The Rise of American Socialism

One thing remains clear, the Occupy protests demands don’t seem very clear to a lot of people.  I’m not a social scientist and not really much of a political activist (the key word is “active” here), but for the most part, these protests have one clear, common thread running through all the groups involved.  99% of Americans are pretty damn tired of the other 1% manhandling the wealth of the country.  99% of Americans are essentially watching a frantic game of Hungry Hungry Hippos, but aren’t allowed to play.  We just have to sit there and watch the wealthiest Americans eat and eat and eat, but once and a while, one of those little white marbles will fly off the playing area and we all get to wrestle over it.

So if I were a leader amongst these activists, what would I want?  How would I defend the protests?  Glad you asked.  Basically, if American businesses, and we’re talking about big business here, want to act like a bunch of scared little children and stockpile cash while not creating any measurable amount of jobs for people, then we only have one simple choice… make them.  Tax their massive earnings.  Tax the massive incomes of the people whose best interest is not to create jobs because it preserves their massive wealth.  Tax the hell out of them and tell the politicians to stop the apologetic demeanor when doing it.  Why should we be ashamed to want to tax people and organizations that have figured out that they stand to gain more by laying people off, not hiring and not paying taxes, then they do to act like patriotic Americans?  It’s total garbage.  Tax these people. Tax these corporations.  Tax the hell out of them (yeah, I said it twice).

What will that do?  Well, it might actually save them a little face.  We take the money they don’t want to spend on helping the country that helped them become what they are.  We pile it into government coffers and we turn it into jobs.  We start rebuilding infrastructure and get this… we pay people to do it.  We stop slashing government spending and start ramping it up, through job creation.  This is what I don’t understand about the Tea Party.  Most of them want to slash government spending and give more money to the private sector.  Why?  They have piles and piles of cash and refuse to create any jobs.  The only entity creating jobs is the government and they want it defunded thus eliminating its ability to not only create, but sustain current jobs.  Why?  The Tea Party and just about every Republican candidate for president are essentially saying, we don’t wan’t none of you sons a bitches creating any jobs at all… let the free market sort it out.  Stupid.  Destructive. Moronic.  Insert your own adjective.  We tried that for the last 30 years… it failed.  If no one has a job, no one is going to buy whatever useless crap your selling.

If business won’t create jobs, make them create them.  That’s the bottom line.  If that makes me a Socialist, then I wear the label as a badge of honor.  But one thing is clear, the rise of American Socialism is not through choice, but necessity.