a revolution might be the only way we can remove the scum in dc who gives our wealth away to foreign governments, ethnic/racial minorities, and bankers
choose sides carefully On Jun 8, 9:56 am, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > The Next American Revolution Won't Be Like the FirstWednesday, June 08, 2011 > byWendy McElroy > One of my friends believes that a second American revolution is imminent and > will be sparked by the economic instability now rocking the continent. > Frankly, I doubt it. Insurrections may occur, but I expect the US government > to lumber along, dragging the world deeper into poverty and conflict for many > years to come. > Upon hearing my friend out, however, my first thought was, "ifa revolution > erupts, it will resemble the French one of 1789 more closely than the > American one of 1776." Then I sat back and tried to figure outwhyI had > arrived at that sudden conclusion, and whether or not it had merit. > One of the reasons for thinking that America might be "going French" is that > current American society resembles descriptions I've read of pre-Revolution > France more closely than America now resembles its young self. > Consider the issue of a class structure. America became a magnet for the > wretched of the world because it delivered on the promise of a classless > society. My ancestors left Ireland because they were forced to work as serfs > on land they once owned, and because bumper crops were shipped to England by > absentee landlords while starvation claimed the serfs' own children. > Sick unto death of being arrested for such sins as speaking their own > language, the Irish fled to North America even though they risked a 50 > percent chance of dying in transit or in the initial hardships of the New > World. They came here for one thing: a chance. They were willing to die for > the chance to live on both feet without sinking to their knees before any > man; more importantly, they wanted their children to stand tall. And so, when > America called across the ocean to declare that hard work and merit are > rewarded here because "all men are created equal," they came. > Differences in wealth existed, of course. Then, as now, those differences > meant that a fortunate few had more and better access to the "goods" of > society, including justice. Great wrongs, such as slavery, also existed and > can never be dismissed. But, for the majority of immigrants, America > delivered. Hard work was rewarded; social mobility meant that a family's > status could rise or fall on merit from one generation to the next. > In 1831, when the aristocratic Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville arrived in > America, he began to record the impressions that would become the pivotal and > acclaimed workDemocracy in America. Tocqueville wrote, "Amongst the novel > objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, > nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions." > Everywhere, people shook hands with each other as though there were no social > distinctions. He was especially amazed by the town meetings in New England, > where everyone seemed to speak out on every topic. > A key difference between American and French society sprang from America's > respect for the working man: the importance of voluntary associations rather > than the state. Tocqueville wrote,Americans of all ages, all conditions, and > all dispositions, constantly form associations. They have not only commercial > and manufacturing companies, in which all take part, but associations of a > thousand other kinds religious, moral, serious, futile, extensive or > restricted, enormous or diminutive.If a barn needed to be raised, a school > roof repaired, or a social cause advanced, then people banded together and > the work was done. Tocqueville concluded, "Wherever, at the head of some new > undertaking, you see the government in France … in the United States you will > be sure to find an association."The reward of merit and the absence of > punitive laws led to an unprecedented prosperity and social equality; and > this made for communities bursting at the seams with energy. > Today, America is a society of elites. Business elites claim subsidies, > liability limits, and bailouts. Political elites enjoy the economic bounty of > skimming off the sweat and blood of taxpayers: rich salaries, plush expense > accounts (not counting bribes), platinum pensions and health insurance, etc. > Bureaucratic elites (civil servants) "earn" much more than private-sector > workers, even though they have greater job security and richer benefits, like > plush pension plans that taxpayers can only dream about. > Economic privileges are accompanied by legal ones. In a recent commentary, > Salon columnist Glenn Greenwald reports on how blatant the class society has > become and how the mainstream media acts as a propaganda machine: > The Washington Post Editors work in a city and live in a nation in which huge > numbers of poor and minority residents are consigned to cages for petty and > trivial transgressions of the criminal law. … Post Editors virtually never > speak out against that, if they ever have. But that all changes that > indifference disappears when political elites are targeted for prosecution, > even for serious crimes. > As the elites scramble to preserve their legal privileges, the productive > middle class that defined early America is staggering under an > ever-increasing burden of taxes, fees, and other legal disadvantages. More > and more, productive people are driven into poverty and a despair that could > easily turn into rage. > The parallels between pre-Revolution France and today's America are clear. > UnderLouis XV(1715–1774) andLouis XVI(1774–1792) France was plagued by > constant and ruinously expensive warfare accompanied by economic instability. > A huge schism existed between the haves and the have-nots. The haves > basically consisted of the nobility and the clergy, both of whom were exempt > from taxes; they lived off the productivity of unprivileged people laboring > in the private sector, most of whom were peasants. > The private sector rested upon agriculture, even though few citizens owned > land. The nobility and clergy (some 600,000 in a population of roughly 25 > million) held most property. For example, the church owned about one fifth of > all land; in some provinces, it owned up to two thirds. Moreover, the church > had feudal privileges that continued from the Middle Ages and bound close to > 1 million people to the land as serfs. > France was a comparatively wealthy nation, but the peasants existed at > near-starvation level because of taxation in its myriad forms. A direct tax > ate as much as 50 percent of the earnings of the nonexempt. The collection > process was particularly brutal because tax collectors were "entrepreneurs" > who paid the king a flat amount for the privilege of collecting taxes; > anything over that amount became profit. > There were a slew of other taxes as well, some of which were quite creative. > For example, there was a salt monopoly tax by which everyone over the age of > 7 was required to purchase several pounds of highly inferior government salt > every year. The law also prescribed how the salt could be used and imposed > heavy fines for misuse, such as in the preservation of meat. Many other > commodities had their own separate taxes. Fees were levied at every stage of > manufacture, upon transportation, at time of sale to retailers, and then > again to customers. It has been estimated that these taxes doubled the cost > of goods. The list of impositions scrolls on and on, and it includes many > customs duties that were imposed not merely at national borders but also at > the boundaries between different provinces within France. > And, of course, there was the constant bribery and other unofficial theft by > authorities, for which France was notorious. Unfortunately, it is impossible > to even estimate how much this corruption cost the average person. > Even without factoring in corruption, it has been estimated that the nobility > and the church consumed about 75 percent of the wealth produced by peasants > -- many of whom lived on the margin to begin with. Overtaxed, sometimes > homeless, unemployed, hungry, and deprived of any hope of justice, the vast > majority of French citizens were not blind. They saw their own children > starve while stolen riches bought velvet outfits for children of the elite. > When their desperation erupted abruptly into unbridled rage, the French > Revolution had arrived. > At least in the beginning, it was a grassroots revolution around which the > disenfranchised rallied for justice. But it soon devolved into a scream for > vengeance through which a totalitarian government exacted swift and bloody > "justice" under a chilling banner that read "Committee of Public Safety." > A comparatively free and equal America called a constitutional convention > after its revolution; France, in a backlash against elitism, erected a > guillotine. > In short, the first American Revolution sprang from a relatively just and > equal society; it was not rooted in a long-standing class structure that had > embedded people into widely disparate and warring sectors. What would a > second American revolution look like? No one can say for sure, but I fear it. > The author of several books, Wendy McElroy maintains two active > websites:wendymcelroy.comandifeminists.com.http://mises.org/daily/5363/The-Next-American-Revolution-Wont-Be-Like-the-First -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
