What was brilliant about the creation of the United States of America, beginning from the Declaration of Independence in 1776, was the boldly inventive statement that the
individual always has the right to act in his/her best interest.
This is also the root of Objectivism.
But Man's inherent right to the good services of his/her government, along with other basic and unalienable rights, is prevented by the intentions of the extant Political System, in each & every country across the globe, in each & every hamlet, across each & every national border.
Present government institutions seldom get the job done, whatever their stated purpose: the most grievous misfeasance here in America has been in the schools and in the Legal Industry. An entire generation are now adults who on average cannot read or write effectively and cannot think their way out of a paper bag. The American Legal Industry's top leaders recently handed over the U.S. Presidency to a usurper who sold his term of office to the oil & timber monopolies, and to who knows what other special interests.
* * * *
One percent of the population owns 50 percent of everything in America. Fifteen years ago, they owned only 35 percent of everything in the country: in the fifteen years since
Dr. Ravi Batra established the base-line, the One Percent the Oligarchy that rules this country, also known as 'The People Who Count' accrued 15% more of the totality of the assets in this country.
But they do not have enough: they want it
all.
This One Percent, the Oligarchy, has spent millions of dollars to prevent any levy that might approach having them pay their fair share, the result being the Bush Tax Giveaway presently being fast-tracked thru the U.S. Congress.
What is the Oligarchy's fair share? The calculation is quite simple and direct:
The U.S. Defense Department spends certain monies for doing their job. which includes protecting the 50% of all the land and property and assets owned by the Oligarchy, so therefore the Oligarchy should pay 50% of the Defense Department budget every year.
The Oligarchy would insist that they are good patriots, so they should be willing to pay a 50% share of the Interior Department budget every year.
The Oligarchy owns 50% of all business concerns, big and small, so they should pay 50% of the Commerce and Transportation and Energy and Agriculture Department budgets every year.
The Department of State probably goes overboard in fulfilling the wishes of the Oligarchy, but I say that the Oligarchy need only pay a 50% share of the State Department budget every year as well.
The Oligarchy, the One Percent, should be paying 50% of the
entire federal budget every year. The same calculation applies to every U.S. federal department and bureau and section.
This principle applies also to each and every country, to each & every state or province or canton or arrondissement, to each & every local government entity, down to each & every school and water district.
* * * *
The Oligarchy that rules this and other countries owns fifty percent of everything, so they should pay 50% of the taxes required to supply the benefits that they derive from government in all its overlapping jurisdictions. Any other plan or assessment will concede to them the means to achieve their ultimate intention, which is to own
one-hundred percent of everything. After the Oligarchy has achieved that intention, they have only your 'soul' your Self to take away from you and yours.
The Oligarchy has already taken away your vote, "without firing a shot", in the recent ChadGate fiasco: the
U.S. Supreme Court anointed George Dubya as President of the U.S. of A. in complete disregard for due process or for the will of the people, based on the wrong-headed certainty that it was right to do so and in the clear knowledge that no one could stop them.
They ignored the U.S. Constitution in a 'dog and pony show' that was broadcast on national television and radio. Most Americans made no effort to watch or listen to this show, settling instead for the 'sound bite' camouflage served up by you guessed it the media conglomerates owned by the Oligarchy.
* * * *
Previous iterations of class are disappearing, and are being replaced by a structure of Economic Class. The Oligarchy has replaced the Aristocracy, while assuming the same attitude of Divine Right that triggered the French Revolution of 1789.
The lower economic classes, the 'proletariat', are defined as those who have no capital, nor means of production, and thus are required to sell their labor in order to survive. The Upper Middle economic class deals with the lower classes only while the latter are employed as servants.
The entire economy works or does not work on the backs of the middle and lower classes, whose primary role in the latter XXth Century evolved into that of the Consumer Class: Notice that virtually every middle class American household is in constant debt (even disregarding housing payments), which means that they are encouraged maybe 'required' is a better term to spend
more than they earn, so that the Oligarchy can reap their Divine Right profits on goods that the Consumer Class does not need and cannot in truth afford. The Consumer Class has an envious lifestyle, but in actuality owns less and less: because the Oligarchy owns more and more.
This is not exactly news. The system of Economic Class ensures the giving away of power to the Oligarchy, in the form of debt, under the constant and compelling threat of job loss. If the middle class worker does not purchase 'the latest', then the economy will collapse and the Consumer will be out of work and thrown into survival among the lower economic classes. The Consumer Class has been taught to
spend in order to
earn.
This is in effect worse than the 'indentured servitude' that was common around the time of the U.S. Revolutionary War. A British or other freeman could get passage to America or an apprenticeship in a trade in exchange for an agreed-upon term. The difference between indenture and today's economy is that the Consumer Class owes the Oligarchy and there is no expiration date on the deal: The Consumer Class is required to stay in debt by the pressures of the consumer economy, of which the primary beneficiary is the Oligarchy. (Think not? Did
your real net worth exclusive of housing increase by anywhere near 50% since 1985?)
The Oligarchy has done such a good job of fulfilling their devious intention that labor union membership in the U.S. has been down to 15% of the work-force for a long time. President George Dubya just honored his idol, Ronnie Reagan, by ordering the Northwest Airlines mechanics union not to strike, just as Ronnie busted the air traffic controller walkout in August of 1981. {{**}} And the media are already reporting that George Dubya will prevent a strike at Delta Airlines.
Until the structure of the Economic Classes is redesigned so that the middle class, the now 'Consumer Class', is able to acquire wealth as a result of their labors, then matters can only get worse. The only remedy is to increase the taxation levied on the Oligarchy so that they pay their share for the government services that they receive, all down the line.
The One-Percent, the Oligarchy has already acquired
half of this country's total assets, the
Supreme Court coincidentally put 'President-For-Hire' George Dubya in office, and the rest is predictable. The Oligarchy and the Supreme Court perpetrated a 'New Day of Infamy' that will be recorded as such in the history books.
Mark it well: It is the beginning of the Economic Class War.
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
** = {{See the
October 2000 Issue #3 for my prediction that George Dubya would quickly do exactly that.}}
There are several websites where you can obtain and-or click on the phone & fax & email addresses for incumbent U.S. Congressional Representatives and incumbent U.S. Senators.
The WebslingerZ site at
http://www.webslingerZ.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html has a good list: begin by clicking on your state on the frame on the left.
The nifty Congress.org website at http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials provides your federal & state & local elected officials per your ZIP+4 Code, or by state.
But our Representatives in Congress do not make it easy: One third of the Ways & Means Committee use the standard 'Write Your Rep' page which accepts input ONLY from constituents.
The official homepages and-or email addresses for the 100 U.S. Senators are listed alphabetically at http://www.senate.gov/contacting/index.cfm, while the folks at NorthernWebs have a very current list in order by state at
http://www.northernwebs.com/senate. {{ dead link 11/2003 }}
The University of Michigan maintains a .TXT file for the U.S. House of Representatives at http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/congdir.html [last update just days ago] that is perfect for cut-&-paste into your Outlook Express or Eudora or other address book files, for those who intend regular communication with Congress.
I have already sent this essay the part BETWEEN the orange Objectivist dollar sign lines to local Congress people and to both my U.S. Senators. I also sent the essay to the members of the House Ways & Means Committee (via http://waysandmeans.house.gov/members.asp) that I could find email addresses for: I started with Ways & Means, checked WebslingerZ by state in a different window, back & forth it took a while, but the job got done. In the next few weeks, I will send this essay to all the U.S. Senators with email addresses and thereafter to maybe ten or a dozen House members per day.
For those of my readers who strongly agree with this essay, you are invited to do likewise. If you strongly dis-agree, write your own thoughts and email them to Congress: Go right ahead, this is nominally still a 'free country'.
Folks in other countries live under the rule of the same Oligarchy the names and titles are all that is different. Citizens elsewhere will have to websearch on their own for access to their government. And anyone can cut-&-paste the essay the part BETWEEN the orange Objectivist dollar sign lines for printout and distribution as letters or handbills.
Discover that you still have power as a Voter and as a Citizen, wherever you live: Simply by USING that power you recreate its existence. By retaining your Natural Power, you keep the Oligarchy the Culture Structure in its various forms from stealing from you the Natural Power that was established by the Declaration of Independence and is the basis of the U.S Constitution, and the most precious gift of America to the world.
[copyright 2001 by Gary Edward Nordell, all rights reserved]
In March 2009, this essay was updated & reprinted as Essay #86 "Reason-Based Taxation (Redux)" on the 'Dateline Chamesa' blog, and also added to Chapter 20 of the "Working Minds" A Philosophy of Empowerment" book manuscript.
For the full contents of this issue of the free 'WMail' exine, click here.
