History; A Great Crime Novel:
Good Morning all of you open minded free thinking people out there in reality land; hold your nose and close your eyes, another dose of the King of Simple News is on the air.
First of all, I want to say that I don’t dislike anyone due to their race. I have some Mexican guys (legal citizens) who work for me from time to time and are great guys. They are hard working honest people and I can candidly say that I am fond of them and I wish them the very best. But that does not change the hard economic reality of our present situation and the crooked path that we followed to arrive here.
I’ve been studying economics in my own abstract manner for more than 30 years. While working for RCA Alaska Communications in Talkeetna, Alaska around 1980, I noted to my fellow workers that the poor immigrants that had and were flooding into America at the behest of Lyndon Johnson and Ted Kennedy, could never rise to our standards; however, we could decline to theirs. I had no idea how correct I was at the time.
Propaganda, indoctrination, and political correctness fit nicely into the same small box. How could I possibly insinuate that the vast majority of the millions of poor non-English speaking immigrants who were flooding into America would not be successful, upstanding, pull their own weight, citizens? After all, this was America, the melting pot of the world, the banner of freedom and liberty, and the land of opportunity. I must have been a jerk, a hate monger, and a racist for ever suggesting that Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was actually America’s Great Tragedy.
How well have we blended together in the great melting pot? My opinion is that we represent a layered desert in a clear glass. Subcultures exist across America and always have. We are a land of hyphenated Americans. Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Asian-Americans…
Chinatown in San Francisco is a huge tourist attraction where American’s can take tours to see a stubborn sub-culture that grows annually. In realty, one can visit many foreign countries without ever leaving the states.
Entire areas of some cities and states share none of America’s culture, language, or customs. Dial “2” for English.
So what went wrong? The answer to that short question is, “absolutely nothing.” Everything went perfect; right on plan. America needed growth and also needed near slave labor. Labor that would never rise to a point of sharing the wealth; and Lyndon Johnson provided both with one stroke of the pen when signing the “Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments” on October 3, 1965.”
Biographers say that Lyndon Johnson and the then young Ted Kennedy were acting out of compassion and fairness, and certainly, there were fringe elements of both. However, a little history on the timing of the increased immigration of those who shared few of our values and customs, casts serious doubts on the underlying motives.
By 1964, America had arrived at what should have been an envious juncture; that of zero population growth. We had the world by the short hair on a downhill pull. Our citizenry was some of the most educated in the world and the United States was an industrial and agricultural phenomenon. Unionization and a brisk general market for goods and services had forced labor costs, working conditions, and general living standards up beyond anything previously witnessed on the planet.
America had spawned the largest true Middle Class in the world and life was good; too good. The formation of the Federal Reserve and the Internal Revenue Service in 1913 had precluded the possibility for anything other than exponential growth to serve as a basis for our underlying economy. Zero population growth, combined with a strong Middle Class, wasn’t gettin’ it.
America is not geared around a successful Middle Class, but rather around a successful Upper Class. To advance the continuation of this law, Johnson and Kennedy declared war on poverty in 1965 by massively increasing the immigration rate of poverty stricken people (out of compassion, not to compete with the growing Middle Class. Ha-ha). How could anyone possibly argue the success potential of such a rational program? Certainly not Americans; who bought into the new propaganda, hook, line, and sinker.
These new immigrants had previously been barred from immigration to the U.S. due to having little, nothing, or negatives, in common with our American culture, language, and customs.
Was Johnson’s plan a new and exciting chapter for equality in America and a renewed opportunity to share our wealth with the world’s poorest people? That was the sales pitch to be sure, but there was nothing new about it.
Ya see, the Chinese and the black African slaves had arrived here for the same reasons, but way back then, there was no such thing as political correctness. The Progressives had yet to arrive on the scene to lecture us on the fine art of picking up a turd by the clean end; this time around we had to put a little spin on the ball. It was time to re-brand corruption.
Remember that the Chinese were brought to America to work on the railroads, to mine, and to perform other hard and dangerous labor. By 1882, we no longer had any use for Chinese labor (who were never eligible for citizenship) or for Chinese people period. So, in the spring of 1882, the “Chinese Exclusion Act” was passed by Congress and signed by President Chester A. Arthur. This act provided an absolute 10-year moratorium on Chinese labor immigration (skilled and unskilled). In 1892, the act was extended for another 10 years and today the same Communist Chinese are our bankers and life support system. Go figure.
Fast forward to 1965 and “The Great Society.” America’s Middle Class was getting far too expensive and usurping a growing share of GDP. And to make matters worse, they weren’t growing exponentially, a critical element in maintaining the banking system and status quo for the wealthy.
Therefore, we once again had the need for low cost labor that would never rise to challenge the wealthy, but political correctness and a very, very liberal leaning Congress and President could hardly afford to call a spade a spade; so instead, they simply branded it “The Great Society.” And as they say, the rest is history.
This history is some interesting stuff, huh?
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Mike, very good post this morning!
You are 100% correct, this country is set up for the benefit of the wealthy, the middle class was just a byproduct, one that had to be fought for by the workers… my family were coal miners in Pennsylvania in the early 1900’s, the struggle for fair labor practices and a decent living wage is well known to us. The rich fought those reforms with thugs and guns in those days.
Yep, immigration was just another form of Union busting in the 60’s… It is too bad that Unions became ugly distortions of what they had originally been, or the Americans who have all benefited by their existence may have fought harder to defend them…
whenry,
Thanks for the nice post. The pendulum rarely stops in the middle. As unions gained membership, their leadership gained power followed by greed and corruption.
Other Peoples Money (OPM) is a powerful persuader for a human that is already leaning heavily toward an opening for power and greed. Interestingly enough, the unions became what they fought against. Very much like our current government huh?
Most things are not as they appear to be on the surface and Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was no exception.
I agree completely. However, I would add that unlimited immigration did more than depress wages in the US. It has been used as a means of polarizing public opinion and preventing a mass uprising.
We were once largely a nation of European, Eastern European and Scandinavian immigrants who forged a common language, culture and identity. Even black slaves managed to assimilate into the culture as free men and make significant contributions to our society. No more; recent immigrants to the US come from cultures that are vastly different; think Asian and Mexican. They are not assimilating very well, for the most part, don’t share our customs, values, or even care to speak our language. Worse yet, their numbers are growing faster than any other segment of the population.
As Mike noted, that immigration wasn’t accidental. If you are in power and are decidedly in the minority, how do you maintain that power over a large population? There are lots of ways, but one way is to break down the commonalities and play up the differences to prevent the masses from becoming a unified force for change.
The cultural and linguistic differences of immigrants works against communication, cooperation and trust that are needed to create political unity and power. In this case, there is no bond, and as a result, no perception of a “common good”. The common good would be served by a unified political force to remove the entrenched oligarchs and plutocrats from power. However, that can’t happen when every sub-group of an oppressed mass of people is played against all of the others.
The lack of “political will” has been carefully cultivated in the US by the wealthy as a means of preserving their power over a numerically superior foe.
The reality is that almost all Americans have more in common than they think. They are all getting screwed because they have been tricked into believing they are all different and have different needs, which keeps them from communicating and organizing as a political force. Simply stated, it renders the masses politically powerless. This all ties in with the discussion yesterday on the power of propaganda.
Greg,
Well stated. The propaganda also suggests that it is possible to get something for nothing by voting for the right party; further dividing the masses.
“The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is the beginning of the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”
Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 – 2005
“As unions gained membership, their leadership gained power followed by greed and corruption. ”
That reminds me of the teamster light bulb joke.
Q: How many teamsters does it take to change a light bulb?
A: 15. You got a problem widdat?
While it is true that union officials have yielded to greed and corruption in many instances, their basic purpose and function is a positive force for workers. Contrasted with a economic system that exploits workers at every opportunity and a disparity in income that seems inversely proportional to the amount of productive work actually being done,
I consider unions to be the lesser of two evils. I don’t condone greed or corruption. Indeed, they are at the heart of our economic crisis.
When confronted with a problem, I try to become as informed as I can about it, and seek solutions. This blog is a great tool toward that end. Twenty heads are better than one.
So the question is how can we avoid being a victim of the government/ corporate criminal racket? Some things I’m trying to do:
live as frugally as possible.
produce/collect as much of my own food, heat, power, water as possible.
purchase locally produce goods/services.
prefer small family owned businesses over large corporations.
barter/trade for goods/services.
reduce income to reduce taxes /support of govt.
avoid debt.
Other ideas welcomed.
Wordherder,
I know this is a little broad, but the type of work that we do and the location where we chose to live will be huge…is huge.
I wrote that article regarding the core economy that will exist so long as humans grace the land. The fringe employment will die a slow death as the exponential function plays out.
Some areas are not conducive to stability, while others are. So many things will change and THAT should a new point of discussion.