Tex Shelters, April 7 at 4:28 pm,

Are you a Republican?  It appears that you are
or one of the New Class of fascist Democrats. 
The reason neither Left or Right politicians were
concerned about the deficit when Bush was in
office is because the Conservative/Moderate
Vichy corporate NEW Con Class of Democrats go
along to get along and bow to the money god
the same as the Republicans and corporate
fascism has taken control of both political parties.

Now the Republicans are propagandizing to try
to get back into power, so they all of a sudden
realize the deficit, which was of no concern to
them whatsoever, Republicans only objective is
to destroy without any constructive purpose and
many Democrats go right along to get along, just
like what happened in Germany during the Hitler
administration.

The Left Wing Middle Class are Beau Brummel’s type that use
credit to appear wealthy, and the Right-Wing wealthy have
allowed many people of the common population to consider
themselves Middle Class, like the frog in the water, now the
Right-Wing’s wealthy are heating the water and the once Middle
Class are going to have to learn who they are and jump out of the
water and declare
for representation of their class and culture,
because they really have been deserted.

The 20% upper crust of the Middle Class is the only Middle Class
there is now, which is the Academic Professional Class, the
Corporate New Class, that divided out of the rest of the
population, and they represent themselves and double talk the
common average people, because the majority of the people are
no longer in the Middle Class that they represent—the Corporate
New Class is now all the Middle Class there is, and the New Class
Corporate Democrats represent the Common Population relatively
the same way the Republican Corporate Elite represent the
Common Population—double talk without representation, and the
sooner the majority population learn this, the better off they will
be, because then they will be seeking political representation,
instead of thinking they have some kind of representation.

Believe it or not, there are 70% of the population left out of the
Corporate New Class and they are the Common Population and
need to organize as a class and culture for political representation,
because the whole class and culture has been dumped and needs
representation in the Congresses of the United States in the
making and enforcing of legislated law and order.

It is a hard pill to swallow, but it must be swallowed, because this
is what has happened, which is why few, if any, beneficial laws are
left that represents the 70% majority common population of average folks.

The Common Population are going to have to realize they are not
the Middle Class because when they don’t, they divide their whole
class and culture, and it is impossible for them to get any real
representation any other way, other than by recognizing their
class and culture and demanding in every which way they can
representation for their class and culture equal with the
Democratic Party and the Republican Party, as both are separated
from the Common Population. 

The Common Population will 1st have to start recognizing
themselves as the class and culture of the common population
before they will be able to get recognition for representation of
their 70% majority population class and culture, and as long as
they do not come together and recognize that they are a united
70% majority common population, the class and culture will be
divided and there will be no possibility of equal power for the
people, because divided, there is no power for the people.

We the Common Population as a class and culture must have more
than two equal political parties, we need to have many political
parties and be able to form new equal political parties when
needed, that are all equal with the Democratic Party and the
Republican Party, so that the Right Wing will be unable to control
them all, if we contend for only one political party, the Right will
take it over; the average person has to have a means of having
political representation in the making and enforcing of legislated
law and order, and now they do not. 

The Democrat Conservatives/Moderates and the Republicans both
have a war on the 70% Majority Common Population, which
started during and after the Nixon administration.

The conservatives want to bury you, they want to take what little you have left, and stomp you into the ground…then they will send flowers to your family and enjoy a good laugh…

They will also try and convince you that this is for your own good, they will do it under the name of getting rid of big government, or eliminating regulations that stand in the way of the market place..

They will use the same, words they have been using for the last 60 years, and they will lie, cheat and steal to do it, arranging, light plane crashes, and suicides as necessary, to further their cause..

Few people realize that the struggle against them, really is the beginning of a full scale civil war.

Yes, there are many conseratives who will deny that this is whay they are about, but their actions speak much louder than their words…

They will always find those, whose need for dominance, over others, is reflected in their need to wear military uniform….as a way of hiding,  containing, and rationalizing their, anti social views…

But then why argue with the jailer? Their own deviant, personality structure, makes them the ideal tool…

Whenever you get to a point of historical change, you get a polarization of viewpoints such as Ryan is bringing forth that enables clarity.  That is happening now coupled with an increase of awareness in everyday people.  The battle lines are being drawn - those who believe what matters is selfishness and greed and those who counter that the future is about sharing and brotherhood.  The choice that humanity will make is between one or the other.

“My Teaching, simple though it is, will show you the necessity for sharing, for the creation of a pool of resources from which all men may take, the substitution for greed of co-operation and trust, the manifestation of the inner divinity of men. This manifestation, My friends, must proceed, for without it, the future for man would be black indeed. A crisis of decision awaits mankind. My Love creates a polarity of viewpoints; that is the Sword which I wield. My friends, know well where you stand and receive My Light. Take care where you place your feet: on the steps which lead to tomorrow or — oblivion. Men and women of the world, My brothers, My children, I appeal to you: take the upward path into the light of the Truth which I bring, and be enabled to manifest the Gods which you are. Many there are now who know this to be the only path for man. Make it known where you, My friends, stand at this time.”
- World Teacher Maitreya

I don’t know when we’ve ever had a ‘progressive’ government. The movement of wealth from the middle to the top 2 percent has taken decades but it has been achieved. Now that narrow segment of coporate elite wants to pull up the drawbridge and remove any pay-out (taxes) that might adjust financial inequity among the classes. This self-centered Darwinian view of economics which is nothing but unregulated supercapitalism undermines the fabric of democracy and turns this country into a corporate totalitarianism.
The irony is that it isn’t a particularly American take-over as it is global - McWorld Inc. establishing itself as the true empire.

@rico sauve I’ve come to this site enough to know that any response to your
comments is basically pointless. One would have more luck talking to the
wall. But I guess your point about taxes is that you don’t want to pay any
taxes at all, which is a point that really can’t be argued, because it’s an
absolutist position. But any taxation is redistributive in nature - that is the
norm.  It is just a question of from whom and to whom taxes are
redistributed. As a New Yorker, part of my Federal Taxes go to support
people in Alabama and Maine because people in NY State and other large,
wealthier states pay out more to the Federal Government than they get back
in Federal benefits. Part of my taxes also get redistributed to the military
industrial complex through the Pentagon to conduct wars I don’t agree with
and don’t support. Part of my taxes go to tax breaks and subsidies for
private companies that I don’t agree with and don’t support. I see no reason
why my tax dollars should get redistributed to oil companies, corrupt
bankers and agri-business. I don’t see why my tax dollars should be
redistributed to support NASCAR rather than NPR. I wish I could choose to
which purposes my tax dollars are re-distributed because I don’t mind it
being used for education, health care and other purposes that support the
well-being of my fellow citizens.  Unfortunately, we don’t get to individually
decide how our tax payments are redistributed. Ultimately, it rests with the
priorities and values of the people we elect to make these decisions. If you
don’t like tax redistribution then we should stop tax collection entirely and
let the country collapse. Probably you wouldn’t agree to that though, you
just want the taxes to go for things you agree with, while I only want taxes
to go for the things I agree with. The redistribution agenda of the
Republican Party is the same as it has been since Ronald Reagan: take
money from the middle class and give it to the “haves and have mores.” But
that probably works for you, right?

rico, suave—The world of propaganda is all too real.

gerard, April 5 at 10:02 pm,

We are not nearing the end of an oppressive government.—I wish
we could blame it all on President Obama, get rid of President Obama
and everything would be great, but it is not so.  Government whether
Republican or Democrat will be oppressive as long as corporations
are running the government and corporations ARE running the
government of the United States—it’s called fascism, and fascism is
oppressive.  No matter who is elected into power there will be an
oppressive government, because corporations are into profit for
corporations at the expense of the public.  Only the people, the great
majority, can change the situation and it won’t be with voting.

If I read the tea leaves right, we are nearing the end of “An Oppressive Government.” Its penchant for secrecy and the use of force, removing it from access to change and causing it to repeat the same errors for years on end, means that it has accumulated (and still accumulates) errors that ultimately undermine the very ground for its existence—that is, the felt “need” for some form of enduring rational governance and for the persistence of national identities.
  The more repression and surveillance, the more governments show fear of failure and collapse.  Such tactics are not a sign of strength but of weakness, fear and confusion.  Strong governments are open to criticism and alert to the need for adjustments that favor cooperation and commity.
  A weak government is just as dangerous as one that is too strong, however, and this point has to at least be as widely understood as possible and taken into consideration as regards citizen action.
Obviously, if you judge from US current international relations, we do not deserve good luck from now on. But we may have been handed a piece of it in spite of ourselves. The differences between Egypt and Libya regarding the use of force or the lack of it are significant and are open for all those who care, to study and learn. If we are smart, we will take note of those differences and act—or not act—accordingly.

As far as Progressive Government ending, not
likely to happen, 70% of the population is would
be progressives, some think they are political
conservatives but have no idea what a political
conservative means or they wouldn’t be
conservatives, much less Republican
conservatives and sooner or later they will become aware. 

Average people of the common population who
are conservative have gotten caught up in the
propaganda and aren’t aware they are working
against themselves and think being a
conservative means that they are fiscally
responsible, and it has nothing whatsoever to do
with being fiscally responsible.  I agree with Keith
Olberman, “most conservatives are wildly
stupid”:

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/04/olbermann-tells-college-republican-that-most-conservatives-are-wildly-stupid/?utm_source=Raw+Story+Daily+Update&utm_campaign=3c15c2133a-4_5_114_5_2011&utm_medium=email

The solution is not rocket science. You tax the rich. Let me get this straight-General Electric paid no US taxes, and even got a windfall of taxpayer dollars from people like you and me? “Criminal” is a good word for that. The top tax bracket during the Eisenhower administration was close to 90%, the country basked in prosperity, and no one complained. Now they bitch about it being in the middle 30’s. The corporate media remains gagged and silent. Give ‘em an inch…you know? That top 1% of the population is rotten to their unAmerican core, and generously laced with pseudo-Christian hypocrites.

Timid Democrats? Then why vote for them?
We have the same problem, here in the UK, which manifests itself as New Labour.
There is very little difference between our three main parties, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and New Labour, so why would any intelligent individual vote for any of them?
We do, however, have a vibrant Green Party that I will be voting for when I am presented with the choice of electing a candidate to represent me either in Parliament or in the local Council; why don’t you organise an alternative party in America, along the lines of our Green Party?

@DieDaily

You might be right about the “survival” part. I meant which group would have the best chance of restoring a semblance of technological civilization. If aboriginal society and the Amish are what you consider civilization then you would feel quite at home in the Middle Ages, I wouldn’t. Duh

BProgress:

Do you know me?

gharlane:

You’re absolutely right about the tax code.

“Spewed?”

@ShowMeTheEvidence: “If 10,000 scientists, engineers,
teachers, doctors and skilled laborers were left
however, there is a damn good chance the human race
would survive.”

Ha ha ha, that’s funny. No, actually, if you’ve been
paying attention…those are the ones you might want to
make sure did NOT survive. 10,000 aboriginals, 10,000 Amish, 10,000 permaculturists. 10,000 farmers? Now
we’re talking about survival. Duh.

@Michael Cavlan RN

You got banned from CD for dissing Obamanation? Really? Interesting… I and
many others share the same viewpoint, after all, GS was his 2nd largest
contributor, should of been a clue, no? I’m sorry to hear of your experience.
Fortunately I wasn’t banned for my views. Guess I played nice. As for the rest of
the hack jobs you mention, they, and their moderators can get bent. Although I
would argue truthdig has just as many fluff pieces as all the aforementioned sites,
there’s just too many “journalists” out there that don’t have a clue….

To all those who think the rich “Earn” their money:

If there were an apocalyptic event and only the 10,000 richest people in the world survived, what do you think the chances are that they would be able to restart civilization?
I think close to ZERO.

If 10,000 scientists, engineers, teachers, doctors and skilled laborers were left however, there is a damn good chance the human race would survive.

Doesn’t that illustrate who and what are actually the foundation of society? And if the economy were actually a reflection of performance and contribution to humankind, shouldn’t they be at the top?

BProgress.

Yes, I did diss Common Dreams. Or more to the point I told the truth about Common Screams, based upon my own experiences.

Myself and an unknown amount of others were banned from posting there because we were speaking the truth about president Oily Bomber BEFORE the s-election. No warning and no explanation.

Truth is, it happened on many, many “progressive” sites.

For example Daily KOS, Fluff Post, Op Ed News etc etc.

It did not just happen to me. I know of lots of others in whom it happened. It will probably happen again for the next election.

@gerard, your definition of money is woefully naive. until you understand the
entire system is based off debt, you understand nothing…

rico, suave is a complete shill, a hack, and a liar, who pretends to pay $150,000 in
taxes, yet doesn’t even know his own tax rate. what a joker, your probably a plant
from some govt agency. get a life.

@Michael Cavlan RN, did you really just dis common dreams, while asking why
Dionne is allowed to post on this site, as he does every day, when he’s a blue team
apologist? at least you have half a clue…

gharlane, April 5 at 4:40 am,

I agree.  The Tax Code is made to fit the corporations by the corporations and for the corporations.  That is what fascism is all about—Corporations governing their way.

gharlane, April 5 at 4:40 am,

I agree.  The Tax Code is made to fit the
corporations by the corporations and for the
corporations.  That is what fascism is all about—
Corporations governing their way.

recheck

What?

We had a progressive government? Where the hell was I?

All I have seen is corporate Democrats and corporate Republicans.

More important, why does this dribble continue being published on Truth Dig? All of the go Obama, plead Obama, Go Democrats, plead Democrats crap already has a home on other “progressive” Democrat apologists sites like Daily KOS, Fluffington Post, Common Screams etc etc

rico, suave spews:

“If GE didn’t pay a dime in tax, it’s not GE’s fault. It’s the tax code’s fault.”

rico obviously is unfamiliar with a street in Washington DC that begins and ends with the letter “K”.  The tax code doesn’t get written in isolation.  It gets written by members of Congress, and the lobbyists for GE (as well as Exxon, B of A, you get the picture) know exactly how to apply pressure to get the tax code the way they want it.  So the tax code is as it is precisely because of the efforts of GE and entities like GE.

Give the Tea Bagging (formerly Republican) Party have just enough rope. I think
they are doing a nice job of hanging themselves between now and 2012, when a
landslide victory for Obama will bring a public mandate for him and the next four
years. Count at least a couple of the old right wing war horses to bow out
(Thomas, the fool or Kennedy the Creep or Scalia the Scab). If these thieves like
Ryan go after my medicare, they will be hearing a loud scream, and I am sure I’m
not the only voting toe they will be stepping on. C’mon down, party of Fools. I’m
already punching my fist into my hand like a rough cut dock worker. Take me on,
Tea Baggers. You’ll find you’ve bitten off more than you can chew!

gerard:

” Just think of all the people you helped, all the beneficiaries of entitlements who sit around on street corners or get thrown out of hospitals and left to die on the mean streets of LA or Gotham, all those creepy old ladies pushing walkers into the post office to mail a Valentine to their autistic grandkid.  And don’t forget those whacked-up veterans coming out of Afghanistan with missing arms and legs and souls.
Wow!  You did a lot of good in spite of your politics! Pat yourself on the back.”

Can you say the same for yourself?

I didn’t think so.

Anarcissie:

Word of advice: Try to live in the real world.

Rico:  Look at it this way:  Just think of all the people you helped, all the beneficiaries of entitlements who sit around on street corners or get thrown out of hospitals and left to die on the mean streets of LA or Gotham, all those creepy old ladies pushing walkers into the post office to mail a Valentine to their autistic grandkid.  And don’t forget those whacked-up veterans coming out of Afghanistan with missing arms and legs and souls.
Wow!  You did a lot of good in spite of your politics! Pat yourself on the back.

rico, suave—The world I describe isn’t a physical world, it’s the logical consequence of the rhetoric using the distribution / redistribution dichotomy.  It’s real enough in propaganda, which, even if absurd, seems to hold power and cloud the minds of men.

rico

Here is Robert Reich’s take on taxing the wealthy (and why you paid so much is either because you make a shi*load of money which is unlikely if you are a pilot, or you made a mistake).

http://www.salon.com/news/taxes/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/04/04/tax_disparity_income_2012_robert_reich

MarthaA:

I agree with everything you said except-

“and not tax the wealthy at all, as is
happening in the United States”

Excuse me dear (condescension intented). I paid $150,000 in federal income tax last year. How much did you pay? Let me guess- begins with a “Z”. Am I close?

If GE didn’t pay a dime in tax, it’s not GE’s fault. It’s the tax code’s fault. If GE evaded taxes illegally, they should be punished. Just like me, if I do. But I’m guessing you don’t have to worry about tax evasion do you?

(BTW- the top 5% of earners pay 40% of income taxes. The bottom 50% pay zero. An inconvenient truth.)

rico, suave, April 4 at 10:11 pm,

“If you can read “taxes are evil””— rico, suave,
April 4 at 10:11 pm

Taxing is only evil when only the common
population is taxed.  It is oppression and tyranny
against the population for a government to have
oppressive fees and taxation of only the common
population and not tax the wealthy at all, as is
happening in the United States, as GE and other
mega corporations pay no taxes at all.

gerard, April 4 at 5:20 pm,

Why?  Power and greed.

gharlane:

I’m afraid you, like gerard, are reading way too much into my comment. My comment was ONLY about the abuse of a prefectly good word. No more, no less.

If you can read “taxes are evil” and Teabagger into that, you’re really good! Wrong, but good.

Anarcissie:

Except that the world you describe to gerard doesn’t really exist, except in the fevered minds of progressive conspiracists.

Lack within the families of the people of the
progressive public as a whole will soon cause a
determination to be made that tax cuts and/or no
taxes for the mega wealthy are not in the best
interest of the people and their families of the
progressive public, then “the worm will turn”, as the
saying goes.

BTW gerard: That’s an interesting definition of “money” you have there.

gerard:

I was making ZERO comment or judgement on the benefits or otherwise of progressive taxation. I was merely pointing out Dionne’s curious application of the word “redistributionist.”

THAT’S ALL! Sheesh.

rico

Did Bank of America keep enough of ‘their money?’  Did GE keep enough of ‘their money?’  Did Exxon Mobile keep enough of ‘their money?’

(pssst 100%)

If everyone keeps all ‘their money’ we cannot support a country.  All those who keep ‘their own money’ can find somewhere else to drive their cars, other bridges to cross, etc.  They can start a country of their own ‘The Country of Selfish People Who Don’t Give a Sh** about anyone but themselves, but still want to use the services other people pay for.’

“Only an Orwellian progressive like Dionne would characterize a program which lets people keep their own money instead of being involuntarily forced to give it to other people as ‘redistributionist.’”

Ah yes, the teabagger line: government and taxes are evil.  Time for our teabagger “pilot” to visit the Libertarian Paradise on the lovely shores of the Indian Ocean…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QDv4sYwjO0&feature=player_embedded

Paul Ryan; another gem from Wisc. to go along with “Tail Gunner Joe”, Ashcroft, and Koch-head Walker! Hope that the cold shower recently received by the good citizens of this state to look at the pretty boy gym rat and recall him along with the rest of the neo-fascists so foolishly put in charge of their future!

‘‘The coming week will test who he is. When Ryan releases his budget, will the
president finally engage?’‘

Are you still waiting for Obama ??

The only thing worse than a Republican who tells the TRUTH
about being FOR the ‘‘Too Big to Fail Corporations’‘

is a Democrat who LIES about being FOR the people.

Are there even any Democrats in Congress? 

I couldn’t believe my ears this morning when Al Sharpton was asked if he was
disappointed that the first black president in history had not addressed any of the
issues affecting black Americans, like unemployment that’s over 20 %. 

He said we shouldn’t hold President Obama to higher standards than the other
presidents.  He said because he can’t get things done for working Americans is
just a reality of the job so he can’t be criticized for it.

Huh?

The weak-kneed democrats wouldn’t do anything by themselves, but they would sure follow the cons down the stink-weed path.

The truth is that we could provide health care to 100% of our population and save $400 billion per year by converting to a Medicare-for-all system. But the healthcare and insurance industry gave $125 million in campaign bribes to keep single-payer off the table. Bribes work! And the private industry can give them and Medicare can’t. Go figure.

Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net

gerard—In order to understand terms like ‘keep their own money’ you have to understand the framework, the ideology, in which such statements exist.  The primary principle is that property is not a social relationship, appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, but is ordained by the gods.  It is sacrosanct, and absolute property is absolutely sacrosanct.  As a result, whatever causes the rich to get richer is right and good, and anything else is evil.  When we speak in terms of ‘distribution’ and ‘redistribution’, there is an ur-distribution, the original, pure distribution, which is whichever distribution causes the rich to have the most.  It is good: optimally, it is a situation in which the rich have everything.  Any more equal distribution, a redistribution, is a sad falling-off from this ideal.  One is not allowed to use these words in any other way.

Unfortunately, sinful, imperfect creatures that humans are, they will not support this pure ideal, this shining city on a hill: there is nothing in it for them.  They are too concerned with grubby matters like putting bread on the table.  But the rich—you can’t blame them for being uplifted by the sheer poetry of it all, of absolute, unimpeachable, impregnable wealth.

The over-simplification of the idea “letting people keep their own money” (no matter how much) instead of “forced redistribution via taxes” is so naive as to be laughable. 
  For better and for worse, money was invented to aid distribution, not to prevent it.  Glomming it all together at the top of the ladder in the hands of a minority means that the majority at the bottom will go hungry, homeless, ill and blind. Eventually
the “system” will clog up and explode and the shit will hit the fan, as they say.
  By refusing to unclog the system, the boys at the top are asking for trouble.  The question is, Why?

“Put the two parts of the Ryan design together—tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for the poor—and its radically redistributionist purposes become clear.”

Only an Orwellian progressive like Dionne would characterize a program which lets people keep their own money instead of being involuntarily forced to give it to other people as “redistributionist.”

Of course, if the “norm” is to confiscate money from some to give to others, and any deviation from that norm one way or the other is “resdistribution” then I could see his point.

You’re need to ‘put in a good word’ for Ryan speaks volumes about the type of blogger-journalist that I despise.  One without any moral fire, and is so ‘even-handed’ that the blandness of your worldview signifies nothing.

Agonizing about the budget is a mock-tragedy, when unemployment is in double digits and we are spending billions of dollars every week on brain-dead wars.
What’s wrong with the economy is no longer the credit freeze, availability of capital for the big corps, since the TARP and the various bail-outs.
It’s the destructive aftermath of that explosion on the middle class - the massive upward re-distribution of wealth in a corporate economy that knows no national boundaries and dodges local taxes and regulations. The lie that government spending kills jobs covers the fact that supercapitalism and globalization kills national jobs.

And you wonder: Will President Obama welcome the responsibility of engaging the country in this big argument, or will he shrink from it?
**************

EJ, do you even need to ASK????  In the 2 years and 2 12 months that Obama has been President he has shrunk from EVERY fight with the Re-Thuglicans, even when they only held 40 Senate seats and his party held 60.

Of COURSE Obama will shrink from the fight. They will give him a token, like kindergarten lunches but make him pay with doing away with capital gains taxes…and he and Reid will accept it, swallow it, and expect our votes in 2012 because we have nowhere else to go.

Dionne, you just lost a reader. Your faith in Obama is so badly misplaced that I refuse to read your words any longer.

Look how insanely right wing governments in Central and South America were 20
years ago and see where they are now.  Consider that you could get shot for
speaking against the government back then.

“The coming week will test who he is (Obama)”

Holy shit, isn’t this abundantly clear to you yet!!!  Without Obama this shit would not be hitting the fan.  He is the enabler, and a completely dishonest one at that.  Get a fucking clue E.J. !!!

PS:  And by the way, what “Progressive Government?”
It’s been in regression for years—ever since we turned it over to the military-industrial complex.

Where is Pogo when we need him?

Notice how the pseudo-progressive Dionne characterizes the current pseudo-struggle in the government as between doing something for the poor and destitute versus not doing something for the poor and destitute, in other words, them, whereas the actual plan is to further gut the middle class and hang it out to dry, in other words, us.