2 big lies right at the start. club for growth is telling people that the Obama Admnistration is running pro union ads, and league of american voters is telling people that Walker's proposal includes merit pay for teachers. Niether of these claims is true.
I was in Madison this past Saturday to protest Governor Walker’s actions regarding his, and the conservatives, “reshaping” of our society. Before you ridicule me as a radical liberal, please make an effort to understand my position and the position of over a hundred thousand other Wisconsinites who were there.
We are not attention seekers or selfish. We want the best for our society, the same as you. Perhaps you believe the arguments about public unions taking too much of your money in the taxes you pay and that, for this reason, our economy is hurting. I’ve talked to many who believe this: neighbors, coworkers and even family and friends. It’s been difficult for all of us.
You are probably not rich. Most of us are NOT rich. Did you know that 400 individual people in our country own half (yes, HALF) of the wealth of all the rest of us combined? We all know that money buys power. Billions of dollars buys great power. It’s not surprising that rich people have a different view of what our country should look like than you and me. Of course it only makes sense for them to use this power to create the kind of society that benefits them the most.
Did you ever wonder what happened to anti-trust laws? You know the ones that stopped large corporations from buying other companies if it made them too big and powerful? When I was a teen I remember learning that these were called monopolies and we should be wary of them. Conservatives convinced us that we don’t need government laws like this. “Too much government”, they cried. More power for the rich.
Did you know that Wall Street speculators (gamblers) are driving up the price of gas at the pump as I write this? They will get richer and we all are paying. Did you know that in the face of record oil company profits we are still giving them money (subsidies)? Really? Yes. There are more examples of how the rich look after themselves than I have space to write. Bank CEO’s are still giving themselves 17 million dollar bonuses. What happened to our outrage over this a short time ago?
The reason I cite these examples is simply to show that the changes being forced upon us all has nothing to do with “helping” you and me. These budget changes will benefit the rich and hurt the rest of us. The result: quality education for rich peoples’ kids; management and higher paying jobs for rich peoples kids. The signpost up ahead reads “The American dream – only the rich need apply.” Yes, they may create jobs, but they won’t be the kind of jobs that many of us would really want. New jobs resulting from these changes will be low paying and disrespected. We are fast becoming a Plutocracy (government by the rich and for the rich). Please let’s not let this continue.
We are beginning to see even more “movie trailer” quality commercials attacking anyone who would oppose them in their efforts. Billionaire Koch brothers are paying for these. They are very convincing. After all, this is the expertise of corporations who market their products very successfully. Yes, it is a sort of brainwashing. Convince me that it’s not.
Did you know that Fox “News” is licensed as entertainment, not news? True. It is owned by an incredibly rich man - Rupert Murdoch (worth 6.2 billion dollars). Walter Cronkite would never have worked there. It is huge corporation and so are the other major networks. WORDS are POWER. Rush Limbaugh is worth 400 million dollars. Do you think he really cares about you and me?
Unions are the only defense we all have from the rich imposing their will on the rest of us. It’s not surprising the rich used their power to change the law regarding who could contribute to state campaigns. The result was millions of dollars spent by the likes of New York billionaire David Koch (worth 4.8 billion dollars) in our last election of Walker. This man doesn’t care about you and me. He hates small business and of course unions. Unions represent the last and only defense we all have against the rich. When they’re gone, they won’t be back. More power.
They are making it harder and harder for non-conservatives to vote. (Please investigate this for yourself.) More power.
We all need to wake up and see what’s happening. We are fast becoming a Plutocracy (government by the rich and for the rich). This kind of thing doesn’t just happen. While we have been content to live our lives the past 10 or 20 years, the rich have been working very hard to make it happen. When someone says that we don’t need big government, remember – government means ALL OF US. This isn’t what our young, fragile, experimental government was meant to become. Let’s not be pawns in their attack on OUR view of society.
Bullies ridicule to silence others. This issue is important and deserves thoughtful discussion: not name calling and hateful, sarcastic rhetoric aimed at our respected community members. And not one to be reduced to a battle between neighbors about wages and benefits. This is much bigger.
When you see impressive commercials (and you already are) consider their REAL goal. To divide us and distract us from what the elite are doing to our society right in front of our eyes. I for one am not going to buy this product. It is scary and dangerous to our way of life.
Get out of the country and go back to England!
We don't want your brand of politics here, you sycophant Tory's! Stop trying to make a monarchy of the corporate and wealthy!
must be nice to have friends in high places not to be able to go to jail take 200 million give back 87 and a half million and keep rest
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