You have to hand it to Massachusetts. The Boston Tea Party was symbolic of the unfairness of aristocracy towards the commoners of the day; it was a defining act of a larger movement. History tells us that this event was about taxation without representation, where New England colonists dumped tea from a ship owned by the East India Company into Boston Harbor. At one time, this company accounted for one half of the world’s trade.
There is more to the story. The Tea Act of 1773 had a secondary goal of getting colonists to buy the company’s glut of tea. The East India Company also traded in commodities such as cotton, silk, indigo, opium and saltpeter. It is ironic that saltpeter happens to be a major component of gunpowder. This was likely helpful since the company maintained its own private armies to protect its supply chain around the world. When you are a major corporate power, it is good to have the ability to intimidate.
Nearly two and a half centuries later, corporations are still controlling parts of the world. These same entities are working to extract as much wealth out of the average consumer as possible. They can even hire an army, if they would like, from a selection of well-trained security contractors. Like the East India Company, today’s corporate America is watching Massachusetts once again. Now, instead of the Boston Tea Party, it is the Arthur T. Party.
Arthur T. DeMoulas was recently ousted as CEO of Market Basket, Inc., a regional northeastern grocery chain. Arthur T. DeMoulas believed in sharing the profits of his company with his loyal employees who made the company a success. The customers, who now have gone as far as picketing alongside employees, were made loyal by fair treatment and fair pricing. Members of the company’s board of directors did not agree with Arthur T’s vision apparently. The board then proceeded to remove him. Other employees loyal to Arthur T. were let go after receiving the notices via couriers. Other senior managers recently resigned. We will have to wait and see how this complex issue resolves itself. This instance of corporate disobedience by average consumers and employees could be the beginning of a broader pushback against corporate overreach and greed.
When workers work towards a common goal and succeed, they should share in the success. When this shared success is shown monetarily, there are those who naturally will claim socialism. Sharing in a company’s success following shared sacrifice is plain fairness and used to be the norm. This ‘socialism’ is actually an expected result of capitalism. We now know how far down the middle class citizen must be pushed to act. Corporate America goes too far in thinking that they can control every aspect of our food supply chain. We can no longer accept that corporations see their customers and employees as a burden. The folks giving corporations their money and sweat are being treated with increasing contempt.
The United States is a melting pot with a vast collection of people of different talents. We need to work together to succeed, and that includes treating each other with fairness and respect. Only time will tell if the Arthur T. Party will have the same effect as the earlier party in The Bay State, but this is certainly a wake up call to those who have been sitting on the sidelines of our democracy. If we continue to tolerate injustice, our nation will continue to be more and more unjust. Our forefathers and mothers did the hard part long ago; we just have to take time out on November 4, 2014 and vote for fairness.