Americans see a government of, by and for the rich

[applegrove]

Americans see a government of, by and for the rich

By Harold Meyerson at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/americans-see-a-government-of-by-and-for-the-rich/2015/11/18/8c8e001a-8e19-11e5-acff-673ae92ddd2b_story.html

"SNIP..............

At first glance — and second, and third — Americans look to be marching off in two diametrically opposed directions. On immigration, Democrats and Republicans could not have more contrasting views; cities, which have become distinctly progressive bastions, are enacting a host of liberal ordinances, while the substantial number of states under Republican rule are moving well to the right of the GOP orthodoxy of just five years ago; and the federal government, its power divided between the two parties, has frozen into inaction.

Most polling tends to confirm this view of the United States as a house divided. But a new survey of our compatriots’ beliefs from the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), which queried a far larger number of respondents than typical polls, has unearthed one area of remarkable agreement: Across party lines, Americans believe that our economic system is rigged to favor the wealthy and big corporations, and that our political system is, too — so much so that by nearly a 2-to-1 margin (64 percent to 36 percent), Americans believe their “vote does not matter because of the influence that wealthy individuals and big corporations have on the electoral process.”

To be sure, the PRRI survey shows that on a host of issues, the rift between Democrats and Republicans is huge. Asked whether immigrants strengthen or burden the nation, 63 percent of Democrats said “strengthen” while 66 percent of Republicans said “burden.”

But on economic questions, anti-corporate and more economically egalitarian sentiments have been rising in both parties. Fully 86 percent of respondents cited corporate offshoring of jobs as a major cause of the nation’s economic problems, up from 74 percent in 2012. Seventy-seven percent (including 67 percent of Republicans) said that corporations were not paying a fair share of their proceeds to their employees. Seventy-nine percent (including 63 percent of Republicans) said that our economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, up from 66 percent in 2012. Seventy-six percent of Americans, including 60 percent of Republicans, favor raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. Support for requiring employers to provide paid sick leave (85 percent) and parental leave (82 percent) is massive and bipartisan.




...............SNIP"

[LonePirate]

1. And yet large numbers of Republicans want to elect a billionaire as President.

[Rex]

2. They've been clueless for decades.

There is no hope for the GOP...the best thing for them to do is disband and leave us alone.

[applegrove]

4. And even when they watch Colbert they don't catch on. Apparently many Republican former The Late

Show viewers are tuning out. If it doesn't fit the bubble they leave and stick their heads in the sand. And yet they are unhappy. Was a time Americans were proud to be American and of the power of the American Government. The GOP took that away from them too. Their lives have been dulled. The music is gone. And so are the unions. No wonder many white men in the South are dying early.

[Rex]

5. I was just discussing that issue, the crisis of hillbilly heroin and suicide increase in the south.

By the poor yet conservative white man. Been a growing trend these past few years.

[cantbeserious]

3. Know Thy Enemy - Oligarchs, Corporations, Banks And Their Media Minions And MIC Henchmen

eom

[Wilms]

6. That's why I'm voting for Bernie.

[Doctor_J]

7. This was actually PROVEN in the Princeton study a year ago

And yet our choice next year will be between an extremely conservative corporate "democrat" and a certifiably insane republican. This is why no one votes