Friday, January 06, 2017

Mob

The mob hasn't formed yet.  But it will.  52 US Senators just voted to do away with health insurance for almost 20 million Americans, while those same Senators kept their policies paid for by appropriations that they vote on.  Do they really think there wont be a backlash?   I am hoping for it, and at the age of 71 I will join in and do whatever is necessary.  But this will have to happen in the home states of those Senators who voted to screw over the people who need this insurance.

And now trump will ask congress to fund a wall between us and Mexico, since, surprise, they don't want to pay for it.  Billions could be spent that might otherwise fix our infrastructure.  We have entered a new irrational era in  America brought on by poorly educated and non critical thinkers.  But we have a chance to fix it before it is too late in the next congressional elections.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks to Jim for urging organized dissent and pressure politics several times lately. If I may remind people, the political system isn't where change comes from. It's actually designed to prevent change and protect the status quo and is adept at subverting and co-opting social movements. It does sometimes react to public opinion but not to any degree. If it did we'd have universal health care, which according to multiple polls the majority wants, and instead of being in eight wars we wouldn't be in any. Polling consistently shows the people want us to mind our own business.

Think of the changes that were forced on the political system and corporate America by the Civil Rights Movement, the Women's Movement, the Environmental Movement, the Gay Rights Movement and the Labor Movement. The political class and Capitalist ruling elites weren't in the process of, and wouldn't have, implemented any of those changes. They did however take credit for them after obstructing them for decades.

An often cited example of this dynamic is the way the Democratic Party overlooked Jim Crow violence and segregation because of the Democratic "solid South." Only the kind of civil disobedience Jim is talking about, pressure applied from outside the political system, ended Jim Crow and started to put a dent in racial discrimination. Same with the vote for women, the EPA, good jobs with good benefits, gay marriage and on and on.

We the people have the power to dictate to the political system, and to corporate America, especially when it's a a paper tiger like Donald Trump who surrounds himself with multiple generals and multiple billionaires. They'd all flee to the sewers before a people united.