John Edwards has hammered down some pretty good points about the state of America nowadays. There are indeed "Two Americas" but I'd like to examine this issue a little more.
When John Edwards talks about there being "Two Americas", he's not lying in any form.
America's middle class is in shambles. We are living in the middle of what is basically a never-ending class war. Usually, the finger of blame is pointed directly at the rich 1% of Americans and large corporations.
However, there is another group of people who deserve just as much blame. I'm talking about the people who buy into right-wing talking points. I'm talking about people who tune in daily to Rush, O'Reilly and other right-wing figureheads. I'm talking about people who happen to be middle class, blaming other middle-class people for the problems of this country, based on what they are told. I am talking about people who blame welfare, SSI and other social programs for the ills of our society.
Defense spending:
Where's the outrage over defense spending? According to this link:
The US military spending was almost two-fifths of the total.
The US military spending was almost 7 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender.
The US military budget was almost 29 times as large as the combined spending of the six "rogue" states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria) who spent $14.65 billion.
It was more than the combined spending of the next 14 nations.
The United States and its close allies accounted for some two thirds to three-quarters of all military spending, depending on who you count as close allies (typically NATO countries, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan and South Korea)
The six potential "enemies," Russia, and China together spent $139 billion, 30% of the U.S. military budget.
Keep in mind, this is the most recent data (2005) and is most likely higher.
Why don't people get all up in arms over this? Why do they allow themselves to be mind-raped by right-wing Republicans who use 9/11, terrorism and anti-immigration to further their agendas?
According to the most recent data(2006), we spent $571.6 billion dollars on military spending. This represented 28% of the 2006 budget.
In comparision, we only spent $97.7 billion or 5% of the 2006 budget on social programs.
Why are certain people so pissed off about programs like welfare and SSI/SSDI when we spent nearly 6 times more on military spending in 2006?
It has to be our oh-so wonderful right-wing pundits that are stirring up the rats over the wrong issues.
CEO pay and wage stagnancy:
Where's the outrage over CEO pay? According to this link:
In 2005, the average CEO in the United States earned 262 times the pay of the average worker, the second-highest level of this ratio in the 40 years for which there are data. In 2005, a CEO earned more in one workday (there are 260 in a year) than an average worker earned in 52 weeks.
I earned $22,000 dollars last year (before taxes). In comparision, the VP where I work makes at least 12 times that.
People should be outraged about issues like this. Instead, all we hear about from our mainstream media are stories pertaining to the lives of worthless celebrities and a possible war in Iran.
Working people should stick up for each other though. No more listening to the wrong influences. Working people need to stand up for each other.
Do not blame your fellow Americans for seeking economic assistance. Do not demonize people who seek out a scrap of bread. If you are religious in any manner, you already know that it's wrong to judge others.
More people need to learn to tune out and turn off right-wing media and to an extent, the typical mainstream media. It has turned Americans against Americans for far too long. United we will stand and Divided, we shall fall.
And even though this is NOT a candidate diary, I am going to stick with John Edwards because his message is fine-tuned to America's working poor/middle class.