Photo by Ahsanization ッon Unsplash

                                    

The Real Person of the Year

observations by C.A. Matthews

They great each morning knowing that their day will probably not go the way they’d like it to, but still they soldier on.

They have a family to feed, a mortgage to maintain, rent to pay, school loan debts they owe, car payments to make.

Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash 

                                     

They get in their car, catch a lift with the carpool, run to the bus stop, hail a taxi, climb up the steps to the train platform, go down to the subway and head into the office, the factory, the store, the shop, the restaurant, the warehouse, the shipyard, the rail yard, the university, the school, the daycare, the airport, the hospital, the clinic, the nursing home, the group home, the theater, the studio, the courts, the laboratory, the water treatment plant, the power plant, the growing fields, the greenhouse, the stockyard, the slaughterhouse, the construction site…

Once there, they do what needs to be done. They put up with flack from the boss, the management, and/or their fellow co-workers. They dream of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. They dread catching sick or becoming injured on the job because they know this is America and just one illness or accident can mean losing their means of making a living. It usually means they’ll lose their employer-sponsored private health insurance if they do. There goes the means to pay for necessary medicines, surgeries, therapies and treatments. They’ve witnessed friends and family members fall upon hard times under just these kinds of circumstances, so they know they’re not overreacting. They could lose it all with just one small slip.

The threat of job loss and loss of life on the job is ever-present to the American worker. There are no sissies when it comes those who have little to no say over their fate at the workplace. Organize a union and strike for better pay and working conditions? If workers survive the unionizing process without being laid-off by their bosses first, they're lucky. Most won't. That's an essential feature of the capitalist system—not a bug. Those who own the means of production can choose to shut it down at a moment's notice.

The company CEOs may decide to close up shop and that’s that. No more work. Workers are out on their rears the next day. The bills don’t stop and the debts don’t magically go away. Their need for lifesaving medicines to treat a chronic condition for themselves and/or a loved one doesn’t disappear overnight. A “prior condition” is what it’s called in the United States. It's an unknown term for most other humans on the planet who receive free health care unconnected to their workplace.

Photo by Liam Martens on Unsplash

                                       

Without employment, workers are often forced to beg, steal, or borrow to make ends meet and keep food in their children’s stomachs. They're sometimes forced to sleep in their cars or on the streets. Couch-surfing can become their way of life before they even know it.

They had no say so over this cruel twist of fate. Rich people who own the means of production decided that the workers’ high level of productivity has made them a whole lot more money, but it also has cut into their profits. The market is flooded with their products and nobody wants to buy them. Something had to give, and it isn't going to be the billionaires. Workers can’t expect billionaires to give up a red cent of their profits or their extravagant lifestyle, can they?

If they’re lucky, workers will find another job soon enough and back they will go to the same routine. They’ll get in their car, catch a lift with the carpool, run to the bus stop, hail a taxi, climb up the steps to the train platform, go down to the subway and head into the office, the factory, the store, the shop, the restaurant… Sure, this time they’re not making as much money as before, but it is what it is. No health insurance provided by this new employer, but it is what it is. No hopes of promotion, no guaranteed hours, no paid sick days, but it is what it is.

TIME magazine's Person of the Year wearing his favorite color--green.

It is what it is. This is America. This is the trap 99% of Americans will put up with from the time they take their first job until the day they’re forced out of their last one. The lucky 1% who inherit large sums of wealth and capital haven’t a clue.

Braver than any actor who takes billions of dollars in armaments to fight a proxy war for a cowardly government run by intelligence agencies on behalf of the self-same billionaire oligarchs who control the lives and health of workers worldwide—that’s the American worker. Workers used as pawns, brainwashed to take the blame for the recklessness of the corporations/institutions they’re forced to work for, suffering early death and illness because of the lasting damage these wealthy reprobates have inflicted upon the planet due to their addiction to fossil fuels burning and its profits. The workers, dying because of the oligarchs’ total lack of respect of the environment, the water, the soil and the very air we all breathe.

The American Worker. This is who really should be TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year.”

 

TIME's Man of the Year 1938. Yeah, they went there.

Related Articles:

Zelensky Named Time Magazine's "Person of the Year" https://youtu.be/9ReQ_97k7sI (video) 

Railroad Workers Speak Out After Congress and Biden Block Rail Strike https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/08/railroad-workers-speak-out-after-congress-and-biden-block-rail-strike/

Fast Track to the Gilded Age (short animation) https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/08/mark-fiore-fast-track-to-the-gilded-age-video/  

No Union? You Still Have a Right to Strike https://popularresistance.org/no-union-you-still-have-a-right-to-strike/

Sick Days Are a Human Right https://popularresistance.org/new-york-city-sick-days-are-a-human-right/

Solidarity Rally for Railroad Workers  https://popularresistance.org/solidarity-rally-for-railroad-workers/

 

Seen on Twitter:

You’re either with the strikers or with the oppressors

— Tiberius ☭ (@ecomarxi) December 8, 2022

#SupportRailWorkers pic.twitter.com/o4kEZ2kqkH

— Yup… I said it. And? (@RJohnston815) December 7, 2022

This politician literally voted to crush a union rail strike last week pic.twitter.com/f3L0TDtQg9

— Defund Ukraine (@DoctorFishbones) December 7, 2022

It was a tough choice, he just barely won out over this guy... pic.twitter.com/SVQbAHEJN6

— Andreas 🇵🇸 (@AndreasKep) December 8, 2022

Both Parties working together to crush the rail workers should have shown people the reality of what we as a society are up against, but it won't, both sides will continue to live in the fantasy that their team is fighting for us.

— Black in the Empire (@blackintheempir) December 10, 2022

Why I Support Bernie Sanders for President, Part 2

Why I Support Bernie Sanders for President, Part 2

By George Oeser

To recap:  I have been living in the Netherlands. The time I have spent here has allowed me to see, first hand, what happens when a country takes a different path than America: To see the results of certain policies and programs with my own eyes instead of just watching what one talking head or another with a particular agenda has to say on TV. I have been surprised by many of the things I have seen here, and my mind has changed on several issues. It has affected who I will be voting for. I hope you can find this information valuable to your own decision making process. 

People in the Netherlands work hard and take risks, not because of a lack of a safety net but because a strong safety net exists. In America, if you start a new business and it fails, you can lose everything. This prevents many people from starting a new business or trying to turn their ideas into great new inventions. The rewards may be great, but the risks are just too high. In Holland, you know that if your business fails you at least will still be able to feed and house your family and send your kids to college. This makes taking risks much more worthwhile. The entrepreneurial spirit is very much alive and well in Holland.

In Holland, almost everyone speaks English extremely well, along with their native Dutch and often times German and French as well. This allows the Netherlands to be very competitive in the global market. This is only possible because the Dutch place great importance on education. Schools are well funded; teachers are well paid; higher education is kept affordable. All of this allows the Netherlands to be a center of high tech industry and a world leader in innovation. 

The Dutch education system is amazing. Children go to schools that are funded by the government but normally run by private organizations. Often times these are religious organizations or civic groups that are required to meet government regulations while at the same time being allowed to bring their own culture into the educational process. Higher education is also funded by the government through a series of exceptionally high quality universities and technical schools. Higher education is not free, but costs are regulated so that everyone can afford to get an education if they choose to. 

You need well-educated people to compete and lead in the world today. America is falling behind in this area. Sure, we have of the best paid college presidents and coaches in the world, but many students can’t afford college or are forced into crushing debt to attend, and our country has suffered as a consequence. 

In Holland, seeing your primary physician never costs you a penny. This means that people are willing to go to the doctor sooner, which means a simple problem can be kept from turning into a serious condition. This also means less sick days and a more productive workforce. Adding to the high productivity levels are a minimum of four weeks paid vacation per year, paid maternity leave, and higher wages that make employees willing to work harder because they don't feel like they are being cheated every time they see one of their pay stubs. This allows more families to have a parent who is able to be at home with the kids at all times, which of course is better for the children who become the next generation of well-educated, well-paid, and highly motivated workers and entrepreneurs. 

Workers in the Netherlands are pretty much just as productive as workers in America, but American full time workers put in an average of 46.7 hours a week while Dutch workers average just 29 hours per week. Think about overtime pay and regular pay combined—are American companies really saving money by paying their employees less and offering them fewer benefits?

I know what many of you are thinking: “What about taxes?” It is true that taxes are considerably higher in the Netherlands than in the United States, no doubt about that. But to stop the conversation there wouldn't tell the entire story. You have to compare the cost against the benefits. For example, if someone could move into a city and be closer to work, have more free time and spend less on fuel because of a shorter commute, spend more time with their family, get an extra hour of sleep every day, and generally live a higher quality of life, but they refused to do so because their rent would go up by 10%, something they could easily afford, you would think they were crazy. Americans should think the same way about taxes. 

Yes, taxes in the Netherlands are higher, but they result in lower healthcare costs, lower educational costs, lower transportation costs, a higher quality of life, and many other benefits that greatly outweigh the higher tax rates. The problem isn't high taxes—the  problem is feeling like you get nothing in return for your taxes. In America, we could lower our taxes by 90%, but if we didn't feel like we were getting anything for our money we would still think our taxes were too high. This is why the higher taxes aren't a big problem in the Netherlands. They feel like quite a bargain. 

While the national government of the Netherlands is quite strong, it does not hold all of the power. Local governments, the sections of the government closest to and most connected to the people, have considerable power. The national government may provide funding to local governments that has to be spent on roads or on education or on cultural initiatives, but the municipalities get to determine how those funds are specifically spent in their areas. This allows tax money to be spent in the most effective ways possible so it can benefit the largest number of people. 

As I mentioned earlier, I believe that we could learn a tremendous amount from a country like the Netherlands, but so far in the presidential race it only seems one candidate has paid attention to these lessons. Bernie Sanders has stood up for workers and American families. He supports policies that will benefit the middle class and help the poor work their way out of poverty. He is the only candidate who is not being supported by billionaire donors who want to maintain the current policies that are benefiting them in the short term but destroying America over time. This means he is the only candidate who can act on these lessons because he isn't beholden to the 1%.

Bernie  Sanders sees the ripple effects of policies.  Fight poverty and you can't help but be fighting racism at the exact same time. Increase educational opportunities and you increase business opportunities as well. Creating a better public transportation system creates more jobs and gives people more access to opportunities. All of these things could happen in America. All of these things could benefit everyone in America, even the wealthiest among us. Bernie Sanders wants to combine the best ideas from countries like Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands with the drive and ambition of America so that the United States can work better, be more efficient, and make opportunity available to everyone.

Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who wants to help America live up to its potential, and he is the only candidate who will be able to do anything other than simply serve the desires of the wealthy. Bernie Sanders is the one candidate who really understands and supports the American dream. That's why I support Sanders for president.

Bio: George Oeser is a photographer, born and raised in Tennessee but currently living in the Netherlands. He spends much of his time thinking about how much he misses good Southern food. His web site: George Oeser Photography