I must be by now on every progressive,
moderate, and even some conservative list. Every day I get numerous requests
from people who I largely respect and support their causes. Many times these
are requests to sign petitions and I sign a great many of them. But likely in
equal amounts are requests for money to help support these worthy efforts. And
I believe it is important for us to support politicians and parties whose
values we respect with our dollars. We don’t give a lot but we do give but not
to many.
Historically the Republicans were known as
the party of those of the higher economic levels; they were conservatives and
wanted to keep things they way they were because they had done well. Democrats
on the other hand were the party of the working class and eggheads; they were
liberals looking for ways to change things for the better, for their own
advantage and for the common good. Sometimes the conservatives won elections
and sometimes the liberals won elections and usually there was a good mix of
each. The golden age of this balance it seems to me was following the Great
Depression and WWII when the country was united and sought to grow the American
dream together with a mixture of conservative and liberal values. It was good.
(I intentionally omitted frontier days and little government as no longer
pertinent to our country despite the feelings of some.)
But things changed. Reagan entered the
political area with promises that could not be kept but were popular and he
sold them. His ideology led him to aggressive deregulation of corporate America
believing in a very free enterprise system, one that went beyond the needs
checks that even Adam Smith saw as necessary for a free market to remain free.
And though I do not think he was intentional about this, I believe it brought
in a whole new set of politics to the country that we had seen before during
the “robber baron” days of an unregulated economy of the 19th
century and its roller coaster economies. But the rich were the brokers of
power. We have returned to a similar era with a growing separation of economic classes.
Wealth, money is the name of game once more
in politics, and those who have it get their way and the economic imbalances
continue and grow worse. Money wins races in politics and now that has also
spread to the court system. Citizens United upheld by the Supreme Court rejects
of common sense of people who know better. Corporations are not people, but
they can swing the political community with vast amounts of dollars.
Obama through a curveball into the system
when he went to the people for small donations from lots of folk gave and he
ended up with more money and with that money he won an election. Amazing. More
importantly a number of people developed a taste for grassroots politics and a
bit of a national voice.
It is still a stacked deck and I wonder if
it can continue. Obama is not nearly as progressive as I think he should be in
order for the middle class to grow again and safety nets become strong once
more; but perhaps he is getting done as much as is possible in the money talks
age.
While Jesus said, “Render unto Caesar what
is Caesar’s,” and appeared more disengaged in the secular politics of his day
he was heavily involved in the religious politics of his day. Invariably he
sides with the common folk and their needs and challenges those in power who
had used the power to oppress others. Jesus, in his counter-culture wisdom
seeks to empower ordinary folk to be citizens of a great kingdom.
May more of than understanding be reflected
in our culture and those values be implemented as only they can be in a
democracy where all are supposedly entitled to equal voice, representation and
of value.
May the language of politics become a more
civil and equal means of communication.
If you have time, would you please put together a reading list of fundamentals to get a good understanding of the foundation of the political system in the United States? Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson and that type of thing. The philosophies upon which our political system was formed. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteUmmm, this could be tricky. For basic economic understanding you could read The Wealthy of Nations by Adam Smith; he is really where we get the idea of free enterprise and ideas of supply and demand. If you have a Kindle you can get it for free. As a matter a fact, most of the early literature of the thinking of the founding fathers can be had for cheap on kindle.
DeleteThen I would really concentrate on Jefferson who I think leads the early founding fathers (what a brain trust that existed then.) Next, I would read things from John Adams who made huge sacrifices for the creation of this country. Then I would also look to John Locke and English law and the Magna Carta material to get a hint of where they were getting their ideas. Finally, just read the constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence; they are all short and easily digested. All of this can be gotten from the internet as well as good bios from Wikipedia and the like. There are many good biographies out there.
Today I would read any of Robert Reich’s books and check out his blogsite to get a clear understanding of our economy. On my homepage I keep Reich’s blog, BillMoyers.com, Politifact.com, The Baseline Scenario (little heavy), the Brad Blog (he is the one who broke the new on the secret meetings of the Koch brothers and their attempts to elect folk reflecting the wealthy’s interests), BBC news, MoJo (Mother Jones blog), The Washington Post, the Huffington Post and the NY Times, FackCheck.org, Truthout, and Tax analysts. I also have Century Blog (from Christian Century a liberal religious magazine I also get by mail) Psychology Today blog and Salon.com. Oops, I forgot the Baseline Scenario but that is real heavy going on economics.
Of those Robert Reich’s blog and Bill Moyers blog along with the factcheckers blogs I rely most.
On the modern level I left out the Nobel Prize winning columnist on the NY Times, Paul Krugman who may well be the sharpest economist of our times. I'm putting him on my homepage.
DeleteOh my, I forgot John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economics is what led this countries revival after the Great Depression and made their first part of the 20th century a time of unprecedented growth for the middle class. My father was a great fan of his. If we can recapture his theory in government practice, we will do well again. Also Krugman has has a good book on the Principles of Economics.
DeleteThe deregulation thing is a myth about Reagan. More rhetoric than reality, regulation and growth of government expanded during the Reagan years. Addressing your class warfare rhetoric, he cut taxes for all taxpayers (only a small number of whom were wealthy).... and there was a significant increase in prosperity for traditional disadvantaged people.
ReplyDeleteWikipedia even recognizes that deregulation was one of the 4 pillars of Reagonomics; you know the trickle down or voodoo stuff.
DeleteGood to hear from you again. I don't put a lot of trust in either of your sources; more objective sources I believe would agree with my analysis. Of course, there were a small number of wealthy, that's the point, but they got the big breaks. How do you explain the shift of wealth from the middle classes to the top 1%?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice. I'd better get started because it sounds like I have a least a year's worth of reading here. What about Benjamin Franklin?
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Ben too, but you might save him for dessert along with a few others. I particularly like his views on wine.
Delete"Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance."
"When Wine enters, out goes the Truth."
"Never spare the Parson's wine, nor the Baker's pudding."
Long version:
"We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy."
Short version:
"Wine is sure proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
-- Benjamin Franklin
"Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance."
-- Benjamin Franklin
"Take counsel in wine, but resolve afterwards in water."
"Take heed of the Vinegar of sweet Wine, and the Anger of Good-nature."
-- Benjamin Franklin
Note that there is one quote that was NOT said by Ben Franklin!! Bacteria were not CALLED Bacteria back in the 1700s :)
"In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria."
-- David Auerbach