever. All of the positions and approaches - the assumptions and premises - of modern liberalism and the Democratic party are now increasingly predicated on the sensibilities and prejudices and biases of this group of people. Even these people are under stress and anxiety, and a catastrophe can sink them at any time. But they cling to the (right wing) "winner" model of making clever decisions and think that those less fortunate made the "wrong choices" or are stupid or ignorant or lazy. As good liberals we rarely voice that out loud, of course, but it is a pervasive attitude lurking below the surface.

30-40% of the people are on the edge - almost in that top 10%, and hoping to reach it, but losing ground now.

Then there are the rest of the people - invisible and forgotten and suffering. 50-60% of the people are now left out and left behind, and the crisis is growing worse every day. They are in constant danger of losing their housing, of not being able to pay for food, of losing their jobs.

Few of the people in that bottom 80-90% would ever vote Republican were the Democrats addressing the issues of economics and power.

[OneGrassRoot]

44. I have the viewpoint I do because I am very much one of the "average" people...

Perhaps the one thing that sets me apart from the average citizen is that I love to research and have the patience to do so, and I refuse to be told what to do. Like most, time is very limited, so I spend more time than I should here...reading, researching, listening, learning...because I won't accept "it's the way it's always been and the way it's always gonna be." But I don't fault others who are too tired and simply accept the status quo. I grew up around this mindset.

Like the majority of Americans, for those of us blessed to HAVE an income, it is a paycheck-to-paycheck struggle. Not a struggle as to where to place investments or where to go on vacation next, but a struggle to pay utilities and put food on the table. Due to no health insurance, divorce and subsequent bankruptcy, my story is like so many other Americans in 2008. We work 60-80 hours a week simply to exist and provide the most "normal" existence possible for our kids. I put normal in quotes because, for many kids normal means being given a Lexus on his/her 16th birthday; sadly, to the other extreme, normal is getting three decent meals a day. I, like many, are in between. Trying to feed and keep our kids healthy, maybe be able to put them in an extracurricular activity because it is necessary for their goals (not a frivolous class), but really struggle to find the time, gas money, and money for the class fees to do so.

All the talk about IRAs and retirement accounts fall on deaf ears for me. I have neither. I have no savings. I'm self-employed, so if I get sick or hurt, I'm in deep, deep shit. My credit is shot because I was forced into bankruptcy. Fortunately, I am not facing foreclosure. Yet.

I certainly care about the environment, but the discussions about buying new "green" appliances, buying hybrids, buying ANYTHING to comply with my wish to be a green citizen also fall on deaf ears. We do our part as best we can.

I'd give anything to be able to donate to a candidate(s) on a regular basis, but much consideration must be given to even a $20 expenditure.

The laser focus given here to various issues often fall on deaf eyes and ears for those of us trying to survive on a day-to-day basis.

But I do pay attention and I do care, about others as well as my own life. I take anything written or spoken in mainstream media with a very large grain of salt. The "average citizen" doesn't have the time or patience to negotiate the manipulation of the crap spewed forth daily in MSM. Everyone is doing their best to survive.

So, when I - the Average Citizen - watch the Republicans debate, my first reaction is: There is a TOTAL and COMPLETE disconnect from the average person. They are saying,"Everything is great!" The average person knows it's far from great for them.

Sadly, Huckabee says the right things in these debates, for the most part, but because I am online and look into the backgrounds and platforms of these candidates, I know that he is very dangerous and what comes across in these debates is FAR from the whole story.

When I watch the Democrats debate, for the most part I see those who acknowledge the issues of the average citizen but there still seems to be a disconnect. The plight of the average citizen should MAKE ANYONE WHO GIVES A SHIT ANGRY.

Bush saying to a woman who just said she is a single mom and works three jobs, "Isn't that great? Only in America!"

THAT SHOULD INFURIATE PEOPLE, not make them want to work WITH those who are of this mindset!!!

There is one fundamental issue that underlies just about each and every thing we rant and rave about here on a daily basis: It's the control of those who are working against our best interests. Do we differ on WHO it is that is controlling things and working against our best interests?

Two Americas is so right. This isn't a Democratic or Republican issue, white or black, male or female.

This is a power and control issue, and those with the money have always had the power and control. They have worked hard to get it, so they aren't going to part with the control willingly.

People DO know this control exists, but many just don't have the energy to really let that sink in, as they feel they have no say in the matter. They (we) are tired. I grew up in a very blue-collar steel mill environment outside of Pittsburgh, and when the lay-offs started, people just had to buckle down and try to put food on the table, never even imagining they could have a say and rise up if they banded together. That's when my revolutionary mindset took hold.

I don't want to get into specific candidates since this is GD, but the offer of hope is sooooooo attractive. "Everyone's going to be okay." That is soothing balm to so many, quite understandably. People are frankly too damn tired to fight. That's why certain people do need to fight on behalf of the majority of people, and start a groundswell.

Because, it WILL require a fight to gain authentic equality and unity. I'm doing my best to fight the good fight, but when I see informed people not seeing the NEED for this fight, it makes the struggle so much harder.

[Two Americas]

46. terrific post

That is just a great post, timeforarevolution. So many good insights there.

Notice how Huckabee and other Republicans are moving into the vacuum and talking about poverty and the have-nots? What a commentary on the state of the Democratic party, eh? We have our leaders playing it safe - and if that sorry response to the SOTU by the governor of Kansas wasn't a classic example of everything that is wrong with the party, I don't know what is - and triangulating and drifting to the right, while Republicans are moving to the left and picking up support.

[BEZERKO]

43. I don't know where to start,

so I'm just going to jump in. I drive a forklift in a warehouse, and I try to follow the academic stuff going on in politics, though with a 19mo. old son, I don't have nearly the time to keep up with it as I used to.

To start, I have to take issue with your statement that politics is "about power and economics, not values or personal preferences." I believe that is exactly wrong. Power and economics is part of the equasion, but at its center, it is about values. To focus on only the economic part of the equasion leaves a lot of people, being an atheist that would include me, in the cold. It also can stop movements. I agree with you that a lot of this stuff, "illegal aliens," "immigration reform," "faith based initiatives," "tax relief," marriage referendums, in my state there's flag referendums, etc. is just put out there to drive wedges between the different liberal constituencies. In fact, to a lot of people I work with who resent the immigrants working at our warehouse, that's what I tell them. That we all share in common the fact that we all are doing the same jobs, and the people we work for as well as corporate america are exploiting the immigrant population to get us fighting each other instead of the real "enemy," which is corporate power and greed. That being said, what unites progressives, and Democrats I hope, is the idea that we believe that government should care about people, and not only care about people, but be strong enough and responsibile enough to ACT on that care. These, empathy, responsibility, strength, are progressive values. We need to focus on those values because as progressives and Democrats, those are the values we can agree on.

I've read a lot of what you've said here, and I agree with a lot of it, especially about how people don't vote on the basis of their self-interests. That is dead on. I think voters tend to vote on the basis of answers to questions like "Who are you?" "Can I trust you?" "Do you beliee what you're saying?"

[Two Americas]

45. values

You are right - "at its center, it is about values."

I meant "values" the way many people use the word - preferences, personal choices.

Of course it is a question of values - do we value people first, or profits? Labor, or investments? Productivity, or clever manipulation? It is not a case of one versus the other so much as it is which is the priority when the two come into conflict? - as they always do and always have.

Thanks for the thoughful and insightful post. I agree with you completely.

[benEzra]

47. The wealthy have all the guns they want.

Machineguns, even, if they want them, in the hands of Blackwater types.

They just don't want the little people to have guns.

The Conservative Roots of U.S. Gun Control