Bill O'Reilly's comment about the "white establishment" was at least borderline honest and accurate. He is lamenting the shrinking demographic power of those like him - the majority of power - white, straight males in America, especially those who are upper-middle class to wealthy...
What I saw was the hope of ALL people - a new majority of ALL, and not just those who have had power and wealth. The "us" verses "them" race/class divide has been going on way too long for us to know who started the class divide, though I have my guess. It was certainly around in Jesus' time, as He addressed it time and time again. But sometimes the true majority steps up and speaks loudly.
Straight, White, Wealthy males have a very developed sense of entitlement. They feel entitled to rule over others "beneath" them. They believe they should be entitled to exploit those "beneath" them, both here and abroad. They believe they are entitled to corporate welfare while demanding an end to public assistance to families and while receiving tax exemptions and breaks. They believe they are superior to others, so theirs is "not" bigotry, but true superiority. They believe they should be able to dominate the culture and the returns on monetary efforts of all "under" them. They believe they are entitled to gain all the wealth they want, with no limits, off the backs of those "below" them. They believe the uneven playing field is correct, good and natural, so that affirmative action threatens their entitlement to ALL the choicest jobs, first and best pick to everything they want over others who are not them or like them.
They believe they are entitled to THE BEST of everything like education, employment, housing, cars, boats, food and clothing, recreation and entertainment, healthcare and profit margins. They believe they should have THE MOST influence over government, freedom from regulation, freedom from prosecution, the most profit and the most power and wealth.
Among the abundances to which they feel entitled are greed, bigotry, xenophobia, lust for power, sophiaphobia (fear of anyone valuing or attaining knowledge), ethnocentrism, racism, classism, homophobia, sexism, ruthlessness, mean-spiritedness, self-centeredness, hatefulness and intolerance.
So, Rove, Kochs, Trump, Murdock and others are now very upset because others might "get some".
Right-wing governors, secretaries of state, national politicians and local ones who lied, cheated, and tried to steal their election, who believed their entitlement to be royalty who can operate outside the truth, any sense of decency or integrity, as long as they can get what they want and keep all the power and wealth, are very angry because "those people" actually rose up and exercised their civil rights and actually participated in democracy. They lost one more step toward their unchallenged oligarchic plutocracy, and they are throwing a tantrum.
What is curious to me is that there are some who have been exploited by them - white, but not male or wealthy or just like those of the majority of power, who DEFEND them and espouse their ideology of how these things should continue, though THEY are being exploited and held down by those "in the club", who will NEVER let them be "in the club", because it would mean less power or wealth, or a lowered sense of superiority for themselves. This fierce loyalty and psychological alignment is maintained because they are duped into believing they either "are in the club" or could be someday, and that "those people" are holding them back from being there, when in truth it is those "above them" who are keeping them down and pitting them against others to keep them there and themselves in power and wealth. They believe that AT LEAST by virtue of their whiteness, straightness or the fact that they were born in this nation, they should have SOME entitlement - scraps from their masters' tables. They resent anyone who might equal their rights, provisions or positions in society. Their frustration, instead of being placed on those "above" them who hold them down, is misplaced on those "beside" or "below" them, as if by scapegoating them, they retain some position over them, or at least the favor of those who are "above" them, as if out of their loyalty they will be lifted up by them instead of held down. Rational people see this. They do not.
Now, both those who are among the entitled and those who aspire to be are throwing a temper tantrum because they did not get their puppet president who would do whatever those who truly are in power and wealth want him to do, those who look just like him.
This time, WE THE PEOPLE spoke. This time we got a taste of LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. This time it was an effort OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE.
It makes me hopeful for our nation. It makes them angry, which speaks volumes.
"Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." "By their fruits you will know them." Jesus
Pastor Jamie
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