The Rich Steal From the Government; The Government Defends the Rich

The violent conflict between rich as poor is as obvious as it is infuriating. According to today's New York Times, The American International Group, beneficiary of a $170 billion bail-out, is preparing to dole out $100 million in bonuses to executives as thousands around the country lose their homes to foreclosure, struggle with their first days, weeks, and months of homelessness, and fail to find gainful work. Our economy is crashing, families are struggling to live, and the rich continue to steal from the poor, the people, those who pay taxes.

We cannot rely on the government to get us out of the mess. The government continues to allow the rich to steal from the poor: our labor, our homes, our lives. We cannot rely on the benevolence of foundations controlled by the ruling class to provide funds for us to get at the root issues that are worsening poverty in the United States.

We need to take power into our hands, take the land, take the resources we need, take the spaces consolidated and privatized by the wealthy. Through privatization, the rich have gained control over land, water, and air. The time to liberate these resources is now.

The contradictions between those who have and those who have nothing have rarely been as apparent within the United States. After a decade of murdering Arabs, bailing out corrupt bankers, imprisoning black and brown people, and destroying public health, education, and welfare, the ruling class is making a mockery out of the courage of good people.

The time to defy the rich, the ruling class, the government has rarely been as ripe as it is now. If we want to survive the cataclysmic environmental and economic collapse the ruling class is bringing on, we must take the wealth they have stolen from humans and the earth and put it to sustainable, healthy, and egalitarian use. We cannot surrender everything to the rich.