Forum Post: Having Lived and Studied Abroad, Americans are the Most Anti-American People I Know: Education, Health Care, Social Justice, Workers' Rights - You Name It
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 23, 2011, 4:44 p.m. EST by Justice4All
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It is difficult to articulate the American mindset among about 20 percent of the population; they literally think that they will, someday and somehow, become the beneficiary of 1% policies if they support them. A live dangerously now---no health care, cut my already funded social security benefits, get everyone in a trillion in debt to go to school---to somehow and someway benefit in the future is the mindset.
Similar to how the Tea Party originated as an anti-banker movement, it quickly started to advocate for (a) not taxes on the 1%, (b) removal of the "death tax," and (c) cuts in already self-funded social security benefits (despite "keep your hands off my medicare" signs).
Why do Americans support policies in banking, finance, insurance, medicine that support and sustain the 1% at their own expense?
Great question and sadly it is probably higher than 20%. I figure it is brainwashing, manipulation, not finding the correct facts to understand the reality of where we are going, not having a mind of their own and not paying attention to history lessons taught in school. History has shown what happens to empires and our own economic history reflects the same outcome when plutonomy reigns. Oh and by the way...just in case they make it to the 1% (lottery chances) they certainly don't want to pay taxes!
Right! The play the lottery people and live dangerously without health care.
I mean, We, the People, are the problem. We do not support each other or our country. We will spend trillions in Iraq - but not here. Our citizens support spending TRILLIONS on wars - but not on U.S.A. infrastructure.
It is crazy how anti-American Americans are.
They support the war machine spending policies as long as someone else pays for it too!
Exactly right! And we also pay for it through opportunity costs: when money goes to Iraq/Afghanistan/SK/Other we do not get it here.
When the banks and GE do not pay taxes, we have to make up for it in (a) inflation, (b) reduced spending on the 99%, or (c) higher taxes on us.
I know...its actually sad.
Americans need to be pro-American again. It is like they think being pro-1% is being pro-American, but the 1% are anti-American.
This.
we all have atm cards
if the money system breaks
I won't be able to slide it to get coffee
"Why do Americans support policies in banking, finance, insurance, medicine that support and sustain the 1% at their own expense?"
You assume that American citizens have a vote on these things. Congress writes the bills. Congress votes on the bills. Congress passes the bills. President signs the bills. Nowhere in there does the general public have a say, aside from protesting in futility.
And you vote for congress and the President. Unless you don't. Then it's your own fault you don't have a say.
You assume that there are, among all the candidates, worthy representatives and leaders to vote for.
Both the GOP and DEMS nominate presidential candidates. Mainstream media rarely covers candidates not affiliated with either the GOP or DEM unless those candidates can be used to upset the bipartisan race. We vote on whomever is nominated to run. We don't get to choose who runs. If you don't believe that, ask Ralph Nader.
Same with representatives and senators with local and state elections determining wins based on "groomed for" candidates and biased media coverage. All bipartisan, of course. An independent has relatively no chance of getting elected to office and only 2 serve in Congress. The GOP has 289 seats and the DEMS have 249 seats.
Beyond that, once candidates are elected, they're on their own. What they do in Congress is completely at their discretion. For instance, Rob Portman (R-OH), after meeting with lobbyists from Canton, Ohio's Gregory Industries, decided to stall talks on the Jobs Bill to push for the amendment of a few regulatory laws that govern the process of zinc-coating of guard rails, Gregory Industries' primary product, on the premise that it would save "100 jobs".
Ohio didn't vote for that kind of representation. That was paid for by Gregory Industries in a hand-shake deal with Rob Portman. Voting for strategically placed politicians is exactly like not having a say.
But, of course, you're right. We're just all living in a land where literally anyone could be president and congressional leaders. It's the masses that are blind, obviously constantly and consistently voting for "the wrong guy". Shame on the citizens for running this country into the ground by voting for corrupt politicians!
Beyond that anyway, what happens in Congress is beyond citizen control. Citizen-petitioned issues sit in committee indefinitely because they do not have priority over congressional legislation... unless there's a million-dollar briefcase involved.
See "lobbying" See "US petition system"
And, before you suggest impeachment, such an act requires legislation. Citizens do not have the right to impeach and, therefore, cannot remove an incumbent from office if he/she is deemed 'corrupt'.
Yeah, a one time vote every couple of years has HUGE sway on policy. Yep.
That is the point. The founders didn't want certain groups who temporarily gain popularity to be able to change policy for the entire country. If you don't like what your representative is doing, let them know. If everyone in the country had to vote on every single bill that comes before congress no one would have time for anything else.
wow, worse by the minute! "The founders didn't want certain groups who temporarily gain popularity" wtf is a lobbyist!!!
If a lobbying group is any good their position isn't popular for a few months (like OWS) and then goes away. Rights for minorities, artists, abused animals. These are viewpoints that maintain importance and lobbyists fight for the rights of these people. And the lobbyists still have to convince enough congress people to vote for their position, so they can't just come in and change everything cause they felt like being angry one day.
And that has bred a vacuum of power the elite aristocracy has more than happily filled. How do you hold a whole institution accountable once it has been infected and corrupted?
VOTE
LOBBY
to remove everyone currently in official position and to replace every single one of them with decent, responsible, uncorrupt individuals that would put their time for the population and not maintaining a status quo? Let me know where that vote location is and I will happily. There's no reason we should settle for anything less than a workable system.
Remember those electoral colleges.
you really are stupid. only 538 people on the planet get to vote for the Pres.
I'm sorry. I thought we graduated from high school name calling. I guess some people never grow up.
The people in the electoral college vote based on how the American public votes so you can't say there are 538 people randomly voting. Sure, you can say in this day and age it would be just as easy and better to go off of the popular vote (with modern technology to count votes etc.), but I don't see anyone protesting for that.
"Why do Americans support policies in banking, finance, insurance, medicine that support and sustain the 1% at their own expense?"
Perhaps because they've fallen under the spell of "TROLLTHINK" (Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, etc.
For more on "TROLLTHINK" - and for a good laugh - please check out :
http://occupywallst.org/forum/how-trolls-think-trollosophy-exposed/
Hey - if you dont like it here you can always move to your favorite country.