The Regan Revolution

In retrospect, it really was a Revolution. Perhaps my memories of pre-Regan times have been clouded by nostalgia, but I remember a time before Repuglicans routinely gloried in ignorance, hate, and fear. The Regan Revolution changed all that, it's apparent now. But in so many ways - check out this series of charts I got from the Great Orange Satan (forget the poster - sorry!). Above is non-farm wages. IE - your salary.

 But don't worry - the richest among us have been doing fantastically well during this time - remember, trickle down!

 Got to keep up with the Joneses, right? Hence the widespread adoption of "debt-culture" in the USA. And always remember who you owe that debt to - it's the folks in the second chart.

 And it's not just folks - the USA itself has become the greatest debtor the world has ever known, and it's all happened in the past 30 years. 

 And this debt load has greatly inhibited real growth - regardless of the flashy numbers they try and blind everyone by, we've been growing progressively poorer as a nation.

 And not just monetarily - in the "Land of the Free", look at how we've grown to love locking people up.


It goes on and on. To wit - this "revolution" has been the Robber Baron's dream. We now live in a country that has not seen this level of income disparity since the Robber Baron age of the 1880-1910's; it's extreme, to the max. Yet, you wouldn't know it watching the news, which in fact has been turned wholesale into a propaganda channel for these same vested Baronical interests - which is only natural, of course. Why wouldn't the rich look after themselves?

The saddest part to all this is the adoption of this myth by poor white folks we now call "Teabaggers" or, generally, "Repuglicans". Everything about the Repuglican agenda goes completely counter to their real interests, yet they are so deluded, so ginned up on anger, fear, resentment, racism, they ignore it all - all facts, in fact. You could show them these charts and it would mean nothing.

Facts, truth, logic, none of this means anything anymore to the vassals in thrall to this "revolution". They will literally burn down the house at their Master's command - and if you would dare try and put it out, they'll turn on you just as quick.

I recall reading 1984 back in 1984 and while I "got" it, I couldn't quite figure out how an entire people could be convinced to believe one thing one day, and the opposite the next day.

But now I see it in practice, and while I still am baffled that this can happen, I truly "get" it now. Dissonance is a powerful weapon, and the ignorant will go out of their way to avoid confronting it.

Divide them - use a wedge issue like race, sexuality, children, whatever - then exploit their differences to your own ends. I'm sure this is well documented in the Oppressor's Handbook, but hey, maybe YOU didn't know already....