Is Revolution Inevitable Now?

In a democracy-- or even a sham democracy with a fascist-majority Supreme Court and Congress and an Executive that also is dedicated to protecting the ownership claims (on the nation) of the plutocrats who have nurtured their careers-- it's uncomfortable thinking of ourselves (the 99%) as "the subordinate classes." And even the father of conservative thought, Edmund Burke, said we had some rights. As Corey Robin points out in the introduction to The Reactionary Mind, "By virtue of membership in a polity, Burke allowed, men had a great many rights-- to the fruits of their labor, their inheritance, education, and more. But the one right he refused to concede to all men was that 'share of power, authority, and direction' they might think they ought to have in the management of the state'."

As you know, we've been part of an ad hoc coalition of bloggers working with OccupyTheBoardroom to help the 99% find their voice in the fight against plutocracy. There have been thousands of e-mails sent to CEOs and other banksters-- you can read them here-- and there's one in particular I'd like to point out from a guy on the East Side of L.A., Brian Malott, which I found very compelling and powerful:

My parents are paying for your bail out and bonuses with their golden years

To whom it may concern:

My parents, Randal Duane and Frances Marie, have worked hard their entire lives to care for my brother and I and to build a life. They own a modest house and two modest cars and have a minor savings account that they had hoped to grow a little more now that they are in their mid-fifties.

Frances lost her job over two years ago in customer service at a national carpet manufacturer because of cut backs related to the depressed housing market.

Randal lost his job a year ago as a manager of a branch of a company that provided temporary workers for construction and local city and county government. 

They made modest salaries and never benefited from the boom times. They literally saved their pennies to pay off their home and their cars early and to help my grandmother pay for her medications.

Now they spend nearly $2000 a month out of their 30-year-old Bank of America accounts to maintain their COBRA insurance. The savings they worked for over 40 years falls away moment by moment. They seek out cheaper and cheaper foods, clean their devalued home over and over as "entertainment" because they can't afford the gas to go anywhere.

My father is applying for progressively more degrading jobs in the hopes of keeping at least their current austere life. So far he's been virtually ignored because the few available jobs (even at the lowest level) are being given to the younger and equally overqualified applicants.

My parents paid for your inflated salaries, they paid for your speculation, they paid for your bail out, and now they are paying for you to sit on a trillion dollars with their short future.  A future that they sweated and saved for now looks like it will be a series of cheap bulk hamburger meat dinners, punctuated by window washing and heat waves with no air conditioning.

They are the 99% I protest for.

Brian Malott

Most of the members of Congress are part of the 1%. We keep electing millionaires to Congress who legislate against us and our families. It's part of why the Republican Party freaks out-- and why the Democratic Establishment and their pro-corporatist organizations pull their punches-- when someone like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders comes along and tells them to shove their crocodile tears about "class war" up their asses. And what about Obama? Whose side is he on? His own, of course. Does he see a path to victory by sticking up for the 99%?

Rahm Emanuel's and Bill Daley's cronies on Wall Street has pretty much cut him off contribution-wise now. (Other than Blue Dogs, they're cutting off Democrats in general.)

Mitt Romney has raised far more money than Mr. Obama this year from the firms that have been among Wall Street’s top sources of donations for the two candidates.

That gap underscores the growing alienation from Mr. Obama among many rank-and-file financial professionals and Mr. Romney’s aggressive and successful efforts to woo them.

The imbalance exists at large investment banks and hedge funds, private equity firms and commercial banks, according to a New York Times analysis of the firms that accounted for the most campaign contributions from the industry to Mr. Romney and Mr. Obama in 2008, based on data from the Federal Election Commission and the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

It could widen as Mr. Obama, seeking to harness anger over growing income inequality, escalates his criticism of the industry, after a year spent trying to smooth ties bruised by efforts to impose tougher regulations.

...Employees of Goldman Sachs, who in the 2008 campaign gave Mr. Obama over $1 million-- more than donors from any other private employer in the country — have given him about $45,000 this year. Mr. Romney has raised about $350,000 from the firm’s employees.

Saturday, the same day as the Times article appeared, by the way, the president delivered some pretty strong 99%-oriented points to the nation in his weekly address as he discussed "why it was so disappointing to see Senate Republicans obstruct the American Jobs Act, even though a majority of Senators voted 'yes' to advance this jobs bill":

We can’t afford this lack of action. And there is no reason for it. Independent economists say that this jobs bill would give the economy a jumpstart and lead to nearly two million new jobs. Every idea in that jobs bill is the kind of idea both parties have supported in the past. 

The majority of the American people support the proposals in this jobs bill. And they want action from their elected leaders to create jobs and restore some security for the middle class right now. You deserve to see your hard work and responsibility rewarded-- and you certainly deserve to see it reflected in the folks you send to Washington.

But rather than listen to you and put folks back to work, Republicans in the House spent the past couple days picking partisan ideological fights. They’re seeing if they can roll back clean air and water protections.  They’re stirring up fights over a woman’s right to make her own health care choices. They’re not focused on the concrete actions that will put people back to work right now. 

Well, we’re going to give them another chance. We’re going to give them another chance to spend more time worrying about your jobs than keeping theirs. 

Next week, I’m urging Members of Congress to vote on putting hundreds of thousands of teachers back in the classroom, cops back on the streets, and firefighters back on the job.

And if they vote “no” on that, they’ll have to tell you why. They’ll have to tell you why teachers in your community don’t deserve a paycheck again. They’ll have to tell your kids why they don’t deserve to have their teacher back. They’ll have to tell you why they’re against commonsense proposals that would help families and strengthen our communities right now.

In the coming weeks, we’ll have them vote on the other parts of the jobs bill-- putting construction workers back on the job, rebuilding our roads and bridges; providing tax cuts for small businesses that hire our veterans; making sure that middle-class families don’t see a tax hike next year and that the unemployed and our out-of-work youth have a chance to get back in the workforce and earn their piece of the American Dream.
 
That’s what’s at stake. Putting people back to work. Restoring economic security for the middle class. Rebuilding an economy where hard work is valued and responsibility is rewarded-- an economy that’s built to last. And I’m going to travel all over the country over the next few weeks so that we can remind Congress that’s their job. Because there’s still time to create jobs and grow our economy right now. There’s still time for Congress to do the right thing. We just need to act. 

Or is it too little too late? Is the revolution on? And who's side will Obama be on then? Do you really have to ask?

And, at this point, this is the guy who most Republican primary voters see as their best hope for a bright future: