On 5/29/2011 10:06 PM, F. George McDuffee wrote:

I'll agree that for the people on top voting for republicans is in their
interests. That is if all they care about is increasing their wealth and
decreasing their tax burden. But even those people lost lots of money
from the market crash and the financial melt down. Many of the rich were
hurt badly by republican policies.

Being in the top one percent is not the same as being in the
top 10 percent of the wealth/income. Just because you want
to be or think you are a member of the plutocracy or
oligarchy does not make you one. The difference between a
net worth of one million and one billion is a factor of
1,000, and several of the people at the top are multi
billionaires.

I can't say for sure but I wouldn't be surprised if all the people in
the top 1% are billionaires. Or at least close to it. People make the
mistake all the time when confusing assets with income. It's assets that
count. The people in the top 1% of assets are the plutocracy. But I'd
say the people who have incomes in the billions per year, like Soros,
are too.



And even if those on top only vote because of money issues they should
have noticed what happened to the country during Bush's tenure. The
country went into debt like nothing before, we became a virtual pariah
to most of the world, our infrastructure crumbled, the mood of the
country went into the toilet, and the people were stirred up to the
point of getting out the torches and pitchforks.

Which is why the people in the top 1 percent have private
jets and "second" homes in Switzerland, Brasil, etc. and
maintain large offshore bank accounts denominated in other
than US dollars. What part of "The very rich are different
than you and I" is it that you don't understand.

I understand all of it. Unlike most people I actually do know about the
very rich. The amount of wealth held by the top 300,000 families in
America is truly amazing. It's obscenely wrong. But it is amazing that
so few have so much. Especially in a country where we supposedly care so
much about equality. Our uber rich are on a scale unlike anything
ordinary people have a clue about.

What's the name of that Frenchman who is under house arrest for sexually
assaulting his hotel maid? Strausse-Kahn, or something like that. He's
staying in a NY property where the monthly rent is 50K. That should give
you an idea of how much the wealthy can afford. The one thing beyond
their ability to handle is higher taxes.


So I would say all Americans saw the negative effects that having the
republicans in charge produced for the country. But I never fail to be
amazed that so many people are ready to go right back and do it all over
again. I makes me wonder what it would take to get the die hards to
finally give up on the republicans. A bullet in the forehead?


They keep thinking they will be asked to dine at the
captain's table... They will not admit to themselves they
will never make it as they are playing a rigged game (and
have been for years). Think "If at first you don't succeed,
try -- try again.

I guess you never know how badly some people want things. Apparently, so
many want to be a part of that "special" class that they'll delude
themselves into just about anything.


Mein Kampf (My Battle) by Adolf Hitler is published in its
first part (see beer hall putsch, 1923). Hitler has dictated
the book to his aide (Walter Richard) Rudolf Hess, 31, while
in prison and will complete it in 1927, saying, =="The
great masses of the people . . . will more easily fall
victims to a great lie than to a small one."==

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people
will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be
maintained only for such time as the State can shield the
people from the political, economic and/or military
consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important
for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent,
for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by
extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

"It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient
repetition and a psychological understanding of the people
concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere
words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and
disguise."

Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945), National Socialist Minister of
Truth and Public Enlightenment


Yeah, that's one of the first principles of propaganda, and it usually
works. But there is a flip side to it. Big lies don't work forever.
Propaganda doesn't work forever. It has a life to it. Once people begin
to doubt the propaganda it becomes ineffective. Mussolini learned this
the hard way. Lies can only get you so far. I think you're seeing an
example of this in the republican's lie that they are not out to end
Medicare. No one believes them no matter how often they deny it.

Hawke