Our corporate masters, via their ownership of 75% of Congress and the WH, have finally succeeded in looting Social Security; and it was all done legally. (As the final shutdown of SS as nothing more than "welfare on the general fund" will be legal.) Barack Obama worked hard to legitimately earn the title of "the man who killed the New Deal". His anti-New Deal had $700 Billion for the super-rich, plus more for an estate tax cut. They just passed $725 Billion for a corrupt, criminal meat-grinder in Afghanistan. But he just had to cut those billionaires taxes, so (when you cut through all the bullshit) they put a paltry $50 Billion for the unemployed on the tab of Social Security.
As with all bullies, the Corporate Party (the owner of both parties), wants to humiliate its victims. So it has basically said: "You want us to help the unemployed? Fine, then they can choose between starving themselves now and having their children starve later. Either way, we get to blame the victim."
Well, below the fold, I offer those who are not living hand-to-mouth a third, dignified, choice out of this disgraceful situation. And, it is the kind of local movement that the activists here keep demanding.
Many activists on this board have said, correctly, that organizing at the local level is the only way the Progressives will be successful. After the passage of the anti-New Deal, I think that is truer than ever. Obama now has the cover of his "bipartisan" majority to continue to dismantle the New Deal and privatize the rest of government. Progressives at the national level do not even command a majority of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives. They have no organized "shadow cabinet" to muscle the Corporate Establishment.
I am not a churchgoer, but even the most passing acquaintance with the Bible screams out the crime of this "deal".
When Judas, his betrayer, saw that he was condemned, he repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood." They said, "What is that to us? See to it yourself." And throwing down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed; and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since they are blood money." So they took counsel, and bought with them a POTTER'S FIELD, to bury strangers in.
- Matthew, 27:3-7 The Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apochrypha (1965)
Even a fundamentalist would have to acknowledge the relevance of this quote. We have betrayed our seniors, and all their descendants. For a measly 2% tax cut - that we could have gotten from any number of places other than raiding Social Security.
What other blindingly obvious analogy could there be to taking Social Security away from our children for 13 weeks of unemployment? Why, could that possibly resemble selling our birthright for a bowl of porridge? (Sorry about the reference, but there is no direct quote of "selling his birthright". That is merely the settled and accepted shorthand phrase for a long story.)
Of course, my bet is that you won't see the corporate-owned politicians or pundits, many of them Pharisaical Christians, making either of these analogies. I'm not only going to make the analogy. I'm going to do something about it.
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My proposal is not for the many formerly middle class victims of thirty years of Class Warfare. They are hurting, largely because Corporate Rule has sent their jobs to China, and their government's revenue into the bank accounts of the super-rich.
My proposal is for those who have the luxury of affording not to need a tax cut.
My proposal is very simple:
Take your SS tax cut and donate it to your LOCAL government.
That would be the local government that Congress refuses to help. That would be the state governments, drowning in red ink, who are cutting essential services. Instead of making yourself complicit in this dirty deal, send the money to where it should have gone - to keep the government from dying of debt.
Here's what you do. Every paycheck, you figure out how much SS tax was refunded to you. Then you simply write a check for that amount to your favorite local governmental charity.
There are so many political positives here:
- You can organize donations locally so that local politicos know who is helping them. Thereby, gaining much credibility and power for Progressives at the local level.
- This is no one shot, negative "protest". Politicos are reminded of your generosity every paycheck.
- You can put your money where your mouth is, and in the process, shame phony Christians who send their money for Pat Robertson to buy his next jumbo jet.
- Since its "your money", you can use it how you want: to keep government services coming your way. Perhaps, you can even follow the GOP example, and earmark your money for schools, police, and fire services.
- You can do this without requiring any law to be passed or any political group to be consulted. Its a private matter between you and your conscience.
But, if people just did this willy-nilly, the political impact would be small. It needs to at least have an umbrella organization to promote it (like the Tea Party is an umbrella for fascist fruitcakes). So I propose that we keep track of the sum total of all donations, and break it out by state, town, earmark, etc.
We could call such a tracking device The Potter's Field Fund, because we are trying to provide a minimum bit of dignity to strangers and victims of the evil that is loose in the world.
I could use some help figuring out how to set up a website that does that.
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Obviously, this is just a re-wording of my diary of yesterday. It sort of got lost in all the DADT touchdown dancing.
I'm all for DADT. I'm glad it happened. But it will be meaningless if all of our retirement security is stolen while we were busy celebrating.
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Finally, I would appreciate it if a tax lawyer could tell me whether or not donations to state and city governments qualify for Federal tax exemption. I would love to pay back in kind the Feds who screwed us with their fancy tax gimmick footwork.
NOTE: I'm posting this and going out for an hour. Please don't take my silence as "fire and forget" blogging. I diaried this yesterday, and I will do it again tomorrow. I think this idea can work, that it is the ethical thing to do, and that it can help organize and promote Progressivism in a positive way.