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Government without Representation: A Call to Action
By Charles Sullivan
02/09/06 "ICH"
-- -- There are events in human history that
galvanize a people into action. Such events are so profoundly
wrong and troubling that they can no longer be ignored by the
great majority of the citizenry. Instinct tells us that we are
nearing a crossroads in the history of our nation, when we must
decide upon a course of action. In this momentous decision there
can be no neutrality. It is understood that there can be no
reconciliation with corrupt power and authority. Either we stay
the course and witness the systematic destruction of not only
our own nation, but perhaps the entire world; or we refuse our
allegiance to this system of inequity called capitalism and
operate upon a new premise, or paradigm.
Upwards of eighty percent of the people recognize that they have
essentially no representation in government. They appreciate the
political process for the sham it is and many of them refuse to
participate in it. In the process they allow a small minority to
elect people to office, some of them as servants to the people,
others not.
Let us proceed upon the assumption that all persons are created
equal. Therefore, all people should be treated accordingly,
regardless of their income, property holdings, race, sex or
creed. Assuming that a great majority accept this credo, we must
then recognize that the current system does not operate upon
this principle. It favors those with wealth over people without
wealth. It offers privileges and advantages to a small
percentage of the citizenry that it does not accord to the great
majority. Thus it is a paradigm that is inherently unjust and
unequal. At this point we must ask ourselves: Do we believe in
such a system? If we do not, then we must ask: Does an unjust
system deserve and warrant our support?
Let it be understood that any system based upon a paradigm of
inequity, and therefore injustice, cannot be reformed.
Capitalism is an economic and social system based upon private
wealth, not the commonwealth. It is inherently unstable and
unsustainable .because it is based upon the idea of private
greed and waste. The result is that power and wealth is
concentrated into the hands of the few by exploiting the many,
and by destroying the earth. It is the philosophical basis for
trickle down economics that gives plenty to those at the top,
much less to those immediately below the top, and virtually
nothing to those at the bottom. Those at the top stand upon the
shoulders of everyone below the top, which is an enormous burden
for them to bear. This is also the psychological underpinning of
plutocratic rule.
No matter how good the intentions of the thousands or millions
of first-rate people operating in good faith within that system,
it is inherently unfair and unjust. It cannot produce equity or
justice because it was not designed to operate in this way.
Expecting a different result than the kind we always get is like
asking an oak tree to produce oranges. However we might wish it
possible, it is not going to happen. Oaks can only produce
acorns—the seeds of their own kind.
Tremendous amounts of energy and capital are spent waiting for
our oaks to produce oranges, as the inequity gap continues to
widen and the system spins wildly out of control. Meanwhile, the
infection deepens and spreads violence and imperialism
throughout the world, setting a chain of events in motion that
has the potential to destroy us all. Under capitalism the rich
are parasites that prey upon the labor of the poor; they
continually bleed them dry and treat them as mere servants. War
rages wherever there is social and economic injustice with its
staggering cost in capital, misery, environmental degradation
and appalling loss of life. In very simplistic terms, this is
nothing more than the output of the input. Injustice can never
create justice; inequity will never produce equity. If we
believe in getting a better result, we must find a better
paradigm such as Democratic Socialism.
So we come to the realization that the political process does
not, and cannot work for us—the great majority of the citizens.
It plays us against one another and distracts us from
recognizing the root causes of injustice that is the source of
our misery. Thus we come to realize that we do not live in a
democracy, as we are so recklessly told; we live in a
Plutocracy—a system in which those with wealth rule those
without wealth. That is the kind of government we have. Let us
have it no more. If the form of government we have offers little
benefit to us, or does us great and irreparable harm, why should
we support it? Plutocratic government does not and cannot
liberate us—it enslaves us.
Nearly ninety percent of us have no more freedom from endless
toil and sacrifice than the slave on the plantation. Under the
enormous and oppressive weight of capitalism, we are nothing
more than the property of our employers, who can and do
terminate us at will without just cause or provocation. The
system that created slavery is incapable of emancipating its
slaves. The genius of the wage slave system is that the great
majority of its subjects do not realize that they are in fact
slaves to fraudulent corporate and plutocratic power.
We must also recognize that no political party, regardless how
well intentioned it is, represents us by operating within the
existing framework of capitalism, or wage slavery. The only
representation we have is ourselves. Our power cannot come from
the system that produces our misery and suffering; it can only
come from without. We the people are our own power; but only if
we act. It was this realization that gave organized labor and
the civil rights movements their impetus for social justice.
True grass roots movements understand that their power lies in
direct action, not in waiting for corrupt leaders to give us
what is already ours under the Constitution and the Bill of
Rights. We must assert our rights, here and now, and without
compromise. Nothing is given without a demand. We cannot cure
one part of a diseased body—we must cure the whole organism in
order to give it health.
The neocon cabal that is in power will not voluntarily step
down. They must be forcefully removed from power by
demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience on a massive
scale. Let me stress that these demonstrations and marches are
to be non-violet. Violence begets violence. These must not be
sporadic events—they must be frequent, widespread and
economically disruptive. As workers, our greatest weapon has
always been to withhold our labor through the general strike, as
well as our refusal to consume beyond the most basic
necessities.
We have but a brief window of opportunity to organize and to
mobilize against our oppressors, before dissent is criminalized
and punishable by imprisonment. Beyond the Rubicon dissenters
will be imprisoned and every channel of free and open
communication will be commandeered and subverted to the service
of empire. This is already happening on a large scale. Unless we
appreciate the approaching danger and act to defend our human
rights and our dignity, we will quickly reach the point of no
return. We stand now at the brink of the Rubicon wondering how
to proceed.
As we put our bodies on the line we will suffer many defeats and
indignities. These events must be so widespread that even the
commercial media cannot afford to ignore them. There will be
beatings and attacks upon us. Our oppressors must be exposed and
revealed for who and what they are. The world will be our
witness. So great will be the force of worldwide opposition to
this brutal conduct, that its perpetrators will be forced to
relinquish their hold on power. This is the only way to bring
the system down and give power to the people.
At this point a brief clarification is in order: Giving power is
a misnomer. Power is never given; it is taken, or asserted. Let
us take that which is rightfully ours and use it for the public
good. We cannot afford to wait for our acorns to evolve into
oranges. The window of opportunity is rapidly closing. It may
not be available to us tomorrow.
Regimes such as the Bush cabal have always plagued America They
are a recurring cancer that pervades every cell of society. They
recur because we are treating symptoms, not underlying causes. A
few decades ago it was Nixon and his henchmen. The cancer
replicates itself through the capitalistic system of inherent
inequity. The time has come to treat the disease, to rid
ourselves of its scourge for all eternity, rather than treating
the symptoms manifested in the present moment of crises.
Otherwise, history is doomed to repeat itself in endless
replicating cycles of want and waste and human misery. A long
road to industrial and personal emancipation awaits our eager
footsteps. Let the journey begin.
Charles Sullivan is a 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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