(Happy New Year)
It has been with us since humans began organizing into communities of purpose. Known by multiple names, it is technically called economic imperialism. Its mission is to exploit everything within its grasp for personal profit. Its assumption is that those who have the greatest wealth are the most socially worthy. Its tactics are subterfuge and the violation of human rights.
America was born out of rebellion against the international expression of economic imperialism called colonialism. But imperialism still persisted with strength in the midst of this new democracy. Democratic freedom was seen by imperialists as a lack of government restraint in pursuing their exploitations.
The Republican Party was created in opposition to slavery which was one of economic imperialism’s most demeaning exploitations. The social conflict over the morality of slavery erupted into The Civil War. Democracy won this war and kept the nation whole. However, economic imperialism persisted and expressed itself with fervor in the form of those Robber Baron industrialists of the eighteen and nineteen hundreds. Again, democrats rose up and passed laws to curb their degrading abuse of power.
As this battle waged one of America’s great political ironies occurred: The Republican Party switched allegiance and became the champion of economic imperialism. They renamed it as Reaganomics or Trickledown Economics. Both labels mean the same thing: If the table of the wealthy grows more abundant, this excess would spill over onto the table of the poor. Thus, helping the rich become richer is in the best interest of the poor.
Economic imperialism is the heart of the notion of royalty – that there are tiers of social worth that begin with the highest economic class and descend to the lowest economic class and those at the top of this hierarchy are rightfully served by those at the bottom. This notion is anathema to democracy which begins with the assumption that humans are birthed into worth equality.
However, worth equality is abhorrent to economic imperialists. Their entire game-plan of wealth enhancement depends on worth inequality expressed through economic class. Despite all the advances made to include every segment of the American population in affirmed worth equality, economic imperialists finally won a decisive battle by installing Donald Trump as their presidential king and gaining control of the Senate which is the key to congressional power. And, as the 2020 election has shown, the king and the Republican Senate will not loosen their grip on economic power without destructive consequence. With at least 45% of the American citizenry still supporting economic imperialism for a variety of reasons, the battle for democratic government is far from over.
If democracy is to ever triumph in America, the citizenry must both grasp its fundamentals and commit to their cultural institutionalization. But this appears a daunting task since it has been almost 250 years since we began our democratic experiment and we seem to be regressing rather than advancing.
Beyond actually grasping the meaning of democracy we must understand the enemy we are fighting – which is the false equation of wealth attainment with worth attainment. The result has been to convert democracy into a game of gaining a higher economic foothold and call this achieving The American Dream. Thus, the respective roles of democracy and capitalism have been reversed. Democracy has become the servant of capitalism.
However, this economic distortion of democracy was long ago recognized for the farce that it is by many of the lower classes. In the 19th Century it was called: The Horse and Sparrow Theory. If you fed the horse enough oats, some would pass through to the road where the sparrow could find a meal. Those of the lower classes who grasped the meaning of the theory knew what the advocates of Horse Dung Economics intended them to eat.
As indicated, the eventual outcome of the Republican Party’s commitment to Horse Dung Economics was the rise of Donald Trump to the presidency and his deliberate violation of everything that hinted of democracy. The Republicans have led their horse to the top of the hill and those at the bottom will be lucky if its dung rolls that far down. But, having sold their soul to economic imperialism, the Republican Party is not about to withdraw their support just because its despotic promise has become a reality. They still refuse to unlink themselves from its demeaning anti-democratic contempt. They continue to support a ruling economic oligarchy. Above all else, they wish the benefits of living on top of the hill.
The original anti-slavery Republican Grand Old Party has become the nation’s Grand Old Horse Dung Party. And that is a tragedy for both the Republican Party and the nation.
We will have a true happy new year when the nation is ruled by democratic intent rather than horse dung economics. As this New Year begins, I hope for this revolution.
Next blog: What Must America Do to Make Democracy Happen?
Robert
Robert T. Latham
mythinglink.com
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The people we see supporting Trump do not appear to be at the top of the economic hill. What draws them to this position if they have no “imperialism” to protect?
Hello Linda:
In response to your query as to why there is Trump support from the un-wealthy:
Trump appeals to a conglomerate of disparate supporters. Here are a few I recognize:
• Many politicians are assured of both present and future financial rewards by corporations for voting legislation that favors the profit-taking of uninhibited enterprise. (The Greedy)
• Many white males support his abject racism and his demeaning sexism. (The Prejudiced)
• Many feel worth deprived and are easy prey to demagoguery that superficially elevates this low estate through the clever rhetoric of conspiracy theories. (The Deprived)
• Many, unable to distinguish between democracy and economic imperialism, fall for the ruse that their personal economic state and the state of democracy are synonymous and are prone to support false despotic promises of economic empowerment. (The Confused)
• Many represent an inherited bitterness from the loss of the Civil War (democracy’s defeat of economic imperialism) and are magnetically drawn to support any politician that expresses contempt for responsible democratic governing. (The Vindictive)
• Many are victims of America’s failed education system which has made preparation for vocation a priority over democratic civics and, in its modeling, represents the competitive nature of economic imperialism over the collaborative nature of democracy – thus, possessing little capacity to distinguish between democracy and despotism. (The Ignorant)
The wealthy work behind the scenes and pull political strings. The prejudiced, greedy, deprived, confused, vindictive, and ignorant all tend to work in the public eye and their strings are easily pulled. The January 6th insurrectionists represent the most militant of these supporters and are those most motivated by having their strings pulled.
I hope others will share their wisdom with you in response to your question.
Robert
Class and race are central to understanding our national narrative and to understanding our divided country. Hopefully, 2021 will be a better year! …Accountability must precede transformation.