Daddy's Philosophy - Jim Hightower, Humor Times

If only our leaders in Washington and on Wall Street would begin practicing this true American philosophy.

This holiday season got me to thinking about America’s spirit of giving, and I don’t mean this overdone business of Christmas, Hanukkah and other holiday gifts. I mean our true spirit of giving — giving of ourselves. This is reflected in our true American philosophy.

Yes, we are a country of rugged individualists, yet there’s also a deep, community-minded streak in each of us. We’re a people who believe in the notion that we’re all in this together, that we can make our individual lives better by contributing to the common good.

The establishment media pay little attention to grassroots generosity, focusing instead on the occasional showy donation by what it calls “philanthropists” — big tycoons who give a little piece of their billions to some university or museum in exchange for getting a building named after them. But in my mind, the real philanthropists are the millions of you ordinary folks who have precious little money to give, but consistently give of themselves, and do it without demanding that their name be engraved on a granite wall.

My own Daddy, rest his soul, was a fine example of this. With half a dozen other guys in Denison, Texas, he started the Little League baseball program volunteering to build the park, sponsor and coach the teams, run the squawking PA system, etc. Even after I graduated from Little League, Daddy stayed working at it, because his involvement was not merely for his kids … but for all.

He felt the same way about being taxed to build a public library in town. I don’t recall him ever going in that building, much less checking out a book, but he wanted it to be there for the community and he was happy to pay his part. Not that he was a do-good liberal, for God’s sake — indeed, he called himself a conservative.

My Daddy didn’t even know he had a political philosophy, but he did, and it’s the best I’ve ever heard. He would often say to me, “Everybody does better when everybody does better.” If only our leaders in Washington and on Wall Street would begin practicing this true American philosophy.

The Coming of the Unholy Messiah of Corporate Rule

And lo, the Magi came from afar, guided by a heavenly star to worship the Messiah of Mar-a-Lago. Bearing precious gifts of flattery, cash and bitcoin, the corporate Magi fell to their knees in awe when they beheld the Orange Aura in his gilded manger.

These starry-eyed worshippers are not religious seekers but uberrich CEOs of Wall Street banks and corporate giants. Abandoning any shred of principle and self-respect, they rushed to Florida this month on their private jets to suck up to The Donald, crassly trying to cash in on the plutocratic rule of his incoming Trump Taliban.

Especially embarrassing is the sight of avaricious high-tech titans seeking favors. These self-proclaimed paragons of “laissez-faire” economics are largely funded by us taxpayers, and they’re now trying to get more government giveaways the old-fashioned way: bribery. Such billionaire tech elites as Jeff Bezos of Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook have greased their appeals by paying a million dollars each to Trump’s coronation committee — just to get a meeting with him!

Interestingly, both Bezos and Zuckerberg had previously condemned Trump’s flagrant xenophobia, racism and misogyny. But now, their repulsion has turned to adulation. After all, billionaires don’t let ethical principle get in the way of their financial principal.

Do you have a million dollars to buy a meeting with His Lordship? What are today’s young people to make of greedheaded creeps like Bezos and Zuckerberg, who insist that not only can they openly buy government favors but mock our people’s democratic ideals? Young people are right: The system is corrupt. Trump aside, our No. 1 political goal must be to ban corporate money from politics.

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Jim Hightower

National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, "Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow," Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.

Twice elected Texas Agriculture Commissioner, Hightower is a modern-day Johnny Appleseed, spreading the message of progressive populism all across the American grassroots.

He broadcasts daily radio commentaries that are carried in more than 150 commercial and public stations and on the web.