The Right Wing Rationale: III

In the U.S., Democrats, liberals and others to the left of the Bush government look on with dismay and outrage as a once prosperous middle class loses more and more of its economic prerogatives and half a trillion dollars is spent on a war that even their side considers a mistake. Half a trillion dollars. Translate that into schools, health care, repair of the infrastructure, affordable housing, a modern transportation system. Surpluses disappear and are replaced by enormous deficits. The rich do not merely get richer, they become obscenely richer. Unionized workers, such as those in the auto industry, are replaced by non-union workers manufacturing automobiles with Japanese names here in the U.S. The Walmart phenomenon of disingenuously labeling workers “associates,” and thereby desensitizing them to their actual position as workers is just one part of a general trend away from unions. Outsourcing has taken away what leverage unions once had. “If you ask for too much,” the owners will threaten, “I’ll just have to close this business and have the work done for a fraction of the labor cost overseas.” More and more workers no longer have access to viable pension plans and are being told that even their social security insurance should be “privatized.” Keynes is dead. Milton Friedman has won. Socialism is dead. Free enterprise has won. And the process is apparently far from over. The policies of the Republican Party make it clear that there is still a way to go. Government must be completely extricated from the lives of the people. Thus, the protection of government lands must go; the regulation of industry, business, the drug industry, the food producers and the media must disappear. “Faith-based initiatives” are the answer to the needs of the poor and disadvantaged states the president who claims Jesus as his hero. More than ever, it is God in Whom We Must Trust. And the counter-revolution is far from over.