THE CONSERVATIVE CORRUPTION OF PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

THE CONSERVATIVE CORRUPTION OF PROGRESSIVE THOUGHT: WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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This is a reprise of an article that I wrote in January of 2010. I thought it appropriate to readdress this issue due to a situation that I'm currently experiencing with a supposedly progressive website. 
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As one who has always tried, with varying success, to be progressive in my thinking, I'd like to make a few personal observations on the contemporary progressive movement. I want to preface my remarks, however, with the assurance that I have long since recognized that I corner the market on neither knowledge, wisdom, nor intellect, but I'd like to share my thoughts nevertheless - not as a condescending edict handed down by a self-appointed pundit, but in the hope that the thoughts of an average man with common facility are worthy of public discussion.
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It is my firm belief that the appropriate attitude for a progressive to bring to every discussion is a firmness of thought and an open mind to divergent ideas. A progressive, by definition, should have the intellectual capacity to recognize that one can neither scream, nor insult, one's way to a solution to any problem. And what should always set a progressive apart from all others is an affinity for humanity, independence of thought, and a fierce determination to remain a seeker of truth above all else, regardless to where that truth may lead.
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But those values no longer seem to be the case among many who define themselves as progressives today. Many contemporary 'progressives' tend to possess the very same rigidity of thought, and meanspirited, knee-jerk adherence to ideology that the progressive movement was created to combat. The response that many of these people bring to even the slightest divergence from their rigid ideological beliefs can only be described as one of radical reactionism.
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That concerns me greatly, because while conservatives and today's so-called progressives remain completely divergent in their views toward governance, in terms of intellectual disposition they've become different sides of the same coin. I've often heard it stated that the regimented intolerance of reactionary conservatism is reminiscent of Nazi Germany. That may, or may not be true. But if it is, it must also be acknowledged that the intolerant regimentation of many contemporary radical 'progressives' represent the USSR at best.
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Many modern progressives have allowed themselves to become infected with the exact same kind of intellectual rigidity that we previously associated with the radical conservative mindset. In fact, many who define themselves as progressives today could very accurately be called latter-day conservatives. They have a slightly updated set of values, but their rigidity and rabid defense of those values will surely morph into the closed-minded conservatism of tomorrow.
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That's the primary reason that the conservatives' reckless campaign of rampant disinformation is winning the battle over reasoned and logical thought. So many contemporary progressives have taken on the conservative mindset of anger before contemplation, and reaction over reason, that there's no one left who's actually thinking. Everyone is simply reacting through anger, ignorance, and disinformation. That's an environment in which the Republican Party thrives, since as any thinking person would know, radical conservatism is reactionary by definition.
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Progressives cannot out-scream the Republican Party, and we shouldn't try. The disinformation that's currently being disseminated by the GOP must be met with facts, a well thought-out plan of action, integrity, and character.
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The American people are not stupid. They desperately want these qualities in their governance, but the current progressive movement is not giving them a viable alternative. Regardless to what our intent, we're acting with just as much thoughtless anger and reckless abandon as the Republican Party.
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The problem is, we have not coalesced into a solid front with a clear and viable agenda. We've divided ourselves into so many factions with so many different agendas that the people no longer know what we represent. And the reason for that is that too many of us really don't know what it means to be progressives ourselves.
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Too many of us fail to understand that the primary goal of the progressive movement is to create a viable democracy that serve, respect, and honor ALL of the people. But due to the destruction of our educational system, the corrupting influence of Republican governance over the past twenty years, and an irresponsible media, our ideals and what we represent as a people is only a rumor up for debate for an entire generation of Americans.
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But what's worse, and the subject of this contemplation, is the above is also true of young people of the left who consider themselves progressives. The fact is, while they know that their political orientation is liberal, what they don't know is there's a vast difference between being simply liberal, and being a progressive. As a result, many of these young people approach our democracy like it's a sporting event - our team against their team. Period.
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What they fail to realize is that the progressive movement is much more than just a synonym for left-wing liberalism. Progressives have also served as America's philosophers, intellectuals, and conscience. Thus, true progressives don't see conservatives as the enemy. They understand that both liberals, and conservatives, play an important role in our society. They recognize that both are necessary in order to maintain a balanced America. And they clearly understand that while there's a burning need for a Martin Luther King to remind America of its humanity, there is also a need for a Gen. MacArthur to ensure our security.
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Thus, the progressive movement is not so much a political ideology as it is a philosophical attitude towards human behavior. A true progressive, as oppose to an ideologue of any stripe, will always give truth, logical thought, and the interest of humanity priority over ideology. And regardless to how much he or she may admire any politician, he will always hold that politician accountable for truth, justice, and his fidelity to mankind.
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I can cite an example of that in my personal life. I'm a huge supporter of President Obama because I agree with more of his positions on public policy than I do with the Republicans. But I have both friends, and family, who go absolutely crazy on those occasions when I write a column critical of him when I disagree with something that he does, or something that he fails to do. They take the position that I'm only serving to help the Republican Party drag him down.
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I take the position, as both a journalist, and a progressive, that while I support Obama, it is not my job to censor information when in my opinion he's taken a position that's not in the best interest of the people (failing to follow the rule of law regarding the atrocities of war committed by the Bush Administration, for example). Neither is it my job to protect Obama's presidency. It is Obama's job to protect his presidency, by making the right decisions in office.
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Barack Obama is a politician, and a democracy can only remain viable by holding EVERY politician's feet to the fire. So it doesn't matter how I feel about him personally, as a journalist, and as a progressive, all I'm concerned with is what he does to, or for the people.
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In my opinion, that's what it means to be a progressive, and I find it extremely disheartening to watch the corruption of such an essential component of our political environment. What's even more disheartening, however, is the impact that it's loss is sure to have on American life. With the demise of a vigorous and thriving progressive movement America is becoming a place where power and political ideology takes precedence over justice and the welfare of humanity, and that's a scenario that can only lead to our ultimate destruction.
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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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A MESSAGE TO ALL CONSERVATIVE WHITE FOLKS AND OTHERS WHO SUFFER FROM THE DELUSION OF ENTITLEMENT

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A MESSAGE TO ALL CONSERVATIVE WHITE FOLKS AND OTHERS WHO SUFFER FROM THE DELUSION OF ENTITLEMENT

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I've received many complaints from people saying that I tend to be arrogant and dismissive, and I can fully understand why they would feel that way.
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The problem is, we live by two different standards of conduct. You live by the White inspired  Manual of Political Propriety (MOPP), and I live by the Manual of Black Etiquette (MOBE).
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While one tenet in your voluminous manual (MOPP) prescribes that all Black people have a moral obligation to act ignorant and humble while dealing with White folks, my manual (MOBE) has only one entry - that I should always take on the tone of the person who's addressing me.
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Thus, if you don't want to be treated like a damn fool, don't come at me like one.
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Eric L. Wattree 

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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AMERICA IS LITERALLY DYING OF A LACK OF CHARACTER, INTEGRITY, AND MORAL SUBSTANCE

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

AMERICA IS LITERALLY DYING OF A LACK OF CHARACTER, INTEGRITY, AND MORAL SUBSTANCE 

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Most Americans have embraced a philosophy of "go-along-to get-along," and that's a philosophy that has never served minorities, or the working class, well. It's a philosophy that only serves to maintain the status quo. So if you're at the bottom of the ladder, not being paid a living wage, and being treated unjustly, helping to maintain the status quo virtually guarantees that you'll remain in that condition. On the other hand, if you're one of those lucky few who have managed to accumulate a few of the finer things in life, you're doing a gross disservice to all those people of high moral character and integrity who came before you and made your lifestyle possible.
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Go-along-to-get-along is a philosophy that's based on self-service, greed, and a disregard for your fellow man, so it not only fosters division within the minority and working-class community, but it negates all of the finest qualities of the human spirit - those qualities that inspired many White men to embrace the ideals of freedom and justice so passionately that they left the love and comfort of their families to go die in the bloodiest war this nation has ever fought.  We rarely see that kind of moral substance today - today it's everybody for themselves, and everybody chasing "the American dream," which is rapidly becoming an American nightmare starring the Corporate/GOP Alliance.
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We cannot get through this world alone.  If you're not prepared to go out on a limb to help be your brother's keeper, who's going to have your back when the boots arrive outside your door?  Yes, it's good to be self-reliant, but there's a very big difference between being self-reliant and being just plain selfish. But that's the bill of goods that the social manipulators have sold many Americans - "It's all about me and my life; to hell with everybody else; that's the American way."  By embracing that philosophy we make ourselves vulnerable to social exploitation, because the powers that be can exploit us one at a time instead of having to face an opposing force that dwarfs them in its numbers.  
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The concept should be so easy to grasp - the American people are the source of their own misery. Why do we simply sit back and pour billions of dollars into corporations that claim to be patriotic yet send millions of American jobs out of the country to improve their profit margin?  What kind of patriotism is that?  It's not.  It's all about their indulging in the philosophy described above - "It's all about us, and to hell with the American people," and we're quietly embracing that philosophy.  The American people are living like Stepford wives.  We're begging for crumbs from a table that belongs to us.
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Frederick Douglass said, "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." Douglass' words have proven to be even more true today than when he uttered them. For over thirty-five years, every since Ronald Reagan - the backlot cowboy - found that the American public will accept almost anything if you wrap it in John Wayne's persona, Republicans have been donning cowboy hats and boots and chipping away at American rights, jobs, and our moral sense of outrage over injustice. It's gotten so bad that today if we happen to stumble over justice and fair treatment, we consider it a gift rather than a right. I've said the following before, but I think it bears repeating:  
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It's Time To Enact A Workers' Bill Of Rights - And Boot out Any Politician Who Refuses To Go Along

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The American people have been sold a bill of goods. We've allowed the one-percenters to convince us that completely unrestrained capitalism (or greed) is "the American way." Says who, the one-percenters? The "American way" should be what's good for America, not just a handful of industrialists, political cronies, and Wall Street manipulators.
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Think about the average American's response to the word "socialism." Corporatists have conditioned us to revile even the mention of the word. Most Americans react to it like Count Dracula reacts to a cross. We've been so thoroughly conditioned that it's used as a pejorative to slur President Obama.  It conjures up images of dictators, Red China, the former Soviet Union, the government taking over our lives, and the loss of freedom, but it doesn't actually mean that at all. What it actually means is giving the average citizen a fair shake and not stacking the deck against them by promoting unfettered greed.
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Yes, socialism has undoubtedly been used as a pretext to take away freedoms and create closed societies, but that was the ABUSE  of socialism, just like the abuse of capitalism led to slavery and the extermination of over a hundred million Native Americans. So it is not the economic systems that are  evil; it's the closed-minded and self-serving motives of the people who implement the systems who are evil.
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Child Labor During Great Depression
Capitalism Run amok

Thus, with that understood, common sense would seem to dictate that the best system for America would be a democratic socialism that is based on capitalistic principles. That is, we should continue to pursue our current capitalistic system, but with an eye toward not allowing unfettered greed to run so amok that it brings misery upon the American people, as it did under George W. Bush, and continues do to this day
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Entrepreneurs should be free to make as much money as they can manage, but responsibly. So we need  a workers' bill of rights in this country. If a company wants to do business in the United States it should have to pay workers a living wage and  maintain a level of employment based on, and commensurate with, the amount of profits that they're pulling from the economy. If the company doesn't want to do that, they should clear out and go do business in another country.  That will open the market up for others who are willing to settle for a mere one billion dollars in profit instead of a hundred billion.

REAGANOMICS AND THE GOP CONSPIRACY AGAINST THE MIDDLE CLASS

Our economy (for the average worker) is currently depressed because, starting with the Reagan administration, it has been based on unrestrained greed, and the average American is being constantly squeezed by the one-percenters to give up an ever larger share of America's pie.  The GOP used Ronald Reagan, with his "Aw shucks, Ma'am," John Wayne-like persona, to convince the American people to buy into "Trickle-Down" Economics - or in other words, "Give us your money and we promise to take care of you." That was the biggest scam ever perpetrated against the people in American history, and we should be mad as hell about it. 
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They not only stole our money, but destroyed our industrial base by breaking up and selling off some of our most important corporations. In addition, they tripled the national debt in the process! As a direct result, the American middle class has been careening downhill for the past 35 years, or every since.
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I've related the GOP's grossly irresponsible economic history in several articles, but the head-scratching result of the 2014 midterm election clearly suggest that the American people are just not getting it, so it bears repeating.
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The Great Depression

From the moment that Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt put "The New Deal For the American People" in place to rescue the American people from ever having to suffer the ravages of the Great Depression again, the GOP and conservatives have been determined to dismantle it.  Even as I write they're mounting an assault on Social Security, Affordable Health Care, and every other program designed to bring relief to the poor and middle class. The closest they've come to succeeding started during the Reagan administration with Supply-Side Economics, or, "Reaganomics" - and the battle is currently raging in Washington D.C. as we speak.
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Supply- Side Economics was a scheme hatch by U.S.C. economist, Arthur Laffer and the Reagan crowd which was supposed to cut the deficit and balance the budget. The theory behind Reaganomics was ostensibly, if you cut taxes for business and people in the upper tax brackets, and then deregulated business of such nuisances as safety regulations and environmental safeguards, the beneficiaries would invest their savings into creating new jobs. In that way the money would eventually "trickle down" to the rest of us. The resulting broadened tax base would not only help to bring down the deficit, but also subsidize the tremendously high defense budget. When the plan was first floated, even George Bush, Reagan's vice president to be, called it "voodoo economics."
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Reaganomics, for the most part, sought to undo many of the safeguards put into place during the Roosevelt era and create a business environment similar to that which was in place during the Coolidge Administration. What actually took place, however, was even more like the Coolidge era than planed.
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Instead of taking the money and investing it into creating new jobs, the money was used in wild schemes and stock market speculation. One of these schemes, the leveraged buy-out, involved buying up large companies with borrowed funds secured by the company's assets, then paying off the loan by selling off the assets of the purchased company. This practice cost the citizens of this country its industrial base. In addition, the bottom fell out of the stock market. On Monday, October 19, 1987 the Dow-Jones Average fell 508.32 points. It was the greatest one-day decline since 1914 - 15 years before the Great Depression.
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And what about Ronald Reagan's promise to balance the budget and lower the deficit? By the time he left office he was not only the most prolific spender of any president in history, but he also added more to the deficit than all of the other presidents from George Washington to his own administration combined. And what did the Republican Party propose to do about that? One of the Republican proposals was their "contract with America," a capital gains tax cut - for the rich.
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Heaping ever more money on the rich seems to be the GOP's answer to everything, and as they're doing it, they're telling the poor and middle class that if they had just a little more, the economic conditions in this country will turn the corner for everyone. They've been telling the people this lie for 35 years, and the conditions for the poor and middle class is getting ever worse with every day that passes.
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Due to the continued freewheeling fiscal policies of conservative Republicans, between 1986 and 1989, spanning the presidencies of Reagan and Bush Sr., the FSLIC had to pay off all the depositors of 296 institutions with assets of over $125 billion.
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Then in 1988 Silverado Savings and Loan collapsed, costing the taxpayers $1.3 billion. It was headed by Neil Bush, brother of George W. The investigation alleged that he was guilty of "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." The issue was eventually settled out of court with Bush paying a mere $50,000 settlement.
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Then there was the Lincoln Savings and loan scandal in 1987, involving John McCain. He was one of a group of senators dubbed "The Keating Five" involved in a scandal by the same name.
In 1976 Charles Keating moved to Arizona to run the American Continental Corporation. In 1984, shortly after the Reagan era push to deregulate the savings and loan community, Keating bought Lincoln Savings and Loan and began to engage in highly risky investments with the depositors' savings. In 1989 the parent company, which Keating headed, went bankrupt, and it resulted in over 21,000 investors losing their life savings. Most of the investors were elderly, and the loss amounted to about 285 million dollars.
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After having received over a million dollars from Keating in illegal campaign contributions, gifts, free trips, and other gratuities, the Keating Five - Senators John Glenn, Don Riegle, Dennis DeConini, Alan Cranston, and Sen. John McCain - attempted to intervene in the investigation into Keating's activities by the regulators. Later, they were admonished to varying degrees by the senate for attempting to influence regulators on Keating's behalf. Charles Keating ended up being convicted for fraud, racketeering and conspiracy, for which he received 10 years by the state court, and a 12 year sentence in federal court. After spending four and a half years in prison, his convictions were overturned. But prior to being retried, he pled guilty to a number of felonies in return for a sentence of time served.
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Then came the George W. Bush administration that caused close to a million people to die uselessly in an illegal war in Iraq, robbed the American people blind, whose fumbling ignited the longest war in American history in Afghanistan, and whose greed came very close to sending the nation into yet another Great Depression.
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Now, after all of their repeated efforts to deplete the national treasury, they're unanimously voting against every piece of legislation that the Democrats propose to repair the damage they created and to bring relief to the American people. Then they have the audacity to claim that they're doing it because they're concerned about deficit spending.
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They're against affordable health care for American families; they're against any kind of spending to put Americans back to work, and they're against extending unemployment insurance to relieve the burden of America's unemployed. What's particularly telling, however, is they're also against any kind of strong legislation to prevent the financial community (them) from being able to rob the American people in the future.
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The fact is, what they really want is to maintain the status quo, and make damn sure that the American people remained miserable, hungry, and divided until 2016 elections so they'd have a better chance to regain power and raid the treasury again. Republican Senate minority leader (now majority leader), Mitch McConnell, was frustrated and reckless enough to say it out loud prior to the 2012 election - "Our No. 1 priority is to make this president a one-term president" - not to save America, or to bring relief to the American people, but to make Barack Obama a one-term president. Flag pens in lapels and patriotic rhetoric notwithstanding, that says it all about the GOP's lack of concern for America, or the American people.
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After they lost the 2012 election, their agenda has shifted to making sure that President Obama is not successful, because if he is, and you combine that with the rapidly changing demographic, that could spell doom for the future of the GOP - and it should, because they're grossly out of touch with reality, and, America's best interest. They're out to create a corporate feudalist society. The government shutdown, their repeated obstructionism, and their unconscionable attack on voters' rights clearly demonstrated that they have absolutely no respect for democracy.
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And this is not just political rhetoric. Here is the activity of the Republican congress who ran in the 2010 election on their claim that their number one priority was to bring economic relief, and create jobs for the American people.
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History is clear. The conservative Republicans don't mind spending money, they just don't want to spend it on those who need it - us. Remember, they're the party of Alexander Hamilton, one of this country's founding fathers who believed that only those who owned property should even be allowed to vote. He also said:
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"All communities divide themselves into the few and the many. The first are the rich and wellborn, the other the mass of the people.... The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give therefore to the first class a distinct, permanent share in government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second, and as they cannot receive any advantage by a change, they therefore will ever maintain good government." Debates of the Federalist Convention (May 14-September 17, 1787).
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In 1965, CEOs were paid only 20.1 times more than the average worker. Today they make 231 times the average worker (http://www.minnpost.com/community-voices/2012/09/redistribution-wealth-has-gone-upward-not-down-early-80s).  As a direct result, the top 5% of the population now control 82% of the wealth, while the bottom 80% only control 7%. That's dangerous, and it's a direct threat to our democracy.  As a matter of fact, a study by Princeton University declares that the American government can no longer be called a democracy - it is now an oligarchy that's controlled by the rich.
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So again, we need to stop buying into the ridiculous proposition that if we just make the one-percenters just a little bit richer they'll take care of us. We need to take care of ourselves, and our lower and middle-class workers. Thereafter, when they spend their money on goods and services, they'll create a thriving economy again. When we put money in the pockets of the poor and middle class it circulates - they go on vacations, which creates jobs; they buy their children toys and clothes, which creates jobs; and they buy new homes, which creates jobs. When we give our money to the rich, it goes into offshore accounts and we never see it again. That's why the bottom 80% of the people now only have 7% of the wealth.
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We're being sold a bill of goods.  Corporations are making more profits than they ever made in their history, so there's no reason for unemployment to be so high. The reason that it is, however, is because the corporatists are purposely keeping unemployment high in order to strangle the American middle class into accepting a lower standard of living that will be more in keeping with the global economy.
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Thus, we need to vote many of these demagogues out of office and vote people in who are willing to pass a Workers' Bill of Rights. Then we need to inform these corporatists that they're going to have to dance to a different drummer if they want to do business in the United States. If they don't want to comply, they'll have to do business elsewhere and make room for others who will happily take their place, and for far less money.
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Eric L. Wattree

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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HILLARY CLINTON - IF ANYONE ASSASSINATED HER CHARACTER, IT WAS HILLARY HERSELF

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

HILLARY CLINTON - IF ANYONE ASSASSINATED HER CHARACTER, IT WAS HILLARY HERSELF

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I was recently accused of character assassination by staunch Hillary Clinton supporters as a result of the mere mention in my article, "This Is Why I Don't Trust Hillary Clinton - She'll Do Anything To Win, And She Thinks We're Dumb," that once Hillary Clinton became desperate over her all but certain loss to Barack Obama in the 2008 primaries, she began to continually allude to the assassination of Robert Kennedy during the 1968 primary. She kept repeating that mantra as justification for why she didn't simply get out of the race. The mere mention of this episode seemed to drive these Clinton supporters up the wall. They said it was "water under the bridge," and others tried to make light of it as though I was some sort of crazy conspiracy theorist - "Was Hillary also responsible for the sinking of the Lusitania - and by the way, where's her birth certificate?" But the fact is, this issue is not funny, and it should be seriously examined.  

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What made Hillary's remarks seem much more malevolent than a simple gaffe was, as pointed out in a Keith Olbermann commentary, someone had obviously told her that her mention of the word "assassination" was inappropriate since Sen. Obama had been receiving death threats every since the day he threw his hat in the ring to run for president, so Hillary stopped using the word - temporarily. But as her situation became more dire and it was all but certain that she was going to lose to Sen. Obama, she began using the word "assassination" again.
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And later, On May 11th 2008, while appearing on Meet The Press, Hillary’s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, made the same kind of statement to Tim Russert. He said that in order for Hillary to win the nomination "something big" would have to happen. Then Russett asked, "An act of God, or something catastrophic?", and he said, "Yes, something big would have to happen–absolutely."
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So how much farther did they have to go, say, "Calling all wingnuts! If somebody - ANYBODY - don't kill this guy America could end up with a Black man for president!!!?"  

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As writers and journalists, we should never tailor our opinions to appease our audience.  Audience appeasement and manipulation is the philosophy of Fox News, and it's one of the major problems that we have in our political environment today - political pundits and politicians are only telling the people what they want to hear. That's why America is so uninformed. Writers should ALWAYS seek truth, reveal what they find, and then let the people make up their own minds regarding what they believe; if they don't, they serve no useful purpose. If what you're saying is ridiculous, more often than not, the people will recognize it, but if a politician and his or her staunch supporters go ballistic at the mere mention of a subject, chances are, you've hit pay dirt.
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These Clinton supporters tried to justified their position that what I was saying was ridiculous by pointing out that President Obama appointed Hillary to Secretary of State and she served him well. In response, I pointed out that Bill Clinton was pushing for Hillary to be given the vice presidency. But while President Obama had the good sense to throw Hillary a bone to heal the rift in the Democratic Party, he also had the good sense NOT to place her within a heartbeat of the presidency. In addition, Hillary wasn't serving the President as Secretary of State, she was serving her own ambition.   
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In the interest of full disclosure, admittedly, I support Bernie Sanders - although, if Hillary gets the Democratic nomination she'll have my full-throated support, even though I'll be holding my nose in the process. I don't subscribe to the the Ralph Nader/Cornel West philosophy of becoming so upset with the Bogey Man that I leave the backdoor open for the Devil. But if I knew of, or found out, anything negative in Bernie Sanders' background, I'd be writing about it just like I'm writing about Hillary, because that's what I do. That's why at one point or another I anger everybody - Blacks, Whites, Jews, and Gentiles. The only people I haven't offended so far are Eskimos - but someone just informed me that by simply saying "Eskimo," I'm now batting a thousand. 
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PERSONALITY CULT

So in my judgment, when Hillary Clinton repeatedly alluded to assassination while on the verge of losing the nomination to the first Black man with a legitimate chance to become President of the United States, that was, and is, a serious issue. That was much more than just a simple gaffe, and it shouldn't be fluffed off as such, because it speaks volumes about either Hillary's character, her judgment, or both. Thus, any journalist worth his or her salt should feel obligated to pursue this matter. It's about the obligation to follow truth wherever it leads and regardless to whose ox it gores. That's what both journalists, and true progressives are suppose to be all about, not joining personality cults. Only wingnuts and idiots place blinders on to support their favorite candidate. That's how we got George W. Bush - through the blind devotion of his less than thoughtful supporters - and we paid for it dearly, and we're still paying for it.
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This is neither a one-issue matter, nor a popularity contest. We're considering the best person to become the next President of the United States of America, and that's an awesome responsibility - and again, we can't do that responsibly by joining cults.  The future of this nation, and the future of our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren are depending on us to make a sober and intelligent decision on this matter, not to just vote blindly through knee-jerk emotionalism.  I addressed that issue in 2011 in an article entitled "Obama Supporters VS.  Cheerleaders."  I pointed out the following:
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"There are two types of people who support President Obama. There are his supporters who want to see him be a success, and then there are the cheerleaders who simply go along with everything that he does and deeply resent his supporters who don't.
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"The president's supporters understand the importance of remembering that in a representative democracy the president, and all politicians, are elected to serve the people, and not vice versa. They understand that all politicians are employees, and their primary job is to represent and protect the interest and principles of those who hired them. Thus, when we place the importance of any one man [or woman] above our own principles, we create a dangerous situation by corrupting the intent of our founding fathers, and turning the democratic process on its head." (http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/01/obama-supporters-vs-cheerleaders.html)
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So if anyone assassinated Hillary's character, it was Hillary herself.  I'm simply reporting it.

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Eric L. Wattree 

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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THIS IS WHY I DON'T TRUST HILLARY CLINTON - SHE'LL DO ANYTHING TO WIN, AND SHE THINKS WE'RE DUMB

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

THIS IS WHY I DON'T TRUST HILLARY CLINTON - SHE'LL DO ANYTHING TO WIN, AND SHE THINKS WE'RE DUMB

(BELOW IS A REPRISE OF AN ARTICLE I DID ON MAY 26, 2008)
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IS HILLARY ENGAGED IN SUBLIMINAL MESSAGING?
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Beneath the spin has never been more meaningful than it has become during this political season, because it’s beginning to look like Hillary Clinton has taken it’s meaning to a new and very insidious level. After her comment regarding Robert Kennedy’s assassination, I began to consider all the “gaffes” that both she and Bill have been involved in during this campaign, and I’ve found strong evidence that points to the possibility that Hillary has been engaged in the practice of subliminal messaging throughout this campaign. If this is indeed the case, it makes her latest misstatement much more serious than many of us would like to believe.

Subliminal messaging involves sending messages to the subconscious mind that are not picked up on a conscious level. This technique is often used in advertising–sometimes overtly, but at other times very covertly. An example of the overt use of subliminal messaging in advertising is to have a beautiful woman caressing a new car that’s being advertised for sale. Having the woman there caressing the car sends a subliminal message to the subconscious of perspective male buyers that if they buy this car, it will draw beautiful women to them. Another example of overt subliminal advertising is in the use of Michael Jordan to advertise tennis shoes. It sends the message that if you buy these tennis shoes, it will help you to play basketball like Michael Jordan. Neither is necessarily true, but the beauty of subliminal messaging is since the message goes directly to the subconscious, it circumvents the scrutiny of logical thought.

That’s what makes the use of covert subliminal messaging so ominous. I remember studying one case in college involving a group of moviegoers who were subjected to the technique. In that case, while the group was watching a movie, one frame of a juicy and delicious-looking, cheese burger was spliced into the reel. the moviegoers never even noticed it on a conscious level, but the subconscious doesn’t miss a thing. Later, when they became hungry “out of the blue” and flocked to the concession stand, they never realized that they’d been manipulated.

This technique can also be applied in a political context. But instead of one frame in a reel during a movie, it becomes one word in a sentence, a paragraph, or even an entire speech. I suspect very seriously that this technique was being employed when Bill Clinton mentioned “Jesse Jackson” while discussing an Obama win in the South Carolina primary. By doing so, it was Bill’s intent to implant a subliminal message in the mind of the voter associating all of Jesse Jackson’s baggage, or perceived baggage, on the back of Barack Obama. The beauty of such a strategy is that it doesn’t matter what the context, as long as the statement is graphic, and mentioned while discussing Obama, it serves to implant itself in the mind of the voter.

Another example of subliminal messaging at work was in Bill’s post-Iowa remark that, “This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I’ve ever seen.” He said that during a time when the Clintons thought that they still had a chance of getting the black vote, so by implanting “fairy tale” in the mind of black voters, it sent the message that they were wasting their vote, because Obama’s candidacy was a fantasy.

Hillary’s comment regarding John McCain having more experience than Obama is another example of this type of manipulation at work. Hillary said, “He’s [McCain] never been the president, but he will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience. Senator Obama will put forth a speech he made in 2002.”

In this case, Hillary was trying to implant two messages. First, by saying, “He’s never been president, but . . .” She was attempting to implant the subliminal message that she had been president. Then, by aligning McCain and herself on the one hand, and Obama on the other, and saying Obama only had a speech, she was contrasting the white experience with the presidency, against that of a black man--and then dismissing Obama by saying all he could bring to the table was a speech.

That was the primary reason that no one could figure out why Hillary had aligned herself with the Republican candidate–it had to do with race, clear and simple. Notice her phrasing–McCain “will put forth his lifetime of experience. I will put forth my lifetime of experience.” She emphasized, and then re-emphasized the word “lifetime”. So she wasn’t talking about governmental experience, or even legislative experience–she was talking about white experience. So the message she was actually trying to implant was, What experience could a black man possibly have that would prepare him to be president?

Then on May 8th she went there again when she said, “Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me." The reason she stuttered after the first comma was because on her first attempt, she forgot to implant the word “white.” The message? Vote white.

In addition, the implication of her remarks left the message that white people are the only one’s who work hard. So the subliminal message is, if many black people are poor, yet, don’t work hard to remedy that condition, what does that say about them–and through extension, what does it say about Obama?

Now we come to her latest “gaffe” about the assassination of Robert Kennedy. She claims that her words are being taken out of context, but she could have made the very same point by using other examples. In fact, that would have been the prudent and compassionate thing to do considering Sen. Ted Kennedy’s condition, and what the Kennedy family was already going through. But for some reason, Hillary deemed it absolutely necessary to implant the word “assassination.”

And this was clearly not an issue that hadn’t been considered within the Clinton camp. On May 11th while appearing on Meet The Press, Hillary’s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, made the same kind of statement to Tim Russert. He said that in order for Hillary to win the nomination "something big" would have to happen. Then Russett asked, "An act of God, or something catastrophic?", and he said, "Yes, something big would have to happen–absolutely."

So let there be no doubt about it, the Clintons know exactly what they’re saying--and it behooves us to listen very carefully to every word. Because these two are desperate, and they want to get back into the White House bad–real bad.
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Eric L. Wattree 

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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BLACK PEOPLE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING PLAYED, IN A VERY DANGEROUS GAME

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

BLACK PEOPLE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BEING PLAYED, IN A VERY DANGEROUS GAME
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Black people are in the process of being demonized and setup in a very dangerous way.  Yes, we've always been demonized, demeaned, and disparaged, but this time it's different, and the accusations are much more dangerous and malevolent. This time we're being accused of being anti-American terrorists who are bent on bringing down America, so we shouldn't take it lightly.  I've said this before, and I thought the potential danger in this situation would be both alarming and obvious to all, but I've noticed that a handful of very naive Black people are fluffing it off as meaningless, so I thought it was worth revisiting.

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At this point the focus is on Black Lives Matter (BLM).  Due to the thoughtless antics of a few unthinking individuals in the name of the organization, they've made BLM an easy target.  So BLM needs to restructure their organization to require authorization to speak on behalf of the organization, keep tight control over any activities that take place in their name, and remain vigilant in weeding out any individual(s) who engage in any kind of stupid activity in their name, because the conservative establishment is slowing beginning to put the subliminal message in America's mind that BLM is not a social justice organization, but a terrorist organization, and they have absolutely no hesitation in infiltrating the group with plants and Judas goats to help them make that jacket stick, and if it gains traction, Black people as a whole are in trouble.

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Black conservative sheriff,  David Clarke, of Milwaukee says, "Black Lives Matter will join forces with Islamic State (ISIS) to bring down our republic."  Now, Huffington Post reports that Fox News has suggested that BLM was responsible for the murder of  Deputy Darren Goforth of Harris County, Texas. The article reads in part:
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"Fox News ran an onscreen banner during Monday night's episode of "Fox & Friends" referring to the Black Lives Matter movement as a "murder movement," and one Fox host wondered why the movement wasn't labeled a hate group.

"'Fox & Friends' co-host Brian Kilmeade was speaking with Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke about the death of Deputy Darren Goforth of Harris County, Texas, who was fatally shot while pumping gas in a Houston suburb on Friday night. Goforth was white, and the man who police believe killed him, Shannon Miles, is black.

"There is no evidence that Miles has any connection to the Black Lives Matter movement, but the "Fox & Friends" segment made a point to strongly imply that Black Lives Matter was at fault for Goforth’s death."  

And conservatives are far from done. That same Black conservative sheriff, David Clarke, has already gone on to say, "Blacks Sell Drugs' Because They Are 'Lazy' And 'Morally Bankrupt." And now it turns out that we have a White sheriff in Florida, David Morgan, saying, “We have unfortunately, in America, embraced a thug culture.  One that aggrandizes, again, foul language, shooting cops, abusing women and if you think those things do not have an effect on our children you need to get a grip!”

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They are gradually conflating the Black community with terrorism and anti-Americanism. So Black people need to wake up!  But when I initially reported this, one Black person was so naive as to try to ridicule the position I'm putting forward here as paranoid. He laughed and said, "People aren't going to pay any attention to that discredited Black sheriff."  But he's dead wrong, and history has repeatedly demonstrated that fact. 

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The Republican Party has made repeating lies until they gain traction a way of life - Fox News has made that concept its primary business model, and the entire advertising industry is based on the premise that if you tell a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.  But it goes farther than that. As a simple rule of thumb, one should never make the foolish mistake of assuming what an adversary WON'T do. When you're dealing with an adversary, you should ALWAYS assume the very worst - and since the 2016 election is looming, with the change in the nation's demographics, and GOP's history of dirty politics, we should DEFINITELY expect the very worst.

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SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT THIS?  

The Black community must stop allowing itself to become such an easy target for demonization.  In the short term we should firmly deny the allegation and demand concrete evidence of the sheriff's dangerous, malevolent. and unsubstantiated allegation. If clear evidence is not provided, we should demand the sheriff's recall, explore civil litigation against him, and declare him an enemy of the Black community. We Should also follow the exact same procedure against any media person or organization who suggests such a thing.
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In this political environment accusing ANYONE of being a terrorist without concrete evidence to substantiate the claim should be declared a hate crime, because the consequences of such an accusation can be so dire - including the suspension of all of Constitutional rights, arrest and imprisonment without any kind of due process or trial, or worse. That may seem to be a remote possibility now, but if one of the clown bus of right-wing Republican reactionaries should win the 2016 Presidential election, they will control all three branches of government, and these people have no sense of limits. So we should make it publicly clear to all Black people that anyone who does anything stupid to lend credibility to this allegation is placing the entire Black community in serious jeopardy.  In short, the Black community needs to stop sitting on its hands, and be proactive in aggressively addressing this issue.  
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And now that this charge has been floated, this is going to be an ongoing concern, so it's important for the Black community to start taking steps right now to address our cultural mores and the infrastructure within our community. We must insure that we can't be defined by the most dysfunctional people in our community, and we must also take steps to insure that dysfunction is not rewarded by, or in, the community.

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IS HIP HOP BEING USED BY THE ESTABLISHMENT TO DEMONIZE THE BLACK COMMUNITY?

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While there's nothing intrinsically wrong with the hip hop genre as an art form, it's literally drenched in people who are getting rich by producing 10 minute commercials that's being beamed all over America - and throughout the world - referring to the very womb of the Black culture as bitches and hoes. Many also take macho and adolescent pride in declaring themselves gangsters and are routinely promoting the use of drugs and violence. The Black community has got to send a message to these people - ignorance and dysfunction are neither cool, nor manly; it only lends comfort and assistance to an enemy who's out to destroy the Black community. And the way to send that message is to boycott any artist who engages in such stupidity, and also boycott any record company, radio or television station, or magazine, and their sponsors, who promote this self-destructive idiocy. In addition, as Black parents, we must educate our children and be firm in forbidding such content from being played in our homes.
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MUSIC AWARD SHOWS 

The community must also send a message to the producers, broadcasters, and sponsors of music award shows, and let them know in no unequivocal terms that we're tired of seeing the same entertainers swaggering across the stage and being rewarded for spewing a false image of Black people as just a group of dysfunctional idiots. We don't want to see such people at the Grammys, or any other award shows, and we must put our $1.1 trillion in Black spending power to work in backing up that demand.

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We should also use our dollars to encourage Black award shows, such as the Soul Train Awards, to convert their format from music awards, to giving out awards for Black excellence in the community. Instead of continually giving out awards to the same old swaggering entertainers, they should use entertainers to entertain, and to PRESENT the awards to young Black scholars, and people who have contributed to the community, and who have demonstrated Black excellence. Such programs would serve three purposes - first, it would send a message to Black youth that excellence is what is cool, not dysfunction; secondly, it would beam the message around the world that the Black community is focused on growth and excellence, not terrorism; and finally, it would educate the world on the kind of excellence to be found in the Black community.

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BLACK CHURCHES   

The Black church has traditionally been a place where the Black community has organized to move itself forward.  In the past the Black church recognized that its mission was much more complex than to simply have a preacher come in and do a spoken-word concert (for 10% of our earnings) every Sunday on how to get into Heaven. Jesus wasn't just giving spoken-word concerts about the joys of Heaven, he was also concerned with the plight of the people while they're here on Earth. When Jesus spoke, he expected his disciples to LIVE his words, not just preach and pray:
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"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues [churches] and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward . . ." Matthew 6:1-34 

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"IF YE WERE ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN, YE WOULD DO THE WORKS OF ABRAHAM"
John 8: 39

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REV. CREFLO DOLLAR'S HOME

So we must re-organize our churches, and re-traditionalize their mission to focus on enhancing the people's lives, as oppose to making individual preachers rich. Thus, if your preacher is doing better than the people in the community that surrounds your church, you're either attending the wrong church, or the right church with the wrong preacher. So we must re-organize our churches and put preachers on a fixed salary, and then use the billions of dollars in tithes that flow into the various Black churches every Sunday to elevate the community.

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The Black churches in every community should come together to form a consortium. Thereafter, they should pool the tithes they're collecting every Sunday to purchase businesses to provide jobs for our young people that pay a living wage, and purchase property to provide affordable housing in the community. The entire community should also do it's part. If everyone in the community was encouraged to invest just $10 a month into the consortium, they could build a portfolio by indicating what businesses in the community they wanted their investment to go to. That could reap great dividends - the people would, literally, be investing in their own community. That would also encourage the community to patronize it's own businesses, and it would provide the consortium the revenue to invest in any venture that it chose to pursue. Eventually, Black consortiums across the country could join forces and, essentially, become, Black People, Inc.
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The churches should also be open 7 days a week to provide affordable childcare for working mothers. Then they could also hire unemployed mothers to help in the daycare centers.  The churches should also utilize the knowledge and expertise of retired professionals in their congregations to help mentor and instruct the people in the community. And of course, there should be a citizens committee to oversee the operation of the various businesses (not the preachers), and it should require multiple signatures to withdraw any funds from the bank for any reason - and once again, to ensure that the funds are being used most efficiently, preachers should be placed on fixed salaries instead of being allowed to get rich at the expense of the community. Jesus was not a wealthy man, so why should any preacher be?
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That's how we reform our community. We educate the community to give excellence and knowledge priority over dysfunction, and give the young people within it a sense of pride, an opportunity to put money in their pockets, and to build credit and buy new cars. We've got to teach them how the game is played, and give them hope and confidence in their future.
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If we are proactive in doing these things, then when the world looks upon the Black community, they won't see a "thug culture" and budding terrorists, they'll see a community with the backbone and political clout to back up our demands, and a community filled with conscientious, intelligent, and knowledgeable people who are on the rise. 

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Eric L. Wattree 

wattree.blogspot.com

Ewattree@Gmail.com

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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