" 'Originally Posted by Ohio Barbarian
The defense of democratic rights is inseparable from the fight to defend jobs and living standards and is impossible today without a direct assault on the immense concentration of wealth in the hands of a financial oligarchy.
(Emphasis mine).'
There is no perspective of our current plight more important than this one.
When we speak of "defending jobs", we need to clarify what we mean. We have to go beyond the mere mechanics of protecting workers with things like putting an end to the exporting of jobs or raising minimum wage rates or protecting workers from discrimination in the workplace.
All of these things, while critically important, address only the symptoms of a far more deadly disease. The disease is the perverse imbalance of power between workers and their bosses and their employers.
We cannot let stand a system that values and empowers capital and profits over workers. Because if we do, as we have, we endorse a system that concentrates wealth without limits.
Excessively concentrated wealth, through its lobbyists and its campaign dollars, always perverts democracy. All our little lefty websites have really helped highlight that message. Occupy Wall Street, too, has helped highlight that message.
We're a hit. The American public has finally awakened to the reality that the extreme concentration of wealth has perverted any semblance of democracy. This awareness was a long time coming and it still has much further to go.
The question now will become what to do about the problem
I will give some opinions, but first let's start off with facts. Before the question about what to do can be answered, you need to first understand what you and the Majority are NOT ALLOWED to do, and better define the ACTUAL problem.
First of all, defending a "Democracy" is a foolish thing to do. This Country was founded on the idea that each individual has Rights which the Government is instituted to Protect, and if the Government FAILS to do this, then it loses its jurisdiction over the people, i.e. can be altered or abolished. In a Democracy the Majority rules, so if the Majority votes to enslave a Minority, then too bad for the Minority. The Founders properly recognized that Democracies are EVIL, and diligently took steps to make sure that our Government was NOT a Democracy.
In this Constitutional Republic, there is a set of Rules known as the Constitution which every Representative takes an oath to uphold before they can sit in the People's seat of power. The Constitution is a list of things that the Government is NOT ALLOWED to do, so that the basic Rights of each individual is Protected, such as the 13th Amendment which Prohibits Involuntary Servitude -> Socialism.
By recognizing the FACT that each individual has Rights which the Government MUST protect in order for the Government to be Legitimate, we can then figure out what the Government must and must not do in order to determine what can be done to solve any supposed problems.
Because we have all lived in a Socialist America, many people have no grasp of what it ACTUALLY means to have an unalienable Right. Each person has THEIR OWN Rights of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. I think a good way to grasp what it means to have a Right is to use something that people already understand, the Right to Remain Silent. YOUR Right to Remain Silent is YOURS to dispose of as YOU see fit. The Majority can't vote as to whether you are silent or not. The Government cannot force you to not be silent, because it is the Government's DUTY to Protect your Right to Remain Silent.
The same applies to YOUR Rights of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. These are each Individual's Rights to dispose of as each person sees fit. The Majority can't vote to make one person Serve/Help another. The Government cannot FORCE the Individual to Serve/Help others because it is the Government's DUTY to keep the Individual's Liberty from being violated. The 13th Amendment properly Protects the Individual's Right to Liberty by prohibiting Involuntary Servitude. The 13th Amendment makes ALL Socialism (Government Handouts) unconstitutional, but due to the ignorance of the US Citizens, the Government is being allowed to violate the 13th Amendment by committing the crime of Socialism on a daily basis, as Taxes are collected for unconstitutional Government Handout Programs. The Individual can dispose of THEIR OWN Right to Liberty by voluntarily helping the Poor, or by violating somebody else's Rights by robbing them causing the Government to arrest them in order for the Government to fulfill on its duty to Protect each Individual's Rights. But the Government has NO AUTHORITY to decide how much one person must help other via Taxes and Government Handouts, and MUST stop a Majority form ever imposing Socialism upon any Individual. In a Socially Just society where the Individual's Rights are being Protected, ALL help for the Poor is done by people VOLUNTARILY, and is NEVER done by the Government.
The problem of Government corruption caused by rich people buying influence is solved if the Government would simply do its job, which is to Protect the Individual's Rights from being violated by others. The Government's job is to Protect, NOT Provide, as this automatically turns the Taxpayers into Slaves. The problem of Government NOT doing its job is solved by the average person being informed as to what the Government's job actually is.
Defending jobs is a foolish pursuit. What if people don't want jobs, as is often the case when the Government commits the crime of Socialism which allows one person to mooch off of another. Defend the Individual's Rights, and people can then go get jobs if they so desire, which I expect many will.
Minimum Wage? Since each person has the Right to Liberty which the Government is supposed to Protect, then 2 consenting adults have the RIGHT to decide upon any wage which they can both agree upon. The Government has NO AUTHORITY place limits on how much or little a job is worth between 2 people.
Discrimination? Freedom of association is part of the RIGHT to Pursue Happiness. The Jewish store owner should never have to hire the NAZI, and the Christian should never be forced to have a homosexual work for them.
A "perverse imbalance of power between workers and their bosses and their employers."? The Right to Pursue Happiness ends at the Property Line. The "worker" owns their own Body and can accept, deny or counter offer the Business Owners offer for a give job at a given rate. If an agreement cannot be reached they can part ways.
The OWS was a hit? Everybody I know saw them for the Spoiled Brats that they are, coveting that which belongs to somebody else and expecting things to be given to them as if they were still babies.
