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OpEdNews Op Eds    H2'ed 8/4/10

Come the Revolution: Are We There Yet?

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Bernard Weiner
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A GOP victory would mean disaster abroad, more wars and mayhem, loss of U.S. prestige, the decimation of the American treasury, and the decline of the American middle class would accelerate. Studies show that the top 1% of Americans have doubled their income since Reagan, and that 20% of the people own 85% of the nation's wealth. That leaves 15% of the wealth for the wage and salary earners, and there has been precious little real middle-class income increase since 1973. And now we're in a recession that is projected to last for years and years for the less well-off. The major income and tax breaks are designed to flow upwards to the already-wealthy. If the poor and middle class too loudly object, the rich shout "class warfare!", as if that's a dirty term. If the wealthy get all the breaks, that's just the way it's supposed to be. Nothing to see here, just move along.

IS "REVOLUTION" POSSIBLE?

The coalition that brought Obama into power with such activism and hope for major structural reforms is debilitated by disappointment that the standard-bearer for true change has turned out to be little more than a typical politician, willing to sell out his principles (along with his support base) whenever it's convenient to do so.

The rightwing activists are beginning slowly to mobilize; the Tea Party movements (deliberately plural, since they're currently fighting among themselves for control) are a harbinger, along with resurgent nativist militias and various white-power groups. They openly talk about use of weapons, and they encourage violence in their hyperbolic rhetoric.

Their leaders want control of the levers of power; they preach "small government" until they run the government, then it's an open invitation for the corporatists and ideologues to take what they want while they stomp out the opposition.

Will the angry, frustrated, muttering progressive left begin to coalesce into a movement for genuine change, heading in the direction of a "revolution"? Our program does not want to take over power for power's sake -- thus just aping the rightwing fanatics -- but to devise a more democratic way of redistributing power. It's not a violent revolution we seek, but a non-violent, systemic overhaul of the socio-economic-political structures.

It's not certain there's enough momentum at the moment for that kind of revolt -- the kind JFK seemed to be talking about -- but the outlines of the "objective conditions" for revolution are increasingly visible and should be utilized for organization and momentum. If the Republicans were to regain power, we might not get another avenue for major structural change for a long, long time.

So...If not now, when? #

Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (www.crisispapers.org). To comment:

crisispapers@hotmail.com.

Copyright 2010 by Bernard Weiner.

First posted by The Crisis Papers 8/4/10.
www.crisispapers.org/essays10w/revolution.htm

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Bernard Weiner, Ph.D. in government & international relations, has taught at universities in California and Washington, worked for two decades as a writer-editor at the San Francisco Chronicle, and currently serves as co-editor of The Crisis Papers (more...)
 
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