In the very first Congress of the Civil War, President Lincoln said democracy itself was at stake, promising not just a system of government, but a promise of economic opportunity and SOCIAL JUSTICE.
“This is essentially a people’s contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men; to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life.” -Abraham Lincoln
This quote comes from Eric Foner’s prize winning book The Fiery Trial.
Is this not the struggle we continue today? Do we not seek social justice for all and a fair chance?
This another way to look at our struggle against inequality gone berserk and government run by the monied few like the Koch boys -- who are at this very moment trying to extort and bribe the Pennsylvania legislature in a way that is beyond the reach of the American People.
Who amongst us plans to finance the destruction of American institutions like the labor movement?
The Koch boys do not aim to have a debate about how to elevate us all. On the contrary they and Gov. Corbett plot to decrease the quality of life of workers and to transfer wealth in wages into profit for the few.
The struggle we engage now is not new in America. On the contrary, it is a thread that runs through all of American history. This struggle for a democracy that lifts all people animated Sam Adams, Tom Paine, and the earliest unions into the War for Independence. It animated the abolitionists and Lincoln. This struggle animated the awfully long fight for civil rights, workers’ rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights, and now immigrant rights.
Those of us struggling against the anti-democratic economic inequality that is a weight on the shoulders of the American people are on the winning side of American history. We struggle in the best traditions of our country.
The Koch boys and radical right-wing Republicans seek to make the weight on our shoulders and on the shoulders of our kids and grandkids even heavier.
We cannot weaken in our commitment and determination.
Photo: MLK Poor People’s Campaign of 1968 by Kofi Bailey
Photo source: sarahstierch on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)