berniesanders

The Political Left are the Blue Coats. 1776 was a Workers’ Strike. Revealing the Leftist Tradition of the Revolutionary War. Dealing with the Left’s Patriotism optics issue. By Quinton Mitchell

The American Revolution was a worker’s strike and the modern Left needs to embrace this tradition to alleviate the accusation that it’s not “patriotic”. The colonists were subjects (contracted workers, i.e., contractors), within chartered colonies (corporations) – thirteen departments to be exact (the Thirteen Colonies)-, whose labor was being exploited for the benefit of shareholders back in the United Kingdom. Our understanding of the Revolution was crafted by the business class who used the proletariat class, for their “hostile takeover of the corporation”, to emphasis a radical worship of individual liberty and anti-taxation, which translates to power for the most powerful private interests.

Part 1. 1776 as a Worker’s Socialist Movement

Part 2. The Left Has a Patriotism Problem, in theory.

I. 1776 as a Worker’s Socialist Movement

Imagine it’s 1776 and somehow, we have TV and the modern mainstream news. Imagine the news talking about a guerilla army in a place called America revolting against the business interests of the British Empire. The news, imaging Tucker Carlson in a powered wig, would likely call the American Revolutionaries, terrorists, and Communist agitators for propaganda purposes.

When we’re taught about American Independence stories of Paul Revere, The Boston Tea Party, the crossing of the Delaware River, etc., come to mind, yet, what we’re not taught is that the energy of the American Revolution wasn’t purely about freedom in the way we understand it now, i.e., individual rights, personal property rights, etc., – which, in and of itself were used by the business class to advance their own interests at the expense of the people – but, also within the American Revolution there was a very Socialist energy. By Socialist it doesn’t necessarily mean Marxist, considering Marxism is just one of the many theories of Socialism, but since Marxism had the most indelible impact on the Socialist movement by providing a scientific framework for analysis, then what I’m saying is partially influenced by Marx such as his notion of class struggle, dialectical materialism, etc.

The colonists were subjects (contracted workers, i.e., contractors), within chartered colonies (corporations), thirteen departments to be exact (the Thirteen Colonies) whose labor was being exploited for the benefit of shareholders back in the United Kingdom.

The colony is the basis for the concept of the corporation where the first corporation, The Dutch East India Company, later inspired other companies such as The British East India Company. Colonies were business enterprises, often risky, which required private military contractors, inmate labor, human trafficked labor (slaves), and volunteers.

So, when the American Revolutionaries revolted, they as workers/slaves were revolting against a corporation, i.e., a capitalist enterprise.

We are often told one side of the coin when it comes the energy of the American revolution. It was not only libertarian in nature, but also socialist in nature. I suppose a merger of these traditions would be what we consider socio-anarchist.

For example, we often hear revolts against taxes as being American, yet even though the colonists (workers) were being taxed unfairly, there’s not much difference between taxes and wages. The workers were basically not being paid well enough, i.e., they weren’t fairly compensated for their labor to begin with, even before on the back end when they had to pay taxes, stamp duties, tariffs, etc. Colonists were getting the “double whammy” of being underpaid (slaves not paid at all) and then taxed (which likely caused harsher exploitation of workers/slaves by managers to make up for losses).

The energy of the revolution could only have happened if the worker classes revolted. In a way you could say the energy of the Revolution was a union movement, or, we could say the American Revolution is the birth of the American workers’ rights movement.

So, how did our conception of the American Revolution come to be? Those with power dictated the narrative, divided the public naturally with a capitalist system that created class struggle, but also layered it all with a racial caste system, so the white poor would identify, i.e., vicariously live through, the white elites.

I do feel that the Founders, some well-read into Enlightenment philosophers, might have speculated of the possibility of what would later become socialism as being a possibility, yet, since “mob rule of the people” would negate their own plans, but by not taking caring of the people would lead to disaster, they left an ambiguous statement within the Preamble, i.e., providing for the good will. Therefore, this one of the reasons why I believe in the Living Document interpretation of the constitution as opposed to the Originalist interpretation such as that of Supreme Court Justices such as Amy Coney Barrett, where the Originalist believe you must view the Constitution based on the time it was written, which is ridiculous, because that method denies the realities of the time at hand, its nuances, etc. (people were also slaves in this time, women had no right to vote in those times, etc.). The Founders were smart enough to know that the Enlightenment Tradition, such as what they were seeing in France, i.e., America’s fraternal brother, had utopian scope that not only emphasized the individual but also the collective.

We often hail the Founding Fathers as sage-life wisemen of virtuous character, but in essence they were of the gentry class, i.e., the middle-management classes, i.e., the managers of trading houses, labor agencies (slave depots), estates, warehouses, and law firms that served British investor interests. They were of the class had Anglophile sensibilities particularly in their education, and we can see this in the schism of the Loyalist gentry class versus the Revolutionary gentry class where Loyalists of the same class migrated to what is now Canada.

The American Revolution was two things, (1) A revolt of the proletariat, i.e., working classes subconsciously channeling what we could consider a Socialist energy, and (2) a “Hostile Takeover” by the middle-management of the colonies who wanted to cut out their foreign investors and become the de facto board of chairmen themselves.

Essentially, middle managers used the working classes, exploiting their unrealized concept of Socialism and worker’s rights, and then applied a concept of unfettered economic liberty which would always serve the ruling classes which the Founders after their victory now owned. It’s no different than workers revolting against a firm, but the leader of that firm simply uses them and turns around and does the same thing.

The very fact that the signers and framers from the upper classes didn’t trust democracy which they called “mob rule” is proof that the conscious and subconscious construction of the USA was based on classism. We can even add to the rebellions which came after the Revolution which weren’t simply about taxes, but about people fearing their wages would be eaten into since they likely didn’t make that much to begin with, such as in Shay’s Rebellion. Shay’s Rebellion on the surface seems like American’s simply protesting taxes, but really, they were protesting the merchant class passing down costs on to them for them to pay their own creditors. It’s no different than a bank steadily increasing your withdrawal fees, as a means of covering their own overhead. The people who revolted at what is now called Shay’s Rebellion were suppressed by a private army funded by the merchant class and commanded by General Benjamin Lincoln, which foreshadows how today private military contractors are used to suppress workers across the globe.

However, the framers and signers of the constitution all had their own personalities and reasons, and their occupations spanned from doctors, lawyers, military, and land holders, etc. We can’t lump all Framers and Signers together since they all had their own philosophy, yet the one thing they did have in common, is they were, even if they had moral reservations about it, were a part of a class system, where many of the signers by the time of Independence had their own special interests in mind, and not necessarily the good will of the American people as claimed.

To add to the claim that the American revolution had a Socialist element to it is that the Enlightenment philosophy of the revolution encompasses Leftist thought, i.e., individualism versus collectivism, both have roots in an Enlightenment thought through the centuries of European history.

Yes, what we consider to be notions of radical freedom, democracy, capitalism, and socialism all have a common ancestry dating back to the Renaissance (thinkers such as Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola), yet over time as history carried on and democratic experiments were burgeoning there was a splintering of ideas, yet, what we consider to be libertarian and socialists both have the same ends but through different strategy, e.g., one posits that individual rights and private property rights somehow ensures liberty, whereas the other posits that collective control over the means of production or an empowerment of the larger collective working class ensures that individual rights are respected, i.e., equality. The issue with the capitalist argument is that you can’t have equality even if equality or liberty exists on paper because the accumulation of capital, often created by robbing one’s labor, i.e., underpaying, creates too much of a vast spread within a hierarchy, i.e., there’s a larger difference between the haves and have nots. Socialism, particularly the specific, I repeat specific framework (since other types of socialism exist) of Fredrich Engels and Karl Marx, i.e., Scientific Socialism or Marxism, is more based within reality, whereas notions of capitalism, despite what we’ve been told, are more based on romantic idealism, i.e., ideas over real-world conditions.

The notion freedom by way of a capitalist system is based more in ideas (romanticism, religion, non-empiricism), rather than realism (understanding negative effects of systems, i.e., externalities, using a scientific framework to study human interactions, the interconnection of things, the inherent social nature of humans and the social nature of transaction, etc.), thus the American notion as we know it of liberty is more in aligned with Hegelian idealism, which is something that Marx disagreed with. Instead of living under “grand ideas”, Marx rather called capitalism what it is, which is a system based on the exploitation of labor for the benefit of a few or an individual. It exists to have people work for you, but you underpay them and collect the surplus yourself.

We can put Karl Marx in the same umbrella of Western philosophy as the thinkers who inspired the Revolutionaries, even though Marx came later, and many thinkers went in their own directions. For example, both Marx and Jefferson were influenced by J.J. Rousseau. Hegel, Kant, Spinoza, Smith, etc.

Both Marx and Jefferson had a materialist view to reality, though unique and modified to themselves, which could be translated as a scientific (observation of nature) or a realist view to nature, i.e., science, such as the science influenced by Newtonian thought. Yet, to not get too much into religion, it could be argued that Jefferson would be agnostic in a modern-day sense with Christian apologetics, whereas Marx would have been an atheist on the deeper end of scientific realism.

Jefferson stated, “Nature has, in truth, produced units only through all her works. Classes, orders, genera, species, are not of her works. Her creation is of individuals.” If Jefferson had survived to read Charles Darwin, he may be interested in the works Darwin such as the interconnectivity of all life.

Marx stated, ““Darwin’s work is most important and suits my purpose in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class struggle”.

“Like many other contemporaries he read—e.g., Hutcheson, Kames, Bolingbroke, Tracy, and Hume—Jefferson was an empiricist, and in keeping with Isaac Newton, a dyed-in-the-wool materialist.”  

[Source of quotations: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/jefferson/]

II. The Left Has a Patriotism Problem, in theory.

The Left as a Patriotism problem. It’s not that those on the Left, Progressive, or Left Liberal side of the house don’t like the United States. Their efforts to improve conditions is proof they do care about America. Yet, the Left as largely lost the “Patriotism optics” war, despite winning the Culture War as far as mainstream media as mainstream media has become more inclusive over time. Many on the Left might think that not being a radical patriot, waving the Stars and Stripes, posting things about supporting the troops, etc., is all that necessary, and some might even think it’s cringe or nonsensical to do such things because they could be seen as mere figurative gestures that don’t improve material conditions of the American people.

Yet, by not owning more of the Patriotic aesthetic this gives easy ammunition to the political right who can simply rebut any progressive idea as being “un-American”, etc. The Political Right as far as culture, i.e., fashion, optics, aesthetics, attempts to own the soul of the military, police, and even the Revolutionary War. Why do Leftist let this happen? It’s ok to be critical of the American system while still honoring the aesthetics of it. It’s ok to have a post-colonial framework, or even a Critical Theory viewpoint, or to apply intersectionality, and still have the appearance, but also the innate belief of loving your country.

Basically, we need to see more marketing campaigns to stitch the Leftist Framework with Patriotic imagery. Having American Flags at a rally for Bernie or Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is something simple to do. Unifying progressive veteran organizations and focusing on veteran care for troops while still honoring their service, even though the Left might lean towards pacifism, is fine. But the major point is to present the truth that the American Revolution was a worker’s strike (more to come on this below).

Republicans can easily have no policy besides enriching the rich even more, but they capture people with the allure of belonging to a Patriotic Tradition. Yet, the issue with how we understand this tradition is that the Revolutionary War for example wasn’t merely a war to free ourselves from taxes, but was also a worker’s strike, meaning the energy of the Revolutionary had a Leftist framework.

I’m frustrated as an everyday “heteronormative” guy wanting to see the Left succeed.

I surf the internet and on Instagram I constantly see beautiful models with Bible quotes above their LinkTree link (leading to OnlyFans) covering themselves with the US flag (something you wouldn’t see on the political left – which is fine, but it is a powerful tool), I see gun enthusiast pages, Don’t Tread on Me flags, people selling T-Shirts such as “Liberty or Death” or “1776”, truck or off-road vehicle pages, Blue Lives Matter pages, etc. The appeal of the political right is that it makes itself seem like a fun place for the normal person. “We got beautiful woman, we love our country, we admire our heroes, we eat meat, watch sports, we use our hands, we’re manly men and the women who love these men”, etc., etc.

Yet, on the Left things aren’t as monolithic and homogenous, which is fine, but due to ideologies such as Identity politics the Left is left in state where it can’t even agree internally on what can be done without people feeling they’re offending someone of another intersectional component. There’s a lot of “you aren’t down” enough shaming tactics on the Left which further divides things so the unified right can easily pick it apart or obstruct. How can the Left unite if the ideology of feminism (which isn’t bad) does posit itself against men and don’t really care what men think (not necessarily in theory as what a person criticizing this would say, but just look to social media where you see pages after pages essentially not…liking men), and I would say the same thing in reverse, when men on the Left might feel stunned or unable to feel they can articulate their thoughts without fear of being lectured? As crazy as it wounds, sexual politics are a big part of the appeal of the political-right because it coddles the heteronormative ego, whereas the left questions it, yet women on the right are willing to “stand by their men” because it’s beneficial for them to do so, i.e., they get adoring love and admiration.

I’m not saying that women on the Left need to be sexually objectified to lure men to the Left, but what I am saying is that the Right does do that. For example, look at the links of Babes for Bernie vs Babes for Trump. (https://www.instagram.com/babesforbernie/?hl=en) (https://www.instagram.com/babesfortrump2024/?hl=en)

Also for more into the sexual politics of the American Right Wing, see my post about Sex and Fascism relating to the band Tool and murder of George Floyd. https://mitchellrg.com/2020/08/29/tool-pulp-fiction-fascism-frauleins-cops-and-george-floyd-how-pulp-fictions-pawn-shop-scene-is-analogous-to-george-floyds-death-by-quinton-mitchell-c/  

You can apply this feeling of awkwardness across race, gender, orientation, assignment, etc. Yet, it’s not bad what the left has achieved as far as advancing the conversation. I almost feel a sense of “existential” growth at pondering intersectionality and I would say the Left has made me into a better person, but what I feel in my head even if it on the right track, and how the world outside of my head are two different things. The Left might feel enlightened but it’s a flimsy reality on the streets, where people like see it as “weak”, “intellectual”, etc.

I always had the idea of trying to reconcile heteronormative masculinity with Leftist thought. And, sure, I bet a critic with the typical “eye roll” response as if attempting such as thing is just proof of “male insecurity”, but I would argue it’s essential since this identity does exists in the material world, and the Right Wing is able to exploit masculinity and make it seem “explicitly” Right Wing. As a man, to be honest, this erks me. Maybe the American Left needs a “Men of Steel” tradition, where the notion of steel goes back to old Socialist imagery of the hammer, and this could help in hedging the culture war of the political right.

Regardless, the Right Wing is a unified force that markets itself with the high horse position of patriotic imagery and it also appeals to a “safe space” of non-intellectual, Football watching, beer drinking, firework shooting, Redneck rigging, “chicks” in daisy duke loving Americana. As a Leftist who grew up an old school Democrat before the passage of NAFTA, in many ways the culture of the right wing, is my culture (I’m watching Sunday Night Football with a beer right now), despite me coming from a tradition that always sympathized with the worker, had disdain for Wall Street, etc.

In many ways, the American Left lost its style of the “Roseanne America” or Axel Foley’s Detroit in Beverly Hills Cop. And, sure, these might not be “representative” of America as is, but ask yourself this question, “How do you help a Southern guy with a truck actually embrace Leftist ideology?”. Beau the Fifth Column for example is a refreshing attempt at inserting culturally conservative chic with the Leftist framework.

The last attempt at making the Left an actual fun place was decried at being “Bernie Bros”. Remember that? When men who supported Bernie were lumped into this category of a “Bernie Bro” because Bernie Sanders posed an ideological threat to Hillary Clinton, yet Bernie’s message even after the loss of Hillary in 2016 helped to re-energize the Democratic Party, going so far as helping first-time female candidates such as Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez, Rhasida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar, even though the powerbase of the Democrats are neoliberal capitalist.  Were Bernie Bros toxic, or even a thing, or where they simply believers in Leftist ideology, simply using their masculine energy to rebut the appropriate masculine energy of the right-wing, who posed a risk to neoliberal female candidate whose decisions over her long (and impressive) career lead up to the issues we face today?

Seeing how radical Trump supporters are, the Left needs some All American “Bernie Bros” in the mix right alongside strong females, BIPOC communities, service workers, the LGBTQ community, veterans, etc.

It comes off as too erudite now, walking on eggshells, brainy, etc., yet ironically also living off a neoliberal “hipster” culture. It lacks the older aesthetics of the beer drinking truck driving union card holder, or the striking union organizers fighting the Rockefellers at coal mines in Colorado or Appalachia. It lacks the aesthetic of the “anti-war yet still patriotic veteran” such as how things were during the Vietnam War era, i.e., the men who might ride motorcycles with a POW/MIA flag.

The Left to survive needs to figure out its Patriotic and Americana problem, even though I know many intellectuals, content creators, podcasters, etc., on the Left will see this all as a silly attempt that doesn’t improve material conditions. But, why let your opposition have free ammunition, especially when that ammunition is easy the Left’s as well?

It has to also figure out a way of reconciling certain positions such as gun rights, which is a culture war aspect that the right holds onto firmly. There are actual liberal and left leaning gun clubs who could be used to advocate for gun ownership but also with progressive policies for safer gun controls. For example, the Socialist Rifle Association (https://socialistra.org/) and The Liberal Gun Club (https://theliberalgunclub.com/)

Bernie Sanders and Wall Street are compatible.

And, that’s a good thing. I’m not saying certain practice on Wall Street don’t need to be regulated, but stocks and socialism can be mesh and will mesh in the the USA because the truth is Bernie won’t do everything he’s saying, but he should win. I voted early for Bernie. I donated to Bernie. I defend Bernie but I can also understand that he’ll need business to accomplish his mission. A Bernie Sanders America would be more like France or England more than Russia during Perestroika or Glasnost. That’s just reality and that’s good. The amount of checks and balances in government should eradicate any fear in those who fear Bernie because of the word, yes – just a word, of socialism. He’s the only consistent candidate. If Trump’s populism had 4 years which unleashed fringe white supremacy creating a very noble backlash by “Social Justice Warriors”, i.e., people who are fed up of negative behavior keeping others down, then Bernie should have 4 years largely since his base is about Power to the People regardless of who they are. It’s about community.

Bernie Sanders and Wall Street are compatible. Bernie shouldn’t scare the stock market; the stock market should like Bernie. A few companies that could benefit.

France, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Canada all have stock exchanges and a more expansive welfare state to spread the costs across a society. I like socialism and I’ve live in a socialist democracy before and honestly….it’s cool. It’s beyond cool. I also like stocks. **** THIS ISN’T FINANCIAL ADVICE BUT RATHER A THEORY OF HOW BERNIE AND THE STOCK MARKET CAN WORK TOGETHER ****

Green New Deal: Green Energy segment ranging from solar panels, green utility companies, battery manufacturers for electric cars, windmill manufacturers, recycling collection. Brookfield Energy Partners (BEP); Canadian Solar (CSIQ); Renewables Energy Group (REGI); Terraform Power, Inc (TERP); Tesla (TSLA); Waste Management (WM) which offers recycling; Ormat Technologies (ORA); General Electric (GE) which has skills in power distribution, etc.; silicon producers which is vital for solar cells such as Tokuyama Corp (TKYMY), Wacker Chemie AG (WKCMF), etc. Yet, when it comes to power infrastructure and controls, you have companies such as Rockwell Automation (ROK), Eaton Corp (ETN),

Universal Education: Sectors that could benefit from Universal Education by driving up demand with federal subsidy spread across the population would include Testing services, book distributors, food providers, and even student loan industries since certain services won’t be covered such as room and board, supplies, travel, etc. Companies such as Chegg (CHGG); American Campus Communities is an REIT that invests in Dormitory housing (ACC); Aramark (ARMK); Sodexho (SDXAY); Pearson PLC (PSO); Cengage which is private but owned by BlackRock (BLK), Franklin Mutual Advisers (BEN), Oaktree Capital Management (OAK), Searchlight Capital Partners, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR); Scholastic Corporation (SCHL); Amazon (AMZN); Starbucks (SBUX); Yum Brand (YUM); Texas Instruments (TXN); Microsoft (MSFT); Apple (AAPL); Jacobs Engineering (J) does Architectural and Engineering services including designing college facilities.

Medicare For All: Diagnostics such as Quest Diagnostics, Inc. (DGX), Neogenomics (NEO) and LabCorp (LH), Lab Equipment; Medical Equipment such GE (MRI machines), ThermoFischer (TMO), Mettler Toledo (MTD), Aligent (A), Koninklijke Philips (PHG); Real Estate Investment Trusts dedicated to Medical Facilities such Medical Property Trust Inc (MPW), Healthpeak Properties (PEAK), Small Cap Pharma engaged in R&D who will have a higher chance of passing trial tests if more people are insured

Yet, markets like certainty and Bernie hasn’t done a good job of at least sitting in a room with business leaders about working things out. Socialism isn’t incompatible with capitalism. Bernie in his head might be a Socialist, just like some Republican might think they’re a Libertarian, but the truth is regarding both, in the outside world, is that the system is a mesh of both. Did we call Reagan a socialist for driving up military spending? Do we call Democrats libertarians because they may be easier on marijuana consumption? Bernie isn’t a threat, but he should be President of the United States as a moral beacon, but the Constitution was wise regardless of who held power because of checks and balances. Bernie would still have to deal with the Congress, SCOTUS, the federal circuit courts, and State Governments. He won’t be Mao, but he’ll be a Mitterrand of France.

What Socialist don’t realize is that government doesn’t really do the work, but rather it’s the job of suppliers, contractors, vendors, etc., who provide the goods and services. I know because I was the guy in government who spent the money on contracted work and the acquisition of items, i.e., I am in Procurement. What the Right Wing doesn’t get is that there is no true free market in the United States. At some point or another tax dollars are subsidizing the economy either through direct contracts (giving business money) or indirectly through public works, such as Corporations that may not pay taxes as much as they should, utilizing public roads or police, etc.

So, when Bernie Sanders talks about the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Universal Higher Education, from a reactionary standpoint, it instantly insinuates a type of “wastefulness” that it is inefficient when compared to supply-side economics, free markets, supply and demand, etc. However, these ideas Bernie has are essentially stimulus packages where businesses that are both public and private can benefit. Did the GI Bill destroy the United States? No. Did Medicare drive all the good doctors from the USA? No. Does the Federal Government put businesses out of business for simply existing? No. In fact, if the government were to pull back spending via stimulus, particularly if it abolished contracting, the nation would likely go into a Recession and Depression, even, though, sure, Free Markets would fil the void by possibly creating efficiencies but at the cost of employing people (doing more with less), wages (paying people less; temp workers, etc.), etc.

Hey, guest what?

France is a Social Democracy and they have a stock market, is home to some of the world’s most powerful companies, has a powerful military, and the people not only live a life of materialist consumption and entertainment…they also have healthcare and education. What Bernie Sander’s wants is more in alignment with what you see in France. The funny things to most Americans who call themselves Patriots, which is great if you do, is that France and United States are twins. Think of them that way. We both had our Revolutions, we both inspired and funded each other at various time throughout our history. We are both Democracies despite being organized differently, i.e., the U.S. is a Constitutional Democratic Republic held in Union, whereas France is a Democracy based around a Unitarian form of government with a revolutionary sentiment based on class struggle against the Ancient Regime (nobility) which evolved into an acceptance of Marxist Theory – hence, why French people value workers and organized labor. The United States and France are spiritually linked. We have the Statue of Liberty (which was gift from France) and France has Marianne.  

A theory on how to fix the Student Loan Situation or the Debt Burden without direct-taxes. The Federal Reserve: What the elites, banks, corporations, and stock market don’t want us to think about by Quinton Mitchell

I could be wrong but a guy can dream or theorize.

Print money. Force banks to credit it into peoples accounts. People will pay down their debt or blow that money buying things or invest in themselves. Or, print money and directly pay the student loan companies. The Treasury and IRS on the preceding year’s tax return will have a section where people declare their actual debts, and then the Treasury calculates their “credit” based on debt-to-income ratio, the Cost of Living Adjustments for the area they live, number of dependents, and even special perks such as veteran, disabled veterans, etc., statuses. Everyone will pay higher prices over time through inflation, collectively. For an ad hoc analogy, would you rather pay 2.25 for a simple candy bar and be debt free now, or still be debt ridden and pay for a candy bar that’s around the same price today at 1.99? Whenever an “old timer” uses that “back in my day” analogy, what they don’t mention is they do notice the price increase, sure, but the relative price of everything went up, so they don’t really notice.

Whenever the Democrat candidates talk about free education or cancelling student loan debt, I’m down for that, but the issue is they’re talking about taxation and new entitlement programs. This is fine and general polling suggests that people are for this, but wants and reality, especially regarding our still massive lobbying industry is the issue. Sure, we can definitely pay for these, such as for example, by cutting and capping the Defense Budget, yet, the Military Industrial Complex is an ecosystem, not explicitly a few major prime contractors. The M.I.C. is small businesses, medium businesses, independent contractors, suppliers, the works. From uniforms made in a factory in Vermont, to IT services, to food vendors at every cafeteria on every base for enlisted troops, to barbers, office supplies, extension campuses of universities that provide education to troops, major construction firms and their smaller subs, all the apartments and houses near bases, etc. As far as the pricing structure of college as is, it was largely the government that helped drive up prices by subsidizing it, but also pure waste and greed by administrators, not to mention poor inefficiencies in how colleges operate, such as having small private expensive schools not merging into comprehensive university systems and/or running efficient endowment portfolios. Not to mention the fact that private business gets an easy ride when it comes to labor since they have no overhead in the game. Candidates are forced by hiring criteria to go to school, just to complete in a competitive global, yes, global economy. Unlike the Mike Rowe psy-op, not everyone can simply got trade skills, and I have a theory (jokingly) is that the reason why people have some many tattoos, is because so many people didn’t go to college and because tattoo artists, or we have so many “funky” hairdos is because everyone is a hair stylist (these are cool professions – not hating). Lowering hiring criteria by companies; merging smaller schools; increasing the quality of a high school diplomas so it’s an equivalent to an associates degree, etc., would help. YET… we have a trillion dollars of existing student loans with no bailout protection. We can either 1) Tax the rich or 2) Print Money and charge everyone inflation – the rich included – over time.

Regardless, this bailout of the people, a peoples’ QE (Quantitative Easing) already should’ve happened, because if the US economy ever hits recession again (with some saying we’re beyond the 9 year average, so we’re due), then the Federal Reserve won’t have many tools to use (despite, negative interest rates as is the case in the EU, and/or, continuing to hold onto Treasury bonds), and of course big business will get bailed out (it’s basically in the US Auto Industry’s soul to do this). The people will get boned, still pay taxes, still pay inflation, conservatives will blame immigrants, liberals will blame rich people, but everyone will suffer from increased unemployment (all in a nation Since banks will see a loss as people pay off credit card, auto loan, mortgages, student loans, medical loans, etc., the banks can be recouped by a future interest rate hike and/or higher taxes on the rich and corporations, i.e., the banks make money eventually, but the “Free Money” theory would help clean the slate so we can all move forward. Banks might lose out on long term low interest loans, but they’ll gain in the future from higher interest long rate loans, but the slate will be clear for the people, and a higher interest rates improves savings (you get more interest on personal deposits).

The Austrian, Jeffersonian, Rand or Ron or Ren or Stimpy whatever Paul crowd, is right but wrong on the Fed (I don’ that hate Ron Paul). Yes, it is weird. However, if it truly worked for the people it would be great. If the government charter’s the bank, then don’t revoke it, just make them help actual Americans. The problem is that it serves as a private bank for elite industrialist and banks, with people coming in last – just happy to have a job in an economy with built in business-cycle busts from inevitable declines in aggregate demand and consumption, that we justify as being “natural forces”.

My mind is a little fuzzy on the schematics of how it all works, but the general ideas is what I’m aiming for. To get to the point, the Federal Reserve has been pumping billions upon billions into the financial system while the general public goes on about their daily lives… Dancing With the Stars, Netflix show-binges, drooling over Instagram models, and countless hours to letting Joe Rogan keep us entertained. I believe we’re currently in QE4 or Quantitative Easing Round Four, meaning that since the 2008 Financial Crisis causing the Great Recession, that the Federal Reserve and US Treasury have infused billions upon billions of dollars into the Financial System and thus the Corporate and Wall Street Sector.

The general public got none of that directly. Can the people get at least one round of direct QE to themselves and directly into their own pockets? Quantitative Easing is a monetary management policy by the Fed that came during the Recession under Ben Bernanke. The Fed bought large volumes of potentially worthless bonds from the Treasury when the floor fell out from under us as the Subprime Mortgage bubble busted, and by holding those bonds, they vouched for the US economy, but used their “tool set” of “knob adjustments” to help, such as lowering the benchmark interest rate, adjusting reserve requirements, etc. This helped with to help stimulate growth in an anemic economy and there wasn’t much Obama really could do but act cool and entertain or inspire us in bits as the economy recovered. Taxes were already low. The Fed was involved… We were in a bad spot. Trump got the good end of it as the economy was rebounding upward in the last years of Obama, but Trump injected adrenaline and cocaine directly into the heart. The Fed and Treasury bailed out the economy and the elites and nothing came of it…no major arrests, and slap on the wrist fines. The sad truth is…the rich wanted the economy to tank, the same way Black Friday shoppers hope they can go crazy at a liquidation sale.

To add insult to injury, relating to my reference of QE4 is that the Fed pumped in billions to help the financial system. According to McCormick and Harris (2019), ” In its first direct injection of cash to the banking sector since the financial crisis, it laid out as much as $75 billion a day in temporary cash over four days to quell the funding crunch and push the effective fed funds rate down. In what are known as overnight system repos, the Fed lent cash to primary dealers against Treasury securities or other collateral. ” Further, McCormick and Harris (2019), adds, “In the week of Sept. 16, a lot of cash flowed out of the repo pipes just as more securities were flowing in — meaning that suddenly there wasn’t enough cash for those who needed it. That mismatch drove overnight repo rates to 10% on Sept. 17, from about 2% the week before. More alarming for the Fed was the way volatility in the repo market pushed the effective federal funds rate to 2.30%, above the 2.25% upper limit of the Fed’s target range — just as the Fed was preparing to drop that ceiling to 2%. “

The banks can get billions of dollars pumped into their reserves or portfolios, but that “created money”, is being charged to the general public over time through inflation, then…why can the Federal Reserve, give the public their own round of Quantitative Easing? Seriously, the Federal Reserve could pump money into the banks, force the banks to credit that money into people’s accounts, and people could pay down their debt, but pay “inflation tax” over time as prices gradually increase as the supply of dollars balances out with the aggregate demand of the overall economy. Essentially, we’ll pay inflation gradually over time, and with the public paying down debt, with their actual earnings from their labor, they will use that money to stimulate the overall economy through consumerism and consumption.

This is how the Financial System works in my head. I call it the “Financial Trinity”. The Treasury issues IOUs, i.e., bonds, notes, bills, coupons, etc., but then sells them to the public, with the majority going to average citizens, mutual funds, foreign banks or foreign national trusts (such as the Japanese Pension program), corporations, etc. Yet, the Federal Reserve buys the vast majority of these IOUs which it holds on its portfolio. The Federal Reserve holds this debt as collateral to vouch for the government, but also more importantly to vouch for the dollar. By holding this collateral the Federal Reserve triggers the mints (though people say the “Fed doesn’t print money”) to print cash, drive them to banks, deposit them in vaults, then those dollars are lent at interest rates to the general public, and the bank takes their cut. Banks then put a level of reserves with the Fed as collateral and banks and/or the Fed often make special interest rate loans between themselves in the overnight lending window and commercial paper or repo markets. When bonds mature, the Treasury pays its bond holders (largely from tax revenues taxed from the overall economy which is linked to the banking system), but remember, the largest one is the Federal Reserve. It’s a cycle.

(1) Treasury issues IOUs (2) Federal Reserve “buys” those and holds them as collateral (3) Mints print money and that money goes to banks (4) banks lend out the money, collect interests, and people use money in the productive economy. Banks also have a special market or “repo” market (think pawn shop as stated by McCormick & Harris, 2019) when they borrow money to meet payroll, etc. (5) Treasury collects taxes and then as bonds mature they pay bond holders, with one of the largest being the Federal Reserve, and the Fed can either hold on to those bonds or they let them expire from their portfolio. Inflation occurs as the volume of supply of dollars adjust to the demand for those dollars. “Dollars” don’t simply disappear, but since they’re accounted for, if there’s an excess their value absorbs into prices and prices rise over time. Dollars in a fiat based or Keynesian system serves as a stimulus, away from fixed assets like gold which tend to be horded by gold-holders, but that stimulus has to be used correctly and rarely does the actual cash get directly infused into the peoples’ pockets. It goes to banks who lend that cash out to high-dollar real estate projects, which is one reason why real-estate is so vital to the economy (jobs, mortgages, people double-dipping on their mortgages, middle men doing paperwork, appraisers, realtors, property taxes which typically goes to funding school systems, etc).

One major issue is that corporations take out large low-interest loans either directly or by borrowing against their market equity, i.e., their stock. They hold that cheap credit cash on their books, and some use tricky double-accounting methods to classify that debt as an asset, or they use that cheap credit for capital upgrades to facilities, buying assets such as real-estate or land (which can go underwater if real-estate prices goes down), CEO compensation packages, capital for mergers & acquisitions, etc. The stock market in part is doing so good, not entirely because of fundamentals such as steady quarterly earnings, but rather the stocks are bloats from abundant cheap credit made by the Fed and used by opportunistic corporations. It’s honestly a good thing we have somewhat low rates… 2%-3% as a benchmark rate because the market is uncertain regarding Trump’s trade tariff deadlines. The more uncertainty in the market, the more investors start digging into books to see if businesses are truly vital as they claim to be, not to mention, increased prices through supply-chains which can result in decreased earnings.

Some corporations are clever and efficient at playing this “live off your credit card” “faking it to you make it” game, but others are “zombie companies”, which are companies that should’ve failed, have been bought out or liquidated, but keep swiping their credit card to stay open. Corporations go even further by issuing their own bonds, i.e., corporate bonds, but by being so over-leveraged they ranks as junk bonds. I’m sure the stock market is “healthy” but a lot of it seems like credit based bloated stocks, mixed with the upward bidding wars of floor trading, and even algorithmic “nano-second” buying, selling, and shorting such as done by Jim Simmons with his theory of quantitative investing through his hedge-fund Renaissance Technologies.

I call the idea the Free Cash Theory. I see why not. It should only happen every couple of decades, if not at the beginning of each century, or at least when wealth disparity and ownership of the means of the production (Marxist accusations in 5…4…3…2..) gets out of control. If the Fed can afford 75 Billion for four days straight, or whatever the amount actually came out to, the fact that the Fed has been subsidizing Wall Street with cheap credit to bloat stock prices and drive speculation, simply means they can afford to help the people. With real balls or ovaries of steel from Congressional leadership and the White House, and act of humanity by the Fed, then we can truly help to wipe the slate clean for average Americans and move into the future. It’s not too late to save 3rd Way Democratic Capitalism, but the system needs to turned upside down to benefit an era of small-to-medium businesses, families, entrepreneurs, inventors, farmers, etc.

Sources:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-repo-markets-a-mess-whats-the-repo-market/2019/12/10/ed4488ae-1b58-11ea-977a-15a6710ed6da_story.html

Katie Hill, The Military Complex, and The Mysterious Tattoo. A case for Katie Hill. Laying out facts. A Case for Forgiveness by Quinton Mitchell

The purpose of this paper is to A) show the important Defense Industry angle to Katie Hill’s district. The district she represented is a major player regarding the Military Complex and this district was recently held by an ardent Trump supporter. Katie winning that seat probably gave the Trump Administration (and, possibly even the neoliberal side of the DNC that supports war) and the Defense Lobby a person who wouldn’t simply vote for pro-military legislation for the sake of doing so, even though Katie Hill has voted for pro-military and veteran legislation. Katie Hill also voted against sending military arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE which brings to light Jared Kushner, the supposed Peace Plan, Donald Trump, and even Jamal Khashoggi, and B) to show the socio-political climate of the Antelope Valley in her district which has a history of drugs, white nationalist gangs, and is very sensitive to Recessions, meaning there’s a higher risk of right-wing reactionary politics.

With Katie Hill out of office, Johnson (2019) of The Hill, stated, “California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Friday set the date for the special election to decide who will replace former Rep. Katie Hill (D), who announced her resignation last month amid allegations she had affairs with campaign and congressional staffers. The special election for the 25th Congressional District seat will take place March 3, and if no candidate wins the majority, then a run-off will be held on May 12, the governor’s office said.”

Regarding the upcoming election, Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks is running, well, possibly. According to Martin (2019), “The race to replace Katie Hill in California’s 25th District keeps getting wilder, Cenk Uygur, a former MSNBC personality and found of The Young Turks, a progressive activism website, has announced his intent to run for the seat.” Further, Martin (2019) states, “And while he’s clearly fired up, there might a couple of things standing in his way. For one, he doesn’t live in or have any apparent connection to the 25th. Uygur resides in West L.A. and, when asked about the issue, responded, “People are obsessed with geography over the issues.”” The article by Martin (2019) also discusses Cenk’s past comments regarding women, which will certainly hound him, either with the right-wing calling hypocrisy for the left being wishy-washy on the issue when its politically convenient, or, he’ll meet stiff resistance from women voters, or, it won’t be an issue because he said these comments so long ago and his platform has stood up for women and advocated for progressive causes.  

Regardless, the 25th District is also important for the Military and Aerospace Industry with Lockheed Martin having a facility in Palmdale, AeroVironment in Simi Valley, etc. The overall Southern California area has Edwards AFB; Vandenberg AFB under the Space Command and thus NASA; the Jet Propulsion Laboratory ; March Air Force Base (defunct); Los Angeles Air Force Base which houses the Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile System Center; Fort MacArthur in the San Pedro district of LA which still falls under LA AFB;  Camp Pendleton; the Pomona Colleges and Caltech as far as research is concerned; The Aerospace Corporation, and all the major defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, BAE Systems, ViaSat, Airbus, etc.

Katie had a hard job to balance. She had to actively support a vital economic engine for her region, despite the New Left constantly attacking the Military Complex, yet, she had to vote in a way that morally aligned that support for the military with progressive ideology. Essentially, you can be a leftist or liberal and support the military, despite the perception in the media that the left hates the military and the right-wing is military obsessed. There is a vast spectrum regarding this matter. There’s plenty of Democrats or Leftist in the United States military and I can attest to that because I served myself (honorable discharge), but I also grew up in the US Army during my father’s twenty-three-year Army career.

Further, you have to realize the “Military Complex” isn’t purely mega-corporations hated by the political-left but it’s a web or ecosystem comprising an array of federally recognized small businesses spanning categories such as Woman-Owned Small Businesses, Service Disabled Veteran Small businesses, Minority-owned etc. It involves politicians who want to help their districts get jobs, NAICS codes, General Service Administration schedules, federal research grants with universities, etc. Federal contracting is universe of its own. Besides the major prime-contractors such as Boeing, you have smaller suppliers provide everything from specialty parts, composite moldings, scientific testing, clothing, food services, cleaning services, IT help, and the furnishing of commercial-off-the-shelf items such as office supplies, computers, and construction services to facilities.

So, the military-complex employs more people than the general public understands and it’s not all some boogeyman evil Robocop corporation. A small mom and pop shop in Anaheim might win an award to deliver printers to some A.B.C.X.Y.G office in a government facility, or a furniture store in a predominately minority HUB zone (opportunity zone) might win an award to furnish a command posts’ briefing room or install lights at your local US Postal Office. Contracting, even that not relating to the military (all government agencies require contracting, i.e., people who spend money and issue service contracts), and the Military Complex essentially beefs up the American economy with direct suppliers in supply-chains or contract-by-contract awards to small-to-medium size businesses all over the country who are praying they get a phone call for a chance to submit proposals for a federal, state, or local project.

She unseated Steve Knight who is an 18 year LAPD veteran who oversaw a program called CRASH (Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums) which one could contrast to Katie’s participation in PATH (People Assisting the Homeless), served in the US Army, was born in Palmdale and attended Palmdale High School, and while in the House he served on the Committee on Armed Services (Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Lanced Forces and Subcommittee on Sea-power and Projection Forces); Committee on Science, Space, and Technology (Subcommittee on Energy as Vice Chair, Subcommittee on Space, and Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce as Chair,  and Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations).

According to infographic developed by Bycotte & Silver (2019) Knight voted for Trump’s policies 99% of the time and was the seventh most partisan Trump supporter in the House.

Katie Hill despite being on the opposite side of the political spectrum, did serve on the Committee on Armed Services (as well as the same subcommittees as Knight) and on the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. The difference is that Katie served on the Committee on Oversight and Reform as Vice Chair and served under its subcommittees of Economic and Consumer Policy and the United States House Oversight Subcommittee on Environment. The Oversight committee is the committee looking into Trump. As far as Caucus Membership she was on the LGBT Equality Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus, and the New Democrat Coalition.

Knight sat on the House Aerospace Caucus, Climate Solutions Caucus, Alzheimer Disease Task Force, Republican Law Enforcement Task Force, Congressional Lupus Caucus, Congressional Military Family Caucus, NASA Caucus, Congressional Unmanned Systems Caucus, etc. Despite both Katie and Steve being in different parties, their Congressional committee and caucus memberships seem aligned in many ways with the district they represent, but then differ in certain ways based on their party affiliation.  

Both Hill and Knight represent areas that value veterans, relies on the defense & aerospace industry or contracting for employment, but there’s an array of social issues from being tough on crime and California’s affordable housing crisis. The district is effectively a swing district with an arguably diverse population where voters seem issue-based despite standard-political affiliations. People will vote outside of party lines if a certain issue is relevant. Do you want to lose your job if federal money dries up or a recession happens? Or, do you want to lose your house if housing prices keep soaring? These are two major issues effecting Katie Hill’s area.

With the military-complex being important in this case and Knight losing to Hill…is it possible that the revenge porn leak was partially inspired to get her out of power and to help Knight comeback so the GOP could have a die-hard Pro-Trump voter to vote for defense spending bills? Not to mention, hedging the House which is responsible for drafting articles of impeachment. There’s no proof of that a foreign power hacked her husband or he was conned based on anger in leaking her photos, but Katie probably angered a lot of people by voting against arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It’s not even out of the question to think that the pro-Israel lobby could’ve thrown her under the bus, considering Jared Kushner and Israel are allies to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. So, with Katie Hill voting in favor to combat issues such as antisemitism, she could’ve been betrayed for going against a larger geopolitical game with Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc.  

Let’s look at a few of Katie Hill’s votes regarding the military and security while in the House and I got her voting record from Vote Smart (2019) [Note: See Reference Section]:

She voted (Yes) to the National Defense Authorization Act on 7/12/2019

She voted (Yes) to Never Forget the Heroes: Permanent Authorization of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Act on 7/12/2019

She voted (Yes) to the NATO Support Act of 01/22/2019

Yet, she may have angered certain lobbies by voting (Yes) to

S J Res 38 – A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed export to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland of certain defense articles and services on  7/17/2019, and, S J Res 37 – A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval of the proposed export to the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Republic of France of certain defense articles and services on 7/17/2019.

So, think about that…she did her job in supporting US patriots and veterans but also supported NATO, yet, she went against Saudi Arabia and the UAE. These countries are very close to Donald Trump and Jared Kushner. So, Katie unseated Knight and she voted against two of Donald Trump’s key allies as the chaotic unfolding situation in the Middle East gets worst. Remember the controversy with Trump and the murder to Jamal Khashoggi and Saudi Arabia? Or, Erik Prince of Blackwater being called out for having a meeting in the Seychelles with representatives from the UAE on behalf of Trump? Remember Jared Kushner’s supposed Middle East Peace Plan. If this is the case, there’s a higher level of political intrigue, but also betrayal, considering Katie also voted from pro-Israel, Anti-Defamation League, and AIPAC backed legislation denouncing Antisemitism.  

Further, keeping this voting record in mind, considering she voted against an arms-sales to Trump and Kushner allies, Saudi Arabia and UAE, she was also on the “Trump Watchdog” committee, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In a paper from her hometown of Santa Clarita, Painter (2019), stated, “Hill sits on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which, according to the representative, has launched multiple investigations into the president’s administration on issues that were not fully examined in the Mueller report, including White House security clearance policies, family separations at the southern border and alleged sharing of nuclear information with Saudi Arabia.”

“There’s so many issues that we’ve got to continue our investigations on and it’s just not related to the Mueller report,” she said (Painter, 2019).

Katie Hill even on her Twitter account on February 19, 2019 at 9:13 AM and mentioned the previous of possible national security by the Trump Administration with Saudi Arabia.

Let’s get to the point.

I don’t really want to focus on her personal relationship with her husband because it’s not my business. I really don’t know what to make of it or say about her personal life. My focus in this paper is A) The Military Complex Angle and B) An understanding of her mysterious “tattoo”, which doesn’t necessarily implicate Kate Hill with white supremacy, since I’ve heard or read no explanation from her, but the possibility that her tattoo is an Iron Cross, sheds light on the economic and racial situation of the Antelope Valley.

On a positive note, in a brilliant campaign, Katie was able to modify the sense of patriotism people in her district expect and which she believes in, but with progressive ideology more in alignment with what we see in an Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She won.

Katie Hill represented the 25th District of California which encompasses the cities/towns/Census-Designed places of Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Palmdale, Lancaster, and the northern part of the San Fernando Valley. The median income is $76,866 according to a basic Google Search, which looks good on paper, but for California standards that probably puts you in the dead-middle middle-class, so I am assuming this area is mostly exurban, not suburban in the traditional sense, of working commuter families. She was a part of the Blue Wave, predominately female revolution of newly elected politicians in the wake of events such as Donald Trump’s election, the MeToo movement, Stormy Daniel’s circus events, and the controversial Ford vs. Kavanaugh SCOTUS hearings.

But let’s get this next question out of the way before is Katie Hill a Nazi?

I would say… No. Why? She voted for House Resolution 489 – Condemning President Trump’s Racist Comments Directed at Members of Congress on 7/16/2019. She voted for House Resolution 312 – Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation Reaffirmation Act. She voted H.R 1585 – Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2019 on 4/4/2019. She voted for House Resolution 183 – Condemning Antisemitism as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contradictory to the values and aspirations that define the people of the United States and condemning anti-Muslim discrimination and bigotry against minorities as hateful expressions of intolerance that are contrary to the values and aspirations of the United States on 03/07/2019. She voted for H.Res.124 – Expressing opposition to banning service in the Armed Forces by openly transgender individuals.

And…She voted (Yes) to House Resolution 41 – Rejecting White Nationalism and White Supremacy – National Key Vote on 1/15/2019.

After her nude photos were leaked in what has been called revenge porn, which I do believe, it was revealed she had an Iron Cross tattoo. To my knowledge Katie Hill hasn’t explained the tattoo. From my view it could be some sort of Nazi symbol, which will be discussed down below, or it could be something akin to “Hot Topic, angry Avril Lavigne teenage girl” tattoo of Independent Trucks company. Yet, her current voting record refutes any claim that she is a Nazi.

Katie grew up in Santa Clarita, which was ranked by Money Magazine in 2006 as the 18th best place to live on their list out of 100 cities/towns. The area also voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 despite traditionally being Republican, and in 2016, 6.14% voted for Third Party candidates, which reflects a historical trend, since in 1992, 29.18% voted Third Party and in 1993, 13.24% voted Third Party. So the area is very prone to swings it seems, though traditionally its conservative, and I would assume the third-party vote comes a sense of populist ideology such as that of Ross Perot in 1992, or libertarian based politics considering the areas rancher and rural heritage. Santa Clarita is an agglomeration of four former rural towns, with Saugus being one of them, and this is where Katie went to high school. She also comes from an education family, where here grandfather was a Political Science professor at UCLA, her grandmother was educated as an Anthropologist, and her father was a police-lieutenant with a degree from Katie’s alma mater of Cal-State Northridge with Organizational System Management (Herstein, 2018).

However, the issue is that the nearby Antelope Valley and areas like Lancaster were known for having Neo-Nazi elements going back way before the 2000s but was increased after 2000 during the Financial Crisis where many California cities faced bankruptcy while the State Government was in economic disarray. The desert towns outside of Los Angeles that were predominately working-class white based on California’s often unspoken history of racist laws and segregation, where blue collar white communities despite being die-hard Republicans and unrepentant followers of the LAPD (such as during the Rodney King Trials and acquittal of white officers) had biker gangs, Neo Nazis, meth labs, etc.

Finnegan (1997) of The New Yorker, published an article titled: The Unwanted: In a Los Angeles suburb where schools and parents faltered, the American Dream was replaced by drugs, neo-Nazism, and despair. The Hardest hit were Mindy Turner and her friends. The piece details the life of Mindy Turner of the Antelope Valley, who lived in a working-class blue-collar home in Lancaster, but by the ninth grade was a Nazi, meth addicted, sexually active (with much older men), and became a “skin bitch” (per the article) of the Nazi Low Rider gang of Lancaster. Eventually, with the help of her mother she was able to breakaway, but the Nazi group wasn’t letting her go. “The N.L.R.s were into tattoos: swastikas, skulls, Iron Crosses, lighting bolts – through lightening bolts were permitted to be worn only by those who had killed a black person” (Finnegan, 1997, para. 16)

“In 1980, the combined population of Lancaster and Palmdale, the Valley’s two main cities, was sixty thousand. By 1994, their combined population was two hundred and twenty-two thousand, and today estimates of the Valley’s total population range as high as four hundred thousand. This hyper-expansion was first sparked by housing prices in Los Angeles and its nearer suburbs, which soared during the nineteen-eighties, and by white flight from an increasingly Latino and Asian city. The Antelope Valley had been considered too remote for commuters, but the completion of the Antelope Freeway, snaking over the San Gabriel Mountains, helped change that.” (para. 2). Finnegan (1997), also stated, “Then, in the 1990s, the Southern California economy, staggered by cutbacks in the aerospace and defense industries, fell into a deep recession” (para. 3); “In the Antelope Valley, abandoned housing tracts began to dot the subdivided desert. Boarded-up shopping centers and bankrupt school districts followed, along with a wave of personal financial disasters so severe that USA Today dubbed Palmdale “the foreclosure capital of California”” (para. 3); “For anyone who has spent time there lately, this is a scary thought – if only because growing up these days in the Antelope Valley seems to be, for many kids, a pretty harrowing, dispiriting affairs” (para. 5); “…the Valley’s supersonic growth has led to overcrowded, often chaotic schools; according to the high-school district’s superintendent, nearly forty-five percent of the entering students do not finish their class”; “The teen pregnancy rate is alarmingly high” (para. 5), and “A sheriff’s-department spokesman in Lancaster estimated that fully half the Valley’s children are unsupervised after school. He also said that there are now, not coincidentally, more than two hundred youth gangs represented in the Valley” (para. 5).

“There was a street war raging in Lancaster between white-supremacist skinhead gang known as the Nazi Low Riders and a rival gang of antiracist skinheads who called themselves the Sharps” (Finnegan, 1997, para. 6).

These economic factors compounded by the nativism mixed with demographic changes from immigration, and the general racist backlash against President Obama in right-wing circles, made working class areas prime targets for increases in hate groups. Many African Americans for example facing gentrification found themselves migrating to more affordable areas such as the Inland Empire and Antelope Valley, just to find themselves targeted by hate crimes in the 1980s and 1990s.

Maybe, Katie before she became her current progressive self, was hanging out with the wrong crowd (or, the wrong boyfriend), or maybe the tattoo is ironic, or as I said previously, something more aligned to extreme sports like skateboarding with companies like Independent Trucks. Yet, let’s say that Kate was hanging out with the wrong crowds being a rebellious young woman getting tattoos, etc.

If a former Nazi past is true, maybe this a type of American History X situation? A person who was born into a privileged-class of people, despite the reality that many are not privileged within this class, and as she grew into herself, she refuted any association with her former beliefs/friends and became an advocate for the LGBTQ community, minorities, veterans, Indigenous First Peoples – Native Americans, and immigrants. Maybe, I don’t know.

When dealing with politics you’re not sure where the daggers are coming from and despite Katie being young, she held a quite powerful and important district.

Katie Hill is from my generation. We’re the same age, 32, who grew up in the Bart Simpson, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, TGIF, MTV (when they played music videos), summer Hollywood blockbuster nineteen-nineties, but came of age during the War on Terrorism where Myspace was actually popular, had rap music blasting, saw hyper-sexualized pop stars and pornography, listened to death growl screamo or emo or metalcore or hardcore, the list goes on.

All of this before the election of Barack Obama, yet after his election we then experienced our free twenties as underemployed college-graduates in the service-sector in a county which A) felt like we were making progress as far as rights and culture was very engaging and experimental, but B) we saw the birth of a type of “postmodern”, super-intense, conspiracy-based conservatism under the likes of people such as Alex Jones, whom in another light, sounds like the voice from Hotel Rwanda urging Hutus to pick up machetes.

Like Katie, myself and people of our generation sort of grew up on the lightspeed trajectory of post-MLK racial harmony, unfettered globalist capitalism, mega media conglomerates creating culture, but also experienced growing pains in a nation still organized around what is effectively our post-colonial racial-caste system, which still annoyingly dictates the masses for politics, marketing, sales, advertising, box-office ticket sales, etc.

We’re a generation of postmodern kids where cultures merged into new aesthetics. We’re baby Gen X who are now adults entering managerial and leadership positions, tired and hyperaware of the latent defects within the psychology of the United States despite being the target of “Millennial Studies” in click-bait online articles for Baby Boomers who don’t retire since they have no pensions and fear losing all their money in their 401ks if the economy tanks.

Katie is white. I am black. Who cares? Yet, like many minorities who climbed up the economic ladder from the 1970s to now, and found ourselves in suburbia, my racial engagement with different races was A) not a problem at all 95% of the time – I considered my white friends as family, but B) I still witnessed the sociological vestiges of white supremacy such as a caricature view to minorities with minorities being the boogeyman on the late night news, feeling in between a rock and a hard place as I juggled whether to ace the SAT or to emulate black celebrities on TV or in rap videos, and witnessing the eye-balls follow people who were in interracial relationships where women were not only slut-shamed but also the target of passive racism.

However, being in my thirties, I actually see the younger generations as way more progressive, open-minded, and post-racial while still being sensitive to racial issues and conversations (more willing to listen than to deflect claims of racism or sexism), more so, than mine and Katie’s generation. When I look at younger generations, I’m shocked how much more “woke” they are compared to mine and we’re not that far away from each other in age.

However, with the rise of Donald Trump and the Alt-Right ecosystem of outlets such as YouTube or BitChute (though it’s painful, we must support free speech), it seems that there might be a regression in progress, with young, curious, and existential minds going down the rabbit hole to find purpose but then find themselves in the far-right, first with Jordan B. Petersen maybe via the Joe Rogan Podcast which features members of the Intellectual Dark Web such as Sam Harris brining back notions of racial IQ levels, then Stefan Molyneaux or Lauren Southern, then they’re gone.

So, a part of me, being the black kid in school, had a sense of possible understanding to who Katie is and where she comes from. Instead of judging at first glance, I try to visualize a young, insecure, confused girl in a toxic environment such as public school who may have projected hate as a form of defense, but she was really…scared. All teens are a little scared. People can change and when you’re young and stupid, you’re insecure and afraid. She may be the casualty of an unspoken racially segregated high school inflicted with juvenile tribalism, where white teenagers who are educated to feel responsible for the past, get fed up, and violently reject it. They may actually accept the fact that white supremacy exists, but then they may have bad encounters with people of different races who effectively bully them. For all I know, Katie could be a suburban white girl, from a racially segregated education system with plenty of socio-economic problems, who grew up conservative, and by proxy gravitated towards white cliques who felt they needed to group up like we’re living in a prison system, and was exposed to Nazi-like ideas. Maybe they came to her and that was all she had being a young, scared, body conscious female in an American public school which can at times resemble a Corrections Facility.

It is not uncommon to see a type of “white rights” response by white people who see minorities getting rights and some minorities might target white people or whites might be “clowned on”. It’s complicated. I’ve witnessed it myself as a black man, while I’ve also experienced racism myself. We live in a country where racism is real in both overt and covert ways, yet, white people carry the target of being the symbol of hate, so anyone not white might agree on one thing…white people are the racist. This is probably frustrating for many white youths and the decent into racism isn’t simply from home or friends, but from a sense of frustration of not being judged on actions but being judged on their race. The truth about America is that anyone can be the victim of racism, so to get over racism we must acknowledge that and defend people. If black kids are bullying a white kid, then its up to black kids to stand up for that white kid. If white kids are saying racist things to a black kid, then it is up to white kids to stand up for that black kid. You can insert any race you want, since racism isn’t restricted to the standard notions of black and white.

This is a country where even people of color are being encouraged to enter racial-safe spaces, to perceive most of their reality with race at the center, and to essentially be paranoid while they constantly scan for microaggressions. To relate this to Katie being caught with a bong, this racial climate on college campuses reminds me of the class-scene from the film How High with Redman and Method Man, where a white professor eggs on his students of color to attack him, while the professor belittles the black students who simply…go to class. However, we live in a nation where we have a President who dog-whistles to actual racists. To me, both sides are in complete LaLa land.

Even for an older Millennial like myself this intersectional racial climate was confusing, not because I don’t see value in this framework, but rather it often denies all the positive racial harmony that many Americans grew up with. It seems very clinical and intellectual over humanist and connecting. A lazy solution. Race relations in the United States went slightly in reverse because of the traditional political-right with its covert John Birch Society antics posited on denialism and willful ignorance, but also the political-left which has employed a coalition-revolt campaign which tends to treat groups as militaristic battalions, commanded by unelected political pundits – tip toe, stay in line, everyone in your unit act the same…

However, identity-politics and intersectionality from the standpoint of analysis is a powerful and important tool but the issue is the scope of how much we use it. The collateral damage that can happen. It could be said that if we were to objectively stand back and analyze both sides, is that we’d probably see we’re living in a perverted rigged system of color-based dialectics. A confusing sociological experiment bent on tension under the auspices of conservatism or liberalism. Yet, there is a true, harsh, reality to these issues, so we must acknowledge them, but we probably should rethink about how we’re combating racism so it’s inclusive to those who feel historically linked to its reason for existing. The Democrats have an election to win in 2020, don’t they?

Katie Hill’s mysterious “Iron Cross” tattoo insinuates a world which has lost context, forgiveness if guilty, and understanding. Wasn’t Malcom X nothing more than a petty criminal before he became the activist we remember today? I’m sure many gangbangers and Aryan Brotherhood followers have left the corrections system and refuted their former lives, despite having scars such as tattoos, which painfully reminds them of who they were, and in certain cases, I would assume people have these tattoos as a reminder of who they aren’t anymore (considering tattoo laser removal surgery is expensive). There’s not a fixed rubric or lexicon when it comes to context. It’s a delicate process of fact-finding, gauging recent behaviors, etc. Further, peoples’ reactions to Katie Hill represents a type of subconscious vengeance where people are happy Katie got canned because it kicked down the “high horse” morality of feminism (as far as perception goes) and the political left. Because of these social factors, the actual context and hard facts of the Hill case have been buried under perception, political vengeance, etc.  

Yet, Katie is a progressive, leftist, pro-feminist, pro-LGBTQ(IA) female, who lived with a woman of color while in Congress (Lauren Underwood), actively supported Alexandria-Ocasio Cortez and The Squad, stood up for immigrants, voted against White Nationalism and Antisemitism, and became a vocal anti-Trump advocate. What we can learn from all of this, if let’s say the Nazi accusations are true, is that people…can change.

References

Bycoffe, A., & Silver, N. (2019, November 21). Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/house/

Finnegan, W. (2019, February 28). THE UNWANTED: In a Los Angeles suburb where schools and parents faltered, the American Dream was replaced by drugs, neo-Nazism, and despair. The hardest hit were Mindy Turner and her friends. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/12/01/the-unwanted.

Johnson, M. (2019, November 15). California governor sets special election to replace Katie Hill. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/470693-california-governor-sets-special-election-to-replace-katie-hill.

Herstein, O. (2018, December 14). Ms. Hill Goes to Washington. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://csunshinetoday.csun.edu/politics-and-society/ms-hill-goes-to-washington/.

Martin, B. (2019, November 19). Cenk Uygur Is Out for Katie Hill’s Seat. When it Comes to Republicans, He’s Ready to ‘Rip Their Face Off’. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/cenk-uygur-congress-campaign/.

Painter, R. (2019, March 26). Rep. Katie Hill: House Oversight has “highly suspicious” information not covered in Mueller report. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://proclaimerscv.com/2019/03/26/rep-katie-hill-house-oversight-has-highly-suspicious-information-not-covered-in-mueller-report/.

Vote Smart. (n.d.). The Voter’s Self Defense System. Retrieved November 24, 2019, from https://justfacts.votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/179354/katie-hill/?p=2.