Pretend Eveything is OK

This is my ribbon on my car. I commissioned it, though, in fairness, it's not original. Malcolm of Iraq Veterans for Peace has the first one I'd ever seen. Aside from his and mine, I've not seen another. The masses of folks with ribbons similar to this on their cars are pretending everything is OK, as do the conservatives and Tea Party-ers who believe that, but for some socialist interlopers, things are or would be OK.

The fundamental truth is that things are not OK. Middle American incomes have not increased, in real terms, since the 70's, and in many cases have declined. We've exported a large share of living wage jobs to Asia, a very large share particularly if you've a high school education or less. Walk through your store of choice and read where things are made, things we used to make. It's all China and Indonesia and so on. These were once American jobs, paying a wage that allowed a family to survive, and provided health care and pension benefits as well That's gone. Folks will now have to accustom themselves to jobs in the $8 to $14 range. Not enough to get by one at current standards of living. As I tell my economics classes, we're a third world country, we just don't know it yet.

Lest one think things might get better, consider that, due to the Citizens United case (another example of the name being the exact opposite of what it really is), corporate money is now unlimited in political campaigns. This is the end of democracy in America. No on else has that kind of money, not citizens (united or otherwise) or unions--which barely exist anyway. No, we're now slaves of the corporate world and their wants. Things are not OK.

As the years drag on, it becomes increasingly clear that the best option for the young, high school graduate is the military. We've generated a military "class"and a military mentality that is so separate from the civilian world that even military commanders acknowledge and decry it. This does not bode well for the nation.

The Obama administration is even more secretive that that of GW Bush, and amplifies those policies while fighting to avoid prosecuting Bush era staffers for the crimes they committed. We're engaged in extrajudicial executions of American citizens set in motion by secret committees responsible to no one with rules that remain unspecified.

This list is depressingly endless, and I tire of elaborating it. Suffice to say that Americans must "pretend everything is OK" , or take to the streets.