Not saying I like how things are working now. I don't, a lot. But a lot of what I don't like is the way the collusion of leaders of industry and top politicians are dragging us BACK to the conditions of 1910.

I happen to like Social Security, Medicare, cancer research, the EPA, OSHA, minimum wage, the Federal highway system, clean water, city sanitation, Yosemite and other National parks, etc.

What is happening today is, of course, that the agencies that defend us from the robber barons; those agencies that keep employers from creating blatantly unsafe working conditions or dumping toxins willy-nilly about them or painting children's toys with lead are being defanged. Are being systematically dismantled in order to increase profits -- aka, increase the money earned by a very small number of already extremely wealthy individuals.

Does any of these savings trickle down to the worker? No. When US Mines is allowed to skirt safety regulations, that doesn't translate in to higher pay for miners, or cheaper energy costs. It translates into mine disasters.

There is a new breed of politician out there, inheritors of the mantle of Boss Tweed. They have figured out how to cozy up to the worst of the modern robber barons, and take the bribes they offer to create slick media campaigns in which they manage to sound as if they are doing something entirely different than they are.

They talk about "socialism" and claim they are protecting the worker and the individual. And nothing is further from the truth.