Is There Hope For The Middle Class?

What is your answer to this question?

There IS hope for the middle class!Based on the stories I hear and the current economic struggles many of us are facing I think many of you might answer with a resounding “NO – there is no hope for the middle class!” and I can understand why there are so many losing hope. There are some days when it’s hard to be optimistic.

We’re seeing an all-out war being waged on the middle and working class of this country but it doesn’t stop there. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid have also entered the conversation about cuts. Meanwhile, the top 2% are doing extraordinarily well, enjoying the lowest tax rates since the 1950’s and being fanaticially defended by the GOP at every turn.

In this corner…Grandma, Union workers, Teachers, Policemen, Firefighters, Disabled People and the working poor…

In the other corner…billionaires, millionaires, corporations and hedge fund managers.

Who can afford a tax increase more? Who can afford cuts to their health care benefits? Who can afford pay cuts?

We all know the answers to these questions. I think it’s morally wrong (as in the case of the Paul Ryan budget) to ask anyone, currently or in the future, on Medicare to be given a pithy voucher toward exorbitant private insurance while a billionaire is given yet ANOTHER tax cut that they won’t be creating jobs with. How can anyone think of cutting social security when it can mean plunging more people into (or further into) poverty?

We’ve tried the current incarnation of Reaganomics for far too long. It’s resulted in huge deficits and debt and Republicants keep on pushing it as if no one is paying attention. It has FAILED. It will ALWAYS fail. Why can’t we get this message across? Actually the more appropriate question might be “why is the message being ignored”? How are there people who can ignore the miserable job creation and economic results of the last decade with Bush tax cuts in place? The job creators aren’t holding up their end of the deal.

The election of President Obama was supposed to bring us poor wretches in the middle and working class VERY MUCH needed relief. You remember the Hope and Change and “Yes We Can”, right? Well, unfortunately, those slogans have been tempered with a healthy dose of realism and the realization that Obama was not exactly the Progressive champion we thought we voted for in 2008.

The issues I have with President Obama are numerous and well documented in recent entries so I won’t rehash them here. What I will say about President Obama is that we need to re-elect him; not because he’s the ideal candidate, but because not re-electing him would have far greater consequences. Keep in mind, the winner of the 2012 Presidential election will appoint a Supreme Court justice or two.

While doing some soul searching I figured out a few things:

• As a strong Progressive leader President Obama is a crushing disappointment
• President Obama isn’t the only piece of the puzzle, he is only one man.
• The President does still seem to be onboard with Democratic values.
• If Congress can put legislation on his desk that align with those values, he’ll sign it.

This led to an epiphany – the key lies with Congress. IT REALLY DOES LIE WITH CONGRESS. Instead of focusing energy on bashing Obama and writing rants and telling everyone I know what a wimp he is when facing Republicans, I now know how to focus my energy where it matters – CONGRESS. OK, at this point you’re probably wondering what planet I’ve been on that I didn’t already know this. I DID know it, I just didn’t realize how much emphasis I should place on it. Now I do and it’s liberating actually.

Instead of being pissed off that we have a President that can’t seem to find his inner FDR at a time when we so desperately need another FDR, I’ll work feverishly to put wonderful Progressive champions like Alan Grayson and Elizabeth Warren into office instead of being indifferent about congressional races. If we could replace the Tea Party bozos with Progressive Democrats, we’d have a sane Congress again, one that does what’s right and pays attention to what the majority wants, not just Grover Norquist, Ayn Rand or Rush Limbaugh. Harry Truman is one of my favorite Presidents and there is a quote of his that might explain why: “I wonder how many times you have to be hit on the head before you find out who's hitting you?”

Quit voting for the party that’s hitting you on the head!! Elect Progressive Democrats to fill every seat in Congress! Get involved! We have the power to change the makeup of Congress. The Koch Brothers haven’t succeeded in taking away our ability to vote - YET. They’re working tirelessly and relentlessly on it though and the voter legislation passed in many states does make it harder for some to vote. We have to fight these malicious and hateful attacks on the middle and working class because they won’t stop and we can’t either.

Wisconsin is a GREAT example of what we should be doing. Scott Walker, King of the Koch Whores, has teamed up with a subservient Republican legislature to enact some of the most unethical, hateful and in some cases illegal, legislation we’ve ever seen in any state at any time. They just keep the ALEC created bills rolling off the conveyor belt to enact their destruction on the working folks of Wisconsin. Thankfully those working folks are rising up and fighting the good fight. Recall elections on August 9^th and 16^th may be the culmination of that fight. Scott Walker will be shaking in his boots if the recalls net the Democrats three or more seats because then he won’t have the necessary number of partners-in-crime to continue his union killing spree.   

Ignore the attack ads and find out the real history of the candidates. Listen to what they're saying on the campaign trail. Part of the reason we're in this mess is because so many people just rely on one source of information (Fox Misinforpinion Channel) and/or spoon feeding of attack ads to make their voting decisions! This has to stop. We CANNOT allow money to mask the truth and misinformation to rule the day.

We have to be Empathetic, Informed, Engaged, Involved and Outraged! Or as Old McDonald said...E-I-E-I-O! You may feel overwhelmed or insignificant. You may feel powerless to do anything about so many big problems but you’d be wrong. No matter how large or small, any contribution can make a difference, especially when there are so many of us out there:

• Registered Republican voters: 55 million
• Registered Democratic voters: 72 million
• Registered Independent voters: 42 million

I LOVE those numbers. They mean that we really only need to focus on like-minded and rational people to win elections as long as we get high voter turnout. Many of the 2010 midterm elections were won or lost based on voter turnout. Forget the wackjob Teabaggers and deluded Republicants, they’ll come around when the quality of their lives improve again with Democratic policies. We have a Democrat in the White House but we haven’t been running the country with Democratic policies. Let’s give those a try once again, their track record is excellent and we’ve seen what the Republicant policies have given us – high unemployment, high debt and high income disparity. Is that what America is supposed to be about?

Let's use the power of numbers to restore the middle and working class back to its former glory and allow our economy and country to thrive again. The power of citizen’s media is also becoming a huge factor. Shred Of Truth is a perfect example of citizen’s media. There are so many things we can do that the mainstream media cannot. We have the ability to pick and choose what to feature and report the truth with no corporate influence. We can be highly interactive and the advent of social media and the internet allows us to be instantly available and responsive. We can be grassroots, which seems to be the most effective way to get things done.

The playing field is a bit more level between us and the corporate media now but funding is a major issue when you operate on donations or web advertising. We can use all the help we can get there! What we need is a Progressive media machine that can turn up the volume louder than the Fox Noise Misinforpinion Channel. The only way we’re going to be able to overcome such a media juggernaut is by banding together.

The middle and working class are what made this country great and it’s about time people started voting in their own best interests again. We need to elect leaders that will not only campaign on these values but actually fight for them with everything they’ve got once they’re in office! 

Hopefully my vision of hope for the middle class will bring some solace,lift your spirit or energize you to get in the fight. I hope to see you out there fighting the good fight alongside everyone else who still believes there is hope for the middle class.

I’ll close out this entry with a recent quote from Alan Grayson, a true Progressive champion and a voice that needs to return to Congress in 2012:

"If the herd is moving in a good direction, I join it. If the herd is moving in a bad direction, I leave it. And if I see the opportunity to move the herd in a better direction, I take it. Sometimes that opportunity can be in the media, sometimes in a caucus meeting, sometimes with a bill or an amendment, and sometimes just a conversation with the right people.

That’s leadership. As opposed to polling what’s on people’s minds, and then repeating it ad nauseam. That’s pandering. I won’t do that.

The easiest thing in the world is just to go with the flow. Just do what you’re told. But if 700,000 people choose you to be their Representative, their only Representative, and they’re depending on you, then they deserve more than that. As does all America. They deserve original thought. And independent action.

Because if you are an elected official, a lawmaker, and all you do is follow the other lemmings, then when you reach the edge of the cliff, you’re not the only one who falls. So do all the people who are depending on you. The unemployed. The sick. The poor. The children. Your mother and father, and everyone else’s mother and father. When you fall over that cliff, then you take all of them down with you.

So it just can’t be that way. If you want the job, then sometimes you have to have the strength, and the courage, to make up your own mind, and do what’s right. No matter which way the mob may be moving."

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!

-Truthteller