At numerous times in the United States history the poor have exited their hovels roaring a call for a better deal. Going back to before the Civil War American Labor called out for a fair deal. In 1834 Mill Girls struck for better conditions in Lowell, Massachusetts. The next year workers in Philadelphia struck and won a 10 hour day. Slaves and their free cohorts in the abolition movement called for treatment as humans, not property. That brought us the 13th Amendment to our constitution in 1869. In all these times the class of wealth and power resisted change. The class of want and hunger forced improvements in living standards through class action. These actions were not precipitated by intellectuals, but were a result of periods of neglect of the poor by those who had wealth and power.
One of those neglectful periods is upon us now. The rich have, over the last 35 years, taken their share and the share that should have accrued to the poorest. They have manipulated politicians and judges to allow them to reduce the power of the bottom tiers of society and to add to that insult they have priced most of us out of the schools that we, as taxpayers, have paid for. The argument you hear from those in power is simply that it isn't their job to coddle the masses, that if we worked hard we too could be rich and comfortable. Of course, you and I know that we work as hard or harder than they and our IQs aren't much different. The difference, as I see it, is the difference that wealth makes in access to power.
What the rich don't have is numbers. Ninety percent of the population is not rich and if that 90% should speak up what a noise that would be. A new class battle could bring great change for all of us.
The rich now spend less on providing for the common good than you and I do and could be required to prove their good citizenship by upping their share of the tax burden. We might all benefit if we reduced the voting power of corporations by reversing the Supreme Courts "Citizens United" decision. Even better, if we shout loud enough, we might require public financing for all elections. An enlightened electorate might even require that minimum standards in wage and working conditions apply to all workers. The list of things an active and noisy lower class could do is only limited by the amount of activity and noise they produce.
Those in government and in corporate media have cried out at the very thought of Class Warfare. I understand their fear. Oddly they think of themselves as being members, or at least fellow travelers, of the Upper Class. In a more egalitarian society that would not cause fear. A society with our level of inequity leaves those who apologize for the rich open to criticism. They need to rethink this attitude just in case the poor do decide to act.
As a firm believer in nonviolence I hope that our actions can remain within the bounds of what Gandhi and Dr. King envisioned. I can't say that I don't think the Upper Class deserves a little slapping around. I just think that nonviolence produces results with less blood shed. This is; however, a real war - most of the casualties are poor, dead of malnutrition or street violence or rotting away in prisons. Those of us not living in abject poverty, find our lives diminished by a degraded environment caused by unbridled manufacturers or our wealth stolen by government sponsored inflationary schemes or bankers foreclosure practices. Those who look for knowledge to pull them up, find the cost prohibitive. Only the rich can afford many of our elite universities.
I call on all of the so called underclass to become members of the Army for Equality. We must be loud in our demands and implacable in our resolve. We must require our fair portion of our countries wealth. Those who labor must be compensated fairly for the work they do. Labor has as much right to the value of their products as does Capital. If Capital fails to understand that principal, let them produce without Labors help. This war requires no large troop movements or the help of heroic generals. Small groups of like minded people can make large changes. Organized response to the problem at hand has changed the world in the past. The Army for Equality in all it's gorilla majesty will do for the future - if we just join.
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