The GOP Abolishing the Middle Class?

Is there a conscious conspiracy among Republicans to get rid of the middle class?

I really don't believe that there is some kind of conscious conspiracy among the majority of Republicans to get rid of the middle class in favor of a dual class system of the very rich, very privileged, and the rest of us who are starting to scrounge around in an attempt to keep a roof over our heads and food in the bellies of our children.

No, I can't believe that this is what the majority of Republicans want.  But this is what Republican policies could bring us, intentionally or not.

I'm surprised that so many have forgotten why we have a social safety net, regulatory agencies like the EPA, civil and voting rights acts, and fair wage and hours laws. None of this stuff came about out of nothing; it all came about due to NEED:  Without these kinds of programs, large segments of the United States population were struggling and suffering, or they were in danger of doing so. We have cleaned up our lakes, rivers, and air to an amazing extent over the past 40 years. Most of the elderly no longer live in abject poverty. The conditions exposed in books like The Jungle are mostly a thing of the past here... though the condition of Chinese and other foreign workers is disgusting.

Many people who follow Republican dogma have been convinced that help from the government keeps people "on the dole". Therefore, they feel justified in getting rid of those programs.

We don't want people to starve:  Does that mean we want Utopia?

Then I read comments like this one, from a Ron Paul supporter:

"Utopia can't be bought with other people's money."

Utopia?  Who is talking about Utopia?  We are talking about survival here, and perhaps a chance at a greater-than-subsistence life.  And let's not forget that much of the riches of the uber-wealthy were bought with "other people's money".. Corporations paying people peanuts, often to work long hours like dogs, while they (CEO's, officers, and stockholders) pocketed great wads of cash.  

Eric Wattree tackled this issue of the GOP abolishing the middle class  a few days back.

He starts:  

If there’s anyone left in America who, at this point, can’t see that the Republican Party is the enemy of the American middle class, they have to be either feeble minded, or harboring a hidden interest which precludes them from wanting to see. All one has to do to get a clear view of this political reality is to open one’s eyes and look at who the GOP is putting forward to assume the highest office in the land.

One is Mitt Romney, a vulture capitalist who became a charter member of the top one percent club by purchasing perfectly sound companies, firing their employees, and then selling the companies off, one piece at a time, for profit. The other is Newt Gingrich, a former Speaker of the House of Representatives who was so self-serving and corrupt that in 1998 he was forced to resign from congress by his own Republican colleagues.

These two gentlemen, and the self-serving activities of others of their ilk, are the two bookends that led directly to the 2008 collapse of the American economy, causing millions of Americans to lose their jobs, their homes, and their life savings. Mitt Romney represents the selfish capitalists who threw America under the bus for their own personal greed, and Newt Gingrich personifies the corrupt former politician who uses his influence in Congress to lobby his former colleagues to water down the law, allowing the Romney’s of the world to ply their trade.

Wattlee talks about Romney's plan to let foreclosures hit bottom:

He has absolutely no concern for the devastation and turmoil that losing a home would visit upon the lives of a family that’s been turned out into the street – and we’re not just talking about an unfortunate few here. Mitt Romney is talking about casually writing off millions of Americans as collateral damage.

Wattlee then mentions Newt's turn-kids-into-janitors-while-Dad-hits-the-unemployment-line plan:

This Republican frontrunner for president is completely oblivious to the dire straits of the average American family. His solution would make the situation worse. He’s not the least bit concerned with stabilizing the plight of poor and middle-class families. He’s only concerned with destroying organized labor by firing the father and replacing him with the cheaper, and un-unionized, labor of his children.

He finishes:

And the irony is,this GOP fixation on returning poor and middle class American families to Great Depression status has become such of a fundamental part of the GOP mindset that average Republicans, who would be devastated by such a policy, are applauding! They’ve been conditioned to hate this nation’s first Black president so passionately that they’ve bought into self-sacrifice: “Obama is un-American – he’s engaged in a socialist plot to save my family.” ...

What these average Republicans don’t understand is that they’re being manipulated. The corporate conservatives who run the Republican Party don’t care any more about them than they do black people, gays, undocumented workers, or anyone else. The corporatists are simply manipulating their anger, prejudices, and uninformed minds in order to keep the poor and middle class divided. That way, we’re so busy fighting one another that we fail to recognize that they’re cutting all of our throats....

So again, it’s time for America to wake up – and particularly poor and middle class Republicans. Because entrusting this nation and our economy to the GOP would be like entrusting our children to convicted child molesters:

THE GOP: A ONE HUNDRED YEAR RECORD OF SWINDLING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

Anybody who thinks that "Both parties are the same" needs to read Wattlee's article.