Here's the sad truth, as I see it. Neither the BIG private side or the BIG Public side cares what happens to an increasing no. of Americans. They have theirs is the way they view it. They take care of themselves and their family and friends. Everyone else is beyond the pale. This is the bitter fruit of 30 yrs. of Reaganism / Randism. Right now the upper management of both sectors is working to gut the Public sector unions just as they gutted the Private side over these last 35 yrs. Public workers coming in will increasingly find their jobs are paid less with shrinking benefits just as private workers are now finding. A living wage is rapidly going away.
Yes, there is talk from the GOP lately that the minimum wage is inhibiting job growth. Can you imagine? This is not a new thing from the GOP, its one of their old hat tricks, but they are dusting it off once again. Sure I will be happy to pay someone a penny per hour to come help me.
Slavery as a legitimate source of human labor is going to return under the right circumstances. The roots of it especially in the South are still very alive. When I was in Va. last fall visiting I was exposed to just how alive. We visited with an old friend. She had moved there 12 yrs. earlier and was working as a director of a local Community center and as a Sect. for a local Baptist Church. She is from Ohio, but was raised and educated in NJ, she is not a Southerner. The issue of Slavery arose over dinner one night. She actually tried to say slavery wasn't as bad as many people think. Her reasoning was that slaves weren't on the whole mistreated and they were fed and housed and that this was in essence their pay. I listened and then I simply said. Friend, they had NO CHOICE don't you get it? They were captives of their owners , they had no rights , no choice, they had to labor or be punished or even killed. She seemed perplexed by my answer. I asked her where in God's name did she pick up this utter nonsense line of reasoning. She said it was common place among her friends and co-workers and neighbors in that town. I asked her if the local black folks also believed this. She got defensive on that ? The roots of the coming slavery are there, they were NEVER pulled out. The south is a deep repository of authoritarianism in this country and to this day a drag on the rest of our society in many ways. Add to it the cultural militarism and gun fetishism so pervasive down there and you have a dangerous potentially volatile mix going forward. Add on top of all of that the culturally based fundamentalist religions of the region and the shit gets even deeper.
It sounds like something born out of guilt to legitimize something horrible. People do these things to remove their own guilt. Its not the best way out, not the best way to handle the problem. Its trying to find a silver lining even when nothing warrants any silver. Also this is a societal idea. Its not an individual.
6 comments:
Were bouncing along the bottom is all.
And that is just about it...
Here's the sad truth, as I see it. Neither the BIG private side or the BIG Public side cares what happens to an increasing no. of Americans. They have theirs is the way they view it. They take care of themselves and their family and friends. Everyone else is beyond the pale. This is the bitter fruit of 30 yrs. of Reaganism / Randism. Right now the upper management of both sectors is working to gut the Public sector unions just as they gutted the Private side over these last 35 yrs. Public workers coming in will increasingly find their jobs are paid less with shrinking benefits just as private workers are now finding. A living wage is rapidly going away.
Yes, there is talk from the GOP lately that the minimum wage is inhibiting job growth. Can you imagine? This is not a new thing from the GOP, its one of their old hat tricks, but they are dusting it off once again. Sure I will be happy to pay someone a penny per hour to come help me.
Slavery as a legitimate source of human labor is going to return under the right circumstances. The roots of it especially in the South are still very alive. When I was in Va. last fall visiting I was exposed to just how alive. We visited with an old friend. She had moved there 12 yrs. earlier and was working as a director of a local Community center and as a Sect. for a local Baptist Church. She is from Ohio, but was raised and educated in NJ, she is not a Southerner. The issue of Slavery arose over dinner one night. She actually tried to say slavery wasn't as bad as many people think. Her reasoning was that slaves weren't on the whole mistreated and they were fed and housed and that this was in essence their pay. I listened and then I simply said. Friend, they had NO CHOICE don't you get it? They were captives of their owners , they had no rights , no choice, they had to labor or be punished or even killed. She seemed perplexed by my answer. I asked her where in God's name did she pick up this utter nonsense line of reasoning. She said it was common place among her friends and co-workers and neighbors in that town. I asked her if the local black folks also believed this. She got defensive on that ? The roots of the coming slavery are there, they were NEVER pulled out. The south is a deep repository of authoritarianism in this country and to this day a drag on the rest of our society in many ways. Add to it the cultural militarism and gun fetishism so pervasive down there and you have a dangerous potentially volatile mix going forward. Add on top of all of that the culturally based fundamentalist religions of the region and the shit gets even deeper.
That is a disturbing story.
It sounds like something born out of guilt to legitimize something horrible. People do these things to remove their own guilt. Its not the best way out, not the best way to handle the problem. Its trying to find a silver lining even when nothing warrants any silver. Also this is a societal idea. Its not an individual.
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