On August 3, 1857, Frederick Douglas gave a speech in Canandaigua, New York about the significance of slave revolt in the West Indies. The address contained words which some have called his most famous:
If there is no struggle, there is no progress. . . Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will.
I heard Bernie Sanders reiterate this sentiment in a vibrant and wholly appropriate tone of defiant righteousness. It is pleasingly vindicating to hear it so boldly put. But it is also mildly disheartening to hear it so clearly echoing from 150 years ago. Have we institutionalized this power struggle? If we all believe that a struggle is inevitable, will anyone attempt a negotiated way?
The overview of the case is that members of the owning-class have—and always had—controlling interest in our government by dint of their money. The source of their money is the exploitation of everyone who is non-owning-class. This is the base struggle underlying all the others, and, in this conflict, there are only two classes: owning-class and NOC (Not-Owning-Class).
One of the primary owning-class strategies to keep the NOC from overwhelming it and washing it away has been to create tiered oppressions. It focused on driving wedges within the NOC. Black NOC got treated like boot scum and worm shit while White NOC got treated variously as horse shit, dog shit, ape shit, horses, dogs and apes. So there were a lot of levels.
They set about turning the horses and their shit against the dogs and their shit against the apes and their shit. And everybody got turned against the boot scum and worm shit. Then they sat back and watched us fight each other for recognition and aid. This is not supposition. There is public record of Colonial Virginia State legislators openly discussing methods of dividing the lower classes against each other. And the methods they used were soon national.
The point is, we are all fighting for excellent and just causes. But the primary battle faced by liberation groups from Black Lives Matter to The Sierra Club is with owning class money in our decision-making process. That is the primary lock keeping all our issues in place as they are. It is the primary reason government has been able to use the police and military murderously against every level of the NOC over the past 300 years on the North American Continent. And it must be cleared out of our government before the government can ever fully represent the NOC.
If fact, we are presently on the verge of taking this action. For the first time in our history, amendments blocking owning-class money from the electoral process have been submitted yearly since the Citizens United decision. There is a multi-state effort on its way to call for a limited Constitutional convention through state legislatures. Four states have already passed the resolution. And mainstream political rhetoric is class-conscious for the first time in my life. The exclusive tenure of owning-class money in government affairs is coming to an end. The question is how.
There is a rational case to be made to the owning-class for its cooperation in the transition from owning-class to NOC control of government focus. I would present the case as a business proposition.
If they study the history of their supremacy in this country, they will notice that every time they push exploitation of us, as they are doing now, the injustice produces greater working-class awareness and sophistication regarding the process. We get strong leaders, and we push back with passionate intent.
If they are paying attention, they will notice that, over the course of their 400 year dominion on this continent, when we push back, we gain ground. The working-classes have become more educated, liberated and powerful. It cost a hell of a lot of blood, but the progress is quite evident.
We have no reason to believe this trend will cease. The best efforts of the owning-class have not stopped it in the past. Even Klan riders didn’t derail it for long. On our current path, the inevitability is the complete opening of the Founders’ words and the inclusion of all citizens, regardless of class and economic standing, as equal members of “The People”. The momentum of this drive is measured in centuries. It will not stop simply because the owners have stepped up racial violence, stolen our salaries, pensions, benefits, jobs and homes. When we began, we had none of these things. Now, we have some. Soon, we will have more.
This means we will be removing owning-class influence from our government, as we were warned to do in 1933 by Louis Brandeis’ caveat that democracy is incompatible with wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We can, he said, have one or the other. Great pools of wealth are poisonous to democracy. We cannot have both.
The influence of owning-class money will substantially be leaving all levels of national politics within the next half century. A cost/benefit analysis should tell the 1% that the sooner it goes with the dominant flow, the better it will be able to guide its landing. If it goes down fighting to the last, it will be treated as any defeated enemy: less well than if it negotiates its money’s disengagement from power.
A smart man stays ahead of the curve even when the curve is turning back in his direction. The historical odds may favor a vicious fight with blood on both sides, but intelligence favors a gracious, owning-class retirement from de facto leadership. That, undoubtedly, would be the best play for all concerned, despite the strong will on both sides to vent the other’s skulls, a will to which I am, personally, not immune. Although I would not be as interested in venting their skulls as their purses. I am not certain about which they are more concerned.