A few years ago, my district was represented by a fellow that truly ticked me off.  Over the course of a few years, there was (more than) a hint that he might have borrowed money from folks’ stock accounts, that he beat his wife, that he had a physical argument with a young (10ish) child.  Oh, and after he promised he would never vote for a change in the bankruptcy bill, he did- and this one really favored the banks.  Amazingly, he acquired a new mortgage for his home shortly after the vote- for about 100-105% of its value, which secured his divorce.

As you can see, he would not one of my favorite persons. So, why would I ruin your day, especially one that most of us use to celebrate the late great Reverend Martin Luther King (ah, the Commonwealth of Virginia had stipulated this day for decades to celebrate Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson) to inform you about this (nameless) fellow?

Well, long before those things I listed above happened (ok- I didn’t know about the stock situation; I found out about it later), he came to me for a job.   And, we had a short discussion.  (I really don’t recall if it were short or not; besides, short is always relative.)   During that discussion, he made a statement- a profound statement- that stuck with me for decades.

No country can survive without a stable middle class.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that such a concept would resonate in my soul.

And, it’s why I worry about the US, Europe, South America, Israel, among others.   Because the middle class is highly threatened in each of these locations.

It’s why these countries find it acceptable to begin the blame game.  Blaming the “other” for the ills of their nation.

But, over the past four decades or so, we’ve made it acceptable for companies to demonize unions, abrogate workers’ rights, denigrate the concept of secure employment.  Ever since Dr. Milton Friedman made it acceptable for companies to divorce themselves from their social compact- with their communities and with their employees.  Where it became imperative that corporate executives only advance the cause for themselves and not their company’s stockholders.

And, government leaders joined in the chorus.  Where folks recite that “altruism is evil”, as if Ayn Rand’s philosophies would build great nations.  Where Margaret Thatcher could declaim that “poverty is a personality defect”.  Where Ronald Reagan could begin bringing America down the terrible path of the big lie with his “trickle down” economics.  (And, now we have an entire GOP party establishment that believes that fake news is appropriate, that propaganda that was denigrated as the tool of the former Soviet Union is now acceptable in one of the greatest nations that ever existed on this earth.)

Today, our governments are responsive only to paid corporate lobbyists, to the 1% (or maybe the 0.1%), as if they are the all-knowing.  It’s why we have majestic discrepancies in income, which eradicates the ability of a democracy to survive long-term.  Inequality breeds disparagement of others, it engenders suspicion, it makes it possible for those who have inherited wealth or obtained it via crony capitalism to believe that it is by their merit and not by chicanery.  Do not forget that since 1975,  pretax income attributing  to the “top 1%” has multiplied from  8 to 18 percent.

It’s why companies like Walmart can declare they are a profitable venture to the world.  Without sentient beings (I’m feeling pretty lonely) reminding citizens that this profit is obtained at the expense of its employees.  Because  Walmart “earns” profits that don’t exceed the benefits we, the citizens of the US, must provide Walmart employees (things like Medicaid, AFDC [aid for dependent children], SNAP [the new terminology for food stamps], housing benefits, etc.).  Costs that exceed the profits of the firm.  Costs that our governments don’t demand be paid back to them by Walmart, to reduce the burden this company imposes on the rest of the US.

It’s not just Walmart, it’s almost every large McDonalds’ franchisee, and a slew of other major firms.. Unless and until we stop this subsidy, until we terminate crony capitalism-  the very fabric of our nation is at risk.

This is why folks rallied to the battle cry of Bernie Sanders.  It’s also why folks rallied to Trumpism; in the latter case, mostly because they were not wise enough to recognize that his declaratory statements were another facet of “do as I say, not do as I do”.

It’s not just happening in America.  The same situation obtained during the Arab Spring- places like Morocco, Yemen, Iraq.  Consider Venezuela and  Brazil as well.  The Russian oligarchy. This universal permission for the rich to grab all the spoils at the expense of their country’s citizenry.

Inequality eats away at the heart of a society, breeding disdain, resentment, envy, suspicion, bullying, arrogance and callousness. If we want any decent kind of future we have to push away from that, and I hope that is what we are beginning.

It’s also why the economic and military prowess of the United States is at risk.  It’s why the ability of the US to provide some sort of world order is impaired.   Of course, with Russia, China, France, Israel, India, and Pakistan (as well as the US) controlling vast nuclear weapons- and Iran and North Korea about to break into that club, this is less surprising.

And, since the world economic growth has attenuated, it is hard to discern a link between greater prosperity and democracy, or a link between cooperative governments and improved living conditions.  As the world’s populations age, as the dearth of productive, working age, citizens diminish, this problem gets exacerbated.

It’s why radical terrorists feel free to destroy existing societies.  Not just because there is no controlling world power (or world powers), but because of the abject poverty that inveigles the vast masses of the world civilization.  In a world where less than 70 folks (there is an ‘argument’ whether is 64 or 65) can control the same amount of wealth as at least 50% of humanity, the problem goes way beyond the evanescence of the middle class.  [LATE ADDITION:  THIS MORNING, OXFAM RELEASED UPDATED FIGURES- AND IN TWO YEARS, THE NUMBER IS NOW EIGHT (8)!!!! ]

We- or at least our children- are about to witness a major shift in world order.  And, that is when all the citizens, not just those in the US, Europe, Russia, and the “developed nations” are at their greatest peril.

Another of my not favorite people, Henry Kissinger, warns us:  “Chaos follows until a new system of order is established”.

I vote (pun intended) that we- the citizens of the middle class- exercise our rights and our control.  Stop the crony capitalism, the kleptocracy that obtains, and work to restore world order and make this earth a much better place, once again.

My generation tried this once with the Port Huron statement, the 60s revolution, and the promulgation of civil rights.

It’s not “Back to the Future”, but to the future perfect tense.  Come help make ALL of us great.

It starts with the middle class.  There is no trickle down- it flows up and out.

(I did not forget that today is Martin Luther King Day.  We can stat with the fact that Dr. King’s March on Washington was for JOBS and FREEDOM.
I have just returned from a weekend trip to Selma, to Montgomery, to Birmingham  paying homage to these manifest events and folks fighting for equal rights.  I need more time to coalesce my memories, this recent trip, the group dynamics….  I promise to share them soon,)