I've heard and read a lot of references lately to the "Democrat plantation". The term refers to the belief that Americans of African descent will tend to support Democrat politicians and causes so long as Democrats continue to provide them with bread and circuses.
I'm not just calling out Democrats on this. The Republicans have their taken-for-granted class too: conservative voters. For an example, consider the push to make Romney the nominee even though his appeal to the conservative base of the party is shaky at best.
You can call them plebs, serfs, peasants, peons, or whatever; it's all the same: people who are brought up in a system that assumes that they are at the bottom of the ladder, don't see that there are better options, and have little to no motivation to find something better or different are used to ensure that some political movement or another gets and stays in power.
Every person or group that wants to exert control over everyone else requires a lower class because it provides the muscle, either at the ballot box or in the street. The Chekists in the USSR didn't draw from the cream of Bolshevik society. They recruited their foot soldiers from the lower classes of Russian/Soviet culture and used them to instill fear in anyone who might oppose the regime.
The Democrats have their reliable voting block of urban African-Americans. The Republicans have their reliable voting block of conservative middle-class voters. Either way, they're all just peasants working the fields of those who tell them just enough scary stories about the bogeymen on the other plantation to keep them in line and voting a straight party ticket.
Thoughts like this are one of the reasons that I'm considering myself an independent voter more and more. Maybe I'm just cynical, but I honestly don't believe that either party cares at all about what happens to the people on the streets of America so long as their personal gravy trains and power trips keep rolling. In this way, they're no better in my eyes than the most staunch Stalinist or banana republic dictator. So long as we all know our place and do as directed, they're just fine. If one of us pokes our head up and dares to bleat out of time with the rest of the herd, then they drop the hammer down on us or cut us off from the herd lest our disease of independent thinking infect the rest of the flock. Only if enough of us make our voices heard do we have hope that those who think they rule our country will listen.
So I'm going to stop being a good peasant. I will vote for a good Democrat instead of a bad Republican if I think that the Dem would do a better job. I refuse to vote for or against something on the ballot just because the local Republican committee thinks I ought to, and I won't be quiet about it. Hopefully others will get the same idea.
What do you call it when the peasants quit working the fields or toiling in the factories? You call it revolution.
3 comments:
Both parties have gone to hell, in my opinion. As far as I'm concerned, I'd like to dump the whole lot and start over with new candidates. That includes Congress and the Senate.
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right."
- H. L. Mencken
"Political tags - such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth - are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire."
- Robert A. Heinlein
The republicans in my state of Virginia decided last month to have all republican voters sign a "loyalty oath" before they could vote in the Primary. Needless to say that would not have gone over well with me. I would have walked out after telling them where they could insert the oath. They came to their senses this week and decided to drop that requirement.
It is time to let them know exactly who is in charge. For the next 8 years we should vote every one of them out of office and replace them with the opposite party. That would ensure a complete turnover of both houses and the presidency. It would show them that the voter is in charge - not them. I know it's a pipe dream - but dang it would be glorious.
I agree – it is time to stop being a peasant to these parties. I’m with you.
I share the Founders’ vision of limited government who's only legitimate authority is the protection of the rights and property of the people, and the ability of people to voluntarily join with others to help their communities and themselves. I don’t agree with the conservatives who want government to play the role of morals policemen, and I don’t agree with the nanny state liberals. I’m a libertarian.
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