My Socialist Ranting

A school teacher of mine sent me a petition today and asked me to sign and forward it--she sent it along to number of her other friends and colleagues, aside from me and she did not BCC her list.  I replied with the message below.  The petition asked the President and the Governor of California to move to deny social services to anyone not a US Citizen and to block efforts at amnesty for illegal immigrants. 

I think that the moral of this story is that people should probably think twice before they send me things without BCCing their recipient list ... muhahaha

[The Subject E-Mail]

Do not sign or distribute the petition below or any petition with a similar mission. Petitions that demand that social services be open only to US Citizens and also call for no amnesty are reactionary, inhumane and even down right mean-spirited and cruel.

The United States of America's GDP is greater in relation to our population than any other country in the world with a population over 10,000 (small micronesian countries are excluded from this as a result; they tend to have oil reserves and few residents, making their per capita GDP incredibly high).

Our per capita GDP is so high and our more worthwhile citizens, like our teachers, our artists, our public service officers (like firefighters and EMTs), non-profit organizers and other workers of great industry, are so poorly paid because we live under a Capitalist regime in our Democracy.  Capitalism serves only the interests of the very, very few (and an increasingly smaller crowd considering that our population now grows at rates far exceeding anything in the Baby Boom generation).

The solution to protecting our elderly, indigent and hard-working citizens that barely scrape by isn't to deny opportunity and assistance to those who have come to the U.S. for a better life.  No, that's just plain selfish.  Let alone the fact that the relationship is incredibly spurious. We do not live in a vacuum.  We are no better or more deserving than a Mexican or Guatemalan or Somalian merely because we were born in clean, sterile hospitals.  It was merely by chance that we entered into the most privileged country in the world.  It is also merely by chance that we entered into an economic class so deprived of what our country has in such great abundance--capital.

The solution is not to shut people out.  The solution is the equitable distribution of property and capital.  The solution is to enable the hard-working, to enable them with the means to their fiscal salvation.  I don't mean to deify money, but I believe that the end result of the workers of the world being able to control their destiny--for that destiny not to be decided in a corporate boardroom where children of privilege reign and the room's gross income exceeds that of the people of any of the poor states like Kentucky, Tennessee or West Virginia--I believe that to achieve that end will lead us to protection for all of our citizens and allow for a direct and true Democracy. Such a reality cannot be borne under Capitalism.

Democracy controlled by the people, not by money, not by media outlets and corporations, is what we need.  A Democracy that addresses the real nature of our transnational and global civil society must always be our goal or we will never be able to protect ourselves, our interests and our futures.  A Democracy steeped in Capitalism is not even a Democracy, but a satirical send-up of the very least and the very worst that Americans have to offer.  Democracy (the will of the people represented), unfettered, is the very best we can build and hold out as an example--a true beam of lasting inspiration to those that seek human rights, civil liberties and a just, civil society.

Call on your Representatives, Senators, Governors and President to provide for people in proportion to how they provide for us--CEO's and board members, those heavy with stocks and those rich with property provide nothing! They are only important because when they tell people they are, no one resists.  You, the worker, are who is important and having us, the workers, pitted against poor immigrants helps no one but the rich and the last thing we need is for them to be any richer and to have any more power than they already do.

See the wealthy for what they truly are.

Comments

[Jeanne]

Oh lordy. You're a total stud.

Nice response, Addy. I've had trouble articulating my thoughts about the whole anti-immigration (and counter-attack) that's currently raging. Your thoughts are very much appreciated-- good food for my head.

And, I want to make out with you and your politics. Of course.

[Addymal]

So far Jay Leno has put it best, I think. He said "Yes, today was a Day Without Immigrants or as the Native Americans call it: The good ole days."

[Jeff]

I, for one, would like to make out with Jeanne and her politics.

So rare of Leno to be so political and edgy, eh.