"Let Them Eat McDonald's"

For some summer reading I just finished Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. While not for a causal reader of history, I think this book is eerily prescient of current events in the U.S.

In the latter part of the 18th century, France was heading toward disaster.

Widespread unemployment, disease, and hunger lead to many French-folk being pissed (for lack of a better term) at their government.

Add to that numerous wars, including the Seven Years War, in which King Henry XV involved the French military (which almost bankrupted the government) and the expensive support provided to American revolutionaries by his successor, King Henry XVI (I'm grateful, but just sayin'). The French government was also challenged at this time to provide basic social services for the needy and Veterans.

Heap upon that an inequitable taxation system, which placed the burden of most taxes on the poorest of the French people. Food costs were out of control and the populace was gripped by what historians call the "The Great Fear" wherein scuttlebutt and paranoia fueled suspicion and crime.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

Think about the current agenda of the GOP:

Stop health care reform (i.e. let the poor and unemployed get on with the business of dying already). If you haven't read the memo, it's a must see. Really. The lowness of these political power-grabbers never ceases to amaze me.

Screw the unemployed (see the video of Michele Malkin's appearance on This Week from this morning).

Ramp up the delusion that our president is a non-citizen.

Convince middle income families that income tax deductions for the wealthiest of Americans on investments and estates (i.e., inherited wealth) are bad things and should not be allowed to expire. Because as we all know, most middle class Americans are waiting to inherit wealth from elders and are drooling to keep dividends on their extensive and useful stock portfolios, right?

Weren't these the same group of people who claimed that it was a sign of protest to stop eating "French" fries because the French would not support an unfounded invasion of Iraq?

If I were prone to think the absolute worst of people, and the congressional GOP has put me to the test this past decade, I might think they wanted a revolution...

Good thing none of the supporters of the GOP want our president to fail, for him to be torn out of office, or for America to stay on her knees from economic stress brought on by corporate greed.

I close with a great video summary that only Keith Olbermann could provide. As the great state representative from Missouri, Cynthia Davis, says: "Let them eat McDonalds"