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Help take control of America’s history
Many of us remember a 1950s television program hosted by Walter Cronkite called
“You Are There.” It attempted to recreate epic moments in history and present
them as if they were being covered live by TV news.
How will our descendants view the America of our era? Will they see us as unable
to deal with our health insurance crisis, as allowing pension plans to become
obsolete and our government to turn its back on the elderly and the poor? Will
they shake their heads in disgust at the crushing national debt we left for them
to pay?
Walter Cronkite and many others have maintained that modern American government
is controlled by an aristocracy of millionaires and their corporate wealth.
As the famed newscaster has stated, “The ruling class is the rich, who really
command our industry, our commerce and our finances. And those people are so
able to manipulate our democracy that they really control (it).”
Cronkite is far from alone in that opinion. Sen. Charles Schumer has said the
middle class is not represented politically in our country.
That’s mainly because a candidate for federal office must raise millions of
dollars in campaign contributions. Candidates spent $2.6 billion on the 2006
election. Only the very rich can afford to run for office without bowing to the
influence of big contributors.
And what about corporate America? Exxon profited more than $75 billion in 2005
and 2006, while we were being fleeced at the pump. CEOs in this country average
more than 250 times their workers’ average salaries and still try to send those
jobs overseas. If their companies fail, the workers lose their jobs and
pensions, but the CEOs have golden parachutes.
Fortunately, we have the means to make changes in a free democracy.
If “You Are There” were on TV today and it featured this country’s Founding
Fathers, they would proclaim that government is empowered by the people, and
should provide the greatest good for the largest number of citizens.
If our government has lost sight of that goal, who’s fault is that?
As the philosopher Plato once said, “The penalty that good men pay for not being
interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.”
It’s time to take charge of our history.
Only we can make sure future generations will say today is when ordinary,
working-class patriots defeated the powerful influence of selfish interests and
returned the United States to the course its founders set.
You Are There! You can be part of the quintessential struggle of our times.
Work with us in PEF and PEF Retirees to reclaim our country, to make it a place
where workers and pensioners are treated with fairness and respect.
The Communicator April
2007
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