Lately, there's been a yarn being told that opposes the #Occupy movement by using "Abraham Lincoln's Ten Points" which support a capitalist ideal and refutes the notion that having an unbalanced system is a bad idea:
* You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
* You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
* You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
* You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
* You cannot lift the wage-earner by pulling down the wage-payer.
* You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
* You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
* You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
* You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.
* You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves.
Let's talk about this on the flip, shall we?
So, first off, these were not written by Abraham Lincoln. They were, in fact, written by
the Reverend William John Henry Boetcker.
But despite that fun factoid, the points above, when I read them, bothered me, because I realized that they were written in defense of the 1%.
So I decided to flip the scales and look at these points from the view of the 99% instead. So here are Tim's Ten 99% Points. I posted these originally on the forums attached to our local occupy page at occupycleveland.com
Tim's Ten 99% Points
* You can increase poverty by thieving from the poor.
* You can weaken the weak more by only giving to the strong.
* You can make small men smaller by making big men bigger.
* You can destroy the poor by only defending the rich.
* You can diminish the wage-earner by only giving benefits to the wage-payer.
* You cannot get out of debt without any income at all.
* You can divide the brotherhood of man by initiating wage slavery.
* You should not borrow money from social security to pay for illegal wars.
* You cannot build healthy homes and families by taking away a man's income and benefits.
* You can help men permanently by paying them a living wage with real benefits for a day's work.