Yeah, a nerdy chart for art today…but with a purpose.
We hear it over and over again. Obama is a socialist. He’s redistributing the wealth. So after four years, how’s that redistribution working out?
Ah, well, actually wealth has continued to be redistributed upward. More and more middle class people are falling out of the middle class as the rich become richer and richer. Imagine being so rich that you could put $300 million into a political campaign to get one of your fellow fat cats into power.
Why would a person do something like that? The simple answer: fear. It seems conservatives are hard-wired for fear. Here are a few headlines:
Conservatives Big on Fear, Brain Study Finds | Psychology Today
Obama ‘fear’ drives social conservatives
Study: Conservatives have larger ‘fear center’ in brain
Conservatives fear the future, so they’re lying about the Chevy Volt
Sociopaths Prey on Conservative’s Fears — Tea Party for the Crazy
It goes on and on. Story after story. Even blogging conservatives say it’s true. Here’s one.
“FEAR: I’ll agree that conservatives think through fear. I prefer to call it cautious. It’s not the party who does it to us, we are all like this. Is that bad? We’re hard-wired differently Rob, in the brain…it’s not something we choose necessarily. Liberals just drift along expecting everything’s gonna be alright, caution to the wind. Then when bad things happen who do they run to save their sorry behinds?”
In spite of admitting to the fear factor, it still comes down to liberals being wimps, needing conservatives to bail them out. I must have my liberal blinders on too tightly, because I don’t see that as anything near reality. Maybe she’s thinking of Bush starting two wars after 9-11. That really worked out.
So when the conservative mind-set see charts like the one above, they are not put at ease. It just means the liberals – those people with conscience, empathy, and compassion for the poor and the most vulnerable in society- are going to take it all away. Yet, conservatives tend to claim the high ground on morality. How does that work? It seems their compassion ends at the point of birth and they dismiss nearly half of the U.S population as moochers.
If you want to see how well the super wealthy have done over the past three decades, take a look here.
– Rob
I think they call the fat cat crowd a plutocracy…because they’re all from Pluto!
What really burns me is the attitude that the people at the bottom are there because the want to be – while those top .001 percent were often the very ones gambling with the economy that has created the economic mess we now have. Or they own companies that ship all of their jobs to China, and then blame the workers for not having more incentive. They attend Ivy League schools, but whine about not having an educated work force. As if everyone starts from the same place in life. As if they did it all on their own. Congnitive dissonance is something they simply cannot comprehend.
Cognitive dissonance!
I really appreciate your political comments!
Sometimes, seeing what is happening to our economy, I think we are well on our way to becoming like Mexico – a small, privileged aristocracy own everything, and a huge, impoverished population feels impotent to control their corrupt government, which is now breaking down under the strain of local warring druglords. I think the chaos that Mexico is experiencing has a lot to do with the inequity of the distribution of wealth and the loss of hope for a better life many Mexicans feel. We could look at what has happened to Mexico, and find plenty to be fearful about, I think. We fought a revolution to get rid of the monarchy, but we’re very close again to having a controlling aristocracy now.
There are many jobs that could be created if we turned from war economy to peace economy, which means, here at home and based on creating a better world, instead of cheap, exploitative goods and labor to be “outsourced” ………environmental jobs, energy jobs, education jobs, wholesome, local food jobs ………. I do believe its all still there, if the paradigm can change………..
I sometimes wonder if this country is hard-wired for war. That’s sure how it looks! Good points here, Lauren.