Robert Scheer: The Peasants Need Pitchforks

[marmar]

from truthdig:




The Peasants Need Pitchforks

Posted on Apr 5, 2011
By Robert Scheer



AP / Jason DeCrow
Protesters yell at people looking out from the windows of an AIG building in New York during a 2009 rally against government bailouts for corporations.


A “working class hero,” John Lennon told us in his song of that title, “is something to be/ Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV/ And you think you’re so clever and classless and free/ But you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see.”

The delusion of a classless America in which opportunity is equally distributed is the most effective deception perpetrated by the moneyed elite that controls all the key levers of power in what passes for our democracy. It is a myth blown away by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz in the current issue of Vanity Fair. In an article titled “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%” Stiglitz states that the top thin layer of the superwealthy controls 40 percent of all wealth in what is now the most sharply class-divided of all developed nations: “Americans have been watching protests against repressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet, in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.”

That is the harsh reality obscured by the media’s focus on celebrity gossip, sports rivalries and lotteries, situations in which the average person can pretend that he or she is plugged into the winning side. The illusion of personal power substitutes consumer sovereignty—which smartphone to purchase—for real power over the decisions that affect our lives. Even though most Americans accept that the political game is rigged, we have long assumed that the choices we make in the economic sphere as to career and home are matters that respond to our wisdom and will. But the banking tsunami that wiped out so many jobs and so much homeownership has demonstrated that most Americans have no real control over any of that, and while they suffer, the corporate rich reward themselves in direct proportion to the amount of suffering they have caused.

Instead of taxing the superrich on the bonuses dispensed by top corporations such as Exxon, Bank of America, General Electric, Chevron and Boeing, all of which managed to avoid paying any federal corporate taxes last year, the politicians of both parties in Congress are about to accede to the Republican demand that programs that help ordinary folks be cut to pay for the programs that bailed out the banks. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_peasants_need_pitchforks_20110405/

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[liberal N proud]

2. Yes we do

[Jefferson23]

3. The situation has moved far beyond disgusting, pathetic state of affairs. n/t

[snappyturtle]

4. K&R Thanks marmar! I particularly find the phrase below, insightful!

....."the corporate rich reward themselves in direct proportion to the amount of suffering they have caused." Yep.

[freshwest]

15. Yes, they are the 'supermen' clearing the world of 'parasites' for their vision of the world.

[freshwest]

16. Sorry, duplicate.

[raccoon]

5. K&R. nt

[pmorlan1]

6. Thanks for posting.

I read this one and the Stiglitz piece referenced by Scheer.

[Name removed]

7. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[txlibdem]

8. Keep bringing us the truth

Thanks for posting this.

America is suffering from a lack of social justice and a lack of income equality. There is no shortage of jobs that could be created: the wealthy are sitting on more than $2 Trillion (with a T). That's enough to hire 20 million workers and pay a salary of $50,000 a year. The wealthy like things the way they are, though, and are not going to put their money into creating any jobs.

[DBoon]

9. it was a sad day when the LA Times fired Robert Scheer

and brought in Jonah Goldberg to replace him

[chervilant]

14. Blech...

WATB Jonah Goldberg? Sprung from the loins of Lucianne Goldberg, de facto QUEEN of the WATBs?! Yet another reason I don't read that rag.

[NICO9000]

17. He's an absolute moran

The only good thing about his columns are the number of anti-Goldberg letters they publish a few days after the article runs. I rarely see anybody agreeing with him and the bulk of the letters smack him down with no problem at all.

[hobbit709]

10. Have pitchfork in shed.

Also have torch materials.

And I come from a long line of surly peasants.

[The Wizard]

11. The mass brainwashing

by our media/propaganda is Orwellian. The propaganda is extremely effective. We have become the most productive, well behaved subjects in the history of man. We're constantly told we must be at war with the bogeyman of the day or we'll lose our freedom. We're told we have the best health care in the world. We're told we have the highest living standard in the world and the list goes on.
It became apparent during the Bush reign of terror that the masses were being manipulated by the news/free press. It seemed as though the script was lifted directly from Orwell. The events of 9-11 turned the masses into frightened followers.
The Bush v. Gore Decision that officially installed the cartel was the tip off. The highly partisan Court urinated on the Constitution and no one flinched. Instead of masses in the streets, there was a well orchestrated transfer of power to a criminal cartel with no resistance. That same year the people of the Ukraine demonstrated how to overturn a rigged election. Recently the people in Muslim countries have evicted tyrants through a means that makes us uncomfortable. They got into the streets and demanded change. Hell, Americans are so cowed they won't even take some time off work to get involved in their own governance.
If everyone would stay home from work one day a week the demand for gasoline would be reduced to a point where the oil companies would have that much less to bribe legislators for favorable treatment.
With a 20% drop in revenue the government would be more responsive to the needs of the working class and less beholden to wealthy elites.
But taking off a day from work would mean Americans won't have the money to buy crap from China produced by slave labor, and most of that crap is unnecessary. We've just been brainwashed into believing that if we don't have it our lives will be unfulfilled.
The time has come to stop the relentless texting and get out in the streets.
A good start would be impeaching Justices Scalia and Thomas, but since it didn't happen when the Democrats had control of the House, that's "off the table."
We've been betrayed by our elected officials repeatedly. The thing that precipitated the unrest in the Muslim world is/was food prices. What will be the catalyst here?

[Doctor_J]

20. Yes, when we decide we really want out from under this tyranny,

the destruction of Fox "News" and a few hundred hate radio stations will be a crucial first step.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dotymed]

13. Most of the people know it is all rigged.

They complain, but most of them do not even vote. With our election system and the intelligence of the average tee vee "news" "informed", I am not sure that voting would make a large difference.
An education system that teaches you logic and reason, would. Reinstatement of THE FAIRNESS DOCTRINE, would.
But, before any of those things can happen, we must allow the Progressively (looking toward the future is all that it means) informed, to lead us and (if you are tired of this rigged system) be willing to learn from people like the Nobel Peace Prize winning economist, Joseph Stieglitz and honest forward looking politicians like Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich, who will not PROFIT from telling the truth.
We have "literacy campaigns", why not "logic campaigns" and campaigns that inform people that there are unbiased alternatives to commercial mass media?
IMO, we NEED all of these things and more. Unfortunately, it looks like before we can attain these goals, first we have to revolt. This can and should be done peacefully.
If you know it is all rigged and you really want to change the injustice in our lives, then demonstrate, or support peaceful demonstrations. Read or watch non-commercial news shows, they do not have a sponsor to answer to.
Realize the need for positive change and help in any way you can.

[olegramps]

19. The poor don't vote. That is a major problem.

Those who would profit the most, the lower paid and youth, fail to vote and thereby sacrifice their ability to actually change the situation. They, along with the working class Republicans, are actually cooperating in their enslavement, In effect that are a stumbling block to electing people who actually represent their interest when they allow a minority of oligarchs to rule their miserable lives. I see little or no hope for an resolution of the present situation as the wealth is concentrated in to the hands of the top 1%. The nation is on life support and the wealthy are crushing the life out of the nation as gasps for survival. I don't give it more than three presidential cycles unless drastic measures are taken. I don't know what it will take to wake them up from their comatose state.

[Mosaic]

18. We must move beyond capitalism

Not to anything radical like marxism, but to a socialized, regulated economy, with more cooperatively owned businesses and jobs. And we must move beyond the ancient notion of a republic, representative democracy to a real democracy. Power to the people, always.