Remember Solon?
Faced with a peasant revolt, the citizens of Athens elected Solon as Grand Archon. The situation was real bad because the gap between the rich and poor had grown so wide that great masses were faced with starvation while a select few grew fat in the lap of luxury.
Solon redistributed land, taxed the rich at a rate 12x higher than the poor, and offered lifetime support for the children of those whose fathers gave their lives in service to the State. In essence he redistributed wealth and relieved the social pressures that where leading Athens to a messy Civil war. The rich complained that they were rewarding the lazy and undeserving, violating their property rights and stifling trade. In any event, the gap was removed, the pressure released and the war was averted which led to a golden age before Paraclese.
Later the rich removed Solon's reforms, the peasants revolted and killed the Aristocracy.
This misteak was repeated down thru history from Rome to the French and the Russian Revolutions. Most people don't remember that revolution/rebellion/revolt was a serious threat during the great depression. In Nebraska, judges who presided over bankruptcy hearings were lynched. Americans idolized criminals like Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillenger. It was only after FDR redistributed wealth thru the new deal that the pressure was relieved and the crisis was averted.
The same was true in the 1960's. Riots weren't all about civil rights, but also about urban poverty. LBJ did a lot to relieve the pressure with his "Great Society".
The historian Will Durant documented this in his book "Lessons of History", a classic. But the rich don't quite agree with his analysis. When they rioted in LA, Bush 1st blamed it on Johnson. I guess he meant if the rioters were crushed back in the 60's, we wouldn't have to deal with them 30 years later.
Now the gap is widening again. Its wider now than any time since the Roman Empire. The Republicans and rich industries like Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing and Retail are milking the taxpayer for every dime they can in the face of multi billion dollar deficits. GM makes some bad decisions and they lay off 30,000 workers. Most of them are in their 40's and 50's and will never have another middle class job in their lives. Walmart might hire them at minimum wage with no benefits or union protection.
Want to bet even if they fire GM's CEO for incompetance, he'll still walk away with millions of dollars in stock options and never have to work another day in his life. Is it any surprise that dozens of Republican politicians, from the Governor of Ohio, Robert Taft, to state legislators to the U.S. Senate are facing corruption and bribery charges? An old republican, Abe Lincoln, once witnessed the graft going on in the Civil war and said "tsck! too many piglets for the teats!" meaning they were sucking the government dry during a crisis.
We've been here before. The pressure is begining to build. Who are we going to elect in 2008;
Solon or Louis the XV?
Solon redistributed land, taxed the rich at a rate 12x higher than the poor, and offered lifetime support for the children of those whose fathers gave their lives in service to the State. In essence he redistributed wealth and relieved the social pressures that where leading Athens to a messy Civil war. The rich complained that they were rewarding the lazy and undeserving, violating their property rights and stifling trade. In any event, the gap was removed, the pressure released and the war was averted which led to a golden age before Paraclese.
Later the rich removed Solon's reforms, the peasants revolted and killed the Aristocracy.
This misteak was repeated down thru history from Rome to the French and the Russian Revolutions. Most people don't remember that revolution/rebellion/revolt was a serious threat during the great depression. In Nebraska, judges who presided over bankruptcy hearings were lynched. Americans idolized criminals like Bonnie and Clyde, and John Dillenger. It was only after FDR redistributed wealth thru the new deal that the pressure was relieved and the crisis was averted.
The same was true in the 1960's. Riots weren't all about civil rights, but also about urban poverty. LBJ did a lot to relieve the pressure with his "Great Society".
The historian Will Durant documented this in his book "Lessons of History", a classic. But the rich don't quite agree with his analysis. When they rioted in LA, Bush 1st blamed it on Johnson. I guess he meant if the rioters were crushed back in the 60's, we wouldn't have to deal with them 30 years later.
Now the gap is widening again. Its wider now than any time since the Roman Empire. The Republicans and rich industries like Pharmaceuticals, Manufacturing and Retail are milking the taxpayer for every dime they can in the face of multi billion dollar deficits. GM makes some bad decisions and they lay off 30,000 workers. Most of them are in their 40's and 50's and will never have another middle class job in their lives. Walmart might hire them at minimum wage with no benefits or union protection.
Want to bet even if they fire GM's CEO for incompetance, he'll still walk away with millions of dollars in stock options and never have to work another day in his life. Is it any surprise that dozens of Republican politicians, from the Governor of Ohio, Robert Taft, to state legislators to the U.S. Senate are facing corruption and bribery charges? An old republican, Abe Lincoln, once witnessed the graft going on in the Civil war and said "tsck! too many piglets for the teats!" meaning they were sucking the government dry during a crisis.
We've been here before. The pressure is begining to build. Who are we going to elect in 2008;
Solon or Louis the XV?
posted by chuckamok at 2:33 PM
2 Comments:
The only Solon available would be perhaps Ralph Nader, I'll bet it will be another Luis who gets elected. Nobody from the rich wants to fix the problem if it will cost them anything, they all just want it to go away. Well it's not going away. But those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat its mistakes again. The french revolution was no fun, neither was the russian one.
They told Nader his candidacy was a vain indulgence.
I voted democrat but in no way discouraged anyone from voting their conscience, once they decided. Democracy dies when there is no freedom of choice. There hasn't been a democracy in the US for almost a decade the consequenses of which we see now with flagrant abuses of power, and graft.
Life is an active struggle. If we don't deliberately decide that we want our nation to live, it will certainly die. The Greeks chose Solon to live, and dispelled his reforms to die. We'd better find a Solon.
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