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4.29.2003
Then Came the Dark Ages (again) William Grieder in from the Nation reads my mind! The right's unifying idea--get the government out of our lives--has broad popular appeal, at least on a sentimental level, because it represents an authentic core value in the American experience ("Don't tread on me" was a slogan in the Revolution). But the true source of its strength is the movement's fluid architecture and durability over time, not the passing personalities of Reagan-Gingrich-Bush or even the big money from business. The movement has a substantial base that believes in its ideological vision--people alarmed by cultural change or injured in some way by government intrusions, coupled with economic interests that have very strong reasons to get government off their backs--and the right has created the political mechanics that allow these disparate elements to pull together. Cosmopolitan corporate executives hold their noses and go along with Christian activists trying to stamp out "decadent" liberal culture. Fed-up working-class conservatives support business's assaults on their common enemy, liberal government, even though they may be personally injured when business objectives triumph. His article entitled, Rolling Back the 20th Century clearly articulates the grand scheme that the right wing has for America. Its not a pretty picture. Its a real loser for the working class that will see many of its entitlements destroyed and in its place will appear new institutions that require more of their ever-shrinking income. You think taxes are bad, wait till you have to pay for everything to some private business with its ever increasing demands for more profit. Most telling is the radical shift in who is paying for the government. Capital will be all but tax free while consumption taxes will fund what will surely be an ever growing military. The military spending will go to private companies that will see the profits given straight to them tax free. The same will be true of public education with public money paid out to suplement private educations for those that can afford it. This is nothing less than a wholesale income redistribution plan, only in this plan the money flows from workers to owners with unabashed glee. The CEO mentality states that the managers should receive all the benefit because of their moral superiority of being managers. In other words, the rich deserve more money because they're rich, and how could they be rich if they weren't worthy? Stated more politely by its backers, we should give the rich more money because it is, after all, the rich that invest and create jobs. Never mind the damaging effects that a small group of highly influential people will have on society and democracy. My biggest fear is the society that will come about, one in which workers will be more and more called on to engage in employment geared solely towards serving the needs of the wealthy class. Society already overwhelmingly reflects the values of the well to do. The public image of America is a thin slice of the target consumer class. All Americans have disposable income, they all take vacations, they all approach their purchase decisions based solely on preference and they all gear their lives around their material desires. | |
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