Paul Nelson

Tonawanda, N.Y. (formerly of Lock Haven)

As I read Kellyanne Conway’s statement today that claimed “people who lose their Medicaid can just get a job,” I felt the usual rush of disbelief and anger. However, after sitting and thinking for a moment, I think she stated, in just a few words, what the real crux of the problem is in the United States, and it has nothing to do with politics.

We’re in a “War of the Worlds” that doesn’t involve space aliens. It isn’t even really about “illegal aliens.” This war involves three distinct worlds, I think — three civilizations who are millions of lightyears apart.

First, we have the billionaire oligarchs. These people are not only separated from most of us by their extreme wealth, they are, for the most part, people who have lived in the most artificial of environments — crystal towers where they had no responsibility, no deep concerns, got everything they wanted, and in many cases, never held a job (I’m fully aware that not all of the wealthy are like this).

Living in a completely sheltered environment is deadly. These people have no knowledge of what it’s like to be in an environment where someone is constantly supervising your work. In addition, this isolation promotes bigotry, exactly as we saw in Great Britain when the class system was in place. In fact, that was the very reason the United States was created — to escape the monarchy and wealthy ruling class. The wealthy are perhaps the most fearful people in the world. They have no comprehension of everyday life for those who are unable to work, due to poor health, mental or physical disabilities, and certainly no comprehension of those who are full-time caregivers for a family member. Their lives are often spent avoiding the working class, and the poor class scares the hell out of them.

The working or middle class carries the bulk of society’s financial weight. They are the worker ants. People who work are kept so busy by the wealthy, they often have no time to focus on important issues, such as parenting. When I was teaching in rural Pennsylvania, which has the lowest minimum wage in the U.S. — $7.25 per hour. I had many students where both parents worked two jobs, per week and still had to take their kids to a soup kitchen at least twice a week. The middle class is shrinking.

Why? More and more middle class Americans are being driven into the lower class by low wages paid by oligarch companies and businesses.

Rural Pennsylvania is deeply red and deeply lower class. These poor people can’t see that the wealthy and the GOP have rigged the system so they cannot win. In fact, the GOP wants to cut health care for over 500,000 Pennsylvanians, most of whom are people who regularly vote Republican. People who live in extremely rural, isolated areas are an easy target for the GOP, which has been screwing the poor in Pennsylvania for decades, all the while smiling and saying how the “Democrats are evil and will make all of your taxes go up.”

That’s a pretty effective strategy in a state where 1.5 million people live in horrible poverty — the same kind of poverty-stricken Kentuckians kept Mitch McConnell in office for over 40 years.

The Evangelicals and other cult Christian “churches” also feed this fire by luring the poor and disadvantaged by claiming they will “make people’s lives great…for a nominal weekly fee.” Yes, this is the same exact strategy used by televangelists but these fake preachers have gotten even slicker. I remember one tiny Baptist Church close to my parents’ home that proudly displayed Trump signs during the election. Nobody questioned it or said a thing.

When I lived in Pennsylvania, I watched this GOP machine develop. When I attended school in the late 1960s and 1970s, my town was a fairly healthy middle class factory town. When I returned to the area to teach in 2003, most of the schools in the district reported that 60% of the students lived below the poverty line.

I know I’ve rambled on a great deal, but my point is we have three distinct classes who have no knowledge of what life is like in other classes. The poor are miserable and understandably become hateful of middle class and upper class people. The poor live a hopeless, isolated life, which the wealthy continue to regenerate to keep the poor isolated, hopeless and downtrodden. The middle class has become so underpaid, they cannot keep their heads above water, so they sink more and more each day.

The elite, wealthy class rules. It spreads lies and propaganda to convince the poor and uneducated that the GOP is on their side. Jim Jones would be proud. The wealthy also promote racism and all types of bigotry. Many of them do indeed want a white cult Christian society. However, the wealthy also know that many of the poor also are bigoted and racist, so the poor become effective warriors of the wealthy. The slaves have no idea they are doing the master’s work for him.

Three distinct worlds which are greatly divided and have all been the work of the GOP and wealthy billionaires. It’s quite brilliant and possibly the most evil thing ever created.

Slave drivers and cult Christians have pushed Democracy out the door. However, they are a minority. The same kind of system did not end well for the wealthy French during the revolution. Google it.