Thinking is one of my hobbies, but here in America, thinking has fallen out of style. I’m guessing it’s because the powers that be don’t want us to know what is really going on. A functional democracy requires a thinking electorate, but thinking is optional in the United States, whereas in Europe, it’s mandatory. This may be why so many politicians are down on Europe, similar to the way flat-Earthers don’t like Neil Armstrong.
Another of my hobbies is writing essays, which is why since January I’ve been assembling news items, to write in December (with my grammatically correct wife) a summary of the year’s events. I’ve noticed three important trends that should be discussed well before then, two of which are assaults on our ability to think.
The first disturbing trend is the war being waged against the middle class. My wife claims this has been going on since the Reagan administration and reminded me of the “trickle down” theory. As documented in the book “The Betrayal of the American Dream” (Barlett and Steele, 2012), America’s prosperity was based on the creation of a middle class. That middle class is now being impoverished in favor of the ruling elite. The ruling elite includes big business and government.
Together they have rolled back the American dream so that it is accessible to only a privileged few. This trend is also widely evident elsewhere.
A good example is the Republican Party’s refusal to allow tax rates to increase for the wealthy. In the early 1950s, the top personal income tax rate was 92 percent. With deductions, no one actually paid that, but today the top tax rate is only 35 percent, and the corporate dividend tax rate is only 15 percent. Were jobs created by lowering tax rates? Given the option of looking for work in either 1952 or 2012, I think you’d want to go back to 1952.
The second trend is the increasing reliance by politicians on outlandish claims and downright lies to discredit opponents. Can you even imagine Dwight Eisenhower deigning to “spin” much less tell an untruth? One difference might be that most modern politicians start their careers as lawyers, and lawyers craft convincing stories rather than bother about the truth. There is a thin line between crafting stories and telling lies, as any married person can tell you.
Somehow, I got on the mailing list for a conservative news service. They send out warnings about Obama’s shenanigans, and so far I have received emails stating that:
1. Obama will impose martial law if Obamacare is repealed.
2. Obama is preparing to dissolve Congress.
3. Obama illegally changed the welfare requirements.
4. Obama is planning to declare martial law if it looks like he’s going to lose.
5. Obama is planning to release 30,000 drones to spy on citizens.
6. Obama burned the constitution at a secret meeting of Muslims.
OK, I admit to crafting number six, but I invite you to ponder if there is enough lying in the rest of the claims to conclude the writers are guilty of sedition.
The last trend is the growing and largely invisible grass roots response to the trends above, often evidenced better outside the U.S. For example, consider the poorest nation in South America, Bolivia. In 1999, corporate giant Bechtel, through an affiliate and with a sweetheart deal prompted by the World Bank, gained control of the water supply of Cochabamba, a city of 500,000 people. Privatization was supposed to improve water supply, but instead the terms of Bechtel’s agreement literally caused a revolt. Protest banners declared, “El agua es nuestra, carajo!” (The water is ours, damn it!) Following strikes and riots, with aid to the protesters provided by Pres. Evo Morales and the coca growers, Bechtel officials fled the country. One of the poorest countries in the world defeated one of the largest corporations on the planet.
Bolivians are just as courageous today. Recently, Bolivia’s Minister of External Affairs, David Choquehuanca, announced that the Coca-Cola Company is to be booted out of Bolivia by year’s end. He explained that Coca-Cola will be expelled on the same day that the Mayan calendar enters a new cycle, Dec. 21, the date that marks the end of capitalism and the start of a culture of life in community-based societies. Coca-Cola had no comment, but a spokeswoman for Choquehuanca, said that the minister’s remarks “were taken out of context.”
Out of context or not, I am heartened that someone had the courage to stand up against a powerful international corporation. It’s time we did that here. So I say, “Banks and mortgage brokers, be forewarned: Estas casas son nuestras, carajo!”
I think.
— Greg Wessel is an Island writer and humorist.
