The Good Ol' U.S.A.: What in the Hell Happened?
(Written and Created by Mark A. Wells, 2011)
A fundamental shift began in this country with the Reagan Presidency. We transitioned from a manufacturing society to a purely consumption-based society.
Suddenly, being rich became the ultimate goal. Remember the TV sitcoms from the 1960s and 70s? What did they all have in common? They featured hard-working, blue-collar, unionized characters who represented the manufacturing base of our society. Jackie Gleason was a bus driver. Mel's Diner was a simple restaurant. Lucille Ball was a housewife, and they all lived within moderate means. Leave It to Beaver, The Brady Bunch, and similar shows featured working-class families who didn't strive to be "rich." And of course, Black shows featured a junk man (Sanford and Son) and a project family (Good Times). Hell, George Jefferson owned seven dry cleaners yet lived in a two-bedroom apartment.
That ethos changed with Reagan.
The next thing you knew, we had Dallas featuring oil tycoons, Dynasty featuring rich white women, and Black shows were nothing more than The Cosby Show, whose characters were a lawyer and a doctor.
The Deliberate Erosion of Opportunity
Remember what else happened in the 1980s. Our neighborhoods were flooded with guns and drugs by the CIA, as they openly admitted during the Iran-Contra hearings. This, not to mention, championed the "food stamp" era and subsidized poverty.
Simply put, we as a society have been conditioned to strive to be "rich" rather than just being productive members of society living modestly and within a community, as was popular in the 60s and 70s. We began to look down and point fingers at the "have-nots," ignoring the CIA’s role in their poverty-stricken lives, and began to separate ourselves based on class.
Meanwhile, the government was hard at work destroying the Union labor this nation was built on and enacting legislation that would further increase the gap between rich and poor. Remember the Savings and Loan scandals from the 1980s? That was the first step in stealing money from the generation that preceded the Baby Boomers.
And what was the fear tactic used in the 80s to keep the general public unaware of what was happening? "The Cold War!" which was a pile of crap.
The Rise of Financial Oligarchy
Then came the 1990s, when derivatives first reared their ugly heads. You may not believe me, brother, but as far back as 1994, it was reported that there were over trillions—yes, trillions—in derivatives floating around the market!
The primary problem with collecting on that money, however, was the Glass-Steagall Act. Of course, former UBS CEO Phil Gramm did away with it via the "Commodities Futures Modernization Act" (CFMA) of 2000.
With that barrier removed, the corporate structure had the green light to turn this nation into a literal oligarchy. Naturally, they needed another "Pearl Harbor"-type event to once again distract the public so that legislation designed to strip away rights and civil liberties could be passed. 9/11 happened, and the nation fell for it.
Then came Patriot Act I and the complete liquidation of the U.S. Treasury, coupled with a war that is being paid for off the books at the rate of about $30 million dollars per day for nearly an entire decade now (longer than Vietnam). Of course, it was all blamed on "the housing market," which is a pile of monkey mess.
The Psychology of Control
We are now being conditioned to accept "security" from those who place us in danger. It is literally a psychological experiment taking place.
We are being conditioned to fear everyone besides our own government, and it works because Americans would rather remain ignorant than pay some damn attention to what is happening around them.
We sit around thinking our Facebook group holds the answers to the ills of the Black community. We sit around arguing about gay people. We sit around arguing about nonsense that keeps us oblivious to the world around us. And that is exactly how they want it.
This is why I no longer participate in the partisan political system, brother. It is diseased on both "wings," and neither side cares about the general welfare of the public.
But you know who I blame for all of this? Ourselves.
One of my all-time favorite quotes is:
"We are the facilitators of our own creative evolution.”
And we have created the situation we find ourselves in.
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