Our History
Grassroots USA began publishing sometime between the attacks on 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, which, of course, had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with 9/11.
When John Kerry stood on the steps of the Capitol complaining about going to Iraq, it was already too late. The die had been cast. At that time, the best anyone could do was call for no protracted stay. It was too late to protest the invasion which was just days away. Grassroots USA immediately began calling for no protracted stay. We also called for an investigation into “rebuilding” contracts to determine who was at the tops of the corporations – this was two months before talks of no-bid contracts and the name Halliburton were in the mainstream media. You see, the primary motivation of wealthy people is to accumulate more wealth, so we knew the wealthy leaders of the country would be getting their friends all set up, not just to raid Iraq but also to rape the US Treasury and pick the pockets of middle class Americans.
When 9/11 happened, our first thought was to secure the borders and fix the guest worker access problems. This did not start to become a highly publicized issue in mainstream media until two years later. Why is nobody mentioning that migrant farm workers are needed, should have migrant worker passes which expire, and the person who makes the profits (not the poorly paid farmers but the distribution conglomerates) should be held responsible for the heath, welfare, and education of the migrant workers families who are often children laboring beside their parents in the fields. Instead of the top distribution conglomerates, it is the general public who is taking a beating on paying for overcrowded schools and hospitals. Those at the top of the money piles are not sweating in the fields. They are just in control of transactions, and sitting pretty. Yes, make the borders secure, and expel trespassers, but make easier paths and improved conditions for migrant workers and improve the path to citizenship for those who apply.
We heard GW telling people to invest in 401K’s, and knew that 401K’s would take a landslide with the bad economy. We also heard threats to end Social Security and invest it in the stock market. Fortunately, many Americans joined us in screaming no and to keep their money-grabbing paws off. There are people who have been forced to pay in, all their working lives. It is only okay to have a graduated and planned approach, so that younger people can pay less in, but must plan for less out, but the answer is not to gamble on the stock market, but to have better avenues for higher yield interests from savings by investing locally.
It came as no surprise when all signs in 2007 and early 2008 that there would be some serious announcements about the economy by summer of 2008. Not many people expected GW and the treasury secretary to be brazen enough to go in for the final kill be announcing a bail out of wall street, insurance companies, and mortgage companies. These are the companies that have all the money, and they don’t even build anything. What was surprising is that any incumbents and anyone from the state-sponsored political parties would be elected in 2008, and 99% of the people voted for a Presidential candidate who supported the bailouts.
The economy cannot rebound until Americans stop purchasing more foreign products than American products. The problem with the economic model is that we have moved from an industrial society to a service economy, and there are fewer and fewer people who can pay for any services. The easiest way to make a fortune is not to build an automobile or a plane, but to take a larger percentage of transactions from goods produced in the global economy. While interest rates on credit cards are often 20%, they used to be 12% or less, and interest on savings accounts has gone from yielding over 6% to closer to 2%, so that is am 11% or 12% gain for those who have, and less money to spend for those who have little.
Hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid to executives, and Billions have been sent overseas. This is more printed fiat money, meaning that it will buy less and less.
Much of the problems we are facing now were between 2000 and 2004, when the Republicans were in the White House and in Congress, and also between 2004 and 2008 when Congress was once again controlled by Democrats. Now, Democrats are in control of both the White House and Congress, and they inherited two wars, massive debt, and rising unemployment. As of this writing, things are not turning around, and are only getting worse, so the idea of it all being blamed on either political party is an error by the people, and it is divisive, when what we should be doing is cleaning house of incumbents from both parties, and we should insist on tougher enforcement of corruption by government officials who are robbing from the coffers, whether directly or indirectly.
Grassroots USA has written many editorials in the past 8 years, and now in 2010 we are heading toward mid-term elections. Many incumbents need to lose in the mid-term elections, but the state sponsored parties have made it nearly impossible for independent candidates and third party candidates to get ballot access. The two parties have a stranglehold monopoly, and they make the rules about who can compete.
Platforms of both parties are either driven by fear or hate, and that must change, and that is where the people can make their voices heard. We must provide specific directions to those we elect. They must listen and represent our interests. More often, they are caught up in deal making to increase their political standings, and the media allows them to get away with it.
That’s a history and it is a history of opinions, but it is what it is.
