A Progressive's Rantings

Like many since joining Facebook, I’ve accepted friend request from former high school classmates. Mainly out of curiosity. How did they turn out? What are they up to? One such classmate was also my neighbor from elementary through high school. She is a mother of two grown children, lives in the same area that we both grew up in and her husband is a successful personal injury lawyer. Based on the number and frequency of her postings, she seems to spend a great deal of time on Facebook espousing her political viewpoints. At first, I didn’t pay much attention to her postings. However, over time I began to read her comments and visited some of the links she posted as well. I quickly realized her political ideology leaned to the extreme left of the political spectrum. I then made the mistake of trying to respond and dispute some of her blanket claims, but to no avail. No authoritative facts or reasoning would sway her from her opinions. It wasn’t until she proudly admitted that she was a “progressive” that the red flags went up. Most of what I knew about progressives, I’d learned from conservative radio commentators and Fox News, which at the time I thought were probably exaggerations. No thinking person could be that foolish.

I was wrong. Most of my friend’s ranting revolves around evil greedy corporations and their complete control over the Federal government and their employees, and corporate welfare, corporate taxes or lack thereof and the plight of the poor. While I might agree with some of her points to a small degree, her viewpoint was an indictment against “all” corporations not just a few. In her mind, “all” corporations are driven by greed and the desire to maximize profits with no regard for the safety and welfare of their employees, the environment, the country, the public good, and especially the less fortunate. As she sees it and emphatically believes, we have all become duped and enslaved to the evil corporations that control the government through lobbyist and political contributions. There are no ethical corporations and the creation of wealth is evil.

Some are quotes she posted from other progressives, some are her owns words, but a lot of it reads more like progressive dogma that she is simply repeating. Not a lot of original thought, facts or logical reasoning. She seems to be driven by emotion (i.e., anger and frustration toward corporations and compassion for the poor) and complete faith in the progressive ideology over all else. The following are some of my friend’s Facebook postings.

We talk about American culture...it isn't American culture, it is corporate culture.

Unregulated capitalism is the problem...the corporate state.

I like the jobs bill. And Jill has some great points here. Having to deal with those radicals in the House can't have been easy. I went to a Tea Party rally that was supposed to be bipartisan, a unity rally, and it was anything but. Lots of misinformation there. I went with an open mind thinking there could be common ground found but these people (at least the speakers) just reinforced everything I had heard about them. Some good bills were put forth during the past few years of the Obama administration (for instance, the one giving tax breaks to corporations that kept jobs here-not ship jobs overseas). Wonder who voted that down? And I really, really like Obama's Supreme Court nominees. If a Republican gets in there and appoints more bad justices we will have more bad decisions like CITIZENS UNITED. Obama isn't perfect of course...he compromises too much for me, he is too hawkish, maybe even a bit too conservative (but I knew that when I voted for him) but maybe in his second term he won't compromise so much. He has some good ideals but they have to actually be implemented to see if they work. Unfortunately, all the politicians have to answer to the corporate powers who really control our country, even him. I would like to see money out of politics and corporate control gone from government...that would be my number one goal. Give incentives to countries for keeping jobs here and NONE to ones that ship jobs overseas. Raise capital gains tax. Invest in infrastructure and education. Raise minimum wage. Cut Congress salaries. Cut defense spending. Rebuild our country instead of countries overseas. Cut ALL corporate welfare. Let the tax cuts expire on the wealthy. None of that has been done....partly because of the crazy Republican house. We have tried letting corporations control our government and write our laws (ALEC). We have tried tax cuts. We have tried deregulation of the banks (big mistake). We have tried trickle-down economics. All of this has caused a great disparity of wealth in this country. Plus the global economy is great for the wealthy but not so good for regular, working folk. It took us years to get into this mess...years... and it will take years to get out (if we even can). So, I am sticking with Obama but if others want to vote for a Republican and turn our work force into slave labor well that is just the way it will have to be I guess. Eventually the young people will wake up and get tired of all this mess. Well, actually, they already are-there are some occupying Wall Street.

The top six financial institutions in this country own assets equal to more than 60 percent of our gross domestic product and possess enormous economic and political power. One of the great questions of our time is whether the American people, through Congress, will control the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior on Wall Street, or whether Wall Street will continue to wreak havoc on our economy and the lives of working families

Ralph Nader was just on Lawrence O'Donnell. He is right....there really isn't a media for the progressive agenda. Very smart man...we need more advocates today like him for the "working man". My daughter worked with him when she was a publicist for Seven Stories...really, really smart man...and he knows the country is corporate controlled…

My wife use to wait on Ralph Nader when she was a waitress in DC and thought him very strange and a poor tipper. So much for helping the working man or woman.

So be Patriotic. Go out there and get rich. Get so obnoxiously rich that when that tax bill comes, your first thought will be to choke on how big a check you have to write. Your 2nd thought will be “what a great problem to have”, and your 3rd should be a recognition that in paying your taxes you are helping to support millions of Americans that are not as fortunate as you…

I agree that the Supreme Court is one of the main issues. As my husband said, Bush gave us some awful judges and hence, the CITIZENS UNITED decision. (FYI - Her husband is a personal injury lawyer).

I will not support any plan that puts all the burden on ordinary Americans...Obama just said that...we are not going to have a ONE SIDED DEAL THAT HURTS THE ONES WHO ARE THE MOST VULNERABLE!  Obama said that now what you pay in taxes depends on how well you game the system...good for him for saying that. He said our tax code shouldn't give an advantage to those that have the best lobbyists, but those that INVEST IN AMERICA! His speech is great...he said it isn't class warfare...it is math!

In truth, in 2009, taxpayers who made $1 million or more paid on average 24.4% of their income in federal income taxes, according to the IRS. Those making $100,000 to $125,000 paid on average 9.9% in federal income taxes. Those making $50,000 to $60,000 paid an average of 6.3%.

The young people are the ones suffering in this economy....many kids graduating from college are working at minimum wage jobs...taking whatever they can get....they are going to have to change this society.

We've unleashed forces in this country where corporations profit, not from paying workers enough to buy the products they produce, but by firing workers and retaining overpaid CEOs. We have people demanding tax cuts for those CEOs in return for disaster relief. We talk about this in language that conceals that every point of profit means that a certain number of Americans lose their jobs, their health care, and their homes. Now imagine you're one of those unemployed people, tossed into a world

What the Republicans and some Democrats are proposing is absurd. The country has tried reckless deregulation and overly deep tax and spending cuts before. It brought more than one recession in the last century; caused the near collapse of the financial system and another recession in this one; and helped pile up the current deficit

And this is exactly what I have been saying......"We don't live in a democracy . . . we live in a capitalist oligarchy, with some democratic representation. In fact, we have enough democratic representation, it turns out, to occasionally get some things we want. Have you ever heard of Social Security, Medicare, rural electrification, the minimum wage, or labor unions? The capitalist oligarchy didn't want those reforms . . . but they were forced to accept them."

Do they get tax deductions for their generosity? It isn't being generous is you get tax deductions...let's take away all the deductions and see how generous they are. No deductions for any business expenses or anything else. If they give without taking deductions for it then that is generous

Hey, if corporations like Wal-Mart would pay a livable wage we wouldn't need hunger relief.

Yes, it is sad that a lot have retirement invested in the stock market and are constantly worrying if the market goes up or down...good way to enslave everyone...corporate America did a good job of that. Which was the whole purpose in having retirement in stocks. People shouldn't be depending on the stock market for their retirement-at least not much of what they are saving for retirement. I think one should only invest in stocks if one has money that one can lose. Yep, I am presumptuous. No, it doesn't count unless the company would have done it without a deduction and we will never know that, will we? That is just my personal opinion but I don't really keep up with what I donate...I don't like the deduction for charities. I think you give because it is the right thing to do or it does someone good.

Does anyone else find it ironic that the "culture of life" that the "Christian" GOP insists they are, are pro-war, pro-capital punishment and support letting people die because they have no health insurance.

The Ten Commandments say Thou shalt not KILL and capital punishment is SOCIALIZED KILLING. KILL is KILL...it doesn't give specifics on what kind of killing is acceptable or not...just THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Granted, anyone would agree that killing in self-defense is acceptable. And it really is subject to interpretation because the Bible was written by man and there have been many translations through the years. I personally believe the New Testament trumps the Old and I prefer Jesus' message. Of course, it is normal to want to kill someone that rapes and kills a child (for example). But if that was done to a neighbor's child and then another neighbor went down and shot the one who killed the child they would be charged with murder. So it is ok for a government and a jury to decide to murder that person but an individual would get in trouble for it. Capital punishment is just socialized murder. It is a way our society can get revenge. For me, any taking of human life except in self-defense or defense of someone else is murder. So, it has a lot to do with interpretation and one's value system. But it still all comes down to that if you execute an innocent person you can't dig them up, bring them back to life, and say "oops, sorry, we made a mistake."

These last two post upset me the most. I found her characterization of Christians to be offensive and so stereotypical of the left. The following was my response:

Your original posting in this thread regarding Christians was insensitive and profoundly offensive. Perhaps that was your intent given the number of 50+ comments you received. It never ceases to amaze me that liberals claim to be the most “tolerant” people yet feel free to attack and vilify Christians, yet other faiths and groups are off limits. Christians are not perfect and we have a lot that God will hold us accountable for. We are commanded to be the salt and the light in this fallen world and I’ve had the honor of knowing many Christians that exemplify Christ’s love. I do agree American Christians from all denominations have failed miserably to care for the poor and weak, and stepped aside and allowed the government during the 1930s to take over this responsibility. Americans are some of the most generous people in the world, but we can all do more. Attacking Christians is not the answer.

I can understand your anger and frustration, but comments like yours only fan the fire and do nothing to help those in need. Instead, I would encourage you to reach out to businesses and churches in your community and partner with them to help others in need. For example, my church has a food bank, benevolence fund, medical clinics, etc. to service the local community and partners with many faith-based and secular organizations to identify those in need.

In regard to the claims in your posting here is my response. First, the proper translation of Exodus 20:13 is “You shall not murder. “ Secondly, the United States of America is not a Christian nation even though our government is based on Judeo-Christian principles. A nation or organization (i.e. GOP) cannot be Christian, only a person can accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. The precepts of scripture and the Christian faith apply to “people” not governments.  According to New Testament scripture (Romans 13:4; Peter 2:14) government is established by God to punish evildoers. Jesus teaches against “personal” revenge, not civil justice. Our justice system is not perfect, but it is the best in world and death row inmates have ample opportunities to appeal their convictions. Yes, the “government” NOT Christians has mistakenly executed innocent people. Fortunately, new technology has helped prevent this tragedy in many cases. It’s ironic to me that non-Christians complain about the hundreds of MURDERS being put to death but have no problem with the 54 MILLION babies that have been murdered since Roe vs. Wade. Why is that?

As for war no sane person--atheist or Christian is pro-war. War is declared and waged by governments and militaries not individuals. Self-defense by an individual or a government is neither a sin nor a crime. Saying Christians are pro-war is like saying cops are pro-crime and fire fighters are pro-fire. It’s nonsensical and the antithesis of the true meaning of Christ, which is love. Lastly, if my history is correct didn’t we have liberal democrats in the oval office at the beginning of WWII, and both the Korean and the Vietnam wars? Wouldn’t that make Roosevelt, Truman and LBJ all pro-war, pro-killing, pro-death?

For last two weeks most of her postings have related to her outrage at the lack of press coverage of the Occupy Wall Street protest and the supposed abuses by the NYPD.

“I think that the corporate press has a difficult time understanding Occupy Wall Street because, like 99% of Americans, they have no experience with democracy. They spend most of their time enslaved by large totalitarian collectives known as “corporations” and have never once decided anything for themselves as a group of equal workers. Instead they follow orders and write about elections, which are big puppet shows financed and scripted by Wall Street. Charles Young”

You will not see this footage on the news. You know why? Money has corrupted the media so bad that the crooked politicians OWN the television stations! People take your horse blinders off and wake up and smell the burnt coffee. The banks and big business OWN this country. Take it back by voting out the crooked politicians, their greedy lobbyists!

From what I’ve read, the lack of news coverage is not due to a blackout, but the fact that the instigator of the protest is an anonymous anti-establishment online magazine called ADBusters (www.adbusters.org) based in Vancouver, BC and claims to be, “a global network of artists, activist, writers, pranksters, students, educators, and entrepreneurs who want to advance the new social activist movement of the information age. Our aim is to topple existing power structures and forge a major shift in the way we will live in the 21^st century.”

In Texas, we have a simple saying, “Don’t Mess with Texas.” The same holds true for the folks in Vancouver, “Don’t Mess with United States of America.” Unlike the Civil Rights movement lead by Martin Luther King or the India’s Independence movement lead by Gandhi, this protest has no spokesperson or clear message. Without an appealing leader, or a coherent unified message and a reasonable list of demands, it’s impossible for the mainstream media to take them seriously. The whole protest comes across as no more than a flash mob or prank perpetrated by the self-proclaimed “pranksters” at ADBusters. We have no way of knowing the true nature of ADBusters’ motivations. Are they truly altruistic or is this a disingenuous manipulation of our misguided and alienated youth? Because the protesters were unorganized, had no city permits and repeatedly disregarded police orders, many have been arrested, which will only make it more difficult for some of them to find employment now that they have a police record.

I realize these mostly young people that are protesting are frustrated and feel they have been disenfranchised from the current job market, especially those who have gotten college degrees. My questions to these young people would be:

1. Do you believe you are entitled to a good job or is a good job something you earn?
2. What have you done to make yourself employable, not in the market place you desire, but in today’s market?
3. Are your skills in demand (e.g., nurse, engineer, etc.)? If not, what are you doing to change that?
4. How are your interview skills?
5. Is your appearance appropriate (e.g., no visible tattoos or piercings) for the position you seek?
6. Are you well-mannered and articulate?
7. You claim your want to help others, have you considered serving others through volunteering (e.g., Peace Corp) or military service?

Feel free to comment.