Thursday, December 15, 2016
Return of the Robber Barons
From the end of the Nineteenth century through the early part of the Twentieth century a class of wealthy business men and other rich people rose to dominate the economy and politics of our country. These men came to be called the Robber Barons. By the time these men were through, they helped contribute to the Great Depression which nearly destroyed the United States. Today we have the return of the new Robber Barons with the election of Donald Trump as president. Prepare the be stripped of your money, jobs and rights.
We can see the beginning of this with the President Elect Trump’s transition appointments. So far he has appointed wealthy billionaires that are heads of corporations and some with questionable ties to foreign nations like Russia. Many of these people hate the regulations and programs of the departments they will be running. They will be spending most of their time trying to dismantle programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, environmental protections, labor laws, welfare, etc. Programs and laws that protect and help people in our country who don’t have the fortune to be born rich or ever become rich ( the 99%).
The Preamble of the Constitution starts: “We the people. . . .” Make no mistake. These Robber Baron DO NOT CARE about workers, the middle class, working poor, those living in poverty or anyone else. Their bottom line is money and how to accumulate more wealth no matter who they exploit, rip off or make suffer. Their god is MONEY! Period.
The next four years are going to be rough. There will be rising inequality and an economy that favors the rich even more while the rest of us suffer. We the people will need to resist the Robber Barons and fight to keep our rights and programs. We have hope and the numbers. Take an active role and contact your representative to let them know you want them to listen to you or you will vote them out next election. The hope is that our Constitution and elected officials will listen to us to stop the more egregious attempts at destroying our rights and country. Fight back or you’ll lose everything!!
Labels: Robber Barons, Trump
My Reaction to the Election 2016
It’s taken me awhile to work through the emotions after the election on Nov. 8. Like many people I’ve been on an emotional rollercoaster. Shocked. Stunned. Fear. Anger. After working through all these emotions, I’ve settled on anger. I hate the idea of Donald Trump as president, but have accepted the election results. Here are my thoughts.
Either way, I’ll fight for our rights with my voice and words. My anger will remain as long as Trump is president. We can’t despair or give up. We must make our voices heard. Leave programs like social security, medicare and many others alone. We must refuse to become the wage serfs/slaves of the corporations and rich. We must not return to feudalism or fascism and let our nation turn into a plutocracy. That is not what America is.
First, I understand the reasons why people voted for Trump. They’re tired of the stalemate and stagnation in Washington, D.C. Many feel they’re being left behind by the economy with losses of jobs, stagnating wages and no opportunity. A certain segment of people want things to go back the way they were before the Civil Rights era. Others just didn’t want another Clinton in office. Some people are just miserable in their lives and want to spread the misery around. I’m sure there are many other reasons too.
Unfortunately, I think the people who voted for Trump are going to be very disappointed. People don’t like change, but it’s a part of life. We can’t go back to the so called good old days. Those manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back. More importantly, rich, corporate people like Trump only believe in helping their own business and social class. He doesn’t care about rest of us, the middle class, working class or poor. This can already be seen by his cabinet picks. They are all wealthy, corporate people bent on taking what they can away from everyone to line their pockets.
Labels: election, Trump, working class
