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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 8/11/12

GREED, RACISM AND APATHY - The new axis of evil

Message Peter Lawlor
I almost didn't write this. I knew that for informed, thinking people, most of what I want to say is known. However I considered that if I can motivate one person to talk to a relative or a friend who is ignorant of the facts, maybe send the link to this article, or to take action of any sort to help save the tattered remnants of our democracy, it is an effort worth making. 

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Right now it may already be too late to save our democracy. 
The powerful people who pull the strings of government believe only they should decide our fate and they manipulate the ignorant, xenophobic, racist, paranoid elements of our society to act as their brownshirt foot soldiers (aka the Tea party) to push their agenda forward. They simply use the fear of un-American, brown, black, un-christian, gay "others" to supply simple targets for their hate. The fear mongers like Limbaugh and the propaganda arm of the GOP (fox news) dish up the easy lies and supply the "facts" the faithful love to hear. Much easier than actual fact checking and logic. This is how they get so many middle class and lower class whites to work against their own self interests. It would seem that anyone with a modicum of intellectual curiosity would HAVE to notice facts such as, over the past few decades the wealth gap has grown by incredible leaps and bounds, until now the top 20% control almost 90% of our wealth and it seems they would have serious reservations about supporting the obviously plutocratic agenda of the 1% and their foot soldiers, the GOP.
I mean, come on! the GOP! The same guy's who want to take away social security from your mom and dad, cut help for veterans, take away women,s rights, cut help for the poor, allow health insurance companies to continue screwing americans and drop them when they get sick...all so they can give their wealthy corporate masters more tax cuts! What sane working class person would even consider voting for these shills for the 1%?
Consider how willfully ignorant it is to ignore the fact that millions of children in america are hungry and illiterate. That millions of seniors and veterans are homeless and jobless and yet, incredibly, working class Tea party types choose to support Mitt Romney as he builds a car elevator in his latest mansion. They willingly buy the tired old lie that you can't raise taxes on the "job creators-- which is doubly hypocritical since Romney's history of vulture capitalism has cost so many american jobs and history has proved that the old "trickle down" approach has NEVER worked for anyone but the wealthy.
Lloyd Blankfein CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs may have said it best.
"After all we've been through in recent years, there's no greater privilege than watching it (the wealth gap) grow bigger and bigger each day. There may be a few naysayers who worry that if it gets any wider, the whole thing will collapse upon itself and take millions of people down with it, but I for one am willing to take that chance." Added Blankfein, "Besides, something tells me I'd probably make it out okay." 
Yeah! There's that "every man for himself" philosophy that republicans love so much.
Of course it is also important to understand that are also some in the democratic party who cater to special interests and sometimes don't have the courage to remember it is the people, not the banks or other special interests that they serve... and they need to be held accountable.
All this is nothing new. History is simply repeating itself. It's just the incredibly rapid pace which wealth transfer has taken place over the last 30 years that is so alarming. Remember the old saw, "those who don't learn from the past"? The only change is that now now the last line would be "are doomed to get screwed"!
However it is the apathetic americans that simply choose to ignore politics and that don't bother to vote or get involved in politics who may just seal the fate of our democracy. How many relatives or friends do you know that can tell you which Kardashian is involved with what pro ballplayer, but don't know what the 'citizens united' decision is? Or what it is doing to american politics. Of course they usually have an easy excuse like "they are all crooks" or "nothing I do will make any difference". Make no mistake, these are the people that MUST be reached. 
Over the past few decades the GOP (aka the 1%) has succeeded in loading our federal courts (including SCOTUS) with right wing ideologues in order to facilitate advancing their plutocratic agenda. You have only to do a bit of casual research to uncover proof like the "Citibank plutonomy memo" to find the truth. In this memo and other documents, it is made clear the main obstruction to the complete control they seek, is the "one person one vote' obstruction" which of course they are attempting to correct with their voter suppression moves" their rationale is the absurd claim it is an attempt to control (non existent) voter fraud.
If you doubt the extent of control the 1% now have over our government, consider this. Even president Obama, who I believe to be a decent, honest man, was afraid to stand against the banks. He left pretty much the same bunch of greedy crooks in charge that caused our financial meltdown under Bush. Now, when he finally tries to put a few tepid regulations in place to keep the wild west, greed is good derivative type games that crashed the economy from happening again... hundreds of millions are poured into republican coffers to beat him down. "citizens united" rears it's ugly head again.
I'm sorry but the fact that ANYONE is taking the collection of misfits, liars and racists that passes for the "new" GOP seriously, is mind numbing. I think republican David Brooks may have summed it up nicely when he said "The republican party may no longer be a normal party. It has become a clearing house for religious fanatics, Ayn Rand groupie weirdos and angry racists, driven literally mad by seeing a black man in the white house".
Consider that president Obama cooperated with the Bush plan to save the U.S. banking system (which we are told worked). He has slowly turned around the economy that the Bush and GOP led deregulation almost destroyed. This in spite of the lunatic opposition he has faced from the Tea party led republicans, including a record number of filibusters to block every attempt at recovery.  Oh btw, the president also killed public enemy #1 (which the macho flag waving conservatives couldn't do). Gave millions of americans tax breaks. Provided health coverage to millions of vulnerable americans. Saved the american auto industry and millions of jobs (when Romney wanted to let them fail) and restored our reputation around the world. Yet Romney and the republicans simply spew dishonest claims that he has failed as president and we need to go back to the trickle down policies that caused the crash in the first place. 
Oh yeah, the "fact" is our shattered economy is slowly but surely recovering, no matter what lies the republican plutocrats tell you.
When some unstable imbecile like Bachman, Rand Paul, Allen West or any of the bizarre collection of right wing liars and hypocrites accuse the president of a host of obviously untrue, vile accusations (which are immediately spread around the fox news echo chamber as fact), and begin their angry completely untrue ranting, too many in the mainstream media who pass themselves off as journalists, meekly pander to them and give power to their lies. They lack the guts to simply call a lie a lie! I mean why in hell did the mainstream media never have the guts to point out the painfully obvious fact that the field of republicans that ran for president was the most ignorant, unqualified, dishonest collection of misfits (with the exception of John Huntsman and Buddy Romer who the Teapublicans rejected) in the history of the United States? 
For the thinking people who are paying attention and have the honesty to be open to facts, those facts will inexorably lead them away from the greed, blatant cynicism and hypocrisy of the republican party. How can you vote for someone like Romney who has reversed every position and is willing to say anything to pander to the lowest elements of the far right? 
In the past few weeks the winner of the GOP presidential luny lottery, Mitt Romney has dishonestly edited the presidents words and even his own appearance before the NAACP to create ads that are in essence LIES! Even as I write this, I hear of the latest lie Romney has begun pushing. Now he is claiming that president Obama is going to remove any incentive for the unemployed to work! He claims the president just wants the lazy welfare types (racist dog whistle) to get checks without ever having to work! (see below) This is of course completely fabricated B.S. 
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Make no mistake, all the attempts by the cowardly elements of mainstream media to create a false equivalency are absurd. Romney creates obvious lies and makes things up whole cloth continually. Yet when an ad claiming Romney's company, "Bain' shipped american jobs offshore, Romney dishonestly claims those things happened while he was running the Olympic games. Of course he was still CEO and owner of the company. Still, he denies he had any control over that company. In fact, there is video of him saying that things like blind trusts are a "smoke screens" and 'common sense tells us that a CEO still calls the shots in a company he owns'. But in spite of facts, Romney whines he did not know anything and was out of the loop, and hypocritically claims president Obama is lying. Then predictably, we hear "they both do it!" From much of the mainstream media.
The tepid response of the Sunday morning political pundits when questioning conservatives about these Romney lies is usually something like "Democrats say you have quoted the president out of context", because they (the newscasters) lack the guts to simply point out the obvious truth! Then these cowardly talking heads meekly give the bellicose republicans a pass, allow them to double down on their lies and move on to a more comfortable subject. Thank god for the lone voice in the darkness of mainstream media, MSNBC.
Oh! btw"someone please tell the president to keep the predicate close to the subject, this will at least make it more obvious when he is quoted out of context. Also if you have his ear, PLEASE tell him to run the exact ad the conservatives are now running where they say- "he promised to fix the economy and create jobs"and what has he done?"... At this point cut in with the simple truth! HAD EVERY ATTEMPT TO HELP AMERICA RECOVER BLOCKED BY REPUBLICANS!  
Look, it's going to be a tough road, what with citizens united allowing a small group of billionaires (american and foreign) to spend unlimited amounts to buy elections. However it is absolutely imperative that we the people stand against this axis of evil. 
Please share this and all like messages with any uninvolved, ignorant friends and relatives. We must try to educate them to the facts because it really is nothing less than a battle for american democracy. If we lose, the apathetic bystanders who couldn't be bothered to participate in supporting our country by voting, will be just as guilty of our destruction as the greedy 1% and the ignorant brownshirt racists.  
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Love learning. Hate stupidity and intolerance. First let me say that I am not a professional writer, although I have written a couple of screenplays and even sold one some years ago. I am however a professional actor and a member of the screen (more...)
 
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