The Issue
In simplest terms, the history of the world is an interplay between have's and have-not's. Haves are always the masters, owners, and rulers, with unbridled power and rich privilege. They live as kings, queens, senators, congressmen, corporate mucky-mucks, fat-cat lobbyists. Have-not's are slaves, subjects, and laborers, with small incomes and no clout. They work as waitresses, bus drivers, nurses, teachers, secretaries, dishwashers. The haves proclaim that poor people are lazy, rich people are superior beings, and all this talk about economic imbalance sounds like evil Marxist socialism.
Within George W. Bush's America, the inequity gap between the "uppers" and "lowers" grew greater than ever. The situation is unjust, fragile, and dangerous. Throughout history, haves have ruthlessly exploited have-nots, eventually beyond a safe equilibrium. And the result--always--is some kind of revolution, frequently violent. One example was the American Revolution of 1775-83.
Actions Needed
- Support a Generous Minimum-Wage
- Defeat National Sales Tax (aka "Fair Tax")
- Give All Citizens Health Care
- Make Corporations Nourishing and Humane
U.S. Presidential Candidates:
"Economic Justice"
WEAK
- Rudy Giuliani
- Mike Huckabee
- Duncan Hunter
- Alan Keyes
- John McCain
- Mitt Romney
- Fred Thompson
STRONG
- Chris Dodd
- John Edwards
- Barack Obama
SOURCES: Candidates Scorecard and Who Stands for What?
Make a Difference NOW
The Highlander Center was founded in 1932 to serve as an adult education center for community workers involved in social and economic justice movements. Highlander's goal is to provide education and support to poor and working people fighting economic injustice, poverty, prejudice, and environmental destruction. We help grassroots leaders create the tools necessary for building broad-based movements for change. The founding principle and guiding philosophy of Highlander is that the answers to the problems facing society lie in the experiences of ordinary people. Those experiences, so often belittled and denigrated in society, are the keys to grassroots power. WHAT TO DO: Donate. Buy Books. Support the "We Shall Overcome" Fund.
Background Sources
BOOKS
- Joe Conason, The Raw Deal: How the Bush Republicans Plan to Destroy Social Security and the Legacy of the New Deal (PoliPoint Press, 2005).
- Charles Derber, People Before Profit (Picador, 2002).
- Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed: on (Not) Getting By in America (Metropolitan Owl, 2001).
- Thom Hartmann, Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class—and What You Can Do About It (Berrett Koehler, 2006).
- Greg LeRoy, The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation (Berrett Koehler, 2005).
- Katherine Newman and Victor Tan Chen, The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America (Beacon Press, 2007).
- David K. Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America (Vintage Books, 2005).
- John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 1939).
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