I’ve been reading through quotes concerning racism, bigotry, and intolerance. I have come to the conclusion that we have, in the past, been in the presence of some amazingly intelligent people, able to cut through prose, propaganda, and nonsense to succinctly describe situations and solutions to the same problems we face today. We pay no more attention to them than their contemporaries did.

While the nation slept politically, we got what we thought we wanted, and it turned out to be the very last thing we needed. The United States became a three party system again.

Added to and infiltrated among the Democrats and Republicans we find that a stealthy Corporate party has descended upon the political scene.  Rather than declare themselves however, they operate by appealing to the baser nature of sitting representatives.

Turns out it is easier to buy Democrats and Republicans, then just manipulate them to do the bidding of the extreme rich and corporate interests.

We need to force them out in the open. It is much easier to know who to vote for when you know who they represent. Watch their voting records, listen to what they say, and be mindful that as a third, undeclared party they do not have the best interests of this country, or the people of this country at heart. Name them, shame them, and vote them out.

As for the minimum wage, I question why there are those that judge so harshly the efforts of others. While I would concur that the jobs performed at that level are not rocket science, they are still yet meaningful work, and performed usually, to the best of the employee’s ability. To imply that any man or woman performing to the best of their ability is unworthy of their hire I find to be petty and mean. That the companies these people work for choose to pay them as little as the law will allow is understandable. Their concern for their employees in this day and age ends at the bottom line of the company. It has, therefore fallen on us, through collective bargaining and regulation by our government to take care of each other and our heirs. This we do not do to spite our employers, but, rather to protect ourselves from greed. It would seem that we have forgotten how to help each other in our rush to help ourselves.

I had this friend, he was the tightest guy I ever knew. That man could squeeze $2 out of every quarter he ever owned. That’s just the way he ran his business too. For every downturn in profit, he implemented another cutback in expenditures. For a little bit it would work. Then the cuts would start affecting things that were essential. What was really needed was growth in profits. The only real way to save his business would have been to expand his customer base, to increase his cash flow. It never occurred to him. He just kept on cutting back, until there was no business left to cut. Closed his doors. Same thing is happening to our country under the GOP right now. They keep cutting taxes on this end, and compensating for the lack of revenue by cutting services on the other end and eventually there won’t be anything left to cut. At any point they could reverse the policies that are destroying our middle class. They could reimplement the taxes on the only segment of our country that are making money. They could go back to collecting taxes from corporations instead of subsidizing their flight from this country. Instead of killing us with the death of a thousand cuts.