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October 19, 2008
Why the F**k Is This Story About American Greed in the British Press?
This story in the Guardian, about how a TENTH of the $700 billion bailout for Wall Street is being spent on payouts for the people who brought us the bank failure, PISSED ME OFF for so many reasons I can't name them all.
I recently had to listen to a Mormon woman who has voted Republican for 50 years complain about the way these horrible rich bankers and stock brokers are taking these massive payouts, and retiring. I wanted to say, "Why are you complaining? This is the trickle-down principle in action. This is what you've endorsed and voted for all your life." But I didn't.
It enrages me that the Republican party is identified as the party of Christianity, when in fact the Republican party is one of the least Christian organizations on the earth. Few other entities are so unapologetically devoted to helping the already rich amass and protect even greater wealth; few entities have such indifference to the people Jesus Christ said we should help: the needy, the poor, the sick.
I guess the American press is as scared as I am to point out to "good Mormons" and "good Republicans" how full of shit they are, how responsible they are for this mess, how our government still lets the robber barons steal from the poor and run off to England to drink fine wine and eat partridge, while the rest of us are supposed to eat... not cake but something off the McDonald's dollar menu.
The thing about karma and chickens coming home to roost is that it doesn't affect a single person. The country has karma, and it's biting us on the butt. But we've worked hard to ensure that some people are protected as much as possible from the consequences of their actions. The country as a whole has to deal with its karma, but just as wealth is not evenly distributed, neither is suffering.
I won't go so far as to say that the Republican party is dedicated to the creation of suffering; that's not its explicit goal. Instead, it merely pursues policies--military aggression, handouts to the wealthy, marginalizing and demonizing minorities--that cannot but help create suffering. What the Republican party is dedicated to, at least for the past ten years or so, is ensuring that when suffering occurs, it's the poor and the weak who suffer more than the rich and powerful.
It's done a heck of a job. I just hope it chooses a new goal.
Posted by holly at October 19, 2008 9:21 AM
Don't bet on it. The Rethug party has been developing in this direction since its inception.
Yeah, you're probably right, Juti--but I was trying to hold out the benefit of the doubt. After all, this is the party most of my family supports.