The people of our nation are engaged in a war. This war will decide the future of a nation envisioned by men of courage, morals, principles, and foresight 243 years ago.

In 1776 a new nation in a new world decided to revolt against the tyrannical government of England. The reasons were many, but the final decision was based on religious freedom. King George III decreed that the Anglican Church would be the only religion allowed in the English empire.

Great men, including Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, Madison, Adams, and others refused to accept the sovereignty of the rule of a nation by one man. They believed that the ambitions and beliefs of one man were unacceptable, and that all of the people of a nation were guaranteed certain rights and were equal under the law. Free thought was not only a right but a constructive ideal for the creation of a superior nation.

The Declaration of Independence, signed on July 4, 1776, promised a new nation which would force government to serve the people and not be ruled by their elected officials.

“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”

Every patriot cherishes these words. They are as important as the Constitution signed by our founding fathers 13 years later. The Bill of Rights includes the principles of the Declaration of Independence and these two documents continue to establish the foundation for the United States of America.

It is inevitable that everything changes. A new nation is included in this basic fact.

After the Revolutionary War the real work began. The leaders of this new nation had to establish a form of government which would encompass the ideals and principles of the Declaration of Independence and protect the rights of a diverse people in a new nation which would suffer changes in the coming years. The Constitution established a form they called a “Democratic Republic.” The basic premise was that although America would be a democracy, all future laws and policies would be established by duly elected officials whose duty was to serve the needs and wishes of the people.

After the war of 1812, and the Civil War which began in April of 1861 and ended in April of 1865, there was a long period of reconstruction and a serious effort to restore the Union.

Although the situation for African Americans saw little improvement in the deep south; the area where the Confederacy was based during the War; the nation began to grow with the annexation of areas to the west of the original colonies.

By the early 1900’s capitalism resulted in the ‘industrial revolution’ and the growth of an economy which would soon become the largest in the world.

However, between 1910 and 1930 businesses operated their factories with the use of a labor force with conditions which can only be called slavery. Work days consisted of between 12 and 14 hours with only a single day off in a seven-day period. Children as young as five-years-of-age worked in what were described as “sweat shops.” Capitalists flourished but the men, women, and children laboring in their factories were forced to exist in conditions which were frequently described as “subhuman.”

In 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected as the 32^nd President of the United States. He remains known as the “president of the working man.” He battled the capitalists and focused on the working man and woman.

Immediately after his election, in response to the Great Depression of 1929, he instituted a guarantee for men and women who placed their finances in the hands of the banking industry, which is now known as the FDIC.

FDR established the “New Deal.” “In 1933 the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), which gave grants and loans to states to operate relief programs; the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which in 9 years employed 3 million young men in manual labor jobs related to conservation and development of natural resources; the Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA), which by 1935 increased the income generated by farms by 50% by paying farmers subsidies to reduce crop production; the Public Works Administration (PWA), which spent over $6 billion to build large-scale public works and drove America’s biggest construction effort up to that date; and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which provided power, controlled floods and modernized agriculture in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the depression.”

In 1935 FDR created Social Security. This may have been the only perfect piece of legislation in American history. With the exception of the Social Security Administration, the program was entirely funded by employers and employees whose contributions would secure funding for perpetuity. Just a few years later politicians began to steal funds from Social Security for their personal ambitions and today Social Security is in danger of repeal. The truth is that no individual has ever received the amount of money contributed into the program. In reality, there should be a surplus.

In 1938 the “Fair Labor Standards Act” established a federal minimum wage. Today’s Republicans would like to repeal any minimum wage in deference to the greedy capitalists who fund their elections.

President Roosevelt established guidelines to prevent employment discrimination. Although the original purpose was to protect the rights of native Americans, it grew in importance to protect the rights of African Americans.

FDR worked with the allies to defeat Nazi Germany and its allies in WWII and laid the foundation for the United Nations.

We move forward to the mid to late 20^th century. Post WWII capitalists seized an opportunity to employ needy Americans at a low rate of compensation and experienced record profits. The American worker accepted their position in the workforce as low interest loans for single family homes, and the ability to purchase items including automobiles, televisions, and other comfort items became available when banks offered loans to customers who passed a cursory economic review. By the end of the 20^th century consumers were experiencing enormous debt from credit card purchases. In 2008 Americans began to lose their homes. The culprit was the Banking industry who offered loans not secured by established income or viable assets. The great recession had begun. Thanks to the 2008 election of President Barrack Obama, he established programs which saved our nation’s fiscal future, and by the end of his second term in 2016 left office with a nation in full recovery, and  employment on the rise.

His administration was not perfect. President Obama’s policies secured the future of big business. The Dow Industrials began to reach record levels as corporations experienced profits of 300, 400, and 500 percent profits annually. The Stock Market continues to reach record highs today. Income inequality began to be a serious problem for the working class. Federal laws allowed big business to disallow healthcare and retirement benefits for all employees who averaged less than 32 hours per week.

In 2016 Donald Trump was illegitimately elected by the Electoral College. He renewed the policies of other Republican politicians who supported corporations and big business. Within two years, the American worker began to suffer from Trump’s policies. Today many Americans are suggesting the end of capitalism and the establishment of “democratic socialism.”

The middle class in nearly non-existent. The gap is now measured by the division between the wealthy and low-income Americans. America is becoming a third world nation. The combination of low-income Americans and men, women, and children surviving below the poverty line now includes over 100 million Americans.

“How do you cause people to believe in an imagined order such as Christianity, democracy or capitalism? First, you never admit that the order is imagined.” Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

“Once poverty is gone, we’ll need to build museums to display its horrors to future generations. They’ll wonder why poverty continued so long in human society – how a few people could live in luxury while billions dwelt in misery, deprivation and despair.” Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism

“Fascism is capitalism plus murder.”  Upton Sinclair

If our nation is to fulfill its promise, the wealthy; corporations; must pay their fair share. Today we learned that Trump’s “tax reform” resulted in corporations which paid zero taxes in 2019. Included are Amazon, whose CEO is the richest man in the world, and Netflix which recently raised its rates for subscribers.

Capitalism eventually surrenders to greed; this is America today. America has become a nation of “haves and have-nots.”

Why does our government and every television news personality continue to support capitalism? They are all millionaires.

Tell your friends; “The Truth Lives Here.”

Op-ed by James Turnage

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