I went to search for some images of the untouchables of India.What appeared was almost entirely from the television show and the movie loosely based on Eliot Ness and his homies.
Is it possible we aren’t all that aware of the rest of the world?
The word untouchables is applied to the crew of Ness and the Dalits of India. I, however, think it an appropriate descriptive for another group.
The Dalits are subjected to treatment that can only be described as horrific. It is as open and cruel as the terrorism of the Ku Klux Klan at its height. I may cover this in detail in another article.
However, my immediate intention is to address a completely different demographic. This is a group of Americans that, unlike the Dalits, are deserving of the discrimination and violence to which those in India are subjected. They are our plutocrats. They are the special people of America who are not subject to the rules and laws that govern the rest of us.
Have you ever watched testimony before Congress? Oil men, tobacco executives, Wall Street vultures, these and others routinely lie to the committees. They aren’t even good liars. They obviously don’t even try to be good liars. They know that it doesn’t make any difference.
Let me be more specific. It is illegal to lie to Congress. Also, it is illegal to lie to the FBI, the IRS, the Department of Justice. In fact, it is illegal to lie to almost every agency and department of the federal government. Similar laws govern the states.
It seems not to have stopped these liars. Could it be because the government almost never pursues perjury charges against these special people? I think that may have something to do with it.
Now, let’s change our point of focus just a little. Let’s look at the hoi polloi. It’s just us. It’s just those who are expected to behave. It’s just those who are really subject to punishment for violation of the laws.
You lie to the IRS at your peril. Lying to the FBI isn’t recommended. Even being dishonest with Congress puts you in jeopardy. Yeah, I know, they prefer testimony by the big shots. They garner more attention from the cameras. But, they do, on occasion, interrogate us peons.
Since few of us have the temerity to lie to big brother, this may not seem to be of much consequence to most of us. That may not be the proper way to look at this particular situation.
However few may be affected by it, you need to recognize how fundamental it is to our status in this society. Those plutocrats who have nothing to fear from breaking the laws stand above the rest of us. In effect, they stand on us. They are the elite. We are the subjects. It puts into sharp relief that we are not considered citizens of this country.
What did he just say? Yes, it’s true. We are not citizens of this country. Citizen and subject are not synonyms. A citizen is a member of the state, the country. He is entitled to rights, civil treatment and has various civic obligations. A subject is one ruled over by another; a monarch or a government.
It isn’t just a matter of semantics. It isn’t just a fine academic point. It is real. It has consequences.
It may seem of little import when one of these plutocrats walks away from the scene of his perjury. You may not be planning on lying to Customs officials on your return trip. But, it does matter.
It matters how those in charge perceive you and me. How they do affects the way laws are written; the way they are enforced. Don’t forget, tax rules and regulations are laws. They throw in a little deduction here and there for you and me. For the elite they make the laws and their lack of enforcement a cruel joke. At least it’s cruel from our perspective.
The mindsets of the government and the elite have other consequences. Have you written a letter to you congressman? Have you complained to the Bureau of Indian Affairs? And, what was the result? Did you even feel that they really paid attention? You mean you didn’t have your lawyer, the one with the K Street address, make the call for you?
We’ve heard the refrain thousands of times: All men are created free and equal. True, we know that should be interpreted as equal before the law. That’s what our social studies teachers told us. You don’t still believe that, do you? Free and equal, in the constitutional sense, are too closely entwined to be separable. If you are not equal, your freedom is less than you might think.
Your final paragraph sums it up perfectly. If you are not equal, you are not free. You are not free to do some things the elite are free to do. It really is just that simple.
If anyone thinks we don’t live in a plutocracy, consider the fact that people pay millions of dollars campaigning for a $100,000 to $200,000 a year job. Number one, they either must be rich or have rich supporters. Number two, if there were not other advantages connected to the job, they would never spend that kind of money to try to get it.
There seem to be 3 kinds of people who run for public office. One is the person that really wants to contribute to his community. There are 2 possible outcomes. One is disillusion, followed soon after by departure. The other is losing that original idealism because one wants to stay in the game. They become just like the ones they used to abhor. A large part of my disillusion was the people I had to deal with, both other politicians and the ones expecting to co-opt or control me. There are those who have a serious personality disorders. They feed… Read more »
I’ve never been able to read anyone’s mind. I don’t know that all the congresspeople in Wisconsin are ideologues. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they may really just see it as important enough to balance their state’s budget even if it means taking extraordinary steps like eliminating collective bargaining. I don’t know that they are thinking, let’s screw the middle class public employees because we are the elite. I just think they are wrong. Taking away collective bargaining rights is not right and is not the only way to balance their budget.
Ed, I didn’t say all congresspeople in Wisconsin were ideologues. I said all politicians fell within 4 categories. Ideologues were only one. I was actually thinking not of those in the assembly but the governor. My tendency is to put him in the category of ideologue but he may be more cynical than that. He may just see it as being to his advantage to hew to the lines of the elite. Many of those holding political office may be considered a part of the elite but they still are not a part of the plutocracy. They are merely the… Read more »
I mistook when you wrote, “The last is the ideologue. This is the most dangerous if they get in a situation that gives them power. This is what we see happening in Wisconsin and elsewhere.” I thought you were saying all the politicians in Wisconsin were ideologues.
Communication gets difficult when both parties are approaching senility. I didn’t say we are there yet; only approaching.