Social media lets us be ourselves (unless we develop some unrealistic, unsustainable, fake persona), and our audience can take it or leave it. I know that the clients that come to me through social media have already pre-qualified me and we start our relationship with common interests and ideas. So I get to work with folks I like and I don’t have to listen to the right-wing diatribe.

There are some who give more – but among the wealthiest there is far too much of the “I’ve got mine” attitude going on. Creating a new robber-baron era only made the middle class more vulnerable. Sadly, they have had the wool pulled over their eyes in thinking the social programs are the enemy. Let’s look at money being thrown at dubious wars. Let’s look at the deregulation that led to the wild-west mentality in business and on Wall Street. Let’s look at the increasing wage gap that is no longer limited to blue collar manufacturing and has now permeated the entire middle and working classes. It was the business class all along with their clever lines and wedge issues that hoodwinked the masses to its cause. But they are also responsible for throwing them off the cliff. Liberals need to call it as we see it…and sing that song LOUD AND LONG..Keep up the good work Ken. This is result of clever and careful planning on the political right. This is the end goal that Thomas Frank’s book revealed in “What’s the Matter with Kansas.”

Interesting quote below from that book:

“The anthropologists caution us in their sober way about a recipe for growth that blandly accepts a permanent impoverished class, but people of Mission Hills (high end neighborhood in Kansas) are unfazed. They may be to polite to say it out loud but they they know that poverty rocks. Poverty is profitable. Poverty makes stocks go up and labor come down.”

I am glad there is a balance of political views from an editorial perspective on AG. Free speech that is one sided (sometimes disguised as nationalism) is as dangerous as no freedom of speech at all. I appreciate debate, but both sides lose when the debate becomes just rhetoric and logic is thrown out the window.

I believe people want to engage, but the public debate has become so Jr Highish in nature that many have just tuned out. If you can elevate the debate on your end, you will have a huge audience, even if they don’t all agree with you. You will also force them to put up or shut up.

We probably agree on far more than you imagine.

Keep it up, Ken

And Bob, we appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts as well. Thanks guys!

Before I started writing for Agent Genius the only thing (from a political point of view) I was reading sounded like a Limbaugh/Beck/Palin echo chamber. Government = BAD (which is kind of odd coming from political commentators whose livelihood depends on Government in any form and a former Vice Presidential candidate/Governor/Mayor).

Yeah, there was lots of other good stuff that was apolitical – the SEO stuff, the general technology stuff, etc.. Yet, when people decided to comment (i.e., voice an opinion) it was all “bad Government this and bad Government that”. The truth is: Government is essential for the existence of a civil society as are taxes, I’m afraid.

It seems everything I read was not level headed, fact quoting, statistic referring, rational discussion. It was knee jerk reactions to perceived wrongs fueled by the same type of generalizations and misinformation of which you accuse me.

End of life counseling became death panels. Competition through a public option became a Government takeover.

There was no discussion about a $3,000,000 a year CEO of AIG thumbing his nose at the Government after we, the taxpayers, literally saved their bacon. (http://industry.bnet.com/financial-services/10005103/5103/). It was OK to dole out millions in “retention” bonuses for “talent” that, in my view, were and are as bad as the predatory mortgage and loan mod scammers on the street today.

I’m trying to bring another point of view to the table. One that is, obviously, not shared by people who have commented thus far.

When I was little, my parents split and i was raised by a single mom. I had my share of welfare cheese and powdered non-fat milk. I was doing my own laundry (hand me downs from the kid down the street) at the laundromat when I was seven. If it was a good week, my sis and I got a 10 cent double scoop at the ThrIfty Drug next door. I know first hand abstract poverty as do many others on here, Being disadvantaged doesn’t come with a specific party affiliation.

My parents grew up in the Great Depression. My dad lost his dad when he was 3. My mom lost her mom when she was 13, and her dad at 19. They taught me that there are no guarantees in life. They also taught me how to be generous and unselfish. We took people in who needed a place to stay and we shared what we had. As a result, I had no idea how poor we were until I got into high school.

I don’t know why your politics are such that you feel you have to demonize those who don’t share those beliefs. There are many on both sides of the aisle who are fantastic human beings and do things no one will ever know about, just as there are many donkeys and elephants that are dirtbags.

You are clearly passionate about your beliefs, but do me a favor and try arguing facts instead of rhetoric. Leave that to the politicians and talking heads. You are misjudging a lot of people with your stereotypes.

I guess I really jumped the gun. I didn’t really mean stats as such. Missy just mentioned that “…liberals don’t give as much…” Ok, fine. My studies show conservatives “don’t give as much”. You know what? I don’t care. I just get real tired of the “I want mine. All Government is bad and the disadvantaged should help themselves” (Just a paraphrase, boys. Don’t start to hyperventilate.)

Thanks for keeping me honest.

Lani – thanks for the tip about Austin. I knew there had to be some progressive business people somewhere.