Who are the REAL bad guys?

Since I've been on ATS (a whopping 4 months ) I've seen countless posts about the upcoming collapse, the class warfare fights, unemployment.
On one side are the folks that get their news from HuffPo, MSNBC and state that it's the evil rich who at fault. The banks, their tax breaks, the corporations. . . ad nauseum.
On the other side, I see where it's the government, progressives, Obama, democrats, unions, ala Fox News.

Who's right?

I am a firm believer in personal responsibility. Are banks the evil bad guys?
Don't go to banks.
Are corporations the bad guys?
Don't buy their product. Or buy stock, becme a shareholder and vote the CEO out.
Is Obama the bad guy?
2012 is coming up. Vote him out.
Unions?
Don't buy THEIR products. Don't use their services.

TV? Stop watching.
Internet?
Stop reading just the liberal or the conservative sites.

There is plenty all of us can do, but blaming one side, blaming a wealthy person(s) is just finger-pointing and whining.

Me? I joined the Tea Party. I try to make a difference that way. I am a contributing editor on other sites as well. I try to illustrate, illuminate and show my side of things.

Back to my topic title, "Who are the REAL bad guys?"
Well, they are us. As long as we let any of the leaders continue to railroad us, we will ultimately be the ones responsible.

But I'd love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

reply to post by beezzer


No-One is right, Everyone is Wrong, You and i are wrong.

And seemingly the more everyone thinks they are right the more Wrong the world gets

True Knowledge lies in knowing that you know nothing -Socrates

Originally posted by TedHodgson
reply to post by beezzer

 

No-One is right, Everyone is Wrong, You and i are wrong.

True Knowledge lies in knowing that you know nothing -Socrates

Er, I was looking for something a wee bit more specific.
I think I am right. My ego would prevent me otherwise. But I'm smart enough to know that I don't know everything.
Regards.

reply to post by beezzer


In some respects you are right, how ever there is some thing we can do, that is learn. Knowledge is power my friend whether we learn from them or look into ourselves and others.

Jamie

The real bad guys are the government who help the rich and screw the middle class and poor. So I blame mainly the rich and the corrupt personnel holding positions in our government. They are just in it for themselves and most of them really give 2 S*$@'s about us common folk.

reply to post by beezzer


will the more the Government think they are in the right, The more they are infact in the wrong do?

reply to post by Reign02


But we can do something about that. We don't HAVE to stay middle class, we don't HAVE to stay poor. We can work, we can create, innovate, we can climb that corporate ladder.
We are not serfs.
I simply refuse to accept that.

Originally posted by TedHodgson
reply to post by beezzer

 

will the more the Government think they are in the right, The more they are infact in the wrong do?

Personally, I think that the government is in the "wrong" category about 99% of the time. Government is a necessary evil in the world we live in. Keeping tight reins on it would be the best bet.
Government oversight is a misnomer in my book.
Oversight of goverment would be better.

the thought of "the higher screwing the lower" has been around as long as hierarchy. it's a combination of paranoia, as well as people enjoying being screwed, because it gives them a reason to blame others for their mistakes.

i agree, the old saying of "change yourself before you change the world" comes to mind when i think of why we're in the situation we are. for once, it's actually happening, and no one really does anything about it.

Best answer I can give...

The world has two kinds of people. Opportunists and those who enable the opportunists So, either you're filthy rich and happily fleecing the flock, or you are a sheep who's noticing that it's starting to feel really, really cold.

The interesting thing is that different people, with different outlooks, will read the above statement and come away with absolutely opposite interpretations of it. Such is the nature of the beast. One group will imagine the "opportunists" as government and corporate interests. Another group will imagine the "opportunists" as the poor.

This is how we are divided and why we cannot, as things are now, stand.

~Heff

reply to post by beezzer


I have an example of a man I think is a bad guy.

Governor Rick Scott of Florida.
Democrats and Independents were asleep at the wheel when this fellow slithered into the Governors Mansion.

He is (like Palin did in Alaska) making a big show of selling the Governors private plane. He prefers to use his own private plane to get around and will certainly charge the State for that!!! Yet as people have pointed out THE NEXT GOVERNOR is going to have to purchase another plane. It appears he is saving the state money when he is doing exactly the opposite. Costing money and giving himself a tidy write off. Snake.

Latest in a litany of attacks on teachers, schools and health clinics for the poor he passed on funding for high speed rail here in Florida.

Although he hails from Big Pharma, I am betting he has a huge portion of his stock portfolio in oil and natural gas as well. Already gasoline prices have gone up to almost $4 in some places and it is only a matter of time before we hit the $5 mark.

High speed rail would not only have employed many thousands of workers (and FL unemployment is higher than the national average) it would have gone a long way toward reducing our dependency on foreign countries for fuel as well as helped the air quality for the people who do not have yachts off the coast to escape to.
At the same time as saying the high speed rail was too costly he gave a go ahead to build yet another coastal Marina so the rich can destroy the coastal shorelines, pollute the ocean and dock their yachts.
ONLY THE POOR and middleclass will likely use the high speed rail so Rick Scott could care less about them. Rick Scott is only out to protect his millionaire buddies who own yachts.

When we are sitting in traffic, sucking up carbon monoxide and burning fuel, as well as polluting the environment since the infrastructure is ill equipped in many places to even HANDLE the traffic...and paying $10 bucks a gallon for gasoline...we will remember the A-Hole that was elected and chose to pass on the high speed rail.

Rick Scott will go down in history as a disaster.

For the left to be happy, everyone must suffer equally

For the right to be happy, everyone must prosper.

There is no doubt who the bad guys are in this scenario.

Baby Boomers.

Originally posted by Reign02
The real bad guys are the government who help the rich and screw the middle class and poor. So I blame mainly the rich and the corrupt personnel holding positions in our government. They are just in it for themselves and most of them really give 2 S*$@'s about us common folk.

Yet there are plenty of people not in any position of political, corporate or religious power, ie common folk, who do the same. It is a common human trait.

I have the neo cons at the top of my list for their actions in regards to 9/11 and their history of economic warfare through the IMF. Their party has a mandate for global domination and their tools are to bully, blow up, kill, sacrifice, rip off and do what ever it takes to get it. That makes them bad in my books. There are heaps of other organisations and associations involved, but at the core of the political process this is one really sick bunch.

reply to post by beezzer


When you need a glass of water to live,
and you have to buy it because its no longer free, what do you do then?

That's where this is all going, and rather quickly if I may add.

I'll give you a list, keep in mind that I have no real evidence, but this is mainly what I see on ATS.

The most common REAL bad guys on ATS:

1.George Soros.
>> He easily takes the cake, it seems that everyone hates him. I hate him too, just 'cause he seems hateable!

2. The Bush family/Maybe just the ones that were presidents?
>> Wars, lies, you know what I mean! ^_^

3. The IMF, EU, WTO, NATO.
>> They're EVIL.

4. Alan Greenspan.
>> I don't even know if he's still alive, but I see his name a lot.

5. The C.I.A.
>> They sell crack, and crack isn't good for you!

6. Obama, Blair, Harper.
>> Dumb, dumb and dumber.

7. The Pope.
>> I read this thread about all roads leading to Rome, and he was heavily hated there.

8. Bill Clinton.
>> He killed a lot of people, and murder ain't cool!

This is all I can this of atm, but I add more if I can remember them!!

The elected officials who betray our trust and the wishes of our founding fathers are the bad guys. They are not the only ones with blame however; We the people who voted them into office and allowed them to stay there and act as they do are at fault as well.
Our founding fathers gave us the charge of protecting this great experiment in government. That charge does not rest with the elected, but rather we the people who elect them.

Originally posted by rcubed1080
The elected officials who betray our trust and the wishes of our founding fathers are the bad guys. They are not the only ones with blame however; We the people who voted them into office and allowed them to stay there and act as they do are at fault as well.
Our founding fathers gave us the charge of protecting this great experiment in government. That charge does not rest with the elected, but rather we the people who elect them.

Brilliant observation.
So many have ceded the responsibility that it's an alien thought to even consider what "our" job actually is!