the work of proutists
Silvia Valle (Jiivanshrii)
Why Are Some
Americans So Shockingly Cruel?
By John
Thorpe
Benzinga Staff Writer
September 14, 2011
"Benzinga" -- This will surely get taken out
of context in my future political career, but I will say it now anyway: I am
embarrassed, saddened, and yes, disgusted, by the behavior and beliefs of the
majority of Americans.
A new report came out Tuesday, showing that the
poverty rate in America rose to a whopping 15.1% in 2010. That means that nearly
one in six Americans gets by on less than $11,139 a year, or $22,314 for a
family of four. At the same time, the average CEO rakes in $11.3 million
EACH.
In other words, you can grab any six people off the street, and the
odds are that the average CEO makes 1,000 times as much money as one of them. He
only makes 400 or 500 times as much as the other five. That is
obscene.
And the sick part? The entire Republican Party and portions of
the Democratic Party are completely OK with this arrangement. One sixth of our
citizens live below poverty and the calls are for more tax cuts for the wealthy,
more benefits for the wealthy, and less for the poor. It's disgusting and people
should be ashamed.
Yes, ashamed. There is absolutely no reason for
anyone, let alone one sixth of our citizens, to live in abject poverty. We are
America and we can do better.
Letting people live in poverty is not the
only issue where America is an embarrassment. We are unbelievably cruel and
indifferent toward those same poor people, blaming them (and not the system) for
their plight. The reality is, no one in this world gets ahead without help.
Wealthy people have a natural advantage of a network of family and friends who
can push them into the right school, teach them the right values, and help them
get into jobs where they can succeed.
The poor do not have that
advantage, and we blame them for it. We demonize them, calling them white trash
or ghetto moms. We ignore the problems inherent in trying to raise children on
minimum wage, working two or three part-time jobs and juggling child-care. We
ignore their kids' natural disadvantage in terms of nutrition (try finding
somewhere to buy fresh broccoli in an inner city sometime) and schooling (would
you send your kid to an inner city school?). Then, after the kids come out
behind, we blame the kids. We blame their choices, as if they ever had a
choice.
And then we build another prison, and then another, and another.
As Tupac said, "It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact/ the penitentiary's
packed, and it's filled with blacks."
Why don't we spend this money on
better schools, more teachers, better classrooms, more books, more programs? Why
don't we do whatever it takes to make sure that every child in America, rich or
poor, white or black, receives the same quality education? This is shameful. We
are America and we can do better.
How about health care? Every other
civilized country in the world provides universal health care for its citizens.
Only in America would you have a scene like the one that unfolded at the
Republican debate Monday night. While answering Wolf Blitzer's question as to
whether he would let a 30-year-old man die, if he had no insurance and fell into
a coma, Ron Paul was interrupted by a supporter who cheered "Yeah!" Let him die?
This is what the Republican Party has become: the party of Let Him
Die.
Or what about capital punishment. You know, that savage practice
where the state murders someone to teach them that murder is wrong. It's the
sort of thing outlawed everywhere outside the Third World. In America, it is not
only legal, it's celebrated. When Rick Perry was asked at a debate about his
record-setting number of executions (including one where the executed was
clearly innocent), the audience at the debate cheered. CHEERED! They cheered the
state-sponsored murder of citizens.
Or how about torture? One political
party supports the use of torture against our so-called enemies. How long until
they start torturing peace activists? I know I've received emails from readers
suggesting that I should be taken to Guantanamo Bay and waterboarded for my
beliefs.
Every day that Mitt Romney and Rick Perry and George Bush wake
up, they should look in the mirror and feel nothing but shame and self-loathing
for the policies they push. In a fairer world, Dick Cheney (and not millions of
poor people) would be in prison, and a scumbag like Donald Rumsfeld would have
to hide in Argentina to avoid the Nuremberg Trial awaiting him, in this life or
the next.
But, no. They walk around freely, while millions of greedy
Americans call themselves patriots, identify with the rebellious founding
fathers who would tar and feather them, and wrap their selfishness in the flag.
It's disgusting and it's about time the rest of us called them out for
it.
You are not patriotic for sending sons and daughters off to die in
some desert war. You are not patriotic for tying a yellow ribbon to your SUV,
filled to the brim with the very oil those sons and daughters are dying over.
You are not patriotic for saluting the flag while trampling every right taken
away by the Patriot Act and its subsequent horrors. You are not patriotic for
fighting against gay marriage. You are not patriotic for fighting to extend
government's reach into the wombs of women everywhere.
You are not
patriotic for cheering — yes, cheering — at the thought of Rick Perry executing
hundreds of people. You are not patriotic for wanting poor people to die without
medical care. You are not patriotic for wanting to shut down schools and
hospitals to keep the size of government more to your liking.
You are not
patriotic for seeking to starve the elderly and keep the poor in poverty via tax
cuts for billionaires. You are not patriotic for misquoting the Constitution and
you are not patriotic for trying to Dixie Chick every liberal who comes along
and calls you for what you are: American cowards, filled with greed and fueled
by ignorance.
I am proud to be ashamed of you, and embarrassed (for you)
that you will be proud I oppose you.
You can reach the author by email jo...@benzinga.com or on twitter @johndthorpe.
Source http://www.benzinga.com
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