Wealth Inequality in America
Infographics on the distribution of wealth in America, highlighting both the inequality and the difference between our perception of inequality and the actual numbers. The reality is often not what we...
"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissension...is itself a frightful despotism..." -President George Washington, Farewell Address 1796
By the time a Continental officer wrote, "The people at home are destroying the Army by their conduct much faster than General Howe and all his British army can possibly do by fighting us,"(1) politically polarized vortexes had already killed more of General George Washington's revolutionary army than two years of fighting British Regulars.(2) Indeed, General Washington was correct to blame polarized politicians and a divided citizenry, noting that selfishness and greed had infected both of them while support for the Revolutionary War had been tossed to the icy, northerly winds.
During the winter of 1777-1778, having hunkered down at Valley Forge to try and endure sub zero temperatures and freezing sleet and snow, General Washington was well aware of a polar vortex. It had made it nearly impossible for the two opposing armies to continue warring. But he was also too familiar with political bickering and gridlock, specifically among political factions and their constituents. Living in drafty huts and lacking blankets, boots, stockings, and food, evidence of corruption and profiteering was abundant as thousands died of exposure to the wintry elements or deserted.
Army suppliers too often provided defective food, clothing, and gunpowder. When a shipment of blankets arrived, they usually turned out to be one-quarter their customary size. Preserved meat arrived rotten because the brine had been drained from the barrels in order to lighten the load and thereby reduce transportation costs. Even nearby farmers refused to help, many pursuing self-interests by hoarding their grain in hopes of higher prices in the spring. They were also willing to accept only gold and silver offered by British quartermasters.(2)
As polar vortexes-massive, wavy patterns of Artic air- continue to return and grip parts of the United States, politically polarized vortexes have never left. And unlike the current frigid air and high amplitude patterns that will only bring more frigid air to specific areas, agenda-driven polarization is everywhere, especially within the two major political parties and their corporate and lobbyist backers that have hunkered down in Washington DC. For too long, they have controlled the congressphere, destroying valuable legislation. Their incumbent rotations and reactionary frigidity has diminished civic participation.
Other than rallying around wars and violent military occupations, or a few civil rights oriented movements, political polarization has been the American norm and not the exception. With insurmountable debts and rising unemployment worries, fiscal and economic alternatives remain deadlocked. The rising cost of healthcare and education has polarized many too, causing massive inequalities and social unrest. Meanwhile, the 1% continues to spread propaganda while engineering disengagement and passivity among the citizenry, causing even greater and more internalized political polarization.
Regarding the American Revolution, Arthur Schlesinger Sr. believed commercial elites "instigated" popular opposition to British policies, grew alarmed at the "engulfing tide of radicalism" that led to war, and then turned against farmers and workers who did most of the fighting. Others maintain that it was fought "not only about home rule but also about who should rule at home." To this day, leaders and aristocrats have sought to manipulate commoners in order to defeat foreign crowns, and then turn their weapons and security forces against the very same urban rebels and poor farmers in the countryside.(3)
But there have been other kinds of politically polarized vortexes, some of which still remain. While women have had to endure the abuses of a patriarchal society, Native Americans have been victimized by the congressphere's and executivesphere's armies and policies, devastating entire societies. A master-versus-slave polarized vortex cost the lives of 600,000 men. It still polarizes a divided nation today through institutionalized racism. Workers have been polarized too by greedy and selfish corporate rulers, suffering shanty wages, defective labor conditions, lacking rights, and rotten politicians.
What has saved America from collapse, a complete polarized implosion, has always been the "luck of the draw," the availability of spacious lands and resources. But in the 21st century, accessible land will dwindle, resources will decline, and overcrowding and scarcity will cause some political factions to become more hardened. Unless the United States and its leaders and citizenry seriously address and challenge the many politically polarized vortexes now plunging across the nation, President Washington's warning about frightful despotism will come to pass, if it hasn't already.
That day when President Washington delivered his Farewell Address, he recalled the political dissention and spirit of revenge that nearly destroyed his revolutionary army. The man who turned down kingly rule, who could have been incumbent for life, chose to serve only two presidential terms. It would be a precedent for future representative leaders. But morals and cultural norms change. Instead of "We" in the Constitution, some interpret it as "Me." Instead of "the People," "the Party" is imposed. Eight years is long enough for any political official and party, whether legislative, executive, or judicial.
"The army...now begins to grow sickly," a surgeon told General Washington in 1777, "poor food-hard lodging-cold weather-fatigue-nasty clothes-nasty cookery...Why are we sent here to starve and freeze?"(3) A politically polarized nation always grows sickly too. Political stagnation has a chilling effect, causing citizens to become disengaged and to freeze and starve to death. Only the warm sun of compromise, spring rains of understanding, and the temperate winds of toleration, will solve the icy politically polarized vortexes that have produced crippling conditions and a frightful despotism.
Dallas Darling (firstname.lastname@example.org)
(Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John's Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.worldnews.com. You can read more of Dallas' writings at www.beverlydarling.com and wn.com//dallasdarling.)
(3) Ibid., p. 138.
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