Adam Smith, so often revered by today’s champions of “free-markets,” understood that the owners of wealth were more dependent on government than anyone else in a capitalist society:

Laws and government may be considered in this and indeed in every case as a combination of the rich to oppress the poor, and to preserve to themselves the inequality of the goods which would otherwise be soon destroyed by the attacks of the poor, who if not hindered by the government would soon reduce the others to an equality with themselves by open violence. The government and laws hinder the poor from ever acquiring the wealth by violence which they would otherwise exert on the rich; they tell them they must either continue poor or acquire wealth in the same manner as they did.

What the Koch brothers and their political puppets seek to do is to reduce government in the U.S. to this one function of protecting the property of the plutocrats. The humanization of government over the last century was a process through which the poor and middle class were offered more protections against the predations of the wealthy. Access to education, health care, and the enforcement of minimum wage laws and the like, didn’t eliminate gross inequalities, but did reduce them until the 1970’s. Then, Reagan, Thatcher and their ilk began an aggressive push to redistribute back upwards wealth which had found its way into the hands of the lower and middle classes. Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin represents a late phase of this push. He operates in a rust-belt part of America where blue-collar prosperity has diminished, thanks to automation and the outsourcing of good private-sector union jobs. Now it’s time to attack the white-collar middle class. First on the chopping block are teachers and other public-sector workers. Once their unions are busted, it will be easier to lower wages for all well-educated workers in the private sector.

The sad truth is many of these future victims are busy preparing their own demise. Small business owners, insurance agents, lawyers, doctors and accountants might delude themselves into thinking their interests coincide with those of billionaires. Many don’t see paying taxes as a necessary foundation for a sustainable economy. They will soon find out they’re terribly mistaken. The Koch brothers don’t need a healthy middle-class in the U.S. They need only the coercive powers of the state to protect their wealth. Doctors and lawyers, however, will not prosper by catering only to the needs of a handful of plutocrats. People earning a living wage are good customers who can help to grow an economy that works for more than the 1%. People thrown out of work, or earning only subsistence level wages will eventually come to realize their interests don’t coincide with those of the plutocrats and their minions.

Not all plutocrats are stupid. The elimination of due process, with the unprecedented NDAA provisions for indefinite detention without charges, of U.S. citizens and others on U.S. soil by the military, is being sought because the PTB now fear revolt more than losing the image of constitutional, representative government.

We cannot let this corporate fascist takeover of our country go unchallenged.  I implore all who care about preserving decency and humanity on our fragile planet to rise up and resist with creative acts of non-violent civil disobedience.  From the streets of Brooklyn to the dairy farms of Wisconsin, average Americans are awake and eager to push back against oppression. Here in NYS,  many opposing the obscene hydro-fracking industry are passing the hat to establish bail money funds. The MSM will ignore our protests as much as possible. Who cares? If our neighbors see us getting busy in the streets with their own eyes the impact is far greater than a “news” report.

See you on the barricades!