No matter how hard we run, we always seem to be standing in the same place

Political activism has been a part of my life for most of my adult years. I picketed, I marched, I signed petitions, and I collected signatures. I was fighting for change, for a better, more just life for people, not only for those of this country, but for those around the world. I became very familiar with Washington, DC. It was like a home away from home.

As I grew older and wiser, I began to recognize that my political activism was keeping me busy but was not accomplishing a great deal. The US is constantly at war, workers are struggling more financially, working longer hours for less compensation, a great many people are forced to work 2 jobs to be able to pay their bills, millions of people are left without the protection of health insurance, racism continues to be a fact of life with police executions of Black men and women replacing public hangings, women cannot make decisions regarding their own health without government interference, public education is neglected and is also being sabotaged, etc., etc., etc.

The rich get richer while the workers and the poor get screwed.

Through the years, we have experienced some victories but, in evaluating the struggle, I would say we were losing the war.

The elite or ruling class or corporate executives declared war on the working class decades ago. They really had no choice because we are operating under the umbrella of capitalism, a SYSTEM that dictates that the owners must exploit the workers and keep their wages and the worker benefits as low as possible in order to produce their products and/or services at the lowest possible costs. Therefore, the relationship between the worker and the owner or management is, by the nature of the SYSTEM, adversarial.

The over-riding obligation of corporations is to maximize profits for the benefit of their stockholders. They have no obligation or commitment to the workers or the communities in which they operate their businesses.

So, as I matured and my consciousness was raised, it became evident that all I had been doing these many years was running on a treadmill . . . no matter how fast I ran, I remained in the same place. I was merely looking to place Band-Aids on the hemorrhaging.

The issue of health care is a perfect example. When Obama took office, it was evident, that with many millions of people who were without health insurance, something had to be done.

Why was health care, a crucial human survival need, placed in the hands of private, profit driven corporations? Clearly, it was an industry with a great deal of potential for profits to be made and like good capitalists they took over the industry.

Obama realized the need for change and proceeded to gather people’s support for battle with congress. There was a demand for a public option, one that would offer the consumer an option if he/she could not afford the premiums of private insurance. In fact, a survey revealed that 72% of Americans favored this public option. Yet, Obama took this off the table immediately before negotiations with the private insurers began.

It is evident that no matter who sits in the White House, any threat to the private industries will not be allowed. We should also note that to get the pharmaceutical industry’s support for the Affordable Care Act, Obama agreed to allowing big pharma to establish their own prices and prevented the government for negotiating drug prices and making it illegal for US citizens to purchase less expensive drugs from Canada. This means that we, the US public, pay the highest prices for drugs in the world.

Admittedly, ACA offered people many improvements and allowed millions of uninsured to now have access to health insurance. But let us not ignore that the ACA was a boondoggle for the private insurers, offering them millions of new customers who, by law, were mandated to have insurance coverage.

The fact is that the ACA did not offer a real solution to the health care problems we face . . . millions of Americans continued to be without insurance, there was no control on the cost of premiums, and drug prices continued to be unaffordable for many, it was thought that this was “a foot in the door” and improvements would follow.

Over the next 7 years, premiums continued to rise and many had to opt out of their coverage because they could no longer afford their insurance. And, here we are today with a President Trump offering a new health care plan that, according to CBO (Congressional Budget Office), would remove 24 million Americans from health insurance coverage.

We win battles, but we have to revisit these victories and fight for the same issues over and over and over again. At times we get relief but it is usually temporary because the SYSTEM must serve the ruling class not the working class and poor.

The ruling class, not only doesn’t mind when we take to the streets to march peacefully to assert whatever cause we support, they enjoy it. Our activities, whether antiwar, anti-racism, minimum wage, prison reform . . . I could go on and on, keeps us separated into our own sphere of influence and concern and keeps us from recognizing that most of these problems are the result of capitalism and its handmaiden, imperialism.

We cannot and should not be antiwar without recognizing that war is profitable and is fought not to defend our national security or bring freedom and democracy to others, but to provide the ruling class with access to the natural and human resources of other countries. We must know that it is our sons and daughters who are used to kill and be killed to provide the rulers with their booty. Capitalism would collapse without expansion of access to markets and resources.

Instead of focusing our efforts on the inherent exploitation and corruption of the capitalist SYSTEM, we focus our anger on personalities and policies.

I don’t give a damn about Trump’s personality, intelligence, or sexual adventures . . . I don’t give a damn about his policies which can change from day to day or president to president. If we are successful in effecting a change in a policy, what then? There have been many changes in policies and what has really changed? We remain vulnerable to the whims and desires of the ruling class and the victories we have experienced can and will be sabotaged eventually.

The only answer to our problems is to recognize that it is this SYSTEM that produces the Trumps, the Clintons, the Bushes, the Koch brothers, the Soroses etc. Presidents, congressmen, and senators come and go but the SYSTEM prevails and it is killing us, our brothers and sisters around the world, and the environment we rely on for life.

They, our so-called leaders, are all part of the club, a club to which we are not admitted. It is the criminal capitalist SYSTEM that must be thrown out and replaced with a SYSTEM whose priorities and policies are about the welfare of people and communities, not about the profits of individuals.

AS LONG AS WE ACCEPT FUNCTIONING UNDER THE UMBRELLA OF CAPITALISM, NOTHING OF SUBSTANCE WILL CHANGE.

To effect change, we must make a commitment, a commitment to get involved and stay involved. It is not enough to march and protest peacefully with thousands of others on a Sunday and then go home to business as usual until the next protest. I know . . . I’ve been there, done that.

The rulers must experience consequences and losses. We can no longer allow business as usual. They have the money, the police, the military but, we have the people who run this country. Without us, everything comes to a halt and when things come to a halt, they lose money. That’s the language they understand.

Like a labor union, our power is only when we act in concert, together, united. We must join with others to form organizations or join already existing organizations and resist and rebel. Our focus has to be the end of capitalism. We must be willing to employ ongoing tactics such as civil disobedience, boycotts, marches, work stoppages or slow downs, etc. Whatever the activity, it must be well planned and continuous. One day protests have little effect and, therefore, we have to be prepared for continuous, and ongoing activity.

Revolution is not a garden party . . . it needs a commitment to a long and difficult involvement. Capitalism and capitalists have a voracious appetite and if we don’t act soon, we will not have a planet on which we can survive.

Dave Alpert has masters degrees in social work, educational administration, and psychology. He spent his career working with troubled inner city adolescents.