I'd like to try something new today, seeing as history is always on my mind. Forgive me if this diary is a tad long winded, but I mostly intend to start a meaningful conversation about why the similarities of events in history to those of today, and why we can never seem to learn from them.
I'll understand if you prefer to read this in smaller doses. In fact, I'll even recommend you do so for the sake of not being bored to death. With that, I'll begin.
I've been wanting to write something like this for a while now. I've actually tried a few times but I can't get the words out.
I feel that American History, as it has been taught in the last few decades in particular, is a lie. We always hear about how a bunch of 18th century rich white men wearing powdered wigs were the greatest men whoever lived because they gave us life as we know it.
But when we look at history from our perspective, by which I mean from the common person's point of view, I can't help but be tempted to call Bullshit on the whole thing. In fact, I'm even willing to go so far as to say that most of the founders were just plutocratic chickenhawks who were only in it for themselves.
Things like the Whiskey Rebellion and the Shays' Rebellion are often looked at with a passing glance, and that's probably because the causes that led to both would tear down the glorified image many of us hold in our minds.
Both rebellions had one thing in common: An opposition to plutocratic rule. Daniel Shays was a soldier during the Revolutionary War who had not been paid his dues after it was all said and done. This was actually pretty common, as many soldiers weren't paid what they were promised for serving in the Continental Army while commanding officers were paid salaries which back then would have been considered lavish.
After the war ended, the elites in Massachusetts imposed what could be called a gold standard in order to pay for goods and services, shortages be damned. This led to many soldiers losing their homes and farms to land speculators who were able to sell their plots for pennies on the dollar.
Litigation didn't help either, as lawyers were charging out the ass for legal counsel. The protests and armed insurrections that followed as a result hastened the ratification of the Constitution.
Once this was done, Washington used his new powers granted to him to stamp out the Whiskey Rebellion, which was a response to a tax imposed on farmers who had operated small whiskey stills to supplement their income. This practice was especially popular on the frontier because cash was often in short supply.
Washington himself also owned one of the largest whiskey distilleries of the 18th century, so it can be at least speculated that Washington was looking to take out his smaller competitors.
So what does any of this have to do with today? First off, Tesla Motor Company has been barred from selling cars in both Texas and New Jersey because electric cars scare the living hell out of the corporate establishment and their bought politicians here in America. And of course, the oil barons who own the state of Texas don't want electric cars cutting into their already massive profits.
As for selling out the commons, all we have to do is look at the policies and actions of our so-called elites over the past four decades. Local economies across the country have been ravaged by the blatant organized theft committed by the moneyed class against the rest of us. There are nearly no jobs left, and those that are left pay little more than subsistence wages.
Workers have been forbidden from organizing under the threat of both employer and political retaliation. Thanks to the asinine threats of retaliation from one Bob Corker (?), Volkswagen, a company that not only allows its workers to unionize but practically requires them to do so, will no longer build factories in the southern United States.
Now they're coming for Social Security, Medicare, National Parks, Public Education and virtually anything considered part of the commons, just like the 18th century plutocrats did as I mentioned above the orange squiggly.
I don't know how or when we'll put forth a conscious effort to stop this shit, but I sure hope it's sooner rather than later.
Next time I'll try my hand at writing about Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, and why thanks to the Texas Board of Education, we're no longer allowed to talk about either of them.
See you around,
Homer