“Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Poor”

“Socialism for the Rich, Capitalism for the Poor”   May 5, 2019   Dr. Roger Ray

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By Eleanor Goldfield, 

60 years ago, President Eisenhower proclaimed May 1st Law Day. According to the American Bar Association, it was to be “a national day set aside to celebrate the rule of law.” Even compared to the more frivolous holidays, this one seems particularly arbitrary. How does one celebrate Law Day? By high-fiving a lawyer? For once not crossing the street on red even though the coast is clear? The truth is, no one celebrates it. And even for those who first constructed and proclaimed it – celebration wasn’t the point. Rather, the point was to cover up and malign those who demanded justice over an oppressive and violent law and order. With this new day proclaimed, the powers that be could spray-paint “Commie” on the fight for worker’s rights so that all who labor here fall in a capitalist line, afraid of being thought unpatriotic if they demand justice. In the midst of the Cold War, Eisenhower and his Red Scare buddies tried to red-wash and smooth out the jagged edges of a powerful day when people rose up against the same powers that were now trying to erase their stories from history. But that weak palimpsest couldn’t fully erase those stories – and they spread, like bleeding ink that couldn’t be contained. With this, new stories were written – ones that crossed borders and time; another line on the front lines of worker’s rights movements worldwide.

Today is May 5^thor as it is known more commonly on college campuses and among tequila and beer enthusiasts of all ages, “Cinco de Mayo.” Which has carried with it the implication that the 5^thof May is either Mexican Independence Day or some holiday of similar importance on the south side of Trump’s imaginary wall. But it is not. Pretty much, it is cultural appropriation but around here, any attention given to Latino culture is sometimes just taken with a grain of salt, or at least, a salt rim. 

Mexican Independence Day is September 16^th, “Diez y Seis,” and that is a day that is generally ignored around here unless Andrew Hernandez tries, once again, to get me to go out to menudo, which, I fear will not happen again this year. 

Some holidays are seriously intended to help us to remember significant historical events and some are purely frivolous or even manipulative, such as Valentine’s Day or other greeting card holidays. 

This week, in 66 nations around the world, May Day was observed as an international holiday recognizing both the labor of workers and a celebration of workers’ rights, particularly as earned through unions and collective action. As noted in our wisdom lesson today, May Day is not an official holiday in the United States because it was too closely associated with communism. So, in an effort to hide May Day observances, President Eisenhour declared May 1^stto be “Law Day,” which was meant to stress our American value for following laws rather than having strikes and riots such as the Haymarket incident that created May Day. 

To the best of my knowledge, Law Day is not actually celebrated anywhere except for Drury University, here in Springfield. About 20 years ago, the president of Drury called me and asked me if I would say the invocation at their Law Day observance and share the platform with Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas. Dr. Moore was shocked that I declined to be a part of that event and he told me that it would be a huge honor for me to be a part of it. I thanked him and assured him that he would find some ordained whore who would do it but that I wouldn’t be caught dead there. I believe that it was a local Methodist pastor who took my place. . . but I digress.

Let me remind you of how May Day became important as a labor observance: In the early stages of the American Industrial Revolution, the average worker was expected to work about 60 hours a week. Strikes and riots were taking place all across the country, in 1886, demanding an 8-hour work day.

Gun fire was exchanged between striking workers and the police and eventually a bomb was thrown that killed a dozen people, many of whom were police, and wounded dozens more. In reaction to the riot, the city arrested eight labor union activists, most of whom had nothing to do with the bombing, but 4 of them were hanged before the Illinois governor stepped in and commuted the sentences of the rest, publicly criticizing the bogus trial.

The most famous image used in the media at the time was this, depicting the bomb going off just as Rev. Samuel Fielding, an anarchist and Methodist pastor, was finishing his speech to the striking workers. Methodists were apparently rather more liberal in the 19^thcentury. 

The Haymarket riot created martyrs for the labor movement, and though the event took place in Chicago, it became the rallying anniversary for workers throughout the world except for the United States because here, there was a fierce resistance to labor unions and labor activism. Our fall observance of Labor Day, which was offered in the years following the Haymarket riot, was intended to be a more peaceful alternative, tipping the hat towards labor and hoping for parades and cookouts rather than riots. It has, sadly, worked pretty well. 

Regardless of what was declared by the Citizens United decision in the Supreme Court, corporations are not people. Corporations do not feel compassion. Corporations do not have your best interest at heart. Corporations are not concerned about the environment, human rights, living conditions, or the survival of the species beyond their future concern for profits. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “freedom was never voluntarily granted by the oppressor.”

Please do not let this point slip passed you. Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Ben Franklin didn’t believe in slavery, but he didn’t free his slaves during his lifetime. Thomas Jefferson didn’t believe in slavery, but he didn’t free his slaves during his lifetime. George Washington didn’t believe in slavery, but he didn’t free his slaves during his lifetime. The founder of my former denomination, Alexander Campbell, was an anti-slavery delegate to the Virginia legislature, but, you guessed it, he did not free his slaves during his lifetime. 

It is not that we hate employers or corporations, it is that we understand that people who are in power, the people who own and control assets, whether that is financial capital or human capital, will not voluntarily give up their wealth or power unless they have to. The laws are written by and for those who control wealth and power. The poor, the workers, the middle class, must work in collective bargaining, primarily through unions, or the wage gap that threatens to destroy both capitalism and democracy, will destroy our nation.

Labor unions exist, not because corporations are inherently evil but because employers, always looking to lower the cost of production and increase profits, need to have a united front on the side of labor to be forced to treat workers well. 

The work week did not go from 60 hours and six days a week to 40 hours and five days a week because employers were feeling generous. So, there has been a concerted effort on the part of employers, supported by the courts and by government, to drive union membership down. And they have been very effective. As you can see, union membership has been in a deep dive for most of a century and, it should come as not surprise, that, as collective bargaining and union negotiating power diminishes, income floats to the top 1%. Income disparity in the USA will destroy capitalism if this trend continues but the solution will not come from the 1% saying, “Hey guys, we can’t keep taking 88 cents of every new dollar forever.” Look, folks, we have more than enough money and resources to take care of the needs of the world, we just will never satisfy the greed of the 1%. 

I spoke a bit last week about how both our government and corporations are trying to stoke up fear of socialism, which is why the corporate owned media will almost never say anything nice about either Bernie Sanders or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and why most Democratic candidates will act like they don’t know that the American economy is already a combination of capitalism and socialism. 

Our economic system, and it is not going too far to say that it is either fascist or right next to being that, depends upon a constant stream of dishonest propaganda because once people become aware, once the powerless, the poor, the workers, begin to unite, then their money grabbing days are limited. 

Former Secretary of Labor, economist, Robert Reich, pointed out that as much as conservatives use a denunciation of socialism as a scare word for their base, the fact is that America already practices socialism for the rich, and capitalism is reserved for the vulnerable and the poor. For example, during Trump’s time in office, General Motors has been given $600 million in federal contracts while receiving $500 million in tax breaks, while employees suffer the brunt of capitalism when, by the end of this year, they will lay off more than 14,000 employees… an act for which their CEO will be rewarded with more than $50 million in bonuses. 

Wall Street Banks receive more than $80 billion in subsidies, of which, more than $30 billion is set aside for bonuses for the executives. All while their employees are subjected to layoffs and wage freezes. Who believes in socialism now?

Around 60% of America’s wealth is now inherited by people who have never, in many cases, never worked a day in their lives. Even though who have amassed a great fortune through ingenuity and invention, say, Bill Gates, for example, only became wealthy because our copyright and tax laws are written by the rich, for the rich. We all agree that hard work and ingenuity deserve reward, but do they deserve elevating single families into the role of god-like oligarchy? 

The Trump administration’s dismantling of EPA regulations, de-regulating banks and investment houses, and relaxing regulations on industry, all happen under the cover of more salacious stories about their family intrigue, affairs, and bluster, but the true damage being done is hardly covered by the news. 

Washington Post headlines this week declared that Trump has passed a new mile post, having publicly told more than 10,000 lies since taking office. It reminds me of my grad school training in working with the families of alcoholics and addicts: you believe the lies because it is better than facing the truth. He tells lies about tax cuts, jobs saved, crime, the wall, climate change, and Russian help in winning the 2016 election and holding the door open for their help in 2020. The simple, in desperation, believe the lies. Those of us who are aware that he is nearly always lying, just get tired, and in hopelessness, just stop paying attention.

I have friends; smart, educated, aware, friends, who are nearly bragging when they say that they just don’t watch the news anymore. They wear their refusal to read newspapers as if it were an accomplishment to be uninformed. They don’t want to waste energy on a hopeless situation. They want to be happy. So they have handed the reigns of the world’s greatest democracy over to a tyrant as if they were powerless to do anything about it.

There is a lot to be wary of about the comedian and commentator, Lee Camp, who now hosts a Russian television show, but his concluding advice is worth repeating: Stay angry my friends.