Yes, but whatever union movement we had, has been co-opted. We have nothing
that resembles the peace movement of the 1960's. Our whole society has been
corrupted by the worship of material success and if you compare what we have
now to the 40's and 50's, everything has been privatized and the profit motive
is the rule. Certainly, there are people fighting back. But I'm afraid that
Chris Hedges' view of our reality is closer to the truth than we'd like to
admit.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2020 11:47 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: How did Americans become such Wimps? Silence as
Trump kills tens of Thousands, Destroys Social Security and Post Office, Plots
Election Fraud
Interesting. my spin is that there is a greater, and a growing, level of
protest.
And this protest is not reserved to just one issue. The signs, to me, is that
the American Empire is following the path of all Empires. As the Empire
spirals downward the Ruling Class is being confronted on all sides, forcing it
to wildly charge its former supporters of treasonous activities. Donald Trump
has conducted an ever more vicious attack on Journalists and the Media in
general. He has stepped up his attack on Joe Biden and the "Leftist Democrat
Party".
He has robbed the National Treasury, giving huge piles of taxpayer's money to
his billionaire supporters. He has fought against creating work programs such
as those created by the Roosevelt administration during the Great Depression.
He has failed the Working Class Americans by not providing any positive
leadership. He has doubled up in his efforts to trash public education and the
Post Office. He has caused Americans to not trust their own government by
trashing high government officials(many of whom he originally appointed).
Through all of this negativity he is turning a once mighty Empire into
Trash...just as he did with his fabulous Taj Mahal.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/11/20, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
How did Americans become such Wimps? Silence as Trump kills tens of
Thousands, Destroys Social Security and Post Office, Plots Election
Fraud JUAN COLE
08/10/2020
2KSHARES
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - Nicole Winfield and Lisa Marie Pane at
the Associated Press write at the unbelief with which Europeans are
staring at the United States, as we head for 300,000 dead from the
coronavirus and our economy shrank 33% on an annualized basis last
quarter, and we just appear to be all right with that.
Not only are we perfectly willing to toss grandma in an early grave on
Trump's say-so, but we are supine as he openly engineers the
destruction of social security and medicare, and of the post office,
on behalf of himself and the billionaire class he represents. That is
after we sat by while he completely gutted all environmental
regulations that got in the way of corporations making money off
poisoning us. I don't think the neutering of the EPA has even been
reported on daytime cable news, though the prime time magazine shows on MSNBC
have at least brought it up.
Americans imagine themselves rugged individualists. A cartoonist did a
satire on us showing brawny guys, shirts off, with the logo "Rugged
individualism works best when we obey."
In fact, Americans are masochistic sheeple who let the rich and
powerful walk all over them and thank them for the privilege.
We have become wimps. The word wimp may come from "whimper." It was
used in a newspaper in 1920, and then not again until 1960. Since then
it may have been influenced by the character of "Wimpy" in the Popeye
cartoons, who did not have much gumption. He was only good at mooching
off people in search of a hamburger.
I always thought Americans were the plucky Popeye, who knew how to get
iron in their diets and show some spunk.
Turns out we have been reduced to begging for our meals.
The rich figured out in the 1980s that Americans are all form over
substance, and if you put up for president a Hollywood actor like
Ronald Reagan who used to play cowboys, they would swoon over him. In
1984 when Reagan ran against Walter Mondale, I saw a middle aged white
Detroit auto worker interviewed who said he woudn't vote for Mondale
because he was a "panty-waist." Reagan took away their right to strike
and took away government services by running up the deficit and
cutting taxes on the rich simultaneously, then claiming the government
couldn't provide the services the people had paid for because it is broke.
Reagan raised the retirement age from 65 to 67. Why? Most young people
don't realize that their health will decline in their late 60s and
they often won't actually get any golden years.
What did Americans do in response? They just bent over and took it.
Actually, it is the French who are much more like Americans imagine
themselves to be. President Emmanuel Macron last December tried to
raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. I can't understand why. France
has persistently high unemployment as it is.
In response, all hell broke loose. Some 30 unions went on strike, and
they supported each other. Trains were interrupted. Trucking was interrupted.
Life was interrupted. A million people came out into the streets. But
one poll had 61% of the French approving of the strikes. They went on
for months, and were very inconvenient.