beat thoughts

We are the 53%? You are still the 99%

There’s something really sad about the “We are the 53%” Tumblr. I appreciate and understand the lives the people have led - hardworking people trying to make their way - but what is sad is that so much of it is so very similar to what the “We are the 99%” people are saying - it’s just the last line that is different. And what is that?

Because we are still in the throes of the manipulation and division that has been destroying the United States ever since George W. Bush. We cannot, cannot, cannot, turn this into a left-versus-right issue, or a Democrat-versus-Republican issue. This is for all Americans. It’s not even about rich-versus-poor, or rich-versus-working class - plenty of rich people support fair taxation, a la Warren Buffet. The people on the 53% blog talk about busting their back, working multiple jobs, not having healthcare - but why should anyone have to scramble so much to simply live in America? It is government corruption and corporate greed that is responsible for the less-than-optimal lives so many Americans lead. Why can’t we have decent wages, more jobs, and universal health care, so people don’t have to bust their backs to survive?

And yet somehow many Americans have been convinced to turn away from their own best interests, inadvertently supporting the status quo of the wealthy and powerful who seek to keep us down.

Do not be “grateful” to the 1%. That is akin to slaves being grateful to their owners. They do not care about you. You are just a number to them, a number that produces far more for them than they will ever give you, than you will ever be able to earn or achieve. They will always have the power - unless we do something about it.

We don’t need handouts, or freebies. We need basic decency - where Americans don’t have to worry about going into debt to take care of their health or families, or to get an education. Where every American contributes their fair share to the country. That is the only way we will survive as a nation. We cannot give into fear-mongering, lies, manipulation, and artificial divisions between Americans that divide and conquer us, while the 1% takes our money, our jobs, our homes, our lives.

United we stand. Divided we fall. Do you want to stand, or fall?

Postscript: goliathonline’s comment about the division starting earlier than Bush is totally accurate. I already see a lot of similarities between the “sides” of the Occupy Wall Street protests versus the “53%” or Tea Party or whoever conservatives are aligning themselves with now…and the sides of the Vietnam-era protests. Conservatives saying “I use deoderant, I have no tattoos, I go to church”, still painting the people who are challenging the status quo as, well, dirty hippies - not bothering to understand the issues involved. I guess my point about Bush was just that it was during his administration that we saw the rise of Fox News, the whole “red state vs. blue state” thing, and the terrifying rise of the religious Right - probably some of the most dangerous divisions created between Americans since the Civil War.