TWO JAMES ON OPPRESSION

Our Sunday school class is studying the N. T.
Book of James. He is the one that tells us
"faith without works is dead." He further in-
forms us that living faith cares for widows and
orphans (the needy) and that dead faith says to
the needy "God bless" and "go in peace," but
does nothing to help the needy in their need.
Dead faith stinks, he implies.

James also says some harsh things about rich
people. He says they oppress the poor. In fact,
much of the Book of James is about oppression.
Which has gotten me thinking about it too. In
my last blog I said some harsh things about Re-
publicans. Well, Republicans oppress the poor.
James and I are both talking about the same
group. The GOP is run by the rich and for the
rich. I understand that not all of them are rich.
I also understand that the poor ones have little
to say about the Party or how it's run. Poor Re-
publicans are generally mis-informed, mis-led,
lyed to and confused about what is really hap-
pening in their Party and why. If you wonder
how that happens, listen to Fox News (The R. P.'s
propaganda mill) or Rush L. or read What's the
Matter With Kansas? by Thomas Frank. The
latter explains how poor people are regularly
conned into supporting the rich and powerful
who are oppressing them.

And there are two kinds of oppression: direct
and indirect. Direct oppression robs people of
equal opportunity, equal pay, equal justice, e-
qual health, equal education, and other oppor-
tunies, benefits and privileges. Discouraged
people often give up and quit trying. In my
last blog I mentioned the Ledbetter Equal Pay
Act that requires that women doing the same
work as men must receive the same pay. It
had been vetoed by Mr. Bush, but was passed
and signed the other day by the new admini-
stration. In the Senate it received 5 Republi-
can votes: the 4 R. women and one man (Sen.
Specter). In the House, it got three votes from
the 178 Republicans! Can you believe that?
Why would anyone oppose equal pay for women?
Because rich people run the Republican Party,
and they don't want to pay anyone any more
than they absolutely have to! By the way, more
children in this country are being raised by sin-
gle parents than by two-parent households.
Most of these S. P.s are women, poor women!

Back to oppression: indirect oppression is sys-
temic. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don't op-
press anyone directly. And don't intend anyone
harm. They do a lot of good in fact, and wish
everyone well, I'm sure. With agility, luck and
talent they have risen to the top of a corrupt,
oppressive system that oppresses now a ma-
jority of our population. If this isn't clear to you
now after the bailouts, the bonuses, the fore-
closures, the bankruptcies, the plant closings,
the Madoffs and the rest, let me refer you to an
excellent new book by James K. Galbraith: The
Predator State. A distinguished professor of
economics at the University of Texas, Galbraith
spells it all out for you: he talks about a "serious
sort of rot in the system. This I will call preda-
tion (he says): the systematic abuse of public
institutions for private profit or, equivalently,
the systematic undermining of public protections
for the benefit of private clients." We are seeing
how our food and water and meds and environ-
ment are not being protected from contamination,
even tho we are paying $bns in taxes to get such
protection. When you get sick from contaminated
lettuce or spinach or peanut butter or meat or dir-
ty water, you are being oppressed, whether you
know it or not! And by your government, as well
as by the purveyors of the dirty food.

Do you feel oppressed when you sit for two hours
on the freeway, and go one mile? You will if you
need to go potty! And you are, by the politicians
that voted for tax cuts versus highway projects.
It's rich Republicans that cut your taxes and cut
gov't services. They hate any gov't spending that
doesn't go to rich farmers or defense companies,
oil companies, or banks.

For years banks have been borrowing your
bucks at 2% or less from the Federal Reserve,
and lending them back to you at 15 - 30% on
your credit cards. That's oppression (and pre-
dation). And you've been voting for it, if you
voted Repub. James says (the Bible one) it's
the rich who oppress you. You just didn't know
it (or maybe you did) but helped them anyway.
You probably thought they were just robbing
the poor! But as Confucius noted, some 500
years before Christ, when poverty is widespread
and severe, the bold among them (the poor) be-
come robbers. That's happening in Mexico as
we speak. Crime is out of control there. Is Mexi-
co a precursor of what will happen here as un-
employment grows and keeps growing? Crime
is "blow back" against the system and oppresses
all of us, rich and poor. Have a nice day!

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net