Thursday, July 19, 2012

Why I Finally Appreciate The One Percent

[Some house keeping, it's been a hellish month - trip to Mom's with the kid throwing up the entire final night, me getting violently ill shortly after returning home (on no sleep), weather changes, and some of the more significant dislocations yet by even the most minor of contacts (my daughter becoming afraid to sit on my lap).  There have been some ups - a spa giving me more time without so much gravity, great progress in shoulders and substantial freedom in the hips (which of course does correlate with some of the dislocations).  Nevertheless, I've been miserable.  I've only managed to swim 4 times in the past three weeks, and my weight remains 20 pounds north of my lesser target.  Feeling decent today, however, so I've been surfing the Net, and the following dawned on me, a Modest Proposal of sorts.]

First, I am a hybrid Socialist.  I believe in many tenants of Capitalism, like rewarding hard work.  I especially believe in reaping the rewards of innovation.  Yet, I am offended by the "free" market.  I detest the lies of advertising, and I loath that entire groups of individuals are taken advantage of legally.  I believe there should be minimum quality of life assurances for all in a country blessed with our technologies. 

I, too, am (well, was) a lawyer, and I read the preamble to the Constitution as more insightful than many of the specific language snippets the Court defines on it's own, like Due Process or Equal Protection.  I believe the document is meant to "form a more perfect Union," to "promote the general Welfare," and to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Prosperity," not to allow corporations to steer the discussions of political debate and besically stymie our government while abusing the people and land for profits.

And until today, I hated the 1%.  I hated the disparity of wealth.  I hated that so many suffered so so few could have so much more than they could ever need.

That was until today.  Now, I have new found compassion.

Sure, millions and millions of us suffer, literally suffer, physically, mentally, emotionally, and economically.  But stop being so selfish and think about the money for once.

While there are millions of Americans, there are billions, no, trillions, of Dollars.  Shouldn't we keep the Dollar's interests in mind?

When I get my hands on a Dollar, more often than not, I just spend it.  I hand it over to others so easily, in trade for such transitory items like food or electricity.  I've even handed over 14 individual Dollars for a mere 2 hours of watching a poorly written story being expressed on a large screen in a foul smelling movie theater with sticky floors.

Does the Dollar deserve such treatment?

Consider the 1%.  They LOVE their Dollars.  They hate giving them up, and for the most part, they never do.

If you were a Dollar, would you want to be in the hands of some ordinary slob that will give you away within days or hours of acquiring you?  Or would you rather be loved?  Would you rather be held tightly and guarded forever, considered more important by your possessor then the quality of life of those few Americans?

Just as Spock said, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Who are we to deny love to trillions of Dollars, we measly millions of Americans?

Let the 1% love them as we never could.  Embrace the Plutocracy if you care for the Dollar at all, if you call yourself an American.

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