The American Autocannibalistic Society
Guy T. Sturino
August 15, 2011
Just in case you missed it, this past Tuesday there was a recall election held in Wisconsin. The reason for the election was that the Wisconsin legislature passed, and the Governor signed, a law which stripped public workers of the right to bargain collectively for wages, working conditions and benefits. The turnout was about as high as what might be expected in a presidential election year.
Based simply on what we know about incomes in the United States, at least 90% of the voters that day needed a paycheck from someone else in order to pay their mortgage and put food on their table. Yet, in four out of six elections the state senators who voted to strip their neighbors of collective bargaining rights were reelected by other neighbors of those state workers. What they did, in essence, was vote to limit the salaries and benefits of the neighbors who provide the state services they depend on to keep them safe and their children educated.
Government of, by and FOR the PEOPLE has collapsed, or is near collapse in several states. And it has collapsed or is collapsing with the aid and comfort of the PEOPLE. Not all of them, but just enough to make a person wonder if any of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have a country to grow up in that is any better off than, say, your typical plutocratic banana republic.
Two hundred twenty three years ago The Constitution of the United States was ratified. On June 21, 1877, the Constitution – not race, not religion, not ethnicity, not sex nor sexual orientation, but the Constitution and the rule of law that followed, became the glue that has bound the citizens of the United States together. Until now.
Today some citizens are making laws, or trying to make laws, that are not glue, but digestive fluid. Society is eating itself while the people we elect to serve in our interest are in fact using their power to rule for their own benefit. And yet, the clamor for making laws that deny equal rights of citizenship to religious groups not "Christian" or people not "straight" and even just plain, working folks is loud and obnoxious. People who are running for President of the United States are proposing that it is OK to forbid Muslims a Mosque in any community, that people not "straight" shouldn´t have the rights – and economic privileges – of cohabitation, and that state workers, or any workers for that matter, shouldn´t have collective bargaining rights.
Two percent of our citizens who have half the country´s net worth want laws to limit their monetary responsibility even though most of the government, and certainly the military, works diligently to protect and enhance their status. As you think to yourself "that´s OK" take a moment to recall something you already know but don´t often think about:
New money is created only when value is added to something and then that something is sold.
Iron ore is mined - a worker added value by making ore available to turn into steel. Ore above ground is more valuable that in the ground.
Iron ore is smelted into steel - a worker added value by making ore available to be processed into nails. Steel is more valuable than iron ore.
Trees are cut - a worker added value by making lumber from trees. Lumber is more valuable than trees
Now another worker can take the nails and lumber and build houses or furniture. They are more valuable than the raw materials.
While it is true that someone with money had to invest up front in order for the mining, smelting, logging, milling and building to take place, in each case a member of the working class added the value to the original material and made it possible for profit to be made.
When we had a true and vigorous middle class the division of profit at the time new money was created was fair and equitable, and since a lot of people were paying taxes it was reasonable to lower the taxes for everyone. Since 1980 and the attack on the working class by those Americans who dislike unions, the middle class has diminished to the point of almost nonexistence and the preponderance of wealth is in the hands of a relative few. But, their taxes have not risen while the middle class tax base has dissolved with the jobs shipped overseas by their fellow citizens.
The money held by the wealthiest Americans now, with the aid of the Supreme Court, has bought the hearts and minds of just enough working class Americans to convince them to turn on themselves. A long time ago a great entrepreneur, Milton S. Hershey, said advertising was a waste of money. Now, the Koch brothers have proven, and we now know for certain, that he was wrong.
Big money advertising has us devouring each others jobs, and savoring limiting each others rights. And, all the while we convince ourselves that the sun always rises and all is well with the world. Today at least, we truly are the Great American Autocannibalistic Society.
Based simply on what we know about incomes in the United States, at least 90% of the voters that day needed a paycheck from someone else in order to pay their mortgage and put food on their table. Yet, in four out of six elections the state senators who voted to strip their neighbors of collective bargaining rights were reelected by other neighbors of those state workers. What they did, in essence, was vote to limit the salaries and benefits of the neighbors who provide the state services they depend on to keep them safe and their children educated.
Government of, by and FOR the PEOPLE has collapsed, or is near collapse in several states. And it has collapsed or is collapsing with the aid and comfort of the PEOPLE. Not all of them, but just enough to make a person wonder if any of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have a country to grow up in that is any better off than, say, your typical plutocratic banana republic.
Two hundred twenty three years ago The Constitution of the United States was ratified. On June 21, 1877, the Constitution – not race, not religion, not ethnicity, not sex nor sexual orientation, but the Constitution and the rule of law that followed, became the glue that has bound the citizens of the United States together. Until now.
Today some citizens are making laws, or trying to make laws, that are not glue, but digestive fluid. Society is eating itself while the people we elect to serve in our interest are in fact using their power to rule for their own benefit. And yet, the clamor for making laws that deny equal rights of citizenship to religious groups not "Christian" or people not "straight" and even just plain, working folks is loud and obnoxious. People who are running for President of the United States are proposing that it is OK to forbid Muslims a Mosque in any community, that people not "straight" shouldn´t have the rights – and economic privileges – of cohabitation, and that state workers, or any workers for that matter, shouldn´t have collective bargaining rights.
Two percent of our citizens who have half the country´s net worth want laws to limit their monetary responsibility even though most of the government, and certainly the military, works diligently to protect and enhance their status. As you think to yourself "that´s OK" take a moment to recall something you already know but don´t often think about:
New money is created only when value is added to something and then that something is sold.
Iron ore is mined - a worker added value by making ore available to turn into steel. Ore above ground is more valuable that in the ground.
Iron ore is smelted into steel - a worker added value by making ore available to be processed into nails. Steel is more valuable than iron ore.
Trees are cut - a worker added value by making lumber from trees. Lumber is more valuable than trees
Now another worker can take the nails and lumber and build houses or furniture. They are more valuable than the raw materials.
While it is true that someone with money had to invest up front in order for the mining, smelting, logging, milling and building to take place, in each case a member of the working class added the value to the original material and made it possible for profit to be made.
When we had a true and vigorous middle class the division of profit at the time new money was created was fair and equitable, and since a lot of people were paying taxes it was reasonable to lower the taxes for everyone. Since 1980 and the attack on the working class by those Americans who dislike unions, the middle class has diminished to the point of almost nonexistence and the preponderance of wealth is in the hands of a relative few. But, their taxes have not risen while the middle class tax base has dissolved with the jobs shipped overseas by their fellow citizens.
The money held by the wealthiest Americans now, with the aid of the Supreme Court, has bought the hearts and minds of just enough working class Americans to convince them to turn on themselves. A long time ago a great entrepreneur, Milton S. Hershey, said advertising was a waste of money. Now, the Koch brothers have proven, and we now know for certain, that he was wrong.
Big money advertising has us devouring each others jobs, and savoring limiting each others rights. And, all the while we convince ourselves that the sun always rises and all is well with the world. Today at least, we truly are the Great American Autocannibalistic Society.
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