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Alot is going on in the news that is alarming to say the least. Many of the newly elected Tea Partiers have made it very clear which side of the economic divide they stand on; they stand with the rich and the big corporations.
The latest onslaught on the middle class is taking place in Wisconsin where the newly elected Governor Walker is attempting to push a bill through the state legislature that would in essence destroy the right for workers to take part in unions and collective bargaining (Walker's union fight latest in a long history). The reasons that Walker gives are weak at best. He claims that this needs to be done in order to deal with the state budget deficit of 112 million dollars. But wait a minute...just last month he pushed for a bill that was passed that gave tax cuts to the corporations in his state. The amount of those tax cuts is equivalent in size to the budget shortfall. So basically, he just gave money to the corporations while trying to take that same amount of money from middle class workers. There are now several other states in which the republicans are proposing similar measures to cut away workers rights to collectively bargain for working conditions and benefits. A great overview of this can be seen here: GOP seizes on crisis to shift power to corporations.
This is all to common for Republicans these days. They constantly want to pass measures which take from the poor and give to the rich. Like in January, when the U.S. house republicans refused to give out jobless benefits unless president Obama agreed to extend the tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.
What is going on here? Why would people support such measures and policy? I can understand why lobbyists and politicians might support this sort of thing...after all many of them are earning their living by taking the side of the powerful and and well to do, but why would regular everyday people support all of these causes to strip money and influence from the middles class and the poor and give it all to the wealthy and the powerful? The only reason I can think if is that they are ideologically and dogmatically brainwashed by the arguments and propaganda of the corporations and the wealthy. In essence, most of the people supporting the Tea Party and the Republicans on this particular issue are unknowingly supporting their own economic demise and the demise of the middle class as we know it.
So the conservative far right continue to try to take from the poor and give to the rich, much like we would expect of Robin Hood's evil twin brother. It is important to remember that in the past Republicans have stood up for the poor and the middle class. Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican, was a great advocate for workers rights and worked hard to bust large monopolies and established the Department of Commerce and Labor. I bring this up to make it clear that I have no ill will towards Republicans in general, but when they knowingly or unknowingly side with the powerful and the wealthy at the expense of everyone else, well then I take great issue with that.
We must do all we can to see that the Tea Partiers are not successful in their efforts to undermine the middles class and continue to prop up the powerful and the wealthy. We must fight for the rights of workers, for a sense of fairness in our economy, and for reasonable reforms to deal with the budget issues that states and the federal government are now facing.
