VENTING ABOUT RIGHT-WING EXTREMISM TODAY

I decided to vent after receiving an e-mail from a former high-schoolmate in the course of a political discussion saying:

David - you are overworking that expression - who then are the “undeserving rich"? Where does that category begin and end? - you simply emit a vindictive aura towards anyone who is successful.... that implies sour grapes.  Now it's OK to want money, but not OK to have it

I share with you my reply inasmuch as it expresses my deep-seated feelings on the subject of the current state of American politics on the right:

No sour grapes at all, just a conscience, awareness of the situation and a willingness to follow the evidence to a logical conclusion.

I define “undeserving rich” as the fat cats who pay for the best politicians money can buy and then profit from the government serving the interests the rich at the expense of “We The People” who ordained and established the government and whose life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, tranquility and welfare it was designed and intended to serve. To add insult to injury, the "undeserving rich" skip out on the taxes necessary to support government, passing along the costs of today's government to tomorrow's generations.

When I see the rich hijacking the political system for their own benefit, as is clearly evident in the abrupt change in the distribution of income and wealth from the moment Reagan sold the nation on Voodoo Economics, I cry 'foul.'

When I see the consequences of wealth inequality manifested in a financial meltdown and Great Recession decimating the middle class while supposed "free-market" financial masters of the universe are bailed out at taxpayer expense, I cry 'foul.'

When Mitt Romney pays 25% percent of his income to support a federal and state government structure costing 39% of GDP  (and without which he couldn't make a dime), I cry 'foul.'

When the greedy ruling elite screw up the economy, throwing millions of hard-working, honest, responsible workers out of work, and then shred the safety net that provides a measure of security and dignity for them, and pronounce them ‘moochers’ and ‘a culture of dependency,’ I cry 'foul.'

When the military-industrial complex manipulates the government into Long Wars of choice with no other purpose but to keep themselves in country clubs, plush digs and corporate jets, I cry 'foul.'

It’s OK to want and earn money, and to keep it after paying for government that makes it possible, in terms of the defense department, law enforcement , fire departments and judiciary that protects their property rights; the services government provides that educates their workforce and keeps it healthy and free from injury; builds and maintains the transportation and communications infrastructure that makes their commerce possible; supports R&D that underlies much of their innovation, and many other services they rely on while claiming “government is not the solution to the problem, government is the problem.” (All because they want to assuage their consciences and provide an excuse when they skip out on paying for it.)

I'm not being "vindictive" toward anyone who is successful. That's typical Fox News ideological sloganeering. I'm arguing against a present course dominated by Reaganomics — largely exempting the rich from taxation while burdening the populace with wars -- that is leading the country to ruin and violence. This same phenomenon lead to the downfall of ancient Greece and Rome, the Ancien Regime in France and Czarist Russia.

Republicans fobbed their mess on to Obama and now pretend the country is headed for ruin because of the paltry measures they have allowed him to take (which they ludicrously denigrate as “socialism”), rather than because of the underpinnings they put in place when they elected Reagan — under-taxation, inadequate regulation, and bloated military spending -- still currently in place.

When one is mugged, it is not vindictiveness but a quest for justice and good order that prompts one to press charges.

I credit you with attempting to argue the facts (despite not being in full possession of them), rather than like most right-wing Republicans, smug in their ideological cocoons spinning their alternate realities conjured by Fox News, impervious to evidence; leveling ad hominem attacks; reciting mindless ideological slogans; and circulating hate-filled, lie-laden e-mails reinforcing their dangerously misguided preconceptions. 

How the f**k can you in good conscience ally yourself with this self-serving, dangerous, ideologically and morally bankrupt point of view?

David