Saturday, May 30, 2015

The Mason Missile, May 30, 2015

Greetings! I take this time to brag of my wonderful great grades in the University of Massachusetts. I WILL go back again in July and continue the work. One of the things I’ve learned in the Labor Law class is about English Common Law, which is the basis for law in this country; this is law that is made and decided by judges on a case-by-case basis, using precedent from earlier cases. The premises of Common Law are: employees will be irresponsible unless they are supervised; production must continue unhampered; employees have limited status on the job, and must therefore show respect and deference to their employer (right or wrong); the business is under management’s control, the employer’s property rights are paramount, and employees cannot be full partners in the business or that would interfere with management rights. This attitude is still prevalent in law schools in this country, and I believe this is one of the pillars of capitalism in this country, along with chattel slavery. Earlier this year we have celebrated the march on Selma, Alabama, in March 1965, when Civil-Rights activists led by the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for the rights to vote for African-Americans, and were assaulted by local and state law enforcement-the same people who are supposed to protect us, the citizenry. This courageous march led to the passage and signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And what have we done with the right to vote? So many of us, TOO many, don’t bother with the simple yet profound act of going to the polls and voting, let alone the ancillary acts of signing petitions, participating in rallies, listening to debates, etc. People have literally died for the right of the rest of us to vote. We must keep in mind the number of voter restriction laws passed in state legislatures, in an attempt to keep minorities, students, seniors, and others from voting; and in the recent police violence incidents where African-American men have been killed by law enforcement. We’re heading backwards fast in Civil Rights. In Texas there are military exercises going on called Jade Helm 15, where our most elite military forces are training for desert combat; but through deranged blogs and small town radio there is the idea floating around that Jade Helm 15 is a plot by the Obama administration to “invade” Texas-you DON’T invade you own damn country! - arrest “patriots,” and detain them in abandoned Wal-Mart stores. (This was prior to the flooding in Texas, when Governor Abbott appealed for federal relief; THIS kind of invasion they don’t complain about.) There were mainstream politicians- Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, Greg Abbott, among others-acting like this bit of hysteria is something to take seriously. Combine the racism lurking deep in the dark id of American politics-which has not been eradicated as the commercial media has led us to believe-belief in the most fantastic fables going through the internet, the passion for firearms, the fact that whites will be the minority in a few decades, and poor education, and you have a dangerous mixture, the Republican right-wing base. THESE are the types of people Republican presidential candidates feel they have to pander, THESE are the hardliners who vote to the primaries, and THESE are the people who would elect the next President of the United States. THIS is why voting is so damn important. This is the fight we have ahead of us; let us study these issues and arm ourselves intellectually, to inform ourselves. Bye!