Plutocracy, Not Democracy

As predicted, I have calmed down or at least my anger has changed to frustration. I am not going to be negative, I am not just going say “the United States sucks” and be done with it. The way this country is works for a lot of people, it simply doesn’t work for me and maybe it doesn’t work for you, as well. Being negative isn’t going to change things, it only diminishes our own lives.

The reality is that I will live here the rest of my life; part of it is not wanting to abandon my parents, part is that I don’t have what most countries look for in an immigrant. I will find people and places, in the United States, where I feel comfortable and life works. I am not comfortable with the pace of life in this country, I do not care about a career where I make a lot of money, I don’t need a newer SUV, large house, power boat, whatever, and I feel very fortunate for that.

I think a problem that a lot of people have, Red Folks and Blue Folks, is that they believe that we live in a democracy when we actually live in a plutocracy. The majority of our “representatives” are very wealthy, sometimes they start out that way, sometimes they become that way in office—

And you think they’re going to tax the wealthy?

Do you actually believe they are going to fairly tax the businesses they own stock in?

In this country, there is not equal time for all the parties, only Democrats and Republicans get on the networks and are covered in the news. Until the Republicians became a cult of personality in the past six years, both parties were selling the same product in different packaging to the different demographics. Normally I’d say voting isn’t the way to change things, but now I’d say voting Blue is the only way to stem the Red tide. I do not like the Democrats, but moreso I do not like what the Republicans have become, a sort of craven ghoul stripping the rights of women and lurching through the world without a shred of compassion. And, in the interest of equal time, I am at odds with my fellow Progressives with their embracing of Cancel Culture and bickering over gender labels and labels related to sexuality when all the energy needs to be spent making this country and the world a livable place; not a better place, a livable one. We are not unified like the Red Folks, they have the same talking points, they are a lot more monocultural, and that could land Illiterate Mussolini back in the White House in 2024. My Progressive friends think that particular ghoul will be punished or banished from the Republican Party, they are incredibly niave.

Enough negative shit, what do we do? Understand this, you don’t change the world with a vote. I think voting Blue is critical at this time, but it’s a band aid. For real change, you follow the money. Our culture is all about money, it is the real power in the first world. The War on Terror was all about making money. We’re sending billions in arms to Ukraine not out of altruism, but it makes the makers of armaments insane amounts of money. If all of us spent half as much money on gas, say a hundred-fifty million of us, how do you think that would affect the oil companies? If we took our money out of big banks and moved it to independent credit unions what would that do? What if we stopped going to big box stores like Wal Mart? You commit to such actions, you get the attention of the corporate entities that actually run the world. When you get their attention, you can make demands.

At this time, we are moving deeper into a recession. It will last for awhile, and then the “money geniuses” will pull us out of it be it in months or years. Each time, you and I lose something, the purchasing power of the scant dollars us working people take home. My parents bought their first home at ages 21 and 22 on a single income (my father was a social worker at the time). You can’t do that now. Hell, even two people with good jobs struggle to keep up with the mortage or rent—

And it’s going to get tighter for us working people.

So, what can we do?

The first thing is to shake the misconception that we are a Democracy, it’så all about money; you can wave picket signs and yell in outrage and vote but to really change things you have to fuck with the money, that’s the way to get Their attention...