Friday, September 30, 2011

1 percent should not rule 99 percent

I think most of us agree that government is broken. At some point, probably a couple decades ago, politicians began caring more about themselves than us. And we, the voters, allowed it because life was generally OK for most of us for many years, particularly following the end of the Vietnam War and military draft. The civil rights protests went away. More and more kids were going to college. Retirees were enjoying their pensions.

But now a massive vortex has formed as the country has reached a point of division and dysfunction that we might not ever recover from. We're spinning out of control. There are no more pensions. Even Social Security is at risk.

We're at a juncture where individuals most hurt by the shenanigans of Constitution Avenue and Wall Street have exhausted all options to remain afloat, let alone thrive. Unless we unify, mobilize and get into the faces of bankers, senators and others who make up the approximately one percent of those getting rich on our pain, the lives of 99 percent of Americans will continue to spiral downward -- some slowly, some quickly depending on where you're at in the social-economic order.

While the one percent holds the power and privilege in this county, the 99 percent possess the numbers. However, if the majority continues to sit back and do nothing, or dilute and divide itself into mindless red and blue camps, then the one percent will continue to flourish at our expense.

We don't need a Tea Party, we need an informed Unity Party. We need for people to rally around groups like Occupy Together in order to send a message to those who have abused their powers that we aren't going to take it anymore. Regardless of political leanings, we as Americans should have one cause in common, and that is to stop being abused by those in power. We want our jobs back. We want a more level playing field. We don't want to make anymore sacrifices so that corporate titans can profit while we struggle to put food on the table. That isn't a political philosophy -- it's common decency. And everyone except the 1 percent should be for that.

It is the 99 percent that gives the 1 percent their power. We can also take it away if we stop allowing ourselves to be manipulated by various powerful factions that intentionally try to divide us.

Three years of unemployment and underemployment are taking an irreversible toll on the country as a whole. Roads are crumbling, families are splintering, stores are closing, tax rolls are dwindling. Eventually, the bridges that carry the trucks that bring products to market will collapse. And what will CEOs do then? Layoff more people? Is that how we're going to continue to handle this crisis, by firing capable workers? Is that really the best Corporate America and government can do to address a complex problem that they helped create?

Layoffs just make things worse for society, which in turn eats away at the economy and our national security. Yes, corporate profits have risen, but for how long and through what means? Eventually the recession will catch up to these job killers, who may then realize that gutting the workforce and sitting on their wealth might not have been such a good strategy. In fact, that tactic has fueled a dark super cell -- a storm on the horizon that is so ominous that it may threaten our way of life, our freedom.

There seems to be only one way out of this. We and our elected officials need to start working together. I mean really work together, not just give lip service about it. We need to put aside our philosophical differences, reject the lobbyists/special interests groups and hit the voting booths harder than ever in order to get rid of any politician who seems unwilling to compromise or unable to think outside of the box.

We need to work for and do business with responsible employers who protect and create jobs here in America. When a lawmaker trumpets a claim, they need to back it out with facts not partisan theory and manipulation. We need to verify that tax cuts for the wealthy help create jobs. If that claim can't be supported with hard data, then politicians need to let go of it and move on. And we, the voters, need to punish any politician who clings to any false statements or perpetuates economic myths. Those falsities are a distraction. They are delaying our finding real solutions for the 99 percent of us who don't have a pile of gold stashed away or more time to waste.

The cost of not working together is our destruction. Plain and simple. If you want to cling to your bumper sticker, red and blue mentality, do so at your own peril. But if you want to force our leaders to do something for us rather than against us, you have to abandon your preconceived notions about our two political parties. You must educate yourselves and realize that most politicians do not have our best interests at heart. You must join protesters marching in New York and form your own protests at your State Houses and corporate headquarters of the most offensive companies. You must write and call your representatives. Elect governors who can govern for the people and not just take money from special interest groups. Reject anyone and everyone who doesn't stand up for workers' rights, whether those workers are unionized or not.

At this stage, the 99 percent being passive or uninformed will only make the 1 percent stronger. The 1 percent doesn't need either political party helping them. You must be willing to reinvent yourself, your views on politics and government, and not fall for the same tricks that have done nothing but weaken the 99 percent for a generation or two while right-wingers and centrists have ineffectively ruled the country. If that means swallowing a little pride and admitting your party is overrun by folks who say they are for the middle class but aren't, then open your eyes and vote them out. But at the same time, be cautious with who you're voting in. Make sure they are qualified, honest, sincere and intelligent. Examine their records and make sure they understand history. Don't elect anyone based on your emotions or their empty promises.

Look around your neighborhoods, your offices and see who is doing well and who isn't. Dig beneath the surface and don't just assume that someone who lost their job or house must have done something wrong. If you do that, you're sealing your own faith. Your pink slip will come.

Statistics show that if you're a white male over 50 years old, and get laid off, there is an increasing chance that you will never work again regardless of your credentials. Age discrimination is running rampant, which is another thing the system is supposed to prevent but doesn't because we don't do a damn thing to make sure employers aren't operating outside of the law. Apathy is killing us.

I am outraged whenever I hear politicians talking about raising the retirement age. Who exactly is going to hire or keep a 70-year-old employee these days? It sounds fine to say we're living longer than ever and need to save money on Social Security by delaying benefits, but does anyone ever think about enforcing age discrimination laws so that we can work into our senior years? Simply raising the retirement age without putting some teeth into discrimination laws is a recipe for disaster in a job market that openly excludes experienced workers. I've read a lot of job ads in the last three years, and it always astonishes me how employers aren't shy about their not wanting to give anyone over 50 a chance to even apply, let alone interview. It's a tragedy for mid-career professionals and for less experienced workers who could learn from the seasoned pros. In addition, current job seekers do not need a whole new wave of people to compete with.

Recently, I've heard some Republicans want to make job training mandatory for anyone who receives unemployment benefits. Sounds good on the surface, but surface solutions are often flawed. The real agenda of these Republicans has more to do with throwing the vulnerable overboard than it does guiding them back into employment.

Unemployment benefits are just that -- benefits earned by once-employed people. You don't qualify for them if you didn't work. So the premise that unemployment is some sort of handout is completely wrong in most instances, particularly during this recession. In addition to that, many people who get laid off have years of experience and a wide range of skills. A few months of additional training aren't going to make them anymore employable. It's another illusion promoted by intellectually challenged morons who want to place the blame on the victims of this horrible economy rather than on the culprits. Heck, in many cases it was their vast experience (and larger paychecks) that got good people canned in the first place -- usually older workers.

I resent any statement that implies that all unemployed or underemployed people must have a shortage of skills. In fact, in certain cases, unemployed people from certain professions probably have more skills, education and ethics than those who remain employed. Companies throughout this recession have been letting go of the wrong people for the wrong reasons.

While adding tools to one's toolbox isn't a bad idea in a struggling job market, it should not be mandated as a condition to receive what laid-off workers are rightfully owed. In a day and age where companies don't even have the decency to provide severance, unemployment benefits must be paid as long as those receiving the benefits can prove they are searching for work. Unemployment benefits not only help individuals, but they have been proven to boost the economy.

Why have we all -- outside of those current protesters in New York and previously Wisconsin -- become so apathetic about blatant injustice? Social, economic and institutional injustice is reaching epidemic levels. Have we somehow collectively accepted that we can't fight city hall anymore? Are we willing to voluntarily march off a cliff, clinging to our stale political beliefs right until the end, while the one percent gathers more riches and power? We should be outraged by the one percent who are picking our bones clean, practically robbing our gold fillings from our graves. Where are these people acquiring their nerve and authority to make up the rules as they go?

If you're fresh out of college, and unable to find a job, it's going to be impossible to pay back your school loans, let alone begin your quest for the "American Dream." We have always sold that dream in order to create peace and tranquility among the masses and to drive the economy. It's worked for a long time because people were able to climb the social ladder, buy a car, put food on the table and pay into the system through taxation. That just isn't the case anymore. There is no ladder to climb anymore. Young adults are getting out of college and moving in with their parents nowadays. If you don't work, you can't pay taxes, which in turn causes more economic and societal woes for everyone.

Some are seeing a connection between our disillusioned young, educated people and the youths in Egypt who recently became so disenchanted with a government that wasn't working for them that they took to the streets in full revolutionary mode.

Can that happen here?

I don't see why not. Maybe it has already started.

Chronic institutional unfairness alters social norms regardless of nationality. You want to see class warfare, wait another few years. You won't be able to go the ATM without getting mugged by someone who once paid taxes and lived a three-room rambler with a white picket fence, but is now starving on the streets because politicians couldn't put aside their differences in order to address a national crisis. Wait a few more years and things could be considerably worse. At that point, who do we blame? The politicians or the people who elected them without doing their homework?

Close-minded voters who rely only on talk radio to help them decide on a which candidate to cast a ballot for are worse than people who don't vote at all. Recent Republican primaries are driven by some of the most ill-informed people on the planet and are taking away our options in general elections. I'd like to get back to having two viable candidates to choose from in a general election. I'd like to return to the days when Corporate American didn't control our politicians and where crazies didn't make it beyond their local homeowner association boards in the political world.

We have reached the point where if we don't compromise and find lasting solutions, we will fall and fall hard. The despair, the poverty, the lack of hope will eat at the inner core of America and reduce us to a nation of have and have-nots, with the have-nots eventually rising up to create chaos that even the rich won't be able to shelter themselves from. Perhaps this is why some wealthy folks are finally coming out and pleading to have their taxes raised. Yes, raised. They can and want to help the economy, realizing that if they don't take on a fairer share of the load, they might end up with nothing, like the 50somethings, who were once vibrant, middle-class contributors to society but who are now living in their cars all across this nation. Yet, there are some leaders in Washington who ignore the pleas of the moral rich in favor of the still-greedy rich. They won't raise taxes.

It is time to shut out the extremists and the selfish and work together. The media can play a role in this by not giving any airtime to all the usual suspects who do nothing but promote themselves. We need smart, sincere people on the front pages of our newspapers. People willing and able to make a difference, not manipulators of media who flirt with their short-sighted followers through bus tours and book signings. These people are a cancer. They are not patriots. At best, they are distractions. And we can't afford anymore distractions. Time is running out.

For some victims of the last three years, it's already too late. But there are millions more who could be saved from a very bad ending if politicians, business owners and others can simply redirect their energy to rebuilding the middle class rather than tearing it down though obstructionism and partisan inaction. Politicians can't create jobs, but they can create an environment more conducive to combating joblessness. In that regard, both Republicans and Democrats have failed us miserably.

Jobs, not "Obamacare" or debt reduction or anything else, must be the central focus of Washington. Every time I hear a smoke-and-mirrors politician utter the word "Obamacare," I know they aren't serious about job creation and I won't vote for them. If you're unemployed or want to remain employable for the next decade or two, I would recommend you do the same -- vote out anyone who seems distracted by lesser issues or who doesn't back up their jobs rhetoric with action. Real action. Not speeches, not phony bills that are dead on arrival. I want to see a look of authenticity and truthfulness on the faces of our leaders in Congress. I want to feel a sense of getting along with the opposing party. Please, no more posturing.

I would like to see entire debates dedicated to one subject -- job creation. I don't need to hear anything more about fences along borders, in-state tuition for the children of illegal aliens or English as an official language. I don't need for politicians to sneak in their pet projects or warped values in the name of job creation. I want to see members of both political parties roll up their sleeves and get back to the job of getting us to work.

Everything depends on employment. Everything, including our health, the environment and our defense. We can't protect whales or feed starving children if there is no money going to organizations that do good works. This is not the time for Democrats and Republicans to come out of White House meetings with nasty comments about the other guy or to drone on about why they don't believe in science.. This is a time for unity and a sense of urgency. We have no time left to listen to Tea Party fantasies or to cater to a do-nothing establishment. We must stand together in our demand for jobs. We must turn up the volume in a variety of ways if we want to be a democracy and create a fair and optimistic nation.