A Reply For The 53%

[djAdvocate]

i didn't write it. but i agree with it...in sentiment anyway.
summary: you are being had.

c4ss.org/content/8942

To the So-Called 53%: Stop Embarrassing Yourselves
Posted by Kevin Carson on Nov 15, 2011 in Commentary • Comments (32)


One of the corporate establishment’s favorite tricks for countering dissent is fake populism — dismissing as “class warfare” any critique of genuine privilege while misdirecting the working class’s resentment toward the underclass.

It’s sometimes called “producerism”: An attempt to manufacture a sense of class solidarity between wage workers and their alleged fellow “producers” in the plutocracy, against the parasitic lower orders. See, the banksters, billionaires and cowboy CEOs aren’t to blame for the average person’s economic pain. They’re “producers,” just like us! The culprits are the 47% who “don’t pay any taxes,” an unholy alliance of ACORN, SEIU and single moms on food stamps.

The latest example of this astroturf right-wing populism is the so-called “53%” movement, created by RedState.org founder Erick Erickson, with the help of Josh Trevino of the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Their website, the53.tumblr.com, features photos of contributors holding up handwritten statements on the general pattern of Mr. Erickson’s own inaugural post: “I work 3 jobs. I have a house I can’t sell. My family insurance costs are outrageous. But I don’t blame Wall Street. Suck it up, you whiners.”

One contributor, a Marine veteran, writes: “I don’t blame Wall Street because it doesn’t matter what Wall Street or anyone else does. I am responsible for my own destiny. I will succeed or fail because of me and me ALONE.”

This sort of sycophancy is just painful to read. Here are people with multiple jobs and underwater mortgages, struggling to survive while falling all over themselves trying to outdo each other in absolving the Mr. Moneypennys and Daddy Warbuckses of any responsibility for their plight. It’s like watching a dog that keeps crawling back on its belly to lick the boot of the man who’s kicking it.

The worst part of this pathetic movement is that, intellectually speaking, it’s completely incoherent. It’s not derived from any consistent principle that bears looking into. Its participants can’t claim, as a matter of principle, that it’s wrong to resent other people or to blame them for their problems. After all, their very name suggests it’s entirely appropriate to condemn parasitism — namely, that of which the 47% is allegedly guilty. And most of its contributors are the same people who’ve been loudly cheering on the likes of Joe the Plumber who complained the country was going to hell in a handbasket. So it’s OK to blame your problems on THEM — just so long as THEM is the Kenyan Marxist and not the billionaires.

“Know when to bark and when to lick,” as the saying goes. Resentment and moral outrage are entirely righteous when directed downward, but shameful and impious when directed upward against one’s betters. It’s perfectly OK to express resentment against economic injustice — just so long as you blame the poor instead of the rich. It’s like a slave blaming his troubles, not on the master, but on another slave picking cotton too slowly. Utterly contemptible.

You folks in the 53% movement are being played.

You don’t like parasitism? The billionaire banksters and corporate welfare queens who fund your astroturf movement are the biggest parasites in human history. They loot wealth from the genuine producers with a front end loader, while you worry about people scraping up welfare with a teaspoon.

You say you don’t like big government? The corporations are the government. Count the number of people from Goldman-Sachs in the Treasury, from Cargill in the USDA, and from Pfizer in the FDA. Now count the number of welfare moms. Yeah, that’s some “Marxist” in the White House, all right. Schmuck.

The statism involved in food stamps and TANF is barely a rounding error on the statism involved in the privilege of the super-rich. The central function of the state is to enforce the artificial property rights, artificial scarcities, entry barriers, regulatory cartels, and other monopolies from which the privileged rich extract rents. Welfare is just a way of giving back a miniscule fraction of this stolen loot to the poorest of the poor, to prevent politically destabilizing levels of starvation and homelessness. Ever hear the phrase “straining at a gnat and swallowing a camel?”

So here’s a message for those of you out there who pride yourselves on licking the spittle of the rich and powerful while you kick those who are down. You think you’ll get a gold star or a pat on the head if you suck up to them enough? If you work hard enough building their pyramids, maybe they’ll make you Pharaoh someday? You really think the folks on Wall Street whose apples you’re polishing admire you as fellow “producers?”

They’re laughing at you.

[Value Buy]

Ok, you agree with it.
I don't.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:02:39 GMT -5 Value Buy said:

Ok, you agree with it.
I don't.

what part?

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Just more blowhard, far left liberal BS. Can't even understand half the article with so much rhetorical psycho-babble in it.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:10:04 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Just more blowhard, far left liberal BS. Can't even understand half the article with so much rhetorical psycho-babble in it.

really? i can understand the right wing screeds you post perfectly fine.

funny, that.

[handyman2]

I agree with the old brother Marine. I am responsible for myself and my destiny. Should the market collapse so be it I do not depend on it's success or failure.
Should money become worthless I will still eat, have a roof over my head and stay warm in the winter. It is called self relience. I entered life in a wood heated log cabin no electricity or indoor water. Do I like the luxuries of life? Absolutely But they are not essential to my well being. Who ever wrote this does not understand the resilence of human nature. To conclude I am willing to bet that a good chunk of others feel the same way. This guy needs to get out among the populous more.

[reasonfreedom]

I agree with you dj. I think the movement is a group of lemmings with 5 or 6 talking points that they have not done the research on. I am sure there are a few in there that know what they are talking about, but they are more than likely spreading the enthusiasm for the talking points for their own ends. I see it as one big group of irrationality. You see some of them with their signs that point out uneven wages and they don't even have jobs to have wages to compare. These people need to think more like that marine that the author quoted. Yeah there is cronyism, but like the articles point out the people that support the movement are part of that cronyism group. They have a right to be enraged, but maybe the movement should cut their strings because they are all dupes and puppets.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:31:15 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

I agree with the old brother Marine. I am responsible for myself and my destiny. Should the market collapse so be it I do not depend on it's success or failure.

i think we are far more interconnected than that. i think the sentiment is oddly heroic, but not really very accurate.

[reasonfreedom]

Oh, lol. I thought he was talking about OWS.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:33:42 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

I agree with you dj. I think the movement is a group of lemmings with 5 or 6 talking points that they have not done the research on. I am sure there are a few in there that know what they are talking about, but they are more than likely spreading the enthusiasm for the talking points for their own ends. I see it as one big group of irrationality. You see some of them with their signs that point out uneven wages and they don't even have jobs to have wages to compare. These people need to think more like that marine that the author quoted. Yeah there is cronyism, but like the articles point out the people that support the movement are part of that cronyism group. They have a right to be enraged, but maybe the movement should cut their strings because they are all dupes and puppets.

and with such a broad wing concession to the OP, i will add this:

i think that many in the OWS movement are being played for suckers too. they are mad, and they go and protest, without really thinking about proximate targets for their anger. rage has a way of blurring the senses.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:36:27 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Oh, lol. I thought he was talking about OWS.

i think you will appreciate the irony in my reply, then.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:35:06 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:31:15 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

I agree with the old brother Marine. I am responsible for myself and my destiny. Should the market collapse so be it I do not depend on it's success or failure.

i think we are far more interconnected than that. i think the sentiment is oddly heroic, but not really very accurate.

Actually, I had to disagree with you DJ on this. I can live on my own in the wilderness without anybody else, but that is from learning of survival and ability to grow/hunt my own food or being able to build my own shelter.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:37:34 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:36:27 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Oh, lol. I thought he was talking about OWS.

i think you will appreciate the irony in my reply, then.

ROFLMAO, yep I do. To be honest I think our newer generations have totally turned into an " I deserve it generation" instead of " I should earn it generation".

The world of people kind of remind of a fantasy series that I read. Even though it has fantasy elements in the book this guy real makes a lot of eye opening sense that relates to the real world.

Here is a little bit of his logic.

sot.wikia.com/wiki/Wizard%27s_Rules

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:41:40 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:37:34 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i think you will appreciate the irony in my reply, then.

ROFLMAO, yep I do. To be honest I think our newer generations have totally turned into an " I deserve it generation" instead of " I should earn it generation".

i have a hard time seeing that from my perspective. my employees work hard for their money. but i will be the first to admit that i have a very small field of vision in this respect. i only interact with about (14) folks, and 1/3 of them are owners.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:38:29 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:35:06 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i think we are far more interconnected than that. i think the sentiment is oddly heroic, but not really very accurate.

Actually, I had to disagree with you DJ on this. I can live on my own in the wilderness without anybody else, but that is from learning of survival and ability to grow/hunt my own food or being able to build my own shelter.

i think that anyone could. but i don't think it would be a very rich existence. now, the corollary to this is "is the rich existence worth the price?". i can't answer that for anyone other than me.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:44:38 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:41:40 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

ROFLMAO, yep I do. To be honest I think our newer generations have totally turned into an " I deserve it generation" instead of " I should earn it generation".

i have a hard time seeing that from my perspective. my employees work hard for their money. but i will be the first to admit that i have a very small field of vision in this respect. i only interact with about (14) folks, and 1/3 of them are owners.

I modified my last statement you should check out that link, it is pretty cool.

I was thinking more along the lines of the generations that would now just be able to be employed by you. The 5 to 20 ages, that is just because I think the majority of the parenting has gone to crud.

Parenting nowadays= sit you in front of the t.v. so I don't have to deal with you/ get you games to play so it keeps you occupied so I can do what I want.

Parenting old days= Do you chores/ go outside and do experience something productive.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Just another rant from the wrong side of history. You had 70 years to make your welfare state work. You blew through trillions fighting you failed war on poverty. We've watched you blow our money on one failed government program after another from the WPA to Solyndra. It's over. In 2012, the country is ours again. Your flailing about is but the twitching of a corpse.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:51:07 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Just another rant from the wrong side of history. You had 70 years to make your welfare state work. You blew through trillions fighting you failed war on poverty. We've watched you blow our money on one failed government program after another from the WPA to Solyndra. It's over. In 2012, the country is ours again. Your flailing about is but the twitching of a corpse.

i was thinking of you when i posted this, Paul. i could answer every point in your reply, but i have already done so on this board. you didn't listen. you never will. but you will have to walk over my corpse if you want to run this country into the ground with unchecked corporatism, bro.

there is one difference between your post of similar title and mine, Paul. i didn't tell the 53% to screw themselves.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:47:09 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:38:29 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Actually, I had to disagree with you DJ on this. I can live on my own in the wilderness without anybody else, but that is from learning of survival and ability to grow/hunt my own food or being able to build my own shelter.

i think that anyone could. but i don't think it would be a very rich existence. now, the corollary to this is "is the rich existence worth the price?". i can't answer that for anyone other than me.

True, the happiness of one's existence is based on their own opinion. Some are happy enjoying the simple pleasures of life, while others are more happy with materialistic pleasures.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:57:43 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:47:09 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i think that anyone could. but i don't think it would be a very rich existence. now, the corollary to this is "is the rich existence worth the price?". i can't answer that for anyone other than me.

True, the happiness of one's existence is based on their own opinion. Some are happy enjoying the simple pleasures of life, while others are more happy with materialistic pleasures.

i wasn't really thinking of anything material. i was more thinking of 2000 years of written history, art, and science.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 17:50:15 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:44:38 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

i have a hard time seeing that from my perspective. my employees work hard for their money. but i will be the first to admit that i have a very small field of vision in this respect. i only interact with about (14) folks, and 1/3 of them are owners.

I modified my last statement you should check out that link, it is pretty cool.

i printed it out, reason. ty!

I was thinking more along the lines of the generations that would now just be able to be employed by you. The 5 to 20 ages, that is just because I think the majority of the parenting has gone to crud.

Parenting nowadays= sit you in front of the t.v. so I don't have to deal with you/ get you games to play so it keeps you occupied so I can do what I want.

Parenting old days= Do you chores/ go outside and do experience something productive.

again, i can only speak for myself. but i think we share certain values, which i will now express.

my son is 11 1/2. he has never watched a day of TV in his life- not in our home, anyway. he is surrounded by books, music, and art. he has a yard to play in which opens into an oak forest without fences. he is learning to play cello, guitar, piano, and to sing. he is above grade level in all subjects, and college level in Latin. it was not that hard to do. we just had to care more about him than we did ourselves.

the same could be said of anyone.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:51:07 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Just another rant from the wrong side of history. You had 70 years to make your welfare state work. You blew through trillions fighting you failed war on poverty. We've watched you blow our money on one failed government program after another from the WPA to Solyndra. It's over. In 2012, the country is ours again. Your flailing about is but the twitching of a corpse.

Who are you talking about when you say " we've watched ..."? You talking about Republican? Democrats? Aliens? The group that thinks they are right? That is like saying " They won't let you do that", who in the $*%& is "They". If you say that there is a bunch of elite rich guys that are in a group, ok that is possible. Just to say "WE" and "THEY" is just lunacy coming from people paranoid people that are scared of unknown.


I am curious as to how intelligent it is to just watch somebody blow your money, wouldn't it be more of a failure to watch being played and know about it?

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 18:02:34 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:50:15 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

I modified my last statement you should check out that link, it is pretty cool.

I was thinking more along the lines of the generations that would now just be able to be employed by you. The 5 to 20 ages, that is just because I think the majority of the parenting has gone to crud.

Parenting nowadays= sit you in front of the t.v. so I don't have to deal with you/ get you games to play so it keeps you occupied so I can do what I want.

Parenting old days= Do you chores/ go outside and do experience something productive.

again, i can only speak for myself. but i think we share certain values, which i will now express.

my son is 11 1/2. he has never watched a day of TV in his life- not in our home, anyway. he is surrounded by books, music, and art. he has a yard to play in which opens into an oak forest without fences. he is learning to play cello, guitar, piano, and to sing. he is above grade level in all subjects, and college level in Latin. it was not that hard to do. we just had to care more about him than we did ourselves.

the same could be said of anyone.

See now your an example of a great parent(from your description), having lived in many low to mid class communities, I see the opposite side of your parenting whether it is from the stresses of the economy or apathy I am not sure.

I know I am kind of old, but is your family thinking of adopting

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 18:10:30 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 18:02:34 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

again, i can only speak for myself. but i think we share certain values, which i will now express.

my son is 11 1/2. he has never watched a day of TV in his life- not in our home, anyway. he is surrounded by books, music, and art. he has a yard to play in which opens into an oak forest without fences. he is learning to play cello, guitar, piano, and to sing. he is above grade level in all subjects, and college level in Latin. it was not that hard to do. we just had to care more about him than we did ourselves.

the same could be said of anyone.

See now your an example of a great parent(from your description), having lived in many low to mid class communities, I see the opposite side of your parenting whether it is from the stresses of the economy or apathy I am not sure.

I know I am kind of old, but is your family thinking of adopting

actually YES. but only to offset the self absorption of our son. as an only child it is hard for him to really assimilate empathy and compassion. but he is slowly getting it.

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 18:06:30 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:51:07 GMT -5 AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP said:

Just another rant from the wrong side of history. You had 70 years to make your welfare state work. You blew through trillions fighting you failed war on poverty. We've watched you blow our money on one failed government program after another from the WPA to Solyndra. It's over. In 2012, the country is ours again. Your flailing about is but the twitching of a corpse.

Who are you talking about when you say " we've watched ..."? You talking about Republican? Democrats? Aliens? The group that thinks they are right? That is like saying " They won't let you do that", who in the $*%& is "They". If you say that there is a bunch of elite rich guys that are in a group, ok that is possible. Just to say "WE" and "THEY" is just lunacy coming from people paranoid people that are scared of unknown.


I am curious as to how intelligent it is to just watch somebody blow your money, wouldn't it be more of a failure to watch being played and know about it?

LOL! you are OK, reason. despite what i may have said earlier.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 18:12:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 18:10:30 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

See now your an example of a great parent(from your description), having lived in many low to mid class communities, I see the opposite side of your parenting whether it is from the stresses of the economy or apathy I am not sure.

I know I am kind of old, but is your family thinking of adopting

actually YES. but only to offset the self absorption of our son. as an only child it is hard for him to really assimilate empathy and compassion. but he is slowly getting it.

Yeah, I have 4 brothers myself. The real life experience gained from my close relationships with them is priceless. The best part is that you know them so well that it is so easy to distinguish a lie or the truth from them. Granted we had our conflicts but our bond as brothers is a force not to be reckoned with. The more I learn about you the more I see that your educated and reasonable, even though I think we are on the opposite ends of the moderate politics

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 18:15:57 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 18:06:30 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Who are you talking about when you say " we've watched ..."? You talking about Republican? Democrats? Aliens? The group that thinks they are right? That is like saying " They won't let you do that", who in the $*%& is "They". If you say that there is a bunch of elite rich guys that are in a group, ok that is possible. Just to say "WE" and "THEY" is just lunacy coming from people paranoid people that are scared of unknown.


I am curious as to how intelligent it is to just watch somebody blow your money, wouldn't it be more of a failure to watch being played and know about it?

LOL! you are OK, reason. despite what i may have said earlier.

Ha, now if I can only re-read my own statements " .... is just lunacy coming from people paranoid people that are scared of unknown" /faint

correction:

..... is just lunacy coming from paranoid people that are scared of the unknown.

Now how hard was that....

<laughing at himself>

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 18:22:02 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 18:12:45 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

actually YES. but only to offset the self absorption of our son. as an only child it is hard for him to really assimilate empathy and compassion. but he is slowly getting it.

Yeah, I have 4 brothers myself. The real life experience gained from my close relationships with them is priceless. The best part is that you know them so well that it is so easy to distinguish a lie or the truth from them. Granted we had our conflicts but our bond as brothers is a force not to be reckoned with. The more I learn about you the more I see that your educated and reasonable, even though I think we are on the opposite ends of the moderate politics

i am sure we are. i am VERY socially liberal. but i am a fiscal conservative. that is why i hate Bush, and anyone like him. they rub me the wrong way in terms of BOTH money and "values". i have a lot of trouble with Paul's social conservatism, but it looks like i might have an alternative this time.

[reasonfreedom]

Nov 17, 2011 17:37:01 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:33:42 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

I agree with you dj. I think the movement is a group of lemmings with 5 or 6 talking points that they have not done the research on. I am sure there are a few in there that know what they are talking about, but they are more than likely spreading the enthusiasm for the talking points for their own ends. I see it as one big group of irrationality. You see some of them with their signs that point out uneven wages and they don't even have jobs to have wages to compare. These people need to think more like that marine that the author quoted. Yeah there is cronyism, but like the articles point out the people that support the movement are part of that cronyism group. They have a right to be enraged, but maybe the movement should cut their strings because they are all dupes and puppets.

and with such a broad wing concession to the OP, i will add this:

i think that many in the OWS movement are being played for suckers too. they are mad, and they go and protest, without really thinking about proximate targets for their anger. rage has a way of blurring the senses.

In regards to your statement of " rage has a way of blurring the senses"

3rd rule:

Passion rules reason, For better or for worse.

Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you."

[djAdvocate]

Nov 17, 2011 18:28:25 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

Nov 17, 2011 17:37:01 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

and with such a broad wing concession to the OP, i will add this:

i think that many in the OWS movement are being played for suckers too. they are mad, and they go and protest, without really thinking about proximate targets for their anger. rage has a way of blurring the senses.

In regards to your statement of " rage has a way of blurring the senses"

3rd rule:

Passion rules reason, For better or for worse.

Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you."

did you catch my response to your link? i added it in bold, above.