Our country has always had a major divide and it is camouflaged by hate rhetoric.
When most of white Americans hear the word racism, it sets off an alarm that rings two fold in their minds. It is the embarrassment of our country’s past. I’m speaking of not just slavery but how things were done after that. I’m not even talking about reconstruction at this point or the fact that there were Jim Crow laws that our government allowed. America was truly not for everybody. But for this discussion I am just talking about how wealth was figured and distributed and who actual had access to what.
So we know and have no argument that Capitalism encourages innovation and individual goals. This is a good thing. It is from this that the American dream was born.
So in 1790 the industrial age hit the US and a guy named Sam Slater borrowed from technology abroad to advance the cotton industry here. Now of course the US (particularly the South) was known for its cotton as more than 90 percent of the world’s usage of it was purchased from the US.
At this time America had free labor so it was all profit coming back. Innovation with opportunity is the first mistake of the misuse of Capitalism. This set a precedent for how we would negotiate Capitalism. Innovation was key but we wanted to limit the power to only a few.
Even after the civil war, opportunity had still not reached the majority. As time went on, the second industrial movement happened. While the First Industrial Revolution caused the growth of industries, such as coal, iron, railroads and textiles, the Second Industrial Revolution showcased the expansion of electricity, petroleum and steel. Sounds good doesn’t it? Except for the fact that it still was not available to everyone and wages were far from fair.
It wasn’t until 1969 that the third industrial revolution happened and that was the discovery of Nuclear power.
When you look at all the right families in our country — JP Morgan, Kennedys, Rockefeller, Getty to name a few — you will see that they were about to take advantage of new industries that were not available to everyone. Money has always been power and wealth had been hijacked from most of America long ago.
So even when opportunity for better jobs came around the pay still was not fair. Then the government tried to throw a bone to lower income Americans. You see the rich told us to chase the dream. Work hard, get a house and car and get married and start a family. Everyone wanted to own a home and live well.
In 1930 the Federal Housing Administration began giving loans to Americans so that they could buy homes. No one of color got loans. In fact, banks were controlling who got loans and who did not.
Even in the military where minorities were promised money for housing and schooling, which are still the number one and two ways to combat poverty, this was not made available to minorities.
Of course you remember or have heard how districts were redlined to keep certain neighborhoods from becoming too ethnic. My point here is that Capitalism has only ever worked for the 1 percent and that is an exclusive club that 99 percent of America has not been invited.
So not being able to change that system, the rhetoric today is Socialism which promotes equality and fairness among society. It attempts to make up for the injustices without taking away anyone’s ill-gotten gain.
Socialism is about giving everyone the same opportunity. Now, if you don’t make the most of it, your failure will not be because opportunity wasn’t available.
It means fair wages, better jobs, open opportunity and access to government subsidies and tax breaks to get families out of debt. It means great healthcare for everybody and it means eliminating the need for welfare.
Basically, socialists are trying to reform capitalism so that it works for everyone.
We shall see!
ClydeStyle 