'poorsplaining'

I often resist the urge to poorsplain’ to the obviously financially secure people that keep telling us how well we are all doing, how we are in recovery, how we are on the right track.

What about access to not worrying about your electricity being cut off because you are juggling bills?
What about access to not worrying about going homeless if you drop a pin while juggling?
What about access to medical care when you are flat broke, insured at gunpoint or not?
What about access to a dignified, well-funded mass transit system?
What about access to education and opportunity?
What about an old age plan that does not involve severe poverty but dignity instead?
What about a justice system that works for all not one where the poor are below the law and the rich are above it?
What about the fact that such questions are too numerous to list them all?

Are questions I ask on a daily basis, and what might shock some of the cheerleaders of established politicians is that those are the most common thoughts to enter the minds of the average American in this day and age.

Yes, I said average, but it really is more like the majority of Americans. The majority of us have been left behind in an economy where we lose more each day as the well to do gain more each day, what makes matters worse is that we no longer appear to have much in the way of representation no matter how we vote.

I would give what little remains of my life for a party of the people, a labor party, a party that is concerned about the rising and rampant poverty all around the insulated bubbles of the few remaining upper middle class members that love to tell me how great we are doing, how progressive our party is, how our leaders “feel our pain”.

I would poorsplain’ to them what the true reality is, as a party that once represented the people has for the past thirty years abandoned us to decay as a people as completely as they have abandoned the crumbling bridges, roads, and empty factories that once were the lifeblood of a people first marginalized, then ignored, and now completely invisible. It is as if the majority of Americans do not exist.There is no longer a party of the people, their voice and existence is now excluded from the chambers of political power and “esteemed” “gentlepersons” that are now merely servants to rich masters that tell them which laws to pass or refuse to. They have become more parasite than human and yet hold our fates within their purchased grasp..

I would do this splainin’ but such is condescension and anger does not translate well as condescension but rather rage repressed becomes expressed, and the insulated bubble of cheerleading “sports team” enthusiasts in both parties that do not have the worries of the common man are quite fragile and easily offended, they would ostracize me were I to attempt to poorsplain’ to them the nature of the reality of the suffering all around them they are blind to, as my condescension would turn to rage before the first paragraph were completed. Perhaps even imprisoned. I lack the protection of a "pure race" or the money of a respectable upper middle class entity and so I am but a nuisance, perhaps even vermin to slowly eradicate as a rat, or a bug, on the face of humanity via not poison, but slow death by poverty.

You see, it is not just the rich that keep ‘splainin to us “how we need to be” to not be struggling and losing, but also those that carry their water from the insulated upper middle class that are the only ones spoken to by our representatives, the house servants to the rich that exist within both parties that are skeeved out by a class they fear they will one day join if they don’t ally themselves to the rich ‘splaining servants of the upper crust that call themselves representatives to the people.

If any of them truly cared about anyone but themselves, if any of them cared about most of their fellow citizens, they would not cheer on and idolize those that have shaped a party that once served the people into a golem fit only to further enrich the already rich using nothing more than soft rhetoric and broken promises to the middle class that carry their water while ignoring the rest, the majority, the struggling …. the invisible that are losing or have lost everything to policies chosen by those that they swoon over and adore as if they were teenagers smitten by a heart throb.

There are exceptions within these insulated bubbles of middleclassdom that do see us and do see with deeper insight how their class too shall fall to the greed of the wealthy that own our representatives, there are exceptions as well within our representative bodies that can see the invisible majority, they are the ones that have my respect as advocates that show true empathy and disgust at the indefensible state we find ourselves in and who would, like statesmen of a time now past, attempt to effect change that will perhaps not make the majority wealthy, but at least comfortable enough to survive without the constant dread of becoming homeless and dead. But alas, they need no one to explain to them because they already have eyes to see.

To the rest, they are cowards or complicit idiots that perhaps feel will one day rise above their middle class status to trample us beneath their feet like the heroes they idolize that have brought this country to a state where an economic recovery is now defined as the rich gaining much more of the monetary resources they will never need or likely spend while the majority fall further into poverty. House servants are what they are, and could only maybe learn from working in the fields for a bowl of gruel and a hope that the next day they will be able to break their backs yet again for yet one more bowl, one more day alive. I do not respect such individuals and attempts to poorsplain' to them would more likely result in a lynch mob directed towards me than a change of mind or heart.

This is a bad day today (as perhaps evidenced by my lengthy rambling response), one more acquaintance went homeless not so long ago and we are all of us still trying to help around here but with little success save temporary floor accommodations and calls to the mostly ineffective representatives that work within a tattered and barely existent safety net apparatus ravaged a few decades ago with buy-partisan support and a well adored sports team favorite named Clinton

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PriceRip's picture

          Poverty can be a very positive force in your life, but there is a downside. Yea, surprise, I actually harbor hate to the very core of my being. It's complicated, but as with all such maladies, a careful analysis can often highlight the specific events that lead to the patient's final state of mind. The real problem with trying to explain the consequences of poverty while living through the "formative years" is that no two people experience those years in the same way, and as a result communicating the "life forming" experience will always be fundamentally flawed and therefore an impossible task.

          Short Form: It is simply impossible for you to understand my life.

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EyeRound's picture

Powerful and moving words!

(The 2 blue "plus" symbols in the header aren't showing up too well--sadly.)

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Anyone failed by their government is a tragedy. A total failure of good governance is not a standard nor a bear metric, it is binary value. No one is guaranteed more than the present. All standards an employer expects, shoukd also be required of every legislator. All penalties applied to the basest member of the public shall be afforded, and nothing more. If you didn't solve your constituents problems immediately, you should walk away, but be sure to officially resign.

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Fighting for democratic principles,... well, since forever

riverlover's picture

But life is not decided by sports team picks or voting party picks. More nuance involved. Facing the challenges daily. As much as one can. Clean water, air to breathe, food to eat, little things that occur daily,
or are lacking. And the mind and body prefer to be living, and if possible, entertained.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

That is the answer to everything here, I sure hope it helps someone now. Sorry to hear about your friend, that was a good rant about the condition our condition is in. I had to sign an agreement to not share my studio, else I think I'd try to help someone if I could. It would help a lot to share expenses but I am not getting that choice. If there was a social security collective or similar I'd join.

When I lost my last rental to greed, I called 211, it was less then helpful. Then a young person from COTS (committee on the shelterless in Petaluma) literally told me "we don't help people find housing", that was three years ago, dumb luck found me this too expensive place. Grateful.

Anyway, was directed back online to a list of Section 8 answering machines. There is not one list, there are dozens, it's a cluster fuck. I think the services are better now but that is not solving the problem, it is perpetuating it. Make-work for the sick economy. The wait time for help is years. Fiddling while Rome burns.

And now what's his name, Carson is gonna run HUD? Maybe he will get some hostels, hotels, affordable shelters built. Yeah right.
Flying pig
part is parts

Thanks for caring. How do us poors survive? No money, no power. Votes don't change anything. That's the system Californians want I guess, look how many vote for it. Not me.

Peace

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Lookout's picture

and I'm giving up on them. They are addicted to the crack rock of corporate cash, and have proven over and over they care for power not people nor planet. Forget them.

I think we'll do better developing cooperative ventures among ourselves.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/ ... offers some positive approaches.

I feel lucky to have my pension from teaching and social security. I try to help those less fortunate when I can. Do you have a community of like minded people in your neighborhood? That always helps. Wishing you the best. Try to keep a good thought and don't dwell on the infinite problems we face. In part because I think they will get worse as we spiral into a climate catastrophe. In a perverse sort of way knowing things will continue to deteriorate makes me appreciate and value today and every day.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

It's used by everyone in the establishment.

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Lenzabi's picture

There are still those Idjits out there that think my disability is such a drain at a measly 13k a year! Seems they think folks down this far still live like fricking kings. This was a good rant. Just hope it helps folks understand how rough it is for those of us not making that 50k a year they keep calling our "Median income" hell, try living on 20k a year or less. You won;t keep that house, or car long.

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So long, and thanks for all the fish