Hightower Lowdown

It's a moral failure.

Mike Hayne To be serious for a moment, the United States is suffering a moral decline based on a failure of the Humanities departments of universities. They graduate the persons who then work in media and schools, thereby compounding the decline.

No Capitalist system can sustain if the people are morally bankrupt. Mike Hayne, 2009

Capitalism creates large funds that can then create large factories. Nowhere is it stated except in some retarded Hollywood movie, that greed is good. Greed has nothing at all to do with the theory of capitalism. The founders were Puritans, and anything but selfish and greedy. The purpose of capitalism is to maintain the businesses, not deplete them for some sick, baby boomer "I'm doing it for my family" scenario. The Mafia called it's gangs families. It's a sick concept.

Lowering wages would have worked if each corporation did not have a white collar level of thieves milking the money away from the enterprises. It's a general, accepted philosophy of life which I believe must come from university teachings to be so widespread. If you want meaning to life, go to church, don't steal money away from the businesses designed to maintain the country.

Good Point

Mike Hayne Good point. However, let's create a more real measurement. How many have finished paying a mortgage, thereby owning a property and existing as free citizens? How many are still paying a mortgage, thereby living as indentured servants? And how many will never have a mortgage or chance to own a property because they will never have that kind of money? Democrats and republicans all are paying mortgages, so they are actually the same group no matter what they say or learn from Beck or Maher. Hightower was talking about a top to bottom political system rather than a left or right. I have to stick with my position that the Bush Clinton gang besmirched Reagan's name while all the time stealing the bounty his practices generated. Basically, if you are paying a mortgage or have a house in the suburbs, you ain't one of us.

Yesterday I sent this

Yesterday I sent this message to Common Cause, an organization I have supported for many years.

Hi Bob:

Have you read Jim Hightower's most recent issue of The Lowdown? It's about populism and the importance of us all getting together. I've supported Common Cause for many years, as well as several other similar organizations, like Public Citizen and People for the American Way. Why can't you all start working together to create a groundswell of populist revolt against the corporate oligarchy that runs this country? Separately, all of the good organizations like Common Cause are a drop in the bucket against the power brokers in this country.

My wife, Florence, and I have decided that until Common Cause and similar organizations demonstrate serious efforts to unite against the common enemy, the corporate oligarchy that controls our elections and our country, we will no longer support you. We are going to direct our support to the several organizations that Jim Hightower lists in his most recent letter. These are groups that are trying to organize grassroots efforts like the Populist Movement of the 1890s. We need to get rid of the democrats and the republicans: both of these parties have become political prostitutes to the corporate elite and their legions of lobbyists. We need a new populist movement of farmers, workers, the unemployed, the under employed, and now, the disenfranchized middle class

Sincerely,

David Nichols

Unity

Most of the movements in the populist camp could be united under larger umbrella groups. Why not start a "baker's dozen" year of protest. Start in October of 2011. Pick a large corporation, Exxon-Mobil. All populist groups could boycott until the November, 2012 election. Each month, one of the umbrella groups would pick a target to boycott for a month. PETA and other animal right's activists might pick a large chemical company known for animal abuse, KFC, or perhaps Nieman-Marcus or some other fur seller. Activists against the banking industry might choose Chase bank for their month. ALL would join in each month's protest as well as the target for the year. Throughout the year, hold "Get out the vote" registration drives and rallies with speakers such as Jim Hightower and musicians such as David Rovics, Jim Page or Anne Feeney. Our goal would be to put a populist in the White House (dare I suggest Jim Hightower) and defeat as many incumbents as possible in the primaries and elect a progressive congress. One thing to keep in mind though:

Politician, n. A creation of the media and a puppet of the rich elite.

Good Politician, One who breaks his strings. Usually dead. See: Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, JFK, RFK, MLK, Paul Wellstone, Hale Boggs, and others.

Protests

We can all make and wear our own t-shirts. My "Walmart" shirt: (front)

I Hate
Everything
Walmart
Stands For

(back)

But
Shopping
Local Is
Too
Expensive
On an income of $440 every two weeks Wal-marts prices are difficult to resist although I feel like a hypocrite every time I go there. Wearing this at Walmart makes me feel somewhat less of a hypocrite.

Jim, you are absolutely right....

''We have a populist majority in America right now.''

It's just that most Americans don't know it, what with the media jamming teabaggers down our throats all day long.

My guess is there are many just trying to keep their heads above water, and they don't make the time to educate themselves.

We desperately need a populist movement, and my hope is that progressives will rally together sometime soon.

Populist Movement

Mike Hayne Jim Hightower makes more sense than many of the tv personalities such as Beck (who has now out paced Oreilly) and Maher (who's "comedy" has no jokes in it and is so devoid of material he continues to harp on Reagan, the best president of the twentieth century).

As Hightower points out, the breakdown is top to bottom, but I believe we should also look at hoarded amounts. Most workers I know are not in indentured servitude to one day own a home and do not have a huge sum of so called "retirement" money hoarded. What would be an accurate measure of the up and down spectrum? $50,000 hoarded amount in savings or retirement accounts? How many citizens have more than $50,000 hoarded and how many have less?