Most of us feel warm fuzzy feelings when we read\nproclamations of human equality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe hold these truths\nto be self-evident, that all men are created equal\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet we inhabit a world of mansions and trailer parks,\nhigh-rise offices and sweatshops, four-star hotels and homeless camps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That ought to create intense cognitive dissonance, but\nsomehow it feels normal. Such is life in\na world where Power controls the stories and defines acceptable\nworldviews. We claim to be fighting for\na more just and equal world, but \u201cjust\u201d and \u201cequal\u201d are carefully defined to\nallow vast and growing inequalities to remain unexamined, to be viewed solely\nas the natural outcome of a free and fair market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We fling hatred at each other across political divides, and\nyet somehow neither side ever opposes Power. \nThat is intentional. Narratives\nthat oppose Power are quietly and effectively silenced, cancelled, invalidated,\ndebunked by \u201cexperts.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s time we took a good hard look at this Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Power is unequal exchange. \nAny time labor or wealth is coercively extracted from one person or one\nnation for the benefit of others, Power is in play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Power is not the same as wealth. It is entirely possible to become wealthy, to\na point, without invoking Power \u2013 by, for example, writing a book that millions\nof people choose to read, or inventing a technology that millions of people\nchoose to buy. Power enters the picture\nwhen there is no real choice; when the profit is collected in exchange for\nbasic human needs like food, shelter, medical care, or education; or when\nworkers are paid less than a living wage for full-time employment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Power is a continuum, and that continuum includes both institutions that are considered perfectly normal and acceptable, and institutions that are deemed outdated and morally bankrupt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHard imperialism\u201d here refers to the globe-spanning\ncolonialism of the British, French, and Spanish Empires in the 16th<\/sup>-19th<\/sup>\ncenturies, while \u201csoft imperialism\u201d refers to the standard US foreign policy of\ninstalling\/supporting puppet governments that create the same sort of\nimpoverishment and resource extraction but under a guise of sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Power represents unearned wealth and the systems that\nfacilitate the transfer of unearned wealth. \nAlthough we have the unfortunate habit of counting all income as\n\u201cearnings,\u201d truly earned wealth is acquired through transactions in which both\nparties benefit equally. Unearned wealth\nis acquired through transactions in which the one who pays has no other\nreasonable options. It is not so much\nearned as it is taken.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNo one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars.\u201d<\/em><\/p>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez A history of the United States of America, perhaps more than any other nation, is a history of expanding Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are a young nation, and one that has risen from\nconception to global domination in the span of a few human lifetimes. We have not done that because God ordained it\nso, or because we are especially virtuous and intelligent. We have done it because we swore an\nallegiance to Power, and from the Trail of Tears to Wounded Knee, from the\nAlamo to the banana republics, from the forests of Vietnam to the deserts of\nIraq, we have showed no mercy to those people who dared to demand sovereignty\nand self-determination in the face of this Power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In our commitment to growth, control, and Power, we have not placed a high value on the well-being of our own citizenry. And as we have begun to run out of foreign wealth to extract, and economic growth rates have slowed, the Power has come to bear ever harder on those on the losing end. We can look more closely at the last 50 or so years, from the perspective of economic Power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Medical care and college tuition have been increasing much\nfaster than wages for decades now. In\nmany regions, housing costs have been increasing as well. The Reagan years saw the adoption of\nneoliberal economics \u2013 with the aim of an unrestricted global market. Coupled with the soft imperialism that had\nalready devalued labor and currency in \u201cdeveloping\u201d nations around the world,\nthis led to a vast offshoring of manufacturing jobs. Those companies that kept US factories open\nhad to compete with cheap foreign goods, which drove down wages and\nbenefits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Beginning in the 1990s, multinational corporations\ncatabolized small businesses around the nation. \nSmall-town hardware stores lost to regional Home Depots and\nWalmarts. Hometown bookstores lost to\nAmazon. Local coffee shops lost to\nStarbucks. Small farms either failed or grew\nto thousands of acres. And the list goes\non. In all cases, jobs were either lost\noutright or else squeezed (longer hours, more responsibilities, fewer benefits)\nto remain competitive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Following the Great Recession of 2008, the jobs that\nreturned were primarily low-wage, and a greater proportion of work was\nfulfilled by \u201cgig\u201d arrangements: \npart-time, uncertain and unpredictable hours, and no benefits. Taken together, these trends have created\nwhat I call The Great Squeeze: a\nsituation in which a majority of younger Americans are financially\ninsecure. Many are one medical emergency\naway from losing their housing, and few are able to save for a down payment on\nan overpriced house, let alone for eventual retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n None of these things just happened, in the way that the\nweather, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions just happen. They resulted from human decisions, and some\nhumans purchased yachts and retired to seaside mansions as a direct result of\nthose decisions. It is a testament to\nthe power of Power that we talk about these things like the weather, as if we\nhave no choice, as if there is no other option. \nPower controls the stories that are told, and in so doing it controls\nthe way that we think, the way that we see the world, the problems that we\nfocus on, the futures that we believe are possible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is time to confront this Power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It is time to understand the narrative matrix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is time to escape from the narrative matrix.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Part II: Follow the Power What is inequality, really? Most of us feel warm fuzzy feelings when we read proclamations of human equality. \u201cWe hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal\u2026\u201d And yet we inhabit … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.luterra.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Power-1-1024x535.jpg\")
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