Forum Post: not class war, but class self-defense

"The crackdowns came as a congressional analysis said income for the wealthiest Americans had sharply increased in the last 30 years - up by as much as 275% for the top 1%. Meanwhile, the bottom 20% saw income rise by just 18%..." ---BBC News

I support the protests, they are the best thing to happen to this country since the civil rights protests of the early '60s, we even have had local protests.

What is at stake now are the civil rights of the non-wealthy. After the recent supreme court decision that corporations are "people" ( a ridiculous and dangerous idea indeed!) and will be able to spend billions of dollars to cement their control of the government, the rights of the 99% of the country who are not wealthy will be eliminated. "Privilege" literally means "private law", and soon it will be the law of the land, as well. See MoveToAmend.org, another organization which needs our support as it addresses this problem.

 Everyone I have talked to agrees that the current situation is intolerable. Obama gave us some hope at first, but he just caves in again and again. We have to do something, or the rich will kill us off. People are already dying because they are poor, because they cannot afford the medical help that they need to live, because they have no homes to live in, because Congress and NAFTA sent their jobs to Mexico and China for the sake of the profits of a handful of billionaires...

The Social Contract has been broken here in America.

It used to be possible for the Faux News to mutter something about "class warfare" and dismiss this fact from the minds of its viewers. Now even the "mainstream" can no longer believe the propaganda that poverty is the fault of the poor, and that we should welcome the theft of our money so that the wealthy can become wealthier. This theft is accomplished through the use of laws that result in the wealthiest individuals and giant corporations (who are now also individuals by judicial fiat) paying little or no tax, and then receiving refunds, which are paid for by us. Then, because no amount of taxation on the poor can make up the loss of tax revenue which exempting the wealthiest from taxation causes, government programs to aid the poorest, especially children, are cut, whilst bankers receive bonuses. Then I am asked at the supermarket check out to contribute to charities which are only needed because of the 1%'s theft! I say "No, I am the 99%, let the 1% who steal my money and the money of those poor kids make a contribution, I will not make restitution for thieves who steal from me as well!" Jaws drop in the check-out line, but most people nod in agreement when I explain how it all works...and they start to think. 

Unless the richest start paying their fair share again, like they did when we were at our strongest and healthiest as a nation, it will just push us into being a third world country, with only the wealthy and the very poor, with no hope of any kind.

There is a class war, and the 1% have been waging it against the 99% for a long time. Its about time we fought back.

Really, though, for us down here at the bottom, it is not "class war" but rather "class self-defense"!