A new year -- a new struggle
The coming of the new year is traditionally a time for optimism, for hope, for looking forward. Certainly the richest Americans have something to celebrate. Most of the rest of us, especially the poorest among us, are facing a bleaker future. Still, we, the people, have reason to hope, because the new year offers us an opportunity to take our struggle for life and liberty to a higher level.
We should first take stock of our situation. The rich and the big corporations had happy holidays, with their profits soaring. The rest of us had a Christmas marked by high gasoline prices and having to choose between heating the house and eating -- if we even had a house to live in. Almost every day a new round of layoffs has been announced, along with wage, pension and benefit cuts for those still working. We saw the government abandon those devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and then propose more cuts in the social safety net to pay for the post-hurricane reconstruction -- a "reconstruction" that will line the pockets of the wealthy and further isolate the poor. On top of it all, the government wastes a billion dollars a week -- and squanders Arab and American lives -- waging a war not in our interests.
This is happening in part because in the electronic age of robots and computers, our labor is no longer needed. But in the end, it is mainly happening because we, the people, allow it to go on. And it will continue as long as we let it.
The big corporations that own and control the economy do not simply control the government they are the government. They control the political power necessary to dictate how our society is organized. Having political power means being able to decide how things are going to be done and who is going to get what. It means being able to determine the outcome. Without political power, the people cannot control anything. With political power, we can guarantee that no one is homeless or hungry, that no child is uneducated, that no one goes without health care. The resources and the technology are there to guarantee all this. Now we, the people, need the power to guarantee it.
How do we stay on track in our fight for power? By using the needs of the poor as our starting point. If we start by asking ourselves, what must be done to end poverty once and for all, this will keep us on course.
Let us dedicate ourselves in this new year to educating and organizing ourselves to prepare for the struggle for power that lies ahead.
