The Role of The Big Lie
Usually, lies are told for purpose. So, in most cases, if we can determine whose purpose is being served, we will know who is behind the lie.
Whose interests were being served by the Confederacy during the American Civil War? Sure as heck wasn’t those of the yeomen farmers who did most of the fighting and dying. There’s a good chance that it was the planters who told the lies that got so many killed. Heady stuff; people knowingly and willingly telling lies to people that were willing enough to believe in enough to die for those lies.
Whose interests are being served by American Capitalism? Free Markets? Who’s putting up the perpetuating? Sure as heck isn’t the lower fifty-percent.
Who in America’s interests were best served by the Vietnam War, the Invasion of Iraq? Sure wasn’t all those dead and wounded. Wasn’t the rest of the lower fifty, either.
The lower fifty is constantly being admonished to work hard and do the right thing? Who says what is the right thing. Who benefits most from all the hard work?
Who in America’s interests were best served by offshoring all those jobs? Certainly wasn’t in the interests of all those who died from Methamphetamine and Opiates.
In whose best interests is America’s ‘worst in the advanced world’ healthcare system? The dead can’t talk? Too bad.
In whose best interests is America having a lower than living minimum wage? Whose are they that are getting more than their fair share and want to keep it that way?
In whose interests was it to take America back fifty-sixty years? Those whose support system is based on white supremacy, maybe?
Speaking of Trump: Trump lied impulsively with purpose; the purpose being his own interests.
The Big Lie is such a big part of America, where would we be without it? What would we do without it?
Sadly, America was founded on the lie that America is a land of freedom. Except for people of color. And of course, the decisions would be made by white men of property, not women or men without property. And in what sense is the electoral college representative democracy?
I think we took a step away from reality when the “War Department” was renamed “Department of Defense.”
Public schools are paid for by property taxes, thereby assuring that the poorest schools stay that way.
too right!
Nicely done as usual, but I do not understand the connection in these 2 sentences:
Who in America’s interests were best served by offshoring all those jobs? Certainly wasn’t in the interests of all those who died from Methamphetamine and Opiates.
There’s a direct correlation between areas with the greatest job loss and the abuse.
Regarding the minimum wage, I think it’s time to look more closely at where we are now. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that a minimum wage increase was not germane to the covid reconciliation measure. This ruling was accepted by the Biden team, which technically could have had Kamala Harris try to overrule it. In a subsequent Senate vote, 8 Senate Democrats voted against raising the minimum wage to $15 in a floor vote.
Earlier a Republican minimum wage offer from Mitt Romney and Tom Cotton would raise the minimum wage to $10 by 2025, along with a provision related to the E-verify system.
I’ve done an analysis of current state minimum wage law. Four states (CA, MA, NY, WA) plus DC currently have wages at or above $12.50. Another six states (AZ, CO, CT, ME, NJ, OR) are at or above $12. Three states (MD, RI, VT) are at or above $11.50. Two states (AR, IL) are at or above $11. One state (NM) is at or above $10.50. And four states (AK, HI, MN, MO) are above $10.
So, 20 states plus DC now have a minimum wage of $10 or more. In population terms, this represents about 130 million residents, or 40% of the US population. So, the Republican proposal would actually increase wages in states representing 60% of the country.
Is there a deal to be made for a federal minimum wage increase this year? I would suggest that there are two possible deal points. One would be an increase somewhere between the initial Republican offer of $10 and the Sanders proposal of $15, perhaps in the $11 to $12 range. This might also mean Democrats accepting other Republican ideas like E-verify and perhaps small business carve outs. Are there 10 Republicans senators would would agree to something like this?
Another possible deal point is for the Democrats to include it in the second budget reconciliation bill of 2021, which will be used for an infrastructure increase. In that case, it would only require all Democrats to agree and for Kamala Harris to overrule a parliamentarian ruling if necessary. In that case, I would think that an increase to $12 to $13 might be acceptable to all Democrats.
Just some detail from 2013 which is outdated but still hold true with regard to proportionality.
It probably at 2020 in a greater percentage.
“…In whose interests was it to take America back fifty-sixty years? Those whose support system is based on white supremacy, maybe?…”
[In politics it is not always easy to distinguish the difference between the sincere assholes and the pandering assholes because both lie, just for different reasons.]