A Message to Tea Partiers and Occupiers: We’re All Idiots

The Tea Party versus Occupy Wall Street, battle of the titans, clash of the Gods, natural enemies…who will come out on top? In the right corner we’ve got the Tea Party—a bunch of old, rich, white men who want to eliminate anything that can be categorized, even under the loosest definition, as an entitlement program (except of course for their monthly social security checks). In the left corner is Occupy Wall Street—a bunch of entitled, young hippies, who want the hardworking class in America to pay off their student loans instead of getting a job. It’s going to be a bloody battle and only one will come out on top…the fate of our country lies in their hands. Will America turn into a fascist corporatocracy or will she become a Marxist socialist state? Stay tuned to find out…

Of course, this is all bullshit. And while the vast majority of Americans who fall within the center-left to center-right spectrum are pitted against each other, the people who run this country are laughing behind our backs. We’re all fighting for the same thing: a fair shot in this country. Those on the right are convinced that government is the root of all evil. Those on the left say that corporate greed is source of the current economy. Well, I’ve got news for you, they’re both responsible because they’re virtually one and the same. They want us fighting because if we teamed up it would be the end of them. So far, they’re winning.

For those of you under the delusion that we have a free market economy, check your bank accounts. It’s safe to say that unless you make well into the six-figure range, it’s either gone down or stayed about the same, if you’re lucky. It took Barack Obama 745 MILLION DOLLARS  to win the presidency in ’08. Combined with McCain, the two spent well over a BILLION dollars—and this was without the Citizens United decision. Think about that for a second—over a billion dollars spent on just one campaign. I’d have to work about 20,000 years to see that much money. Some 47 percent of congress members are millionaires. That’s hardly representative democracy.

Congress and wealthy corporations are dependent on each other for their very existence. Corporations buy off politicians to pass favorable legislation and in turn, the politician gets a nice long career in Washington and when they retire, they get a nice cushy job as a lobbyist for a pharmaceutical company or big oil or whoever else they fought for during their time in office. This passed by unnoticed (or at least ignored) by the general public when the economy was good. But now that we’re in crisis, the public is looking for someone to blame. The wealthy want you to think it’s government and government wants you to think it’s the corporations.

We’ve got a problem in this country when a serious presidential candidate can get away with saying that, “corporations are people,” and we barely bat an eye. We’ve got a problem in this country when a politician who got a sweetheart deal from Countrywide is the same politician who's responsible for drafting financial reform legislation.

THEY ARE IN IT TOGETHER, PEOPLE. Their survival depends on convincing the majority of America that we’re enemies. We’re not. We’re fighting for the same outcome—an opportunity to live without the fear of losing our homes, or not being able to eat, and maybe having a little left over so we can retire before we die. Their survival depends upon the right leaning and left leaning being at each other’s throats because when we think we’re adversaries, the real culprits can continue with their unholy alliance.

It isn’t all of them, but it’s most of them and certainly enough to put us in the state we’re in today. The system is messed up. We are government and we are corporations and we’ve created a monster and now we need to fix it. Complete public financing of campaigns would be a good start. If we can’t do that, at least limit campaign donations to individuals and curb the ability of 527s and PACs to influence elections. We also need to close the revolving door between Congress and K Street. But until Middle America realizes we’re not each other’s enemy, the people with the money are going to continue to play us like pawns in their little game of masters of the universe.