Occupying Wall Street and Other Bastions of Wealth and Power

Out to Pastoral

by John Idol

BURLINGTON North Carolina— (WeeklyHubris)—10/24/11—My grudge against robber barons dates fromthe mid 18^th century, when Johann Eitel ventured down the Rhine River on his way to Pennsylvania. Like other migrating youths of the time, his money pouch became lighter and lighter at each baron’s toll gate. The barons enriched themselves at the expense of the poor.

So bereft of money was he when the vessel carrying him and other immigrants to Philadelphia disembarked, he had to become an indentured servant, unable as he was to pay for his passage. No doubt he became happy with the deal that allowed him to leave the St. Andrews, the ship that carried him to the New World, for he eventually married his master’s daughter and ended up with an over 2,000-acre spread of farmland near High Point, North Carolina. He did indeed prosper, running a tavern, tilling the soil, and raising a large family.

His prosperity rested on twin pillars—his own hard work and the eagerness of one of the Lord Proprietor, John Carteret, Lord Granville, to have settlers occupy acreage in his tract of North Carolina land and pay taxes on it. From that grant of 200 acres, Johann Eitel was to launch a family that has enjoyed a comfortable level of living as they poured their energy into bettering themselves.

Of course, I’m simply offering up here a digest of the achievement of the American dream.

In my view, and I’m not alone is so thinking, the barons of Wall Street and their kind in other cities, have quashed that dream. Unlike Lord Granville, who used his primary resource, land, to attract hard-working people to take up residence in North Carolina (Johann came down from Pennsylvania), holders of wealth in modern-day America seem driven to acquire greater riches through schemes, acting out of greed rather than plans to gain more wealth by sharing income with a work force that helps create it.

Sadly, our nation has a long history of exploitation of the poor by the rich, one of its ugliest chapters coming during the Gilded Age, a period when the lords of industry, transportation, and merchandizing made vast fortunes while employees were paid pittances. Attempts by laborers to gain a fair shake were often trampled underfoot. Well, more than trampled—quashed by force, subterfuge, government at the local and state level in the pocket of the super-rich. Among the shames of the country was putting children to work in factories, especially in Southern textile mills.

But it’s not robber barons alone in these times who engage in fleecing. Take for example the group working in Dallas for ENRON, who, reputedly, gleefully chuckled as plans were being drawn up to take control of electrical power plants in California. Why worry about brown-outs in California as long as bank accounts grow in Texas?

Far more devious and undermining of the nation’s economy were those schemes hatched to sell worthless mortgages to banks, investment firms, and private investors. Here were not Madoffs cranking out a Ponzi scheme, but officers in firms thought to be honest and fair-dealing. Here were employees of respected investment companies and banks out to enrich themselves, thereby creating a financial crisis that ultimately struck hardest at the middle-class and poor.

Loss of jobs, lack of money for college education, too little revenue to keep teachers and policemen at work, no serious efforts to repair bridges and roads, and foreclosures by the hundreds of thousands around the country imperil our nation, potentially leaving it a decidedly second-rate power.

But what care plutocrats if they can continue to flourish and live the “good life”?

The federal government’s action to stem the disastrous results to the national well-being dug deeply into the taxpayers’ wallets, while perpetrators of the scheme often gleaned bonuses and fat renewals of contracts. A Wall-Street mentality had seemingly been untouched, had still remained uncaring.

Thus, thanks to knowing, concerned, pissed-off citizens, came into being the Occupyers of Wall Street. I see in them and their sympathizers a force dedicated to fighting an entrenched plutocracy while trying to revive the spirit of democracy. They are a force countering greed, corruption, and special interests, a force speaking up for honesty and fair-dealing.

I welcome every news account reporting the spread of the movement, but I’m still disheartened by the sparse numbers their rallies attract. I may be far off base, far too prone to regret the lack of spirited participation by labor and church leaders, far too willing to press charges against the  schemers and profiteers. Thus, I find it difficult not to steal words from Thomas Payne and say, “Now is the time to come to the aid of your country.” I take heart in the news that the movement has reached other nations, for plutocracy isn’t just an American problem. We must not be meek if we are to thwart the robber barons among us.

With the plutocratic ruling of the Supreme Court that corporations can invest in elections, I raise my one small voice in favor of the Occupyers, those champions of democracy. May their cause succeed.