Who is For the Working Class?

Quite often in American Politics, politicians try to pander as being for the "working class." It is one of those strange pieces of the human condition where people latch on to this "us vs them" mentality. Most people fall into all different categories and groups and to varying degrees are either persecuted or praised for that group. Take myself for example, I am white, have Jewish heritage but am Christian, bisexual, in a same sex marriage, conservative, middle-class level income, home owner, dog person, tall (over 6 foot tall), thin...ish, wear glasses, speak English, ignore all the gender stuff but am happy with my anatomy as is, so on and so fourth. For all of those traits mentioned, I have at one point or another been grouped by it and either praised or otherwise. Anything from "it must be nice being tall enough to reach stuff" to being called a k*** by someone I worked with at Wal-Mart as a young adult. I have also heard time and time again of people pandering to most traits for people as a group of "us vs them." Of all of these, classism seems to be this one bastion of "us vs them" that is politically correct enough to be accepted. After all, the rich could simply give up their wealth to be like the rest of us, right?

This is where the term working class is poorly defined. A lot of people work, most people need to work to survive. So who are the working class. Most people like to refer to the working class and blue collar workers almost as synonymous. The problem is that there is such a spread that working class people seem to be fighting against each other, working against each other.

I consider myself working class. I live most of my life paycheck to paycheck, but I still have retirement plans in the works. My husband is not much higher than me on income and he's one of those evil "business owners." I work for a public school system at the moment. If we were not married, we would both be economically on about the same level. My husband's business is a franchise, so he has the name of a big corporation even though right now he just owns one store that is considered small, local, and family owned. Politicians would have people believe there is a distinction with a line drawn.

Most big corporations involve family. They mostly get built from the ground up with hard work and determination. Despite what people may say about "big business," there are always faces and people behind them. Any megalithic name you can think of boils down to people. All the "evils" that they commit are decisions made by people or groups of people.

Who are these working class stiffs being taken advantage of by big business, paving the road to be trodden upon? It is not college kids barely scraping by thinking a degree is their only chance at success while at the same time trying to tear down the people who achieved their goals already. It is not the people sitting on top of an empire built upon their ability to act out a story. It is not the career politicians who took pan-handling to a new level of empty promises we are forced to pay for. It is not big businesses who "stand up" for the "little guys" riding in on their self-righteous horses. It also is not those who work day in and day out, because almost everyone does on one level or another whether it's observed or not.

The "Working Class" is a load of bull shit. Business owners WORK to keep their business profiting. Employees WORK to keep not only themselves and their families surviving, but the place of business they work for because it benefits them with a means to survive. People in other countries work to survive just like us, or in some cases against even harsher odds.

Most of us have the same goals. We want to be successful and happy. We want a good environment that can support all the good things we have and come to expect. We want to live in a world where people around us can be happy along with us. No matter what we do, life is not fair. People get lucky, and some unlucky. We cannot do better if we waste all of our time attacking people for being lucky, or born at a better time for what they had accomplished, or for building something that worked out well. We cannot solve problems by taking from those that have and just giving it to those that do not have. We solve problems by working together, or competing, or even just by trying until something works.

These politicians that say they are for the working class is nothing more than a ploy. People are not your enemy just because they are wealthy and they most certainly are not your friends because they are poor. We have college kids barely getting by wasting their time attacking families living paycheck to paycheck to survive or even attacking the companies that are keeping hundreds and even thousands of people employed so they can survive. I am just so sick and tired of all this class crap and political pandering. Politicians should either actually do something that helps or get out of the way and let people fix their own problems. Preferable, get out of the way.

Happy Holidays vs Merry Christmas

Another Holiday season, another time to see this debate dusted off and dragged out by people. For as long as I can remember, people have been saying both. From most of my personal interactions, people do not seem to care which I say. Happy Holidays is meant to be inclusive to those that might not celebrate Christmas, but I always viewed Merry Christmas as having its own inclusive nature. By wishing those that do not celebrate Christmas a Merry Christmas, it is inviting them to celebrate along with you, and is that not also inclusion?

I grew up with a mother from a Jewish family and a Catholic father, so both Chanukah and  Christmas were marked in my house. Granted we only marked the first day of Chanukah. I also use this particular spelling of "Chanukah" because that's the one we used in my family and because we used to joke around pronouncing it like an English speaker would read that. In my house growing up, no one cared if someone said Holidays, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa, or Festivus. The important part was the good will to others and taking the time to say to have a good one.

As I get older, I find myself saying "Have a good Holiday" when not on a particular Holiday, or depending on the person may say "Christmas Season" and if it's Chanukah I'll say "Happy Chanukah" and on Christmas Eve and Day, I'll say "Merry/Happy Christmas." The reason I do is to invite people to celebrate with me whatever it is I'm celebrating at the time. As far as the "Have a good Holiday," it's my Holiday time "Have a good one."

The arguments on both sides as to which people should use have their merits, but it's all just dumb in the end. If you celebrate a particular Holiday, wish others to enjoy it with you by saying which it is. Maybe you can spark a conversation and people can actively choose to learn about other Holidays and beliefs. If you want to tell everyone regardless of what they celebrate to have good times, wish them a Happy Holidays. If you don't celebrate, say Christmas, and someone says "Merry Christmas," wish them a Merry Christmas back because they were kind enough to invite you into their fold so why not at least return the kindness and wish their Holiday to be merry.

Sometimes it seems like the arguments people have are just to make themselves feel special, and that is probably the case most of the time.

To all out there, Happy Chanukah! Have a Merry Christmas! I'm gonna get drunk all the same.