III. Destroying democracy for ordinary people – YOU! – Here we provide historical perspective. So YOU can realize how far WE, together, advanced to a true “democracy” – thus, YOU have historical evidence when the FAR RIGHT tries to take it away from YOU – as they have since 1980.
America only became a “democracy” post-1901. The “Progressive Era” was a popular revolt against the 1865-190l GREEDFEST of corruption of the top 1% and corporations [note: the Founders distrusted corporations, which is why they ARE NOT in the Constitution]. More reforms occurred 1933-1965. Virtually ALL post-1901 reforms have been attacked by the FAR Right – they do NOT like the freedoms and rights YOU gained.
1]. Brief historical perspective, 1619-1901. Conditions of life for average people. YOU want to go back to this?
A]. Jerry Fresia: “Toward An American Revolution”; 1650-1750, the rich got richer, the poor poorer. 1687 Boston: top 1% owned 25% of wealth; 1770 Boston, top 1% owned 44%. The rich enacted property qualifications to vote: 1750 Pennsylvania – 8% of rural and 2% of Philadelphia can vote.
B] Michael Parent: “Democracy for the Few”: in 12 of 13 states, only property-owning White males voted or held office. Excluded: all Native Americans, persons of African descent, women, indentured servants and White males without sufficient property. Property qualifications for holding office excluded most White males who could vote.
“..the common people..the great bulk of whom lived at a subsistence level. Most of the agrarian population consisted of poor freeholders, tenants, and indentured hands. Small farmers were burdened by heavy rents, ruinous taxes, and low income..economic prisoners crowded jails..”
C] “The Underside of American History,” Vol. 1, edited by Thomas Frazier: In the first 150 years of settlement, indentured servants were a major labor force. Another, more profitable labor force: African slavery.
In the colonial period, harsh penalties and traditional deference kept the poor “in their place.” After the Revolution, the poor took revolutionary ideology seriously [how impertinent of them!!!] – new methods of social control were enacted.
Post-1840, massive immigration of Irish and German Catholics led to much social conflict, especially in religion, jobs, hosing, and education; which “contributed to the rise of a nativist movement that stretched almost across a century.”
By the mid-19th century, the Industrial Revolution “had become so efficient..for the first time..there was a surplus of unskilled labor.” Factory owners stretched hours and cut wages; women and children had to go to work. “The struggle of the unskilled worker and urban factory operative..is one of the major motifs of 19th-20th century American life.” Workers only improved their lot by forming labor unions – fiercely resisted by the top 1%.
“..women were schooled only in the domestic arts and social graces..deprived of the right to vote, denied participation in politics and public life..expected to find fulfillment by living in the shadow of a successful male…Since many theories of male dominance were based on..traditional religion..many women felt it was in their interest to attack traditional religion.”
D]. “The Underside of American History,” Vol. 2, edited by Thomas Frazier: “..federal legislation in the decade after 1865 held out considerable promise for the future of democracy..federal concern for..civil rights of..freedmen soon gave way to growing public sentiment for ..conciliation of the South..National unity restored..at the cost of forcing freed Blacks back into positions of political and economic dependence.”
1875-1900, “The moral fiber of the nation appeared to disintegrate completely..The nation..embarked [into] unabashed materialism..”the Gilded Age…”Laissez faire” became the watchword..with disastrous results for..traditionally oppressed groups..freedmen, Indians, laborers, immigrants..cities..the land itself, which was heedlessly exploited.”
Social Darwinism supplied “scientific” reasoning for white supremacy..prejudice against ..Irish, Central and Southern Europeans, East Asians, all other groups not easily assimilated into the dominant White Protestant culture.
Protestantism and capital fought to maintain status quo. First “populism,” then “progressivism,” led demands for reforms. The goal was to break up political machines corrupting government; breaking up trusts controlling the economy and who “virtually owned the Senate.”
Anti-democratic forces” 1915 KKK revival, 1919 race riots, 1919-1920 “Red Scare.” “Prohibition” enacted for moralistic reasons. The 19th Amendment giving women the vote one of few reforms. The “Roaring Twenties” was a step back into huge economic inequality. Government favored big business; gains of labor virtually erased.
The result?: the 1930s “Great Depression” – which caused much, widespread, suffering.
World War II unity [offset by imprisoning 120,000 innocent Japanese-Americans] followed by great middle class golden age of 1947-1973. Blacks made slow gains of civil rights supposedly already theirs. “the decade of the 1960s was marked by the revolt of the victims of American history..”
The “Progressive Era” and the 1933-65 New Deal era CREATED mass democracy. Controls on top 1% and corporate greed; a progressive income tax; Social Security; recognition of labor rights; G.I. Bill; Medicare; civil rights for women and minorities. The peak of American middle class prosperity was achieved by governmental and court decisions [by a unique Supreme Court – one that actually supported ordinary people – like YOU!!!]. America actually began honoring the ideals of the Declaration and the Constitution’s Preamble
BUT – those 190l-1965 rights, the philosophy of the Founders -ALL under sustained FAR RIGHT attack – with, unfortunately, too much reactionary and cruel success>
WHO. gets to decide YOUR. “Pursuit of Happiness”??? The FAR RIGHT says THEY do; THEY have the “right” to dictate to YOU – because THEY are “moral” and wise – and YOU are not!!!!! Only THEY “know” what the Founders “reallY meant [ ignoring the DOCUMENTATION of what the Founders did say and create – another BIG LIE].
The result: cruelty, corruption, chaos. Compared to other “advanced’ nations, America regressed. The happiest people live in Scandinavia. Increasingly, Americans can’t afford “middle class’ life without credit card debt – guess WHO benefits fromYOUR usurious credit card penalties????!!!!????!!!!
As in other authoritarian regimes, reactionary American FAR RIGHT has used as cover for its cruelty and corruption the force of law [more on HIS in section 7 of this series]. The legal BIG LIE is the bogus “originalism” theory. this preposterous 20th century creation claims 2023 American life should be run on 1787 circumstances and thinking – even as the Founders explicitly said THEY didn’t support this fraud!!!
*** Benjamin Rush, Pennsylvania Convention, ll/30/1787: “Our rights are not yet all known, how then could they be properly enumerated?”
E]. “A Constitution of Our Own Making” [Caroline Fredrickson; Washington Monthly; Sept.-Oct., 2021]: “..the contemporary document is defined far more by its various amendments, enacted over the course of 200 years, than it is defined by what happened in 1787..the Constitution has been shaped by the millions of Americans who have voted for, organized for, and at times literally fought for change..[Constitutional Amendments] “have moved it almost entirely in one direction: left.”
*** “The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.” [Justice Brandeis]
The FAR RIGHT revolted against the American people in every sphere of public [and private]. life: politically, economically, religiously, socially. THEY want to control YOUR life!!!!! They often work in concert, often funded by similar “Dark Money” [Jane Mayer – read it!!!], often represented by similar law firms, most are now visible in one political party – claiming they are helping you, when they are really hurting YOU.
YOU dare learn the FACTUAL TRUTH? Begin with double Pulitzer Prize winners Barlett & Steele’s “The Betrayal of the American Dream” and Pulitzer Prize winner Hedrick Smith’s “Who Stole the American Dream?” – both written in 2012. A review of Smith: “the ways the rich have been sticking it to the middle class since the late 1970s..”
For more facts, go to pre & post-1980 UNSPUN official iRS income and tax info. Mother Jones, March-April, 2011, article: YOU are getting ROBBED up to $10,000 EVERY year by the top 1%.
***”people of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” [Adam Smith, “The Wealth of Nations”]
F]. Kurt Andersen: “Evil Geniuses”: “..chronicles the quite deliberate reengineering of our economy and society..by a confederation of the rich, the right, and big business..the 1980s Reagan changes had a stealth quality..the 1980s were the 1930s in reverse..a time-release Raw Deal.”
The Reagan administration enacted 775/1000 Heritage Foundation wish list proposals. FAR RIGHT ideologues from Heritage, the American Enterprise Institution, Hoover Institute served in the R-W Reagan administration
******* MUST READ: pages 118-120: 20 Key Changes “good” for Big Business, Financial Industry, Rich. and – the 28 Key Changes that were “BAD” for Americans in general.
Summary of DAMAGE to America during Reagan administration in Andersen’s chapter titles: “The Rule of Law;” “Deregulation Generation;’ “The Culture of Greed is Good;” “How Wall Street Ate America;” “Workers of the New World, You Lose;” ‘Insecurity is a Feature, Not a Bug;” “Ruthless Beats Reasonable.”
***”Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty; power is ever stealing from the many to the few.” [Wendell Phillips]
G] Nicholas Lemann: “Transaction Man”: “..the last quarter of the 20th century..Once agin, as in early days of industrial capitalism, big winners were spectacularly rewarded, economic power..concentrated, inequality and risk arose..local institutions weakened..the old picture of a country that could offer a better life to each succeeding generation seemed not to apply any longer..
“Today the Transaction Man mentality..is..deeply rooted..When a challenge presents itself..any proposed solution..characterized as relying on bureaucracy, organizations, government agencies, or established interest groups is doomed..In the manner of someone who thinks the cure for a hangover is another drink, the country keeps reacting to troubles produced by the deterioration of its institutional life by embracing further deterioration.
“We want politics and government to be taken away from career professionals, charter schools to replace traditional public schools, higher education to take place online at home, journalism to be turned over to citizens…
“Deregulation produced the greatest concentration of financial power in American history, in 6 big companies. The advent of the supposedly power-distributing Internet produced the five big companies that now dominate technology..
“The economy we now have is not doing a good job of generating social trust, political calm, or widely shared prosperity. Instead, it has produced a series of terrifying economic shocks..”
***”Concentrations of power always wind up harming people, no matter how benign the holders of power believe themselves to be.” [Nicholas Lemann]
EVERY factual analysis acceptable world-wide as truth shows this: life for “average” Americans has grown less secure, more financially difficult since 1980. Health care more difficult to access and more expensive. Education underfunded and money diverted to private, usually fundamental religious schools. Divisive disinformation and BALD LIES rife – courtesy of Reagan deregulation. Income siphoned off to the top 1%>
NONE of this is “natural”. or. “accidental”. Nearly 100% of lost American freedoms, rights, wealth –
DELIBERATELY ORCHESTRATED. This DOCUMENTED, by among numerical proof – CONFESSION of some of
the GUILTY. FAR. RIGHT groups and people. who did the crimes
The slow upward 1620-1901 upward climb, and the 190l-1965 reforms. – ALL attempted to be reversed by DELIBERATE FAR RIGHT actions. Their. BIG. LIE. is what I just told YOU , and what is DOCUMENTED – is not true. – just like global climate crisis is not true [because THEY profit from it]
*** “Of all forms of tyranny the least attractive and most vulgar is the tyranny of mere wealth, the tyranny of plutocracy.” [Theodore Roosevelt]
With Justice For All 