Take Back America - from the Greediest Few

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country... Corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." -- Abraham Lincoln

At that time the Republican Party was considered the liberal party because of its stand on the abolition of slavery.  However, many wealthy industrialists backed the Republicans because the abolitionists were telling the average American worker in the North, the reason they were making low wages and working long hours under dangerous conditions was because they were competing with slave labor in the South.  This kept the pressure off the greediest few who were actually profiting from both cheap raw materials in the South and the cheap labor in the North. 

The organized abolitionist movement was about as influential as Greenpeace is today; about 3% of the northern population.  But when the South seceded and cut off trade with the North, the greedy few pushed for war to regain access to the cheap raw materials in the South.  They arrogantly convinced themselves the war would only last about 3 weeks; 3 months at the most.  Sound familiar?

After the Civil War, the greediest few moved quickly to make up for lost time by creating a massive westward expansion.  This was easily done by promoting land grants, Homestead Acts, fake gold and silver rushes.  Then they sold guns and whiskey to the Indians to make sure they would cause enough trouble so the Army would have to go in and wipe them out, leaving valuable land for cattle and railroad production.

But in order for the greediest few in America to really take over our democratic-republic they would have to use a divide and conquer strategy:

1. First, heard a small but cohesive group of people into one political party, like racist, white males, who can be manipulated with fear and prejudice and will do the "dirty work" to get their candidates elected.

2. Drastically drive down voter turn out, using negative campaign tactics.

3. Convince some people to vote against their own economic interests with hot button wedge issues.

4. Demoralize your opponents base of support with whisper campaigns, forgeries and false propaganda.

5. Buy off enough votes with tax cuts to make an election close enough to steal.

6. And then steal each election by any means possible including voter suppression, intimidation, blackmail, public humiliation, etc.

Each of these tactics has been continuously improved and perfected over time and make up the overall strategy of the current Republican Party.  The greediest few began taking over the GOP when Teddy Roosevelt split off some of the progressives when he switched to the Bull Moose Party against Woodrow Wilson in 1912.  When Harry Truman made a move on civil rights in 1946, they began herding more racist white-males into the Republican Party. 

After the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964 by Democratic president Lyndon Johnson, pretty much every racist, white-male in America huddled together under the big white bed sheet of the GOP.  Not that every Republican is a racist white male but most of the racist white males in America do vote Republican and that was no accident.

Only a cohesive, organized base can be controlled by a small wealthy and ruthless group of people (see Nazis Germany and Fascist Italy circa 1933).  The Democratic Party has also been compromised by bribes, blackmail and other petty corruption but the great advantage of the Democratic Party is that it is far too diverse and disorganized to ever be completely taken over by any one group or class of people.

Once the greediest few took control of the Republican Party, they put the rest of their strategy into high gear in what would become known as "The Southern Strategy" which has been perfected over the past 40 years.  Now, with complete control of all branches of our government the arrogance and greed that controls the Republican Party is quickly pushing our country over a cliff.  More and more Americans are seeing the edge of that cliff everyday and it's time for the people to take back our country and try our best to stop it from going over the edge.

We have enough people to do the job but we just can't seem to get our act together.  More than anything we need candidates who will not cave into the overwhelming influence of big money which has taken over our government.  We need many people who will volunteer and work hard for these candidates and not fall for the common tricks and lies that have been perfected into a new science. 

Too many of us have become jaded and cynical and far too tangled up in the details and minutia of policy positions which just begs for politicians to lie to us even more.  We have to look at where a candidate comes from and what they have done with their life to see what they will do as an elected official.  We have to give major points to people with public service experience and look for people who have put themselves at risk to do the right thing.  We also have to surround these people and let them know we are always close by and watching; both to give support and to let them know when they get too cozy with a corporate lobbyist.

So, that's what I mean when I say "Take Back America."  It means take it back from the greediest few and put it back into the hands of the many.  I hope you will share this with family and friends and encourage them all to volunteer and work hard to put the best candidates in elected office.  I know if we do this and never give up, we can all look forward to an America we can all be proud of.

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