WE THE PEOPLE???

Why does the U S Constitution say, “We the people…” when the document really means “We the white land-owning men…”?

You would have to get in your time machine, don your time appropriate garments and head back to 1775 Philadelphia for the answer.

Of course, the real answer lies many years, if not centuries or even millennia earlier when the ‘weaker sex’ relied on the men to bring home the bacon, a beaver, or a buffalo and provide safety.

But before you make like Anne Boleyn, let me assure you this will not be a very long history lesson on the minority rule of men. It will merely be a roundabout way of showing that while ‘the squeaky wheel gets the oil’, ‘might makes right’ is the rule.

There are several more aphorisms that could be used but after a while they may take the reader’s attention away from my purpose, so I’ll stop before it’s too late, and strike while the iron is hot!

In law there is something called, ‘Adverse Possession’ which is generally used with regards to land ownership, but I will stretch it’s use a bit here for reasons which will become painfully clear.

Adverse possession states that if someone owns, or claims to own, or has in his possession, that which he was not originally entitled to, for a prolonged period, without dispute by the original owner, then ownership is given to the usurper.

The idea and practice comes from England, which just so happens to be where the United States came from.

So, where does adverse possession fit into the argument about “We the people”?

White, land-owning men have seemingly owned all other groups of human beings in America ever since arriving here from England. QED!

And since the above has only been disputed a handful of times, albeit successfully, the rule still stands and can be reinstituted at any time!

Two such successful disputes involve squeaky-wheel suffragettes, and equally squeaky-wheeled Civil Rights marching African Americans.

However, it now seems that the people noted in the Constitutionally cited, “We the People”, have decided that enough is enough and have started to rescind the hard-fought for rights of decades past.

Well, not all the “We the People´ have decided the above.

A mere five to four simple-minded; single-minded, simple majority on the Supreme Court of the United States is simply about to do so.

With a stroke of their conservative pen, those five individuals will strike down the first right from a list they hold sacrosanct; that of women being allowed to control their own bodies.

The archaic reason is, after all, they have been possessions of white men since before this Nation even began and were merely on loan.

And once “We the People” have taken care of women’s health issues, their right to vote against their husband’s wishes could be next.

Rescinding the rights of those they consider inferior sects of our citizenry will follow, as all the dominoes will topple and America will finally be ‘taken back’.

But no time machine is needed to stop that which would appear to be inevitable.

No new revolutionary war, or civil war be started, or rather continued.

The first shot heard round the world has been fired.

Now is the time for all good “We - All the People” to stand up and be heard before their voices are heard, like Poe’s Raven said, nevermore!

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Before you read anything into the posted photo on the right (and the right is definitely where the photo belongs) let me say that I truly have nothing against anyone rising to the top of their particular food chain and earning a great living.  We all strive to better ourselves and when we do we should not be looked upon with disdain or hatred.
Now of course most of us are human and as such we are always looking at the other side of the fence wondering how that guy keeps his lawn so much greener than ours.
But suppose we found out that our green-thumbed neighbor was actually stealing our seeds and fertilizer every night to pepper his field.
I make no determination as to how these gentlemen rose to the top of their unnecessary group (single payer would obsolete these vultures) but one still wonders.
But please do not think the pharma industry is the only one raping our coffers.
Bankers will not be in need of a telethon anytime soon, especially after we infamously bailed them out at the end of the Bush era. (error?)
Of the top earning bank CEOs the least compensated made $3.3 million last year and the average compensation was nearly $20 million.  (Looks like someone is going to demanding a raise!)
So let's juxtapose other Americans against the backdrop of the sweet elite of the pharmaceutical and banking industries and see how we're doing by taking a few items from the news.
(Click the title of each section below for the back-up and more articles on each subject.)

1. Student Debt:  Over 70% of college seniors graduated with nearly $30,000 in student loans which cannot be forgiven in bankruptcy.  Before you can really get going many have to finish their schooling.  And in order to do so you may have to pay an awful large sum of money to the institution of your choice for that education.  Unlike other more civilized countries in the world where they realize their young are their future and they subsidize their college years we treat our young as annuities for the ivy covered halls of higher learning institutions.
2. Living in Poverty:  One in Seven American is living in poverty!  That's over 46 million humans and it's the largest number of people in that undesirable sect in over 54 years!  While some are living high off the hog they seem to be doing so by hogging all the high profits from their businesses while allowing their employees the pleasure of scrounging around the sty for the remains.  And on top of that they are getting all the tax breaks the rest of us can only dream about.
3. Minimum Wage:  The CEOs of America are doing very well thank you but too many are surviving, if it can be called surviving, on a meager $7.25 per hour.  Okay many States are realizing the futility of trying to eat and keep a roof over one's head on that tiny amount and have raised their local wage minimums up but there are many, mostly of the Republican persuasion who are trying to persuade legislators NOT to raise the minimum wage as it will kill businesses and jobs.
4. Unemployment:  While it has gone down under the leadership of President Obama, yes that's right, under his watch the rate is still an unsatisfactory 6.3%.  Sadly this doesn't tell the whole story and while many a pundit will point to this number as proof of a growing economy a more telling number would include how many are so discouraged they no longer even look for a job.  And the best number to show how dismal it is even for those WITH jobs is
5. Household Income: During the twelve years from 2000 to 2012 the median household income fell 6.6%.  Take a moment to let that sink in.  In 2000 the Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a high of roughly 11,700.  It hit a new high of 13,350 in 2012!  While that's only an increase of 1½% the Dow has since hit 16,800 at which time it sported a nearly 4½% increase.  The bottom line is while Wall Street and it's Dow Jones top earners are topping their earnings almost daily average Joes may be scrounging for their next meal.  And speaking of households - 
6. Foreclosures:  While the foreclosure rate has dropped overall many States are still way above acceptable levels.  And 1 in 96 homes are foreclosed on and 19% of all homes are deeply under water financially.
7. Homeless Veterans:  An argument for a National embarrassment could easily be started with the fact that many of those who risked their lives for our country come home to trade their military rank for the pleasure of joining the ranks of the homeless.  Of the 634,000 homeless people in 2012 over 62,600 were veterans.  And that brings us to - 
8. Unemployed Vets: This number is even higher than the National Average.  Those who fought our wars from 2001 forward are considered Gulf War-Era II Vets.  Their rate was around 9% in 2013!  Uncle Sam wants YOU! That is until we don't anymore!
9. Women's Health:  There are so many articles on how women's health issues are under attack that it was hard to choose just one article to point to in the above link.  You may 'Google' on your own and spend weeks reading all the fun stories of 'right wing' elements in America forcing Planned Parenthood clinics to shut because they may use the word abortion, a procedure which by the way happens to be currently allowed by law.  Coincidentally the following Republican majority States have placed rules and regulations on the people who run women's clinics that would make a sailor's hair turn white:  Louisiana; Texas; Oklahoma; Iowa; Oregon; Washington; Kansas; Wisconsin and the list is not even complete.  And finally - 
10. Voter Rights: While all the above abuse has been going on we in America still have one trick up our sleeve, the right to vote out the bad leaders and elect ones who will better serve our interests.  That is if we can get to the polls and actually cast our ballot!  Knowing how dangerous an educated electorate could be it is no surprise that certain factions within the government and the lobbies that own them wish to keep the status quo, quo by placing more and more road blocks in our way as we attempt to vote.  Leading the charge to disenfranchise those among us who have had enough and simply will not take it anymore are: Texas; Ohio; North and South Carolina; Florida; Arizona; Alaska; Louisiana; Mississippi; Georgia; Virginia and Michigan.  Scott Walker of Wisconsin wanted desperately to join the list but went too far and the courts overturned his unfair voter ID law.

I guess when you look at all the things our leaders are doing to us rather than for us we really DO need these unbelievably rich pharmaceutical giants, just to get pills to ease our pain.
If only the damn co-pays weren't so high!

Suppression, It's Only Good in Cough Medicine.

I would like nothing better than having the entire world bow to my will.
To some degree the above egotistical wish is in all of us.
But the obvious truth is that will never happen no matter who we are or think we are.  And that is of course a good thing.
Throughout history many have tried it from Alexander the Great to the not so great would-be Alexanders of our time.

Should this be the face
of World domination?

All political or religious dictators want the same control over their environs and the degree to which they impose their will determines their fate as well as ours.
While typically the means by which these tyrants wield their power is physical force do not discount the use of mental anguish and fear of the other guy as an important factor.
And while World domination has become harder to even contemplate controlling one's own world, the sphere within which one lives, is still in play.
We see this tactic in use every day by the Fox network of right wing entertainment news media people as directed by their mogul, Rupert Murdoch. His agenda is and for quite some time has been domination of all he can get his fingers on or near.
We cannot turn a closed eye to the inherent dangers in allowing any one person or small cadre of people enough power to control every aspect of our lives.
The experiment that is America started with the idea that no one body of government should be allowed complete control without oversight and acceptance by two other bodies.  And even then rules and laws must pass inspection, the smell test if you will of our Supreme Court.
Sadly even that august body has become politicized in the wake of the increased polarization of our political system.

How could anyone hate and fear a
14 year old Pakistani girl so much
as to want her dead?

But we at least America has not yet devolved into the toilet of religious control as has happened in many Muslim countries.
While women in America are targeted by right wing politicians for unnecessary medical procedures to keep them in line and stop them from having a say in their own bodies at least we have not started to actively hunt them down and kill them.
This week in Pakistan a group of lower than low-life creatures even Neanderthals would be ashamed to be associated with who call themselves the Taliban boarded a school bus to seek out and shoot to kill 14 year old Malala Yousafzai whose crime was she desired an education.
The cowardly act of this religious political coalition of scum and the devil has made the world sit  up and take note, for at least the current news cycle.
Malala defied the odds and lived through the heinous act but both she and her father remain under death threats from the Taliban.
They are so afraid of allowing humans an education because they rightfully fear that knowledge will prove them unworthy of life on this Earth.
But they may have actually taught  larger lesson than the ones they have attempted to suppress.
It is too early to predict the outcome of this disgusting episode but already young girls around the world are declaring themselves to be Malala!
Not nearly as graphic but almost as desperate are the tactics being used by business owners in America basically threatening their employees with their jobs if they do not support the boss' candidate in the upcoming elections.
Demanding money or unpaid time off to make mandatory appearances at fund raisers for candidates NOT OF THEIR CHOICE is tantamount to suppression of ideas and ideals.
The use of fear of loss of income to turn someone's opinion is reprehensible and un-American.
But this IS America and therefore the act, considered to be free speech is protected under our enlightened law.
But do not mistake legal for moral.
Charles Dickens once famously stated in "Oliver Twist" that, "The Law is a ass!"
And the suppression movement of the right wing sector of the Republican Party has not stopped with company-wide threats.  They have actively sought out to destroy labor unions and other Democratic leaning voter groups.  And in case that failed they have attempted to stop obvious Democratic voters from even being allowed to cast their ballots.
They claim they are trying to stop voter fraud, a noble cause indeed.

Forget 200 million voters
I love Jeb & I want his
baby brother to be
President

But to date the only party that has successfully utilized voter fraud to steal elections has been the Republican Party most notably when George Bush was anointed king of the White House not by hundreds of millions of votes but by a 5 to 4 decision from a friendly Supreme Court as requested by one individual, Florida's State Attorney General Katherine Harris.

Anytime someone tries to stop someone else from expressing themselves; or bettering themselves as in getting an education; or from listening other view points be they supporting their own opinions or opposing them; or merely by voting as they themselves wish IT IS WRONG!
Suppression must be called out and reported every time it is used or attempted.
It must be declared as evil and un-American or America as we know it will cease to exist.