Forum Post: Who Will Save the Middle Class?
Posted 11 years ago on May 30, 2012, 2:35 a.m. EST by anonwolf
(279)
from West Peoria, IL
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Great in-depth article in TAP the pretty much lays out exactly how we got here, and how fucked we really are, from the progressive perspective: http://prospect.org/article/who-will-save-middle-class
Includes some nods to the "no difference betwen the parties" people, but, well, I'll just quote:
First, we should stop lying to ourselves. The re-election of Barack Obama is a defensive imperative. But there will be no transformational second term. Any bargains between the Republican Party, owned by corporate America, and the Democratic Party, which merely rents itself out, will not reverse the existing grand bargain that preserves prosperity for Wall Street, power at the Pentagon, and austerity for the rest of us.
Vote out the anti-people politicians as fast as we are able. Keep up the pressure for change. unite in common cause. Don't opt-out but get organized to retake our Democracy.
Here are good pressure points.
PETITION: Congress must put Wall Street reform back on the agenda: http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_glasssteagall/?source=bp
Also,
PETITION: Jail the Bankers: http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_wallstreet_bankerjail/?source=bp
The middle class must save the middle class - and put this country on a healthy path forward.
The middle class. And who will save the working poor?
We all have to save ourselves. Waiting for a white knight just isn't going to happen. Time to take back what was taken from us, our self determination.
The movement is "in us", not "of us."
Agreed wholeheartedly.
But our template of what it is, is totally individual.
Here is a brand new protest song just published 5/26/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_jT015UdU&feature=youtu.be
See also:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQ1WOC9RgY
Well, our vintage is similar as is our concern.
Yes - to a degree. Ideas are offered. Some find affinity support. Some travel out to other sites. Some get adopted by people who organize. We end up with many approaches forwarding common cause. That is what is so cool.
One size doesn't fit all.
A good way to put it.
Well said. For too long we have been raising generations of people who expect others to do for them. No one wants to put in the effort or time required to achieve their goals. It is far too easy to sit back and blame everyone else.
It is, but some people achieve their goals, look around and find somebody's thumb on the scales.
Hmmm, could have gotten here sooner, could have gone further, could have enjoyed the trip more, and could have made the decision about whom to share with.
Hmmm. Kinda takes the joy out of it somehow. Wonder who is attached to that thumb. I wonder how long that thumb has been there. I wonder how many other scales have thumbs on them. I wonder who knew there were thumbs on the scales. Who do you suppose that thumb works for?
There is probably one on your scale too. How does it feel? What are you going to do about it?
For too long we have been raising generations of people who aspire to have a thumb on somebody's scale. Is this your thumb?
Here is a brand new protest song just published 5/26/2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R_jT015UdU&feature=youtu.be
See also:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTQ1WOC9RgY
Vote out the anti-people politicians as fast as we are able. Keep up the pressure for change. unite in common cause. Don't opt-out but get organized to retake our Democracy.
Here are good pressure points.
PETITION: Congress must put Wall Street reform back on the agenda: http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_glasssteagall/?source=bp
Also,
PETITION: Jail the Bankers: http://act.boldprogressives.org/sign/sign_wallstreet_bankerjail/?source=bp
The middle class must save the middle class - and put this country on a healthy path forward.
The working poor must save the working poor - and put this country on a healthy path forward.
The Middle class & the working poor - working together - can save this country.
Unite in common cause.
Correct answers. Go to the head of the class.
No the teacher always calls on you for answers and you can't mess around with the other kids. {:-])
And no passing notes.
No shooting spit-balls out of the body of your pen.
And, that is why we aren't having any fun and are walking around with long faces.
OH - I don't know. Refuting BS posted by pro-status-quo blind marchers can be fun.
Since they can't collapse comments anymore they have to try to confront - and then they have a tendency to self destruct - it can be good fun to watch as well as educational for others.
I don't know if this will work but you aren't supposed to cut and paste, so try this link to one of my comments. http://occupywallst.org/forum/do-you-think-anarchist-are-hurting-the-occupy-move/#comment-749514
Didn't seem to work for me so: \There aren't templates that exactly fit any group. We all stereotype people into groups and ourselves into groups as well, because that has always been the multiplier and, ironically, the divider at the same time.
We want to know others without fully revealing ourselves and this is made obvious here, as much or more than anywhere else. We hide behind our aliases, some more than others, and we experiment with ideas and positions that we might like to adopt without taking any risk. Ridicule by others, witnessed by still other, other's that stick with us for some time, is something we all like to avoid.
But it also wastes a lot of time, and it makes it really difficult to judge the level of support for positions. The number of people actually participating here is pretty small. The mods have the real numbers, I am sure, but most of us don't. One question is, do the participants here have significant influence on the 99%? How about on the OWS piece (there is obviously a lot of people who protest that aren't card carrying (as they sued to say) members of the OWS). Probably not much influence on either, but we wish that we did.
So, it is predictable that there are those who want to position themselves as speaking for the whole group, or as big a slice as anyone will swallow. And there are the purists who are trying to put pressure on people to accept their particular philosophical slice in order to stay in the boat.
For some of us this isn't our first rodeo, so being stampeded into being led by some teenaged firebrand to act like a mob isn't likely to happen. Nice try kids.
I think it is about time for this movement to notice what isn't working and what is, or if nothing is, to try some new tactics. I don't think after this much (what could politely be called) discussion, the people who are buzzing around this particular light bulb are likely to change their positions very much. We are all milling around and until someone states clearly what they are going to do and starts doing it, this is going to be a "static" rather than a movement. Splintering is not only inevitable, but necessary and a good thing. I have watched Canada geese, and they do this a lot (splintering and recombining) before a flock is formed and a migration happens. Not interested in learning from geese? OK, pick another metaphor. When you look back and don't see anyone, it is hard to call it a parade.
Throwing rocks and such, doesn't seem to be gathering any momentum, thankfully. So, what is next? Hey, don't look at me. I'm just a private.
I like the Canadian geese metaphor. I, too, have watched them and flocks of ducks as they take off from the water, rise into the sky, then drift apart, only to gracefully fly back into formation. It is a breathtaking sight and should teach us a good lesson that as much as we (who support the workers) drift apart, we still should come back together again if we want to remain a strong unit capable of going the distance.
I may disagree with a lot of people on the forum, especially the partisans, but--will say to their credit--I am keeping a much closer eye on the presidential campaign. If things still look tight in September, I will register and vote, if for nothing else but to defeat the GOP. Paul Ryan convinced me of that.
I am told they are Canada geese not Canadian geese although some of them are Canadian Canada geese.
Another thing we could learn from them is that one stays at the point of the vee for a short time then yields to another to break the wind for the rest.
I have been to that linked post. I have made a couple of comments there. I have also in other posts made comments to show common purpose goals ideals that are shared by all.
Arguing party politics, social leanings, left, right, center, conservative liberal etc etc etc etc - all of that stuff is not helpful.
Pointing out benefits for all in supporting issues is a way towards finding common ground and in forming consensus and unity.
This is what I try to do - sometimes more successfully than others.
Push issues.
Find common ground.
Unite.
Health and Prosperity for all.
Roger
no one will save the middle class. the plan is to turn america into a third world country.. only the rich and the poor. this is why the government is slowly trying to eliminate aid to the poor,, cause it is going to be the biggest expense on the books soon and they would rather let the citizens eat out of the rich mans dumpster than stop the rich man from destroying the economy.
The middle class will be fine, it is the working class that we need to save. I noticed this distinction recently, and found it quite interesting. The 'middle class' once referred to those that did not depend on another for a "JOB",. those that had a shop; a baker, a barber, a blacksmith. They had the 'means of production' but not a factory or a plantation like the capitalist class. Whereas the working class is all the rest that need a job working for some one else (middle or upper class). What I find interesting is how in modern usage we all want to be in the 'middle class' in fact most 'workers' will call themselves this,. however it is not the case. It does not have anything to do with income level,. if you work for another, you are in the "working class" not the "middle class".
Sorry for the semantics, I just found this distinction interesting and perhaps important.
It is easier to cross a river when someone has built a bridge half way across.
Resurrect FDR?... or at least his policies.
Yep - National works programs designed to employe while making our infrastructure better stronger cleaner more flexible. Government money buying products, materials and services from American businesses of all sizes and not from the favored few profiteering corporations.
Set-up green tech. powered water filtration and piping to help areas with industrial polluted ground water. As well as drought stricken areas.
Use power company tax money as well as fossil fuel profits to set-up non-profit green tech. power plants.
I am sure there are other similar projects that can be done in the same manner.
Continuous Country ( USA ) Process Improvement.
I'm with you except for the term "green tech". We aren't going to do much with solar panels and windmills.
This is more what I had in mind.
Green Tech.
This is where we should be going: Green Energy we have the technology we just need to use it. This is what I am talking about. A clean future to be implemented NOW!
http://www.hopewellproject.org/
http://ecat.com/
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/all/1
FuelCell Energy http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/progress_alerts.cfm/pa_id=600
Now that's good green tech!
Ay-yup. That power plant opened in Orange County is really quite cool.
Thanks for the article! Here's some indide info from Catherine Austin Fitts, who tells us exactly why its happening from her experience as Assistant Secretary of Housing during George H.W. Bush. No-one else has come out with first hand information like this. She should run for president!
http://occupywallst.org/forum/assistant-sec-of-housing-catherine-austin-fitts-bl/
screw the middle class, both the middle and the upper classes are screwing the poor. Name one thing the middle class has done for the lower class ? dont they charge them rent when they should be selling them a home? Hypocrates
Prosperous middle class taxpaying people trend Republican. We need to reduce the middle class to a bare subsistence level to ensure they continue to vote Democratic. We need to make the middle class tax consumers, not tax payers.
It's important we continue to reduce opportunity, restrict economic growth and keep energy costs high to reduce this potential Republican voting bloc. As the despicable Grover Nyquist once said about government we can say about the middle class; "make it small enough to drown in a bath tub".