Happy Friday! I am beginning to think that Dictionary.com has a thing for posting politically charged words on Fridays. This week’s word is Plutocracy. Originating from the Greek, plutocracy is one of those combination words with ploûtos meaning “wealth” and krátos meaning “rule, strength, might”. The English started using this word in the mid-1600’s.

I don’t know about you, but I am weary of politics. I console myself into thinking it will finally be over in a matter of months. But I am only fooling myself. It won’t be over. Regardless of who wins our U.S. election, there will be hell to pay to the losers who will most certainly protest, revolt, dig their heals in, obstruct progress, or worse. I don’t even want to think about it.

Me? Once I cast my vote this November, I plan on crawling under a rock somewhere, or finding a secluded neutral island where I can hide away until the after-blast settles.

And I will wonder as I always do, if my vote really mattered. “Of course it does,” the talking heads tell us. But the talking heads are owned by the very rich who pay for the campaigns of the candidates who they count on to pass laws that afford them eminent domain, special favors and deregulation. Which is not a good thing for us rock dwellers. I kinda like that we have pristine national forests. I am especially grateful knowing that the fruit in my salad has been regulated to rule out e-coli and the like, and that the products that I purchase are held to standards that make them safe to use. But hey, that’s just me. So whether it matters or not, I vote. It’s the principle of the thing.

Some people say we are already a plutocracy, but I hold onto the hope that there are still enough of us average work-a-day paycheck to paycheck folks to tip the scales. Yes, I still hope.

And so we come to another political word of the day from our friends at dictionary.com. Here is my haiku…it’s more of a lesson learned…a word to the wise, that sort of thing. and I am passing it on…cause “trickling down” never did and still doesn’t work.

Plutocracy

Plutocrats will say,
“Give us more, we’ll share with you.”
Plutocrats don’t share.

kat ~ 23 September 2016