49 1/2 %
This Christmas, the majority of Americans want 1) health care for all, 2) Medicare for their parents, 3) no foreign wars for oil, 4) contraception and abortion rights (for themselves), 5) freedom of speech, 6) freedom of religion, 7)decent schools, 8) clean air and water, 9) the right to an attorney if they are charged with a crime, 10) no child to go to bed hungry at night, 11) no veterans jobless and 12) no families homeless.
This Christmas, a tiny minority of Americans want 1) to collect exorbitant premiums for health insurance while delivering no actual health care, 2) to charge exorbitant amounts of money for drugs that do little or nothing to improve health, 3) to keep wages artificially depressed by keeping workers unemployed, 4) to use the power of the American military to bring “democracy” to all the world’s resources---especially its nationalized oil, 5)your home, 6)your retirement savings, 7)a reduced “bottom line” even if it means poisoning you with arsenic tainted chicken and lead tainted jewelry and ozone rich air and oil slicked water, 8)to sell you shares in a Ponzi scheme, 9) to get a government bailout when their Ponzi scheme collapses, 10) to be above the law, 11) to be even richer than they already are and 12) to dine on caviar and expensive wine while laughing at the suckers who have made it all possible.
The majority have recently been dubbed the “99%”. The minority are the other “1%”. The United States has a democratic election system in which the majority rules. Keeping that in mind, who is more likely to get the things they desire this Christmas? We all know the answer. We have known it all our lives.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why?
Yes, it has something to do with money in elections Yes, it has something to do with the corporate media. Yes, easy to hack e-voting systems are partly responsible. Yes, poll taxes and gerrymandering and flawed voter rolls and police roadblocks outside minority voting places all play a role.
But how did money get into politics? How did a handful of major corporations acquire a monopoly on the news? Why did we allow them to replace our paper ballots with paperless e-voting? If 99% of us do not want these things, then why are we stuck with them?
The answer is simple. The 49 ½% made America the way it is.
Who is the 49 ½ %? The 49 ½ % are the young people who think that they will never collect Social Security so the system should be abolished. The 49 ½% are the old folks who are afraid that universal healthcare will cut into their Medicare. The 49 ½ % are the native born who think that they would be rich if not for the immigrants. The 49 ½ % are the whites who think that they will become richer if minorities become poorer. The 49 ½ % are the petrochemical workers who want safe food but think that clean air is overrated. The 49 ½ % are the fishermen who want clean water but don’t see why we have to preserve endangered species. The 49 ½ % are those with grown kids who want to see their property taxes lowered, even if it means laying off teachers. The 49 ½ % are the heterosexuals who think that victims of sexual orientation based hate crimes “need to get over themselves.” The 49 ½ % are the able bodied workers who get up each morning and head to their jobs whether they like it or not, so why should some guy with a bad back get paid to stay at home and do nothing? The 49 ½ % are the men who get up each morning and head to work whether they like it or not, so why should some woman get paid to stay home and take care of her newborn baby?
The 49 ½% are those who work long hours in a soul numbing job which pays shitty wages with no benefits for an employer who will fire them the second they or a family member get sick----and who blame another member of the 49 ½ % for their woes.
We are all members of the 49 ½ % sometimes. I dare anyone here to boast “No, I have never fallen for divide and conquer. Not once! I have always been a proud member of the 99% all my life.” In our hearts, we all believe in the 99 %, but what matters is what we live. And too many of us continue to live as 49 ½ percenters, squabbling with other workers for the crusts that fall from the mouths of the rich, using up our energy fighting among ourselves, while the vultures circle overhead, waiting to clean up the spoils.
How will we know that we are finally living as 99 percenters instead of 49 ½ percenters? Easy. That Christmas wish list up at the top of the page will become a reality.
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