As well, although 'New Deals' and 'Fair Deals' and reputedly 'Square Deals' have in fact emanated from the administrative or legislative apparatuses of the business of America, this has only come to pass as a result of massive agitation. As Frederick Douglass put it, this is not a matter of opinion but of incontrovertible fact, again and again demonstrated in the cauldron of history.
Let me give you a word of the philosophy of reform. The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims, have been born of earnest struggle. ... It must do this or it does nothing. If there is no struggle there is no progress. ...This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
So
far as THC can discern, no organized stand for relief for the working class is
in the works among this second grouping.
They are hoping or praying for, anticipating, or somehow expecting that,
as Jorma Kaukonen stated the idea in his song,
"Bread-Line Blues," some "rich man...(is going to) make some
rules" to rescue them.
Notices of Sale on Prima County Courthouse by Raquel Baranow
Two things are noteworthy. However much this was so in the past, it resulted from organized resistance, not from the well-wishes of the high and mighty. Moreover, every single one of these changed 'deals' ended up being a new scheme to enrich the rich and defraud the poor, disguised as succor for the have-nots and genuine reform in favor of social justice.
The noisy third collective, also in the previous section, needs also to study the perspectives developed immediate prior to this conjunction. These voluble critics do see patterns. As well, they are either organizing, or thinking about developing, real, disciplined protest. However, their analysis, almost universally, ranges from the paltry to the merely inadequate, from the off-course to the completely counterproductive, from the pointless to the antithetical.
They see "Libertarian" ideology as attractive while driving down government highways and seeking redress on the basis of government programs. They hail 'free-enterprise' at the same time that the only proximate cause for their current pass is the ongoing, untrammeled operation of the 'free-enterprise' system. They cavil the rescue operations that the rich have received while essentially backing a system that can only produce that same result time and again.
This listing of wake-up calls does not preclude the honor of advocating personal responsibility and the utility of moving on; nor does it denigrate the outside chance that legislative or fiat solutions to these desperate times might have an impact; nor does it decry the call for pointed action and tough-minded and vociferous outbursts of outrage. On the other hand, this listing does sound a note of caution.
Thus, whether one is an upstanding believer in accounting for oneself, a proponent of the notion that sometimes things just go wrong and we all ought to help each other, or the apt cognition and rejection of corruption and double-dealing and self-serving self-righteousness, one has to consider that such world-views are simply out-of-sync with any possibility for working people to gain either personal or political power. In a nutshell, something additional is essential to solving these problems and stopping these rip-offs.
Elements of progress are missing. To achieve gains that reflect the potency of average people--and make no mistake about it, the only way to get anything is through personal and political power, unless one wants to trust to luck--requires a class analysis that is historical and deals with the political economic realities of life. Then, class solidarity has to inform social action for goals that in turn mirror the strategic conclusions.
None of the multifaceted ideas presented in today's portion of this three-part narrative completely countermand the choice to file suit, of course. However, they do point, ineluctably, toward a broader point of view, toward a more powerful paradigm for action.
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