Behind the Numbers Lies Austerity and Authoritarianism
Nobody really knows how truthfulthe numbers we are told are and nobody seems to care enough to domuch about them. Every person fired is a person who wonders howthey're going to pay for their home and their food. Every personfired supporting a family finds that scenario magnified with eachfamily member they support. And now the trumpists are going afterunions, threatening to terminate the federal government's contractwith the union representing TSA workers. This is the beginning, notthe end of what might well be fascism.
Legal residents who speak outagainst government policies overseas are kidnapped from their homeand held incognito. No one, not even the arrested man’s pregnantwife knew where he was for a day. The other party in government saysnothing. Indeed, less than a dozen elected officials responded tothis gross violation of the Constitution, flawed document that it is. School and corporations line up to enforce the contempt for humanitythese actions represent even after the trumpists take back millionsof dollars in dedicated grants. Most of the media colludes with thepeople in power, unwilling to challenge the authoritarians almostcertain to repress their freedom to write no matter what they say, nomatter how much they acquiesce.
A billionaire named Musk is givenpower to reshape the bureaucracy as he sees fit. No oligarch hasever ruled a regime that did not put their greed for money and powerfirst. Elon Musk is not any different. Still, it's not enough toonly go after Musk and the rest of the billionaires forcing austerityon the very class that made them obscenely wealthy. It's a good placeto begin, but they are not alone in their onslaught. The number ofco-conspirators is greater than you think but not as great as theythink it is. This is a battle between the ruling class and the restof us. Those who are not in the former but identify with thatclass's interests should not be surprised when their heroes in thehalls of money and power leave them as if they were compost ready tobe turned over in the bin. This is a good place to once again remindthose who think their interests are the same as the billionaires thatthe only thing the ruling class wants from them is their surrender(and maybe their children should the rulers decide a war is useful totheir future.
All these numbers don’t meanmuch as numbers. They mean a whole lot more when it’s yourneighbor who got laid off or your partner who got fired. Or yourkids whose school had to close after the teachers were sent home. Wait until hospitals start closing because working class people whowere on Medicaid can no longer take care of their medical needs. Wait until your parents stop getting social security checks. Waituntil you can’t pay your rent or your mortgage because your jobeither doesn’t exist or has been privatized and your wage was cut. The Democrats—bless their capitalist hearts—would like to helpyou out but they’ve got an election coming up somewhere and theyneed you to donate to their party. Take it out of your unemploymentcheck before the trumpists take that away. If you’re lucky, therewill be another election for you to vote in. That’ll show them.
We need to fight. I mean,seriously fight. Fighting back means going beyond the courts, beyondperformance protests and well beyond elections. Strikes,walkouts, protests, direct actions—let them know we aren’t goingto take it. I know it'sdifficult for many to accept, but if you’re not part of theoligarchy the United States government is not interested in yourexistence. This is true even if you march to its orders. Even ifyou wear a MAGA hat and pay your dues. Most judges, politicians,military officers are either part of the problem or afraid to standup to it. Most men and women in the media and the rest of thecorporate sector are of a similar mind.
There’s a meme making therounds that says nothing will stop this but mass non-compliance. Ithink that this sentiment is a good beginning. However, I believeit’s going to take something more. Those who oppose trumpism needto make the country ungovernable. If they keep firing people, raisingtariffs locking up and deporting protesters, those of us out of workwill have plenty of time to go about it. Nothing is the same andit's unlikely to improve for those who aren't in the 1%. It won'tmatter how long you wait. Soyeah, fight back.
