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Talking Revolution
By Charles Sullivan
01/20/06 "ICH" -- -- Not only is it a disgrace that a nation
endowed with the enormous wealth of the US neglects the working
class and the poor—it is morally reprehensible, even criminal.
Some of our founding fathers did not believe in equality—a fact
they neglected to tell us in history class. There was much
debate about whether or not non property owners would have the
right to vote or to govern. The original intent of some was to
create a plutocracy in which those with wealth and property
would govern those without. The first inhabitants of what is now
America were never included in the equation; nor were non-whites
or women. How could this be called democracy?
Capitalism is the paradigm that drives the economic and the
philosophical engines of America. So ingrained in the collective
psyche of society is capitalism that it is rarely questioned,
much less challenged on the grounds of social justice.
Capitalism is the antithesis of democracy. Therefore it is the
enemy of social justice. This economic system concentrates
wealth at the top of the economic ladder, in the hands of the
rich and powerful. Those who occupy all but the uppermost rungs
are left to scramble for the crumbs that fall from the top. Thus
the form of government we have much more closely resembles a
plutocracy than it does a democracy.
Trickle down economics have never served the interest of working
class people, especially the poor. Concentrated wealth and power
cannot serve the needs of social justice. Only when wealth and
power are distributed equitably will this occur. All power must
rest in the hands of ordinary working people. It is they who
must decide their fate, not wealthy plutocrats and corporatists,
who do not know the meaning of sacrifice or justice.
Because enormous power and wealth is concentrated in the hands
of a privileged few, we find ourselves in our present precarious
position near the cliff’s edge. We are losing our tenuous hold
and a vortex of chaos and uncertainty swirls menacingly below.
Rather than using our national wealth for the public good, those
in power have usurped our tax dollars to further increase their
enormous wealth and to tighten their grip on power. The rich
always prey upon the middle class and the poor. They send us to
suffer and to expire at the altar of corporate greed; to die in
wars in distant lands. They condemn us to work at menial jobs
that generate enormous wealth for the corporate CEOs, while
paying the workers slave wages, often without health benefits.
Apart from its fabulous wealth, America is distinguished from
the rest of the world by its bristling military muscle, which is
the result of the concentration of power and wealth. Militarism
does not further the aims of democracy and freedom, as we are
told. Its real purpose is to protect the financial interests of
wealthy investors; to open world markets to the exploitation of
cheap labor—and to make the world safe for relentless corporate
abuse and plunder. That is the real purpose of America’s war
machine. Our young people need to know this before entering the
military. They must decide whether or not these are causes they
wish to die for.
As evidence for this view, fifty-two cents out of every dollar
in the federal treasury ultimately finds its way into the
bottomless coffers of the Pentagon. Our total military
expenditure far exceeds the entire gross national product of
many nations. It exceeds by far the expenditures of our nearest
competitors combined.
Were so many of our resources not subverted to overt militarism,
we would have universal health care. We would have the best
schools and universities in the world. There would be no hungry
children; no homeless or disenfranchised people sleeping on
sidewalks on bitter winter nights. Our veterans hospitals would
not be filled with broken men and women who thought they were
serving their country when, in reality, they were serving
empire. The needs of the elderly would be provided. Growing old
would not be the hardship that it is now. There would be no
poor, and no class divisions to separate us. Everyone who wanted
a higher education would be able to get it because of our
national bounty. There would be more than enough to go around if
the wealth were equitably distributed. Our young people would
not be placed in harm’s way, occupying sovereign nations while
helping corporations to steal their wealth. Every working person
would earn a living wage in a safe and clean work place. The
family unit would be intact. The work week would be
significantly shorter than forty hours.
The people would not be misled by a corporate media subservient
to money and power. Poor minorities would not be the sacrificial
lambs for the war machine that threatens our planet’s life
support systems, because there would be no poor minorities, and
there would be no war. We would not be led astray by the lies of
pasty faced war pimps, who by virtue of their positions of
wealth and privilege will never encounter the cost of war—who do
not know the meaning of personal sacrifice. Their path has been
paved with the blood and sweat of those they tread upon without
a thought. They are men and women with social pedigrees who do
not know the meaning of struggle, whose bellies have never known
the pangs of want and hunger.
To our utter shame, we are the only industrialized nation in the
hemisphere that does not provide universal health care to its
citizens. But we grant enormous welfare to obscenely wealthy
corporations on a scale that boggles the mind. We provide tax
cuts to the wealthy by stealing from the middle class and the
poor. We are a nation that encourages the rich to prey upon the
poor with impunity.
One of our greatest citizens, Dr. Martin Luther King, stated:
“Silence is betrayal.” Those in power expect the rest of us to
remain silent and servile. They expect us live on dirt while
they dine on steaks and lobster and consume goblets of wine.
Their tenuous hold on power, endowed by the privileges of class
they enjoy, depends upon our continued self betrayal through
silence, indifference and apathy. They expect the multitudes to
continue to sacrifice so they can have more and lord
extraordinary power over us. They require us to continue to die
in wars and to tolerate intolerable inequity. Why should we?
Enough, I say! Let us stand upright like men and fight for all
that is sacred and decent about America. We will never have a
just society by being silent and remaining ignorant. We have no
rational choice but to open our eyes and to see things as they
really are. We have a moral obligation not only to speak out
against injustice; we have an obligation to act against it. That
is our duty as citizens; it is our duty as servants of justice
and peace.
Revolutionary change is never easy. Its currency is blood, sweat
and tears. Revolution demands personal sacrifice and courage.
Direct action and civil disobedience is the only thing that has
ever brought justice to the oppressed in this or any land. The
forty four work week and the weekend are the result of such
struggle. American child labor ended because of massive direct
action and civil disobedience. The Civil Rights Act is the
result of millions of people committed to social justice taking
to the streets day after day and demanding justice. The Viet Nam
War was brought to an end only when citizens took to the streets
in mass to end the killing. It is not enough to simply say no
with our conscience and with our spirit. We must also say no
with our bodies. It has always been so.
Justice is always born of struggle. Nothing less can bring about
the kind of change America needs. There are no easy solutions. A
price must be paid. We all know what happens to revolutionaries
in America. Coretta Scott King and her children certainly know.
Dr. King showed us the way out of the morass we helped to create
through apathy and indifference. A man like Dr. King only comes
along once in lifetimes. Do enough of us have the courage and
strength of character to follow his example?
Charles Sullivan is a furniture maker, photographer, and free
lance writer living in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
He welcomes your comments at
earthdog@highstream.net.
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