Last edited Sat May 11, 2013, 04:36 PM - Edit history (1)
We discussed it in our socialist theory classes in college. The higher up the economic ladder, the less daily stress one deals with for survival.
The freedom to think long term and develop strategies because of greater staying power through wealth takes the edge off of the economic, ecological, war time or other crises that other groups are buffeted by and still continue to live as before.
When a person is not reduced to working on survival, and having to go with short term thinking as they go from one paycheck to the next or lose housing, food or family members, they are not bounced around by weather or social disasters like wars, health problems, etc.
EDIT: In fact those troublesome events for the less well off, lead to greater security for the rich and their families, and enhances their power.
Their chief passions are not paying taxes, mainly inheritance tax as most bank on the wealth of their families. They want to be able to school their children in private institutions with a set group of people, living in areas conducive to their health and maintainin social connections among their class. They use their wealth to conserve their power. Part of why they do it is to keep others from getting in the door and competing with them. That's what they call conservatism.
The Democratic Party is deprived of that vantage point by principle and like workers in general, are forced into short term thinking. A worker has a limited time they can make wealth for themselves, and often cannot make anything without community support or a legal framework to cover their shortfalls. The same shortfalls that disadvantage the worker, profit the owner at the same time even within the very same act.
The rich rely on our passions and movements wearing down with age and disability from work to outlast us. We must raise a new generation to face them with energy and drive, to protect ourselves from them. This is why they seek to pull the rug out from under our feet every chance they get, as they know some of us will stumble and fall and reduce their opposition. This is as old a method as the making of royalty and the accumulation of capital.
The New Deal programs and unity of workers from unions gave a baseline for workers to move forward and not be subject to every blip on the stock exchange, natural or man made disaster, knocked several rungs down the ladder, from which some will not have enough time in their lives to climb up again.
As far as the media, they are the first tool of the wealth to set us against each other from all angles, focusing on every specific need and passion, to tear usapart. And unfortunately we appear to be falling for that game over and over again, for we like those simple satisfactions.
That was another thing we talked about, the desire for material things that do not give us a long term advantage. That the worker is not satisfied with their life, and more likely to spend their pay on smaller items than large ones, because of it. They want to feel that power.
The rich could spend their money on those trivial items, but know their true security is in the longer term investments and are not driven by consumerism, instead of the basics. It's why some lottery winners go broke after winning. They didn't learn how to think long-term, they just bought whatever shiny goods their eye fancied that had been denied them so long. They were used to feeling deprived and wanted to end that feeling.
The things that last are not showy, and the rich make fun of the simple folks for going for this. Materialism is a symptom of a bigger problem.
I don't have time to go over this right now and I'm rambling, have my mind on other things. The media buyouts are very serious matters. The rich don't need guys with guns to rob us, we are brainwashed.
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