THEN – vs – Now – America’s Dreams Sabotaged

Then – the “greatest generation” endured 16 years of Great Depression and World War II.
Now – the “wimpiest generation” rebels at enduring 16 months of masks and vaccines.

Then – Americans stormed Normandy and Iwo Jima beaches fighting fascism.
Now – the wimpiest generation storms stores and school board meetings fighting democracy.

Then – White and Black Americans demonstrated in streets in favor of civil rights for all.
Now – racists punch out “Chinese” and demonstrate against civil rights for all.

Then – Mount Rushmore built to honor America’s greatest presidents.
Now – one of America’s worst presidents is “honored” by continuing “The Great Lie.”

Then – Teddy Roosevelt’s Rushmore plaque” “We, here in America, hold in our hands the hopes of men..and shame and disgrace will be ours..if we trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”
Now – American democracy is sinking in world rankings; friends world-wide fear what has become of the once great light…..as we…”..trail in the dust the golden hopes of men.”

Then – August 28, 1963, over 200,000 Americans gather peacefully in Washington to hear the “I Have A Dream” speech.
Now – January 6, 2021, several thousand “patriotic tourists” gather at their leader’s call to overturn a presidential election, trash the Capitol building, injure 150 law enforcement officers.

The – Social Security, labor rights laws, feeding the hungry, G.I. Bill, Eisenhower’s freeway system, Medicare passed, honoring the Constitution’s “promote the general Welfare.”
Now – reverse Robin Hood l980s, 2000s, 2017 tax cuts for wealthy and corporations; voter suppression bills sabotage the promotion of the general Welfare.

Then – ordinary people, working in a grocery store, earned enough money for private college tuition.
Now – ordinary people can’t earn enough money for state college tuition, graduate with big debts.

Then – after “the Peace of Detroit,” labor and management agreed to share America’s wealth, leading to the world’s first mass middle class prosperity – the envy of the world.
Now – the top 1% rebelled against the very idea of sharing America’s wealth, leading to one of the world’s greatest economic inequalities.

Then – we once walked and biked everywhere without fear; fights were fistfights.
Now – nowhere in America is safe, guns outnumber people – the result of libertarian laws and court decisions.

Then – American society and economy were built on “stakeholder rights” – citizens, workers, consumers, management had EQUAL rights
Now – American economy [thus society] built on primacy of “shareholder rights” – stock holders, hedge funds, Wall Street – come first. Main street gets the leftovers.

Then – “health care’ was your family doctor; hospitals run by communities and churches as a service; first “health insurance” designed to NOT make money.
Now – “medicine” has been “financialized”; your “benefits” determined by “your” health insurance company; health care is on Wall Street; bankruptcy by health care bills is #1.

Then – sports stadiums of all kinds named after WW I vets [Memorial Stadium], local leaders, team owners [real people!]
Now – sports stadiums of all kinds named after corporations [part of their ubiquitous P.R. campaigns]

Then – because of mass prosperity, America was home to the world’s happiest people, envied world-wide.
Now – the “Happiest People on Earth’ live in Scandinavian social democracies; Americans are some of the world’s most unhappy and stressed-out people

Then – America and Allies won World War II in part because America was home to “the Arsenal of Democracy”; fascist powers were buried under a flood of American products
Now – after “outsourcing” millions of ‘American’ jobs and relocating ‘American” industries [in search of ever greater “shareholder value”], America is at the mercy of the new Nazi Germany at the end of a long “supply chain”

Then – the top 1% used to sit among us, in “box seats,’ waited in food lines with us.
Now – the top 1% has luxury boxes built in to multi-billion dollar “entertainment venues,’ with their own food, lavs, parking areas. They can separate themselves from us both psychologically and physically.

Then – the “Progressive Era” and “New Deal” era [1933-65] deliberately created an America that honored “..all Men are created equal..with certain unalienable Rights..Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Now – since 1970, deliberate efforts to sabotage this, to restrict freedom and prosperity to only a select few [top 1%] have successfully destroyed the American arc [1789-1970] toward equal rights and prosperity for ALL.

Then – a deliberate effort to create a society based on “the rule of law [for all]”; an ever increasing effort to create a society of fairness and equal opportunity – by rules,
Now – a deliberate effort, 1970-202X to. CHANGE. THE. RULES. Rules have been changed by legislatures and courts. Money rules America, made possible by Supreme Court decisions, capped by infamous “Citizens United” [enabling money laundering] – through “free speech,” billionaires BUY more “free speech” than YOU.
The end result – two “countries” – the rich who’ve bought theirs, the lower 90-95% who live in the “country” the rich think You “deserve>”. Two systems of “justice;” of jobs-income-wealth-status; of living standards; two educational systems [elite private education for them]; two medical systems [world’s finest for them; two “nations” of dignity and hope.

THINK!!! Follow the money. WHY is it, with ordinary workers getting raises – they’re still falling behind in “inflation”??? WHO. is getting the money? WHO. is fighting the existence of worker unions? WHY. did ordinary people do best in the 1950s – at the height of labor unions??? WHY. is it, that as labor union membership has dropped – SO HAS THE ORDINARY WORKER”S “buying power”???
See for yourself – find unpsun IRS income data from 1945-1979, then find unspun IRS data from l980-2022. IT will show you [Mother Jones, March/April, 2011] the top 1% is ROBBING YOU of about $10-11,000 every year.
We can have democracy, or we can have rule by billionaires. But – we can’t have both at the same time. Wake up. “Follow the money” – Watergate’s “Deep Throat.” True then. True now.