Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Republican Class Warfare



Republican like to use the term “class warfare” anytime Democrats mention income inequality, middle class tax cuts, Wall Street oversight or anything that would attempt to even the economic burdens on rich and the middle class.

But now that the ills of deregulation and self-enforcement have become apparent to even the most rabid laissez-faire capitalist, Republicans have taken the mantle of class warfare as their own.

If you listen to conservative talking points of late, it is obvious that their strategy is not to trace our economic woes to their true origin, but to blame all the results of this financial free-for-all on one oversimplified source; Poor People.

Yes, it’s those same mythical, Cadillac-driving welfare recipients once again thwarting the responsible Everyman’s dream of prosperity.

It’s not deregulation, that allowed for bundling of mortgages as investment instruments, thereby breaking the ties between lender and borrower and negating any direct concern about repayment. No, it’s Democratic pandering to the poor and minorities, which forced the helpless financial institutions to lend to the undeserving and uncaring poor.

Yes, according to today’s Republicans, it is the rich who have been abused, irrespective of their monumental financial gains and golden parachutes. And it is, in their opinion, the rich who truly care about the plight of the working man.

So Republicans applaud Jesus’ words, “The poor will always be among us”, and do all they can to ensure their prophetic fulfillment. This provides an easy and powerless target on which to blame all our ills. And all the while they continue their consolidation of wealth.

It is sad that the Republican strategy of blaming the impoverished victims still exists. But hopefully our eyes have been opened too widely to be closed again by simple, prejudicial finger pointing and this “class warfare card” has finally been trumped by financial reality.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

wow, nice rant. well-honed and directly on target. glad someone else sees this so clearly.