American Working Class Being Abused!

There has been so much going on lately, what with the debt ceiling hostage taking, and now the explosion/implosion of the Murdoch empire, sure to have ramifications here at home with the likes of the WSJ and FNN, that I’ve had trouble posting, except in response to right wing ideologues who have been posting away. So let me get back into the initiating mode with this important problem.

What we have here is a long-lived issue which is not being effectively addressed by our Government. Several random tweets say it all:

“No – I mean the hard-worki­ng middle class, such as myself and the greatest majority of the country – who have been busting our butts for years while getting little to no raises in salaries despite the inflation in prices for goods and services we NEED in order to live – all while those at the helm continue to pull record-set­ting profits. Is that clear enough for you? Perhaps you should try fact checking the informatio­n you’re getting from Fox News….ta­lk about the tail wagging the dog!”

And this:

“Rome is burning. This is what happens when you abuse your working class.”

There’s more:

“Wealth envy? Are you kidding me? The only wealthy people I envy are those like Warren Buffet who actually admit the inequality in our current tax structure.

I work hard and make a very good living…t­he difference is that I actually don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes. I don’t spend a fortune on attorneys and accountant­s so they can tell me how to hide my money rather than putting into this great country of ours. It seems that the wealthy would rather line the pockets of tax attorneys and accountant­s than support this great nation by paying taxes.”

“And record poverty levels. The rich keep getting richer. So much for the B.S. “trickle down” started by Reagan.”

The question I ask is: Who is representing the interests of the majority of the 157 million in our labor force? Their wages have been stagnant since the Reagan presidency, their benefits have decreased, and their bargaining rights have been upended?

The main problem, of course, is that a minority of powerful people have taken over our government, causing it to perform in a manner favoring management and disfavoring the workers, and it promises to get worse depending on the outcome of the 2012 elections. Moreover, we have a situation where a minority party has been effective in stifling the proper function of government by majority rule with their control of the Senate by means of the filibuster rule. Thus, one can hardly call us a democratic republic anymore, as we in effect have an oligarchy, similar to that of which we so critical not too many years ago regarding the Soviet Union.

Furthermore, we now see these oligarchs and their sheep working hard to suppress the vote in 2012 by making it more difficult to register, among other things.

The solution is obvious: Citizens concerned about these trends need to campaign for their candidates, get out the vote, and of course, vote themselves. Then we may be able to start “bridging the gap”!