June 3, 2014 8:14 AM

Welcome to our New Oligarchy

Corey Robin highlights the frightening trend in state GOP labor laws to deny unemployment benefits to workers who are fired for breaking the “behavioral norms” demanded by employers, from dating workers from rival companies to posting unhappy work-related remarks to the Internet. Conservative douchebag Ben Stein loves these rules, and wants high schools to help instill them by vigorously punishing “talking back” — if you’re subordinate, you need to learn not to be insubordinate.

It’s a standard GOP talking point: Republicans are the true champions of the middle class, the ones making sure that Joe and Edna Sixpack can have the life any hardworking American deserves. Judging by what Republican state legislatures have done over the past few years, one would have to be deaf, dumb, and blind not to see that Republicans aren’t serving the middle class at all. The Republican concern for the middle class extends only as far as determining how to convince the American Sheeple to vote against their own interests every two years. Republicans have successfully remade the legal climate in many states, creating a system skewed to the advantage of employers. Workers now have little if any recourse to claim mistreatment…and can be denied unemployment benefits for “deliberate violation or disregard of the reasonable standards of behavior which the employer expects.” That this definition is as deliberately broad as it is vague only confirms the unquestioned primacy of our New Oligarchy.

Today’s workplaces have been transformed into Objectivist playgrounds, something that would delight the late Ayn Rand and her devoted disciple, noted prevaricator Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). Society has been divided into “makers” (those with the money) and “takers” (those forced to sell their labor to obtain money). Makers are being granted ever-expanding rights to control aspects of their workers’ lives. Takers have little choice but to grin and bear it. It’s not quite a master/slave relationship, but that seems to be the direction we’re headed. The middle class are regularly duped into creating Republicans legislative majorities, even though any promises made turn to dust once an election is over. Voters in red states have elected people dedicated to creating a society where capital rules and labor serves at the pleasure of the employer. The Economic Policy Institute’s 2013 report, The Legislative Attack on American Wages and Labor Standards, 2011-2012, details Republican efforts to create an environment establishing Makers as master of the plantation. While attention has been focused on the machinations of Congressional Republians, red state legislatures done far more damage, nibbling away at worker rights and expanding the scope of an employer’s right to control their workforce.

We oppose the teaching of higher order thinking skills, critical thinking, and similar programs.

  • Texas Republican Party platform

Conservatives like Ben Stein applaud this trend and advocate for indoctrinating/training our children in the sort of unquestioning obedience required in today’s workplace. If there’s anything employers value, it’s obedience and subordination. If we teach children to obey instead of thinking critically, society will benefit from the creation of a stable, compliant workforce…and we won’t have to worry about our children becoming Liberals and rocking the boat by asking uncomfortable questions. Sure, we’ll lose the ability to compete with growing economies like India, China, and South Korea, but that’s not an immediately visible consequence…and the ability of capital to control labor should be considered paramount.

Employment law had finally evolved to the point where workers were assured employers couldn’t exercise almost complete control over their lives. Thanks to red state legislatures, many of those reforms have been rolled back, and the voices of those who believe we should be indoctrinating children in the importance of obedience and subservience are becoming louder. Before long, the terms “employer” and “master” will become interchangeable, and the fate of workers will be left to those in $1500 suits and corner offices in Manhattan office towers.

Thus Charles and David Koch will not only rule the world, they’ll own most of it. And the proles will be left to toil for whatever scrapes the 1% deign to toss to the unwashed masses.

Except that day is already here…and the American Sheeple has elected those who’ve helped create it. It’s quite an accomplishment when you can convince the masses to create the means of their own subjugation. The “Big Lie” is more than just a theory; it’s the wave of the future.

We are at war with Oceania. We have ALWAYS been at war with Oceania….

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About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 3, 2014 8:14 AM.

As if Texas doesn't already have enough hypocritical, hyper-religious charlatans was the previous entry in this blog.

Open Carry zealots: Dangerous, immature, self-righteous...and built to stay that way is the next entry in this blog.

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