TERRY MOSHER
DONALD TRUMP AND JOHN MCCAIN: DON’T INVITE THE TWO TO THE SAME PARTY
We are entering a dangerous period in our capitalistic system and that leads me to take a look at what is happening all around us. When I say it’s dangerous, it’s dangerous in the sense that there has become a vast gulf between the owners of production and the worker who produces, and that has in increasing corners of society become a rallying cry for more equality of income.
If this trend continues on the rapid pace it already is in I don’t see any result other than a revolution between the haves (the power brokers) and the have-nots (the workers).
Before I explain why I think this, all we have to do is look around at the political class that in practical terms rules. This political class, and you can lump all of them, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and minor parties, together because when it comes right down to it they all act in their own selfish interests without much regard for the working class.
Politicians have become a class into their own, and are the rising plutocrats who will govern at the bequest of the power brokers, those people or corporations who have all the buying power with their increasing stack of wealth.
Where we are now reminds me of the era of the Robber Barons of the early 1900s ‑ most notably John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon, J.P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie.
Like then, now we have the merger of large corporations into huge economic powers and with the help of the Supremes ruling in cases like Citizens United that unleashed these huge powers on the political process. The 2010 ruling gave the green light for these huge powers to use their billions, if they want to influence voters to vote for or against political candidates they want in office or do not want in office.
That ruling and the SpeechNow.org vs. Federal Election Commission Supremes ruling that said limiting giving and spending on anybody or any super-Pac acting independently of candidates and campaigns violated the First Amendment. That really opened the free-spending door.
So now we have people like the Koch brothers – Charles and Dave – who have pledged to spend a billion dollars in this presidential cycle to those candidates that are in alignment with their conservative beliefs. Sheldon Adelson and his wife Miriam are in the same conservative camp and George Soros spends millions on the behalf of liberals.
There are others, of course, but you get the idea: politicians are being brought at a pace never before seen. We also seeing a dump truck load of politicians – or in the case of Donald Trump a real dump truck – who are jumping on the presidential bandwagon to take advance of the vast amount of spending they can have access to and it’s leading, as you also know, to a freak show as entertaining as a real freak show in the latest portable carnival coming this summer to your area.
I’m waiting for somebody – maybe aging John McCain to show us his youthful side ‑ and punch Trump out. It may happen because this particular freak show has gotten so big.
Anyway, it’s interesting to me, although disheartening too, that what is happening was predicted a long time ago by somebody whose philosophy led to the Cold War that dominated events and split the world post-World War II into two opposing camps – communism led by the old Soviet Union and Capitalism led by the United States. That, of course was Karl Marx, a man still revered in some corners of the world, but whose name causes disgusting chills from so-called freedom-loving countries of the world, like the United States.
Marx was right to some extent, however, because he saw how the power structure in capitalism would lead to a class divide. That has happened in our country to its greatest extent since it arrived at our shores.
Vladimir Lenin went further then Marx and predicted that it would lead to class warfare within and create the dictatorship of the proletariat. Although led by Lenin, Russia turned into the Soviet Union and dictatorship by the ruling class not the proletariat. That, of course, was a fatal course to take
We all know now that the Cold War stalemate was broken by an arms race that bankrupted and broke up the Soviet Union and left the world with the United States as the sole dominant world power.
History tells us, though, that world power structures are always undergoing change and new threats and new arrangements always – yes, always – arrive on the world stage to rearrange, so to speak, the furniture. We are seeing that now with the increasing threat from China, which has the most population in the world and when it gets it economic engine running full bore will overwhelm the rest of the world, including the United States.
What the rulers of China have done is put together a hybrid government model based on the old ruling principles of communism – one party, one state – with economic principles borrowed from the United States – limited capitalism that produces incentive for profit while increasing production.
I’m very sensitive to the needs of others, even if I don’t externally show it, and it bothers me that this divide in class is widening. It bothers me no end to realize late that we – the middle class and the poor class – are being ruled, controlled and run over by the ruling class, those people like Trump and others embedded deep into our political process that are not there to help us but to benefit themselves and the real powers behind them – the billionaires and the huge corporations.
This all really dawned on me the other day when I started to think about our excessive need to have good credit, and a number of credit cards. If the credit and the cards are used correctly that could be a good thing. But I was thinking that not many of us will, or have used them correctly and paid off the balances each month to avoid excessive rates increase and the damaging rules that accompany them that allows these big corporations to increase those interest rates at the slightest hiccup that causes us to break one of those small-print rules.
My own personal guess of how much I have spent on credit interest – house mortgage, car payments, and credit card payments – is a conservative $500,000 over the years. It’s probably more.
So if I take that half-million and think about it seriously – without jumping off the Warren Avenue Bridge in depression – how much more would I be worth? That half-million might have turned into a couple million if I had invested it instead of helping a company build several more floors to its already deep sky-reaching skyscraper.
The Robber Barons of the 19th century, when you take a serious look at it, are skinflints compared to the Robber Barons of today, who are largely silently eating away at our security through our miss-use of credit. And don’t be fooled, the modern day Robber Barons are aware of what is happening and with our disappointing (to me) help they continue to build those skyscrapers.
I’m not wishing for a socialistic society. Pure socialism blocks incentive, takes away the entrepreneur spirit and creates a cookie-cutter society much like those inexpensive cookie-cutter houses that spring up that all look like they are identical twins.
So I’m not looking for that. I am looking for a society where the first, second and third reaction is to help each other. We have, I think, gotten away from that spirit, which was evident in the early stages of our country when there was a true melting pot and despite cultural differences a great society was built on the foundation of freedom.
As we have aged over the last 239 years some have discovered how to crawl into the loopholes in our rules and bend the spirit to their needs rather than the needs of all. It’s human nature to do that. We pass a rule and then find the loopholes so it doesn’t apply to us.
Big corporation and politicians have figured that out a long time ago and now with us divided more than I have ever seen those who are bending the rules and the spirit of cooperation have gained control and are tramping on the rest of us.
With that ugly thought, I’m outta of here.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.