The Morning Sentinel editorial on December 28th, "The duty of the working class" (see our true duty below) uses a typical deception technique, blaming the victim, and is produced by a dark money propaganda machine, that wants you to adopt its message without examining the content.
The American Enterprise Institute, the same lobbyists that opposes minimum wage movements, is secretly funded by billionaires and corporations that want you to support removing government restraint on their behavior and increasing their wealth through the elimination of taxes on corporations and the wealthiest.
That author uses abusive tricks to get you to accept illogical positions. First is the shaming. "If you don't like your situation it is you own fault, you lazy drug using video junkies that don't provide for your children. You have no sense of duty and are bad fathers that make bad choices. Shame on you for not accepting regular 35 percent pay cuts and for your unwillingness to move to whatever state the corporations demand of you. The erosion of social norms, marriage, families, and communities is a result of your refusal to work"! This is the same technique used by abusive domestic partners asserting control while pursuing selfish agendas. If you think about it though, poverty and relocation splits up families and destroy marriages.
The second trick is self validation. He who is the first to accuse always seems to be "right". By putting blame upon us we are dissuaded from examining the accuser. This is "deflection by projection" of fault onto another. The accuser becomes "the expert" automatically.
The third trick is to present multiple logical sounding arguments and virtuous terms while hiding the true motivations. "You have duties to fulfill, obligations to your families, we want you to lead flourishing lives that include meaningful work, self-mastery, strong families, stable marriages", and so forth.
There are hints to the real agenda, such as an unregulated labor market where employees compete for low wages. Corporations want taxpayers to subsidize wages while they simultaneously push for elimination of taxes for corporations and the wealthy. This would be paid for by elimination of food stamps, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and pro-consumer agencies.
They want maximum compensation for officers and board members through maximum profits, which is why there are lobbyists paid to send out corporate agenda supporting messaging. It is consistent with the tenets of the mercantilists which our economic system evolved from. "One notion that mercantilists widely agreed upon was the need for economic oppression of the working population; laborers and farmers were to live at the "margins of subsistence".
The goal was to maximize production, with no concern for consumption. Extra money, free time, and education for the lower classes were seen to inevitably lead to vice and laziness, and would result in harm to the economy (the aristocrats)." Most corporations care nothing for you, only maximum profits. We must understand: A corporate officer getting $20 million dollars, like one tick, won't hurt you, but several hundred thousand together are killing us.
Another deception - the author isn't talking about "the rich and middle class" or the "working class" because obviously, we work. He doesn't want to come right out and say, "You low class irresponsible people, GET TO WORK and spend your money on our products and services. If you have arms and legs and don't have a J.O.B. (Just Over Broke) then shame on you". Dark money groups like the American Enterprise Institute are the Wormtongues of today, whispering poison in your ears to make you weak and subservient.
Our real duty? To strive for the prosperity of everyone, stand up for human dignity, honesty, integrity, the health of our families and communities. Demand that corporations operate with honesty and integrity, be environmentally responsible, return loyalty for loyalty, treat employees with respect, and contribute to the society that has enabled them to prosper. Keep in mind that billionaires and corporations don't make the profits, we do, the people that actually produce the goods and services, and they just skim off the cream off the top. We don't need them, they need us!
Take the steering wheel and turn it for ourselves. Build community wealth by dealing with locally owned businesses as much as possible. Start employee owned businesses and urge retiring owners to sell to their employees. Support unions and build cooperatives. Search yourselves for what we truly value - family, health, education, justice, fairness, peace. Then find and join organizations that promote true American values. Join the economic Revolution.