Drive through any rural community on any given day, and you're likely to see benefits for some local person just to survive after various sorts of tragedy. This is what makes small towns amazing: people giving out of the goodness of their heart for their numbers. It is what people think of when they think of small-town America: the old tale about borrowing a cup of sugar. However, there is a question we should be asking: why is our economic system so broken that those of us in the majority can't manage our lives if anything goes wrong? Why are we all one incident away from relying on our neighbors, most of whom also don't have any money anymore, to give what they can so we can all survive? This is a system that takes advantage of the best part of America to benefit the worst part of America: obscenely rich, endlessly greedy, and ultimately heartless.
But the funny this is... if those of us down here with the majority started acting like the rich, our system would fall apart. What do you think would happen if all of the "little" folks down here decided we didn't want to pay our taxes anymore? The rich do it: they hide their money offshore or even give up their American citizenship to avoid paying taxes. So what if we all did that?
Or what if we all decided we weren't going to help anyone in need? Every time a rich business owner says he can't afford healthcare for his workers while he lives in a ridiculous mansion, he's doing the same thing. What if we all decided we were going to spend our money on a luxury automobile instead of our children or families, the people that depend on us? When the rich refuse to pay an honest wage but tool around in cars that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, they're doing the same thing.
And when some of us decide we've had enough, when we say we've been taxed too much, or we're too deep in debt, or we're not receiving any help for all we pay in taxes, that's when the knives come out. That's when we're lazy, or we're too entitled, or we're just dumb, poor white trash out here in the sticks. It's always so amazing to see what happens to the morally bankrupt at the very tip top in America when the people who keep their system running try to give them a taste of their own medicine. Their shock and surprise only speaks to how completely disconnected they are from the life of a vast majority of Americans.In short: you need to be able to afford pearls to clutch at them.
We don't have to keep playing this game. We don't have to keep going to the coffee can behind the fridge and pulling out our last five dollars to help the poor family down the street whose kid has cancer. We can start demanding things of the the people with all the money; money they took from us through tax breaks and loopholes, money they take by sending our families to war for their fat wallets, money they take from us every day when we buy their products. We can start demanding that they give us our money back when we vote in people who will hold them accountable, when we start voting in people who are down here with the rest of us and know about the struggle. We need to start putting into office people who will call the rich and powerful out onto the carpet at the Capitol and remind them just who keeps this game running.
Give those way up at the top a taste of their own medicine. Electing more DFL representatives will guarantee that when push comes to shove, it'll be "game over" for their rigged system.
At Your Service,
Doremus Jessup
