WARNING: this is a political post. And it’s one in which I fear some of my anger may just boil over at the thought of elected officials who are aggressively and deliberately creating and passing legislation that will remove our rights as citizens.
The election is near. PLEASE, please, read, think, make an informed decision and go to the polls to exercise our singular right to vote. If you don’t, there is only one person you can blame if your candidate for any office does NOT get elected…that’s you. I am reposting this in the vain hope that some of you will read it, do your research and go to the polls.
Two points of interest before I begin:
- This post is based on a document entitled, “The Dirty Thirty – The GOP’s Rights Killing Agenda“. I’d thank the people who did the research and put this together but I am way to upset right now to even be civil.
- THIS DOCUMENT WAS NOT PUBLISHED BY A POLITICAL PARTY masquerading as independent thinkers or analysts. The people behind this post are all seasoned political reporters, analysts or scholars. The information in their article is researched and documented and if you doubt it, you can check the legislation, yourself.
The “dirty 30” is a list of bills and legislation on the table in states all across our country. Among the proposals are acts designed to damage everything from our right to unionize and use collective bargaining to getting rid of the current Child Labor Laws.
If demolishing human rights doesn’t really upset you, think about what’s going to happen to your wallet if bills introduced in Georgia, Michigan and Minnesota are passed. Here’s a sampling of what the bills, which are aimed solely at undermining the middle class in this country, would do:
- Raise taxes on things like Girl Scout Cookies, groceries and gasoline but lower tax rates on corporate income, from 6 percent this year to just 4 percent in 2014
- Cut business taxes by 86 percent from an estimated $2.1 billion in FY 2011 to $292.7 million in FY 2013 while raising taxes on individuals by $1.7 billion or nearly 31 percent. Do the math – if you live in Michigan, you’re paying for the business tax cut.
- Cut the tax rate for the richest individuals and corporations to 25 percent to help spur job growth. This legislation is designed to help rich industrialists like the Koch Brothers, who increased their wealth by $9 billion last year but kept laying off employees, anyway.
Not worried about giving more to the rich and robbing the middle class to do it? Try this on for size. Two states have already passed legislation disenfranchising millions and millions of voters; 20 more states are preparing legislation to do the same.
In fact, 6 states controlled by Republican governors and legislatures are requiring voters to produce a government-issued ID before casting ballots. More than 10 percent of U.S. citizens lack such identification, and that number is even higher among young voters (18%) and African-Americans (25%). That’s a lot of people who will lose their right to vote entirely.
There’s more but my head and my heart cannot take it so if you’re of legal voting age, I’m going to ask you to do a few things, yourself:
- DON’T read this post and make up your mind – no matter what side you fall on. Read more. Read mainstream and alternative press. Read Mother Jones News and Nation magazines.
- DON’T listen to what politicians say; watch what they do.
- Think about everything you read and hear and then…
- Start thinking about who you want controlling your life from the vast distance of the State House or Capitol Hill.
- And make up your own mind. Don’t vote like Daddy did or because your friends say you should.
This is your country, too. Those of us who fought to win the very rights you enjoy today are fading from the front lines. You need to step up and own the outcomes of living in a democratic society — a country where your vote should count and your rights should be protected.
If you don’t act, this nation of “sheeple” will get exactly what and who you vote for.
Write On Target 
How can we be so easy to lull into false security? I hate our herd like mentality. It’s what Margaret Atwood wrote about in The Handmaid’s Tale – women being forced to become brood mares. Will check out The Hunger Games trilogy although I’m not sure I could bear to read about our slow devolution to mental and emotional serfdom.
It is difficult to acknowledge these facts, but facts they are. If you don’t want dry political text, read “The Hunger Games” trilogy. This entertaining fiction can show you what happens when people let life happen to them
Bravo.