(no subject)
I've been in the mood to talk about politics, and since it's the subject I know the least well, it's the one about which I hold the most opinions. There's too much to cover, though, and I haven't had much time, so I thought I would just think out loud, start and stop when I feel like it, and edit it all later, otherwise I would never get to it. Apologies ahead of time for muddle and hack.
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Let's be honest about something: rich people want to grub every last thing they can off the poor, down to the marrow in their bones, because that's how such people became rich in the first place. They understand that all systems allow margins, and every inch of these margins needs to be exploited and pushed, to get the most for 'us,' and the least for 'them,' including remaking the system itself to one's own benefit. Poor people dream of being just as rich and just as grubby, but it's a race that started a thousand years ago, and it's hard to run when you don't have shoes.
Talking about changing the rules is one conversation, asking what makes the privileged the way they are is another, but for now, this is the way things in this country are set up, and the 2-party political structure is designed specifically to work in this environment. The Republican party exists to help rich people and fuck the poor, and the Democratic party is (supposedly) meant to help poor people and fuck the rich, and there's all sorts of leverage each side can use to fight its battles. Money is the most powerful, morality another, and there's a thousand more still of varying effectiveness.
You would think that rich people wouldn't need that much extra help, since they hold virtually all of the resources. The daughter of a rich family doesn't need drug treatment programs, because she can get the best help in private hospitals anywhere in the world. A rich man who kills his wife doesn't need to worry about a fair legal system, because he can buy all the experts, lawyers, even the judge if need be, to ensure a positive outcome. Laws are another exploitable means of leverage, but let's never forget that laws are written by those with access, and access is the first item up for auction to the richest bidder.
So rich people got no problems - except there aren't that many of them, and they're surrounded by so many many more poor people, and don't ya know it but we live in a democracy (or a 'republic' as it were, and there's no doubt which side of society insisted on THAT distinction... margins, margins). The vast majority of Americans are more poor than they are rich, and when political questions are asked plainly, most Americans answer sounding more like Democrats than Republicans - not because of 'common sense' or decency or any of that crap which, though perhaps true, is irrelevant (though again, represent useful ways to spin the issues, to gain leverage), but out of basic self-interest. What does a citizen do if he or she wants clean air? If you're rich, you buy a hermetically-sealed home with a self-contained, filtered, artificial atmosphere, or move to a different county. If you can't afford to do either, you're poor. Do you want clean air? Because if you do, your only choice is to go through the government. And the way you do that is to vote for a Democrat.
Why a Democrat? Because Republicans don't believe in government. Which isn't really true, of course: Republicans don't really have any 'beliefs' at all, except to serve the mutable whims of the rich, but while 'democracy' sounds rad to everybody, when it works as it should, unmolested, it will always favor the poor. In fact, that's its exact charter. There have always been people in castles, and democracy certainly ain't their idea, "You mean, share my wealth and power with these dirty people, whom before I could compel to kiss my feet, whenever fancy struck?" Rich people went along with it because the blade was at their throat, but they've used their ample resources to subvert the democratic process along the way, and the name of this subversion is spelled GOP.
Not that the rich haven't gotten their soft pink hands on the Democratic party either, in parts, but we shouldn't waste too much time talking about it. It's to be expected when the stakes are this high, and let's face it, though some cops might become corrupt and commit crimes, criminals NEVER become corrupt and suddenly start solving them. There's no equivalency between the parties, at least to us poor.
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continued at some later point...
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Let's be honest about something: rich people want to grub every last thing they can off the poor, down to the marrow in their bones, because that's how such people became rich in the first place. They understand that all systems allow margins, and every inch of these margins needs to be exploited and pushed, to get the most for 'us,' and the least for 'them,' including remaking the system itself to one's own benefit. Poor people dream of being just as rich and just as grubby, but it's a race that started a thousand years ago, and it's hard to run when you don't have shoes.
Talking about changing the rules is one conversation, asking what makes the privileged the way they are is another, but for now, this is the way things in this country are set up, and the 2-party political structure is designed specifically to work in this environment. The Republican party exists to help rich people and fuck the poor, and the Democratic party is (supposedly) meant to help poor people and fuck the rich, and there's all sorts of leverage each side can use to fight its battles. Money is the most powerful, morality another, and there's a thousand more still of varying effectiveness.
You would think that rich people wouldn't need that much extra help, since they hold virtually all of the resources. The daughter of a rich family doesn't need drug treatment programs, because she can get the best help in private hospitals anywhere in the world. A rich man who kills his wife doesn't need to worry about a fair legal system, because he can buy all the experts, lawyers, even the judge if need be, to ensure a positive outcome. Laws are another exploitable means of leverage, but let's never forget that laws are written by those with access, and access is the first item up for auction to the richest bidder.
So rich people got no problems - except there aren't that many of them, and they're surrounded by so many many more poor people, and don't ya know it but we live in a democracy (or a 'republic' as it were, and there's no doubt which side of society insisted on THAT distinction... margins, margins). The vast majority of Americans are more poor than they are rich, and when political questions are asked plainly, most Americans answer sounding more like Democrats than Republicans - not because of 'common sense' or decency or any of that crap which, though perhaps true, is irrelevant (though again, represent useful ways to spin the issues, to gain leverage), but out of basic self-interest. What does a citizen do if he or she wants clean air? If you're rich, you buy a hermetically-sealed home with a self-contained, filtered, artificial atmosphere, or move to a different county. If you can't afford to do either, you're poor. Do you want clean air? Because if you do, your only choice is to go through the government. And the way you do that is to vote for a Democrat.
Why a Democrat? Because Republicans don't believe in government. Which isn't really true, of course: Republicans don't really have any 'beliefs' at all, except to serve the mutable whims of the rich, but while 'democracy' sounds rad to everybody, when it works as it should, unmolested, it will always favor the poor. In fact, that's its exact charter. There have always been people in castles, and democracy certainly ain't their idea, "You mean, share my wealth and power with these dirty people, whom before I could compel to kiss my feet, whenever fancy struck?" Rich people went along with it because the blade was at their throat, but they've used their ample resources to subvert the democratic process along the way, and the name of this subversion is spelled GOP.
Not that the rich haven't gotten their soft pink hands on the Democratic party either, in parts, but we shouldn't waste too much time talking about it. It's to be expected when the stakes are this high, and let's face it, though some cops might become corrupt and commit crimes, criminals NEVER become corrupt and suddenly start solving them. There's no equivalency between the parties, at least to us poor.
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continued at some later point...