Why Republicans Are Opposed to Supporting the Poor - An Open Secret

[MineralMan]

The poor are useful to oligarchs and tyrants. During their early and mid adult years, they can be put to work for the enrichment of the ruling class. Without healthcare, of course, they will die at a younger age, relieving the ruling class of the responsibility of feeding them. Their children, at least the ones who are strong and healthy enough to survive childhood, will replace their parents as workers in due time. This cycle can be repeated again and again, providing a pool of workers whose needs can be completely ignored. There are plenty of poor workers to be exploited, and more are being created on a daily basis.

For people like many congressional office-holders, providing benefits to such poor workers and their offspring is counter-productive. That is especially true of healthcare. If the sick and sickly do not die, they must be fed and housed, so healthcare for the poor has negative consequences and interferes with enrichment.

It's also true of education. Educating poor people interferes with their involuntary obedience. Intelligence is distributed among the poor as it is in all groups of people. Educating the children of the poor creates dissatisfaction when some realize that they are being used as little more than cogs in a machine. If education is limited, there are fewer problems and the poor can still work for the rich without revolting.

This unspoken reality forms the foundation of the conservative oligarchy.

[JHan]

1. That's true for the conservative anarcho capitalists but I think it goes deeper than that..

George Will ( who I have a degree of respect for) said on the Last Word with Lawrence O Donell a couple nights ago, that socialism is "self defeating". I don't think George wants people to suffer in the streets, the problem with George and people like him is the smallness of their vision. The idea that progress is futile, best to give up on it, and that is the bedrock of conservatism - a kind of futility and fear of change. Any forward thinking idea Conservatives still hold on to is due to the influence of liberalism.

[MineralMan]

2. It does go deeper than that. You're right.

Taken to its logical conclusion, the philosophy I outlined leads to actual slavery, as we had in parts of the United States not all that long ago. In that system, workers were not only exploited, they could be eliminated when they were no longer useful or if they rebelled against their lot.

Once that system was eliminated for moral reasons, a new method of ensuring workers would be available at minimal cost was needed. That is the system I described.

Technology, however, has changed the equation somewhat. It has allowed the oligarchs to create additional wealth with fewer people, but the old system leads to a surplus of people who are not needed by the system, thanks to technological advances. This creates a problem for the oligarchy. By withdrawing more and more support for the needs of the poor, the oligarchy appears to be working toward reducing that surplus.

It's not a quick solution, but they believe it will be an eventual solution. However, if it does not work effectively, warfare is a good way to reduce the population of the poor as well. If that becomes necessary, we'll know by the escalation of warfare that required large numbers of young healthy men from the poorer classes.

Please note that I'm being descriptive, and am in no way recommending this system.

[JHan]

5. Yep some will use their randian philosophies to justify those conditions..

And they won't take responsibility for its lasting effects.

It's cute how they've tried to disown Trump as not being conservative when he's a throwback to an old type of Conservatism from the 30's, no wonder given who's advising him.

[MineralMan]

8. Trump is, in a way, the ideal President for these people.

As a stupid man, he is easily convinced that the conservative plan is the right one, so he will sign legislation created to accomplish the goals of the oligarchy. Since he has very little intellectual capacity, he can be manipulated, as needed, to enable measures designed to accomplish whatever goals have been set.

All of this is held in close confidence and not revealed to the public. The oligarchy has complete contempt for Donald Trump, but he is useful, since he will sign legislation sent to him without even understanding what that legislation accomplishes. It is an ideal environment for changes that will advance the goals of the oligarchy.

[ananda]

33. I agree about slavery.

It had already been creeping in even before 45 stole the election.

Now it will get much worse, especially through the criminal justice
system, immigration detainees, and the private prison system.

It will also show up with lower wages -- aka wage slavery -- aligned
with poor and unsafe working conditions and longer hours without
overtime pay.

It's a very ugly world we're looking at.

[Doitnow]

107. You don't have to be in chains to be a slave.

[moondust]

10. I saw that George Will segment.

I got the impression he was equating "socialism" and "centralized communism" and saying it just doesn't work. Communist style centralization may work in a fairly simplistic agricultural society but as things grow more complicated and technical over time it bogs down under the weight of all that centralized decision-making; that's largely what happened to the Soviet Union. But "socialism" doesn't have to rely on highly centralized decision-making. Too bad Lawrence didn't mention the "socialist" Scandinavian countries as modern success stories.

[JHan]

11. yes, they usually conflate the two,

either through genuine confusion or intellectual dishonesty.

The scandinavian countries are a great example of how enterprise (individualism) and socialist (collectivist) principles work hand in hand.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

63. Thanks--I was wondering what Will could have meant by "socialism doesn't work",

in the comment above.


Hmm, so this topic isn't my strong suit, probly partially cuz I don't watch any tv, including news analysis, but if even I am very much aware of the success of Scandinavian style socialism, and I have *some* small understanding of the pro-humanity socialisms of Canada and Europe, then why would it be so typical among those smarter than I to conflate socialism with Russian-style communism?


Dang, that was a long sentence. But the question is valid---if you can figure out what I'm asking. lol.

[moondust]

70. Conflating the two

was a propaganda technique used throughout the Soviet era by hard-core capitalists (owners/industrialists/Republicans) in the U.S. to tarnish socialism and try to turn uninformed/uneducated Americans against the ideas of "shared prosperity." Evil totalitarianism!!! Big gubmint!!! No freedom!!! No good!!! The "economic royalists," as FDR called them, wanted it all for themselves--as seems to be the case once again.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

98. Thanks! So I wasn't off the mark,

Just missing a lot of details.

[aggiesal]

80. Yes, it's called Democratic Socialism, ...

It is what Bernie is advocating.

Completely different from Communist Socialism in Soviet Russia or
National Socialism practiced in Germany.

It appears that George Will doesn't know the difference, or he does
know but not willing to mention it.

[moondust]

84. He's been conflating and demonizing them

for so long he couldn't stop if he tried.

[Panich52]

3. Low quality education also decreases rebellion

Remove knowledge of rights and distort historical references and populace has less chance to realize they're being exploited illegally. I've long wondered if conservative control of school boards is why Civics class has seemed to have disappeared.

[MineralMan]

6. Exactly. That is why schools in affluent communities

are so far superior to schools in poor communities. Affluent communities are home to people who are among the oligarchy, and thus should be supported. Poor communities are home to the poorly-paid labor force, so superior education is not only not desirable there, it is detrimental to the system.

So, we have a public (and private) school system designed to perpetuate the current system. As technology has increased, we have upped the ante in some schools, increasing the disparity of educational excellence in affluent communities. All you have to do is tour public schools in the two types of communities to see the difference.

By the same token, however, it is not a good idea to over-educate too many people. That is being handled by bringing in highly-trained workers from other nations on work visas. In that way, they can be controlled and replenished when needed. By doing that, we do not have to support education for high-tech workers, who cannot just be sent back to their foreign home at any time. We can also pay the imported workers less, which leads to more financial benefits for the oligarchs.

We still need a large population of relatively unskilled workers, of course, to serve the needs of the oligarchs for unskilled workers. So, we maintain the public school system to provide just enough education, but no more.

[Mountain Mule]

85. Yep, I saw this firsthand

About 12 years ago when I still lived in the big city, I contracted to deliver telephone books all over town to earn a little extra cash for Christmas. The routes that included one stop deliveries of 50 plus books (gated communities, large businesses, and schools) were the most lucrative, so I snapped those up every chance I got. As a result, I got to make a tour of the city educational system, and the differences were stunning. One of the schools I dropped off books at was a high school located in one of the wealthiest enclaves in the entire metro area. The place looked more like an upscale college campus than a high school. As a former college teacher, I am deeply concerned about the (non)education of our young people, and I poked my head into various classrooms as I passed with my load of telephone books. I noticed biology and chemistry labs filled with the latest most, up to date equipment. There were banks of sleek computers sitting in the computer lab and in individual classrooms, as well. The library was the largest high school I've ever seen and was staffed by both a professional and a para-professional. A week later my route took me to a high school in a poor, far less desirable neighborhood. The contrast was stunning. The building was run down and featured several cracked windows. The interior featured old curling linoleum covering the floors of the halls and the only computers I noticed were in the administrative offices. No science labs were in evidence and the deserted library featured a collection of perhaps 500 battered and out of date books, resting wearily on battered shelves.

It doesn't take a genius to guess which school had the students with the better SAT scores or which school sent more of its graduates on to institutions of higher education. Keep 'em ignorant and make sure their chances at a decent paying job are slim to none. I despise the republican supported oligarchy.

[MineralMan]

86. What you observed is typical in most large cities. It also extends to

suburban schools. The wealthy suburbs have great schools. The poorer suburbs don't. It's all part of the separation of this country according to affluence. The affluent children get every opportunity, while the children of poor families get what's left over.

It's so wrong, and yet is how it is almost everywhere. It is a shame on our society.

[Panich52]

93. Old Negro College Fund tag needs expanded...

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste" has become even more color-neutral

[Panich52]

92. Bingo

[Stargazer99]

42. Years ago the state of Texas eliminated critical thinking classes in schools

Think about it!

[machoneman]

55. Most winger Texans....

haven't shown critical thinking since they lost at The Alamo....to Mexicans no less!

[Panich52]

91. And since they buy so many books, alt-history they demand

is spread throughout the country like a malignant virus.

[jazzcat23]

103. Yes Yes!

That is exactly it! Why do you think ALEC was formed? They invade at the lowest levels...school boards, and work their way up. It has been going on for decades, and now they have almost reached their goals. One more red state taking control. means good-bye constitution!

[Stuart G]

4. Thank You for your thoughts on this..

These sentences define these selfish assholes:

For people like many congressional office-holders, providing benefits to such poor workers and their offspring is counter-productive. That is especially true of healthcare. If the sick and sickly do not die, they must be fed and housed, so healthcare for the poor has negative consequences and interferes with enrichment.

[MineralMan]

7. Thank you.

[delisen]

9. Yes. The South passed laws against teaching slave to read-

not because the slaves weren't smart-but because they they wanted cotton pickers and servants, not thinkers.

Thinking was reserved for the upper class plantation owners-the 1% ers of their day. That brain pool was so small, and the thinking so shallow, the 1% ers did themselves in with their foolish insistence on slavery, and war.

The 1% ers of today are trying to re-purpose higher education to be solely preparation for the job market rather than citizenship.

So crafty they are--mean and measly thinkers who will, if not reined in, destroy our country.

[MineralMan]

12. Remember when people were strongly encouraged to study

computer technology and other such disciplines in college. They did, due to the promise of high-paying jobs in those industries. However, that was something of a scam. By the time the second wave of such students graduated, industry had discovered that the could import people to do those jobs, and pay much less, due to specific types of visas.

Now, there is a surplus of people trained to be software engineers and the like. For the most skilled and creative of those, there are still good-paying jobs, of course, but for the bulk of people who studied those disciplines, they are not needed, nor wanted, any longer. It is far too easy to outsource much of the work or to bring people in from other countries to do the day-to-day work of coding and other computer science jobs.

So, with a surplus of qualified workers, salaries have gone down and jobs can be done on a contract basis. This lowers costs and has created a gig economy in that industry that even further depresses salaries and costs for benefits of full-time employees.

It's all part of the scheme.

[ck4829]

27. And this continued long after slavery had ended into the 20th century

The term was "school-spoiled", referring to black people who either went to school or had aspirations of going to school.

This book references a pamphlet that used the term just back in 1933:

https://books.google.com/books?id=l2oFNmUlEn8C&pg=PA162&dq=%22school+spoilt%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjDqJvruMzSAhWH7YMKHbfiANsQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=%22school%20spoilt%22&f=false

[delisen]

36. Thanks for posting this. It is enlightening.

[Stargazer99]

44. charter schools are an inroad on killing public education

The state of Washington has no business taking my tax money and supporting charter schools

[jazzcat23]

104. AND..

Betsy Devos is their leader. She is not only in favor of eliminating public education, she now wants to force religion in schools. These guys are more than deplorable!

[moondust]

13. Economic royalists in the age of globalization!

An unlimited supply of cheap labor!!!

Better than slavery!!!!!

[MineralMan]

14. That's pretty much it.

With slavery, you had to house and feed the workers. Today, you can pay workers little and let them work out their own housing, food and other needs. They show up for work, and then you can forget about them the rest of the time. That was probably the real reason slavery ended.

How much to pay them? Just enough to let them live and be healthy enough to work for you. Since there is a constant supply of workers, you don't have to bother with anything more than that. Healthcare is unnecessary, since you can replace a sick or dead worker with no trouble. Retirement isn't an issue, since workers who are too old to be productive can just be turned out and replaced with fresh ones.

It's an ugly way of doing things, but it appears to be how the oligarchy wants to do things. And this applies to almost any workers, including skilled ones. As long as you have a ready pool of people to fill your jobs, you can pay as little as possible to keep them flowing through your system.

[SnowCritter]

40. The same economic theory was espoused by

David Ricardo (an 18th century British economist), if I remember correctly.

Among other things, it said that workers should only be paid subsistence wages.

[MineralMan]

41. As a political philosophy, it's not rocket science.

It's been known for centuries. What those people do not understand who want this is that it is a system that cannot support itself, and will eventually lead to destruction of the class of oligarchs, too. It is too unbalanced a system to survive.

That, however, does not mean that it cannot be put into place and survive for long periods of time. As a short-term system, in historical terms, it can create a horrible mess that continues for decades or even centuries.

Study feudalism, for an example.

[Stargazer99]

45. Ryan's comment was that their should not be a minimum wage

get it? Powerlessness and slavery to serve your "betters"

[SHRED]

15. They love keeping healthcare tied to employment also

It creates fear and subservience.

[MineralMan]

17. That is true, but employers will drop healthcare contributions

if they can get away with it. If ACA is repealed, count on the new healthcare system to exempt more and more employers from having to offer healthcare insurance. That will be very popular with many employers, who see it as just another unnecessary cost, for the reasons I mentioned in my OP.

All benefits offered by employers that are not mandatory are offered only if needed to maintain full staffing with people capable enough to do the jobs they are assigned. If there is a surplus of qualified workers, such benefits are often cut off or reduced in value.

With healthcare, offering only plans with very high deductibles is a common strategy these days, since the cost to the employer is less for that type of policy.

In general, employers will only offer workers the bare minimum needed to fully staff the business. No more is required, so it is not offered.

[SHRED]

20. Come to think if it...

...there was nothing in the bill that I saw that required employers to cover employees.
Is that correct?

[MineralMan]

23. I'm not certain, but I imagine that would have been one of the

goals of the Republicans, so it would not surprise me at all. Employers will offer it, if they are required to by law, but many will simply remove that as a benefit if they can still maintain full staffing.

It is a cost center for companies. That's all that matters to them. Even as I write, financial types are creating reports to show how much will be saved by dropping contributions to health insurance for employees. Companies have been scaling back their contributions to health insurance plans for some time, as far as they are able to do so.

If there is no requirement in the Republican bill, that will be a huge cause for celebration by many companies, especially those who hire primarily low-skilled workers. I'm thinking about manufacturing and food production companies in particular.

The bottom line is that people have to work to live. So, employers want to expend the least possible amount that will keep their business staffed with workers.

It's an ugly cycle, which is why some benefits are mandated, like unemployment insurance and worker's compensation insurance. If those were not mandated, they'd end as soon as the employers could change their payroll systems. Same with Social Security contributions from employers. Watch for eliminating that mandate to be part of some bill soon.

Self-employed people, like me, have long known the actual cost of paying for Social Security, medical insurance, and other things that employees take for granted. They are huge costs for the self-employed.

[Stargazer99]

48. There would be plenty of huge costs in human misery if there were not mandates

But of course slavery would solve the problem of business

[MineralMan]

52. Human misery is of no concern to oligarchs.

They needn't look at such things, and it doesn't affect the bottom line, really, so human misery is irrelevant, as long as their own needs and desires are met.

[bdamomma]

74. your post is on target

It's really about the 1% isn't it? what they want and how they are going to step all over everyone who gets in their way.

I hope they choke on that greed. If they want another Depression, I hope they will be jumping out of windows like their predecessors did in the 1930's.

[kairos12]

16. The Reich Wing's treatment of the poor is why the French invented the National Razor.

[usaf-vet]

18. I would add one point they want the poor to work AND

pay into Social Security and Medicare until they prematurely die. Leaving their SS and Medicare money unclaimed. Waiting for the time when the repugs can pillage it.

[MineralMan]

19. That's a very delicate balance.

But, you're right that it is the goal of many on the right. If they could do as they really wanted, though, they'd end those programs altogether. Right now, that's not a practical goal, since it would cost legislators their jobs. If that stops being true, then those programs will be cut as well.

The goal of the oligarchy is to reduce expenditures to the very minimum possible, or shift the costs of those expenditures to the working classes. Both methods are being expanded and implemented in legislation, even as we write, by Congress. Right now, there is a President who will sign almost any legislation sent to him by the Republicans. He won't even read it.

[Beartracks]

38. He wouldn't read it because he knows he wouldn't understand it. Plus...

... he probably doesn't care to understand it. And he'll still claim it's the best law any President has ever signed.

====================

[Stargazer99]

49. The common man is getting smart you can see the dynamics of the system

[BSdetect]

21. They think survival of the fittest means the strongest survive

It does not mean that at all.

Fascict BS

Look at Ryan's pathetic exercise regime. And his BS about running a marathon.

He's one of the dupes who have no idea about Evolution.

[hunter]

22. In a similar way we have homeless people and people locked up in inhumane prisons.

They are there to remind abused and underpaid workers that things could be worse, much worse for them...

[MineralMan]

24. Well, the homeless are certainly obvious in most cities.

Perhaps the idea is to instill a "but for the grace of my employer, there go I" in workers. I don't know.

[ymetca]

25. One thing is for certain, almost no one sincerely believes in Democracy

You find that out when you get your first job. Democracy stops at the door.

The truly radical proposal of Democracy has never really been tried on a scale larger than a village. From the beginning it has been handicapped by hierarchy, so-called "property rights" (which included slavery and the subjugation of women) and physical force by the strong over the weak.

It's the one system of mass governance that might actually be just. And yet so few can see this. Everyone clings to what they have for fear the mob will take it away. But the mob always does eventually, as it inevitably grows. Pick a side, for death must come to us all, sooner or later.

As the brilliant Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick once stated, "The Empire never ended". We all await the "return of the king", who will mete out fair justice, and ensure prosperity for all. But that never really occurs, of course. It's just a fantasy we keep believing in, ever-chasing that Golden Bough, which might release us from our eternal imprisonment of fear. Fear of "the other". Fear of "those people who are not like us." That is our natural tendency, which we must now overcome.

[MineralMan]

29. Well, the principles of the Democratic Party have always worked toward

maintaining the working and poor classes in this country. Virtually everything that supports those people is the product of Democrats when they have control of the government.

Right now, that is not the case, and the current Republican Congress and White House are working as quickly as possibly to undo every beneficial measure created by Democrats. And they are succeeding to a large degree. More is coming down the legislative pipeline, too, that will further remove protections and benefits from working and poor Americans.

The goal of the oligarchic Republican Party is to remove them all. That was the clear danger of putting Republicans in control of all three branches of government. The warnings were clear in 2016, but were deflected by some who should have known better. The result is that we did allow the Republicans to gain control of all three branches.

There is still an empty seat on the SCOTUS. Once that is filled by a conservative, the process will be complete. The results of that will be terrible, as predicted by many of us in the run-up to the 2016 election. Now, we have lost that election, and the dismantling of a wide range of support for workers and the poor has begun apace.

We're going to learn more about our mistake in short order, and over the next two years, which is a long enough period for the oligarchs and the Republicans to wipe out decades of progress. They are working very efficiently to do exactly that, and the bills that are coming out of Congress are shockingly destructive.

We'll understand more fully soon how big our mistake was. The question will be whether we can muster enough support to begin reversing that destruction. I'm not sure we can, to be frank. It will require all of us to cooperate and unite to elect a Congress in 2018 that has at least one house with a Democratic majority. If we fail to do that, as we failed in 2016, the Republicans will have the time needed to make it almost impossible.

If you are not very afraid of that happening, you are not paying attention, Democrats.

[ymetca]

64. Agreed --now THIS is interesting!

BREAKING: Supreme Court Advances Lawsuit to NULLIFY 2016 Election

http://www.learnprogress.org/scotus-advances-nullify-election/

[Eliot Rosewater]

112. Interesting. SC justices do now realize their very existence is in danger

in that Putin and Bannon and Tillerson are taking over and will soon find the SC unnecessary or an annoyance.

If they decided to kick Putin out of the WH it could start a sort of civil war.

Patriots will organize and defend this nation against Putin, who is currently supported by the GOP.

[Scruffy1]

26. Brilliant

You manged to sum up the philosophy of many "economists " and the right wing ideologues in a few sentences. I will plagiarize the hell out of this.

[MineralMan]

31. Please do. What I write on Democratic Underground, I consider

to be in the public domain. You may use it, modify it, expand it, or do anything with it freely.

[OxQQme]

51. Still pedalling gems MinMan

I'll help.
I've copy/pasted this entire discussion to my FB page.

Always enjoy your insightful posts.

Namaste

[MineralMan]

66. That's very kind of you to say!

[maveric]

28. They are trying to "Thin out the herd" IMO.

Just look at the cuts that are going down every day. It's happening now.

[TexasBushwhacker]

30. Let's not forget opposing sex education

and cheap or free contraceptives. They're breeding their slave class just like the Epsilons in Brave New World.

[MineralMan]

34. Indeed. And by limiting healthcare for the working class,

they will ensure that only those who are innately healthy will survive to join the workforce. I know that sounds cold and inhumane, but that is the goal of the oligarchs and their minions. THEY DO NOT CARE!

[Stargazer99]

53. The anti-abortionist fit right into their plans

The anti-abortionist are not following their "religious" beliefs that every life counts
when those with wealth can just cross the Canadian border to get an abortion
but the poor and low class who do not have those funds will be forced labor just to survive.
Fits right into the "betters" plans

[tiptonic]

32. Very well said

May i add, no birth control or abortions allowed, either.

[MineralMan]

37. Yes. Of course.

Large families among the working class help to keep that class from improving their lot.

[lark]

35. Ding, ding! Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

You lay it out beautifully and this is exactly what this current cabal is wanting to do. Well, that plus destroying the press and judiciary are more of the RW oligarchs wet dreams. Everything that Drumpf said that sounded good for working class folks was a pure lie, and everything bad for them that he said, well, he actually meant those things. Haters and Takers Inc. would be good succinct name for today's Republican party, as the rich are the real takers in this country.

[MineralMan]

39. Trump is simply a liar.

He doesn't care what he says, true or false. He is a classic right-wing populist. He promises whatever he thinks will attract voters, but means none of it. He will continue to do that, even while Congress is quietly destroying everything that aids the working class. By the working class, I mean everyone who is employed by someone. I include even those who believe they, as managers, are somehow above the fray. They are not, and don't even know it.

[lark]

43. Both my husband and I are managers and we certainly don't feel safe from his policies.

I'm very close to retiring and my younger husband has a chronic condition and no insurance through his work. I've always covered the familys' insurance needs, but Medicare is just for the individual. I'm really worried if we will be able to afford insurance for him through the ACA or even a hell of a lot worse, Trumpcare. I'm worried about what happens if we live longer than expected, exhaust our savings for medical care, and need nursing home care but Medicaid is a block grant and stupid FL Repugs set maxes and we get kicked out and have no other resources. No one is safe except for the 1%ers, no one.

[Stargazer99]

56. I'm glad to see reality for your situation has hit home

I wish others who are not in vunerable situations would stop and think, care about other human beings that are at risk

[FakeNoose]

46. You missed a big one

The wealthy ruling class of any generation (for the last 2,000 years) have needed the poor for one main reason - to fight their wars. If the poor people of whatever country, in whatever century, refused to fight wars, they were of no use at all. So the other stuff you mentioned are in addition to fighting wars.

[MineralMan]

57. Yes, and it may come to that sooner than we suspect.

I just read that Trump had sent a nuclear-armed B-52 to South Korea. Something is brewing in his fevered little brain, and it's a very ugly thing. Nobody likes North Korea and its leader. Nobody. Not the Chinese. Not the Russians. Nobody.

An attack on Pyongyang would not surprise me at all. Not a nuclear attack, I think. The B-52 is more of a provocation than real threat. But an attack on military and missile bases and on the center of government seems likely to me.

However, our intelligence on North Korea is short on details, like the exact location of Kim Jung Un at any given time. That would make decapitation a difficult thing. However, we do know where NK keeps its stuff, thanks to our satellite surveillance. We could probably disable North Korea's ability to attack South Korea pretty effectively, if we chose to do so. Trump may choose to do so, I'm afraid.

It will be a major distraction, of course, and will allow Congress to pass all sorts of awful shit while we're watching that squirrel.

[Stargazer99]

58. I heard one Republican woman say

in regards to a soldier who was expressing a complaint about something (I can't remember what it was) that "HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS GETTING INTO". How many of those upper income families have their children on the front lines. Stop and think....

[NewJeffCT]

47. good analysis

but, on the other hand, universal healthcare was first implemented Otto von Bismarck in the late 19th century. Bismarck was a hardcore right winger. His rationale was that he wanted Germany to have enough healthy soldiers for his armies, and nationalistically, for Germans to be strongest/fastest soldiers on the battlefield. It was also to head off the socialists of the day by giving Germany something similar to what the socialists had wanted.

[MineralMan]

59. 19th Century Healthcare was Cheap.

And primitive. Not like today's healthcare.

[NewJeffCT]

65. True

But, the Bismarck model is still in use today in Germany, and is also the basis for healthcare in other European countries and Japan.

[Stargazer99]

60. For a nation to be truly strong it needs its people

to be well educated and access to health care...the US is not strong, it is weak and getting weaker due to the 1% and its control of human lives below their "class". The 1% to me are like animals, power to the strongest, the strongest are not necessarily the best thing to a thinking life form. Strength is of the physical, while moral right use is the strength of a human that has evolved beyond his animal instincts

[MineralMan]

67. Your statement is true, but only in the long term.

We in the United States are not very good at long-term thinking, I'm afraid. How is the quarterly report looking? That's about as far as we go. What are the unemployment numbers for last month? What's the DOW at today?

One of our greatest weaknesses, as individuals and as a nation, is looking only a little way into the future. It seems to be our nature to seek short-term benefits over long-term stability.

[hibbing]

50. ruling class

A term you rarely hear these days, even on DU. I use it often in my posts. You see 1% a lot, and even sometimes hear 1% in the corporate media, but hardly ever ruling class. I find it interesting.



Peace

[MineralMan]

68. We like to deceive ourselves into believing that we have no ruling class.

That, despite all evidence to the contrary.

[Eyeball_Kid]

54. Oligarchic remedies are always zero sum.

You can guess. The working poor, the disabled, and the seniors are always Less Than Zero.

[Texin]

61. Ultimately, not even the 1%ers are "safe" from their own ideology.

There will continue to be population growth with rapid die-off that the oligarch-kleptocrats can exploit for bare subsistence wages up to a point, but their other so-called polices exploit the Earth's natural resources and endanger, hell, they essentially doom the Earth to climate destruction and it's rapidly approaching. I am not certain that all the reassurances that the climate is not in jeopardy is not a delusion they are trying to maintain for themselves as much as for the rest of the masses they are hoping to delude. At some very near point in future they will be seeing the ultimate results of their economic agenda gone mad. There will be epic crop failures and famines. The first people to die off as a result of food crop collapse will be the poorest and most physically challenged individuals. When the working serfs that are supposed to support food production are no longer able to pay for their own physical sustenance, there won't be workers to man the machines or hand-pick what the crops that are still producing have to be plucked. There won't be food enough left to feed the bloated rich unless they plan to resort to cannibalism. Which I wouldn't rule out, actually. However, the planet will be in such a dire condition that they won't be able to draw air on it. How many retrofitted nuclear missile silos or new underground bunkers are there in the world anyway? And how long would say the Kochs or the tRumps or any of their ilk be able to live in those conditions?

If they think they're ultimately going to escape the same fate that the underclasses are, they are more deluded that even the most profoundly ill mental patient.

[MineralMan]

71. We do not think long-term here. That has something to do

with our Calvinist beginnings as a nation. Christianity teaches that it all can come to an end "in the blink of an eye." and we have taken that to heard. The right-wing is essentially a function of Calvinist teachings and thought. It's rife with people who are actually dominionists, as well, who believe that a strict Biblical rule should be the law of the land. A Biblical rule that selectively picks out stuff from the scriptures that bolsters their intentions, of course.

Fundamentalist Christianity is not concerned about the long-term, really. It is concerned with short-term outcomes, because fundamentalists believe that it's all a short-term thing until Jesus returns and governs. While that may sound silly to many people, it is an actual belief that is strongly held by many in this country. It informs their philosophy of almost everything.

In one sense, it is a fatalistic way to look at the world, but that's Calvinism for you. They believe that it's all pre-ordained and planned by God, so the works of Man will have no affect on the final outcome.

Scary shit.

[flamingdem]

62. Don't forget the elderly - they weren't always poor but when infirm

they require massive amounts to maintain and heal.

Thus, Medicaid reductions

[MineralMan]

73. The elderly are a drain on society, in the opinion of

a very large group of people in this country. And it's not just anonymous old people, either. In many families, grandma going into a nursing home or memory care unit is really the last time the family will bother with her. My mother-in-law, who recently died, was living in such a facility. We visited her often and tried our best to make sure she was getting the care and attention she needed, but many others in that place never saw family members at all. They were put there to get them out of sight and out of thought. Sometimes, when my wife's mother was otherwise occupied, I'd sit and talk with people in that facility. Often, they mistook me for a family member and would tell old stories to me. I never minded, but didn't have enough time to spend with people other than my wife's mother.

The Republicans who are in control of our government are much like the families of those old people in nursing homes. They don't actually care about their elders' welfare, as long as they're not bothered with it. For politicians, old people cost a great deal of money. Money that could be used to fatten their wallets and do projects that help them get re-elected.

They won't say so, but they'd just as soon those old people died. That's true of neglectful families and the government alike, I'm afraid.

We are, by and large, a very selfish and short-sighted society. We rarely consider that we will be in that situation ourselves, one day. We should consider that, but we do not.

[LoisB]

69. Sounds very much like slavery.

[MineralMan]

76. Yes, it does, doesn't it.

In a sense, it is. People are enslaved by the need to have a place to live and food to eat. They have no choice but to work for those things and to work for people who don't really care about them, other than as workers.

There are alternatives, of course. I have not seen a W-2 form since 1973. I've worked for myself since 1974. I haven't always made much money, but I've avoided traditional work. I don't recommend that, though, for most people. It's not an easy thing to manage.

Exploitation of workers is the reasons Unions came into being. Sadly, the Union movement is fading fast. If the Republicans get their way, it will be gone altogether, making it easier to enslave people by keeping them at or near the poverty line. That's why there is so much opposition to a minimum wage that is actually a living wage.

It is to the advantage of the oligarchs to keep people on the edge of poverty. That ensures an ample supply of workers who have no choice but to work for them.

[lutherj]

72. Extravagant wealth can only retain its value in the presence of poverty.

Marx called it the "reserve army of labor".
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reserve_army_of_labour

I think there is another dimension to this. The accumulation of any commodity only has value if other people want it. We tend to think of the demand for money as persistent and linear. Everybody always wants more money, right? But try offering your lawyer neighbor $12 an hour to mow your lawn. By all accounts the modern investment economy dwarfs the real everyday economy of goods and services by an order of magnitude. Austerity for the masses and large-scale unemployment prevents inflation and allows for the maximum transfer of wealth from investment to the real world. It's the neoliberal agenda. To alleviate poverty is to mitigate wealth.

[MineralMan]

79. That's correct.

Your last sentence is the key. "To alleviate poverty is to mitigate wealth." Right now, the Republicans we elected, as a nation, are working hard to make it easier not to alleviate poverty. So, the rich will benefit.

We need to fix that. We failed to even slow it down in 2016. We'll either learn from that or we will not. Right how, I can't predict how that will go. I'm getting too old to be physically active in GOTV efforts now. I hope others will see the need and get involved. If we do not, the current momentum will move things even farther to the right.

We're at a crossroads right now, and at a time when we should have trended in the other direction. We screwed up in 2016. We'd better get on with the job of reversing that really strongly, because we lost ground we couldn't afford to lose.

[loyalsister]

75. This was exacerbated severely by welfare reform

It was the perfect enabling model. Force poor people to work for low wages without benefits then cut their medicaid. And, lifetime limits provides a large employment pool for retailers, fast food, and other low wage jobs.

[MineralMan]

81. A lot of factors are in play, for sure.

In some ways 2016 ended up being a perfect storm, but in the wrong direction. Some saw it coming. Others did not. In the end, we failed to prevail. We've enabled even worse things to come. I hope we can reverse that trend.

[madamesilverspurs]

77. Serfing USA

There does seem to be a concerted effort to create a "serf" class. And the exemplar of American feudal lords now sits in the Oval Office.


.

[MineralMan]

82. Yup. We do seem to be trending toward a new feudalism.

The Republicans are celebrating. They have a chance to institutionalize that trend right now. We need to take that opportunity away from them, and 2018 is going to be one of our last chances to do so.

[Doodley]

78. I think it is more to do with bigotry and hate. They think they are superior to the white working

-class trash, the poor and the blacks, who they think should still be slaves. They think they deserve better than their inferiors. Blacks, poor, muslims, gays, liberals, socialists, communists - they are all sub-humans to Republicans and they should be treated as sub-humans. Most Republicans won't admit it it, even to themselves, but this is what drives them to deny millions healthcare, to vote against the poor, to vote for the bigot-in-chief. This is why you can never have a rational political conversation with Republicans. Pure hatred.

[MineralMan]

83. The rich have always hated the poor.

The poor take some of what they think is theirs. That appears to be human nature. So, the rich are always trying to drive the poor down into enough despair that they won't rise up and make demands.

Will they succeed in this? I don't know. They made progress toward their goals in 2016. We could reverse that and the trend in 2018 and again in 2020, if we will. I'm beginning to wonder, though, if we will.

[pansypoo53219]

87. minimum wage serfs.

feudalism is good for the 2%.

[MineralMan]

89. Yup. Exactly.

[Doreen]

88. I think the rich also encourages hate among the poor.

If the poor hate other poor people then it is another easy way to thin the herd because one poor person will kill another. Now they may still be imprisoned but that give the rich the chance to work them harder and for absolutely no money. Look at the hate that some of these people in the south have for people who they just do not seem to realize are in the same situation. Why do you think there are rich congressmen at those rallies that they have spewing hate? They are simply stoking the fire for those to kill people and to kill people who may have it a little better and a little better educated. Notice right now except for people of color and different religions that they have been brought to believe that it is the middle class and down that is at fault for their failure. The reason religion ( particularly Christianity ) is encouraged is because religion has always been the tool for controlling the masses. If the pastor or priest tells them god said to never rise up or question anything then they will not.

[muntrv]

90. Slaveowner mentality.

[unitedwethrive]

94. Need more proof? Look at how they target campaign ads to this group...

The blatant lies - that anyone with critical thinking ability can see past - work wonders on the undereducated. Yet they are telling these same voters how smart and patriotic they are, building up their egos to keep then on the side of the rich white men who seek to control them.

Honestly, it's the same reason they want to keep these people in church. Encouraging an obedience doctrine makes them easier to control.

[Susan Calvin]

95. DAMN!

I must admit to not having thought of it in quite such blunt terms. You are right.

[kstewart33]

96. Terribly sad and infuriating, but true.

Controlling the so-called "little people."

[Dustlawyer]

97. And we continue to allow them to bribe our politicians

with campaign contributions! If we all demanded Publicly Funded Elections we could fix most of the problems we face!

Sure it would take a Constitutional Amendment to be passed, but we could do it if we all United behind it!!!

[not fooled]

99. Great thread

Great commentary and analysis by MineralMan and other posters.

If we had a functional education system in this country, this is the kind of material that would be taught in school. Explains the why and how behind what ACTUALLY happens in this country, vs. the fairy tales they feed us from an early age.

Knowing and understanding bring pain but also clarity of thought and vision.

Perhaps within my lifetime the next FDR will appear and this country will do more of the right thing. Just by holding the oligarchs in check, the greatest mass prosperity in the history of the world was created. I hope the pendulum swings back that way sooner rather than later.

[PatrickforO]

100. Mineral Man, I like the cut of your jib!

This is a wonderful discussion.

Seeing it on here made my day, and (partly) renewed my faith in the Democratic Party.

Thank you!

Though...speaking of the economic royalists, I'm surprised no one has brought up the Taft-Hartley Act, which, in 1948, drove the final spike through US labor unions. They died that very moment, but have been lumbering along on life support these 65+ years.

This is why we ALL need to organize, put our hands in our pockets in a giant general strike. Stop everything until the greedy liver-spotted white male hands of the capitalist overlords are empty because WE'VE FORCED THEM TO SHARE.

Why do we have to organize so a small number of freakish individuals can amass huge amounts of wealth at the expense of the rest of us? Why can't we organize ourselves around human need? This world can be a better place if we all decide to let it.

[Dawson Leery]

101. Certainly.

Why else did Reagan cut free college in California? Those educated young upity kids learned they have rights.
Intellectuals by far and large are not religious and are mature about matters of sexuality.

[Tatiana]

102. Excellent (and painfully true) post.

This is exactly what they think.

Their healthcare plan is for the sick, infirm, and elderly to just die already.

They are really heartless people and Trump is their perfect representative, in many ways.

We all have to understand the internalize the truths conveyed in this OP. That is part of the problem we have as Democrats -- we expect these people to think differently and they never will. We have to conduct ourselves accordingly. Believe what they do and not what they say.

This also means fighting for control over the branches of government like our very existence depends on it (which it does).

[Flatpicker]

105. I think I'm going to disagee, but only a little

I'm still thinking it through, but, what strikes me as flawed is that the nature of consumption.

You need the poor, or at least the lesser poor, to be able to consume product to maintain the wealth of the upper echelons.
Otherwise, the economic engine will stagnate and the wealthy will lose money, or the system collapses and their currency can be declared non-viable and they lose power/status.

Even with healthcare, the treatments and medications need to be mass-created in order to make the development,collection and compounding of the raw materials into life extending medicines for those who can afford it. Otherwise, even the most wealthy would not have the resources to afford the medicine they need.

Put it simply, in order for the wealthy to remain wealthy, the lubricant for the economy is a mid-poor level that has to work to create, and spend to support their lifestyles.

Killing them off is, in the long term (not that long actually), collapsing the system that the wealthy lean on as heavily as all others.

Now, I'm not sure if our conservative "thinkers" are ignoring or forgetting that part. I'm not even sure I'm saying it right, even though I can visualize my thought processes in this instance.

[bhikkhu]

106. Its simple - they believe people are basically lazy

and misery and deprivation are necessary evils to get people to go work for a living.

Personally, I believe, based on my experience, that people are basically hard-working, and that most people find personal fulfillment and participation in a society through the work they do.

But I would be lying if I said I didn't know people who would lay around and play video games all day, and who consider working a terrible imposition on their free time. There just aren't very many like that.

[Kablooie]

108. This also might explain why Trump keeps talking about creating jobs.

He only promises bottom tier jobs for the lowest, most uneducated members of our society.
He can eliminate their medical care, education opportunities, welfare and retirement benefits but will get them poor paying jobs thereby increasing and solidifying the army of cheap, dependent laborers.

And of course, by promising them this he gets enough of their votes to give him the power to implement the plan.

These Trump voters are really in deep shit.
They may lose all the hard fought benefits they have received over the past 80 years.
Everything that keeps them alive today may be gone within a few years.

[bonniebgood]

109. The Most Important Journal I've Ever Read on DU. I decided to

print it. ALL 40 pages to highlight and distribute to all I can. This should be the Bible
for the poor. This piece MineralMan reminds me of the,
Willie Lynch Letter "How to Make a Slave". The Willie Lynch letter should have been
the Bible for Black People instead of/or in additional to the King James Holy Bible.
MineralMan please write this into a book including the comments section.

[MineralMan]

111. Many people have added good information and ideas to this

thread. I appreciate all of the feedback that has been provided.

[CousinIT]

110. And most of them go to church on Sundays pretending to be Christians