Questions

I'm trying to figure out what those people behind all the attack ads, the support of the Tea party activists, the stupid and evil rumors about Obama (choose one— he's a Moslem, he wasn't born in America, he hates white people, and etcetera, miserable etcetera) want out of this election. I mean, what more do they need? "In the United States at the end of 2001, 10% of the population owned 71% of the wealth and the top 1% owned 38%. On the other hand, the bottom 40% owned less than 1% of the nation's wealth."
 https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Distribution_of_wealth
It hasn't got any better since then.
(By the way—there seems to be more than one "tea party"—Does anyone remember the Spanish Civil war, where infighting on the Republican side, (when "Republican" actually stood for something!) mostly fomented by the Communists insisting on doctrinal purity, actually led to the victory of Fascist forces and Generalissimo Franco's repressive regime? Those who work for the oligarchy's bidding will find themselves enslaved.)

What do these oligarchs want? Don't they have enough already? Do they really get so much pleasure from driving out of their gated and guarded enclaves and viewing the suckers who work for them that they have to drive those people into even more desperate straits? How much is enough? How much do you need to insure that your children and grandchildren will be able to live off your largess?
Will it be good for the children and grandchildren to have these riches handed to them instead of having to work for their rewards?
Where does ego stop? How great do you have to be for yourself and look to your descendants?
And how is all that worth a single life which you have destroyed in getting your riches?
If any of these asshats even bothered to read Shakespeare they would get an idea of the value, or lack there of, of inherited wealth and/or power. The Bible would give other clues, as would the actual history of the human race in the last five thousand years.
You don't know what your own children, much less your grandchildren, will do with the money which you squeezed and cheated out of the rest of humanity. You can bet that what ever it is, you won't approve.
I'd put money on that. If I'm right, pay me now. If I'm wrong, I'll get back to you later.
I'm confident that I won't need to get back to you later.

It seems the Republicans and their puppet masters are trying to destroy the middle class of America. They are trying to reduce the American social equation to lower class, and upper class. They want to  make Americans work for the same wages as people in Bangla Desh, China, the Maldives, Zanzibar etc. This is so bizarre and short-sighted.
Henry Ford was really an American fascist (he sold cars to Hitler's Germany long after it was clear Hitler would become America's enemy), he not only fought against unions but hired thugs to beat and even murder union organizers, BUT he did recognize that the American worker needed enough money to buy his cars. And he paid accordingly —he didn't want to pay for industrial accidents or provide health care or have a two day weekend—or have someone else tell him he should have these things—but he knew his employees should be able to afford his vehicles.
If only he'd known how cheaply Indian and Malaysian workers would have worked to build his cars.
History would have been different.

Oligarchies do not have a history of longevity. Of course, while they exist they make life miserable for those not in the "in crowd."

People do have the gumption to finally rise up against them or work around them until they collapse. The "local hero" idea in new England and elsewhere is one example of the force that will bring the oligarchs to ruin. When we choose our own methods of support and community we create the basis of our own economic and social freedom.
Buy as local as you can. Buy away from the big names, the big box stores. It won't be easy, "they" will try to make it expensive; "they" will try to keep you addicted to sugar and ease of preparation and ease of thought about what you are eating and where it came from.
This, by the way, is what "socialism," that much-maligned word, is about. You help me, I help you, we both work with him or her and we all make a living co-operating with yet another for mutual benefit. And no power of one over another.

That's a stickler for the oligarchs. Gotta have that power. How else to know how much we are worth?

Poor Jesus. He came to us 2000 years ago to speak of this, and his message is still ignored. We still judge people on their wealth, their status (whatever that is), their beauty—on everything but their ability to live as a vital part of a human community.

Even your Curmudgeon, who doesn't expect much from human beings, is a little depressed about this.
I hope you sleep well. Humanity needs you to be at your best in the morning.