Thread by @RickSmithShow

If there's a positive to come from this horrible pandemic it's the realization that all the Horatio Alger "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" meritocracy rhetoric the GOP has been preaching for 40 years is Bullshit.
We now see who the producers and who that parasites really are

The question is what are we going to do about it?
If the people marching on capitals across the country really want to change thing they should be marching to the gated communities that house our elite CEO's and billionaires.
Put down your tiki torch and pick up a pitchfork.

The spin masters are telling us that "essential workers" are risking their lives out of some patriotic duty to help their fellow citizens and we should throw them praise and pennies
The reality is they don't have a choice They are the desperation class that can't afford a day off

The "essential work" is done by the 40% of workers who cannot afford a $400 emergency.
They are the 60% who cannot afford a $1000.
Global Pandemic is that unexpected emergency and it is making that desperation worse.
Why else would one choose to risk their life for minimum wage?

For years we have heard mindless sloganeering from the GOP and their spin masters.
Producers v. Parasites
By parasite they not only mean the unemployed welfare queens but POC, the poor, the elderly, low skilled (now called essential) worker, or simply YOU

Master v. Wage slave

During the 2012 election we heard a lot about the divide between signing the front or the back of a paycheck.
My position at the time was you don't get to sign the front without the people who sign the back
The GOP still sees it differently as we are bailing out corporate America

So again it begs to question Which Side are You On?
Are you on the side of the "producers" who are snout deep in the bailout trough?
Or the "parasite" forced to risk your life for pennies and praise?

Which side?

I am so tired of hearing about the mythical Benevolent Employer.

It's like searching for the elusive Dodo bird.

Corporations don't give workers good wages, hours, and conditions out of the goodness of their hearts.
They are forced.
Nothing is given.
We must stand and demand.

We are at a crossroads
Do we allow the wealthy and powerful to continue to drive us down roads of poverty wages, No health or old age security, and deadly conditions or do we March up Solidarity Hill to a more just future?
What we decide future generations will have to live with

My grandfather once told me that the right of workers to strike was the fundamental building block the what their, the greatest generation achieved in building the most prosperous working class in civilized history.
Strikes=Freedom.
Where there are no strikes you have no freedom.

Samuel Gompers, founder of the American Federation of Labor AFL rightly answered more when asked what labor wanted. That call for more is at the heart of the eternal war between labor and capital.
Who gets more and for what use.

We as workers certainly want more of the wealth our labor creates, safety, and health and old age security but we also want Educational opportunities for our kids, protections from abuse and exploitation women, POC, those marginalized and consumsers, and a voice in rooms of power