The inevitable outcome of too much power
The unfettered consolidation of power leads inevitably to violence. This is the lesson history teaches us over and over again.
Dear friends: April has arrived along with the changeable weather of spring in our valley. It’s lovely and intense and unpredictable, like life.
In the wider world, the news out of Ukraine is horrific. “War crimes” is both too tame and too limited a phrase: war itself is a crime against humanity. To know that humans engaged in war enact extreme violence against those they have been indoctrinated to see as less than human, well, that is heartbreaking. But we refute the notion of acceptable violence that is implied by defining certain violent acts as criminal. There is no humane act of war.
Meanwhile, the reports from the investigations into the violent attack on Congress in January 2021 show us how close we were (and perhaps still are) to living in a nation more like Russia: leaders sworn to uphold the Constitution actively engaged in multiple attempts to overthrow the results of free and fair elections and hang on to power.
The unfettered consolidation of power leads inevitably to violence. This is the lesson history teaches us over and over again.
For decades, at least since the so-called “Reagan Revolution,” wealth and power in this country has been accumulating at the top. Wealth disparity in the U.S. is at its most extreme since the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. With wealth comes influence, not only over the outcome of legislation but over what kinds of legislation is considered.
In 2012, for example, over 40% of political contributions from individuals came from the top one-hundredth of one-percent of the wealth curve. In other words: under 500 families had influence that accounted for almost half of private contributions that year. This doesn’t count dark money (it’s called “dark money” because donors can remain hidden) or corporate contributions. (Source: Robert Reich’s “Wealth and Poverty” class offered at Berkeley and made public - see link after the photo.)
As we witness the dreadful impact of concentrated wealth and power in Russia’s war on the Ukrainian people, and on our own democratic institutions, we recommit ourselves to action. We can only prevent further concentration of power by standing up for democracy, for voting rights, for inclusion of all people in their right to self-government.
This is our most profound challenge, and in the balance hangs the well-being of our human family and our beloved planet.
Thank you for joining me on this ever-evolving journey.
See Robert Reich’s data about the influence of wealth on politics here, starting about minute 28 (but watching the entire class is worthwhile):