The John Mason Talk-Walk, May 19, 2023

I speak about the book The Great Labor Rising Of 1877 by Philip Foner, and of the Republican brinkmanship over the federal "debt ceiling."

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Hello, hello, hello, John Mason. How is everybody? I'm pleased to say that I have done my little bit in the Pennsylvania primary election this past Tuesday, working on my division's election board and helping people to vote. I commend the the winners of the election and I wish well for those who who kind of fell short, but they set up good campaigns and are good people. I've known several of them personally. And so I wish them well. A book I have been reading lately is The Great Labor Uprising in eighteen seventy seven by Philip S. Foner. It deals with the year eighteen seventy seven. That year the notorious dirty deal to conclude the election for president between Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican and Samuel Tilden, Democrat was finally settled by a dirty backroom deal. Several of the electoral college votes from Florida were in dispute. And of course, as a way of evading the situation, Congress formed some sort of commission to help sort things out. But in reality, the deal was made with the help of certain railroad moguls, that uh those electoral college votes would go to Hayes. As part of the deal, the Union forces would leave the former Confederacy, leaving leaving the leaving the freed slaves uh to the not so tender mercies of other whites slaveholders and they and the the lower income white people who have nothing nothing to uh brag about but their white skin, which is supposed to mean something. Anyway. And also in that that year there were there are several uh strikes in various regions of the of the of the nation, mostly started by by workers in the railroad industry. Uh it all started at the at a depot for the Baltimore and Ohio line in West Virginia. Then it uh moved on to other points in the in the BO line. Then went on to other railroad lines, like in Pittsburgh and upstate New York and New Orleans and Ohio. There was no coordinating agency, no organization behind it. But the but the news media of that day, the corporate presses, were whining about that there was a conspiracy behind this. There were memories still fresh about the Paris Commune in 1871, which was bloodily repressed by the Third French Republic. And then there was after that was a red scare. A red scare was has been going on in this country way before the Soviet Union was founded. And it was a good scare tactic by the bosses and their pet presses to put a scare into middle class people about what working people are doing with the fear of revolt and anarchy and slaughter, blah blah blah. But the workers did not slaughter anybody. In fact, the state governments sought to beef up their militias and their state police forces, and the federal federal troops were also involved. And and when and during the and in the cities where these strikes took place, uh the police were beefed up and and there are so-called special police forces and citizens, uh militias of the respectable people, quote unquote, having and all of having access to Gatling guns and updated weapons of war. All this to repress the workers and their just demands. What was behind the strike? From eighteen seventy-three always to eighteen seventy seven, the United States had been in the grip of a depression, a total economic downturn, and that gave the the railroad corporations the extreme excuse to uh to cut back on workers' salaries. Their salaries have been abysmal uh from the start, barely enough to feed a family. Not even that. And to cut back even further, that was a desperation move on the workers. They just had to do it. They had to say, no more, we're standing up for ourselves. But but the corporate executives and their boards of directors didn't cut back on their perks. No, no. That's an old story. If a company has to do, is it a serious financial trouble? The workers have to make all the sacrifices, and the corporate bosses still retain their perks. Same thing with a nation. If there was an economic downturn, it's always uh the low income and working people have to take the budget cuts. Social Security has to be cut, and Medicare has to be cut, and veterans' benefits have to be cut, and school lunches have to be cut, and food stamps have to be cut. Anything benefiting low-income working people has to be cut. But but please recall in 2017 the Republicans implemented massive massive cuts in taxes for billionaires and corporations. And now we are facing a a debt ceiling limit, a break, a debt ceiling problem. If the debt ceiling, the story is, I don't know if it's a scare or what. If the debt ceiling is not raised, the government will not be able to borrow any more money, and it will be a financial catastrophe. Workers will be unemployed, the stock market will drop, workers will lose their jobs, interest rates will go off the roof, and Republicans are barely holding on to the House or demanding steep cuts in Social Security and Medicare and veterans' benefits, and also proposing these work requirements. Excuse me, but how do you get any work out of sixty-something year old people who have busted their asses for 40 years on the job market, and now they're expected to work some more? Well, they're in no shape to work. Like you look at the uh people working in the construction industries, the construction building trades, that is very physically demanding work. It takes a wear and tear on the body. And after, like say fifty or so years, they just can't do it anymore. And they well deserve all the all the perks and pay raises they get. God bless them. They've earned it. Well corporate CEOs get billions of dollars for God knows what. All of a sudden I'm thinking about uh Elon Musk sending Twitter into the toilet what after paying forty-four billion dollars uh to purchase Twitter. Forty-four billion. How do you monetize? How do you get a numerical value, a monetary value on uh on a social networking system or any app on a cell? Interesting. But I digress. The Republicans are threatening that President Biden does not sign the debt ceiling limit, extension of the debt ceiling limit with those cuts and people that and programs that benefit working and low income people, they would allow the economy of the nation and the world by extension to collapse. But Lawrence Tribe of the Harvard Law School has wisely pointed out, thank you, Lawrence, of the fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, which was proposed in june thirteenth, eighteen sixty six and ratified july ninth, eighteen seventy eight. Section four of Article fourteen. The validity of the public debt of the United States authorized by law including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrections of rebellion or rebellion shall not be questioned. The validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. Therefore, the movement is on, and I'm and I'm on that train, the movement is on to totally abolish or ban altogether this debt ceiling. And hopefully, God willing, President Biden does so. That way, the government of the United States could still borrow money without these uh sadistic uh cuts in pro-people programs. From my reading of history, the death ceiling was proposed during World War I when the United States entered that conflict. And it's been it's not really set law, it can be repealed. See, I don't know if it was a bill act of Congress or resolution or executive order, what have you. But it has no real validity. And during the mill during the decades, the past few decades, Congress under Democratic and Republican administrations had no trouble raising the debt ceiling, knowing that it's really a fraud. But now with a Democrat in the White House and the House Republican Republicans dominated by by homicidal maniacs who want to who would destroy the economy of the nation and the world just to show how big, bad, and brave they are with other people's lives. They would they would do that. Does does uh does McCarthy really run the house? Of course not. Does Kevin McCarthy really run the house? No way, no way, no way. He's under the thumb of the uh MAGA caucus dominate with uh Marjorie Taylor Green dominating it. And and his and his minor majority in uh in the House is only by four votes, including including the little shit from allegedly from New York State, George Santos. And he needs to hold on to those guys so he can have his majority, he could be speaker, and where's and that's what we're up against. Let's urge our senators and congress members, the sane ones, of course, to tell President Biden to go for it, go for the Fourteenth Amendment solution. Tell him ignore this this so-called debt ceiling, the economy of the world and the nation depend on it, and sign a and sign a clean uh debt ceiling bill so so that the federal government could meet its uh meanest obligations and debts and people's livelihoods and survival is not in jeopardy. Oh I and I've been thinking if the if the debt ceiling is is not breached and an agreement isn't done by jay by June the first and the economy collapses, would that affect the the salary and perks of the members of Congress, particularly the MAGA Republican members of Congress? It would certainly uh damage our military. No money to spend on weapons or even troops. It would be a disaster. But tell them, tell the MAGAs that. And I have no doubt we're up to the challenge. Let's stand up for our rights and our country. Stand up to the MAGAs. Let's hit the streets, hit the ballot box, and keep the fight going. Okay, I studied enough for now. I have to a little bit of a um little bit of a full disclosure. I've been suffering with uh all my life with anxiety, depression, nervousness, and I'm also on the autism spectrum. And even with all that emotional baggage, I have managed to make a pretty good life for it for myself, gain the respect of my peers, my colleagues, respect in so many many and varied fields. And if I can fight, you can fight. Fight for ourselves, fight for our families, fight for our neighborhoods, fight for our country. And remember the Maggas don't represent our country. They have positions of power in this country, and they use that power to destroy people to compensate for their failures in running their states and their municipalities, they resort to hysteria about wokeness. Woke, what does that mean, woke? All it means is paying attention to the realities of racism and sexism and homophobia and anti Semitism in this country. And knowing that slavery has been a dirty, terrible stain on our country's history, and we must understand it and understand the consequences we are enduring about it today. So and they use these scares about the drag queens and transgender reassignment of young people who kind of realize they weren't quite born in the right body. Those are not our enemies. The enemies are people who would keep us distracted and divided against each other. So that could they can govern if you call it that, on behalf of corporate interests, stealing from everybody. Let's be wary of that. Okay, that's it for now. For now. Now advertisements. My novel, Soldier of the Cross, is available on Amazon.com. It's the story of David Lucas, who as a young man in the early seven in the early 60s, is a drunk and a whore chaser and school bully. He gets in trouble in the army, he becomes a born-again Christian, and he's a he is a zealous, manly, fanatical man for Jesus. And his fanaticism and his zeal gets him into trouble. That's all I'm gonna say about. Please purchase the book, Soldier of the Cross, on Amazon.com. And Hamporific is a lovely little CBD product store located on Snyder Avenue near 15th Street in South Philadelphia. There you will find some of the finest cannabis infused products. Flour and gummies and candies and lip balm and hand sanitizer and dog treats. Yep, dog treats. Look them up please. Himporificlc.com. And also my beloved career and business coach Michelle Snow. Michelle is excellent in helping you develop your small business or professional career. Let you know what you're doing right, where you need work, and help you network with other professionals and entrepreneurs along the way. Look her up, please. Grow with snow dot com. Okay then, that's all for now. And remember we can rest a little bit now. Let's get fresh for the fight. Be well. Shabbat shalom. Enjoy your weekend. Ah