Time for a Change

by Progressive Avenues
The events in Egypt and Tunisia are exhilarating, hopeful, and frightening at the same time. Like those countries, the U.S. is suffering from an overwhelmingly unequal and destructive distribution of wealth, from an electoral process that has become a matter of tweedledumb and tweedledee (the Democrats and Republicans are both owned by and beholden to corporate wealth).

 

In addition, we, in the U.S., are mired in murderous, unnecessary wars. The corporate elite has circled the wagons, stolen the wealth of the country from poor and working people, and created a police state unparalleled in the history of the U.S. The response of government and corporations (a redundant dichotomy if ever there was one) is to tell the American people to tighten our belts, and to get used to having less.
 
There is no suggestion from on high that the solution to our problems lies in ending the wars, bringing the jobs back home, taxing the rich, or controlling the dictatorial stranglehold that the military and police have around our necks. It is as if these changes are so unimaginable that they aren’t even talked about openly.

 

Like Egypt, we have no conceivable alternative to the Mubarak-type of corporatist government that is running the country. In the U.S. the Christian fundamentalist Tea Party is the only voice on the horizon that poses any significant alternative to the Republican/Democratic Party juggernaut.
 
The issues of the day that one reads in the newspapers are how much more money will the rich take from the poor, how much more restrictive will the abortion laws get, how quickly can the Right do away with any semblance of health care, social security, education, and retirement benefits. There is not a single viable organization or leader to replace the wholly owned patsies that run our government. Unlike Egypt, this country has no meaningful national media that conservatives don’t control. That is because we have always believed that the progressive arm of the Democratic Party would part ways with the Republicans and help the working poor. That fantasy and fallacy no longer holds.
 
How do we change that? Progressives must refuse to support or vote for candidates who are nothing more than “Corporate Light.” We must create alternative leadership that rejects the principles of “privatization” that has taken over the Congress, the judiciary, and the military-industrial complex. We must build a viable alternative power in our communities that is independent of the Republicans and Democrats.
 
The following should be minimal requirements for the support of progressive American aspiring politicians:
 
1) Oppose torture, and prosecute those who sanction and authorize it. No sanctuary or clemency should be afforded any governmental official or mercenary forces that engage in torture or renditions sponsored by the U.S. government. End the death penalty, which is the ultimate form of torture.
 
2) Reject the Supreme Court decision, “Citizens United,” which equates corporate power with that of individual citizens (thereby allowing corporations to buy elections), and endorse significant regulatory measures to reign in corporate power.
 
3) Tax the rich, not the poor. Whether it be stock transfer taxes, taxes on both capital gains and capital salaries of the rich, or other redistribution plans, it is essential that the American people regain the money that has been stolen from us by Wall Street, and Obama insiders. It is not the poor who should shoulder the income shortage brought about by Wall Street, but the rich. Regulate banks, mortgage companies and corporations so as to control their greed and destruction of our nation.
 
4) Protect the benefits and pensions that the American people have earned. There are plenty of resources for social security, nationalized health care, retirement benefits and public education, if the country can share in the wealth currently frozen and hidden by the rich. Asking the oligarchy to be nice and share the fruits of their theft is comical pandering to corporate control. If the rich are not willing to share, they should be dealt with the same way that the Egyptians and Tunisians are dealing with their corrupt ruling class.
 
5) End these atrocious wars immediately, and stop supporting rightwing and dictatorial regimes around the world. Build alliances with the world’s nations, and stop trying to dominate them and steal their natural resources. Build a sustainable economy at home, and work together with the rest of world, instead of opposing progressive leadership worldwide.
 
Our elections are frauds, our elected “representatives” are bought-off puppets, and our foreign and domestic policies are determined by a ruling class that couldn’t care less about the American people or the poor of other nations. It’s time for a change, and not one in word only. Building an alternative leadership to the current corporate-sponsored lackeys is a complicated process. But we must start now to define alternative leadership outside of corporate hegemony.

 

Luke Hiken is an attorney who has engaged in the practice of criminal, immigration, and appellate law.

Marti Hiken is the director of Progressive Avenues. She is the former associate director of the Institute for Public Accuracy and former chair of the National Lawyers Guild Military Law Task Force. She can be contacted at info@progressiveavenues.org