Emma Berry

HEY BOSS!  I keep asking you.  If you rip off my bootstraps, how do you expect me to pull myself out of this hole?

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This boot strap philosophy of the rich and of those who buy into the Wall Street right-wing ideology is the part that I find the most objectionable about the right-wing and Corporate Centrist Democrats as well.

To be poor in their eyes is, if not a crime, at least an indication that the poor person has done something wrong.  In their world, they believe that any one can “pull themselves up by their bootstraps” and “make it.”

The obscene truth about these people is that they are in the business of cutting the bootstraps off the poor by paying them low wages so they can pay larger dividends to the already rich.  Many of them, like David Koch, for example whose father invented the process for changing petroleum into gasoline, were born with a gold spoon in their mouth.  Furthermore, even those who were not, such as Barack Obama, grew up with a strong family support system that included at least one adult who nurtured their dreams and hopes.  In Obama’s example, he had not one but three such people in addition to having an exceptionally brilliant mind.

The three countries who are the worst about perpetuating myths about the fault of the poor are the USA, England and India.  At least in India, with its caste system, and belief in karma, they have it half right in that it is not the poor person’s “fault”.  However, they still shun the poor as do most Americans and the English.  Oh we have our annual Thanksgiving Dinners–most of which are held the day before the actual holiday so we can be home with our own families on the actual holiday.

How many of the rich bring a poor person to their own table on Thanksgiving day?  Do you know any?

SOURCE:  ONE OF MY IFLIZWEREQUEEN POSTS  IN 2009.

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