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| This has become the New Normal: Don't accept it |
"When a small group of people rules a society the political system is
considered an oligarchy; when only money and wealth determine how a
society is controlled, the political system is a plutocracy.
This is basically the situation we have today in the US, Russia, China, EU and many other countries in the world.
From the standpoint of a democratic society, both oligarchy and plutocracy are inherently unjust and corrupt.
Of course there are variations in the degrees of authoritarianism and
cruelty that each system exercises over the communities it relies upon
for workers and wealth. Scholars have resorted to using phrases like
“benign dictatorships” or “wise rulers” or “paternalistic hierarchies—“
to describe lighter touches by those few who impose their rule over the
many.
Thomas Paine simply called them tyrannies. People, families, and
communities can only take so much abuse before they rise up to resist.
The job of the rulers is always to find that line and provide the lowest
level of pay, security, housing, consumer protection, healthcare, and
political access for society so that they can extract and hoard the
greatest amount of wealth, power, and immunity from justice for
themselves. In many ways, the majority of Americans live in a democracy
of minimums, while the privileged few enjoy a plutocracy of maximums.
In a plutocracy, commercialism dominates far beyond the realm of
economics and business; everything is for sale, and money is power. But
in an authentic democracy, there must be commercial-free zones where the
power of human rights, citizenship, community, equality, and justice
are free from the corrupting influence of money. Our elections and our
governments should be such commercial-free zones; our environment, air,
and water should never fall under the control of corporations or private
owners. Children should not be programmed by a huckstering economy
where their vulnerable consciousness becomes the target of relentless
corporate marketing and advertising.
American history demonstrates that whenever commerce dominates all
aspects of national life, a host of ills and atrocities have not just
festered and spread, but become normal—enslavement, land grabs, war,
ethnic cleansing, serfdom, child labor, abusive working conditions,
corrupt political systems, environmental contamination, and immunity
from the law for the privileged few. History also shows that whenever
there have been periods when enough of the country organizes and
resists, we see movements of people and communities breaking through
power. Progress is made. Rights are won.
Education and literacy increase. Oppression is diminished. It was in
this manner that people of conscience abolished the living nightmare
imposed by the laws and whips of white enslavers. The nation moved
closer to promises of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”
expressed in the Declaration of Independence. We won more control over
our work, our food, our land, our air, and our water. Women secured the
right to vote. Civil rights were elevated and enforced. Public schools,
improved environments, workplace collective bargaining, and consumer
protections did not spontaneously evolve; they were won by people
demanding them and breaking through power.
These moments of great progress are expressed in terms of new
legislation, regulations, and judicial decisions that directly benefit
the life, liberties, and pursuit of happiness of most Americans. From
the abolition of slavery to the introduction of seat belts, great social
gains have been achieved when people mobilize, organize, and resist the
power of the few. The problem is that these liberating periods of
humanitarian and civilizational progress are of shorter duration than
the relentless commercial counterforces that discourage and disrupt
social movements and their networks of support. Some commentators have
used the bizarre term “justice fatigue” to describe the pullback that
often occurs when communities of resistance are faced with increased
surveillance, infiltration, harassment, and arrest. A more accurate term
is repression.
Concentrated power in the hands of the few really should matter to you.
It matters to you if you are denied fulltime gainful employment or paid
poverty wages and there are no unions to defend your interests. It
matters to you if you’re denied affordable health care. It matters to
you if you’re gouged by the drug industry and your medication is
outrageously expensive. It matters to you if it takes a long time to get
to and from work due to lack of good public transit or packed highways.
It matters to you if you and your children live in impoverished areas
and have to breathe dirtier air and drink polluted water and live in
housing that is neglected by your landlord. It matters to you if your
children are receiving a substandard education in understaffed schools
where they are being taught to obey rather than to question, think and
imagine, especially in regards to the nature of power.
If you’re a little better off, it matters to you when your home is
unfairly threatened with foreclosure. It matters to you when the nation
is economically destabilized due to Wall Street’s crimes, and your
retirement account evaporates overnight. It matters to you if you can’t
pay off your large student loans, or if you can’t get out from under
crushing credit-card debt or enormous medical bills due to being
under-insured. It matters to you if you are constantly worried about the
security of your job, or the costly care of your children and elderly
parents.
“We live in a beautiful country,” writes historian Howard Zinn. “But
people who have no respect for human life, freedom, or justice have
taken it over. It is now up to all of us to take it back.” To better
assess what it specifically takes to do just that, it is important to
understand how the people profiting from plutocratic forces
strategically and regularly dominate old and new circumstances with
powerful controlling processes".
With elections coming up in in Europe and other countries of the world
in 2017- don't ever believe it is too difficult for you as one person to
make a difference. Speak out, join an advocacy group, or even organize
one yourself. Go to political meetings of your choice and ask
questions.
Politicians need your vote and will listen to you, specially if their
political career depends on it.Politicians will usually also tell you
everything you want to hear, and will even lie through their teeth, as
long as you give them your vote. Check their voting record and compare
it to their promises. You will notice that most of what they told you
before they never materialized. Question them about it in Public.
In Europe these questions could be : "why is Europe spending millions of
euros fighting loosing wars in the Middle East. What is done to
improve education, Why has the care for the elderly declined so
dramatically?"
Or people in the US could ask: "why do we still have an outdated voting
system, How come military spending figures are kept secret, etc etc".
Believe it or not, your future and that of your children stands or falls
based on your involvement as a Citizen. Sitting at home and watching
"pre-cooked" news by the corporate owned media or wondering what kind of
dog food is better for your dog won't get you anywhere.
