One political party proposes that the primary issues of the current midterm elections are these:
1. The price of gas.
2. Crime.
3. Inflation.
Gas has gone up (though it’s gone down $1.20 per gallon where I live the past week). Much of this is due to Putin having invaded a sovereign nation and countries responding by cutting back on buying gasoline from Russia.
But what is equally responsible for big gas prices and often goes unnoticed by much of the capitalist driven media is that oil corporations are making a killing on gas at this very difficult time. Big oil is gouging families at the pump and making off like bandits: From July to September this year, Valero made $2.82 billion in profits, a 500% boost in just one year. Exxon’s profits of nearly $20 billion was their highest quarter ever recorded. Shell made $9.5 billion in profits–more than twice what they made in the third quarter of last year.
Do not vote for politicians bought and paid for by Big Oil. Lay the blame for inflation at the gas pump where it belongs—on Putin and the greed of Big Oil and Wall Street.
Increased crime? I think this is a crime—that gas corporations and their shareholders are getting rich while ordinary citizens are getting stuck with exorbitant prices as we all protest Russia’s Ukrainian invasion.
I also think it is a crime to declare, contrary to all evidence, that the last election was “stolen” and using this lie to invade the capitol building and to enact over 460 laws to restrict voting for the poor and people of color in particular. In other words, destroying democracy is a crime.
Lies that take away other peoples’ rights are a crime.
Trying to erase voting rights laws hard won by Dr. King and thousands of others is a crime (this means you, chief judge Roberts.)
Invading our nation’s capital violently is a crime (over 700 people have been charged so far for that crime).
Wanting to kill social security, earned by the wages of workers throughout their lives, is a crime. It is elder abuse.
Yes, there is inflation in food prices also. Some of this is due to the war where Ukraine and Russian agricultural products are important for fertilizers as well as soybeans, sunflower and wheat. Whole countries in Africa are undergoing severe starvation because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
But food companies too are making record-breaking profits through price gouging and failing to return to prices previous to the pandemic with its supply problems.
Future generations will pose one question to all adult Americans alive in 2022: “Daddy, what did you do when American democracy was being destroyed?” Will our answer be, “I voted to save money at the gas pump and grocery store”?
Or are bigger issues at stake in election 2022?
To be continued
See Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video teaching, click HERE.
Banner Image: Pain at the pump: Mobil gas station price readout. Photo by Yassine Khalfalli on Unsplash
Queries for Contemplation
What do you think are the biggest issues at stake in the current election?
Recommended Reading
A Spirituality Named Compassion: Uniting Mystical Awareness with Social Justice
In A Spirituality Named Compassion, Matthew Fox delivers a profound exploration of the meaning and practice of compassion. Establishing a spirituality for the future that promises personal, social, and global healing, Fox marries mysticism with social justice, leading the way toward a gentler and more ecological spirituality and an acceptance of our interdependence which is the substratum of all compassionate activity.
“Well worth our deepest consideration…Puts compassion into its proper focus after centuries of neglect.” –The Catholic Register
8 thoughts on “On Crime and Inflation”
Matthew, Today you point out that “one political party proposes that the primary issues of the current midterm elections are these: 1. The price of gas. 2. Crime. 3. Inflation.” We know that the price of gas has been high because of not buying gas from Russia, but the gasoline companies are also responsible for gouging the public, while Valero, Exxon, and Shell made billions in profits last year. Do not vote for politicians bought and paid for by Big Oil. Lay the blame for inflation at the gas pump where it belongs—on Putin and the greed of Big Oil. Wanting to kill social security, earned by the wages of workers throughout their lives, is a crime. It is elder abuse. Despite the pandemic, food companies too are making record-breaking profits through price gouging and failing to return to prices previous to the pandemic. For me the most important issue in voting, is to vote in people who will put into practice those things we think they should.
I perceive the biggest issue that is at stake during this current election is Democracy… reason being that all the other issues that Sen. Warren, Congresswoman Porter and the other voter activist spoke of will worsen, in the sense of being swept under the carpet, woven with the threads of bondage, resulting in the loss of freedoms; through greed and the misuse and abuse of power and control over the human rights of the majority of the American people, as well as the sacred rights of the Earth herself. Voiced in a more direct and blunt way, what I perceive as the biggest issue that is at stake during this current election, is the collective potential loss of the Heart, Mind and Soul, within a percentage of the American people; through heirarchal and patriarchal dominance, rooted in egocentric deception. Some may believe the grass is greener on the other side of Democracy, only to discover that it’s nothing more than sinking sand, swallowing dead dry bones! Will the voice of the prophets and their truth-telling or the actions of the activists or the climate crisis cries of the Earth; be enough to awaken the people? This remains to be seen in the results of not only this current election, but one’s yet to come.
May God’s Spirit of
DIVINE LOVE~WISDOM~TRUTH~PEACE~JUSTICE~MERCY~SORROW~HEALING~STRENGTH~
TRANSFORMATION~FREEDOM~CREATIVITY~BEAUTY~JOY~COMPASSION~ONENESS…
Being-becoming within/among us grow in awareness/consciousness in the hearts, minds, lives, spirits of our sisters and brothers around the world, especially among US voters for the momentous mid-term elections on Nov.8.
🔥💜🌎🙏
free and fair elections
So many insightful thoughts in this essay. One is the irony of giving financial support (the Biden Administration) to a country fighting against autocracy (Russia) for democratic rule (Ukraine) while here at home nearly half of the country (Republicans) and 200+ people running for office (as Republicans) are deliberately acting to undermine democratic rule (i.e., “you can’t trust electors so you can’t trust elections”), which is the foundation of our 200+ year-old form of government. So, the biggest issue in this election is democratic rule. If we do not rule by democracy, then we cannot deal with the other huge issues: preserving the planet and reproductive rights.
Thank you Michele! and AMEN !!! to your comment !!!
We will lose our form of government, flawed as it is. And then, like the governor of Florida, those getting into office by hook or by crook will declare that they have brought freedom. “1984”, “Brave New World”, we salute you. We are now in permanent dystopia or Alice in Wonderland, where down is up, black is white, and so on. To add insult to injury regarding fuel prices–and wait for the cold states’ oil prices this winter–, I believe that taxpayers are still subsidizing the oil companies. I agree with Matthew about the irony of supporting the fight for democracy in Ukraine while giving our democracy away. So many despotic regimes are experiencing protests, including Russia and Iran, and people are losing their freedom and their lives by standing up for justice. I hope and pray that we hold on, but it will take overwhelming numbers to stem the tide, and I am afraid that we just don’t care enough. I hope that I am wrong. In any event, keep the faith and soldier on, each in his or her or their own way.
It is ironic to me that Trump continues “the big lie” of winning the last election. The truth is HE NEVER WON ANY ELECTION! Hilary Clinton won the popular vote in 2016; Trump was APPOINTED by the Electoral College. So now in 2020 suddenly that body was illegitimite?