Contempt For Working People; Contempt For Democracy

It has long been obvious that many republicans, especially the Tea Party kind, have little but contempt for people who work for a living. They despise labor unions and public employees, but also look down on anyone but (to quote the words of William Jennings Bryan more than a century ago) "the few financial magnates who in a backroom corner the money of the world."

This contempt is reflected in the sneering tone of commentary about the "Occupy Wall Street" movement, but also in other comments that pass for political discourse these days. Here is an example recently brought to my attention. It is posted on the web site of the Asheville Tea Party in Buncombe County, North Carolina:

Ineptocracy (in-ept-o-cra-cy)

Posted on October 11, 2011 by admin

A system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

 A question that comes to mind is, "just what have the top one percent of earners in this country actually produced lately?" Do they produce anything but deals? If so, I'd like to know what.

I would like for folks who write such things and think such thoughts to turn their energies to a thoughtful examination of what kind of a country we want the United States to be.

As I drive around the country, I see crumbing roads and bridges, decrepit school houses, general decline in public infrastructure. This isn't because our public servants don't do the best they can with what they are given to work with - it's because of the "we're too poor to do that - we can't afford it - we're broke" mantra. As I have pointed out before, that didn't keep our forebears from turning the great depression into the Age of Great (and lasting) Undertakings.