I saw two seconds of a Reagan video and just had to rant.
Such a bullshit con-artist, though. Republicans and Democrats both tell us what we can do ... they just do it in different ways. Never have we been so terrified of our government. It's a mix of Huxley and Orwell. Black men are getting shot by the police, but that does't matter. "Did you hear about what the Kardashians were wearing? They're, like super awesome, yo!" As the government eaves-drop on our conversations, no-fly lists, free-speech zones, etc., etc.
We are free to do what the government tells we can do. And "We the People ..." have not been the government ever in the history of our nation. Biggest tub of bullshit propaganda ever. We started out taking land that didn't belong to us, used certain people to pull cotton and weren't even considered full persons, and women and poor white and black people (the few that were free) couldn't vote. Women couldn't vote until 1920. "If voting did anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman (Feminist Anarchist). War of 1812 - our first war of aggression. Every war this country has been in has been to increase the wealthy of any proportion of the One Percent at that particular time. Freedom is freedom to work and receive the full share of the value of a product's value. Adam Smith talked about this, but capitalists have twisted his words about some invisible hand. What invisible hand? The one where one man can extract the surplus value of all who labor under him and call it profit? With whose resources did he build his product or provide his service? "We the People ..." fucking did, that's who. Somehow, the government's ear was bent by said capitalists, and we are told if we work hard, we'll be wealthy, too? Does a janitor at a high school work hard?
What happened to Economic Freedom? Workplace democracy? What happened to the millions without health care? I'm talking about universal health care? I'm talking about the health care that would cost around 3% overhead to cover EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the country? Eliminate the administration both on the provider and on the multitudes of insurance sides, CEO pay, Marketing, and improve proactive health care at fractions of the cost, instead of waiting until an Emergency room visit is needed in order to not die - which at this point, costs many times the cost of preventative care. France provides universal health care and doesn't pay nearly the cost that the US pays as a share of GDP. You are also allowed to rest and fully heal prior to returning to work.
Let me ask this, by the way. In this supposedly capitalist system, why is health care tied to employment, thus hindering operating costs of US companies vs. the rest of the world that have their government pay as a single-payer for the cost of health care? In their governments of The People, the shear size of the population can leverage providers for lowered costs from hospitals to medicine. No, the costs are pushed on to us, The People, but hey, where the did profits go? That's right - in this fuckwad's wallet.
Capitalism is supposed to promote competitiveness, right? So, how come he can jack the price of a drug from $13 to $700, an increase of 5,500%. How can he do such a thing, you may ask. He does it because he can. This particular guy with a face that even his mother would hate, got caught and became a sacrificial lamb, but there are many more like him.
Our government fears us? Please ... give me a break. If you believe that, go talk to Dick Cheney; he'll shoot you in the face, and then make you apologize for it. In France, the government does fear the people. When Labor goes on strike in France, they kidnap the CEO! Now, that's how you strike. Why don't we strike, you ask? Because Republicans and Democrats have crushed actual unions. Those that do exist, except for a tiny minority like the IWW, act as agents of the managerial class. That is, they are surrogates for management to tell the workers what to do. Sure, they throw in a few crumbs here and there, but CEO pay still remains at around 500 times that of the AVERAGE worker. Not the lowest paid; the AVERAGE. Unions tell the workers to shut up and take $7 an hour as a LIVING WAGE. Yes, a living wage in a time where wages have stagnated since the 1970s while inflation and cost of living continue to rise. Thanks, Unions!!
Where is all this money going? Well, I can't remember the numbers right off the top of my head, but wealth disparity is real - to the tune that 700 people - THAT'S SEVEN HUNDRED, NOT THOUSAND, OR MILLION, but just hundred - 700 people make more than the half of the working population combined. That and we get to destroy democracies around the world with a lot of that dough. Why stay home and take care of the sick, including our veterans, when we can kill people half a world a way!? Why aren't we adding zeros to that 700 ..? Again, no Unions. We do have our guns, though. You know, so we can kill bears or something.
Does that sound like freedom to you?
And that's not even talking about vacation time ... which is not even a requirement here in the United States. It's mandatory in the rest of the developed world, and those workers get a lot more of it.
Without Unions, we have no chance. Actual Unions. The greatest lie told to us Americans is that we are free. Yeah, we're not North Korea, which I shouldn't have to be thankful for, but ....I guess I am.
The greatest lie told to us is that we are free. Ze Germans would be so proud at how we can successfully say things like this with a straight face. It's a great testament to our marketing, er News bureaus.
Be realistic! Demand the impossible!!! ~ 1968 Anarchist Slogan
