When “the People Shrugged”
Of late I have been reading “Atlas Shrugged”. It is the 2nd most widely read book after the Bible. Ultimately, I found the book to be too black or white for my taste but it most certainly got me thinking. As I watch the ultimate destruction of the U.S. economy, aided by our Congress and Administration, I do believe I have come to some very stark and unavoidable conclusions.
The first of these is this. While we sat watching T.V. or shopping at Wal-mart, we effectively abdicated our responsibility to be good citizens. We watched them deregulate banking and finance with hardly a peep, even though we could clearly see that something was wrong with the way the credit and the housing were doing business. But, it wasn’t us taking out those A.R.M.s and heck, my credit ratings 790, NOT my problem. When our Congress passed one of the most draconian bankruptcy policies in the history of this country, most of my fellow citizens didn’t even have a clue. Heck, they weren’t going to ever declare bankruptcy because they worked hard and weren’t a dead beat. Yet we saw all the signs of rot around us. Oh, there were some us who called our Senators and Congressmen and said “something is not right about this” and they ignored us and so we just turned on the T.V. and said, oh well, there’s nothing we can do about it.
The second of my conclusions saw a startling parallel between the ascension of Wesley Mooch and the real life elected officials who govern our lives. They were completely unaccountable and all the while they were telling me they were trying to make me more prosperous, they enacted policies to pick my pocket. The allowed the 4th estate to be consolidated into a few powerful outlets in order for them to control the information I could access. They controlled the message and the message was always, this will be good for all of us. But it wasn’t. It usually was only good for the entitled and the empowered with us picking up the tab. But now, when we should have been storming Congress or the FCC Committee meetings, we sat watching Oprah.
Ultimately, given that the American middle class cash cow has been under constant assault from deregulation and restriction of our freedoms since 1980, I suspect we are far to late to turn back the tide. It would take leadership that was unwilling to compromise with the principal of fundamental fairness for political expediency. I had a hope of something better when I came to support Hillary Clinton. She said what she meant and she meant what she said. That was a rare experience.
So I view NODEAL and P.U.M.A as our last stand to take back our country. The last stand we are ever probably going to have the opportunity to make our feelings known. The growing coalition of people and groups that are openly and vehemently resisting the DNC’s efforts to “select” our nominee, ignoring the very viable and real candidacy of Hillary Clinton in order to install their incompetent puppet has given me hope that we might, just might be able to turn back the tide of apathy, avarice and complete lack of discernment in the vast majority of Americans.
Perhaps we are the Hank Reardon’s, the ones saying, we want to do the work, we want to do the right thing for us and the people we serve and we are NOT going to compromise our principals to do it. I think of Hank now whenever I hear those who refused the kool-aid being called racists or bigots or destroyers of the Democratic Party. We aren’t the ones who destroyed the Democrats. No, it was the Wesley Mooch’s who sat on their boards and their Chairs. People who let the rot sink in so deep that they were willing to silence 18 million voices who had earned their right to sit at the table in a place of honor and fair play in August.
No, we are not the looters of the Democratic Party. That was left to the likes of Howard Dean and Donna Brazile. The parasites who decided that we were to be left no voice, no vote because they “knew what was best for us”. They were the true destroyers. Those of us who have resisted have merely been the witnesses at the digging of the grave.
It is doubtful in my opinion that even should, by some miracle, Clinton win the nomination, that there would be much of a Democratic party left. The DNC’s actions in this primary season have finally and I fear fatally sullied the party beyond repair. When the history of this country is written, it is doubtful that it will be the truth. For by then, the destroyers will hold all the reins to communication. The truth will be simply this, the rot, the stagnation, the looting came from the inside and could not be stopped by those of us, the working, middle class American, on the outside, that would ultimately pay the price for it.
“Who is John Gault?” I suspect we shall all soon know.
this is a good article.thanks a lot, abby