This seems like as good a place as any to repeat what popped up on Facebook a few days ago. I imagine that it’s been around for a while, but I hadn’t seen it, and it dovetails very nicely with my own penchant for ways to boil down complex concepts to their simplest expression:
Socialism is the fire department coming to save your house.
Capitalism is your insurance company denying your claim you need to rebuild.
The Americans that are still supporting the FPOTUS will always vote Republican no matter who is in office because they were raised, or should I say brainwashed, to believe that the Democrats are evil.
We can thank Trump for only one thing, he has shown us that there is a TON of Evil in our Society!
What’s amazing is how easily manipulated the most vulnerable in society are. Just a few years ago, car manufacturer workers in The South tried to unionize. Volkswagen wasn’t even against the unionization; yet, a marketing campaign by right-wing billionaires and republican lawmakers managed to squelch the workers movement; more than half voted against unionization.
We’re seeing the same results when right-wing billionaires buy media conglomerate. Univision which reaches over 50% of Hispanic households was sold a few years ago to a friend of Kushner; the company recently became Trump friendly. The results have already skewered the Hispanic vote; Biden no longer has an advantage with a reliably democratic faction of the party.
The root problems of democracy have been warped by billionaires who control the media. It started with AM radio. Metastasized with the creation of Fox. And with several Republican administrations that have passed legislation to stifle workers and labor rights; coupled with some SC decisions like Citizen’s United, and we now have created the perfect storm for a media and oligarchy takeover of this country.
Trump can only win because he has a plethora of powerful interests backing him; not to mention, the already built in advantages of gerrymandering, the electoral college, and southern and mid-western state election laws.
If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty. -- David Frum, 2018
I agree. But Biden and team should make the argument with the support of well-known, "GOOD" billionaires. According to Business Insider, "Billionaires including Mark Cuban, Marc Benioff, Ray Dalio, and George Soros have publicly called for higher taxes on the wealthy." And both Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have called for increased taxes on the wealthy.
It doesn't have to be Biden alone against the wealthy and corporations. It can be an extension of Biden's good vs evil argument for democracy and economic fairness.
Biden wins with a broad coalition. Get everyone he can in the boat.
Robert, you summed up the oligarchy issue very well. I think most people, including myself, believe that there is not much we can do about oligarchy in America. But, voting for Democrats and getting Congress to pass bills increasing the tax on oligarchs and limiting the amount of money that corporations and oligarchs can donate will right some wrongs.
You know a whole lot more about this mess than I do, Robert, but I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. We’re at a rather dangerous inflection point so getting Biden re-elected is priority one. Then I hope he will follow your advice.
First, all best wishes for an excellent new year! Thank you for your wonderful writings, I’m a great fan (and a devoted Berkeley alum!).
The term “social safety net” is American and not used elsewhere to my knowledge. Nor should it be; nets have holes through which people fall. And fall they do in the USA. We need a solid social protection floor through which no one can fall. Please consider adopting the latter wording to help get more Americans familiar with the notion and think differently about our f greatly flawed social protection system. There is no hunger or malnutrition or rising infant and maternal mortality in countries with solid floors. The USA must do better. Better wording can help shift mindsets.
I think that the oligarchs are too dependent on their money for protection from being victims of the rhetoric of their “pet” politicians.
They forget that when you harness power it's like the spring of a trap: it can snap on you too.
🔥, 🚂, 🌊, 🔌 or even 🌬️.
When the harness breaks, people get hurt.
The oligarchs forget that some of them are Jewish and their lap dogs are blithering about space lasers.
They forget that some of them are immigrants or sons of immigrants or husbands of immigrants and overuse man-tan.
They forget that some of them are “middle eastern businessmen” who are publicly devout Muslims (I'm looking at you Doctor Oz.)
They forget that they are brown, don't they Clarence and Vivek?
They forget that their own children or their siblings or they themselves are LGBTQ+.
They forget how much they depend on the people whom they oppress and what happened to German healthcare, science, industry and the economy when they killed millions of doctors, scientists and skilled workers.
They forget that their wives and daughters are women.
They shortsightedly believe that their money will fully insulate them from the ravages of their chosen tools’ hatred, dogma, fear and ignorance. It will for a time but those forces will wear down their money shield.
I’m a paid subscriber! Two things this morning. First, and least important, George Will is drawing a false equivalence between Biden’s administrative process to fill a position in his own team, and Trump trying to overthrow the results of the last presidential election. G. Will now says they are both dictators!! G. Will seems to have lost his once brilliant mind! Second, the media saying that for 50 states to each qualify (or disqualify) Trump would be chaos and therefor the SCOTUS must rule on it. This is stupid given the Founders, the political right and right-leaning courts have historically advanced states rights. The Constitution reserves election administration to the states. SCOTUS should decline to revise states’ decisions on ballot qualifications and media should stop saying there is anything wrong with states’ process.
We need you, Robert, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Thom Hartman, Chop Wood, Carry Water, to keep us atuned to keeping democracy alive! Thank you all!
Brilliant! Thank you for this excellent summation of the history of attacks on democracy (in America). I think the entire free world waits with bated breath for November 2024.
What I appreciate about today’s column is that it points the direction away from the polarizing question, “how can anyone be so stupid to vote for Trump?” Instead we must face the insidious power of dark money and the vested interests of the ultra rich who are using their pawn to try to undermine our democracy. Let’s stop criticizing our neighbors and face the real foes.
“The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Babies”. Hence the current anti abortion push by the Republicans it’s gods will that we have more workers to pay only slave wages for work the middle class of post WW II almost gone the unions busted and gone . Ronald Regan ( the Brainless ) was the most destructive of the middle class and the puppet of the wealthy -Good enough actor to fool the public to bust government grip on corporations.
Spot on, the "donor class" has had an outsized and organized influence on our country and you are correct in where it's headed. It's absurd in so many ways, how much is enough? Don't think it's so much more money as power. Our civilization has the potential for so much more than just serving the interests of the donor class, keep fighting the good fight.
This seems like as good a place as any to repeat what popped up on Facebook a few days ago. I imagine that it’s been around for a while, but I hadn’t seen it, and it dovetails very nicely with my own penchant for ways to boil down complex concepts to their simplest expression:
Socialism is the fire department coming to save your house.
Capitalism is your insurance company denying your claim you need to rebuild.
The Americans that are still supporting the FPOTUS will always vote Republican no matter who is in office because they were raised, or should I say brainwashed, to believe that the Democrats are evil.
We can thank Trump for only one thing, he has shown us that there is a TON of Evil in our Society!
What’s amazing is how easily manipulated the most vulnerable in society are. Just a few years ago, car manufacturer workers in The South tried to unionize. Volkswagen wasn’t even against the unionization; yet, a marketing campaign by right-wing billionaires and republican lawmakers managed to squelch the workers movement; more than half voted against unionization.
We’re seeing the same results when right-wing billionaires buy media conglomerate. Univision which reaches over 50% of Hispanic households was sold a few years ago to a friend of Kushner; the company recently became Trump friendly. The results have already skewered the Hispanic vote; Biden no longer has an advantage with a reliably democratic faction of the party.
The root problems of democracy have been warped by billionaires who control the media. It started with AM radio. Metastasized with the creation of Fox. And with several Republican administrations that have passed legislation to stifle workers and labor rights; coupled with some SC decisions like Citizen’s United, and we now have created the perfect storm for a media and oligarchy takeover of this country.
Trump can only win because he has a plethora of powerful interests backing him; not to mention, the already built in advantages of gerrymandering, the electoral college, and southern and mid-western state election laws.
If we don’t act quickly, it will be too late.
If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.
The main benefit of controlling a modern bureaucratic state is not the power to persecute the innocent. It is the power to protect the guilty. -- David Frum, 2018
I agree. But Biden and team should make the argument with the support of well-known, "GOOD" billionaires. According to Business Insider, "Billionaires including Mark Cuban, Marc Benioff, Ray Dalio, and George Soros have publicly called for higher taxes on the wealthy." And both Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have called for increased taxes on the wealthy.
It doesn't have to be Biden alone against the wealthy and corporations. It can be an extension of Biden's good vs evil argument for democracy and economic fairness.
Biden wins with a broad coalition. Get everyone he can in the boat.
Robert, you summed up the oligarchy issue very well. I think most people, including myself, believe that there is not much we can do about oligarchy in America. But, voting for Democrats and getting Congress to pass bills increasing the tax on oligarchs and limiting the amount of money that corporations and oligarchs can donate will right some wrongs.
You know a whole lot more about this mess than I do, Robert, but I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. We’re at a rather dangerous inflection point so getting Biden re-elected is priority one. Then I hope he will follow your advice.
Dear Robert,
First, all best wishes for an excellent new year! Thank you for your wonderful writings, I’m a great fan (and a devoted Berkeley alum!).
The term “social safety net” is American and not used elsewhere to my knowledge. Nor should it be; nets have holes through which people fall. And fall they do in the USA. We need a solid social protection floor through which no one can fall. Please consider adopting the latter wording to help get more Americans familiar with the notion and think differently about our f greatly flawed social protection system. There is no hunger or malnutrition or rising infant and maternal mortality in countries with solid floors. The USA must do better. Better wording can help shift mindsets.
Thank you.
Ellen Rosskam, PhD, MPH
I think that the oligarchs are too dependent on their money for protection from being victims of the rhetoric of their “pet” politicians.
They forget that when you harness power it's like the spring of a trap: it can snap on you too.
🔥, 🚂, 🌊, 🔌 or even 🌬️.
When the harness breaks, people get hurt.
The oligarchs forget that some of them are Jewish and their lap dogs are blithering about space lasers.
They forget that some of them are immigrants or sons of immigrants or husbands of immigrants and overuse man-tan.
They forget that some of them are “middle eastern businessmen” who are publicly devout Muslims (I'm looking at you Doctor Oz.)
They forget that they are brown, don't they Clarence and Vivek?
They forget that their own children or their siblings or they themselves are LGBTQ+.
They forget how much they depend on the people whom they oppress and what happened to German healthcare, science, industry and the economy when they killed millions of doctors, scientists and skilled workers.
They forget that their wives and daughters are women.
They shortsightedly believe that their money will fully insulate them from the ravages of their chosen tools’ hatred, dogma, fear and ignorance. It will for a time but those forces will wear down their money shield.
The trap will catch them eventually.
I’m a paid subscriber! Two things this morning. First, and least important, George Will is drawing a false equivalence between Biden’s administrative process to fill a position in his own team, and Trump trying to overthrow the results of the last presidential election. G. Will now says they are both dictators!! G. Will seems to have lost his once brilliant mind! Second, the media saying that for 50 states to each qualify (or disqualify) Trump would be chaos and therefor the SCOTUS must rule on it. This is stupid given the Founders, the political right and right-leaning courts have historically advanced states rights. The Constitution reserves election administration to the states. SCOTUS should decline to revise states’ decisions on ballot qualifications and media should stop saying there is anything wrong with states’ process.
We need you, Robert, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Thom Hartman, Chop Wood, Carry Water, to keep us atuned to keeping democracy alive! Thank you all!
Brilliant! Thank you for this excellent summation of the history of attacks on democracy (in America). I think the entire free world waits with bated breath for November 2024.
What I appreciate about today’s column is that it points the direction away from the polarizing question, “how can anyone be so stupid to vote for Trump?” Instead we must face the insidious power of dark money and the vested interests of the ultra rich who are using their pawn to try to undermine our democracy. Let’s stop criticizing our neighbors and face the real foes.
Your description of what is happening to the country is accurate, though much of what you are
describing is the effects of the massive social counter-reform program that went into high
gear with Reagan and has continued ever since. The second oligarchy is still around; there
is no Chinese Wall between the Rockefellers and Bill Gates, for instance. The fact that large
numbers of the oligarchy are putting their money behind Trump is a grave warning of
where we are going, similar to when Krupp and Thyssen started bankrolling Adolf Hitler.
But- you're daydreaming about Biden seriously confronting this. The Democratic Party
has ties to the billionaire class that are too close for that, and in any event Biden is
simply too weak a leader for that. The issue you never get into is the Civil War; it points
to what is coming in the not distant future, and the wrong side is going to win if
people don't face up to the gravity of what is involved and attack the fascist movement
head on. Biden is too much like the three Presidents immediately before the Civil War
for comfort. What you sound like is someone in 1858 saying "The South is going to
secede unless James Buchanan speaks out about it." The issue of the power of the
Wall Street etc. money monopoly (the "free market") is going to have to be solved
through force of arms, not just elections. That is really the issue Trump's rise is
posing. At the decisive hour, his movement will simply shove Joe Biden aside.
The Democratic Party is the world';s second oldest political party (the British
Conservative Party is older). It has always been based on an analgam between
business interests and the leaderships of social reform movements. But it has no
answers to an aggressive move by the ruling oligarchy to take back social reforms
previously granted. It will split apart as this offensive builds up . In the meantime,
the Republicans have moved all the way from an anti-slavery party to the party
of today's variant of the Confederacy. A key issue in defeating their proto-fascistic
movement before it becomes full scale fascism in power is smashing illusions
about the Democrats, not perpetuating them. Thirty years ago you could be in the
same party as the Lloyd Bentsens and Robert Rubins- that day is over.
Thorn C. Roberts
Elizabeth, WV
“The Rich Get Richer and The Poor Get Babies”. Hence the current anti abortion push by the Republicans it’s gods will that we have more workers to pay only slave wages for work the middle class of post WW II almost gone the unions busted and gone . Ronald Regan ( the Brainless ) was the most destructive of the middle class and the puppet of the wealthy -Good enough actor to fool the public to bust government grip on corporations.
Spot on, the "donor class" has had an outsized and organized influence on our country and you are correct in where it's headed. It's absurd in so many ways, how much is enough? Don't think it's so much more money as power. Our civilization has the potential for so much more than just serving the interests of the donor class, keep fighting the good fight.