I Just Saw Something Really Sad. And Then I Got Angry.

[Le Taz Hot]

Last edited Fri May 24, 2013, 11:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Once a year our city has something called "Operation CleanUp." It's when you can put pretty much anything out on the curb for curbside pick up by our Waste Management Division (which our Republican Mayor is trying to privatize) and it's included in the cost of your monthly utility bill. People put out anything from tree trimmings to old refrigerators, old fence wood, stuff like that. Anyway, it's that time of year and this morning, I was driving home from the gym and saw something that just hit me like a ton of bricks. Someone had set out an old mattress for pick up. There on this discarded mattress was a homeless man, shopping cart nearby, sleeping.

For some reason it hit me like a ton of bricks and I almost had to pull over. Then I got angry. I got angry at the 1% who have stolen everything and are hoarding OUR wealth. Angry at the politicians, both R & D, who continue to fellate the 1% and have not only allowed this to happen but have ENABLED it to happen. They like to keep us, the proles, distracted by partisan politics insisting that "our" side is good and "their" side is bad when, in fact, BOTH sides are culpable and this is the result.

The richest nation in the world has an appalling record on helping/treating the poor, the sick, the elderly, the homeless, the mentally ill, children -- the least-powerful of our society. We can't afford social programs but we can always afford WMD. We can't afford to provide single-payer but every goddamned congressperson and their families sure as hell has full coverage.

It's a two-tiered system and we have allowed it to happen by getting distracted by partisan politics and whatever new shiny thing the MSM puts in front of our noses. Turn off the TV and go talk to some of those "repukes" and all those other people we've been taught to demonize. I'm guessing, no, I KNOW that most are just average, everyday people who have the same struggles we do. It's time We the People stand up and refuse to be divided not only by race, religion, culture, and whatever else (artificially) divides us but also by partisan politics. The only way we're going to change all this is by working TOGETHER. I know we can find common ground with one another because I've done it. If you think about it, most of us have done it either in small or large ways within our own lives.

Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's what we're doing. We elect the same politicians, year in and year out, who do EXACTLY what the last guy/gal did -- represent the 1%. We need to demand better for ourselves and for this country or make no mistake, a whole lot more of us will be sleeping on discarded mattresses.

[n2doc]

1. Too many people just vote for the person with the most ads

Lets face it, we have reached the point where only those bought and paid for by the 1% can run/win the presidency, and most congressional seats (especially if trying to unseat an incumbent). One has to raise hundreds of millions to be considered 'serious', and upwards of a billion to win. That isn't going to be raised $5 at a time from us 99%ers. Until a majority of people get fed up with the kind of politician that they keep voting in, the kind who mostly just raises money to buy attack ads, nothing is going to change.

[Le Taz Hot]

3. We've allowed others to

establish the rules of the game, i.e., "raise hundreds of millions to be considered 'serious'." Let the new Zeitgeist be: What are you going to do for US, We the People? It's WE who have to demand better. I'd like to expand further but the rules of the board prohibit it.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. Amen. K&R n/t

[WillyT]

4. HUGE K & R !!! - THANK YOU !!!

[tosh]

5. k&r.

This is the absolute truth and so terribly frustrating.

[randome]

6. "...I almost had to pull over." Maybe there's your answer.

Everyone thinks the same, don't they? That the homeless are somebody else's problem. I'm not trying to insult you or anything, I just wonder why the 'Good Samaritan' impulse seems so rare in all of us.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Le Taz Hot]

7. I don't know that it's so much

the Good Samaritan is rare but that there are just SO MANY in need right now. The other day I had just had someone donate a box and bag of food to ME. On my way home I stopped by the drug store and there's this homeless guy sitting outside the store. Need met opportunity. I think a lot of us do what we can when we can. The point is that there are too many in need in a country that has an enormous amount of wealth. There should not be this kind of want.

[randome]

9. Absolutely not. And it should be the primary goal of government -local, state and federal-...

...to address these problems more than addressing the cold comfort of numbers across the economy.

[hr]
[font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font]
[hr]

[Le Taz Hot]

12. But they're not going to address it

because they're benefiting from the status quo. I would have thought that we've had enough of career politicians whose interest lies solely in lining their own pocket and/or furthering their careers. That's not representation, that's self aggrandizement. If WE don't demand candidates/representatives who represent us we will continue to get what we've gotten: representation of, by and for the 1%. If that means stepping outside of the confines of ANY political party in order to get the best and brightest candidates then so be it.

[azurnoir]

40. well there was a growing federal coalition

that was broken up just about 17 years ago and meted out to states to decide

[bike man]

49. While "...I was driving home from the gym..."

[sabrina 1]

63. I have pulled over to try to help homeless people. Why do you think people do not? I have talked to

them, many of them are veterans. 'Support the Troops', RIGHT!! Why do we have homeless people in this country at all? Are you aware that there ARE countries that have hardly any people living on the streets?

And why is any Veteran without a home in this country considering the enormous size of our Military Budget? Where does all that money go?

Why are you speaking to someone who at least cares enough to pay attention to the problem as if they, somehow are to blame, or could do anything about it?

I wish I had the power our government has because if I had, there would not be the disgraceful number of homeless people in this country. But individuals don't have that power. They can buy someone a meal, offer them help to try to find shelter temporarily, or like Occupy Wall St, actually provide them with help, but when they tried to that, they were prevented by our so-called Government.

Talk to Congress and ask THEM the questions you are asking the OP. The OP has no power, Congress has. They do nothing for the homeless, they work for Wall St, they bail them out when they fail, they protect from prosecution for corruption, they pass laws that favor them. They don't care about the people.

The OP clearly does and no doubt elected people to represent his/her views on issues like this but is not being represented. So talk to those who were given the job of helping the people but who apparently have little interest in doing so.

[cer7711]

8. Exactly Right.

The anger and seething rage out here has reached a boiling point.

History is replete with examples of what happens next.

Keep your powder dry. Revolution is coming.

[totodeinhere]

16. I doubt that very seriously. Sadly the average American is very apathetic and

not well informed about politics and how the game works. Plus we have the corporate media in place to try to suppress even any hint of any kind of revolution.

[corkhead]

26. Ah, but wait and see what happens when they get rid of "free" broadcast television

like they're talking about and most of us peasants can't afford cable or satellite. Then we will have our revolution.

And it won't be televised.

[woo me with science]

45. They will never get rid of television.

If televisions suddenly became difficult for Americans to obtain, they would personally deliver one to every residence.

It is a primary vehicle for corporate advertising, sedation of the masses, and propaganda delivery.

[lunasun]

52. Yes one of the biggest dumbing down tools is the idiot box

[grilled onions]

10. I Agree So Very Much

On top of their wealth they almost resent the "wealth" of the poor. Every time you hear them spout about how MUCH the poor have you can tell they are envious that they have anything at all. If they have clothes to cover their behinds the wealthy complain while wearing designer suits. If the poor have change enough for a cup of coffee the 1% complain over their martini lunches. They go back to work and think of more ways to make it miserable for the poor,the disabled to exist. Let's fine anyone who is willing to pass out coffee to the cold street people. Let's make laws which are so complicated that for anyone to even get a permit to hand out coffee or a sandwich takes paperwork and time. They put further restrictions on where you can help the poor--after all let's not help them where they actually are forced to live! They makes benches impossible to lie down on(they must have thought of that one while laying in their cushy king sized bed!).
The fact is the wealthy want everything in their own toy box. They do not consider healthcare,a roof over your head or food something that everyone should have. They consider it the right of every WEALTHY person to have. Has it always been this way or has it just gotten a lot more obvious?

[BobbyBoring]

11. I agree 100% with what you say!

However, the people we're taught to demonize can NOT be reasoned with. Their reality is one that's been created by Faux, Slimeball Beck, et al. Someone of some importance in the Bush administration said they "Create their own reality". That may be, but we suffer non the less because of them. Most of what they believe is easily disproved with either a little thought or a little research. When one uses Drudge for research, well................................

[Le Taz Hot]

14. "Them," like "us" have people with varying

degrees of zealotry. Yes there are going to be people that will just not be reasoned with. "Our" side has the same. However, I believe the vast majority of people are average schlups like myself, just trying to get their piece of the daily lettuce. Think about the people in your life. I know you've known Republicans with which you could interact, get along with and do things with. Are those people the people you described? Chances are they're not. Chances are both of you have MANY things in common: scared about the security of your job, scared someone in your family will get sick and it will bring you to financial ruin, scared they won't be able to take care of their parents when the time comes or put their kids through college. The wants and needs are universal and that's where we build common ground and start demanding better of our "representatives."

[dreamnightwind]

59. Couldn't agree more

Thanks for pushing this attitude here on DU, there's far too little of it. It's so much easier to think "us good, them bad". That's the game the elites play, time to stop playing and start rebuilding without corporate candidates.

[a kennedy]

13. I'm just bawling over that image......

and the two tiered system is widening further and further. I cry for this homeless man, and I cry for our country. I'm so ashamed.

[iemitsu]

15. An excellent post, Le Taz Hot. You have pinpointed

the absolute best action (political, social, economic, or religious) that any and all of us can afford to take.
We need to go out and talk to, and listen to, other people in our communities. If the problems we face as a nation/society are to be addressed and solved, it is we, the community, who will have to solve them.
Your assertion that the American people have more interests and goals in common than we are led to believe is 100% on target.
I too, have bridged the artificial divide, designed to weaken and distract us, with right winged relatives, neighbors, and work-place contacts, many times. It is not hard to do, in fact, it is the natural, human, and polite way to act and most of us do it every single day. Yes, we are unique individuals but we have the same needs and desires, we share the same hopes and dreams, and our ethics and values, are for the most part, compatible.
When the tornado strikes it will be our neighbors, who help us or are helped by us. Our survival will depend on each other, not on some distant entity or institution (the distant aid should be provided but the community should decide how to put itself back together), that will want compensation for its efforts.
The "old wives" were right, "If you want something done well you have to do it yourself". Hiring/electing/asking a third party to solve one's problems is fool-hearty. The hireling will have no interest in fixing the problem, he/she was hired to solve, because once the problem is solved he/she will be out of a job. They don't know or represent what is in the best interests of the community (disputing parties) and their proposed solutions will reflect their own bias and conflicts of interest. They take away our individual sovereignty and they take vital resources (needed in the community) as compensation for their efforts, further weakening the community and making it harder for it to solve its own problems.
We need to sponsor and encourage block parties, communal garage sales, public celebrations and any other events to get people together. When we talk to each other, share our concerns and goals, and re-establish a common language (accepting standard definitions for words and concepts) we will discover our true strength and we can work together to oust false governance and anti-democratic and anti-community legislation and attitudes from our midst.
Thank you for reminding us of our own power, and our responsibility to use that power to better our own lives and the lives of other beings on the planet.

[bigbadR]

17. Easy solution!

Get all money out of politics by publicly funding ONLY all elections. No private funding, no corporate funding. Require all media licensing to be contingent on these companies providing free air time for political adds during each election cycle with time divided equally between candidates, after all the airways belong to the public and are leased to the corps.
Wake up America!

[Le Taz Hot]

21. The problem is that the people

who could enact those laws are the very people who benefit from them. They're not going to turn off the spigot.

[CrispyQ]

32. The problem in one concise graphic:

Both parties are on the gravy train.

[Le Taz Hot]

33. There ya go.

Says it all, doesn't it?

[CrispyQ]

36. I no longer believe change will come from the ballot box.

Our electoral process is thoroughly corrupt & compromised. Citizen's United, electronic voting, gerrymandering, a for-profit "news" media & outright disenfranchising of voters; it's a sad, sad state of affairs. I don't think most of the people I encounter on a daily basis think about these things. And if you're barely hanging on, in this cruel country, you don't have the time to think about these things.

Good rant, LTH.

[woo me with science]

18. AMEN!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! (changed the post)

The looting, the warmongering, and the assaults on our civil protections will not end until people join together regardless of party and demand that the purchased politicians in both parties stop it. Our only hope is to become the 99 percent.

Republicans are being impoverished, too. They are losing their civil rights, too. They are having family members blown to bits and disabled for life, too. And they defend the indefensible corporate, looting, impoverishing, warmongering, authoritarian agenda when their guy is in office, too, because they are being propagandized just like we are to hate *us* more than they hate the wrongs being perpetrated on them.

We should be fucking sick of the endless, cynical, partisan corporate game of circling the wagons around corporate thieves and warmongers of both parties, just because they have a convenient letter after their names, or of attempting to discredit principled critics because....gasp...they try to speak to the other side. This is exactly how the oligarchs win: by dividing us into our teams and pushing the garbage meme that it is more offensive to stand next to someone of the other team than to stand for our most fundamental values and principles. This country has had enough of purchased politicians and their mouthpieces who bait Americans to defend the indefensible "because it's our guy."

America is getting sick of the lies and constant betrayals, too, and we are waking up to the game.

[AndyA]

19. It's no wonder the 1% are doing so well, and everyone else isn't

Want to talk about welfare? The 1% are the biggest welfare whores around. Everything is set up for them to succeed, everyone else has been set up to fail by the 1%. They've got theirs, and they want to keep it. To hell with everyone else.

They've bought and paid for Congress--all of them. Oh, there's a few who stand out who are talking about the unfairness, and some of them are even trying to address the issues, but what are the rest of them doing to fix it?

It's absurd. Honestly, I feel like I'm living in a Twilight Zone episode half the time. Like the one where these horribly disfigured people are talking about the ugly one, who's not like them. Then you realize the ugly one is actually Donna Douglas (Ellie Mae on "The Beverly Hillbillies&quot , and she's actually incredibly beautiful, and the ones talking about her are really the ugly ones.

Same thing goes in America today. The 1% condemn everything: unemployment benefits, taxes for the wealthy (little people, taxes are OK), food stamps, housing assistance, equal and fair access to health care that won't bankrupt people, and the list just goes on and on.

Of course, the wealthy are also the ones responsible for much of the unemployment in this country, due to the Wall Street scandal (the scandal that hasn't really been a scandal so far), they are also responsible for people not having access to affordable health care, because they own the health care providers and they charge $15 for one aspirin tablet because the CEO has to make $24 million plus every year.

They own all the big corporations, and they work together to fix prices so there's really no competition to keep prices low. They pool their money and buy Congress, to make sure nothing changes for them. Everyone else, tough.

They commit crimes and don't get prosecuted, much less investigated. They destroy the environment, and if the little people create a stink about it, they pay a pittance as their penalty--what the hell, they'll just raise prices on everyone and make up the loss. Meanwhile, they continue to rape the environment hoping no one will notice, but they know if someone does it won't be much of a set back for them.

So Le Taz Hot, you SHOULD be sad. You SHOULD be angry. So should everyone else. The only way I can see that this situation will ever be corrected is when enough people do get sad then angry, and then take that anger and make changes happen. Until then, well, we're just the little people and we should be happy with what we're allowed to have.

[marions ghost]

20. K&R

Stand Up

[tularetom]

22. Class warfare! Class warfare!

Ten years ago I made the same argument you're making (but much less eloquently) in a discussion with my neighbor. He was the DA here before he retired and he was thoroughly brainwashed in the "land of opportunity, any kid can grow up to be president, what's good for General Motors is good for America" propaganda. And he wouldn't hear the points I made about social mobility, or lack of same.

Easy for him to say. He retired on a six figure pension and fully paid medical insurance.

I've had the same discussion with members of my own family who are far from being part of the 1%. And realistically lack any hope of ever being part of the 1%. But many of them have been brainwashed into believing they can get rich by virtue of hard work and persistence if only the govment will get out of their way.

The overwhelming majority of us have a shitload more in common with that dude sleeping on a discarded mattress than we do with the plutocrats at the top of the food chain here in the US. But things aren't going to change until we all realize that.

[woo me with science]

23. This post needs to be at the top of the Greatest Page.

[Le Taz Hot]

24. . . .

[deaniac21]

25. .

[link:|

[BelgianMadCow]

27. A watershed post

deciding to include all is the start.

[merrily]

28. Very unlikely that Einstein actually said that.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=306217

And, if he did say it, he probably said "A" definition of insanity, not "the" definition of insanity.

I agree that most of us were robbed while we were assuming that one of the major political parties or the other was going to save us.

[Le Taz Hot]

29. Ok. Uh, Thanks.

[Animal Chin]

30. I can't believe someone threw out a perfectly good homeless person.

[Le Taz Hot]

34. Aren't you clever.

[RainDog]

31. k&r n/t

[toby jo]

35. I did some business one time with a gentleman up in Cleveland.

He liked me, showed me his boat. It was an antique thing with bells and whistles, a steam-engine thing, stored right there in his factory in a climate-controlled room. Then he showed me his biplane, the kind that flies and floats. Next it was up for a ride in his 4-seater little prop plane, and last came the yacht.

Then he showed me where he kept his sewage - all in his head. Pissed off, he was, because it seemed Obama was 'giving away' funds to 'minorities and disadvantaged', and where or where was his?

So we never went out again.

I want more, mommy. Jesus fuck me christ.

[Le Taz Hot]

37. So, because you had a bad experience with

one rich asshole that applies to all Republicans? No one else ever gets another chance? No chance of just hanging out with some working class Joe? People come in lots of different flavors. Be open to that variety and gain perspective in the process.

[Dragonfli]

62. My own experience supports that rich assholes come in all parties, not just Republican

An asshole is an asshole, most of the assholes I have met are rich, the limousine liberals wrapped themselves up in "liberal social issue" righteousness, while agreeing with market based solutions and "business friendly" conservative economic policy they feel is common ground to be built upon.

They see nothing wrong with Clintonian welfare deformation and a "balanced" approach that requires the poor to give up more for the sake of bipartisan deficit reduction that enrich the rich by decreasing the poor.

Republicans are far worse in that they don't even bother with niceties such as equal opportunity, gay rights and reproductive freedom. Hard to want to hang out with assholes; in all fairness, let the assholes reform their humanity and deserve the right to "hang out" with us working poor slobs. They really don't get the right to pose in a picture with us and brag to country club snobs how well they treat the unwashed, we are more than the placeholder token friend in the stock Colbert photograph where they smile and point a finger proving their creds.

Some rich people are cool, but rare in my own experience, I am sure each person's experience varies.

[HiPointDem]

38. kr

[The Wizard]

39. As long as situations like this exist

we will be no better than primitive predatory barbarians.

[Boomerproud]

41. I had a similar epithany several years ago

My co-workers and I were volunteering at a soup kitchen when a sad, defeated-looking woman looked at me and asked "Didn't we used to work together?" I gave her a weak smile and asked how she was but she just moved along. On my way home I remembered that she was correct-we had indeed worked in the same department at a bank about five years earlier. The bottom line is-it can happen to anyone, anytime, anyplace. Very frightening and sad. I only work part-time and am getting more despondent every day.

[xtraxritical]

42. Both sides are not "culpable", I get so sick of hearing that. It's all because of RepubliCONs!

[bvar22]

43. When the Working Class & The Poor realize...

...that WE have more in common with each other
than we have in common with the 1% and their bought & paid forPoliticians in Washington in BOTH dominant Parties,
Then WE can have "change" too.

THAT is HOW the countries in Latin America have successfully taken their governments back from their 1% Ruling Class.

[font size=3]"The worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that nation states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated."[/font]
----Bolivian Reform President Evo Morales

Our neighbors in Latin America have given us the Blue Print for successful, near bloodless Ballot Box Revolutions.
All we lack is the will to follow their lead.
It is FEAR and clever Brand Marketing that keeps us stuck in the old binary paradigm of choosing between the two establishment choices they allow us.

As long as "they" can keep us fighting each other for the big Homecoming WIN,
the predators will continue to feed off of the carcass of America's Once Great Working Class .

Ask Yourself:
[font size=3]What important issues were completely ignored by BOTH parties during the 2012 campaign?[/font]

Hint:
Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc

...and that above is just ONE important issue completely ignored by BOTH Parties during Campaign 2012....because they AGREE 100%.
There are many others, but unless you tuned in to the 3rd party Debates or "AltMedia" (thank you Good4Nothing),
you heard NOTHING about:

* the continuing Failed War on Drugs,

*The DEVASTATION of our Working Class caused by "Free Trade" and the Marketing Myth of "Free Markets".

*the Privatization of out Prisons.

*the scandalous amount of citizens in jail

*the burgeoning supra-constitutional powers of the Unitary Executive

*the national militarization and coordination of our local Police departments

*the continued support of Right Wing, Police State, Death Squad Governments in Latin America

*our "Privatized" Voting Computers with "secret" code

*The "Privatization" of our Public School System

... and many, MANY more IMPORTANT, Life or Death issues for Americans who have to Work for a Living.



[font size=4]When The BOSS whistles,

.....the employees quickly respond.
They know who butters their bread.[/font]

VIVA Democracy!!!!
I pray we get some here soon.
Our neighbors to the South have given us the Blue Print,
but you won't find it on your TV.




[font color=firebrick size=3][center]"If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for,
at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."
--- Paul Wellstone[/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]

[font size=5 color=firebrick]Solidarity![/font]

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

73. Bravo, well said! n/t

[pasto76]

44. sorry to be a wet blanket. But you 'almost' had to pull over.

yeah. you sure are mad as hell...but not mad enough to interrupt your precious day. I know you will likle ybecome indignant about that, but it is, in fact, what happened. I carry MREs in my car to hand out when I see homeless people in this city, because so many of them are veterans.

the rest of your post is blah blah blah. You really should have stopped and drug that mattress over to that guy. coming onto an internet forum and posting this is really quite lame.

[xtraxritical]

46. Well maybe you should take some home to shower and clean up?

[DhhD]

75. Call county offices and charities as they have a way to pick up and take those in this shape to a

bathing facility. There they may receive help and shelter. Leave a donation and volunteer if you can. This reminds me of Easter Seals. They help people with disabilities. There are other organizations that know what is needed and how to help.

[dreamnightwind]

60. Wow

Nothing lame about the OP. Your message is fine, it's great to offer them MRE's (you don't only help vets, do you? hopefully not), but no need to harsh on the poster of this OP, we all have ways to push back against what's ailing this country, and shouldn't expect others' ways to be the same as ours. The OP was excellent and takes a courageous stand on DU against the usual partisan demonization.

[Curmudgeoness]

47. This makes me think

of how sad it is that it was probably one of the best nights sleep he had. There are few chances to sleep on a mattress when you are living in the streets. Sad commentary on our society.

[ReRe]

48. K&R

I was struck with your quote by Einstein, which I agree with. I couldn't help but think of this quote by Winston Churchill: "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

[Warren DeMontague]

50. FWIW, it's pretty damn unlikely Einstein actually ever said that.

He didn't write any 12 step materials, either.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/insanity-definition_n_1159927.html

The above quote has been mis-attributed to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Mark Twain. In fact, none of these great minds were responsible for such a convincing, yet blatantly incorrect definition. The first time it actually appeared in print was in a 1981 Narcotics Anonymous text (page 11).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_first_said_that_the_definition_of_insanity_is_to_do_the_same_thing_over_and_over_and_expect_different_results

http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?t=33566


Sorry, but the wildly popular activity of misattribution of goofy quotes to famous people to provide the quotes with greater heft or gravitas "Or As Thomas Jefferson once said, 'smoke on the water- a fire, in the sky!'" is a pet peeve of mine.

[Le Taz Hot]

51. As was pointed out to me upthread.

[Warren DeMontague]

54. I see.

Honestly, getting all about it isn't really a very good response. Einstein was a brilliant man who completely revolutionized our understanding of the relationship between matter, energy, space and time. To slap his name on every damn thing that comes down the pike to lend it some artificial undeserved air of authority, frankly, is offensive to the man's memory.



It would have been perfectly legit, although a broad assertion of a subjective opinion, to say "the definition of insanity is..." ... you also could have said "some say that the definition of insanity is..."

the most accurate presentation, of course, would have been something like "As the down-home twelve step aphorism states, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing yadda yadda yadda"

instead, Einstein gets dragged into it.

[Le Taz Hot]

55. And after all that,

you still completely missed the point of the post. Wooooshhh!!!!!

[Warren DeMontague]

56. And after all that, you don't correct your OP.

The point of which is... what- that we should pal up with the religious right to fight the "real" enemy? Sure thing, William Jennings Bryan.

[dreamnightwind]

61. Yes...

That the 99% have more in common with each other than they do with the 1%.

[Warren DeMontague]

65. If I only I could write a book about how the GOP gets the base to vote against their economic

interests... Hmmm, I could call it "What's the Matter with Alabama", or maybe "What's the Matter with West Virginia".... Since surely, no one has ever gleaned this brilliant insight, before.

However- in all seriousness, the fact is, that

1) this particular 'analysis' isn't anything new or particularly Earth-shattering, and

2) the crux of the problem isn't hectoring "the left" to be more accepting of "the right", it's getting the low information voters in the GOP to get out of their bubble,

and last but certainly not least

3) the fact is, for a LOT of us, issues like reproductive freedom or church-state separation or LGBT equality or all these pesky divisive 'annoyances' aren't some silly nonconsequential side dish from the main political menu, they are BIG REASONS WHY WE ARE DEMOCRATS THANK YOU VERY MUCH and as such, these perpetual arguments that we just 'forget all that stuff and focus on what really matters' are sort of, um, offensive.

[im1013]

64. YES! That is EXACTLY the point.

Look, I have lived the past 13 years in probably THE most red state in this country. My husband
is from here, but I am not. I have been saying the EXACT SAME THING as this poster to my
husband for several years now. And I can honestly say that despite all the b.s. that these people
espouse - straight from Fox news - that they really aren't that different. I actually agree with some
of their grievances, but totally disagree with others. But we are all people just the same, with the
ability to work together and find solutions to the problems we ALL face. If only more people would
just turn off their tv's and realize that...

The point is.. that we are ALL people on the same blue ball. And we need each other to survive.

[BainsBane]

66. the problem is that ordinary people don't control the GOP

The lunatic fringe right does. We see the results of that in congress right now. Obama bent over backward to try to work with them. They don't want to work at all. Their goal is to bankrupt government, "to starve the beast." That is the GOP we are faced with.

[Warren DeMontague]

67. And the idea that if we would just be *nice* to the crazy theocrats, Bachmannoids and Randiots, we

could work together... It's a ludicrous, deeply flawed premise.

As I said upthread, even leaving aside the offensive notions that the things which divide many of us- "little" things like LGBT equality, or reproductive freedom- are really some phony sideshow invented by the Bilderbergers at the Bohemian Grove.. even leaving that aside, the trick is and would be getting the base of the GOP to listen. It's not a question of sitting down and singing kumbaya with them. They exist in an essentially fact-free bubble; that is the problem.

[BainsBane]

68. Worse than fact free

they feel entitled to invent their own facts to fit their ideological views. Those are the elements that control the GOP, so we know have congresspeople citing conspiracy nonsense in debates about laws, things that aren't in the bills at all but have made the right-wing fear mongering circuit. We have a non-functional congress, and I don't see it getting better any time soon.

[Warren DeMontague]

69. And some very rich and powerful people have spent a lot of time figuring out how to get the GOP base

to vote against their economic interests (there's your conspiracy theory)...

...to imagine that waking them up is just as simple as going "Hey! You're voting against your economic interests!" Yeah, good luck on that.

[bvar22]

81. Actually, It was Richard Nixon who first said,

[font size=3]"Shake for me girl. I wanna be your Back Door Man!"[/font]

A lot of people think that it was Led Zepplin,
but they are wrong.
It was DEFINITELY Richard Nixon.
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Yep. 90% sure it was Nixon.
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.
.
Well, anyway, 70% sure it was Nixon who first said "I wanna be your back Door Man."
.
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Yeah, he probably did say that first. I read it on the Internet, so its true.

[Warren DeMontague]

82. Well, that explains The bustle in the hedgerow

it was E. Howard Hunt and Gordon Liddy.

[bvar22]

83. Well, that explains THAT.

I was always alarmed despite the cautionary warnings,
and rightly so!

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

53. This post hit me when I read the word "proles"

I currently live in an economically disadvantaged area of Pennsylvania, but I used to live in about 90 minutes outside of NYC, so I've seen how large the gap between rich and poor is in this country. I feel very fortunate living in a middle class family, but when I see how some of my friends live, I feel like it is living in a society with the "Proles" from 1984. It really hits me when I see some aspects of different lifestyles, and how the Proles in 1984 were supplied mind-numbing entertainment like pornography to keep them from thinking too much about their status in society.

However, as Orwell wrote..."If there's hope, it lies with the proles"

[abelenkpe]

57. Agreed.

We need representatives that represent and defend the needs of the people dedicated to protecting the weakest among us and the environment.

At least the guy had a discarded mattress. While at the park the other day my kids were exploring the dirt paths through bushes and trees and found a bunch of boxes flattened out. My eight year old gathered up the boxes and put them in the trash. Exploring further he found two bundles of dirty clothes and a few things wrapped up and tucked under some bushes. Realized we had just thrown away a homeless couples bed and were instantly sorry. Went back a couple hours later and left a blanket some cookies and note apologizing.

[davidthegnome]

58. Right on.

You're absolutely right. It makes me think of an experience I had once, which is probably not nearly the same thing, but...

I was sixteen, I was one of those young nerds that played the old text based games on the internet (also known as muds). I was on my way down to South Dakota to meet someone in person that I had met online... details not important. Ahem...

I ended up traveling from Portland Maine to Boston South Station, waiting for a train. I had grown up in Northern Maine, been as far as Boston maybe twice in my life. I was a sheltered white boy, product of an average middle class upbringing. I had never met a homeless person - at least, not one that I recognized was homeless. I had seen relative poverty, but nothing severe....

So, for me, it was a unique experience to have people I didn't know suddenly asking me for money. I was sitting near the train tracks outside somewhere, writing in my notebook, and a middle aged Latino man approached me. I noticed that he had broken, cracked teeth. His face was unshaven, his hair unkempt, the dirt of many nights of sleeping in the streets apparent on his face and arms.

"Please man, can you help me out? I need money for a place to sleep tonight." I looked into his eyes and saw a sadness there, a desperation, a despair that I was not at all familiar with. Without really thinking much about it, but with sympathy, I reached into my wallet and pulled out a twenty, handed it to him. "Hey man, you think you could spare fifty? Then I could sleep in a bed, in a hotel." I thought about how much money I would need to make the rest of the trip to South Dakota, debated whether I'd have enough (barely) and gave a mental shrug. I handed him a fifty.

He gave me a big grin, said thank you very much, and walked off. I remember writing in my journal later on about how sad I was, about how terrible it was that there were people who couldn't afford to eat, who had no where to live, no where to sleep. I was so damned naive. In my less charitable moments, I at times wonder if he spent the money on booze... but that aside...

I don't regret helping out. I don't regret giving him that money, even though it meant more struggle for me. What I do wish is that I had been older and wiser, perhaps offered him a ride to a motel, paid for the room for him, maybe helped him get setup with a local shelter or soup kitchen. It might not have helped anyway, he might have run like hell at the mere notion that someone would try to help him get back on his feet. Maybe he wouldn't have really wanted help.

I don't know. What I do know is that in the years since, I have seen many more faces like his, many more eyes filled with despair, with sadness - and with hunger. Most of the folks I remember having money back then, don't have much anymore. It seems to me that, in the thirteen years since, Americans have become more poor, more complacent, hungrier, more sad.

I agree with you that the politicians are a huge part of the problem... but another part of the problem is that we need to step up ourselves, when we can. Easier said than done, I know. I have passed hungry people in the street and avoided their eyes because I had no money to give. But there are things we can do, things we must do, if we are to improve their lot and our own. I don't think we can count on the politicians to do it either. I think we have to do it ourselves, with our own small finances, with our own minds and bodies.

I'm offering to volunteer at a local soup kitchen here in Maine - what shocks me about this, is that they already have more than enough volunteers, far more than enough, in fact.

For all the terrible things, all the hunger, despair, and sadness... there is still great generosity within the American people. We don't need the 1% and the politicians... we never really did.

[Heathen57]

70. K&R

I've tried to come up with a response that would make some sense, but after four attempts, I still can't put it all down in a way that makes sense. Its just beyond what a normal person can wrap their head around.

Perhaps we have finally hit the end of the rope and maybe just maybe this nation will come to its senses and vote the bastards out.

[JNelson6563]

71. Awesome post!

I'm with you all the way LTH

Julie

[Le Taz Hot]

72. Thanks, JN.

Btw, I'm working at the Democratic Party this week doing phone banking for a local issue (No on privitazation of the waste disposal as a matter of fact) and I'd like to announce that the building did NOT burst into flames from a sudden lightening attack.

[JNelson6563]

84. Great news!

Thanks for stepping up and helping with a good cause. Every once ina while Dems do the right thing (at least at the local level). Rock on girl!

Glad the building survived!

Julie

[chervilant]

74. In the current manifestation of democracy

in this nation, the powerful among us have created the "two-tiered system" you've so eloquently described. The powerless among us are beginning to understand that the game is rigged, thanks to posts like yours, and sites like DU.

The "economic" behavior of our species is rumbling inexorably towards the global capitalism described by Marx. Less than 400 people on this planet--from more than fifty different countries, and comprised primarily of old, white males--own and/or control better than 45% of our planet's resources, including human resources. Do you recall what Marx predicted would happen when the Hoi Polloi recognized the weight of the shackles of this global oppression?

The corporate megalomaniacs who've usurped our media, our politics AND our global economy will be harder to eradicate than mange on a mongrel. But, just as we wouldn't blame the mongrel for its mange, so must we not blame the powerless for a system created, gradually and insidiously, by the powerful.

[Le Taz Hot]

77. I reject the premise that we are helpless little

pieces of seaweed destined to move or not move depending on the current. We live in a Democracy, or what's left of it and we, therefore, can shape our own destiny. Yes, the oligarchy has CAUSED the two-tiered system but we, the 99% have the power to change it by not playing by their rules. I can't expand on the partisan politics idea on this particular board except to say we need to scrutinize ALL candidates and quit settling for the lesser of two evils. It's part of why we are where we are. The two major political parties, year after year, put up the SAME candidates and, make no mistake, they are the same candidates in that they all work for the 1%. They trot us out every two years, whip up the partisan frenzy (much like a revival church meeting) and get us to donate money, time and votes to people who were never meant to represent us in the first place. We need to demand better and we need to do better ourselves.

I reject the premise because I've ready history, as is evident, have you. You mention Marx which made me think of Lenin. What was the context? The Russian people, having been ruled for hundreds of years, living in serfdom where the individual was owned, literally, by the corporations of their time, stood up and said, "No more!" I mean these were people who had no concept of self governance. Wildly disparate people spanning vast areas of lands -- each with different cultures, different belief systems and all under the crush of the Czar and the aristocracy. THEY rose up. THEY broke the yoke of the oppressors. Tragically they ended up going from one oppressive regime to another but we certainly don't have to do that and I don't think we would. We've been a "free people" (yes, with many GLARING exceptions) from the beginning so I can't see us making the same mistake.

I believe in empowerment and I think we have the power to change the system that brought us to where we are today. Throughout history we've had monarchies, oligarchies, oppressive regimes. The end of the story is that they all fall. All of them. Yes, they fall for lots of different reasons but some of them fell because the people rose up and said, "No more!"

Anyway, end of rant.

[chervilant]

79. Wow... The LAST thing I expected

you to take from my comment is that powerless is the equivalent of "helpless." When discussing matters economic, I use the terms "powerful" and "powerless" as indices of monetary power, which is very different from personal power.

Your "rant" reminds me of another Gandhi quote:

"When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, ALWAYS."

Our revolution *IS* come -- and we are assuredly not helpless to effect the change we hope to see in our world. Thanks, btw, for a most excellent OP.

[Le Taz Hot]

80. Which is why I should never post

before my first morning cup of coffee and "breakfast roll."

I think we're actually on the same page, though.

[heaven05]

76. the

rich JUST DON'T CARE!!! Never will. This dog eat dog culture has bred that attitude as something to be expected from the haves.

[Newest Reality]

78. Without a permanent

address, one is only steps away from the street. Being on the edge changes your views and opinions. Your ideas of permanence, stability and even luxury change drastically after you lose it all.

In my case, I help seniors out whose fixed income does not really allow for paying for someone to help them. So, that provides no actual home, but places to sleep and eat for the time being. Luckily, internet access is also part of it and food stamps are manna.

Having met people who are in similar dire straights, (and many of us are pushing 60) it seems that you really have to let go of worrying about your future and where you might end-up once you fall out of the system. Some of the folks most effected are those whose families are gone and dead and whose friends started to find their situation "uncomfortable" and began to avoid them as they lost everything -- in other words, not really friends at all.

Being in the now and day-to-day living without knowing if tomorrow is about finding a safe place to sleep outdoors, gives you a deep insight into impermanence and starts to dissolve many notions and convenient fictions that other scenarios might encourage and support. Being present is good, but the tangles of wants and needs and your basic fears are all flammable and burn what you thought was important up. A few items become your "stuff" and maybe even more valuable and precious than the houseful of things you used to have.

The consumer society really stands-out for you as you realize you are not a true consumer who can buy what they want, but are one who subsists. Rather than retirement or plans for it, you see a potential life on the streets that will shorten what time you have left and bring you a permanent "retirement" and that will also deliver you to the only "vacation" you get, be it endless.

So, there is a lot to learn being older and doing the tight-rope walk. There are many insights as to what a consumer society that has profit as the fundamental pinion of its value system considers valuable and, if the word really applies, meaningful. In a country overflowing with the kind of wealth, products, foodstuffs and luxuries like no time in history, you can see that your own value and that of others in your position is relatively meaningless by comparison.

But then, I think about the rest of the world and wonder about the hypocrisy of those they say they value human life when a large part of the simulated machine we live in clearly does not.