You say you want a revolution….
A fair view of America today presents a picture of great diversity. Lots of groups occupy this mixed salad of a nation. This would be a good thing if all the groups shared in the pie, but tragically a large portion of America live near or just above poverty. And many Americans in the middle class fear a loss of work, spiraling healthcare costs, or even forced retirement could place them among the underprivileged.
So the moral and societal question would seem, why in a nation of such wealth? It may just be that left to their own self interest or personal schemes there can be no such thing as justice or fairness in a capitalist society. Alternatives offer few solutions as they all include the same element, humans. As John Kenneth Galbraith wrote, “Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it’s just the opposite.” So where to next?
When you read the following quote, try to guess the year it was written. “We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench. The people are demoralized… The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, [small] business prostrated, homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self protection, imported pauperized labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down, and they are rapidly degenerating into European conditions. The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of mankind; and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty.”
Give up, it was written in eighteen hundred and ninety two during the start of the populist and progressive movements. It was part of the Populist platform. These movements fizzled out with World War one, and only started again after America sank under the robber barons and the inept Coolidge and Hoover administrations.
So what is the solution for today. How do we revive the progressive spirit? It is simple folks and staring us in the face, elect all republican candidates, libertarian candidates, and tea party crazies. Would that not make matters worse, you say? Yes, it would, and that is the point. Destroy Medicare, social security, Medicaid, environmental and financial regulation, and we will return to the halcyon days of the Great Depression and the bread lines. Let the banks fail, stop supporting education, put children to work long hours in unsanitary and unhealthy conditions, eat tainted unsafe foods, get rid of minimum wage and unions, who needs all these departments of government anyway. Aren’t markets more powerful than safety. Americans are too spoiled today. Then only then will enough Americans, again join the populist and progressive movements for justice for all. Abject poverty for all is after all a good thing. Join us now in eliminating all this government waste. Vote Republican, your parents and grandparents may hate you, but it will toughen them up, and adults and even children will again learn to fight for the values that once made America great. 
