Kakki, I don't believe everything is political, however I will concede that all actions could have political ramifications. It's all in the eye of the beholder. I don't believe if I buy jeans that I openly support child labor. Nor do I believe not buying them will stop child labor. The choice to buy or not buy for me is price. I for one had my first job at 11, and it was picking peaches, and apples for ten cents a peck. I hate peaches to this day. But I liked the small amount of money I got at the end of the week. I've also worked stocking shelves at the local stop and shop. I've never been ashamed of any honest work I've done, and I've never refused honest work when I needed a pay check. For a while I worked one full time job and two part time jobs. The point is where do people get the idea all Americans are lazy? Or that all republicans are rich? If I support a democrat because I like his views am I a democrat? What if I vote for a democrat for one thing and a republican for another? I believe the majority of Americans are smart enough to look beyond patriotism and see the facts, as they perceive them to be. Not supporting Bush doesn't make anyone less of a patriot, nor does supporting Bush make anyone a drooling lump of mindless flesh. Kasey
Mags wrote: > Point well made. I agree one hundred percent. Too bogged down to cite examples, however, everyone's doing a >fine job articulating so I will lay down my "me too" and leave it at that. Well, I understand now more what was meant but it wasn't clear at all to me before. What I wonder is what are we as individuals supposed to do about it? Boycott all food and clothing? Feel unending guilt on a daily basis? I think even if all Republicans, who seemed to be blamed by some people for all the evils in the world, were all killed and turned into Soylent Green for people to eat, and their clothing taken and redistributed, would this solve all the injustice and inequity in the world? (by the way, who did people blame for all the evil in the world before Republicans came into being relatively few years ago in the historical scheme of things?) Here's another side of worker exploitation - the migrants who pick the harvest here in California (where a large amount of the produce for the U.S. is grown) are breaking down our border every day to get in. Their government is offering them nothing. Many studies show that most of the wages they make here are sent back home to Mexico or Guatamala or other countries and in fact, contribute substantially to their economy at home. Most all of them are making at least minimum wage by law, just the same as myself and many others have done when they started out working. I personally know three people, one a former boss, one a former boyfriend, and one a best friend. whose parents came from Mexico to work the farms here. They only worked in the farms a few years and very quickly went on to build their own successful, independent businesses. Their children all became professionals and very successful in one generation. Because of their minority status, all were given fully paid scholarships to top universities. In California, there are numerous social welfare programs to help them. They get free medical care, assisted housing, food stamps, preferential housing and business grants and loans and many other benefits to help them. In the meantime, people like me, just the dumb "white bread bourgeous" goes to work every day and lawfully pays my taxes that help people such as the migrant families without protesting and demonstrating. I won't feel guilt from people who are far better off then me financially trying to lay it on me. KakkiGet more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com
