Essay: "The Affluent and the Indigent"

Essay: "The Affluent and the Indigent"

In these tough times there are two types of people: the affluent and the indigent. Thanks to extreme right-wing policies such as: Endless War(s), the exorbitant Shadow Government known as the Department of Homeland Security, the amorphous War on Terror, short-term thinking by politicians, politically powerful but greedy people and corporate entities, deceitful and/or unethical banks, Wall Street types, ruthless and oft dishonest mortgage foreclosurers , and a tax-averse ideology, among many other factors, there are pretty much the rich, the poor and few in the middle. The American Dream and the Middle Class have both met their demise. If you're at the top of the economic food chain, your golden. If, on the other hand if you are born poor or were formerly in the Middle Class, you're basically shit out of luck (SOL). This is regardless of who is in power, but is much more blatant and cruel if the current crop of the Extreme Right-Wing of the Republican Party has their way with simultaneous tax cuts and ruthless service cuts. There are certain things only the government is capable of doing: hiring police, firefighters, teachers and public education for those who cannot afford private schools, fixing roads and bridges, improving and maintaining infrastructure, subsidizing researchers for new industries and technologies, ensuring the safety of new pharmaceuticals, foods, beverages, and products of almost every kind, having incentives to minimize pollution of air, water and land (if the government is doing its job), passing a sensible energy policy (if the government is doing its job), fighting poverty, hunger and homelessness in the USA (but not necessarily internationally), regulating harmful and/or greedy and/or deceitful and/or dishonest practices of businesses, industry and individuals, national defense, among many other things. If the Tea Party and the Hard Right of the Republican Party has their way many of these very necessary government functions will go away and as a result numerous people living here as citizens in this country will suffer and maybe even die.