the competing poles of "mainstream," American political thought are not north and south...

[Syrinx]

But rather, right and "left."

And I put "left" in quotes for very good reason.

There is scarce little force in America today advocating the leftist perspective.

The Tea Party people lust in their loins for the "founding fathers" that they imagine. Glenn Beck even, regularly, invokes the name of Thomas Paine. Is Beck even aware of Paine's call for a "guaranteed minimum income?"

And if he is, what does he think about it? Thomas Paine is one of Glenn Beck's favorite people, he says. Yet, he doesn't have an inkling of an idea about what the man stood for.

What if we could run a controlled experiment, using as our subjects two parallel United States Of America?

One test subject would operate under the rules set by Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity. That's USA1.

And the other America would be run by the standards of ME. That's USA2.

I think USA1 is very easy to imagine, because that's pretty much where we are today. Thirty-plus years of dog-eat-dog dismantling of anything resembling a real society.

Corporations would swallow each other up, getting bigger and bigger, having more and more money with which to buy our government. They would have so much sway, that our Supreme Court would grant them all human rights, while not bestowing any human responsibilities.

Sound familiar?

The meanest alpha-dogs of inherited wealth rule the pack.

It reminds me of the quintessential 1980's movie bully.



And the snowball would just roll on down that hill, getting ever bigger, until a handful, or maybe a fingerful, of people held total control of literally everything. And everyone.

It sounds almost like a dictatorship to me. Even dystopia. :shrug:

On the other hand, if the mainstream, so-called "leftists" came to power, you could still get rich if you had some great idea for a product or service that people wanted. Actually, you have an even better chance of doing so, because the people that were already rich wouldn't have an unfair advantage.

Plus... and I really think this is a plus... all of the people that weren't "rich" would still have food, shelter, and medical care.

Am I such a hopeless idealist because I think everyone should have food, shelter and medical care, along with an outside chance of one day sipping champagne from a drunken starlet's high-heeled shoe?

[pipoman]

1. I believe much of America is divided more by

urban vs. rural, and labor vs. professional. We see this in urban repubs having similar positions as their Dem counterparts, and rural Dems taking positions similar to repubs..blue dog and all that.

[OHdem10]

2. Cultural Divide. Educated and not as educated, Religious,

Urban Rural.