You know, I’ve been hearing a lot lately from Republicans about a two-tiered justice system in America that has “suddenly” reared its ugly head and is making them political victims. Perhaps if they would circumvent their denial of actual American history, CRT and current American reality, they would learn what it means to be a real American victim.
How do you think the Native people that were here when we took over their country and continually screwed them over, treaty after treaty, felt about being victims? How do you think Black people that were dragged out of their own country and brought here to toil as slaves with no rights, and were also whipped and hanged if they didn’t “behave,” felt about being victims? How do you think a 10-year-old girl who is raped by her uncle and forced to give birth to an unwanted child feels about justice? How do you think today’s poor, middle-class and elderly Americans feel about being victims when Republican members of Congress, you know, the self-proclaimed populist champions of the average forgotten Americans that have been abandoned by the “elite ruling class,” and who also have a lifetime of guaranteed government-provided health care and retirement benefits, tell them that their Social Security, Medicare and veterans benefits are “entitlements” that amount to wasteful spending and should be phased out or eliminated altogether.
Look, these are just a few of the myriad of examples of the actual two-tiered justice system that has existed in our country since its inception, not just the whining Republicans’ latest tirades about how the current justice system is unfair and is punishing them for their political beliefs. I believe they will do that by themselves, led by their phony populist boss, Donny “The Martyr” Trump.
One last thought: If the voting machines used to elect Trump in 2016 were legitimate and the same voting machines used to defeat Trump in 2020 were illegitimate, who’s the actual victim?
MIKE EKLUND, Mercer, Wis.
First, I would like to say that The Progressive Populist is the only publication I read, except when a friend of mine gives me a copy of our local newspaper, and I really appreciate your content and the authors thereof. It is the best Progressive magazine I have ever read.
The reason I am writing is to express my dismay about the way the Social Security system works.
I used to know an older woman who has since passed away. My wife, Barbara, worked for this woman and my wife and I ran missions for her, like taking her to the store, and my wife cleaned her house, also.
This older woman was married to a man who worked for an automobile manufacturer and was a millionaire. Her husband left her worth millions of dollars. The woman got a substantial Social Security benefit that was more than double the benefit which I get. To me, that seems like a backwards system: the poor get less and the rich get more. I feel that the poor should get more and the rich should get less, or even nothing if they had millions of dollars already to live on. As a matter of fact, the woman I am discussing tried to stop getting her Social Security because she did not need it, but the Social Security system would not let her stop her payments. That seemed absurd to me.
Why does the Social Security system work that way? I feel like the the poor should get more money and the rich should get nothing if they do not need it, and just get less if they would need some help to survive.
I know I get barely enough to survive. As a matter of fact, since my wife died in 2020, I have had to go to extremes to balance my books so that I can pay my bills and have enough to buy food so I can survive.
Why can’t we have a system with more equality built into it? Why do the rich get more? Why can’t the poor get more so they can really have the security they need to lead happy lives when the get old?
Can we not fix this broken system and rnake equality the guiding principle behind our Social Security system? I think we can fix it, if enough Democrats wish to make that kind of change. We all should write to our Representatives and Senators so we can make this change happen. It would benefit all poor people in our country and we could then call our country a good Democracy where equality reigns, and the rich pay their fair share. It would just take one bill to make this change, and J bet some Republicans might even go along with the idea. It could even spread all over the world and make changes which would make all poor people happier.
Thank you for all that you do and may God bless you all.
Rev. DEAN G. ROSE, Altoona, Pa.
Editor Notes: US Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are co-sponsoring the Social Security Expansion Act, which would extend the Social Security Trust Fund solvency for another 75 years by lifting the cap on taxable income from the current $147,000 to all income above $250,000, increase monthly benefits for most recipients by $200, and alter the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) formula to meet everyday needs of seniors.
The editor replied to my letter in the 8/15/22 TPP, “Maybe we could start promoting an amendment to replace the Electoral College with a popular election and see how that goes.”
Our government, as it has been implemented, grinds slowly, but infinitely fine. The Equal Rights Amendment has been waiting how many years in the approval process? And the feet draggers are in the legislature. And, even if we could get the popular election to be decided by the popular vote, the government is meant to work as it does. How could one person come riding in on a horse and save the day? Many people like the government and how it works today. But, I am convinced, that they are not the majority. We have to get the majority of the people to control how the government runs.
We need a government elected by the people’s popular vote, probably by all residents, a unicameral legislature and no one with unlimited terms of office. And this means a revision/reimaging of the Constitution!
BARRIE EICHHORN, West Chester, Pa.
The Progressive Populist’s editorial detailing the passage of the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act [“Democrats in Array,” 9/1/22 TPP] was a fact-heavy compendium worth clipping for debate fodder at the water cooler, and couched in the notion that Democrats not only have a pulse, but are well situated going into the Fall midterms by tackling climate change and forwarding tax and health care reforms.
And the sonic boom that was the Kansas abortion referendum will certainly spell enhanced turnout, itself reversing grim prognostications for the Democrats.
Here’s one more suggestion to Democrats eager to shore up standing amongst their base, specifically its cast-aside anti-war contingent: End the Administration’s no-negotiation stance and compel our Ukraine proxies to sue for peace with the Russians.
Trump’s buddy/buddying with Putin has rendered that idea toxic, and the virtual media black-out of any suggestions of negotiated Ukraine settlements carries echoes of the crackdown WWI pacifists encountered, a very visceral history lesson.
So, TPP is to be applauded for allowing anti-Ukraine War dissent in its pages, including an Aug. 15 article by N. Gunasekaran on NATO designs for Far East territories, a non-flinching look at NATO’s voracious appetite for expansion generally, recently augmented by the highly precipitous additions of Sweden and Finland, albeit a critique by a writer insulated by his base in India.
But even he had to do his tip-toeing, the author noting NATO’s push to the Russian border with actual mention of Ukraine or the horrors within only implied.
And nobody wants to think about the nuclear Doomsday Clock, already ticking at 100 seconds-to-midnight when it was shoved into a closet at the start of the Ukraine conflagration as neo-Cold War turned to hot.
Putin deserves his demonization, but surely his nation has a few legitimate security concerns, as NATO, in violation of post-Berlin Wall assurances, gobbled up 14 nations in its eastern march to their border. Historians will speculate whether Russian invasion might have been precluded had Anthony Blinken taken prospective Ukraine NATO membership off the table.
Still stinging from intense flak following the Afghan troop pull-out six months prior, it would have taken great courage for the Administration to stand up to the NATO juggernaut and a defense industry addicted to drinking from its federal cash-infusion firehose, now at $13.6 billion and counting for Ukraine alone.
Yet, certain to be popular to the Democratic base, the question, as relevant as ever, absolutely needs to be asked: Why not give peace a chance?
MIKE WETTSTEIN Jr., Appleton, Wis.
Step right up dictators, princes and kings, come one come all, it’s all for sale! Today’s special, buy one box of secrets and get a second one free. Prices negotiable for a list of all of America’s human intelligence sources, those in your country or in countries from around the world. C’mon, why spend billions on R&D, get it here at a fraction of the price, save time, save money! Schematics for bombs, missiles, submarines and so much more – don’t miss out! We have it all on hard-to-detect miniature electronic devices you can carry away with you. Or we would be happy to transmit to your secure server, no matter if it’s in Riyadh, Moscow, Istanbul or Beijing! Think of the fun torturing US intel sources who trusted Americans to keep their names secret!
ED GIBBONS, Cedaredge, Colo.
Three Top Secret documents were found in Donald trump's desk drawer in Mar-a-Lago. They weren't even stored in the unsecured storage rooms of Mar-a-Lago. Has the Former President, who was reported to own three passports, already spilled the beans? Has he already called people, possible foreign government officials, and told them what the documents said?
If anyone else had illegally stolen Top Secret documents and tried to cover it up, as trump and his employees have, wouldn't the obvious conclusion be that this was the action of a spy engaging in espionage against our country? Wouldn't we call such an ex-government employee: TRAITOR!
BRUCE JOFFE, Piedmont, Calif.
I just saw the best pro-choice placard yet:
“As a girl, I just hope that one day I have as many rights as a gun.”
These are violent, reactionary times. Speak truth to power. Confront the superstitious lies. Uphold the persecuted. And do it all with as much love and humor as you can muster.
KALI M. KALICHE, Williams, Ariz.
From The Progressive Populist, October 1, 2022
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