What Does America Stand For?
One of the luckiest and best things that ever happened to me and my family was when my folks decided to take a foster son into our family. I was 11 years old, and so was Kevin. I wasn’t sure about him coming, because with my oldest sister moving out, I would have finally have a bedroom to myself when my older brother moved into her newly empty room, but I got over it quickly enough.
Kevin is developmentally and physically disabled because of brain damage he had suffered from child abuse. He can’t talk very clearly (although those of us in the family can understand him pretty well), read much, or do much math. He has always moved pretty slow, and now has cerebral palsy and is having more and more trouble moving at all. But before getting CP, as long as he was able, Kevin went to work every Monday through Friday in structured workplaces, making money to support himself and pay taxes.
He is fun to be with, as engaging and good-natured as anyone I know. Although he’s not able to talk very clearly, Kevin tells great stories, is genuinely funny, and is always interested in hearing about what is going on in my life. He has a better memory on some things than I do, and despite not being able to read a map, he is better at finding his way around Lincoln, Neb. (our hometown) than I am. He calls our mom every single day (which is better than I do) with stories about his day. Most importantly of all, he cares for others wherever he is. Since he left our house after we all grew up, and Mom and Dad got older, Kevin has mostly been in group homes in Lincoln. We still see him on holidays and whenever we come to town, but since leaving my folks’ house, he has usually lived with others who have mental and/or physical disabilities. Even with his developmental challenges, his cerebral palsy, and the fact that he is losing some hearing and eyesight, Kevin has helped his housemates. For example, he has been a strong source of comfort, support and friendship for a young man he is living with now who is worse off than him in terms of his disabilities.
My brother Kevin, with all his challenges, is in every way the kind of person we would want in our society: a wonderful son, a great brother, someone who looks out for and helps everyone around him. This is the kind of person Republicans would leave by the side of the road in order to, as my friend Bob Creamer put it, “protect tax loopholes for CEOs who fly corporate jets.” They would devastate Medicaid and programs for the disabled, so that the wealthiest most powerful people in America would not have to pay a single extra dime in taxes. But Kevin is not the only son of the middle class who would be badly hurt by the Republican position on the budget and the debt ceiling. Conservatives are threatening everything that helps support a decent middle class, including help for our family members who have disabilities; including money for education and student loans; including middle-class consumer protection from financial predators; including Social Security and Medicare for elderly folks. And they are playing chicken with our entire economy, because as a vast majority of economists believe, a debt ceiling default would traumatize a very weak economy. We could have another major financial panic, millions more in job losses. And all so that people over making over $500,000 don’t have to pay one more penny in taxes.
Now obviously, this is terrible policy, sociopathically insane. But it also goes to the core of who we are as a country, our deepest foundational values and vision of ourselves. Are we a nation built on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, which celebrates selfishness and wealth above all other things, and mocks people like my brother Kevin as defective parasites? Or do we follow the ideas of Martin Luther King, Jr. who had a dream, “deeply rooted in the American Dream,” that we would be an American family sitting down at the table of brotherhood where we were all judged on the content of our character? By that test, my brother Kevin would far outshine people like Paul Ryan.
Our economy is at stake in this budget and debt ceiling debate, perched on the edge of a precipice. But so is the content of our character as a country. I hope it is not found wanting.
This country is really becoming a sad and selfish place to live. Your post gave me hope to fight against that and that our side should never give in to cynicism.
"Yes I know my enemies, They're the people who taught me to fight me, compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission, ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite...all of which are American dreams."
- Rage Against the Machine
"Banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." Thomas Jefferson
i've got no patience now, so sick of complacence now!
Mike,
I'm from Hastings just down the road-a-ways about a hundred miles or so. The next time I'm planning on going home, I'll make sure to get in touch with you so that I can take Kevin out for a Runza (regular, cheese, italian, mushroom & swiss, they're all yummy, Crinkly Fries (mmm, salty!) and a Pepsi on me. = ) Or at least swing by his group home with a few boxes of fresh, hot Valentino's Pizza, yum!
Your brother sounds like a good guy. Glad to hear that there are other liberal Democrats from that peculiarly red state.
Your brother sounds like a nice person to know, thanks for sharing.
Excellent, heartwarming story Mike. Stories like yours warms the hearts of those who actually have one, as for the Fiscally (sociopathic) conservatives they have no heart to warm up!
Profits.
Precious little at this point...unless you consider greed, waste, stupidity, arrogance, egotism, corruption, deception, nationalism, materialism, and pre-emptive aggression to be virtues.
Never trust anyone who insists that patriotism requires you to blindfold yourself with the flag.
The people who are doing these things are the same ones who get elected year after year after year. Citizens continuously vote against their own self interests and then sit and get angry or bewildered and cynical when the inevitable happens. The wealthiest 1-2% make up 1-2 % of the electorate. If people want to get angry at someone, go look in a mirror.
Then fine. I blame you.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
It's true.
Chronic stupidity is rampant in this country.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
I would like to relate to you something I've observed about people who support the Republican budget. First let me be totally clear, I am not saying that all people who support the Republican budget are like the people I'm going to tell you about. I am NOT. I know that many of the people who do support the Republican budget are not like these people, people are people and many and varied. So on to what I have to say.
As hard as it is to believe I have several Republican friends. Over the years I've noticed that two of them don't generalize, or abstract very well, they are more comfortable with specifics. When talking about a person like your brother they are very caring and charitable people. When talking about people like your brother they are not. They seem to not make the connection between the person Kevin, the disabled person they know, and disabled people who need their help. I've found that when I show how the Republican budget will affect an individual they know I get them to agree that 'just maybe' it wouldn't be such a good thing after all.
Every one, keep telling us about the individual who will be affected by what the Republican budget. It does help turn some around.
I seem to remember a very bi-partisan success story which extended tax cuts for the very wealthy just last December. That was after those same tax cuts had been kept in place by Democrats who held both houses of Congress from 2007 through 2010.
A Democratic President called the Cat Food Commission.
A Democratic Congress refused to pass a budget for 2011 resulting in repeated temporary resolutions each of which was accompanied by more and more spending cuts. Now the debt ceiling is the excuse - the same debt ceiling that that same Democratic congress could have also taken care of last year. And the spending cuts continue on and on.
Under a Democratic Congress and Democratic president, Wall Street bonuses were at record levels in 2009 and 2010. Corporate profits set a new record as well. And all the while unemployment stayed high and millions of people went into foreclosure.
Last week, Obama held a little shindig for Wall Street which cost over $30,000.00 a plate. This week, the White House continues is talk of spending cuts.
But Mr. Lux would have us believe that this is the work of Republicans, and that Democrats, by default, are still fighting the good fight. Mr. Lux knows the beltway quite well, and knows well the heavy influence that Wall Street and their corporate buddies hold in both parties. Yet he still portrays this a Republican problem.
Sure, the Republicans are the bad cop. But what makes the good cop any better?
Better P.R..
Corruption favors the wealthy.
.
From the rest of us who have Kevins in our lives, I want to thank you for expressing our feelings so perfectly.
This is a beautiful tribute to the “good people” in this country.
...written and elegant.
There is a measure of empathy we must have that is lacking by our ideological opponets. Clearly this is a humane snetiment and it boggles my mind that it has to be so distorted into something monetarily impossible, impractical or infeasible. But that's me and you and not the cold-hearted bastards running the show. Snake Oil Salesmen didn't mean well either.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
The big question...
"Are we a nation built on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, which celebrates selfishness and wealth above all other things, and mocks people like my brother Kevin as defective parasites?"
Heck no, we are soooo much better than that!
"Mario Matthew Cuomo
1984 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address" video
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mari...
I have no more respect for this country. If I had the "disposable income", my ass would be in Canada now.
There are those around here that would imply that you are somehow inferior as a human and that your opinion is worthless because you "ran away".
The progressive "left" is just as bad about that as the insane right is, not surprising as they are mostly to the right of St Ronnie these days as is...
"Why don't you love me, you b!*ch! I burned your house down for us!"
-Modern American diplomacy
progressives are hardly right of saint ronnie ... many "democrats", perhaps, but anything even in the vicinity of ronnieland is not progressive
actual progressives, regardless of party, place social welfare and human rights above things like wealth and property and military might ... they believe that all, regardless of the circumstances into which they have been born, are entitled to life's necessities, like food, housing and healthcare ... and they respect the individual's right to pursue their happiness, whether it is by marrying someone of the same sex, crossing a border to look for work, aborting an unwanted fetus, or leaving this country to make a better life for oneself and one's family
please, don't buy into the right's demonization of progressives
... MANY of those right wing Dems call themselves progressive.
That is my point.
I don't buy into ANY parties line, I express my own opinion, made easier by 3800 miles of open water between me and the US.
Also, your response is a standard boilerplate promulgated by the Dems, the label of progressive itself has lost any real meaning with misuse over the last few years much the3 way liberal was misused by the left in the US until it lost it';s meaning then was abused by the right until it it was meaningless as a label. It is indeed possible to be a right wing progressive as you yourself pointed out, and in comparison to the current admin's policies St Ronnie was far more progressive than your current crop of politico's.
"Why don't you love me, you b!*ch! I burned your house down for us!"
-Modern American diplomacy
and i think that we who know better need to be scrupulous with our terms, even if liars aren't
but, wow ... 3800 miles ... congratulations! i just hope that you are an equal distance from one of our aircraft carriers ... we play fast and loose with those things once they get far enough away to minimize the chances of retaliation
I hope I am far enough away as well. I am not so sure the US is willing to start open war with Europe just yet (not that they'd win) so I think I am fairly safe from the bombing aspect of US imperialism, for now.
"Why don't you love me, you b!*ch! I burned your house down for us!"
-Modern American diplomacy
I would join you in a minute - or try Europe.
The U.S. is a corporate fascist shithole today, and I am ashamed of our corrupt evil leaders, and even more ashamed of the bible-thumping, flag waving morons who continually vote for them, even though they agree the country is totally fu*ked up.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
As for the question "What does America stand for?" I think the answer is pretty clear:
Today? It doesn't stand for standing behind people like him,
it stands for STOMPING on people like Kevin.
After all, "A penny saved is a penny earned," they tell us.
What they don't tell anyone is that it's also a penny that doesn't go to the n*ggers, sp*cs, chicks, kids, the old, the hungry, the needy, the disabled, etc., but instead goes into the bank accounts of the rich where it will earn micro-pennies in interest, amounting to big bucks over time.
The only growth industries in this country are growing the rich rich, and the poor, poorer.
Funny thing is if they were stripped of their funds and connections they would be less capable than Kevin in dealing with life.
I hope Kevin does OK through these dark times the US is setting course into, it will be hard for all of you but particularly difficult for those already struggling.
"Why don't you love me, you b!*ch! I burned your house down for us!"
-Modern American diplomacy
Can someone tap me on the shoulder when they have the answer? Because right now, it's got nothing, other than viciousness.
... it stood for freedom, a respect for difference, and the opportunity for all, rich or poor, to pursue their happiness
yeah, i was one dumbass kid
threaten us all ... for, unless we have been born among the wealthy few, we are all moments away from tripping and falling, or having a loved one trip and fall
and the oligarchs don't care ... unless we are fit to hold a gun or fix a machine, we are nothing but a waste of resources
we must seriously rethink our continued acquiescence to the system that is maintaining and expanding this social arrangement ... voting and paying one's taxes and caring for one's family simply isn't enough anymore to keep our communities healthy and prosperous ... we need change, real change, and at this point, it isn't going to come until we all stop making the system work ... stop picking up guns ... stop fixing the machines ... and, for heaven's sake, stop expecting the oligarchs and their political puppets to do the right thing
It makes me think of the old litter PSA with the old Indian shedding a tear...
There is very little to cheer for these days, the chants of USA! USA! at a sporting event only make me snort and sputter a derisive "Yeah, right"...your number 1 in lots of things--none of them good though.
I take great comfort in being born and living in Canada.
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine"
you're...
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine"
What the hell is going on in Canada these days?
You guys too stoned on your ale to realize you just elected a bunch of rightwing arseholes too?
Not that long ago, the U.S. started down that same slippery slope.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
Conservative politics is now based on a rather narrow tribalism which rejects and demonizes anyone not of sufficiently pure ideology. The "other" has become the enemy and you don't help the enemy. Of course, the irony of conservatives claiming the mantle of Christianity in this context isn't lost on me.
Slightly off topic (but only slightly):
With Second Filibernie, Sen. Sanders Sets Up the Left Pole in the Deficit Debate
http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/06/27/with-s...
out of any sense of tribe, or in the case of the christian wing, faith ... they reject non-conforming ideas because they are a threat to the right's relentless pursuit of money and control over the world's resources ... they would eat each other alive and/or give the devil a blow job if they thought it would make them richer or more powerful
There are millions of others, equally compelling. And those who place property, profits and power above human beings, the well-being of society and the nation would see to it that every person in each of those stories has a life more filled with hardship and need than each already has. So that they can have more property. So that they can have more profits. So they can have more power. America doesn't stand for much of anything worthwhile if those who would be its leaders of thought and all other entrerprises consider those things that were once known to be shameful to now be accepted as public virtues, while those thing that were once taken as personal and public virtues to now be considered sins or signs of hopeless foolishness. How much worse that we act on such assumptions.
whose life is worth anything to the teabaggers and their elected lackeys is Trig Palin, in their world of cruelty for all except those financial elites at the top of the economic ladder, all other disabled people deserve to die as miserably and painfully as possible.
What does it stand for?
Greed, stupidity, arrogance, greed, selfishness, sociopathic tendencies, greed, evil, oppression, profits, aggression, greed, and Jeebus (not to be confused with the actual Jesus whose teachings were liberal and compassionate).
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
with all his challenges, is in every way the kind of person we would want in our society: a wonderful son, a great brother, someone who looks out for and helps everyone around him. This is the kind of person libruls would leave by the side of the road.
----
Would she go there? Of course, since liberals and progressives hate God.
Only two sentences* connect Kevin to this progressive mini-manifesto. It's as shameful as Palin trotting out Trig.
*"Conservatives are threatening everything that helps support a decent middle class, including help for our family members who have disabilities... Are we a nation built on Ayn Rand’s philosophy, which celebrates selfishness and wealth above all other things, and mocks people like my brother Kevin as defective parasites?"
First sentence: yes, but why bring in the disabled to intensify pity for the majority of Americans? The rich Republicans are only defending their own family members, some of whom have disabilities.
Second sentence: Find more quotes by Republicans currently in office mocking the "defective parasites."
Kevin would have written a more logical post.
Comments are closed on this entry