by Ruth A. Sheets
May 26, 2020
This morning, I heard a report on NPR wondering how many people receiving unemployment at the higher level due to the pandemic were now earning more than when they were on the job. They duly interviewed a woman for whom this was the case. This was followed by the statement that people still on the job, like hospital janitors, are getting less than those on the new unemployment. Instead of immediately suggesting that perhaps those essential workers should be getting higher pay, there was no comment, no response.
This was followed by a report from the University of Chicago that about two-thirds of the people receiving the higher unemployment were getting more than when working. How did they figure this? If that is the case, why are American workers being paid so poorly? Than I remembered that U. of Chicago is the home of Milton Friedman’s maximize shareholder payments and profit should be the only goal of corporations. It seems to me this institution’s statements regarding employment should not hold much weight. Lower-wage workers are not worthy of their notice unless they seem to be getting more than the owners and shareholders of corporations think they should get, and that should be as low as they can get away with.
Now, some low-wage workers are getting a little more and finding out they can get more groceries and not have to stress over every penny spent. That should be seen as a good thing, but not by Republicans.
All evidence lately is that REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE. They complain about low-wage workers while swimming in money, their own and that of donors and the government. That is hypocrisy, but REPUBLICANS DON’T CARE. They are so busy worrying about the rich they see the poor only as drains on society. This is despite the fact that a huge amount of tax-payer money goes to subsidize rich corporations and to bail them out should they get into some trouble, usually of their own making.
At the same time I am hearing this NPR report, I am reading a book about Larry Nasser and the way he groomed the girls he sexually abused. The coaches did the same by making it nearly impossible for the child athletes to trust their own judgements about anything. The grooming was subtle and persistent and lasted for decades. Any girls who reported that something was wrong were either dismissed or didn’t want to jeopardize their athletic careers.
It seems to me Republicans have been grooming the people of the United States for decades. We have been told that what we know is not true, our experiences of what is and should be America are impossible. The media went along with it because they were owned by huge corporations that owed their place to Republican-conservative entities (you know, the Supreme and lower Courts and Congress.). They slowly but surely pushed some ideas that should have been unsavory, but have gained credence in some mainstream places. Consider the following. I suspect you’ve heard all of these more than once.
- Nixon wasn’t really that bad. Watergate wasn’t anything and Nixon got a raw deal.
- The country is in such a bad state that we need to get rid of unions. They are harming progress and no longer useful. All they do is ruin companies.
- It is OK to break the law for a good cause. Getting money from Iran to support the Contras in Central America is OK because they are trying to stop Communism (The Contra were brutal murderers in reality.)
- Welfare queens are everywhere and ripping off this nation. We need to stop them by cutting welfare. If they can go around in style, they don’t deserve welfare. (Even a lot of Democrats bought into this one because it “seemed” right at some level. Racism is not exclusive to Republicans, but it thrives there unchecked.)
- Democrats are OK with crime. They want criminals released to rape your women. (That was the theme of the Willie Horton ad by George H. W. Bush who was OK with its racist message.)
- The country should not have a BORING president. You want someone you could have a drink with.
- 9-11 was caused by the Afghanis, so we need to make them pay. (This is despite the fact that 16 of the 9-11 bombers were Saudi. We needed their oil, so it was better to dismiss that when possible.)
- Iraq has weapons of mass destruction and we have to get them before they get us. Our soldiers will take care of that awful regime quickly and we all will be safer. Mission accomplished!
- The people of New Orleans deserved what they got. They didn’t evacuate when they were told to leave. Brownie and FEMA did a great job.
- The United States is a post-racial society. We treat everyone equally. (That was never true and was made clear when Barack Obama ran for president. Suddenly that post-racial society turned out to be exactly what it was.)
- We have come a long way. We don’t need the “Voting Rights” law anymore. Jurisdictions should not have to report any voting changes. Since racism is no longer a factor, states will do the right thing. (Hours after that ruling, nearly all the southern states began to enact voting restrictions that would make it harder for citizens to vote, particularly people of color, poor people, and students.)
- Corporations are persons, therefore, they should be able as persons to give whatever amount of money they want to political candidates. Money is speech. It won’t change anything.
- Mueller and his committee didn’t actually find anything. They just want to hurt the president. Russia didn’t do anything that bad and their interference didn’t affect the election outcome.
- The president is above the law. He can’t be indicted, and those horrible Democrats, they had no grounds for impeachment.
- voter fraud is everywhere. You can see it wherever you look. We can’t have vote by mail because the Democrats will use voter fraud to win elections. (Actually voter fraud is extremely rare, and the recent cases were Republicans doing the fraud.)
- The kids aren’t really in cages. They are just chain-link fences to keep them safe. We’ll get them back to their parents eventually.
There are so many more ways this grooming has happened over the past 45 years or so. Actions we would once have seen as impossible (a president lying more than 17,000 times in public in just over 3 years in office) are now seen as almost normal.
Republicans feel entitled to do whatever they want to the people of this country. Aren’t they the patriotic ones, the homeland security ones, the build the wall for our safety ones? What is their goal? The only thing that is clear is that they want money and power. They care little or nothing for the needs of the people, even in the midst of the pandemic. We have been so groomed that we barely protest
- when the EPA stops regulating polluters and the quality of our air and water decreases.
- when drugs and pesticides are pumped into our people and our earth despite their destructive outcomes
- when the president does little or nothing to stop a killer virus that at this time has taken nearly 100,000 lives.
- when Republican governors “open” their states before the virus is adequately tested for or controlled, for the economy, stupid.
- when people of color are the hardest hit by the virus due to the poor conditions they were forced to endure before the virus struck
- when the crisis of global warming is dismissed as a hoax.
It is hard to protest during a pandemic, but if we don’t protest, we will further fall victim to the constant lying and deceit of the current Republican Party at all levels. Since all candidates depend on large infusions of money, Republican candidates just need to be threatened that if they don’t go along with the boss’s commands they will lose their seat. They will do whatever is commanded. It won’t matter if they actually care personally because their need to keep their office is paramount. (You know, someone worse could be elected.)
So, we have to decide how much more abuse we will take before we say “enough,” and stand up for ourselves like the women who had been abused by Dr. Nasser and the coaches did. It was painful for them and will be painful for us, but after this pandemic, we need a new world where people and our planet are at the center instead of money, power, and profits. I suspect we will all do a lot better and will not have to hear the whine that the little money extra given to low-level unemployed workers is higher than the pay of those on the job. It really is our choice what happens. The Larry Nassers of the world have only the amount of power we give them. Ignoring their abuse is not the answer. We owe ourselves and future generations something better.
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