Progressive Ponderings: On the Ground in Madison, Part 3

What common good?

by Joe Mayer, Feb. 23, 2011

“First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist. Then they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a Catholic. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

This quote is from German Pastor Martin Niemoller regarding the silence of intellectuals and churches that followed the rise of Nazi power.

What has this got to do with Madison? Look at who was targeted; communists and socialists, Jews and Catholics, and TRADE UNIONISTS; with their strength in numbers and influence on citizens, they were a threat to the combined corporate and state power (fascism). This targeting worked for the Nazis! People like Niemoller stood alone.

Fast forward to President Ronald Reagan, 1981-1989. Reagan still influences the conservative corporate agenda. He had two disastrous effects on our democracy and on our attempts at being a more equitable people. 1) He fired the unionized air traffic controllers which set the stage for massive union busting. 2) In his first inaugural address, Jan 20, 1981, he stated, “Government is not the solution to our problems: government is the problem.” For these and other “war-on-the-middle-class” initiatives, conservatives and corporations have attempted to canonize him.

But look at the results:

• In the 1970s the upper 1% of income recipients amassed 9% of total U.S. income. It is now over 20%.
• The top marginal income tax rate has dropped from 70% in 1980 to 35% today.
• Income from investments is now taxed at lower rates than earned income.
• Percentage of workers in unions was about 25% in the mid ‘70s, today about 9%.
• Top corporate federal income tax rate: 1981 – 46%, 2010 – 35%. This number is meaningless as Exxon, the highest profit earner in world history paid zero income tax in 2009 and actually got a rebate. Corporations receive rebates, depletion allowances, credits for thousands of items, subsidies and entitlements along with re-chartering all or some of their business in tax havens which allow them to exist tax-free.

The above bullets indicate that as union membership declined, government FACILITATED the increased economic stratification of American society.

Refer back to the first paragraph. Think of the victims as scapegoats. Now substitute the following as victims: immigrants, gays and lesbians, union members, protesters (environmental, war, nuclear...), pregnant women and women in general, Muslims... Fascism was and is a combination of corporate and state power that rules with an iron hand over individuals that are their scapegoats.

By claiming “government is the problem,” corporations have stepped into the vacuum and purchased power – the power of the people – for their own selfish interests. Many states are lined up to follow Wisconsin if Governor Walker destroys the working class.

Notice that Pastor Niemoller refers to the inactivity of the churches in speaking out against fascists. When was the last time you heard a Sunday sermon about social justice and the role of government to provide for the common good?

(Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here.)