Time to face the facts

By guest author Dot Walsh

People Get Ready: The Fight Against a Jobless Economy and a Citizenless Democracy is a new book by Robert W. McChesney with John Nichols, the popular national affairs correspondent at The Nation. The authors write that “The United States retains the facade of democracy. It remains a democracy on paper and in our hearts. But ours is, increasingly, a citizenless democracy…Oligarchs and their servants call the shots for the feudal serfs of corporate capital.”

As with the environment, the threat to democracy is dire. The United States has created, as Dr. Kathie Malley-Morrison pointed out, the greatest wealth inequality since the 1920s. McChesney and Nichols warn us that the technological revolution is contributing to the ever-increasing wealth and power of a tiny minority of Americans at the expense of everyone else—a problem that needs a revolutionary solution to avoid the massive unemployment and undemocratization that will accompany unfettered capitalism.

All is not lost. People still have the vote and the economy has not completely crashed yet. There are some ways that citizens can take back their power and create a peaceful revolution. Locally, the willingness of ordinary citizens to protest against developments that endanger their lives and their environment can be seen in the opposition to new pipelines and fracking . On a broader level, social media like change.org provide a way for individuals and groups to speak out against powerful organizations engaged in harmful pursuits

Dot Walsh is a lifelong peace activist and member of the Engaging Peace Board of Directors.