Ventura Reporter Nails It!

I frankly don't spend a lot of time reading my local free paper, the Ventura County Reporter.  Most of their writing is amateurish, and they give way too much space to right-wing bigots. (A bigot being someone who refuses to listen to reasoned argument, not necessarily a racist.)  I think they find it amusing to annoy progressives.

However, this week they have scored a bull's-eye! This dead-on hit takes the form of an article by Raymond Freeman, who apparently has a training in economics, "the dismal science".

This excellent examination of our proud American social system is called "Downton Abbey, part one", and it begins thus:

"Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers, says America has become like Downton Abbey.  This is a British soap opera set in a large country estate. (I’ve actually stayed in one.) It’s about the lives of an aristocratic family around WWI. They live in luxury and don’t work. The servants are trapped in poverty and work like slaves. Couldn’t happen here?

Don’t be too sure. It’s the right-wing’s vision for America. They’ll be the aristocracy. You’ll be a servant or a serf in the feudal system. An aristocrat ran for president here. Romney made his fortune by taking over companies, firing the servants and outsourcing their jobs to China. He was met with cheering crowds. He got 47 percent of the vote, not the aristocrats’ 4.7 percent. Go figure.

This lunacy goes back to Ronald Reagan...."

"A living wage?  Ridiculous!"

You can read the rest at the Reporter's website here.