Quote Originally Posted by stinkyattic
I've never heard the term 'comfortable poverty'
i'm not sure if i actually coined the phrase, but i've taken to using it more and more often. comfortable poverty is the end result of the new left's schemes of wealth redistribution and the socialist realignment of america. the gradual destruction of the middle and upper-middle classes so that they combine with the poor to be taken care of by that oh so benevolent government. it is a state where the masses are provided with just enough useless crap to make them forget that they have given up the freedom to decide their own destiny.

something tells me you'd get a kick out of my town were you ever to visit. It's practically a badge of honor to drive THE crappiest rattlebox with the most political bumper stickers, and see and be seen at Salvation Army shopping for jeans on a Saturday morning (OMG let's NOT go to the Gap!), and to subsist off vegan chili with textured soy protein and brown rice, and visit with friends at the farmers market while poking at all the local organic offerings. It's a very 'green' existence overall, and not NEARLY as many houses are for sale around here as in more affluent-appearing areas. Yankee hippies are VERY good with money, lol!
i've been living out here in the armpit of consumerism for way too long, trapped between quasi-liberal buffoons on the coast and uptight conservative soccer moms inland. this is the land of people who buy a new car every year living right next to folks who couldn't afford one if their lives depended on it. the bumper stickers here are sedate and mostly concern who's child is better at learning absolutely nothing and which school their doing it at. "green" is a buzz word they use to make themselves feel a little better about driving around in their excursions with the a/c on in the middle of december. they play at living a healthy lifestyle by shopping at henry's or whole foods and gossiping at the gym three times a week, but when the evenings are spent glued to the tv and downing copious amounts of their favorite alcoholic beverages their true way of life is quite evident. finally, this is the land where no one knows anyone and that's the way they want it. lonely individuals lacking individuality and reveling in the fact that, as long as no one knows them, their air of superiority remains intact. here i sit, an aging hippie with delusions of normality, feeding off the folly of a society in decline. what a trip.

It's limiting our FUEL consumption that is number one, and reducing our overall consumption of frivolous plastic crap that we don't need. That's how the tyrants get our money to begin with.
please don't confuse the real tyrants with those who merely finance and enable them. after all, we all do that to some extent. i'm in the midst of a long standing feud (in another place which will remain nameless) over the role of corporations in the downfall of america. it is the party line of the new left that corporate america is to blame for all the worst in this country, while any thinking person could plainly see that it is the bureaucracy and its devious agendas that are the real enemy of the people. business is all about making money and they make no bones about it. government, though they should be in the business of catering to the will of the people, has become centered on the consolidation of power and the defrauding of its constituency. blaming business for attempting to succeed is like blaming a fish for swimming. allowing government to grow unchecked is the road to totalitarianism.