We've had almost 30 years to learn what the Reagan “revolution” really meant to America. I'm sad to report that we've been cheated. Not all of us, of course... As was once said; “If you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always get the support of Paul.” In case you haven't figured it out yet; “Paul” is big business.
We are now realizing what Reagan omitted when he said “Government is the problem.” What he purposely left out was “Government is the problem...” to his big financial backers – not us. After almost 30 years; we, the public, still have just as much big Government as ever. Obviously, Reagan didn't care about that. He just wanted our support for his agenda. I believed him for a while – until things got worse instead of better. In case you don't remember, what Reagan didn't clearly say is; what he intended the solution to be. Well, surprise... surprise. We now know that Government regulations were to be replaced by CORPORATE ANARCHY.
Ronald Reagan's big lie was that he would set us free by getting rid of big Government. The joke is on us. Do you feel more free now? Ha! Only if you're a corporate executive.
Doesn't anyone remember the deregulation of the Savings and Loan industry, which led to an enormous taxpayer bailout. Doesn't anyone remember the deregulation of the airline industry, which led to higher ticket prices and lower wages. Or, more recently; doesn't anyone remember the deregulation of the power companies, which led to the Enron debacle... and now the mass construction of dirty, dangerous, old-technology coal-fired power plants.
Government, now, is definitely the problem. The lobbyists have taken over.
There is virtually no protection left from corporate abuse.
We have fewer and fewer public services – while military spending just gets more and more out of control.
Our taxes haven't gone down, while corporations pay next to nothing – or get subsidized.
Our national debt continues to go up exponentially.
The technology that would allow us more independence, such as alternative energy generation, has been actively undermined.
And worst of all; our Bill of Rights has essentially been ignored.
While Bush Jr. goes on and on about the threat of terrorism, Mother Jones magazine has estimated that 100,000 premature deaths can be expected from the 42 million tons of additional air pollutants released under his “Clear Skies” plan. We've been duped – and it will cost the well being of many Americans, many livelihoods, and many lives.
Someone once wrote; “None are more hopelessly enslaved, as those who falsely believe they are free.”
The Reagan revolution was actually a counter-revolution. We are less free than ever. Our Government is the least functional it has ever been. And if we don't fix things, now, our Environment will make the Dust Bowl of the Depression look like no more than a sign.
4 comments:
Sure, corporations are out to make money, fair enough. But what about the people who whine and moan about every rise in the price of energy while not replacing leaky windows, adding insulation or buying a shoddy new home in those SoNev suburbs?
It's right to blame them, but as long as people are reinforcing their behavior with every commercial act they perform nothing will change.
-M
Everyone is to blame for one reason or another. It is a time of awakening though.
Voltaire once said
We are all full of weakness and errors,let us mutually pardon each other our follies......it is the first law of nature.
"Our national debt continues to go up exponentially". Really? what is your start point (in time). Do you have a graph? Did you get your engineering degree from K-Mart and do you truly not understand exponential equations, or perhaps is number base 1.00002. Making stuff up doesn't help your credibility. - Bob Freeman bob@freemanwebs.com
Here is a link to a chart of the National debt since 1940. The graph (not corrected for inflation) does tend to look exponential. There is one point on the chart where the debt dips from "exponential" growth, during the 1990's. But, about the time of the Monica Lewinsky BS, it returned to "exponential" growth. If you look at the chart corrected for inflation, and round off blips during WWII and the end of the Cold War, there is a tendency towards exponential growth. I'm sorry if you perceived what I said as a precise mathematical curve. But there is a rough relationship.
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/faq.html
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