Excellent post.

Really great read.

we the people are the solution and I for one am ready to start making noise....just to be clear in the direction I want to go in this country I think people who watch Fox for news are lazy and let the corperations do their thinking for them or just plain stupid

You go ahead and lower yourselves to whatever pit you like. Become a part of the lowest common denominator. I'll keep on trying to make my life better by working hard, as I have done since I was 16, and voting for people who feel the same way. I refuse to work hard so those who won't can share the fruits of MY labor.

part of working hard is paying attention to who is cheating you and your fellow man...you benefit from the friut of MY labor everyday so don't act like you know how anyone gets where they are in life...the roads you ride on, the mail in your mailbox,hospitals you go or visit, parks you picnic in, schools,on and on and on you reap because of me and you neigbors.

speaking up is not lowering yourself but raising the bar for our leaders to know how we feel and what we expect.

I find it amusing that the wealthy criticize the poor collectively as though they were a lazy lot.  Ont he contrary, the wealthy are often so because (in part their own fortunes and intelligent efforts) but in the main because the proletariat labors for the wealthy man who reaps the lion's share of the benefit. 

I don't think anybody here advocates leeching off of society, everyone here wants to work, but some have more fortune and talent that others and earn more.  As a college educated man, I have much higher earning potential than many of my peers.  However, I also agree that all people in our great country ought to be entitled to a minimum standard of living and equal opportunity.  If I must "share" my wealth to facilitate that, then so be it--I believe that is the way it should be. 

Everyone has ups and downs.  Today you're the earner, but tomorrow you may be the recipient.  Advocate carefully!

amen   middlepath!! I could not agree more

May I recommend to one and all that you go see Capitalism: A Lovestory at the Marketplace? Now don't start screaming about how you hate Michael Moore, just go see the movie with an open mind, you will be surprised and yes, amused.

Here is something to consider that is easy to understand when you think about it motopoet: we PAY for the sins of other in one way or the other. In one way or the other we pay NOW, or pay much more later. Lets just assume that all poor people ARE lazy good for nothing drug addicts. As long as we occupy the same space as them, they pay for there misdeeds. If we don't spend money to motivate them out of their laziness, they remain lazy. If we do not spend money on drug treatment, they remain druggies. Well, ok. Take away job placement and treament options and they still get housing, cash, and food stamps. Cut those too? So now they are homeless lazy drug addicts with no money and no food. What about the children? Its foster care for them! That's right! If you can't feed them don't breed them! But while in foster care who feeds them? Oh man! We STILL have to support those little <expletive for children born out of wedlock> . Well, while the STATE is supporting the children vis a vis foster care, those good for nothing adults are out on the street dealing dope likely and have long given up on any prospect of bettering themselves (if they ever did to begin with). Wow! Do they really deserve to be sponging off us taxpayers by giving them medicaid? They're just going to destroy their bodies with all the drug use and boozing they do. Take medicaid away too. Why waste taxpayer money? So next time just let them stand in the lobby of KMC ER for 10 hrs next time they get sick-by the way-they deserve it. D@mn! It cost more for them to go to KMC ER than it would be to just let them keep their insurance!? That's just not fair. Out on the street, they'll likely get arrested anyway. But if they DO, I, Mr Taxpayer, am right back to providing them free food, shelter, and health care!

So, what are the alternatives right wingers?

i say cut off social programs and leave them to their own devices.  go back to how it was after WWI but before the great depression....let the churches and not for profits do their job on a bigger scale...dont penalize the people who pay taxes because others make bad choices in their life.

Learnem-you TRULY don't get it.  Who provides to the churches? WE DO!  Who provides to the non-profits? WE DO (grants paid by tax payers and business community)!!! We either pay for their 'bad choices' NOW or we pay a LOT more LATER for them. A lifetime on social services is a lesser tax burden than a life incarcerated with children in foster care. Not just that, but study after freaking study have shown that FEAR of not having is a poor motivator for the unmotivated. It yields short term results at best.   Learn, would you prefer that we exterminate them or ship them to a deserted island? I'm not an advocate of laziness and I'm certainly not a fan of cradle to grave welfare, but BE REALISTIC!

After WWI, but before the Great Depression? That's so silly, it's ridiculous.  What your saying is we should go back to the way things 'were' even though that had to be changed during the Great Depression because what we were doing was not enough. Well, Bucko, we're in a Great Depression now! Many that never thought they'd have to depend on social services are having to now: and not by choice!  While I understand your being 'fed up' with lazy people, consider yourself lucky your not having to wait in line with them for food stamps: many of your coleagues are having to join them.

thank you patrick

great post middle

This is not the frontier, we can no longer go our own way and hope to prosper. Like it or not, we are all in this thing together and we have to help the other guy. If we don't stand up for each other agains corporate interests, we are going to be crushed. We still have the power, just barely but we have it. "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee">

" I just cannot see this without some kind of revolution in our country ..."

Keep our chins up. Teach our children to do the same ... It's not the end of the world.

--virgil