Here are seven lies told by right wing candidates which are
frequently accepted as truths by those whose lives are barely beyond poverty.
1.
There are
makers and takers. In this version the makers are hard working people who
live by the work ethic and create jobs. The takers are those who get subsidies
like welfare, food stamps, aid to dependent children, those on disability
benefits, and those getting “free” health care or social security. All such benefits have been labeled by the
far right as demeaning to those who work for every penny they earn. Mitt Romney
used this in his campaign.
2.
The poor
have themselves to blame. According
to this view the middle class and wealthy have worked hard and sacrificed to
reach their status. The poor are lazy,
waste their money on alcohol and other vices, don’t do well in school because they
don’t care, and they only live for the moment and don’t save and don’t plan the
way successful people do. This was
commonly used by the eugenics movement of the 1910-1940 era citing families
like the Jukes or the Tribe of Ishmael as examples that should be sterilized to
prevent spreading “the unfit.”
3.
Recipients
of welfare or other benefits from the government are cheats. President
Reagan used the “welfare queen” as one of his campaign themes and I still hear
people use it. They claim that cheats apply to every program available and then
drive around in Cadillacs.
4.
The myth
of the self made man. There is a romantic view of the rugged
individualist. He is the hero of Horatio
Alger stories. He is a Teddy Roosevelt
type of outdoors, gun-loving, God-fearing man who takes no hand outs and meets
every set back through hard work. Roosevelt,
of course, was not a “rags to riches” person. Unfortunately many self proclaimed
self-made men are like the character Bounderby in Charles Dickens’s novel Hard Times, who brag of their struggles but are phonies
using fake stories to keep workers from protesting about low wages and poor
work conditions.
5.
Libertarianism
in the Ayn Rand version condemns all other forms of capitalism as corruptions.
Ayn Rand advocated a laissez faire capitalism very different from that of Adam
Smith who was a moral philosopher and who never believed in exploiting
workers. Rand’s libertarianism was a “winner
takes all” system with winners (hard workers with ideas) and losers (shiftless
masses and conformists with no incentive to better themselves). For Ayn Rand types,
any deviation from her Libertarianism is socialism or communism. That smear has been used against labor unions
and any federal program attempting to help those who are victims of hard times
or just being unlucky because they were born in slums or economically deprived
neighborhoods.
6.
Trickle
down economics is the only way to spread wealth. This argument is trotted out by billionaires
and millionaires claiming any money used to subsidize the poor or middle class
leaves little money to trickle down to the poor in the form of new jobs. Conveniently omitted are the hiding of their wealth
in foreign banks which of course prevents any trickling down from that stash of
wealth. Also omitted are the never refused subsidies to the rich in the form of
depletion allowances, start up exemptions from taxation, and tax cuts largely
benefitting the wealthy and rarely the poor.
7.
Giving employees
raises is a job killer. Except of course to the top management where it is
applauded. Have you heard any billionaires and millionaires applauding Henry
Ford for giving a hefty salary to his factory workers so they could afford to
buy his cars? Ford adopted that outlook because
rather than making a few cars for fellow rich cronies, he made millions of cars
so virtually everyone could buy a family car. I’d call that a “trickle up”
economic philosophy and it worked far better than his contemporary competitors
who felt they would go out of business if Ford paid his workers so generously.
These seven lies will be repeated
at every election campaign. Why do those
who most could benefit from a government that served their interests believe
that a government that allows Ayn Rand type economics is what they should
support? I am talking about working
class people who believe unions (not their bosses) are the takers. Why do so many blue collar workers think criticism
of the people who are cheating them or exploiting them is communist propaganda? Some may feel that they have no hope of ever
getting out of their lower class status and resent those who do, such as
unionized workers. Some may be told that it is not this life that is important
but an afterlife in Heaven that counts so they consider this their cross to
bear. Rarely do you hear churches that
support the status quo question the double standard of the wealthy. Let us hope Pope Francis has more luck in
raising concern for the injustices done to those struggling to get by.
The next time you hear one of these
seven lies, send that person a copy of this.
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