Due to events, GREED, “theories,” egregious LIES, and much more – the America of 2024 is nothing like what numerous people, the Founders forward have dreamed of, tried to build. It is a shadow of what once existed in the STATISTICAL middle class Golden Age of 1947-1975. Consider these thoughts:
1] “Never let ourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and his million followers, it will no longer be America.” [General, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower]
2] “To feel much for others and little for ourselves, that to restrain our selfish, and to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature.” [Adam Smith]
3] “..the Court’s hard right majority is actively participating in undermining American democracy..the Roberts Court has contributed to ensuring..the political system in the United States pays little attention to ordinary Americans and responds only to the wishes of a relatively small number of powerful corporations and individuals.” [U.S. District Court judge Lynn Adelman: Harvard Law & Policy Review, “The Roberts Court’s Assault on Democracy”]
4] President Rutherford B. Hayes diary: worried about how the “influence of money” had resulted in “excessive wealth in the hands of a few” and..there was now a “maldistribution of property,” which meant “extreme poverty, ignorance, vice, and wretchedness of the many..This is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people no longer. It is a government by the corporations, of the corporations, and for the corporations.” [Sitaraman: “The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution”]
5] “But the getting has been best in America over the last 25 years for the wealthy, said Stein a rich guy who..makes about $60,000 per speech.. Stein, who is hitting a nerve on these issues around the country…Stein says our number one crisis is the “looting of America” by greedy capitalists and politicians who lean more toward defense contractors and drug company lobbyists than working stiffs.” [Neal St. Anthony: “Stein; Greedy are Looting America”; Mpls Star-Tribune; 7/31/2007]
6]. a “kind of slavery sought to be fastened on the American people..the slavery that would result from aggregations of capital in the hands of a few individuals and corporations controlling, for their own profit and advantage exclusively, the entire business of the country.” [ Justice John Marshall Harlan, 1901 ]
7] “If [conservatives] look honestly enough, they will realize the conservative information sphere has long been full of lies. the reason for this is..lying has been the most effective way to promote many of the policies favored by donor-class conservatives, and so they built an apparatus to invent and spread the best lies.” [ex-Republican Josh Barro, 2016 – related in Whitehouse”s “The Scheme”]
8] “The rules of marketplaces are created by governments and governments decide who will benefit from those rules..Reaganomics shifted the priority of the rules of business from helping workers, communities, and the overall American economy to purely supporting the morbidly rich CEOs and trustfund babies who funded Reagan’s election…
“There was hardly a company..that paid that 50% tax, but that doesn’t mean it was ineffective..companies..avoided paying income taxes by using their surplus cash to pay their employees better, offer expanded benefits, build new products and facilities, improve their marketing, and help out th communities in which they do business.” [Thom Hartmann: “Why the Corporate Tax Bracket Should Go Back to 52%”; Progressive Populist; 3/15/24]
9] “..airline deregulation has failed..Robert Crandall, American Airlines CEO, 2008: “Our airlines, once world leaders, are now laggards in every category, including fleet age, service quality, and international reputation..fewer flights are on time..airport congestion..bags lost..passenger complaints have skyrocketed. Airline service, by any standard, has become unacceptable.” “The Betrayal of the American Dream”]
10]. “Proponents of markets as the solution to all problems want to eliminate public parks…The Cato Institute..leading promoter of libertarian ideals, laid out the case..in 1981..Milton Friedman..intellectual godfather of market-solution prophets, urged elimination of national parks..in the 1964 presidential election…The Ludwig von Mises Institute denounced public parks in 2007 as “nature socialism.” [“Free Lunch”]
11]. “A survey of early childhood educators and caregivers shows the post-pandemic collapse of federal funding is fueling a national crisis for young children and their families…50% reported staffing shortages..”
“On February 22, Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service Danny Werfel told CNBC..the U.S. government loses approximately $150 billion annually from tax evasion by the nation’s wealthiest individuals.”
“Earlier this month, the IRS announced it could collect approximately $560 billion in. additional tax revenue over the next decade so long as Republican lawmakers were thwarted in their efforts to claw back large portions of $80 billion in funding the agency was provided as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.” [Progressive Populist; 3/15/24]
12] Representative Chris Collins: “My donors are basically saying “get it done or don’t ever call me again” [tax cuts]. Senator Lindsey Graham: “[If we don’t pass tax cuts] the financial contributions will stop.” [“Tax The Rich”]
13] “He that oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he who gives to the rich, shall surely come to want.” [Proverbs 22:16]
With Justice For All 