Americas Return to a Slave Nation

For 100 years after Abe Lincoln freed the slaves America has built a strong middle class and lifted people of all races out of poverty. Strong unions helped pass many pro worker laws and regulations that insured that hard working people were treated fair and paid for their services. This worked well until the 1980’s when Ronald Reagan rode into power, since then the corporations and republican party has worked non stop to turn America back into a slave nation.

The 1960’s and 70’s saw strong work forces and people making a good living working hard, factories were flourishing and people were living well even with one parent staying at home raising the family. Then came the 1980’s and corporate America installed a puppet in the White House and slowly began the genocide of the middle class, it was not done all at once but over time and slow so no one would notice.

1. Destroy the Unions and weaken labor - this has been done the last 30 years and republicans have spent millions on slandering unions in hopes of turning public opinion against them and making Americans forget all the great things they have done for America. Then came “Right to Work State” laws that allowed company workers to work in union plants and enjoy all the perks of the unions but not have to pay the benefits. This led to a rapid decline in membership from around 25% in the 1980’s to about 10% today.

2. Convince people that attacking the rich was a mistake because this was America and if they work hard and play by the rules they could be one of those rich people. This again is all talk as America ranks near the bottom in class mobility behind most industrialized nations. Like with many things in the GOP plan it has more to do with marketing than actual facts. Since the 1980’s peoples incomes have stayed the same while the rich have increased their wealth at record levels.

3. Put people into debt - With the “new” economy a college degree is a must, so most Americans have to get loans to attend even the cheapest university. After graduation that starts your corporate life with about 100,000.00 in debt and it only gets worse from there. Then you need a car and a roof over your head costing a large chunk of your income, add in health care costs and it barely leaves people any money and causes them to live paycheck to paycheck.

4. Cut the safety nets - Right now Medicare and Social Security allow seniors to retire and enjoy their golden years, this is the white whale of the republican party. If they can sever these safety nets then people will not be able to retire and will be forced to slave away until they are put in a grave.

With these steps the GOP master plan of returning America to a slave nation was underway, now all they had to do was get rid of all those pesky pro worker laws that unions got passed. Over the last 10 years you have seen a massive attack on those laws including a recent attempt to do away with overtime pay for people who worked more than 40 hours a week. There was even a recent attempt to justify corporations giving people cancer or other diseases if their “cost benefits” shows that it’s best for America.

This is why you will see republican fight to the death over things like Healthcare for all and raising the minimum wage, they are afraid if you save money and don’t need the health care you may not need to keep that job you don’t like. Millions of Americans stay in low paying jobs they do not like so their family can have healthcare even if it means they need to find a 2^nd or 3^rd job to put food on the table. This is also why the scream about the “takers” and “welfare state” because they don’t like the idea of people getting assistance and not having to rely on their corporate masters.

While Lincoln freed the African American from slaves Reagan and the GOP has spent 30 years trying to return to what they would call the “glory days” and allow corporations to control Americans. As long as they can keep us sick, uneducated and poor they can run every aspect of our lives and the day that people wake up and demand fair treatment for their hard work it will keep getting worse until the day we find ourselves working for food and needing a loan to see the doctor. We need to return to the days of strong unions and workers rights and stop watching the rich get richer and the poor hard working Americans being driven to an early grave. They want us to work until the day we die, sadly we hang on because in America no one can afford to die anymore because it will just leave their family and loved ones with more debt to pay for the funeral.

When you see or hear of republican laws being passed that they say will “create jobs” and help the “job creators” take a hard look at them and see what they really do. I’m betting it puts the working class further into death or danger while helping the rich get richer. When you hear them say “it’s about jobs” point out that it really isn’t but it’s about income. Slaves had jobs and unless we wake up we will all become slaves and that’s what republicans want the end outcome to be.