Revolution USA 2015

Below, David DeGraw, author of "Freedom in A Time of Mental Slavery"  points out to a few of the thousands of reasons why, IMO, we are most probably going to see the break-up of America.  Highlights by moi.

......Here’s what you won’t hear  on the news: we have an unprecedented abundance of wealth in this country. We have at least $100 trillion in wealth. That’s enough to make every family in this country millionaires.

However, more than half of that wealth is consolidated in the hands of the wealthiest families. Due to corruption, wealth has become consolidated to the point where the richest 400 Americans now have as much wealth as 200 million Americans. A society with inequality this severe is highly unstable and will eventually destroy itself, and the richest 0.01% knows that, which brings me to some very important points that I pray everyone can at least consider…

Just as I want my African American and activist friends to understand that most cops are good people working hard under difficult conditions, I also want my middle-class and wealthy white friends to know that institutional racism is still a very serious problem. In addition to blatant systemic racism, institutionalized classism is destroying our society.

The 0.01% mega-wealthy people who own and run this country know that inequality, economic insecurity and poverty are steadily breaking down society. Due to technological advancements, they have consolidated wealth and resources to the point where there are now only enough full-time jobs for half the working-age population, and half of those jobs pay under $35k per year. At the same time, the cost of living continues to skyrocket. Economic and political policy has now mathematically eliminated 75% of the population from living a life without severe debt and crippling poverty. As a direct result, poor people living in exploited poverty-stricken inner-cities throughout America are the first to experience the devastating effects of the death of representative government.

Instead of addressing an obvious and predictable issue through rational policy, guided by the compassion and fairness that made this country a global leader, both the Democratic and Republican parties have chosen a feudalistic path driven by shortsighted greed. That is one of the reasons why we are seeing the militarization of local police forces, especially in cities with high poverty rates. Laws that criminalize poverty are quickly spreading throughout the country. Billions of tax dollars have been diverted from public housing programs and have been redirected into building prisons.

The United States currently has the largest prison population in the world. On a per capita basis, the US is now much worse than the darkest days of the Soviet gulags. Over 70% of the prison population is “non-violent offenders with no history of violence.” In fact, physical slavery still exists. Prison “labor” is now a booming multi-billion dollar annual business. According to statistics from the US Bureau of Criminal Statistics, there are more “African-American men under state and federal criminal justice supervision” than there were slaves in 1850. In fact, there are twice as many now as there were in 1850.

The growth rate for private for-profit prisons has been shocking, “between 1990 and 2010 the number of privately operated prisons in the US increased 1600%.” The shortsightedness of this system and the vicious cycle of crime and punishment it creates within society have been clearly demonstrated. For instance, “All 17 states that cut their imprisonment rates over the past decade also experienced a decline in crime rates.”

After intense investigations into political and economic issues, one thing that I have learned very clearly: cops and inner city African Americans have much more in common with each other than they have in common with the people who created the conditions in which they both toil. To varying degrees of intensity, we are all suffering under the same corrupt system. So let’s show love, compassion and respect for each other. Let’s not let divide and conquer policies and propaganda destroy us........