Take Off The Mask

United States, 2008. Behind a rather large curtain of deception lays the true nature of society. The working class has been unknowingly masquerading as the middle class. Low-paying and part time work have been masquerading as temporary stepping stones, and the Democratic Party has been masquerading as the people’s party. It’s time to unveil these myths and expose the truth.

The vast majority, approximately 80%, of Americans are working class. Blue collar, white collar, salary or wage, we are all employed by the upper class that owns the means of production. We work at our bosses pleasure, and when it becomes more profitable to eliminate our jobs….well, have a nice day and good luck.

Which leads us to the service sector and retail sector, which continues to make up a larger and larger percent of our job market. In fact, this sector now accounts for 100% of all new job growth and these jobs pay on average 30% less than manufacturing jobs. So as the traditionally secure, full-time manufacturing jobs have been outsourced, they have been replaced by low paying, part time and temporary jobs, often insecure and without benefits. Most people filling these jobs consider them to be temporary, not serious jobs, but end up staying there for several years waiting for that magical real job to come around. So as the saying goes, good jobs are disappearing from America and reappearing…nowhere.

The Democratic Party, just as much as the Republicans, can be thanked for these problems. We can thank them for wonderful policies like NAFTA, CAFTA and the extremely bloated military budget. The so called progressive democratic presidential candidate right now wants to increase the standing army by 90,000 soldiers, wants to leave a large number of operations troops and private military contractors behind in Iraq and will only offer “For Profit Healthcare” for everyone. I don’t know about you, but that sounds pretty conservative to me. In comparison, in our favorite war partnering country of England, the conservative party is more liberal than our so called liberal party.

I will of course have to concede that we can’t blame the democrats and republicans for all of our problems because that would fail to address the systemic nature of them. By system, I am of course referring to our economic system. The only purpose and goal of capitalism is capital accumulation, that is, expanding profits. Nowhere does it say “guarantee meaningful work, living wages and a quality life for everyone.” Nowhere does it say “preserve the environment, conserve resources and produce in a sustainable way.” It only says increase profits. The Democrats are just as much a capitalist political party as the Republicans, they are not a workers’ political party. They serve the interests of capitalism. To them a good economy is judged by Wall Street not Main Street, profit margins and revenues not standard of living. Let’s not be confused by their so called solutions to the problems we face today as a world, they are merely band aids at best. We have been voting for democrats to represent us for decades now and have seen nothing but a decrease in real wages, expansion of militarism and cuts to the social safety net. The term “market solutions” has got to be the biggest pot of crap soup I’ve heard since trickle down economics.

This is why I am running for congress as a Socialist. I am not afraid to challenge big business capitalism every step of the way. I am not beholden to corporate interests like the candidates from the major parties. My only interest in public service is simply that, to serve the public, which is overwhelmingly working class folks like you and me and our families and friends. The elite minority at the tip top of the economic ladder already have 500+ representatives in congress, it’s about time that we the working people stop voting for their representatives and start running and voting for our own!

Here are some of my key platform planks:

www.votevachon.com

Another World Is Possible... And It's Necessary!

THE MOTTO:

Another World Is Possible…And It’s Necessary!

THE PROBLEM:

“We, The People” have been excluded from decision making.

WHAT HAPPENED TO DEMOCRACY?

(PUBLIC AIRWAVES AND CORPORATE MEDIA)

The endless pursuit of corporate profit has guided our government policy onto a perilous course that must be changed. Private campaign contributions, lobbyists and personal business interests of government officials have effectively transformed this democracy into a corporatocracy. Private media giants serve their own rather than the public’s interest. A government of the corporations, by the corporations and for the corporations which does not consider the well being of the people at large, nor that of the planet on which we live.

With less than 50% voter turnout, the United States ranks 139^th out of 172 democratic nations. This is likely due to the fact that most people, like myself, recognize that there is essentially no difference between the two corporate parties that run the show. The corporate interest is well represented while the interest of the multitude is left by the wayside. However, by not participating, the public further hands the reigns over to the corporate elites. This cycle must be stopped!

WHAT HAPPENED TO GOVERNMENT?

(PRIVATIZATION = WE PAY AND WE LOSE)

In the past three decades we have witnessed the wholesale privatization of practically every function of government, from highways to military to prisons to disaster relief. This process has left the United States with a dubious reputation among other industrialized nations: 1. Highest number of incarcerated citizens per capita, 2. Highest percent of citizens without health care, 3. Highest death rate from treatable diseases, 4. Highest rate of homicide and violent crimes with guns, 5. Largest military budget, and 6. Largest arsenal of nuclear weapons. The neo-liberal (capitalist) quest for “emerging markets” has made incarceration, illness, warfare and natural disaster response into very profitable industries, and guess who foots the bill? The taxpayers and the environment.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MIDDLE CLASS?

(THE RICH GET RICHER AND…)

The income gap is skyrocketing: according to 2005 statistics, the wealthiest 300,000 Americans collectively received as much income as the bottom 150 million Americans. Per person, members of this top group received 440 times as much as the average person in the bottom half earned, which is double the income gap from 1980. “As of 2001, the top 1% of households (the upper class) owned 33.4% of all privately held wealth, and the next 19% (the managerial, professional, and small business stratum) had 51%, which means that just 20% of the people owned a remarkable 84%, leaving only 16% of the wealth for the bottom 80% (wage and salary workers).” (Domhoff, G. William. Wealth, Income & Power. 2005 www.sociology.ucsc.edu)

The current system and the course on which it has set our nation can only be characterized as insane, destructive and unjust.

THE SOLUTION:

Stand up for policies that really help us! Vote for what you believe, not who you think can win.

INDEPENDENT, GRASSROOTS POLITICS:

(GET UP, STAND UP)

Rallying behind the Democrats, the “lesser of two evils,” will not end this current destructive pattern. The Democratic Party, as Edwin Laing said, is “where social movements go to die.” Independent, grassroots politics in conjunction with direct action are the only way the population at large has ever won anything from the power elites.

The environment, the quality of our lives, the lives of innocent civilians and soldiers in uniform… these are issues that are worth standing up for and at least trying to improve.

While one congressional representative cannot change the entire system, he/she can fight for reforms that will improve our daily lives and, more importantly, develop a political consciousness/solidarity among the people who will collectively make the real changes in the long run.

Please visit my campaign planks as well as those of other candidates, become a well informed voter and cast your vote based on what you believe will best serve us all collectively!

ThankYou,

Todd Vachon for Congress
CT 2^nd District

WWW.VOTEVACHON.COM

Analyze The Media, Think Critically

Whenever something is fervently supported or opposed in the media I like to stop and ask a few questions: Whose interest is it in? Who benefits from supporting or opposing it? And why do they have to support or oppose it?

Example 1: Publicly Funded Universal Health Care

Whose interest would it be in? Well, everybody’s, but especially the millions of people who do not have coverage right now. The poor, the small business owners, the unemployed and even the middle class. Even the folks with insurance who pay hundreds of dollars per month for family coverage (and still have to fight every single claim and bill during their “free” time) would greatly benefit by having most of that money back in their bank accounts. Folks who have avoided following their dreams because they needed to work a job with insurance benefits could now pursue their true interests.

Who benefits from opposing it? The insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies that make tremendous amounts of profit from the privatized system. They don’t want to give up their cash crop just to let us all live healthier and longer lives.

Why do they oppose it? Because it has been proven to work and if witnessed it would be tremendously popular. They must spend millions of dollars on media campaigns to misinform the public about “socialized medicine” because they know that it is an actual threat to their current racket. If it were really such a bad system would they feel inclined to spend so much time and money to convince us of it?

The media blitz is used to dissuade public support for a popular idea.

Example 2: The Invasion of Iraq

Whose interest was it in? Well, nobody’s, except the weapons manufacturers, private military contractors and the oil industry. It was easily foreseen that absolutely nothing good would come from the invasion and occupation., even Dick Cheney knew that in 1991.

Who benefited from supporting it? Who “profited” from it? These were the “unbiased” military and intelligence experts who are now all heads of their own for-profit security contracting or consulting firms raking in multi-million dollar government contracts. The oil companies who have been seeing constant growth and record profits. The destruction and reconstruction companies.

Why did they have to support it? Because the public was opposed to it. In January 2003 only 31% of Americans supported invasion. Two out of three Americans wanted to let the UN weapons inspectors continue their search. (NY Times/CBS poll)

The media blitz is used to rally support for an unpopular idea.

Example 3: Democratic Socialism

Whose interest is it in? Everybody’s, except the very small fraction of super-rich capitalists.

Who benefits from opposing it? The top 20% of our society that owns 80% of the wealth, but especially the 1% that owns 51% of the wealth. They don’t want to give up their extremely ridiculous amounts of inherited wealth and settle for a very comfortable upper-middle class existence. They might actually have to work a little.

Why do they oppose it? Because the ideals of socialism are wildly popular: social security, universal health care, unemployment insurance, living wages, affordable housing and a sustainable energy future. They use the media to separate these programs from the category of socialist when they are in support of them. They effectively turn the “S” word into a curse by attaching it to the former Soviet Union, which was neither democratic nor socialist.

The media is used to make a popular ideal unpopular and dissociate it’s core elements from it.

Like all things that you see, read or hear, including this, it is always a good idea to examine it from opposing perspectives. Who is saying what and why. By doing this you will be able to come to your own informed opinions and make good democratic decisions accordingly.