The Class Struggle Is Over-- the Wealthy Win

The soggy announcement speech of Richard Lamm dispels any illusion that the misnamed Party of Reform (a.k.a. Perot Party) might actually inject the more serious afflictions of American society into the public dialogue. He promises to balance the budget and to tell the truth, which is, with exception of the latter, just what the major parties offer.

This means that President Clinton’s “character” will be the decisive issue in this most dreary and disheartening of political years. Will the fierce Republican attacks that are surely coming be outweighed by the comparatively undisturbed state of the country and the perceived inadequacies of Bob Dole? It will be a nasty, slanderous, low road contest on both sides. And it looks now as if Clinton will prevail, although his support is so thin, so poorly founded that it could be dissipated by events.

But whoever wins, we can be confident that at the end of four years the rich will be richer, there will be more who are poor, the rest of us will be worse off and today’s empty election will be revealed as a mere postponement of the stormy clashes within a fiercely fractured society.

By now the once undisclosed secret of American life, the collapse of economic justice, has been amply documented. It is now apparent to all who read that we are amid the greatest redistribution of income upward since before the Great Depression. Political power is now firmly in the hands of the money power in a symbiotic relationship that feeds inequity and injustice. And there is no chance that either political party will reverse this process. Indeed they are part of it. Thus the election is little more than a sign that class struggle in America has now ended in the triumph of the wealthy.

But it is unlikely to be a lasting victory. Discontent at this flagrant violation of the democratic faith has already led to unrest which will intensify as the realities of economic injustice become increasingly visible to more Americans. The campaign of Pat Buchanan was an early sign. Inheriting the elements of his ideology from Father Coughlin and the Southern populists, Buchanan blended nativism, fundamentalist Christianity and an attack on corporate power. But it was his assault on organized wealth, not his old-style social reaction, which led to his success in the early primaries and thrust the issue of economic justice into the public dialogue. For a while. The guardians of the established order soon closed ranks to eject this alien presence.

Now our public leaders are happy to debate the issues of abortion or gay rights or--God save us--”family values” as a welcome diversion from the serious flaws in American life, just as in the 1920s when the nation, approaching its most serious economic crisis, was consumed with a struggle over the right to drink alcohol. After all, the right to an abortion is not in serious danger. Nor can the government do anything about the deterioration of families and communities which is itself partly--not wholly--a consequence of economic injustice.

Let us be clear about what is happening to America. The country itself is getting richer. That’s what economic growth means. But that slowly mounting wealth has been plundered for the benefit of a handful. Corporations are getting richer. Wealthy individuals are getting richer. Those who invest in stocks and bonds are getting much richer. I myself am doing much better, being fortunate enough to have climbed into the top few percent. (Nor do I work any harder or better than before.) But for everyone else there is stagnation or, much worse, a deterioration in the quality of life. For example, the value of securities has increased by $2 trillion in the last year and a half. Almost none of that went to the politicians’ much beloved middle class; none of it went to the poor.

This grotesque injustice is not divinely ordained. Nor is it an inevitable consequence of our economic system. Wealth is derived from power. And power in America is exercised almost exclusively by the wealthy.

It was not always like this. In the Kennedy metaphor, a rising tide once lifted all the boats. Now most of the boats are stranded on the beach while the yachts ride comfortably on the incoming waters. This sensed injustice is reflected in the increasing strains of daily life, which feed a multitude of political currents. Colin Powell is preparing the ground for an independent candidacy. Buchanan is doing the same. There is a growing number of outlaw groups. And this fall a number of organizations that call themselves Populist will hold their first convention in Texas.

The sense of distress, of being cheated, that underlies this fragmentation is not ideological. It could as well seek relief to the right as to the political left. Or it could be suppressed by the structure of economic and political power at great sacrifice to liberty. What is inconceivable is that things could remain the same. The issues are far too large. Only a relatively mild economic downturn will be needed to transform American public life. And as every student of economics knows, such a downturn is inevitable. When that happens, as it must, the only question for most of us will be the only significant question of social struggle: Which side are you on?