History repeating itself - The Neo-Gilded Age

[bleedingheart]

The more I see blatant abuse of the GOP and our current mis-administration I can't help but think that they won't be happy until they send us back to the Gilded Age. A time where the super rich controlled the government and your job and your life. A time when the rich told you that you could be like them too...but NOT!...

My grandfather was a coalminer in Pennsylvania. My dad was born in a tent in 1919 because his dad was on strike and the strikers couldn't live in company housing...so they had the fortitude to live in tents until they got what they deserved.
My grandfather died in the later 1950's but he told my father that when people got "too soft" ..they would eventually get "soft in the head" and forget what got them to where they were...they would vote against themselves until they were back to square one. He was an uneducated immigrant but he was pretty smart.

Today my much older cousins (70-80's) all tell me that we will see another great depression and if that is what it will take for some people to see the light...well so be it.

They are all right but its so unfair. I vote, I am keenly aware of what is happening and I am so angry because it isn't fair for my family and friends to suffer.

For more information on the Gilded Age here is a great PBS link...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/gildedage.html

[Nlighten1]

1. Indeed...

history is repeating itself...again...and again...and again...sad isn't it?

[bleedingheart]

3. the willful ignorance of the people of this nation is what pisses me off

even more.

I am so sick of a TV nation full of people who worry about the sports stats and the latest dating show on TV.

If not for DU and a cadre of Democratic activists I know I would go insane.

[leftofthedial]

9. we're two of a kind, bleedingheart

My grandfather was a staunch union Democrat. How so many people can so consistently vote against their own interests for so long is baffling. And that's the minority who do vote. Most are too lazy, disaffected, and ignorant to even look up from the football game or the latest season of Survivor. I guess it's just as well, because they get what little they know from listening to RW talk radio during their drive to and from work.

I'm disgusted.

[Red_Viking]

2. We were discussing this last night

I truly believe there will be another depression in this country if we don't get the shrub and his evil minions out of the WH next year. The rich continue getting vastly richer while Joe Everyman continues losing jobs hand over fist. This is a cycle that can't continue--something has to give eventually. It also concerns me that we won't stop shipping jobs overseas and importing everything we need. This country has ceased being self-sufficient and we live off the fat of everyone else. What the hell? All it will take is a good trade embargo and we're screwed. Try getting your cheap as sh*t Wal-Mart stuff when the rest of the world decides to punish us by refusing to export to us. We're WAAAAAY too dependent on imports. Very bad idea.

My daughter is in middle school, and I don't want her growing up here. I saw a bumper sticker the other day online--"Was this a great country or what?" I weep for our future, because increasingly, I don't think we have much of one. Canada is looking better and better by the day.

Thanks for the great post--

:dem:

RV

[bleedingheart]

5. I know what your saying...but I am a fighter

and I love this country and I want my little kids to have a great life...not full of things as much as full of opportunity, education and freedom.

All of those things are being taken away from us....

The public schools are being targeted by the right so our kids are fed a diet of propoganda
Our freedoms are being limited
Our opportunities are being outsourced...

Its all sick.

[pansypoo53219]

27. if not for greenspan,

we would be in a depression right now. our staying where we are is illusury. we have had more bancrupsies. unemployment is way up. and the budget surplus is gone.
history repeats? this has been repeated since roman times and we have a Caligula right now.
instead of assasination, let's hope we have a bloodless impeachment.

[LSparkle]

4. You are so right, and it's so disgusting

because people aren't being made aware and thus aren't angry enough about it. Bill Moyers is doing a program on Now next Friday called "A Question of Fairness" that I think is going to deal with this and I can't wait. This is class warfare -- brought on by the Bushites -- but if we dare to call it for what it is, we're criticized. I'm glad Moyers is at least broaching the subject; maybe some of our candidates will pick up on it and make it a campaign issue.

[bleedingheart]

6. If they want Class Warfare I say we give them Class Warfare

but instead of being on the defensive I think we ought to be on the offensive end of it.

[snoochie]

8. Definitely

We've been too quick to withdraw from an offensive the moment we're criticized.

That lack of backbone thing again.

[BeFree]

18. Wolves to the Sheeple?

Attack? Be on the offensive?
Like wolves after the sheep?

Shouldn't be too hard to do.
Start by throwing the fear of God at 'em.
Claim the pugs are gonna end the world.
Armamgeddon and all that.

Get them to see that this may be the last chance.
The last chance for our grandkids to live in a better world.
Scream about deficits and federal spending.
Make it known how IraqaNam is a black hole for our money.
Teach them what compassionate really means.

[snoochie]

21. Should be very easy.

They like to ridicule Catholics who are pro choice... why the hell aren't we ridiculing Republicans who vote against programs that help the poor.

We should also be hammering on them daily about 9/11 and why the commission is having to fight tooth and nail to get access to information.

Hopefully the Dems are saving that for next spring, when the commission's term expires in May. Perfect timing for an onslaught of attacks about what exactly the misadministration is covering up.

[BeFree]

23. Programs for the poor

Ya mean like the lack of funds for more nurses to visit more home bound Grandmothers?

Or like the lack of price protection on prescription drugs?

How about the drying up of unemployment benefits?

All the while $87 Billion of our money is carted off to Iraq?

Yep, oughta be easy...

[Melsky]

15. I'm planning on watching this also

I really do think they are trying to turn this country into a third world country, so the super rich can buy up most of the land and basically control everything. Because it's kind of obvious that the policies in this country are not designed to benefit people. Could they really be that stupid as to think taking away living wage jobs from this country is going to help us somehow?

[bleedingheart]

17. they key was the fact that personal bankruptcies went up

while business bankruptcies went down.

The more people that suffer...the more they will wake up...and we need to be there to make sure its a positive progressive message.

The right-wing is aware of this also and they could use it to their advantage to pit groups against one another...they have been nurturing that whole "white supremacy" crap for a long time....and when people are down...they tend to go with the most reactionary thing that gets them a short term high....look at what happened to Germany in the 30's

[snoochie]

7. Most certainly we're in such an age now.

I've seen people saying this starting last year. It's already here.

However my boss says he believes that there will be more jobs next year, and that by April, bush will look like a hero. Who knows?

"The penalty for not getting involved in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

[bleedingheart]

10. Bush's friends have enough money to hire a bunch of people

before the election and then lay them off after the Real Mission is Accomplished.

[snoochie]

11. This worries me because what else are the Dems going to campaign on?

Bush is on the verge of getting out of Iraq one way or another, and you saw how quickly people forgot all about Afghanistan.

[bleedingheart]

16. I am worried also because people in this nation have the

attention span of hamsters.

The only thing we can do is keep getting the message out to people.

The Short Term Gain of Corporate America has replaced the benefit of long term investment and gains...with it has come the Short Term Attention Span syndrome of our nation.

If the news media broadcasts that jobs are on the rise...some people will take it at face value because of sheer hope.

The 2004 election is going to be brutal for whoever gets the Dem nomination. The fact that we have 9 contenders is the only reason we are getting any air time...its got negative factors as well....but if we had only one annointed candidate right now he/she would be buried in the back pages.

[snoochie]

22. Good point

One candidate would indeed be much easier for them to deal with.

It also allows much more exposure to a wider array of messages.

I was initially worried that they might LIHOP again, but with the commission still getting news because of the stonewalling, I think that would backfire BADLY.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

12. Start by calling "replacement workers" what they are

Scabs. Do you remember the old union song "Which Side Are You On?" One line goes, "Are you for the union, or are you a dirty scab?"
We Americans must decide which side we are on. Those working class folk who support the Bush/Cheney monarchy are as bad as scabs, because they undermine the rights of working men and women to have a fair shake in life.

[bleedingheart]

14. I am not in a Union but I owe what I am to them

they raised the standard of living for us all!

40 hour work week
Weekends
decent wages
etc...

[BJ]

13. Your gandfather was a seer worthy of Tiresias.

When I was still able to work I'd get so pissed at some of the guys in my union.

Why?

Because as letter carriers it was a given that the Democrats in congress were our friends and the Republican weren't. But members of my Branch (in the NALC a local's termed a branch)who were on the board and held elected positions voted Republican!

In '88 I had an argument with my steward over the merits of Bush the elder and Michael Dukakis. He was voting Republican because Bush was for the death penality! And this was after Reagan's administration tried to privatize the Postal Service!

Then following the '92 election our branch newsletter became a "hate Clinton" forum.

Right before for I had to take disability retirement our branch elected a Democratic branch president. Unfortunately he too had to retire early on disability (very few get out of letter carrying unscathed) so the reactionaries are back in control.

I know, I should have tried to change things, and had I retained my health and the Democrat remained branch president, maybe I would. As it was the reactionaries have a nutlock on the organization and they'd conned enough of the disinterested to stay in power.

I know this sounds bitter but when they get thrown out on the unemployment line by their Republican buddies in Congress and the White House, I don't want to hear their crying.

[bleedingheart]

20. many other unions have the same problem

a friend of mine is a union leader and he told me how the gun issue was used to sway votes to the right. The funny part is now the union members are watching as they are losing more ground on healthcare and pensions...all due to the right....

The Teamsters are the classic case of willful ignorance...they backed bush now that mexican drivers can help transport goods they are a bit taken aback...I send a great big DUH to the teamsters who endorsed and voted for *..

[BJ]

26. The gun issue was big in my branch.

A lot of guys liked to hunt. The NRA lie is that the Democrats will even confiscate sporting firearms, shotguns and the like.

And speaking about the Teamsters, they were salivating at the thought of all that ANWR oil.

[tom_paine]

19. Your grandfather was a prophet...

Not much else to say.

[alexwcovington]

24. Woot!

That means that there will be a neo-Progressive era!

[kentuck]

25. They do not believe the policies of Harding, Coolidge , and Hoover

were wrong. They believed by cutting the tax rates, they could bring in more revenues, etc. Just like voodoo economics. Someone posted this link the other day which has some valuable info:
http://taxhistory.tax.org/Articles/1920s.htm

[bleedingheart]

28. After reading the article what I find funny is that

Mellon felt that higher taxes would encourage cheating and therefore lower taxes would guarantee less problems...

HA!

The rich don't want to be taxed at all, in fact they keep a fleet of tax attorneys at hand to play the tax evasion game.