"What profits a man to gain the whole world if he loses his immortal soul," were the words attributed to the man Mikhail Gorbachev calls "the first socialist." For the secular, change the words "his immortal soul," to "his humanity," and it is still as great a truism as anything ever spoken.
The great contradiction of the human condition is that we are individuals who need other humans to be mentally and emotionally happy and healthy. The view of every liberal/progressive that I have ever met is that people are more important than things, and that includes wealth, power, and ideology. It doesn't make them a socialist or a Marxist. It makes them a humanist, "One who is concerned with the interests and welfare of human beings." Whether secular (like Marx), or spiritual (like myself), the end is the same: the betterment of all humanity.
It is time for the American people to take back what is, without question, rightfully ours: our government. Because it is our nation's governing bodies alone--and that includes the Federal government--at every level, that have the power rein in the plutocrats and their corporate surrogates. But it is up to We the People to dethrone the oligarchs, by voting men and women of integrity into our public offices, where they can rectify the damage that has been done.
We must at the same time no longer permit the oligarchs and their minions to divide us using the language of hate. We must remember that the Caucasian auto mechanic in Queens has more in common with the African-American auto mechanic in Harlem, than he does the Caucasian Mercedes or Lexus dealer in Manhattan.
America's obsession with wealth, tied so closely with its obsession for work, has caused a fracturing of our nation's psyche both individually and collectively. The conservatives' ideal has become that if a government program doesn't put a dollar directly in one of the elect's pockets (preferably their own), then it is not worth doing. This is a change from the days of Dwight Eisenhower, when the conservatives' ideal was to make sure that every penny that was spent was well spent. The responsibility of spending the people's money well seems to have to devolved to the liberals.
Wealth does not make a better human being, nor is the acquisition of great wealth a sign of ability or suitability to justly govern one's fellow man, any more than good looks or a great personality does. Wisdom, compassion, courage, and the desire to do what is right for the majority of the nation's people in the long term are far better guides in such an important matter. This has always been the liberals' forte.
No matter how the oligarchs' conservative rhetoric tries to paint the picture.
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
