Where are the poor in todays politics!!!!!!

[inthebrain]

I was listening to Ed Shcultz (spelling?) on Air America today. Something struck me hard on his show and it's been stuck in my head like glue. He was talking about Bush and how the GOP is "Screwing the middle class!!!!!!!!!". As much as I don't like to see anyone get screwed by the gummint there is something wrong with this vision. What about the poor?

If I hear one more complaint about the middle class getting squeezed I'm going to strangle somebody!!!! I don't just hear it from Ed but also Democrats while they are out on the campaign trail. Can't we just stop and think about this for a second?

A few years back I read Arianna Huffington's "How to overthrow the government". She went on about christian right wing conservatives and Newt Ginghrich's contract with America. It was one thing that struck her about christianity and it was this line (paraphrased) "What you do unto the least among you, you do unto me."

So where are the least among us in the Debate? When was the last time we held a debate on this board or nationally that focuses on the poor? There is a lot to discuss there. Aferall, economically the "middle class" has a symbiotic relationship to the poor. One of the points that Karl Marx and Engels makes about the middle class is they form a buffer between the rich and the poor. I find myself in agreement with this point.

So how do we tear this buffer down? I say we start with looking at what "freedom" means to you and me!!! Especially when we speak of The PATRIOT ACT!!!!!! Which when you look at the poor, they have already had their freedoms stripped away. We can look at the courts (Plea bargaining system), the work place and what takes place on the street.

What does freedom mean to the poor? They are the most terrorized segment of our society and we never address what their Ossama Bin Ladens are.

If the middle class wants to preserve their freedoms that are going to have to look at the freedoms of others. It takes much to realize that there is a huge rift there. FDR got it right one he stated that poor people are not free.

I say we strengthen our civil liberties when we stick up for those that don't have them. Money tends to buy you a lot of freedom in this society and it also takes a lot away from others. Perhaps it's time we look at our prison system as well and decide whom they are built for!!!!

[JeffR]

1. Thank you

A great post and I couldn't agree more.

[kestrel91316]

2. Who are "the poor"? Do you mean the Little People who pay all the taxes

so the rich don't have to???

Where is Leona Helmsley to explain things whe we need her?

[Erika]

3. Dupe

[Erika]

4. I've seen thousands of posts about the least amongst us

here at DU. I've also seen thousands of posts showing the middle class is sliding down to the least amongst us due to W's policies.

[anitar1]

11. Well, I am one of the least among us. When one ages

and income remains the same , but everything else increases, Bingo, you are in the hole. Thank god, I was a child of the depression and some of the lessons stuck. It is not fun being on this end of the stick. But, I will never back down. Never thought I would be grateful for having experienced hard times. I know many who are in the same situation. We hold onto our dignity,somehow. This is a very sick country and has been for 200 years. I have read Howard Zinn's book and many others. This country is a total myth, perpetuated by politians and big business, now referred to as Corporations. I have no faith in this system. But , I will continue to do whatever I can to tear down coruption. We really need a totally different system. This one is dead.

[lostinacause]

5. The middle class is an easier group to sell policies to.

A politician saying they will help the poor has come to mean giving them handouts. Also most people define themselves as middle class.

[Erika]

6. I know very few Americans who want handouts

Except for the rich.

[inthebrain]

7. Not true

If the middle class were forced to take a backseat in our politics they wouldn't vote.

The poor don't vote exactly for that reason. Also because they don't have any money to contribute to campaigns. It's a catch 22.

Personally I see a lot of selfishness in politics. People see themselves as aprt of a group fighting for the same cause only for a time. When a certain segment of that group get's theirs they take the attitude of "I gots mine!!!!!"

The wealthy one percent that controls this country see themselves as eachother. THere is much collusion and an "I am my brothers keeper mentality". The middle class on the other hand truly does act as the buffer between the rich and the poor. It's time they stop doing that!!!!

By voluntarily taking a back seat and putting the issues of the poor first, the middle class would do better to secure themselves. Today they slip out and are forgotten. It is only then that they start giving a fuck. It's a vicscous cycle that needs to stop.

[anitar1]

12. I disagree with you. I am one of the poor and so are many of my

friends. We are among those who have been screwed over by this wonderful gov. We all vote, hoping that our vote will make a difference. I am very active in searching and sending all of the info I can find, to other people. All of you are living in a dream world if you do not think that most of us are totally pissed with this cabal of evil. I'll be damned if I go down smiling. Do not denigrate us as the "poor" when you are probably a few months away from the same designation.Strange how situations can change over a short span of time.

[inthebrain]

21. Anecdotal evidence does not count

Hard stats show that poor people have the fewest members of that class going to the polls. What you know of you social circles does not account for all.

I am not blaming the poor for not voting. The reasons behind it make perfect sense to me. One of the major failings of this party is they don't offer much to give them reason to take time off of work to hit the polls.

I could offer you evidence of my poor upbringing where we couldn't even afford a telephone, food and barely had enough to keep the electric on.

I know they are pissed off. THEY HAVE BEEN PISSED OFF FOR QUITE SOME TIME!!!!! It didn't begin with Bush and that not to say he isnt a part of the problem today.

[DBoon]

8. "The Other America"

was our shame in 1960.

The leader of the free world was not supposed to have its citizens living in abject poverty.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

9. You must have read my mind.

I've actually thought about this on several occasions before.

And like you, it does piss me off. It's like both parties are going for the comfortable, white, suburban, SUV-driving soccer moms and dads while ignoring anyone below a certain income level or demographic.

[lwcon]

10. So true (K&R)

The irony in the age of the Jesus voter is that you're a laughable chump and a heinous tax-and-spend bleeding heart if you dare suggest we take a minute to think about bettering the lot of the poor.

But even if we want to be mercenary about it (which, it seems, is the only way to appeal to the American voter), is there a better way to improve the health of the country than by moving people out of poverty (reducing crime, urban blight, etc.)? Yet, what does our government do, it passes another massive tax break to solve the non-existent problem of investors who won't grow businesses because they're being cheated out of their capital gains.

What tax breaks would Jesus (or a sound economist) give? The ones that plug the most marginal dollars back into the economy -- that is, for the people on the bottom who use additional dollars to buy food, clothing, and goods, rather than stashing it away until someone who knows how to grow the economy comes back into office.

Oh, and if anyone cares, helping the poor help themselves is the right thing to do. Yeah, what disgusting dopes we are to talk like that.

___

Hey, the liberal light is always on at the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Please stop by and say "hi!"

[anitar1]

14. But, but, we don't look like the poor. Most people think of the poor

as those dragging around on the streets. Yes, I have much empathy for them. Oh, that I had a magic wand and could wave it over them! But , there is a large contingent of us living behind the scenes , so to speak.I am not starving or without shelter, but I am on a very limited budget, and I wonder what tomorrow brings. My ISP charges are very important to me, as it helps me to have access to the real news and I can share it with others I cannot imagine living without the news my computer brings me. and I am so thankful for DU.

[Sparkly]

13. To generalize, the middle class IS the backbone of the economy.

When the middle class is strengthened, the poor are raised up to join it.

The middle class is central because it represents the center of workers AND consumers.

Direct funds to the wealthy? Wasted.

Direct funds to the poor? Very important, but limited in long-term growth -- because it takes greater consumption and investment to provide and sustain jobs, job training, other community services and and long-term employment.

Direct funds to the middle class -- in terms of tax cuts, workers' benefits, entrepreneurial incentives, etc. -- great payoffs in employment that lifts up the poor, tax revenues that (used properly!) revive urban communities, more buying power, borrowing/lending power, and more reaching both down and up to enrich the lower classes as WELL as the upper classes.

The problem is, the GOP has sold people on the stupid idea that "Only rich people provide jobs," ergo, give more to the rich and it will "trickle down." Never happened, never will.

It's all about investing lower down -- in the working "middle class." Everything else grows from that.

[anitar1]

15. Good posts , Sparkly, I know where your are going. n/t

[inthebrain]

20. Trickle down economics

When the middle class spends money, it is the wealthy that benefit.

Funny, when the shrubicons talk this BS all Dems are together when it is levied against the middle class. Even more absurd is how the middle class will levy this theory against the poor.

That's ridiculous and I challenge you to show me one example as to where that's true.

[sandnsea]

16. Bottom 90% hold 30% of wealth

70% of the wealth in this country is in the hands of the top 10%. 4 out of 10 homes sold are second homes.

The bottom 40% holds only 1%, one percent, of the total wealth in this country. Bottom 60% hold only 4% of the country's wealth.

In other words, we're all poor in terms of the wealth being created, we're just so stupid that we don't notice that we're fighting over the crumbs while the fat cats run off with the pie, apple tree, and the oven.

[Doctor_J]

17. In Ohio, they don't even get to vote. GA soon too

Whitewell undersupplied the polling places in the poor urban neighborhoods, guaranteeing that mnay of them would not get to vote. In GA they now require photo IDs to vote, so that will result in a number of poor being denied the right to vote.

Reagan was the first to catch on to the fact that shit like this is OK, since no one listens to the poor anyway.

There is one major thing that sepeartes the US from other countries. There are rich & poor everywhere, but we're the only place were the rich complain incessantly about their lot in life.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

18. good question and sad to say...forgotten just like Osama

[blm]

19. Middle class and the poor are inextricably linked - they're the working

class and whatever policy effects one effects the other.

Why on earth would anyone not know that by now? Fostering a false rift?

[inthebrain]

22. Rhetorical questioning?

That is a bit of a pun in case it slipped you mind.

I have a question for you.

How many middle class children die a week from starvation? (That's in this country)

There is not so much a rift between the two (Had you read my post you would not that I call the middle class "the buffer" between the rich and the poor) as their are a dismissal of concerns.

There are certain things that do create a rift. THe poor are often smeared as being stupid, lazy and a drain on society. THen there are others (Lets for once be honest here). If the poor were to stand up collectivly and make demands on the government, the paddy wagons would be rolled out immediatly.

Free Speach is often dictated by those that have power over you. It could be your boss and it is also the cop on the street. When aporached by a cop try reading off a list of supreme courst cases that support your right to be there. One that is middle class might have an easier time of it than a poor person who can't afford a decent lawyer.

Rights in this country are highly predicated upon wealth.