It is not shocking that there are some Americans who seem bent on destroying the middle class and bent on the destruction of America and democracy as we know it. It happens for all kinds of reasons. Some are motivated by some vain esoteric delusion that they are right. Others are motivated by acts of political obstruction to a functioning government and sedition bordering on treason to gain political leverage. The rest are just greedy men with greedy and powerful allies who hate the middle class and everyone else who is not wealthy, often including even the nouveaux riche among those they hold in contempt.
What is not so easily understood is the passionate defense of the wealthy to the detriment of the middle class with which poor and working middle class Americans seem obsessed. One could easily answer the question by saying that, generally speaking, humans, i.e. the masses, just aren't very smart. But included among those who supported this internal attack on America and the middle class are educated and seemingly smart Americans who sought their own demise.
In their attack on democracy and the middle-class, conservatives had to convince Americans of too many things that are opposed to democracy and opposed to a healthy middle class--even a healthy white middle class.
1. They had to convince a white middle class that it is alright to deny some people their voting rights. On this issue A lack of wisespread outrage from the white middle class comes as no real supprise. When any person or a group of people think it is OK to deny other people any of their constitutional rights, it is because they believe it will never happen to them. They forget that they're often always next.
2. They had to convince members of the working class and middle class that, like the conservative bastardization of the word liberal, the bastardization of the concept of entitlements made entitlements a bad word. They also had to convince working class and middle class Americans that American citizens who retired after working 20 - 40 years in the public sector--including teachers, firefighters, nurses, government employees, and police offices-- were receiving retirement funds they did not earn and to which they were not entitled. Many people in these very groups voted for politicians who espoused this nonsense. But of course, they believed these politicians were talking about everyone but themselves.
3. With the promise of jobs that never materialized, poor, working class, and middle class America had to buy into the belief that widespread deregulations of businesses and industries is better for America and for Americans. But regulations are there to protect Americans from businesses and industries that pollute, steal, and do all kinds of other nasty things that hurt Americans.
4. Finally, using emotional language that gave their comments an air of authenticity, conservatives had to convince poor, working class, and middle class Americans that they don't need "the government", the very government of which conservatives are a detrimental part. They have even convinced some in the middle class that they should not put their money in a federal or state retirement fund or pay into social security merely by using the phrase: "You can handle your money better that the government."
All of which sounds good to an emotional thinker. But as a matter of fact, on the whole, public sector retirees have much better retirements plans than private sector retirees. It is the one advantage of working 30 years for low pay and a lack of appreciation by the general public--especially the affluent public. And it is one of the things conservatives hate.
On the other hand, corporate employees have had their retirement funds and pension plans plundered and raped by corporations for all kinds of reasons, including to pay a greedy CEO and other corporate officers millions of unearned dollars to which they were not entitled.
Conservatives want the working class to believe that putting their retirement investments into Wall Street is best for every American Citizen. Somehow, these people have forgotten the Enron debacle. And they apparently don't remember the millions who have invested in 401K funds only to have them eroded down to nothing when they were ready to retire. Conservatives want poor, working class, middle class Americans and their sons and daughters, broke, without hope, and without a safety net.
Conservatives want poor, working class and middle class Americans wholly dependent on the wealthy who will desert them at every turn. It is the only way for them to have the American Plutocracy to which they believe they are entitled.
Of this we can agree; conservatives are right and wrong on one issue. Americans need government; they just don't need their kind of government. Poor, working class, and middle class Americans can ignore that fact at their peril.
