Lessor of a Lonely Heart

Yes, it's not the best pun I've ever made. But it is a good introduction to a discussion of the crippling flaws with the right wing vision of an "ownership society". Said society combines the Republicans' predilection for disasterous policy ideas with their predilection for sink-or-swim isolationist obstinance. It might come as a shock, but it turns out that this idea favored by Bush is actually a little disingenuous.

In essence it promises that when people own more, they will get and give more. They will get a larger stake in the American dream, and they will give more back in community spirit and involvement. This concept of the effect of ownership goes back an awfully long time. But another thing we know about Republicans is that they are completely corrupt and only look out for the richest one percent or so in their economic policies. So surely they don't mean that we should be letting poor people own things and get involved in politics, right?

Thankfully, the answer is yes - they have no intention of letting poor people own things or participate more meaningfully. Just because Social Security privatization is off the table for now doesn't mean they haven't won some battles on behalf of their ideal society. Last year's "reform" of the bankruptcy system made it easier to get credit while making it harder to file for bankruptcy, thus nicely wrapping up a gift to credit companies that are now allowed to entice people with more free money and then make sure it is remunerated no matter what. Incidentally, Republicans are now refusing to stop predatory lending to troops on the outskirts of military bases.

Needless to say, the results of right wing victories in the Ownership Society battle haven't really worked out for much of America. Serious problems are still going ignored, even in areas where a good faith interpretation of Ownership Society would predict positive things. Obviously things aren't going well for the poor (otherwise they wouldn't be poor), but they're hardly looking up for the middle class either. So not only do Republicans want to make us lonelier by abolishing our means of collectively caring for each other (i.e. Social Security), they want to make it harder for us to own things by getting us up to our necks in debt. So think twice before you put any earnest money on that lonely heart.