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I suspect that I along with a significant number of other people spanning ethnic demographics populate the proletariat class – or as defined in Orwell’s 1984 are proles.
Proles according to the dictionary are members of a class of industrial wage earners who earn a living by selling their labor.
Selling their labor, that covers a pretty broad spectrum from flipping burgers to mowing lawns or swinging a hammer.
Any labor done with honest intent is itself an honorable pursuit, and men generally are defined by their willingness or lack of willingness to work.
Personally I don’t have much use for a lazy person who will seize on any excuse to validate their inertia be they a man or a woman, and I know a few who do just that and do so shamelessly.
Even so I have less respect for CEOs with bloated salaries and haven’t a callous or blister on their hands to show for it.
If a laborer for instance makes ten dollars an hour do CEOs making thousands an hour do thousands of times more labor?
The obvious answer is no and leads to the question of why is a livable minimum wage such an issue, what is the basis for opposition?
Is it that Proles are Proles, members of a caste system and must remain so?
Is it that a common laborer or one who earns their living by the sweat of their brow and aching muscles is the American equivalent of India’s “untouchables” who can pray at the temple but never enter it?
What is it about human nature that wants to divide people into classes and sub classes – that wants to deny, segregate, oppress, or exploit?
By virtue of birth are any more worthy, more entitled? How about by virtue of religion, geography, race, culture, or any aspect that contributes to the diversity that is humankind – are any inherently superior to others purely by accident of birth?
Is there a human birthright and if so what is it? Is it equal opportunity, access, and a level playing field? The ability to get ahead rather than remain static or falling behind?
How about respect and a person being secure in their privacy and pursuits if doing no harm?
If that sounds familiar it’s because in this country it’s part of a bill of rights and allegedly the way it’s supposed to be.
America has become George Orwell’s Oceania as the language of Newspeak and alternative facts becomes the norm – a language “designed to diminish the range of thought” and Ownlife is considered a crime.
What Trump and his gang of three – Conway, McConnell and Miller have forgotten is that any nation worth it’s salt is one composed of individuals who in their individuality find a common language and common goals – they are not Unpersons who can be ignored and written out of history or the national dialogue.
Believing as I always have that silence is consent I’ll segue momentarily to not consent.
I’m a firm believer in the Second Amendment but at the same time believe things are getting out of control in this country.
What is lacking is common sense predicated upon entrenched positions.
I for one don’t believe background checks or red flag laws depending on circumstances pose a threat to responsible gun owners and if any would advance the “slippery slope” argument I suggest the slippery slope of mass shootings and gun violence is not something to be taken lightly or dismissed.
We expect people to operate vehicles in a responsible manner – when they fail to no one claims laws meant to address such things are detrimental.
We expect people not to abuse the right of free speech – an abuse such as creating panic in a theater by yelling fire.
If that occurs people are rightfully angered and only an idiot would claim it to be a “Constitutional” right.
I have always believed people have the right to reasonable expectations.
Expectations that don’t include based upon being a parent the right to abuse children or being a spouse or partner the right to abuse the significant other.
It is a reasonable expectation to send children off to school and not have to worry about their safety – or to spend some time at a Mall or restaurant without having to look over your shoulder or listen for the sound of gunfire.
Being a “Good Steward” goes beyond an individuals personal realm, it should be inclusive of far more than that – when it isn’t there is an associated societal price to pay and of necessity a need to determine if that price is reasonable or not.
We are obliged to be good stewards of our Constitutional Rights – an obligation that promotes reasonable expectations – an exercise undertaken with due diligence and sobriety, not incoherent rants and posturing in the hopes of getting a “like” or two.
The framers of the Constitution/Bill of Rights intended the Second Am ndment to be a safeguard not a license to kill innocents, not a vehicle to instill fear or take ordinary citizens hostage.
But then I suppose they had reasonable expectations.
