Hard-working Americans should stand up against the ruling elite

Column by Zachary Kiser

Something is desperately wrong in our America. That is a given. As I flip through the channels it seems as if every pundit or “expert” on every 24-hour news network has the real reason for what is going on in our America, and they are quick to point out how they would fix it. What we as Americans must realize is that the greedy fat cats on Wall Street and the ineffective dinosaurs in Washington are only symptoms of the true problem. The real problem lies within the system itself, or more exactly, what the system has become.

No longer is our government an entity “of the people, by the people and for the people.” Instead, it is a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Our government has become callous to the needs of the lower and middle classes, and in doing so has perverted the American dream. According to the upper class that runs our country, if we can’t pay the bills, then we aren’t working hard enough.

Tell this to the single mother of two who works three jobs, just so her kids can have a place to sleep and a meager amount of food to eat. Tell this to the elderly man who worked 60 years at a job, only to find that upon retirement his CEO and board of directors have emptied the corporate pension account, and now must take up a low-paying job just to pay for his medication. These people aren’t lazy and they are not freeloaders. These people are victims of a war that has been waged since the dawn of time, the class war.

Many would say that there is no longer a class war, and they are correct. The class war has already been fought and the winner has emerged. The upper class, the aristocracy, the bourgeois or whatever else you may call them, have won the battle. And to the victors go the spoils. The upper class has positioned them in every place of power imaginable, be it government or the financial institutions of this country.

Gone are the days in which the common man could make a serious impact on his government. No longer can the common man run for government office in hopes of making a difference. Instead he must take his ideas to a congressman, a man of wealth and power, and hope that the congressman will take notice. That is not the American dream or the spirit of the American democracy. That is feudalism updated for the 21st century.

We as a middle class must bow to our feudal lords in government and business in so many instances. Whether we are relying on the government to provide us with crucial funding for our education, or we are dependent upon a CEO not to raid our pension accounts, we are still heavily enslaved by the system. No longer does government provide the atmosphere for the true American dream. Instead we are forced into being pawns in the aristocracy’s American dream.

Something must be done to bring America back to the people and to restore the ideas of an America where everyone gets a fair shake, not just those who can afford it. We, the middle class, need to rise up and tell Washington and Wall Street that enough is enough. No longer will we be expendable pawns in your pursuit of greed and gluttony. This is our America and we must take it back before it is too late.