(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Thoughts on Lord Acton, the DNC, and American Society in the 20th/21st Centuries. [It's Short.] [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-12-19 In the comments to another one of Sinai's excellent diaries [Biden met with David Pakman: Biden Admin is trying to coordinate with Independent Media] [Bias acknowledged. Hey, Olds are SUPPOSED to support and encourage people half their age], he and Pomona Belvedere had a brief exchange which turned on a light for me. Sinai Gaelsdottir Dec 18, 2024 at 11:50:16 PM The part I like the most is that these creators intend to create this sphere with or without DNC help. That’s how an ecosystem is created, grassroots, that will have a massive impact on DNC primaries. That will grab attention and power, whether the establishment likes it or not. That gives me some semblance of optimism. Pomona Belvedere Sinai author Dec 19, 2024 at 12:54:49 AM Agree. I’ve seen the DNC as against my interests since the 2016 election, when they made that abundantly clear. But probably I wasn’t paying attention, and they were just as corrupt and stuck in their ways many years before. I began to write a reply, but realized about halfway through that the central idea in that reply, which is the jazz in the quote box below, really needed its own diary [so it can be argued about ;-) /s ]. So here, with thanks and praise, is that diary. It was drafted as a reply to Pomona; the first sentence references her comment. *************** They were agin us and for da munny long before that. That’s been the real problem. Lord Acton didn’t finish his thought, so I’ll complete the triad for him [you’re welcome, Your Lordship]: Power Corrupts. Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely. WEALTH IS POWER. There’s our answer, and a lot of us won’t like it. This is why the FDR and post-WWII years saw an increase in the standard of living for people almost across the board and a strengthened middle class for the white male privileged members of our population at least - that we left out so many even then is something that needs to be remembered. At that time, women could not open their own bank accounts, take out loans, buy cars… their inclusion in the middle class depended on fathers and husbands until shockingly late in the 20th Century. And the things done to Black wage earners — limiting access to Social Security, redlining, finagling mortgage deals so that they might never own the homes they paid for in good faith — racist as hell and damnably shameful, so shameful that it makes me want to crawl into a hole and die, then resurrect myself, move to the inner city, and take a lifelong vow of poverty. I know people who have done the second part. Interestingly, they tend to be liberal. Very. [AND religious. Very. Oopsie.] Even so, we had strong unions; a strong public education system that people could actually utilize, including land grant universities; public libraries that were palatial [whose beauty lingers in the memory of many ancient bibliophiles]; and medical care that, while not universal, was generally affordable and humane [I remember doctors making house calls, and I remember when a visit to the ER didn’t take 24 hours and bankrupt people. People remember these things, even if dimly. Or they remember hearing their Olds talking about them, even if dimly. There is an awareness that Things Were Better Once, because for about 99.9% of us, they were. And the dimmer and less precise the remembered details, the easier it is for the unscrupulous wealthy — political and religious demagogues — to use them manipulatively against us. I was oblivious to my own chattel status for a long time*, because women gained financial rights in 1974, just in time for me to start college and blithely open a bank account, somehow unaware that no woman in my family had ever had this simple basic human right — the right to her own finances and a safe place for them with no male oversight required — before. No, I’m not contradicting myself. If wealth is power, then the best possible society is one in which EVERYONE has enough, and no-one has so much that they are able to corrupt the society around them. “Everyone” includes that happy curly redhead who bounced out of the bank with a checkbook and a passbook half a century ago and nary a parent in sight. [There will be, I predict, lively squabbling about what constitutes “enough”. I’d say that a decent European standard of living, with clean, effective, affordable mass transit that actually goes where people need to go, and with housing and healthcare as acknowledged basic human rights, fits the bill; there are ample models available to us. But I won’t be joining in any dustups, because I lived over there and my mind’s been made up on that subject since the ‘90s, for good reason.] *Probably because my parents had a pretty egalitarian marriage. My father was my primary caregiver — and my mother’s as well — while she was severely ill during my early childhood, but he was not Lord of the Manor at any time, and found the very idea repugnant. When she regained her health, she worked during my teens and twenties, had a serious job and a respected career, and her right to her own earnings and financial autonomy was a simple fact of life. So the matter never came up. *************** As I continue to enjoy my long awaited recovery from Long COVID, I have a busy day today and won’t be able to tend the diary until I finish some chores and errands. I’ll pop in at intervals but won’t be A Presence with it the way I was when I was far less active. I’m timing it to show up around 10:30 A.M., about an hour after I’ve drafted and proofread it. Apologies for any typos, etc. that I fail to catch before it publishes. Trust me, I’m looking for them right now. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/12/19/2292743/-Thoughts-on-Lord-Acton-the-DNC-and-American-Society-in-the-20th-21st-Centuries-It-s-Short?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/