ReedyBear's Blog

Left vs. Right is bad political framing

If the whole political fight were Left vs. Right or Democrat vs. Republican, then we'd only need to hear what our representatives say.

If a Democrat wasted money, a Republican would call them out on it. If a Republican cut a necessary government service, a Democrat would call that out.

But they're not the only players. And there's many things on which they agree that you might not.

Both parties have done war in the middle east. Both parties have taken bribes.

And more importantly, we're not against each other, not most of us. Most of us, regardless of party, want health and happiness (I assume). We want kids to grow up in a safe world. We want people to have freedom.

We want to minimize harm, help people with addiction, see people in homes, have safe travel, clean air, and drinkable water.

It's problematic if we politically silo within our parties or ideologies. Politicians hold immense power over us, and we should be united in holding them accountable.

We should not see ourselves as one with the elected representative we like. There job is to wield power to serve us.

And that's tough, because there's an awful lot on which we disagree. And for me, it's a problem when one person's freedom encroaches on someone else's ability to choose what comes into their life.

We are influenced by the things around us, one way or another. And sometimes, we may not want a certain influence - like a liquor store on the corner. Others, we may want an influence - low price produce and food stand with printed recipes available for free, or a park or library.

I read more if I visit the library. I drink more soda when I'm around it (which is everywhere outside of my house).

So when a proposal comes up to ban leaf burning in city limits. Some people want the freedom to burn leaves, and others want the freedom to breathe clean air.

I'm grateful for clean air, and I'm not interested in protecting the right to leaf burning.

But that sucks for the people who want to burn leaves. And it would especially suck if yard waste services weren't available in the area (though you might be able to compost your yard waste & mulch leaves onto your lawn).

Idunno, that kinda got off track.

Other interests. Rich people and corporations have a lot more political power than most of us do.

(I am not well studied on the upcoming numbers, just referenced a couple websites from search results. Sources below)

In 2022, The top 0.1%, or ~330,000 people, had a combined net worth of $19.4 trillion, an average net wroth of $61 million per household. In 2021, the top 0.1% of earners had "Avg. Wages" of $3.3 million.

In 2022, The top 1% earned an average of ~$785,000 and each 1%er had at least $13.6 million in net worth. That's around 3.3 million people. Together they had $22.43 trillion in net worth.

The rest of the top 10% earned ~$183,000 on average and had a net worth of $1.9 million or more. That's around 30 million people. Together they had $52.92 trillion in net worth.

The next ~133 million people had a combined net worth of $43.46 trillion.

These nearly 200 million other people had a combined net worth of $3.67 trillion. The 333,287 people in the top 0.1% had $19.4 trillion. The 3.3 million people in the top 10% had $22.43 trillion.

That's 330,000 people with over five times as much stuff as 200 million people combined.

Those 200 million are worth $18,350 on average. The 330,000 people are worth $58,208,090 on average.

That means one of those 330,000 people is worth 3,172 people, speaking in net worth. That means one of those 330,000 people has 3,172 times as much stuff (net worth) as any one of those 200 million people.

I'm trying to make a point about political power, but I did a bunch of looking up numbers and writing thoughtfully and I'm over it.

I was trying to say who is wealthy & talk about how much political power they have (i.e. lobbying they do).

The top 10% might not do huge lobbying, but they could surely afford to throw $10 or $50 or maybe $500 or a thousand dollars toward a political candidate they like.

I can't comfortably afford five dollars, I definitely can't do $50, and I don't know how I'd even get $500 (disability keeps me from working regularly).

How much can you pay to support a candidate you like?

And if they lose, do you want the winner to be against you? To be "vs." you? Probably not because they have power over you and represent you.

#blog #politics