The richest members of American society are ramping up class warfare. As time goes on, it is increasingly difficult for lower and middle class households to obtain healthcare, higher education, quality housing and financial security — all the result of specific policies enacted by the representatives of the upper class that control our government. At the same time, the richest and most powerful people in our society are showered with privileges and gifts from the government in the form of tax breaks, subsidies and inflated government contracts while simultaneously bringing in record profits.
Over 36 million Americans do not have health insurance, which means they must suffer either from crushing medical debt after costly doctor or hospital visits, or simply avoid medical treatment and die early. Student loan debt is eliminating middle class financial stability, as the total amount of outstanding student loan debt in the country is upwards of $1.4 trillion. Vicious lenders ruthlessly target lower income communities of color in large cities for predatory lending, trapping them in a system that is practically indentured servitude. Real estate developers are transforming big cities into islands of privilege for society’s wealthiest members, while simultaneously kicking out lower income families, mostly people of color, who have lived there their whole lives and can no longer pay the rent.
Despite these shockingly open acts of class warfare, the mainstream political culture essentially ignores issues of inequality and upward wealth redistribution. This is partially the result of structural factors related to how the media operate. But another, more salient factor for media ignorance of class warfare is our national culture.
Since the very founding of our country, the virtue of individual responsibility, or “picking yourself up by your bootstraps,” has been the axis around which our culture and national imagination revolves. We are inundated with media from an early age that teaches us to have respect for, or reverence to, the rich. After all, if personal responsibility and hard work result in success and wealth, then the rich must have earned their position of power in society, yes? That is the implicit message. Do not question wealth inequality. They are rich because they have worked hard for their wealth and they therefore deserve their wealth. They are rich because they are intelligent, hardworking and determined and thus have earned the right to control society.
These are pernicious and outright sinister aspects of our culture. Generation upon generation is brought to be blind to wealth inequality and the immense power that the owners of capital and property have over our society. Class consciousness has been largely purged from civil society. Although the socialist movement is gradually bringing class consciousness back to the forefront, it is a steep uphill climb. The rich remain firmly in control.
This is why American society needs a cultural revolution. Let me be clear, I am not advocating for the violence and chaos associated with the cult-like mob rule of the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in China. Rather, I argue that we need radical cultural change if our ultimate goal is social and economic justice. How are we as civil society supposed to address the violence being perpetrated by the rich against the lower and middle classes if the vast majority of citizens are not class conscious? This is also a question of racial justice, since blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately impoverished and exploited by the rich.
We need radical cultural change that involves stamping out the lie that is bootstrap ideology. We need to destroy the notion that the rich deserve the wealth that they hoard. We need to strip away the idea that hard work alone will solve issues of social and economic deprivation. Without such cultural change, the masses are doomed to perpetual subordination and exploitation.
Dylan Pederson, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at DPederson18@wooster.edu.