So much to stand up for and against! Do you stand for fairness and equality! Are you going to sit back and allow the Nazification of the world? Trump, Poundland Trump, MAGA and Reform? Will you be a lousy scab or will you be a man?
6 years agoPete Seeger was an example of the human spirit and genuine idealism enduring despite anything which could or was intended to destroy them.
The wealthy are holding us all to ransom. If we threaten to tax them they threaten to take their wealth elsewhere. The take our money in profits from our country and take it to Dubai. They make the country poorer and the poor pay.
We should tax all profits at source!
Make the country richer – tax the rich.
It’s not immigrants and scroungers who are the biggest problem!
There is a war
There is a war!
There has always been a war
Between those who care
And those who don’t;
Between the fascists
And the democrats
Between the selfish
And compassionate
Between the greedy
And the starving.
There is a war!
Between those who abuse
And those who nurture
Those who are selfish
And those considerate
Those who love nature
And those who just use it
There is a war.
This is where integrity resides;
It’s time to take sides.
Opher – 13.1.2025
I don’t think it’s ever been clearer.
On one side we have the Trumpist mentality and on the other the socialists.
The Trumpists believe that it is the survival of the fittest. They have become rich because they deserve it; they are better than the rest. That people who are poor deserve to be poor. They should work harder. That wealth is all that matters. That nature is there to be exploited. That we do not need controls, government or regulation. We do not need taxes.
On the socialist side we have people who believe that people and nature matter more than money. That we should care for each other and the world we live in. That the wealthy have got to where they are through privilege, luck and profiteering. That we need welfare for the needy, good education for all, good healthcare for all, good policing and good infrastructure and this costs money. That a society with greater equality is a better society. That requires taxes and bigger government. It requires regulation, safeguards and rules.
I believe in people, nature and a fairer society.
How on Earth have billionaires persuaded ordinary people to:
a. Vote them into power?
b. That they have the interests of ordinary people at heart?
c. That they care?
d. That Trade Unions are bad?
e. That fairness is wrong?
f. That equality is wrong?
g. That we can have a fairer society without poverty?
h. That the problem is immigrants not billionaires?
i. That it’s OK for a few profiteers to exploit people to become billionaires while people have to live and die on the streets.
j. That the rich deserve tax breaks?
k. That politicians are in the pay of the billionaires and earn millions?
l. That politicians are unaccountable?
m. That the poor are parasites?
n. That fair pay is unaffordable?
o. That it’s OK for them to own the media and spew out fake news, propaganda and scare stories?
p. That the lies they tell are the only truth?
q. That health care should be for the rich?
r. That education is unnecessary and should be defunded?
s. That the poor deserve to be poor?
t. That billionaires are geniuses who deserve their wealth?
u. That everybody can become billionaires?
v. That poor people are motivated by pay cuts and rich are motivated by pay increases?
w. That spending money on public services is a waste?
x. That giving money to billionaires is going to create growth and is good for the country?
y. That their country is better than all other countries and people?
z. That they deserve to be in power?
I’m having a little Phil Ochs phase this week. Doing an interview with RNR magazine about my Phil Ochs book has sparked me off.
Yesterday I played All The News That’s Fit To Sing – his debut album – today I’ve moved on to A Toast To Those Who Are Gone. That seems appropriate. I propose a toast to the great Phil Ochs.
A Toast To Those Who Are Gone is an album of demos recorded between the end of his Elektra contract and the new A&M one. Although they are demos they sound good to me. They are very much in the same mold as his other Elektra recordings – civil rights takes centre stage but workers’ rights and unions also feature.
I’ll Be There is a favourite of mine.
All songs by Phil Ochs.
Can’t see the obnoxious self-serving pillock is going to enhance the farmers’ case! If anything he makes the case for more stringent taxation. It’s about time the wealthiest get to pay more. Clarkson epitomizes the profiteering wealthy who are using farms as a means to avoid paying tax.
Ordinary farmers do need protecting. I can see that they are asset-rich and income poor – but that is more the fault of the supermarkets paying too little. But when it comes to the really wealthy opportunists and landowners I think they should be paying just like everybody else.
The Tories destroyed our public services. We have to rebuild them somehow. The wealthy need to pay!
I was told by a friend to get over it. I lost again. I backed the wrong horse!
What idiocy.
As if your morals and ethics are a game!
As if it’s a case of winning or losing! Put it to one side!
It’s not a game. It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about fighting for what you believe in and the kind of world you want to live in.
I want a world that is free, fair and has compassion and equality as the basis of its core. Everything stems from that.
Trump, the GOP, MAGA and the Evangelical nutcases of the right represent a set of values that I find utterly repugnant.
Having Trump in the Whitehouse setting up what I see as an authoritarian Fascist State, implementing Project 2025 and taking over all the Federal Agencies – loading them with MAGA fanatics – runs against all my values.
Do I simply shrug and walk away saying ‘I lost’ or do I still continue to fight for those same values I’ve held dear all my life?
Who cares about women’s’ rights, the plight of refugees, worker’s rights, racial equality, health care for the poor or a society based on fairness?
Do I watch quietly while Trump sucks up to Putin and dumps Ukraine?
Do I remain silent while he allows Netanyahu to practice revengeful genocide against the Palestinians?
Do I shut up while he gives Taiwan to Xi and placates Jong-Un?
Do I shut up as he ‘Drills Drills Drills’ and denies climate change? As he destroys nature in the race for profit? He proved how ignorant he was with Covid. He’s illiterate. His understanding of science is nil. Do I shut up as he defunds and destroys?
The man is, in my opinion, a misogynistic, racist, hate-filled psychopath. He promises to be vengeful and punitive. I believe him. He’s the incarnation of a fascist authoritarian. He will take away women’s rights, defund education and drive out all tolerance as being ‘woke’. He will dumb-down America even more. He really doesn’t want a populace who can think.
I find it hard to come to terms with the fact that a majority of people will support a convicted rapist, felon, tax-evading crook just because they think he is a ‘Strong Leader’ and will get a few pence off their gas prices!
In my opinion those people are not only gullible and ignorant but have no morality. Many of them purport to be Christian and that says all you need to know about religion. Religion, like politics, has no morality; it’s all about power.
It feels the same as Brexit. One is shaken into waking up to the fact that the majority of people are ignorant, stupid, racist, misogynistic, greedy, immoral idiots who like to be ordered about by fascists who they see as ‘strong leaders’ (If Farage, Tice and Johnson can in any way be described as ‘Strong Leaders’). One only has to look at history. We follow blood-thirsty psychopaths and ignore intelligent sensitive people.
It says all you need to know about the human race.
I despair!!
But it’s not about losing and getting over it; it’s about how we go forward and strive for that better world.
Morals are not abandoned because of an election. The fight is a continuum. The end point is a better, fairer world!
