November 29, 2008
by Philip A Farruggio
No matter where I travel, what I do..... I'm invisible! I do not ' exist ' politically so far as the mainstream media or the public at large believes. Why? I , still a part of a sparse minority, am one of the invisible people. We refuse to support the two major political parties.. Yet, we have deep, perhaps even deeper, decent core values that we live by. We may be progressives or perhaps conservatives in political thinking..... In a much more purist sense than the current 2 party scam. We have trouble watching most of the news shows on the mainstream media.
Even for a progressive like myself, much of Bill Moyer's Journal is too ' lah lah liberal claptrap ' for me to digest. If I see Kathleen Hall Jamison on his show one more time, with her watered down liberal viewpoints..... Oh boy!! You see, Moyers, for all the good that he brings forth, rarely directs the viewer's attention to the key underlining cause of America's empire and now its demise: Too many super rich feeding off of the pain of the rest of us! Not the label ' wealthy ' that the Democrats mistakenly ( or perhaps conspiratorially ) pin on those who earn $ 250k a year. In today's world, only those who earn upwards of one million a year should be considered " super rich ' .
Yet, Moyers and others in the so called ' left wing media ' refuse to aim their journalistic arrows in that direction. In 1960, the top bracket for federal income tax was over 70%. Today it is what...... under 35% ? How in the hell can we Americans address the economic woes of our society without focusing on the fact that 1 or 2 % of our population is living high off the hog...... And we are the hogs! The super rich control the banks, control the oil companies, control the media, control your cell phones, your cable television....... Control anything that is bought or sold at any sort of mega chain or through some major corporation. The majority stockholders, CEOs and top management of these corporations earn tens and hundreds of millions of dollars collected from..... You.
Get it!? They then hire some former government official ( mostly politicos ) to lobby for them , with always the carrot of ...... You got it..... Campaign donations! The late Illinois Senator Paul Simon told the story of a typical day on the campaign stump. He would come back to his hotel room at night and look over the telephone messages left for him by his staff. " I would scan through 10, maybe 20 messages. Do you know which one I would answer first? The one from someone I remembered to be a donor to my campaign. That is how the system works, and its not good. "
We are not only invisible politically, those of us who ' swim against the tide ' , but culturally as well. It is Sunday morning now. I could ride in my car throughout the town I live in, and pass a myriad of churches. All types of houses of worship, 95% of them followers of Jesus Christ. Yet, how many of those pastors and reverends and their flock even comprehend what Jesus stood for? If they did, do you think they would support a government..... A political system ..... An economic system , that cares little for the ' voice of the people ' ?
(Article Continues Below)
The evangelical right wing churches in my community worship the Bush regime as much as they do Jesus Christ. They turn their cheek ( metaphorically ) at the news of torture and ' rendition ' , at carpet bombing of civilian regions of Iraq and Afghanistan. They care not that big banks and big oil companies raked in obscene profits and compensation packages while many from that same church are struggling through car payments and mortgages. Soon, some will have to cut down on Nascar and Soccer events , using their limited resources to just stay afloat. Yet, they think that Jesus walks with the leaders they embrace.
Why? Then we have the moderate Christians , as I call them. They do not buy into what this current government has done. They sincerely care for the plight of the working folks in their community ( themselves ? ) . Yet, what do they do to offer change? Voting is not enough. Going out , once every election cycle, and waving signs for candidates is not enough, is it? Where are these good folks when the invisible people stand on the street corners of their town in peaceful dissent and protest? Did Jesus not speak to the masses and mingle with the populace? Did Jesus not confront injustice and inequality? Did he not say " As ye do onto the least of my own, you do to me! " Or, " Easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven! "
We , the invisible people , whether we be true conservatives or progressives, we act . How can we expect leaders to do what we consider ' the right thing to do ' if we do not tell them? Senator Obama speaks of change. Well, as I have alluded to in previous columns, allow me the indulgence of another quote. This one is from the great black scholar and activist Frederick Douglass. "
Power concedes nothing without demand ( my italics ) . It never has. It never will. " I can recall , about 2 years ago, when we were out on the street corner here in my town each and every Tuesday afternoon, in protest to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. I had contacted a local news anchor, Claire Metz, asking for coverage of our demonstration. After all , I told Claire, we had been out there for 18 months straight.
She contacted me a few days later. " Philip, I did drive by that corner this Tuesday afternoon, on my way home from work. There were 20 of you out there on that corner. Honestly, if there had been 200 out there, that would be news. Sorry. "
If you enjoyed this post, please make a donation to help keep this website active:
Click Here for the Free Populist Party Newsletter
Philip A Farruggio [send him email] is a free lance columnist, small businessman and activist. Since the 2000 elections, he has had over 90 columns posted on various websites and in many newspaper op-ed sections. To review some which have been shown, just google his name.
More Articles from Phil Faruggio
