2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I have examined where my loyalties lie, you judge, I'll explain my position. [View all]davidthegnome
(2,983 posts)I have been... many times throughout my life, at the mercy of poverty. I have not been homeless yet, but I have come damned close. There were times when, years ago, I made, what was for me, a really tough decision to shoplift groceries for my family, because it came down to that or going hungry. I haven't had health insurance for years - but I take medications for post traumatic stress disorder that was diagnosed almost twenty years ago now. I can't get therapy, I can barely get the generic drugs. I worked under the table for less than minimum wage, I worked for minimum wage, I worked for 8 dollars an hour, too. It goes so well beyond that, I could make a good case that my life has largely been some kind of american tragedy - but I won't, because that would be silly. What I will say is that that is a story millions of us share. Soul crushing poverty, doing jobs we hate, working for people who look at us with contempt and condescension, trudging on day after day... exhausted, in pain, hopes, dreams - and morals broken down. It should come as no shock that so many of us suffer from anxiety and depression.
What I have found throughout my adult life is that all established political figures, particularly those running for President... are not comfortable even saying the word "poor". They are not comfortable talking about poverty, vowing to support the working class or the working poor, or, quite simply, the poor. It's "middle class this", and "middle class" that. Or, as GWB once put it; "My favorite people, the haves and the have mores"
Sanders on the other hand... he addresses this in ways I have never heard or seen, nor ever imagined I would from a politician. He's pointing out what the wealthy elite are up to, in buying our elections, in controlling our political process, in scandals, in corruption, in various practices that damn well ought to be criminal. It is not enough that they crashed our economy, it is not enough that their corporations pay no taxes, it is not enough that they have trillions stashed in offshore accounts. It is not enough that these same people support and promote these so called "free trade" agreements (NAFTA, TPP, etc.) or that we have bailed them out when their practices threatened to crush the world's economy.
Somehow, it is not enough that we and our children fight in their wars, take out their garbage, cook their food, wash their cars, sell their products, teach their children... do everything but wipe their wealthy asses. Somehow it is not enough that productivity is so unbelievably high, that Americans are working more than ever for increasingly less money and less benefits.
It's not enough, no. They want tax cuts too, they want to eliminate social security, medicare, medicaid, the ACA, food stamps, TANF... everything. I have seen some pretty serious, hate-filled rants about how we should even demolish public education, group homes, what medical institutions we do have - and so on and so forth. I have seen arguments from the wealthy elite within academia that some people should just be sterilized, due to generations of poverty and/or what they consider inferior genetics or undesired social status.
I went well past angry years ago. I remember my last day in university... weeks after I had completely run out of funds to pay for rent, food, electricity, or anything else. I sat down and wrote in my notebook (with my last, ugly pink pen, on the last few sheets of paper) for hours, about all I had experienced, about how terrible it was, about how our priorities are in the wrong place as a Nation. I was forced to surrender my hope for higher education, or a career that I could feel proud of. I was forced to due this because I was poor, and continue to be poor... and every year it gets just a little worse, to think wistfully of what I might have done, might have been.
This fight... this "political revolution", call it what you will... it is coming from the ranks of the working class and the poor. Why should one's financial assets have any value to society or humanity overall unless they are well used? Why should someone be praised for creating back-breaking, soul-crushing jobs that offer dirt wages and no benefits? It is time for a new revolution - not against Britain this time, nor against an imperial or even foreign power... but against the wealthy elite that ignore us, view us with contempt, and generally speaking don't give enough of a shit to help us change the way things are.
Opportunity for ALL. Education for ALL. Healthcare for ALL. We are already paying for these things! Yesterday I saw an article that talked about how the military had spent a trillion dollars on a broken fighter jet. A trillion dollars - for something that does not work. We could have repaired our infrastructure. We could have funded higher education, houses the homeless, bought food for millions, we could have fixed our public education system by properly funding it for once. We could have done any number of things with that money that was wasted.
I sure was tired of being a working class hero... which is what ALL members of the working class are. Then though, I became unemployed, injured, and can barely get out of bed some days now. No health insurance, can't afford treatment, deeply in debt, screwed, through and through. Thank the Universe I have a family that takes care of me, as much as they can.
Many people have stories far worse than mine... many have better. Regardless, we are all in this together. Opportunity, equality, compassion, empathy, consideration for ALL peoples. We are the 99% - and we are hungry, and we are going to take back what has been stolen from us... mainly... hope.