The Redtape Letters

The Screwtape Letters by the noted British author C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite books. The long letters were written by a man, Screwtape, for the purpose of instructing his nephew, Wormwood, in how to evangelize an ordinary man against God and into following Satan. I’ve been working on a book probably titled The Redtape Letters, including letters from a man, Redtape, instructing his nephew, Gullible, vis-à-vis politics/society and how to guide the nation into socialism. Here is a letter dealing with the so-called Income Inequality sort of gap:

My Dear Gullible,

You'll pardon me for being a bit disappointed at the mention in your last letter that you've been listening to some of those awful redneck conservative talk-shows on radio and even spent some time viewing that arch-conservative TV network that claims to be fair and balanced. Don't be fooled by the propaganda vomited from those sources. The purveyors of conservative views are to be pitied for their simple-mindedness, such as when they claim redistribution of wealth will kill the economy. It will, of course, but you need to understand that in so doing it will nudge the nation closer to Force-status. We can be glad that the so-called mainstream media—far larger than the redneck media—are supporting the president in his redistribution plan. Actually, those media nutcases are the simpletons but, except for the true believers in the Force, think they have a clue. You are still new to the cause and I'm sure you're among friends who have come from conservative homes and are therefore brainwashed into believing that the “level playing field” concept is screwy. It is, of course, but that's the whole point – screwing up everything as soon as possible so that the drive into Force-hood accelerates. In the meantime, don't try to convert these “friends.” Just avoid them like the plague. You will find people much closer to our philosophy on the faculty, so listen to those folks.

Unless you've been in a cave lately (or high on mary jane—little joke there) you've been hearing and reading a lot about the “income inequality” that exists worldwide but especially in this country. This has become virtually the mantra lately vis-a-vis the administration. Some senseless wags—the rich, in other words—have made a lot of noise about a worldwide war being waged against the wealthy, presumably by the poor folks, as if they had any ammunition even if they had economic or military weapons to make the fight, which they don't. The president has vowed to bring the rich folks to their knees financially and give the proceeds to the poor, about everyone else not in the Republican Party. This comes at an embarrassing time since the big news lately is the fact that half of all the members in Congress are millionaires and—even worse—that the president is, too. So...the president and most Congresspersons are not anxious for income inequality to be a virtual mantra. The president, rich Cabinet members and rich Congresspersons can take care of themselves, however, since they can pass laws, especially around midnight on Fridays, that will exempt them from the strictures other mean-spirited millionaires and billionaires will face as the circumstance is resolved. The president outlawed the term “terrorism” (though he forgot right after the Benghazi Massacre and repeated it when some dullard put in a teleprompted speech) and replaced it by “man-caused disaster,” so the thinking now is replacing “Income Inequality” with something like “Man-Caused Repossession.”

The facts are fairly immutable—about one percent of the world's population owns nearly half of the world's assets, leaving the other 99% what's left. In some places, that's not very much. In this country, the middle class feels little if any pain because the wealthy use their money to set up businesses that create jobs. As long as the dimwits can work and make enough to eat, have a car, spend 30 years paying for a house and have a flat-screen TV they can be mollified. So... they must be made to understand that they are victims of Man-Caused Repossession by the wealthy (mostly republicans), assuming they might stop watching the Reality shows long enough to pay attention. The lower class gets a hand-up from the government – think the ballyhooed single mothers, who get child support, food stamps, subsidized housing, child-care, cell-phones and enough cash to have what other folks have to work hard to earn. The significant others who show up occasionally for a good time and a go at another impregnation that leads to more babies to more assistance...you get the picture, I'm sure. Don't worry about them.

In the Force, confiscation is the weapon of choice...or make that the tool for making the playing-field level in our society. The term weapon is so NRA-ish. The way to dilute and eventually destroy man-caused repossession is to raise the taxes much higher on everyone who earns money—especially the rich although everyone will have to ante-up eventually—and give the proceeds to the middle and lower classes in all the ways that are possible. This will lead to class warfare, which, of course, is necessary to inculcating the Force. The president is in the process now of getting this done, i.e., educating all classes as to the rightness of having the government be Robin Hood...stealing from the rich and redistributing their wealth to the middle class and poor. This has already been started in the Congress in its caving on the tax-the-rich scheme the president introduced, raising their federal taxes to nearly 40%.

But this is just the beginning. The hard problem will be in educating everyone, especially in the middle class (changing their mindset from victim-hood occasioned by the rich), into believing they, too, owe what they earn to people who are wise enough not to work. Pensioners and the sick are not included in that group, of course. As the citizens all get fed-up with the system, they will wage war against each other (or each others' class), with the producers deciding that it's not worth the effort any longer. As the economy reflects this (going into the tank), the government, led by folks like you and me, hopefully, will become the source of every good thing. Disgruntled citizens may have to be subjected to physical force. This is why the president insisted in 2008 that there be a national police force equal in strength to all the military forces combined. In his current lame-duck session, this may be hard to accomplish but by the grapevine I've heard that this force will be open to any military person upon his discharge, with a hefty bonus involved. This is the main reason that the president is removing troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year—fresh trained-troops in the form of returnees since there are fewer and fewer jobs for them to get at home. The actual unemployment rate is now at 13.1% (Labor Dept. Statistic) so you can see what I mean. Please don't mention the latter statement to anyone because that number means “Great Depression” stuff. This smacks of the propaganda put out by devotees of the enemy, i.e., that inducing privation/fright produces a drive of the population toward communal stuff, anathema to capitalistic tenets of the faith. The enemy is right...that's why he is to be feared.

I hope you are hard at it in community-organizing in your spare time. In the neighborhoods of the affluent, organize against the president. In the poor neighborhoods, organize against everyone. This may sound as if actual beliefs don't matter. They don't, except that this approach accelerates class-warfare, the key to success.

As ever,
Redtape

And so it goes.
Jim Clark