We Aren't the Same As They Are

Today one of the most talked about topics is the inequity between the people that have the wealth in this nation and the rest of us – the vast majority - that don't. We hear about the very real gap between the top 1% and all us others. We hear about how it is ruining the Middle Class. Both those things are true, and the issue is problematic for the rest of us. By us I mean the 99% of Americans that are either middle income or lower income, as we are indeed in trouble, and for us the situation is getting worse with every day – I mean 99% apart from any slogans or unfortunately infiltrated movements support them as I may. I mean the reality.

We hear about the jobs that have gone overseas and hear politicians including our president telling us the jobs will never come back. (http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/02/16/obama-promotes-manufac...) That's debatable as there is the ever present issue of those factories being protected by taxpayer dollars. That's right we have huge military bases in those areas and countries - specifically East Asia – that we have to pay for, and in fact the president has promised to increase the military presence in that area to do so. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45318987/ns/politics-white_house/t/obama-us-...) Of course he says it's to threaten China, but they are our biggest foreign lenders and the nation we do the most trade with. Enemies needing to be threatened? Come on now.

Further, we keep that area in such a state economically that it's conducive for American factories to be relocated there. Through artificial currency manipulation deals between our government (the Fed) and governments in Southeast Asia and East Asia we have been able to make it so goods manufactured there could be sold here inexpensively while still turning more of a profit than was possible when those factories were located here. It won't be done, as the president and GOP candidates all state, because wealthy powerful people don't want it to be done. It started out as a way to keep nations around China and the USSR from turning communist during the Cold War by giving them a way to make money and build their middle class as ours had been build by those factories.

The Cold War is over, but the profits are bigger than ever and campaign donations are getting bigger than ever from those corporations that accordingly have grown influential. They are also tied into the military more than ever as they help increase the size and influence of our military by providing this desire to have factories that were once in America over there and using our military to act as security guards for them (security guards which they don't have to pay for). That's right, we pay to keep their factories secure through tax dollars we have to work increasingly harder for. Two and three jobs and breaking down the schools our children attend so that they can keep making those huge profits. We pay to protect those factories they shipped over there.

Why doesn't President Obama and all his competitors on the other side of the isle prove this theory they all speak of about those jobs won't come back? Stop the currency manipulation deals and remove the protections for those wealthy campaign donors, excuse me I meant corporations. Do that and see how fast they come running back when they have no protection and their profits start to shrink. A few too many CEO kidnappings and shrinking resources to pay kidnappers and Detroit will no longer be what it's become and return to what it used to be. Don't we deserve better?

That gets to another point. What does not get talked about as much in the media is the increasing power those interests both inside the government and outside it, have now. The gap between the power they hold over our nation and what we have has also increased. Our share of it grew as did the middle class. Consumer protections were on the rise, the power of the ordinary man in the court system was growing and we were slowly becoming empowered. With currency manipulation and protections for factories hiring no Americans resulting in jobs being shipped overseas, it all ended.

These are people in positions of power that are either too well connected or too wealthy or some combination of the two to face any harm through money. They aren't worried about much in other words. There is one thing above all that makes them more nervous than a bully on the first day after summer break facing the kid he used to pick on that suddenly grew 6 inches and gained thirty pounds of muscle and looks extremely mad. It works like you wouldn't believe, turning even the most composed faces shiny with sweat and red from exposure and the feeling of being unprotected. That is information.

There is nothing more damaging to them than facts and evidence to back up those facts. Think about it. Who doesn't know someone that has had something embarrassing or that they wanted to remain private about themselves be revealed or come to light that they essentially recovered from? We all do. As long as it wasn't something criminal, ordinary people go on surprisingly well and aside from a bruised ego, typically just keep going no problem.

But powerful people? Documents can ruin their lives, they can destroy the careers of people caught doing the wrong things. Pictures can cause empires to crumble. You and me? A week to a month of giggles from those around us, perhaps a little longer, then it's over – if that. For me and you it's one of those situations you always hear about where the worst you could imagine, the thing you were most afraid of turns out to be the kind of thing you shrug your shoulders at and ask yourself about it, “what was I so worried about that for?” once it comes to light.

I'll give you an example from personal experience. When I was a student in college I became the target of harassment by some professors and others that wanted me out of their degree program. It was in part because of race and in part because of a crime that I had committed thirteen years prior to my attending school there. I had moved on from that time and changed my life, never having committed for any crimes since, going straight etc. Yet, given my race and the crime and the climate nationally at the time (a couple of years after 9/11) I thought it would be bad for me if the facts that no one could know about came to light.

The professors harassing me over it leaked my past to some students and used my race to paint me as this terrorist. People had the opportunity to get to know me over the time I had been there, and they started to question what the professors were saying. They could see the connections weren't exactly what the professors claimed. It was still hard, but knowing some that there were people that thought it was all b.s. and saw it for what it was, helped.

They kept subtly threatening they would drop the facts and it would haunt me when everyone knew. They had conscripted some students into their little game and one day one of the students said that one of the professor's conscripts had pulled up an article about me and asked me if it was true. It was about the crime and had been written recently. There it was, my greatest fear at that place come to life. It was a shock at first, and then I just said, “yeah.”

The people that were part of the professor's and other's little scheme all had looks on their faces saying, “ha! We have you now.” They even said as much out loud to each other so I could hear it. On the way home I thought about it and was nervous, but I decided the best way to deal with it was to be honest. If anyone wanted to ask me about it, just to tell them and own it. I did do it and it was a part of my history, but something I did as a stupid teen. I did have to pay for it through the legal system and that was right. I did. I made a mistake, and I had forgiven myself for it long ago.

The crime happened at a school and so I went to that school that day and bought a t-shirt from that school. I had no problems with that school and they no longer had any problems with me – in fact I worked at a bookstore/ cafe that served the campus where the students went to buy many of their books, just a few years after the crime. Nobody cared.

But my classmates at the new university could not have known that. So the next day I put on the t-shirt and went into school. I wasn't proud of what I did, but I was proud of my long history with that school and wasn't running from it for anybody. If anybody had any questions they could simply ask me – I wanted it to be known. Just ask me – and I hoped that's what the t-shirt would say.

When I walked into the design studio the next day, you could see the immediate looks on the faces of the people that wanted to use my past as power over me thinking “this is it! We got him now.” The people that had always been on the fence and didn't agree with the behavior almost all broke out in smiles simultaneously as soon as they saw the t-shirt and some actually started laughing out loud – not at me either. The people that had been harassing me almost all turned beet red and had these odd “I just don't understand” confused looks on their faces like someone had just stolen their ice cream and they didn't feel there was anything they could do to make it right.

It happened just like that. Sure there was some embarrassment and humiliation, but those things aren't really that bad – not for you or me. Anyone feeling embarrassed should know, like a physical injury, it will pass. It did for me and in fact probably gained me more friends than enemies. I certainly did not lose any people sympathizing or empathizing with me. So outside of shock and a bump on my ego it went away. All I had to do was own it and know what really happened, forgive myself and go on. For you and me - ordinary folks - it passes.

Now, had I been some power politician or CEO that could have meant the end of my career. Heck, whole companies have been crushed really over less. But for people without any power or not as much to lose – meh. It passes like a headache, twisted ankle or even a broken arm. Maybe even heartburn.

But for those in wealthy positions of power and influence that have risen to such a place without knowledge of such things coming to light, it could crush them. For us a few days weeks or even months pass and things are essentially forgotten about. For them their entire wealth and social positions could come tumbling down – unless they're entertainers – though even some of them have fallen vic.

For anyone going through issues with powerful organizations and powerful individuals, remember, use facts, back them up with evidence, and if you are able, use Freedom Of Information requests or other documents. Use audio recordings, video recordings, documents and anything else. Gather facts. Power is only afraid of one thing and one thing alone – info.

In that way you and I – ordinary folks and the powerful and wealthy are very different. We don't stand to lose half as much due to information as long as it doesn't implicate us in crimes or implicate us in wrongdoings. Sure, the powerful can exert influence. For example the state school I'm writing about I have written about extensively. In the state I live in, they are to the state what Disneyland is to Florida. They are hugely powerful and influential. I suppose if they wanted to, they could simply set me up for something I didn't do and jail me or discredit me as has happened to other people that have crossed powerful people that were otherwise innocent.

I don't think they are the kind of people that would go that far, as I'm basically a nobody - no threat. However, the threat of it wouldn't stop me from writing. I know what I've done and haven't and would gladly face that. It would be just one more thing to write about – and would simply prove that what I was saying all along was true. I'm just an ordinary person. I'm not that worried about it. It's what makes me different from those in powerful positions and whatever comes I already know, I can get over it. I've been there and i've done that, and now I know.

Simply put - we're not the same as they are.

To read about my inspiration for this article go to www.lawsuitagainstuconn.com.