Forum Post: A Flash from the Past: Dimidium

September 18, 2015

Dimidium : Latin, meaning "half"

Decimate: during the conquest of Gaul, Julius Caesar would line up all the military aged men and boys of a rebellious Celtic village and kill every tenth one of them. That usually cowed the rest into docility. It rarely had to be repeated in the same village.

Twenty-five years ago the middle class in America had already been culled down to about twice as large as it is today. I guess you could say it has been "dimidiated," since then. But it was not done with an open threat and physical violence like Caesar did. That doesn't mean the ten percent or less who can still honestly say "I've got mine" didn't also get the message implied by the economic dimidiation. They docily watch as their diminished numbers are continuously thinned in the winner take all economy. They're true believers. They think they'll win no matter the odds. By the time the ugly truth penetrates the thick skulls of the "best and brightest," there'll be few left to stand with them against the ruling elite.

Already the unions, who created the middle class in post WWII America, are powerless to assist. Anyway, the few who remain among the bourgeoisie ordinarily subscribe to the anti-union propaganda they've been programmed with. Fools and their money . . . .

I received an email with a link to an article by Paul Buchheit minutes after I wrote the first draft above. His four headings indicate the article affirmed my message and more:

1. The Rich are Easy to Understand: Capitalism Justifies Selfishness
2. The Would-Be Rich: Dollar Signs Dance in Their Heads
3. The Rest of Us: The Media Keeps Telling Us that Capitalism is the Only Way to Live
4. Anyone Above the Lowest Class: It's Empowering to Look Down on Someone

http://www.nationofchange.org/…/why-so-many-americans-defe…/