Three pt 86November 12, 2008 9:59 amWelcome To The Middle Class… Please Take a Number and Have a Seat
A lot is being made about the middle class. We as fools are lead by our noses into class envy warfare by the ones we trust to look out for our interests. We go along; feeling like we make a difference and our Mommies and Daddies (Government) will take care of us and notice us.
When you get to the middle class, there is no parade, no party, not even a gold star. But our politicians would like to have us think that we have achieved something that is special. They try to show us that we have arrived some place special by the way they want to care for us by giving tax breaks and incentives to live a better life as they would have us do. And we listen, and we listen… and nothing ever changes except the amount of money you do or don’t make to be in this elite class of American society.
Then, if we are fourtunate enough to graduate from the middle class, our incentives and tax breaks are taken away… and we are asked to give back what we never asked for in the first place.
At one time or another, when I was attending collage, one of my professors… I think it was my psych professor… pulled me aside. I had written a paper… and the grade was not what I expected and I was visibly pissed. The teacher told me something that I will never forget and it went something like this. Hey, Terry… this paper was a piece of garbage to me, but out there with the right professor I am sure it would be graded as brilliant. But in here, where I have been in trusted with farthing your education, you do by my standards or you fail. Why tell you this?
I picked that collage based on the wrong criteria. I thought that more money, more students, prestige, were important, when in fact they all sound good, but I could have done better for myself staying home and going to the local community collage. I wanted to believe that appearance and the way the university’s name sounded was best.
What sounds or looks best… Middle Class, Poor, ULM Class (Upper Lover Middle), High Class… sounds good, but does nothing for any of us, except one thing. Allow those that we trust (elected official) to pit us against one another for political and socially expediency.
From Joe the Plummer to Judy the hair dresser to Connie the cork stopper at the local bottling plant, we have been conditioned by our government to envy those, who our more like us then not.
I think this sign from a local business says it best…
If being in the middle class is such a bonus, then why do most of our politicians live affluent lives…
Can anyone really tell me who is the middle class, aren’t we all in their eyes?

Terry, the middle class has been shrinking dramatically over the last 20 years. Money has been shifting both up and down from this once proud group created out of WWII. The conditions which created the middle class were governmental policies which allowed for the greatest economic expansion the world has ever known. This expansion allowed for your grandparents and mine to live relatively stable lives into retirement. It is what made our nation prosperous. It is what allowed for things like retirement, healthcare, and savings for an enormous number of our citizens.
You speak of class warfare and pitting one group against another while ignoring the rhetoric of socialism vs. capitalism (neither candidate was anything close to pure in ideology), real Americans vs. false ones, The elite vs. “values” folk, and cities vs. towns. Your ideologs were the ones running on populism remember (soccer moms vs. politicians)? Joe the plumber was a myth used as a prop to drive a wedge between people. Somehow your party, and your post has come to the conclusion that it is better to be anti-smart. It is no wonder the bulk of the world disagrees with you.
PS. The middle class is people making $40,000 to $250,000 per year. When the middle class is larger there are some rich and some poor. When the middle class is smaller there are more rich and many more poor. You are the first person I have ever read that has something against the idea of a middle class. What is wrong with you?
Brian tsk tsk… 40 ~ 250k is middle class. I make less than 23k and have a 300k home. Its not what we make, and that is my point. I have moved up and out down and over through the classes. You are totally wrong if you do not thing that the government loves to pit one group against another for nothing other than envy monetary redistribution… its like taxation with class representation. A flat tax is the only way that we take that power away from our govenment and give it back to EVERYONE.
Comment by Brian Smith — November 12, 2008 @ 12:03 pm