Using a Broad Brush

by Libby Sternberg

On Facebook the other day, I took part in a discussion of the OWS crowd, and eventually we got around to discussing its anti-Semitic elements and whether they were representative of the crowd. I was trying to make the point that Tea Party gatherings had been painted with the broad brush of racism for a few outlandish fringe elements, whereas the OWS crowd seemed to get off scot-free on the anti-Semitism charge despite some signs with messages decrying Jew Bankers and the like.

This discussion eventually led to one poster claiming: "Anti-Semitism is a right wing sickness."

I didn't ask her why she thinks that, but I know that many people think of Nazism as a "right wing" movement, one that was responsible for the slaughter of millions of Jews.

As the holder of center-right views, I have often bristled at the conflating of a movement like Nazism with "conservative" or "right wing" ideals--at least in the understanding of those ideological labels today.

Today, conservatives, or "right wingers" are the ones favoring freedom and limited government. The one broad link between conservatives, right wingers, Tea Partiers and the like, in fact, is that belief in limited government, especially fiscal restraint in government.

I know that opponents would argue that a limited government outlook doesn't jibe with some conservative views, such as restrictions on abortions. But it's a mistake to assume these conservative pro-lifers favor government intervention on a grand scale. They see abortion restriction as necessary in protecting the "life" in that "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" ideology they hold dear. (It's worth noting that other movements to restrict "happiness" and "liberty," such as Prohibition, were advanced and supported by liberal Progressives.)

Using these broad brush definitions, then, Nazism was never a right wing movement but, rather, a left wing one, if you define the term "left wing" the way it is used today--an ideology that favors more government.

But before my left wing friends start throwing bricks at me, hear me out! I don't think Nazism was any more left wing than it was right wing, any more liberal than it was conservative.

Yes, it was ultimately a totalitarian state governed by sociopaths, and in that regard it lies to the left of what I view as a broad stroke political ideology continuum:

Totalitarianism<--Communism<--Socialism    --   Dem/GOP     --       Libertarianism-->Anarchy

But it did not represent current left-wing thought any more than anarchy -- no government at all -- represents conservative thought.

Nazism was precisely the opposite, in fact, of conservative, right-wing limited government views. It was government everywhere and all the time, even down to the stipulation of how to use words as aids in spelling out other words (anti-Semitic laws stipulated that Germans could no longer say "D as in David" or "S as in Samuel," because those were Jewish names -- you don't get much more "big government" than that.).

So, I hope we move past the linkage of Nazism with "right wing" or conservative views as they are understood and meant today. It's awfully tiresome and downright wrong.

ONE OF THE 98% OF THE 99%

I am the 98%.

I don’t squat in parks. In fact, I try to be a good neighbor by not beating drums at all hours. I don’t ask to use my neighbor’s bathroom facilities, either, unless, of course, it’s an emergency.

I try to pay my bills on time. I try to make good financial decisions. Sometimes, I don’t, and I have to pay the consequences. That’s okay, because we all make mistakes. I just try not to ask other people to pay for them.

Am I hacked off at the way things are now? Yeah. I’m angry that people who thought they were achieving the American Dream were led down a yellow brick road to financial ruin by promises from mortgage companies and student loan officers, who were, in turn being pressured by the government to make bad loans, all in the name of “equality’ and “fairness.”  I’m royally ripped that a lot of those folks – the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ones, in particular – don’t seem to be getting the same serving of guilt heaped on them as others are.

And I’m really, really stunned that a lot of the “99 percenters” say they still plan on blindly voting for the characters who either got us into this mess or made it worse.

What do I do when I get mad at policy makers? I don’t grab the chance to relive the Sixties. I get involved. I educate myself about the issues – and not just from organizations that support my political leanings. I don’t like conspiracy theories that make easy connections between a causation and something that has no real, profound effect. Conspiracy theories are for dunderheads or mystery writers.

No, when I’m ripped about something in this democratic republic, I call or write my elected officials. I get like-minded folks to do the same. I participate. I vote. I don’t wallow.

I’m the 98% out of the 99%--in the same income bracket, yeah, but not the same mental zone as the 1% occupying parks. Not. At. All.

I'm the 99 Percent, But You Don't Speak for Me

by Libby Sternberg

Supporters of the Occupy Wall Street crowd have been posting signs on Facebook. That is, photographs of people holding signs with their "stories" on them. These tales are usually some variation of "I am an average guy/gal who tried to do everything right and now I've got tons of debt and can't find a job." Some tell of losing their houses or practically going bankrupt when serious illness hits them without a health insurance coverage safety net.

While these stories generate a painful pang of sympathy--no one likes to hear of others' hardship -- they also stir in me a sense of befuddlement.

As sad as these tales are, they're all, more or less, confessions of mistakes, big life-altering mistakes. So it bewilders me why these sign-makers would want to share these embarrassing stories with the world. Surely they must know that even the most sympathetic readers probably silently ask questions like these:

Why did you rack up so much college debt?
Why did you choose a major in a field with few employment opportunities?
Why did you forgo buying a high-deductible/low-premium health insurance policy?
Why did you take out a mortgage, or refinance one, with little to back it up?

I know, I know -- some of these storytellers would argue that when they made these mistakes, the economy was strong, and they expected to be able to land jobs, get health insurance from an employer, and pay off their debts responsibly.

I'm sorry you are having trouble.
I'm a writer, too. It doesn't
always pay the bills.
Even if we are
 in the "99 percent"
income bracket together,
you don't speak for me.

That part of the tale has a "there but for the grace of God, go I" quality to it that everyone can relate to. We all make mistakes. We all take on debt. Heck, I was a music major...at a conservatory, no less.

But that's where the differences start. Although my parents paid for my degree,  I knew I'd have a hard time finding work in my field, which was highly competitive, when I graduated. I knew I'd have to make tough choices if I wanted to stay in it. Eventually, I chose another path.

So I understand "mistakes" (although I don't look at my music conservatory days as a mistake; music study enriched my life immeasurably in other ways). Everyone understands mistakes.

But not everyone takes to the streets with the implied message that these mistakes--no matter how well-intentioned the original goals were at the time--are someone else's fault, or that someone else should pay for them.

Not everyone points their finger at those who are doing better than them and says "you're to blame; your wealth makes me poor."

So please don't say you speak for the entire "99 percent" who aren't mega wealthy when you broadcast your mistakes and your implied message that others are to blame and should pay on your behalf.

I've made my fair share of mistakes, too, and haven't blamed the wealthy or Wall Street or corporations or capitalism in general. You don't speak for me.