Oh, yeah, I’m not convincing myself that sustained change will come from this, but it did change for a minute, and that’s the point. They know how to behave, and when forced to, they will, but we also know they’ll go right back to being shitheads, first chance they get.
So we just have to stay on them, keep legislating against them, keep regulating them. Mostly we have to slap them down when they start talking back, and acting like they are more important than the rest of us. They are not, we are.
We citizens are the reason this nation exists, not the wealthy. The wealthy are here to serve US, not the other way around. If their corporations aren’t serving the American people, and if in fact they are damaging American interests and society, the Oligarch in charge should be imprisoned, their company should be confiscated, and operated by those who will prioritize responsibly.
Shareholders will unhappily lose their investments, and in the future they will learn to encourage their CEOs to behave within the law and reasonable society.
Just don’t forget that many of the shareholders are not in fact “the rich”, but the “better than average” middle class who will hand power to the filthy rich so long as those in power will keep punching down the lowest class on their behalf. We are surrounded by ladder-pullers and gate-keepers who have a lot more in common with the rest of us than they do their billionaire idols, but will fight to keep the illusion that they are superior. It’s a class war, but it’s also a class civil war since a lot of our peers are convinced their participation makes them a part of the club. The change won’t happen until we can convince our neighbors empowering leaders and systems that promise them the world will, in fact, just use their cash/votes to enrich themselves and occasionally toss some bread and a circus.
Oh, yeah, I’m not convincing myself that sustained change will come from this, but it did change for a minute, and that’s the point. They know how to behave, and when forced to, they will, but we also know they’ll go right back to being shitheads, first chance they get.
So we just have to stay on them, keep legislating against them, keep regulating them. Mostly we have to slap them down when they start talking back, and acting like they are more important than the rest of us. They are not, we are.
We citizens are the reason this nation exists, not the wealthy. The wealthy are here to serve US, not the other way around. If their corporations aren’t serving the American people, and if in fact they are damaging American interests and society, the Oligarch in charge should be imprisoned, their company should be confiscated, and operated by those who will prioritize responsibly.
Shareholders will unhappily lose their investments, and in the future they will learn to encourage their CEOs to behave within the law and reasonable society.
Just don’t forget that many of the shareholders are not in fact “the rich”, but the “better than average” middle class who will hand power to the filthy rich so long as those in power will keep punching down the lowest class on their behalf. We are surrounded by ladder-pullers and gate-keepers who have a lot more in common with the rest of us than they do their billionaire idols, but will fight to keep the illusion that they are superior. It’s a class war, but it’s also a class civil war since a lot of our peers are convinced their participation makes them a part of the club. The change won’t happen until we can convince our neighbors empowering leaders and systems that promise them the world will, in fact, just use their cash/votes to enrich themselves and occasionally toss some bread and a circus.