Reclaiming our government and the middle class
i've repeatedly said that destroying any implied or explicit social contract is at the top of bushco's agenda and they are succeeding beyond their wildest dreams... all you have to do is look around you to see the truth of that and the minimum wage bill defeat (and yes, it had a poison pill attached) is only one small sign... beyond reciting a litany of how and why this is happening, it's also important to look at how we can turn things around...
one additional point... we cannot and must not forget that, in addition to all the things thom hartmann cites in his alternet article, the middle class is also being screwed by its devotion to the insidious and destructive "consumer mentality..." the idea that we somehow must always possess new and better "stuff" and spend our weekends at the mall or walmart keeps those bills coming in... i'm not arguing that the middle class isn't under attack... it certainly is... but we had also better take a look at our media and corporate-inculcated beliefs that stuff = happiness... Submit To Propeller
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[W]e must recognize and reclaim the government programs that create a middle class:
* Return to the American people our ownership of the military, the prison system, and the ballot box.
* Fight for free and public education that encourages critical thinking, historical knowledge, and a love of learning in each child. Combat the No Child Left Behind Act and the belief that education is a commodity that can be tested.
* Fight for a national single-payer health-care system based on Medicare.
* Fight for Social Security -- do not let it be privatized or co-opted.
* Fight for progressive taxation: reinstate a rate of 35 percent on corporations and a rate of 70 percent on the wealthiest 5 percent of Americans -- and use the money to pay back the Social Security system and to fund an economic investment program.
* Fight for a living wage and for the right of labor to organize.
* Fight for a national energy program that puts people and the planet -- not Big Oil -- first.
one additional point... we cannot and must not forget that, in addition to all the things thom hartmann cites in his alternet article, the middle class is also being screwed by its devotion to the insidious and destructive "consumer mentality..." the idea that we somehow must always possess new and better "stuff" and spend our weekends at the mall or walmart keeps those bills coming in... i'm not arguing that the middle class isn't under attack... it certainly is... but we had also better take a look at our media and corporate-inculcated beliefs that stuff = happiness... Submit To Propeller
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posted by profmarcus at
9/06/2006
