Please, Sir, I Want Some More
If you think the war and the Plame case make my blood boil, you'd be right; but sometimes there are gummint actions that not only make me teeter close to the brink of apoplexy, they also make me sick to my stomach.
We have a gummint that rakes in tons of cash annually from our taxes; but the same gummint conveniently ignores individuals and corporations who have outstanding taxes or have managed to shift their official address to Aruba or the like, all in the name of keeping what's "theirs." We have a gummint that insists on throwing more cash to the Pentagon than even the Dep't of Defense has asked for, and shrugs when requisitions include such things as $20 ice trays. Over the last few years, Smirk has pushed for permanent tax cuts, and handed out tax breaks as if they were lollipops, largely to the well-heeled, who certainly don't need a tax break. We've spent tens of millions of dollars on the war in Iraq, and even more on agencies like the Department of Homeland Security.
All of this is in the name of defense, or in the name of supply-side economics, or even in the name of so-called "fairness." Yet out of a population of nearly 300 million, only a small number are millionaires, and an even smaller number are multimillionaires. As of last year, only about 7.5 million of us earned or socked away enough to be enumerated as a millionaire.
Yep-- I hate to break it to you (and to myself), but 95% of us will never be rich. The vast majority of us will never qualify for those tax breaks, or for any other consideration from our plutocratic gummint. As it is, a lot of us are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, or balancing monstrous debts on credit cards, or trying to just keep up with the Smiths, let alone the Joneses. Those of us who are in somewhat better shape are still scrambling, as outsourcing, layoffs, increasing insurance and health care premiums keep them from staying fully ahead of the game.
That doesn't even include those at the bottom of the heap, who for one reason or another, are far beyond struggling-- they live in homeless shelters or in one-room apartments with several other people. They work two or three jobs, and essentially are rats on a wheel, just trying to stay in place.
Government exists for one purpose-- to serve the people. Essentially, government protects the rights of the governed. Of course, this leads to a larger question-- whose rights? Which of the governed? How societies interpret this social contract is why we have such diversity of government-- from republics to dictatorships, from socialism to communism.
In this country, the myth is that it's all about the "people," that we are a "democracy," and that a strong people are a great people. Well, I don't think we are a "strong people"; yes, we have a powerful military, and a massive economic machine that is a global juggernaut. But this administration, among others, seems to prefer that while the exterior is mighty, the interior remain weak. When a people are more concerned with the basics of survival, it's hard to encourage them to participate in and improve the society they live in. When that happens, everyone suffers.
Just yesterday, the House voted to cut $844 million in food stamps. The reason for this move, ostensibly, is to save money in the wake of the war in Iraq and the expenses in the aftermath of Katrina. What it really is is just mean-spirited. There are basic human needs, and one of them is food. I'd much rather my money go to helping a child have lunch at school (which may or may not be his only meal of the day) than towards killing people in a far-off land, or handing my money to someone who is just going to sock it away in a tax shelter, where no one ever benefits from it again. I'd prefer that my neighbors can focus on other concerns, rather than suffering from hunger. I'd prefer that my fellow Americans can be strong and healthy as individuals, just as we are as a country, rather than weakened because we couldn't permit them to buy the food they needed.
It certainly doesn't help that Congress votes itself pay raises while keeping the minimum wage tamped down. If people's wages don't rise, they can't purchase food. If their wages aren't high enough to purchase the food they need, but their salaries are too high for food stamps, they fall through the cracks. We're supposedly making these kinds of cuts because of events like Katrina. Well, as we all saw during that disaster, the majority of people affected have lost their homes and livelihoods. How much do you want to bet they could use assistance such as food stamps? Katrina supposedly exposed the gap between rich and poor in this country, yet the glimpse we all caught of this chasm has been closed quickly again, and we're all supposed to just go our merry way.
The situation reminds me a lot of Oliver Twist and his run-in with the governors. The people of this country are Oliver, holding out their empty bowl, and saying, "Please, Sir, I want some more."
Congress and Smirk, Scowl & Co. are Bumble and the governors, responding with such platitudes as "Pray some decorum restore, I implore... Let us face this case, it's Unprecedented, quite utterly," "He's disgraced this place," and "Encouraging others to swallow in gluttony."
In the book and movie, Oliver manages to at last find comfort and security in spite of the governors of the workhouse. I'm not sure where the average American is eventually going to find comfort and security in spite of our "governors," but for the time being, we're stuck in the workhouse, with no foreseeable exit.
We have a gummint that rakes in tons of cash annually from our taxes; but the same gummint conveniently ignores individuals and corporations who have outstanding taxes or have managed to shift their official address to Aruba or the like, all in the name of keeping what's "theirs." We have a gummint that insists on throwing more cash to the Pentagon than even the Dep't of Defense has asked for, and shrugs when requisitions include such things as $20 ice trays. Over the last few years, Smirk has pushed for permanent tax cuts, and handed out tax breaks as if they were lollipops, largely to the well-heeled, who certainly don't need a tax break. We've spent tens of millions of dollars on the war in Iraq, and even more on agencies like the Department of Homeland Security.
All of this is in the name of defense, or in the name of supply-side economics, or even in the name of so-called "fairness." Yet out of a population of nearly 300 million, only a small number are millionaires, and an even smaller number are multimillionaires. As of last year, only about 7.5 million of us earned or socked away enough to be enumerated as a millionaire.
Yep-- I hate to break it to you (and to myself), but 95% of us will never be rich. The vast majority of us will never qualify for those tax breaks, or for any other consideration from our plutocratic gummint. As it is, a lot of us are struggling from paycheck to paycheck, or balancing monstrous debts on credit cards, or trying to just keep up with the Smiths, let alone the Joneses. Those of us who are in somewhat better shape are still scrambling, as outsourcing, layoffs, increasing insurance and health care premiums keep them from staying fully ahead of the game.
That doesn't even include those at the bottom of the heap, who for one reason or another, are far beyond struggling-- they live in homeless shelters or in one-room apartments with several other people. They work two or three jobs, and essentially are rats on a wheel, just trying to stay in place.
Government exists for one purpose-- to serve the people. Essentially, government protects the rights of the governed. Of course, this leads to a larger question-- whose rights? Which of the governed? How societies interpret this social contract is why we have such diversity of government-- from republics to dictatorships, from socialism to communism.
In this country, the myth is that it's all about the "people," that we are a "democracy," and that a strong people are a great people. Well, I don't think we are a "strong people"; yes, we have a powerful military, and a massive economic machine that is a global juggernaut. But this administration, among others, seems to prefer that while the exterior is mighty, the interior remain weak. When a people are more concerned with the basics of survival, it's hard to encourage them to participate in and improve the society they live in. When that happens, everyone suffers.
Just yesterday, the House voted to cut $844 million in food stamps. The reason for this move, ostensibly, is to save money in the wake of the war in Iraq and the expenses in the aftermath of Katrina. What it really is is just mean-spirited. There are basic human needs, and one of them is food. I'd much rather my money go to helping a child have lunch at school (which may or may not be his only meal of the day) than towards killing people in a far-off land, or handing my money to someone who is just going to sock it away in a tax shelter, where no one ever benefits from it again. I'd prefer that my neighbors can focus on other concerns, rather than suffering from hunger. I'd prefer that my fellow Americans can be strong and healthy as individuals, just as we are as a country, rather than weakened because we couldn't permit them to buy the food they needed.
It certainly doesn't help that Congress votes itself pay raises while keeping the minimum wage tamped down. If people's wages don't rise, they can't purchase food. If their wages aren't high enough to purchase the food they need, but their salaries are too high for food stamps, they fall through the cracks. We're supposedly making these kinds of cuts because of events like Katrina. Well, as we all saw during that disaster, the majority of people affected have lost their homes and livelihoods. How much do you want to bet they could use assistance such as food stamps? Katrina supposedly exposed the gap between rich and poor in this country, yet the glimpse we all caught of this chasm has been closed quickly again, and we're all supposed to just go our merry way.
The situation reminds me a lot of Oliver Twist and his run-in with the governors. The people of this country are Oliver, holding out their empty bowl, and saying, "Please, Sir, I want some more."
Congress and Smirk, Scowl & Co. are Bumble and the governors, responding with such platitudes as "Pray some decorum restore, I implore... Let us face this case, it's Unprecedented, quite utterly," "He's disgraced this place," and "Encouraging others to swallow in gluttony."
In the book and movie, Oliver manages to at last find comfort and security in spite of the governors of the workhouse. I'm not sure where the average American is eventually going to find comfort and security in spite of our "governors," but for the time being, we're stuck in the workhouse, with no foreseeable exit.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 6:22 PM
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