The robber barons are back and they are global!The robber barons of the late 19th century were defeated by workers organizing. The workers felt they were being exploited and did something to fight back. The American worker benefited by these courageous workers in the 20th century. Laws were made to protect workers safety, and to ensure that workers were treated fairly.Corporate America in the late 20th century and early this century has figured out how to get around these efforts. The modern robber barons are going global. Companies no longer consider themselves American companies, they are now multi-national corporations. There is no loyalty to America.It wasn't too long ago that the terminology for factories being exploited was "sweatshops". And it caused outrage, considering the human rights violations. Now to put a positive spin on their actions, they call these exploited areas, "developing countries", and they see dollar signs there. Where are those people who were concerned about human rights, and fair trade?Outsourcing is an effort to cut the cost of labor, and it is working. It is costing American's jobs. Think that the exodus of American manufacturing jobs won't affect you? Who will carry the tax burden left from displaced workers? What will happen to your property value, when all of these workers default on their mortgages, leaving a percentage of the houses in your neighborhood empty, When corporations deflate the American economy and our buying power, they won't miss a beat. They have already entered other markets, where labor laws are very lenient. Corporations will continue to make millions, and you just might see a problem of illegal immigration of Americans to Mexico to get some of the work that is being outsourced

In today's world, We the People has been replaced by We the Corporation. Government and business has inserted another layer in our representative Government.

Lobby groups for Big Business are contributing millions to insure that candidates favorable to their interests are elected and stay in office. Think you will be selecting the next president? Sure, you will be choosing between a Democrat or Republican. But who will offer up those candidates for us to choose between.

Have you recently pulled into a gas station, just to pay thirty cents more for gas than you did the day before, and read about record profits by the oil companies? Heard of any plants closing in your area, because of outsourcing? Has your share of contribution to your health insurance risen in the last couple of years? Is health insurance out of reach for you?

I'm sure a lot of you can answer yes to all of these questions. If so, you should be ready to say "I've Had Enough! Something needs to be done." You are strongly encouraged to voice your concerns with you government representatives. You have a little power there, although you are going up against pressured influence from Corporate American.

A more powerful vote that we use everyday is in our back pocket. Corporate lobbyist give money to influence government toward their interests. Where does that money come from? In essence we are endorsing the decisions made for corporate interests by our patronage to these companies. They need to hear from us more strongly. If corporations are to be our representative with the government, then we need to speak to them!

A lot of people feel this way, but don't know where to start. A good place to start is with a consumer strike. We have all read the emails telling us to not buy gas on a certain day, or not buy from certain companies. Responses to these emails have told us why they won't work. In a consumer strike, you would not consume gas or purchase anything. Doing this would not only raise inventories, driving the price down, but it would send a statement to them that We are still the people that run this country.

Help us send a statement by visiting www.ivehadenough.us and sign our guest book expressing your participation in this consumer strike on the days of August 11 and/or August 18. If you don't want to sign the guest book, but still want to participate, sign up for our mailing list to be sent a reminder the week before the strike.

America Divided

America is more divided today than it has ever been. While we occupy our time arguing whether two men should get married, or if abortion is murder, or any other left, right issue, the Democrats, Republicans and Corporate America in Washington are taking advantage of our distracted minds. They are exporting jobs to sweat shop countries, importing poverty from south of the border, gouging our wallets with high oil prices, health insurance premiums, awarding military contracts that are worth millions, and manufacturing new ways to tax us.
The media is a tool used to distract us from what is really going on. Anna Nicole Smith, Britney Spears, all the soap opera lives we become enthralled with occupy too much of our energy.
The powers that be want us to be divided. The left, the right, we fight over things that won't ever be changed until we get our voice back. We are all futile in our endeavors. We're wasting our energy. Think about it. Gay marriage, they give a little on it, then they take a little. The war in Iraq; Democrats want us out. But they pass non-binding legislation. We do not have a voice anymore, so all the division is just wasted air.
American citizens need to get back to what made this country strong. UNITY! Sure, we all have different theological, social, and environmental views. But we all share common ground in our citizenship. We have to come together to stop all the radical changes that our government is implementing. We need to tell the Democrats and the Republicans that we've had enough of their antics, before they sell this country to foreign interests. I grew up Republican, and see good in what both parties stand for, but I do not see any good in what they are standing behind. Therefore, I choose to switch my affiliation to independent. It is going to take a majority of us changing our party loyalty to get their attention.