Beyond Class Hatred : Thoughts of an Ex Communist Voter
About the Author: I also write under the names Rudi Stettner and Magdeburger Joe. My home websites are rudistettner.com and magdeburgerjoe.com. Through my writing I like to promote a "labour conservative " social outlook as well as my eclectic tastes and interests Read more from this author
In 1976 I voted for the Socialist Workers Party. In 1980 I voted for Ronald Reagan. In my parents generation, the sins of Stalin brought millions of repentant communists back to their senses. My generation came around during the Cambodian genocide.
“A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.” (Mao tse-Tung Quotations From Chairman Mao)
Class hatred is a dominant and recurring theme in communist ideology. It is disturbing to me as an ex communist to see the extent to which it has seeped into mainstream American political thinking. The designations of “pro labour” and “pro worker” feed a perpetual debate that seems to find no resolution.
In over thirty five years I have never been a supervisor. I have been responsible for important tasks, but I have always remained on the bottom corporate rung. Accordingly, my material success has always been moderate. The Jewish collection of ethical sayings, “Ethics of the Fathers” says “Who is wealthy? He who is happy with his portion.” By this measure, I am very happy.
I have observed that there are psychological differences between business owners and their employees. I have observed two polar opposites on the psychological spectrum in the world of work. There are subtle gradations in between. On the one end is the entrepreneurial personality. He has a vision and an appetite. He is willing to risk losing money and putting in long hours with no gain in the hope of eventually achieving major gains.
On the other end of the spectrum is the company man or woman. They are willing to work hard, but they want security. They want the assurance that at the end of the week, they will get a paycheck that will have a measurable correlation to their efforts. In the best of circumstances, they will view the well being of their boss and company as being their own. They will recognise the risks that the boss takes to provide stability to others and will not resent him.
These two psychological types, the company man and the entrepreneur need each other. If a business fails, the company man is out of a job. And if the business owner can not or will not pay his worker a living wage, they will go elsewhere. Additionally, well paid workers can afford more non essential goods. Non essential goods provide essential jobs. Rare stamps, luxury cruises and gourmet food support many workers who can’t afford them.
As an ex communist, I am very sensitive to the slightest whiff of class antagonism. Whether it is the talk of punitive taxes on the wealthy or the seemingly glib indifference of Rush Limbaugh to the issue of a living wage, I don’t see enough people stepping back and looking at the big picture.
I want the worker’s paradise promised by the Democrats. But mine is a religiously based political vision. The phrase in the Declaration of Independence “Endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights” is real to me. The Democrats purport to defend the downtrodden. Despite this, they have made war on the unborn, the most defenseless among us, through defense of legalised abortion.
They give lie to their self designation of being “pro choice” by refusing to allow tax dollars to pay for religious schools.
They oppose regressive taxes, yet see nothing wrong with forcing working people to pay taxes for public schools and tuition for their own schools.
The Democrats are privately contemptuous of the very people whose rights they purport to champion, people who cling to “guns and religion”.
Meanwhile, neither the Republicans or the Democrats have an effective answer to the outsourcing of jobs over our borders and overseas. Even computer programmers must now compete with those overseas who are happy to work for five dollars an hour. Illegal immigration is winked at by liberals who see like minded voters and conservatives who see cheap workers. It all adds up to a commodity glut depressing prices. And the commodity is labour.
In American politics, the cliche is that you choose the “lesser of two evils”. In 2008, I am voting for McCain. I do not see him as an “evil”, although he is not perfect. His willingness to lose the “pro choice” vote has the whiff of sincerity to it.
It is very difficult to find the real Barack Obama in his speeches. But his radical friends such as Bill Ayers, photographed standing in an alley on an American flag are a disturbing contrast to the friendships formed by John McCain in a Hanoi prison.
The Republicans have been better at hearing the concerns of American workers than have been the Democrats. The Democrats purport to represent the interests of American workers yet regard their values with dismissive condescension.
I am distrustful of the Republicans. From my humble bully pulpit I intend to call them to task in the future . The Limbaugh corner of the Republican “big tent” seems aloof to my concerns. The votes of workers will I hope put John McCain over the top. And he should not forget that.
The Democrats have detached the Judaeo Christian engine from the train of American politics. They are hitching another engine in its stead. I don’t know where that engine was made, or where it is going. And I don’t want to find out
http://www.magdeburgerjoe.com/
The man who made Obama possible
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/kadner/1148797,090708Kadner.article
What is Chicago trying to tell people who do not live there. I think they are saying listen to us who DO live here and have gone thru all of the corruption. DO NOT PUT THIS CORRUPTION IN OUR WHITE HOUSE.
This is the beauty of this medium. Grass roots people share information that is priceless ,irreplacable and ignored by those with an agenda. Thank you for sharing this article
Very nice article winterrider.
It is very emotional to share such a personal history with McCain set to be President. Thanks for the encouragement
In the late 1980s middle class white collar jobs disappeared because of ‘outsourcing’ and the advent of the computer as a workstation aid. A lot of people accustomed to having discretionary income discovered what it’s like to suddenly have no income. In many states support groups were started in church basements to help these men and women cope with this wholly new experience, and to share resources, skills training, and job leads.
It took a while to work out. But when Time Magazine did a follow up a few years later, they discovered that many of the out-of-work employees had become entrepreneurs, whose business start-ups went on to fuel much of the 1990s prosperity boom. (Most of the rest had found new employment as the economy adjusted.)
I think we’re going through a similar time. And I think it’s a part of the capitalist business cycle. The important ingredient that is often overlooked is that workers - whether blue or white collar - need to self-insure by saving 20% of their earnings during the fat times. That’s what makes it possible to ride through the INEVITABLE lean times. (Hmm, isn’t there an Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures story to that effect?)
That means living below one’s means.
This living below one’s means is something I have not always done, and I have suffered the consequences. But I am not prepared to say it’s someone else’s fault. I recognize that what I have and do not have today is the direct consequence of the choices I made yesterday - and that I can make different choices today that will lead to a different outcome tomorrow. Sometimes I have made bad choices believing them to be great, and I have paid for my ignorance, too. But yesterday’s errors are fertilizer for today’s agriculture and tomorrow’s crop. I know my life is fully in my hands - most especially when I do dumb things.
The larger economic situation is different now than in the 80s in the sense that international market integration is stronger than 20 years ago, so we cannot predict how the adjustment will take place, but the principle is the same. I believe that as long as the do-gooders in Washington don’t decide to “help” with regulations and tax schemes, Americans will adjust, find the new opportunities, and propel us to a new round of prosperity and rising standards of living. It is, after all, necessity that mothers invention.
This is an overly-long winded way of saying I don’t think the Limbaugh wing of the Republican Party is aloof from the concerns of working class people. Rather he and they recognize that in the US even the vast majority of our poorest have better lives than would be possible elsewhere, plus a safety net that guarantees at least the barest minimum care. That’s something that does not exist in too much of the world.
Secondly, that capitalism is a cyclical system, and better times really are around the corner. However, those better times can be delayed or derailed if we get too involved in making sure no one has a hard time of it. Without necessity, invention may be stillborn.
In a nutshell, the supply side wing of the Republican Party believes that the weakest among us need to be cared for; but everyone capable of contributing should be left to discover their potential to feed themselves. That’s not callousness, it’s deep compassion coupled to a deep desire that everyone have the freedom to become the best they can be. It is a conviction that in a free economy profits can be made by any who have the will to succeed and the ability to learn what they need to know to be successful; and that their success will trickle down to those who depend upon them for their livelihood.
They believe that capitalism has a much better track record and likelihood of driving an improved lifestyle for everyone than any other system our species has tried.
But capitalism is not focused on the spectators waiting to be handed something. Capitalism invites everyone to get onto the playing field and into the game. No victims here, please; just economic principals spread across the learning curve. We each get to choose where and how we’ll put ourselves into the game. And when we’re not picked for someone else’s team, we have the freedom to start a game of our own.
What I love about America is that we each get what we’re willing to settle for - and nothing more or less. It means, if we’re not satisfied with what we have, we can stop settling for it, set our sights elsewhere, and engage in making it happen. Not always easy, but always rewarding.
Let’s not sell this priceless opportunity for a handful of beans.