Class Warfare

                                                                            





                                                                          



                                                                           



                                                                            



                                                                        



                                                                             


                                                                                   (More cartoons follow essay.)

Dear Tom,

Here is the link I mentioned at Chapel Hill's "Occupy Wall Street" event.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOyDR2b71ag

In it, Massachusetts senatorial candidate, Elisabeth Warren, makes a tight argument that wealthy Americans have a social responsibility "to the past" that can only be discharged by paying enough tax to finance the nation's social future. 

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

We no longer pay enough to keep civilization alive.

Thanks for sharing your 94 year old grandmother's story. 

It is heartening to know that life-long Republicans still display outrage that The Ungodly Rich pay so little tax relative to the nation's need, and that your grandmother's commitment to adequate taxation dates back to the 1930s when she first realized how malfeasant "banksterism" was gutting the Commonwealth. http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-10-17/politics-behind-tax-code

Speaking of the 1930s, you may be interested in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Class Warfare" speech, given at Madison Square Garden on October 31, 1936. (The corresponding 4 minute audio clip is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9yoZHs6PsU)

"For twelve years this Nation was afflicted with hear-nothing, see-nothing, do-nothing Government. The Nation looked to Government but the Government looked away. Nine mocking years with the golden calf and three long years of the scourge! Nine crazy years at the ticker and three long years in the breadlines! Nine mad years of mirage and three long years of despair! Powerful influences strive today to restore that kind of government with its doctrine that that Government is best which is most indifferent.

For nearly four years you have had an Administration which instead of twirling its thumbs has rolled up its sleeves. We will keep our sleeves rolled up.

We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace - business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.

They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me - and I welcome their hatred."

A longer clip of Roosevelt's speech is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nuElu-ipTQ&feature=fvwrel

The entire text of this 30 minute speech can be read at http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/od2ndst.html

                                                                                               

You may also enjoy Roosevelt’s "Warning About The Republican Party" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUZGkNAUSvY&feature=related

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I recommend the following interview with Chris Hedges who has been at the front line of the Occupy movement since the beginning. http://www.openculture.com/2011/09/meltdown_the_men_who_crashed_the_world.html

As you may know, Hedges -- a Harvard Divinity graduate who began his career as a war correspondent -- is an insightful commentator.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges

Pax on both houses

Alan