One of the first goals of revolutionary movements from the Jacobins to the Bolsheviks to the radical administration of Franklin Roosevelt has been the creation or expansion of the welfare state. The goal is to create an underclass dependent on government for survival whose self interest dictates unswerving loyalty to the revolutionary establishment. These dolists will vote and protest and even riot in the streets to keep open the downward flow of wealth redistributed from the productive classes.
The Democrats have a history of using the poor as a powerbase and keeping people poor to expand that base. It started with FDR's New Deal, continued with LBJ's Great Society and with only four years to assure their continued control of government the cabal of Obama, Reid and Pelosi are working very hard and very fast to expand that base again by driving the middle class down into poverty and reducing the employment base. The goal is to have as much of the population as possible unemployed or underemployed and dependent on government for survival, justifying uncontrolled seizure of wealth and assets from the productive classes.
This plan is the only way to explain what appears to be a conscious decision to let unemployment run out of control, applying stimulus money to programs which do nothing to create sustainable jobs and doing nothing to address the decline of the dollar and the flight of businesses and jobs overseas.
This is the only way to explain the emphasis on creating green jobs, a practice which studies have shown destroys as many as 20 jobs in the long term for every new job it creates. How else can you explain the unprecedented deficit spending and accumulation of debt which has driven the dollar to its lowest value relative to foreign currencies in 30 years? If this is not a coordinated effort to drive people into unemployment and poverty then it represents criminal incompetence in the administration's management of the economy.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Natalie Bennett
Perhaps the answer is to force companies, e.g. Walmart, to pay its employees enough money to live on, and to force them to provide medical cover? Then the state wouldn't have to step in to stop workers' families going hungry, or without essential medical care?
2 - Mark Saleski
glad the see that the bc politics section has transformed itself into a pathetic mirror of the squealing bray that is fox, msnbc, etc.
3 - Clavos
Glad you're glad, Mark.
We live to please.
4 - Dave Nalle
I'm pretty sure I haven't seen anyone on Fox come right out and say this truth -- not even Beck. And MSNBC wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the ass.
Dave
5 - STM
A nation on the dole. Only one answer for that.
Everyone: move to the coast and start surfing.
6 - Jordan Richardson
Dave, would you consider yourself to be a part of the productive minority? This isn't a leading question, either. Just wondering.
7 - Jordan Richardson
I do think that this article is generally reflective of the typical conservative way of thinking.
The basic premise is that everything's "fine" the way it is. Don't fix what ain't broke, etc., and if you do have to fix something, make sure to involve as little regulation/government/tax as possible.
Into this matrix, the conservative movement in America adds the general idea that the poor in the country have done something to deserve it. Because everything's "fine," there can't possibly be flaws in the private sector and everything is working nicely (for them). If you can't find a job or can't earn enough of a living wage to support a family, a conservative would say that you should either go find another job (or two) to make ends meet OR that it's your fault for not making it. This is called "personal responsibility" and ANY so-called shirking of that responsibility makes one "reliant on the government for -fill in the blanks-" and a lousy bum.
Conservatives believe that things should be left alone and that private citizens (they really mean companies) should be allowed to do as much as they want so long as it doesn't impede the "liberty" of another private citizen (they really mean companies) to do whatever they want. And so on.
So when Dave talks about a "minority" of productive people, he's not talking about making font. He's talking about his ideological bedmates, about those who think and firmly believe that everything's "fine."
The caveat to everything being "fine" is, of course, that a Republican or conservative must be in charge.
If it's a Democrat, well, everything's fucked.
8 - Kenn Jacobine
Natalie,
The government causes high prices in the first place through the Federal Reserve system. Our dollar has lost 95 percent of its value since the Fed began printing our money in 1914. That is why the price of things like healthcare is so high. With a free market currency the market would determine the amount of money needed and prices would stay in check. In other words, our money would not be politicized where the Fed prints it to bail out their buddies on Wall Street and the politicians spend money they don't have to ensure their reelection.
One way to combat Dave's issue (nation is becoming welfare slaves) is as a productive citizen just leave the country. Don't pay taxes to support others and watch the system collapse inside out. Then return to rebuild and put the criminals (Congress, Federal Reserve, and Administration) on trial for sabotage and treason.
9 - Dave Nalle
Jordan, as usual, you read things into my article which are not there and respond to your mistaken assumptions instead of anything I believe.
Yes, I consider myself part of the "productive minority" because I pay taxes greater than the amount of tax money which is consumed for government services which I use.
But you are wrong to think that I believe that everything is fine or that this is the general attitude of people in my political wing. We certainly do NOT believe that everything is fine. We absolutely do NOT beleive that driving people into poverty through government policies is a good thing. What we want is for people to have a chance to prosper and live up to their potential and have a decent life in our nation, which can best be accomplished by freeing them from the burden of a controlling government and letting them participate fully in the economy.
We don't disagree on the problems of the nation, we just understand that the solutions the left keeps proposing fail again and again and in many cases contribute to or create the problems we're faced with. It's insanity to repeat the same failed policies again and again. It's time to go back, rethink things and take an entirely different approach.
Dave
10 - Dave Nalle
Perhaps the answer is to force companies, e.g. Walmart, to pay its employees enough money to live on,
WalMart already pays wages at a level which is sufficient for a person to live on, albeit not in luxury.
and to force them to provide medical cover? Then the state wouldn't have to step in to stop workers' families going hungry, or without essential medical care?
Or we could just shut WalMart down and leave all of those people with no jobs at all, which is basically what would result from your suggestion.
Dave
11 - Patriot
Of course, the biggest consumers of government welfare are our big corporations who get the lions share of welfare handouts in the form of insider no-bid contracts, special tax breaks, special accounting practices, and then outright bailouts and handouts ala the TARP and other such.
And why wouldn't they? The big corporations buy and pay for congressmen, and their employees and advocates mob the corridors of power in Washington.
The table scraps that the needy of the USA get are pathetic in comparison. And more Americans join the ranks of the needy every day as they lose their homes to the voracious financial institutions, backed by federal funding, ala Tarp, whose greed is unlimited and uninhibited.
12 - Baronius
Jordan, you're close. It's not that conservatives believe that things are so perfect that more government would only make things worse. It's that we believe that government generally makes things worse. You can get a pretty good read on the difference when you hear liberals say that we've got to do something about the health care crisis, that there never been a better opportunity to do something. Now, strictly speaking, they don't want to "do something"; they have particular policies in mind. And it's just as true that the Republicans who oppose the current legislation aren't the Party of No because they said no to this particular legislation. But it's fair to say that when it's time to do something, Democrats are more interested in doing while Republicans are more focused on the something.
13 - Christine
The goal is to have as much of the population as possible unemployed or underemployed and dependent on government for survival, justifying uncontrolled seizure of wealth and assets from the productive classes.
Scary stuff!
14 - Mark Saleski
Scary stuff!
only if you're scare of pure bullshit.
15 - Clavos
only if you're scare [sic] of pure bullshit.
I'm scared of the "pure bullshit" rolling out of the WH for sure.
16 - Dave Nalle
Mark, we can't know the inner minds of the administration or their secret souls. All we can do is look at what they and their allies in congress are doing. On that basis you can only conclude that they are trying to destroy the industrial base, the financial base and the working class of this country, because I don't see how they could do this much harm without intent behind it.
Dave
17 - Arch Conservative
"only if you're scare of pure bullshit."
That's right Mark. I mean, it's not as if welfare has led to millions of people becoming entirely dependent upon the government, right?
18 - Mark Saleski
because I don't see how they could do this much harm without intent behind it
19 - Arch Conservative
What day do welfare checks get picked up on Mark.
I don't know and I'm curious.
20 - Doug Hunter
According to the Bone: Thugs N Harmony song it's the 1st Of Tha Month
21 - Joanne Huspek
If anyone wants to take a gander at the future of a nation on the dole, one should just look to Detroit, where unemployment is 28% and there's no relief or jobs in sight. This could be our future for the entire country.
Talk about enslavement. Not only are the poor here are trapped, and the middle class is trapped too. The thing you didn't bring up, Dave is the illegal alien situation. They are the true slaves in this scenario. They work for next to nothing and can't complain because of fear of being deported. They support the Democrats but don't realize they are being used like we all are.
22 - STM
"The goal is to have as much of the population as possible unemployed or underemployed and dependent on government for survival, justifying uncontrolled seizure of wealth and assets from the productive classes".
Lol. Do Americans really believe this stuff??
I can't understand why half the voting public in the US just can't accept that the country voted in a different administration for a few years and that they are making some minor changes to a few things.
If you knew anything about real socialism compared to what's going on in America, you'd wet yourselves. Or worse :)
I mean, the Democrats are not even left from where I stand. They're centre-right.
Unbelievable that people even believe this cr.p.
23 - Deano
Unbelievable that people even believe this cr.p.
Your pissing in the wind Stan, don't even bother wasting your time responding to this stuff!
It's the Chicken Little Syndrome - every little thing that happens sends the opposition (whether Democrat or Republican) racing about in a flurry of feathers shrieking "the end is nigh".
It is the new American mantra and they've adopted it as the methodology for demonizing every form of political opposition. By next week they'll be back with another manufactured "threat to our way of life"...
Honestly life's too short! Go surfing mate, and hit a couple of waves for me (since where I am is just too bloody cold)!
Deano
24 - Dave Nalle
The thing you didn't bring up, Dave is the illegal alien situation. They are the true slaves in this scenario. They work for next to nothing and can't complain because of fear of being deported. They support the Democrats but don't realize they are being used like we all are.
Didn't you hear, Joanne. They have gone back to Mexico by the millions. The nice thing about being an illegal is that they have that option.
Stan, as you may recall, I have lived under a real marxist regime and I do know exactly what I'm talking about. Maybe you don't get all the news down there in Oz, but what's going on here is much more pervasive and much darker than you seem to realize. It's not the Soviet Union yet, but it's very much like what I imagine things were like when that regime was first getting started and still feared that there might be some accountability for their actions.
Dave
25 - Clavos
The nice thing about being an illegal is that they have that option.
Some of us legals do, too.
And it's in the mix...