A CLASSLESS SOCIETY

In India they have the "caste" system.

There are five different levels of the system: Brahman (priests), Kshatriya (rulers, warriors, and landowners), Vaishya (merchants), Shudra (artisans, agriculturalists), and Harijans ("outside" the caste system [once known as "untouchables"]).

Within each of these categories are the actual "castes" or jatis within which people are born, marry, and die.

In The United States (as in many Western cultures), we use the "class" system.

We have the Upper Class (rich, often considered "snobby" people, but not necessarily so), The Middle Class (So-called "Average Income" people), and the Lower Class (those below middle class).

The boundaries are not clear and the governments occasionally comes out with "adjustments" to the system, depending on who they want to tax at the time.

It is fashionable for the government (the leaders of which are mostly rich fat cats who in the main are Democrats, but who want you to think that mostly Republicans fall into that category), to castigate the rich and make the argument that because they have been dealt an unfair hand in life (that is: they have worked hard, taken chances and succeeded), they should pay a higher percentage of taxes.

Then, they (the government) enact IRS laws that give tax breaks to the corporations in direct proportion to their contributions to re-election campaigns, especially their own.

After that, they jump up and down proclaiming how unfair it is for poorer (but not poor) people to be burdened with high taxes, so they raise them less than they said they were going to and proclaim that a tax reduction.

Poor people, as defined by the fat cat government leaders, then are promised a refund (euphemistically called a "rebate") of what they did not pay.

I tried that at a local "big box" store.

I went in, asked for management and demanded a refund on a wide screen TV which I had not bought.

I didn't get it.

Now, as in India, within each class there are divisions and sub-divisions.

I live in a sub-division...but that's another matter.

You have Upper Upper Class, Middle Upper Class, and Lower Upper Class, Upper Middle Class, Middle Middle Class and Lower Middle Class, Moderately Poor, Poor and Poverty stricken, followed by Homeless, Indigent and Vagrant.

What's different about America, besides the gauge of our railroad tracks, is that one can be in almost any profession and almost any class at the same time.

A plumber who is not very good or dependable might find him/herself in the ranks of the poor (thought not usually the Homeless, Indigent or Vagrant), or, if he/she has been very successful, might own many plumbing companies and be in the Upper Upper Class, particularly if he/she plumbs as a government contractor (in which case he/she really doesn't have to be that good, and doesn't really have to do any real plumbing at all).

Now most of you reading this post think I am writing about some sort of economics or the like.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Well, I guess there could be SOME things further from the truth, but for purposes of this post, we'll let sleeping dogs lie (??).

When it comes to class, our country has decided that there is a base. More accurately, it has decided to become base.

Everyday language has taken the route of the lowest common denominator.

Vulgarities, vileness and other such "V" words have taken over language in the form of "S" words, "F" words, "H" words, "W" words and "AEIOU" words, straight from the Vowels of Ell.

Some people cannot utter a coherent thought without swearing, cursing or taking the Lord's name in vain, in every-other word.

Linguistically we have become a nation of Dumbdowns, who don't even have the intelligence to know why such a thing is a drag on society.

"Freedom of Speech," "They're Only Words," and other such phrases voice their excuses.

Nonsense.

The Constitution does not guarantee you "freedom of speech," no matter what you were taught in Public School.

It clearly states that we cannot have any federal law restricting speech or infringing on one's right to self-expression, especially as it relates to criticizing the government.

Citizens have taken that to mean that they can say what they want, when they want, however they want, to whomever they want, and wherever they want.

Very foolish!

What it really boils down to is that we have lost the art of self-control in our language.

A person who is not man or woman enough to control his/her language, is not likely to be able to control him/herself with regard to other issues.

Foul language is really a sign of civil class, having nothing to do with economics.

As a country, we are becoming a classless society.