A political activist at heart, I suppose I should get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I see people trying to take part in the democratic process. There is a new movement in America that you might have heard about: “Occupy Wall Street”. At first I thought this was just a fad, a conglomeration of people that would at best be thought of as populists. Populism reigned supreme in 2008 with the election of Barack Obama, so such a movement of “anti-rich, anti-Wall Street” sentiments is entirely possible.
So it made me curious. What exactly are the demands of these people? A quick overview of what these people want is quite startling, not to mention quite costly. The following is a breakdown, and you can be the judge if these people are legitimate or certifiable. Be forewarned, this is the most socialist propaganda I have ever seen come out of these United States. I would go so far as saying this is borderline communist what they are asking.
Demand 1: $20 per hour minimum wage. There is a jobs killer if I ever saw one. That is the fast track to killing small business. I’m not sure whether I should laugh or throw up in my mouth at that one.
Demand 2: Universal single payer healthcare system, banning private insurance carriers. Who is going to pay for that, and do you want the government being the ultimate decider of your healthcare needs? If businesses cut back on employees due to the $20 minimum wage, then no one is going to pay for this anyway because everyone will be out of a job.
Demand 3: Guaranteed living wage regardless of employment. So what you are saying is someone who chooses not to finish high school or college should be guaranteed a living wage in spite of the fact they are lazy. Way to de-incentivize the “if you work hard you will make more” mentality that has been the cornerstone of the capitalist spirit. Everyone will be paid money to survive regardless of how hard you work. We tried this with communism, and it did not work.
Demand 4: Free college education. Yes, more free money. Everything is free! If that is the case, I am in arrears for 5 years of college education and I want reimbursed the full amount I paid. And I am tagging the government for interest because technically I shouldn’t have paid that money in the first place. They owe me. Again, who is paying for all of this free stuff?
Demand 5: Bring the fossil fuel economy to an end and fast track green energy. Find a viable source of energy that is not going to cost the government billions in tax credits and maybe we will have something to talk about. I am all for finding cleaner energy, but it needs to be cost effective.
Demand 6: One trillion dollars in infrastructure improvements. I see we are taking a page out of the FDR playbook with this one. Let’s spend a trillion dollars to put people to work on a very temporary basis. That is a great plan, let’s spend more of the money (that we don’t have I should point out) to create a momentary bubble of employment. When that bubble ends, let’s spend a trillion more!
Demand 7: Decommission all of our nuclear power plants and let’s spend a trillion dollars on forests and wetlands. First, lumber companies reforest. That is a known fact. Second, this creates no jobs whatsoever. And third, are you serious? Decommission the nuclear power plants? Why not invest in some better ways to eliminate the toxic output of these plants. There are plans in the works to help take care of these problems, but they lack the proper funding. Democrats have a burr up their ass about nuclear power, and it is starting to annoy the hell out of me.
Demand 8: Racial and gender equal rights amendment. Not even going into this one. I’m not sure how much more equal we can make things. You be the judge of that.
Demand 9: Open border migration. Great idea, let’s let the drug dealers in, the terrorists in, and why not just annex the entirety of Mexico while we are at it. You can’t account for these people now. How the hell do you plan to account for them with an open migration policy? Are they paying taxes? Will they be covered under this new socialist healthcare system? Do you people know anything?
Demand 10: Bring American elections up to international standards of a paper ballot precinct counted and recounted in front of an independent and party observers system. Our system of elections is fine in America thank you. As an officer of the Board of Elections locally, I am happy to say our system is pretty good.
Demand 11: Debt forgiveness for all! Whoo!!! Free money! I was irresponsible, and now I am getting a bailout! I see personal responsibility has no meaning to these people. The bailout was wrong for the financial companies, and it is wrong here.
Demand 12: Outlaw all credit reporting agencies. Blah blah blah.
Demand 13: Allow all workers to sign a ballot at any time during a union organizing campaign or at any time that represents their yeah or nay to having a union represent them in collective bargaining or to form a union. Oh yes, we can’t forget the unions. No comment.
Judging by this author, these people are certifiable. They want everything under the sun free and they have no concept of money or personal responsibility. They want the great socialist state where the government is the answer to all of their problems. What a sad situation this has become.
Shame on them. If you want to live in a socialist or even a communist country, there are plenty of them out there that are doing pretty terrible that you can go live in. Yes, America is facing hard economic times, but the answer is not to turn this country into a socialist nanny state.
The Mang
Conservative Capo of Youngstown
