Robert Reich: America's Bullies

[babylonsister]

http://prospect.org/article/americas-bullies

America's Bullies
Robert Reich
October 2, 2018
More than ever before, November's midterms will be a contest between the bullies and the bullied.

snip//

The Kavanaugh-Ford hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27 was a window into our bullying culture.

On one side: powerful men who harass or abuse women and get away with it, privileged white men intent on entrenching their power on the Supreme Court, men vested with the power to take away a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body.

On the other: women with the courage to tell what has happened to them, to demand an end to white male privilege, and to preserve and enlarge their constitutional rights.

Dr. Ford was poised, articulate, clear, and convincing. More than that: She radiated self-assured power.

Brett Kavanaugh, by contrast, showed himself to be a vicious partisan—a Trump-like figure who feels entitled to do and say whatever he wants, who suspects left-wing plots against him, who refuses to take responsibility for his actions, and who uses emotional bullying and intimidation to get his way.

Whatever happens to Kavanaugh, a large portion of the American public will never trust him to be impartial. Many will never believe his denials of sexual harassment. Most will continue to see him as the privileged, arrogant, self-righteous person he revealed himself to be.

Which brings us to the coming midterm election.

It’s not really a contest between Democrats or Republicans, left or right. It’s a contest between the bullies and the bullied. It’s about the power of those who are rich, white, privileged, or male—or all of the above—to threaten and intimidate those who aren’t.

And it’s about the courage of the bullied to fight back.

snip//

Trump is no tribune of the people. He and his enablers in the Republican Party are working for the moneyed interests—the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson, other corporate and Wall Street chieftains—by cutting their taxes, eliminating regulations, slashing public services, and allowing them to profit off public lands, coastal waters, and privatized services.

The moneyed interests are America’s hidden bullies. They have enlarged their net worth by repressing wages (or pushing the companies they invest in to do so), and enlarged their political power through gerrymandering and suppressing votes (or pushing their political lackeys to do so).

Their capacity to bully has grown as the nation’s wealth has become concentrated in fewer hands, as the economy has become more monopolized, and as American politics has become more engulfed by big money.

It is time to fight back against the bullies. It is time to join together to reclaim economic and political power.

It begins with the midterm elections, November 6.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Well said. Thanks for posting babylonsister. nt

[Bluepinky]

2. How about a contest between right and wrong?

It’s right to treat people with respect and play by the rules, it’s wrong to lie and cheat your way through life and treat others poorly.

[dalton99a]

3. +1. It is about right and wrong

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R

And bookmarked!

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. deplorables vote for stagnant wages

The GOPers have been voting for more power to the "hidden bullies" for decades -- and railing against the results of their votes: stagnant wages, crumbling infrastructure, soaring medical costs, exported jobs. Yet they still suck in the Fox (Murdoch & background billionaires) disinformation and regurgitate it everywhere they go. More tax cuts to the wealthy, more prisons, and ten commandments in falling-down schools will solve everything.