This Is What Empire Looks Like

 

This Is What Empire Looks Like

by C.A. Matthews

...Mark Twain, William Jennings Bryan, and all those early anti-imperialists understood America had a choice: It would be empire abroad or democracy at home, but it could not be both. The choice is now bitterly obvious.

This leaves Americans with nothing left to believe in, nothing worth lifting a finger or even raising a voice to defend. As our militarists mull whether to reinstitute the draft to fill the ranks of the reluctant, we should consider: This is what empire looks like. --Patrick Lawrence: The Dialectic of the Draft

What does “empire” look like to you?

When you spot a homeless person wandering the streets of an urban setting, bags in hands and perhaps pushing an old shopping cart full of their earthly possessions, does the word “empire” and all that it implies spring to mind?

Whenever you encounter a crumbling bridge or a pot hole the size of the Grand Canyon as you commute to work, do you think: Wow. Isn’t it great that the US has invaded so many other countries and forced them to give up their resources so we can enjoy the best of everything here?

After you’ve gifted your last twenty bucks to a friend’s GoFundMe to help him pay for an operation he desperately needs, but he can’t afford since he has no health insurance, do you jump for joy upon reading a headline stating that Biden has given another $24 billion dollars to an endless proxy war?

Are you anxiously awaiting your turn to join or be drafted into the army so you can experience “survivable nuclear warfare” up close and personal in Ukraine, Iran, China or...?

Do you still call Juan Guaido “el presidente” of Venezuela? Did you support the blowing up of the Nordstream 2 pipeline, because you believe the US should keep it’s European allies dependent on us for the fuel to heat their homes and run their factories?

Whenever you read how Israel just blew up a home in Gaza full of little children does it bring tears of joy to your eyes because you figure all Palestinian nine-month olds are terrorists?

Are you ecstatic whenever you see the price of gasoline has jumped by another fifty cents? Are you happy to pay significantly more for the same bag of groceries that you purchased last month? Is paying your landlord yet another rental increase the most beautiful thing in the world to you?

Do you think the “Climate Emergency” is completely made up? “Global Boiling” or warming isn’t even a real thing? That there’s never going to be a day of reckoning for what we’ve done to our planet?

Can’t wait to lock up all the “homos, drag queens, and rapist migrants”? Can’t wait to put women back in their rightful place—in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, with no access to abortion care or birth control? The world would be a happier place with everyone in their proper place, wouldn’t it?

Are you gathering up books right now for a good ol’ fashioned book burning? Are you keeping your kids out of the socialist public school systems that teach how all people are equal (CRT) when it’s more than obvious some just aren’t?

Do you believe in active censorship of social platforms, broadcast media outlets and the press? Can’t wait to shut down all opposition groups that defy those in power? Do you get a thrill out of kicking alternative party candidates off the ballot?

Voting? Really? It’s for the birds! Let the billionaires run the show outright from now on. It would save a lot of trouble holding pretend elections every so often, right?

Did you learn that freedom and capitalism go hand in hand? Do you still believe it even after you’ve been laid off from your job and thrown into debtors’ prison through no fault of your own?

Deep down, do you feel it’s gotta be your fault if you can’t make it in an economic system that favors those who are born in the “right” zip code with the “right” last name and the “right” network of friends and family members? Anyone can “get ahead” if they do capitalism right, right?

What’s your excuse? Oh, yeah, it’s those migrants who keep “stealing” our jobs by working for pennies on the dollar and the union members who keep insisting on a living wage. They’re making the bosses hire the “wrong” type of workers, right?

Have you figured out yet that agreeing to any or all of the above demonstrates you have no problems living in an empire?

This is what empire looks like. If you were born in the US, you’ve been living in one your entire life. You’re used to the harsh treatment of both yourself and your neighbors. That’s because an empire will try to pass itself off as a “representative democracy” or some related thing and tell you that you’re stupid if you think it’s otherwise. You’ll take the denials of your human rights and be satisfied.

It’s the ultimate Stockholm Syndrome. A co-dependent relationship where you feel you’re deserving of abuse. Bend over and take it and be happy that you don’t live in… wherever it is the propagandists are telling you where you don’t want to live in this moment in time because they don’t have “freedom and democracy” like Americans all think we do.

It’s easy letting your betters in the empire do all the thinking for you, isn’t it? Just nod and do as you’re told and you’ll be all right—that is, until they figure out you’re not worth keeping around anymore.

That’s the true beauty of running an empire. An empire can just ignore the poor, the hungry, the homeless, the unemployed, and the sick without the means to get well. Eventually they just die off from neglect by the state. By the hundreds of thousands, even millions. They call it, “Survival of the fittest.”

Are you “fit”? Are you sure? Do you really want to find out when the US military drafts you and ships you out to another war for oil or uranium or lithium or whatever it is the Empire is interested in this time around? When they neglect you in your time of greatest need?

This is what empire looks like.

The alternative to empire is practicing true democracy and equality for all. Folks caring for one another. Putting social programs and the needs of the people before the greed of the military-industrial complex. Putting the health of our planet and the well-being of our children above killing and stealing from fellow human beings in order to make a quick profit.

Dr. Cornel West promotes this better way of living. If you’re interested in leaving the US empire behind and building a democracy instead, check out his platform. But don’t wait. We don’t have long. The wildfires caused by our empire’s neglect of the planet and its people are burning everywhere. It’s time to help put them out by squashing the oxygen to the empire builders once and for all.

 

One huge obstacle to revolutionary change is that people can’t really see the depravity of the empire, because they’ve been conditioned not to look at it too closely, and because they’ve been habituated to it their entire lives. It’s possible to help them see it with fresh eyes. --Caitlin Johnstone, The Most Important Election Of All Time

 

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

It's Never About The US President, It's About The US Empire
https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/its-never-about-the-us-president

Patrick Lawrence: The Dialectic of the Draft  https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/10/patrick-lawrence-the-dialectic-of-the-draft/

Biden Asks Congress for Additional $24 Billion to Spend on Ukraine War https://news.antiwar.com/2023/08/10/biden-asks-congress-for-additional-24-billion-to-spend-on-ukraine-war/ 

 

Capitalist Greed And Imperialist Policies Fuel Migrant Housing Crisis https://popularresistance.org/capitalist-greed-and-imperialist-policies-fuel-migrant-housing-crisis/

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - The Israel Lobby’s Useful Idiot

https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/robert-f-kennedy-jr-the-israel-lobbys

Ohio voters reject referendum measure backed by anti-abortion forces https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/08/10/lxej-a10.html

The Illusory Truth Effect And The "Unprovoked" Invasion Of Ukraine https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-illusory-truth-effect-and-the

Defense Contractor Funded Think Tanks Dominate Ukraine Debate https://quincyinst.org/report/defense-contractor-funded-think-tanks-dominate-ukraine-debate/

How Swedish Love for the US Turned Deadly https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/10/how-swedish-love-for-the-us-turned-deadly/

New York Times Helps Marco Rubio Push Persecution Of Antiwar Leftists https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/new-york-times-helps-marco-rubio

More People Die Young in US Due to Health Care and Welfare Cuts, Study Findshttps://truthout.org/articles/more-people-die-young-in- us-due-to-health-care-and-welfare-cuts-study-finds/

Building Grassroots Power For National Universal Health Care
https://popularresistance.org/building-grassroots-power-for-national-universal-health-care/

The UN’s Vague ‘New Agenda for Peace’ https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/08/the-uns-vague-new-agenda-for-peace/

Survivors Of Oppenheimer’s Trinity Test Are Still Fighting For Justice https://popularresistance.org/survivors-of-oppenheimers-trinity-test-still-fighting-for-justice/

109-year-old Tulsa Massacre Survivor Becomes Oldest Woman in the World to Release a Memoir https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/08/109-year-old-tulsa-massacre-survivor-becomes-oldest-woman-in-the-world-to-release-a-memoir/

In A Summer Of Record Heat, Striking Workers Are Making Climate Demands https://popularresistance.org/in-a-summer-of-record-heat-striking-workers-are-making-climate-demands/

Maui’s deadly wildfires burn through Lahaina – it’s a reminder of the growing risk to communities that once seemed safe https://theconversation.com/mauis-deadly-wildfires-burn-through-lahaina-its-a-reminder-of-the-growing-risk-to-communities-that-once-seemed-safe-211317

Congress ADMITS U.S. Has Invaded Hundreds of Other Countries!
https://youtu.be/AEiSiozBHmM

New Study Finds Fracking Is Linked To Seismic Tremors https://popularresistance.org/new-study-finds-fracking-is-linked-to-seismic-tremors/

3-Year-Old Dies En Route to Chicago Under Abbott’s Anti-Migrant Bussing Program https://truthout.org/articles/3-year-old-dies-en-route-to-chicago-under-abbotts-anti-migrant-bussing-program/

Seen on (formerly known as) Twitter:

Joe Biden just announced another $13B to Ukraine. The total is now ~$130B. For that price Americans could have:

Ended Homelessness permanently ($20B)
Universal Pre-K ($35B)
Free Community College ($30B)
Fix all 45k structurally insufficient bridges ($42B)
= $127B

Priorities

— Robert (Durden) (@realrobdurden) August 10, 2023

https://twitter.com/realrobdurden/status/1689693557869674497 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee!  https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues

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The Choice

The Choice

by C.A. Matthews

I attended the Green Party US Annual National Meeting this past weekend. Once again we convened together online to hear what our fellow Greens and others have to say about the state of our nation and our planet. I have to admit that I quite enjoy online conventions. They’re cheaper and easier to attend, and you don’t have to dress up—or at all—if you don’t want to. Given a choice, I’d be happier attending online conventions from now on. This is probably going to be possible even with next year’s Presidential Nominating Convention, as I understand they’re planning a “hybrid convention” with both in-person and online components. Sounds good to me.

But some things in life don’t offer you a choice. You’re stuck with what you’re given, like it or not.

I’m one of those persons who’ll fight against anyone who tells me that I’m stuck with voting for only a “red” or “blue” candidate. Unless “red” means they’re a socialist, I’ll politely decline. And if “blue” means I’m supposed to hold my nose and “vote for the lesser evil,” then no thanks. I’m quite happy voting for the greater good by supporting the Green candidate who follows our Four Pillars of “people, planet and peace not (corporations’) profits.” 

My ability to vote for the candidate of my choice is important to me, as I hope it is to others as well. That’s why I’m volunteering to help out with the 2024 ballot access initiative throughout the US, so voters will have the opportunity to vote Green and not feel stuck voting for one of the “lesser evils.” The more choices Americans have at the ballot box, the better outcomes (I hope) we can expect for our country.

But some things in life don’t offer you a choice. You’re stuck with what you’re given, like it or not.

I repeat that line because that was essentially the theme behind this year’s Green Party keynote address given by NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus. Peter didn’t give us a choice when he stated quite plainly that Earth is in big trouble, and human beings have caused this big trouble, and we might already be at the point of no return even if we act now. Peter isn’t seeing any nation on the planet taking any real actions to address the climate emergency. He told us, “Don’t lose hope—but don’t have false hope” either. 

That was not a thought I wanted to hear. It takes away our choice to do something to rectify this dire climate crisis situation, but Peter is right. We don’t have a choice today because we have chosen foolishly in the past. We have voted for the “lesser evil” too many times and have received evil in abundance by electing politicians firmly under the control of Big Oil.

Worse yet, even with all the signs and warnings from planetary scientists, we continue to act foolishly by supporting and increasing our dependency on fossil fuels. There is no excuse for our behavior. Americans have had choices and have repeatedly chosen the wrong path. The “global boiling” we’ve witnessed this summer in the oceans full of blanched coral reefs, on land with the hottest temperature ever recorded at 136 degrees F., and in the massive forest fires continually burning in Canada that have blanketed most of the eastern half of the US with smoke particulates, killing thousands though respiratory failure, demonstrates that, when given a choice about our leadership, we choose the wrong leaders.

And look where our wrong choices have gotten us—we’ve put our planet and its inhabitants, including the fish, birds, animals, insects and plant-life at risk of total extinction. I hope buying that gas-guzzling SUV and taking all those air flights and Princess cruises to dump sewage water in the Caribbean were worth it. It hasn’t been for the Earth.

Peter stated that he feels rage particularly at the sheer stupidity of our society. He noted that all the seemingly positive talk politicians make about becoming “Net Zero by 2050!” is dangerously misinformed. There’s no way we will be able to sequester all the carbon already let lose in our atmosphere. Our children twenty years from now won’t be able to to use this mythological “carbon capture” technology, even if it does exist by then.  

Why? Well, it’s simply because they’ll have their hands full of dealing with all the constant flooding, massive heatwaves, ocean level rise, increasingly destructive tornadoes, hurricanes and tsunamis creating billions of climate refugees worldwide. When will they have the time and energy to create this magical tech?

Even worse, if we want to even lessen the impacts these disasters will have on our children in the future, we’d need to start now doing what needs to be done. We’d have to kick the fossil fuels addiction yesterday. That means giving up the family car. That means not flying or yachting about the planet constantly. That means no more disposable water bottles and fast-food wrappers. How easy is that going to be? 

Are you willing to give up your creature comforts so your grandchildren can have a livable planet to live on in the coming decades?

 

Americans—well, all human beings really—love to have choices. But some things in life don’t offer you a choice. You’re stuck with what you’re given, like it or not. We’ve hurt Mother Earth. Badly, perhaps fatally. It’s time to repent and change our ways, drastically change our polluting ways. Or else we’ll become as dead as Mother Earth will be.

Peter made a good point that the tiny number of climate activists currently protesting, shouting at, and standing up to the fossil fuel industries isn’t going to make them shut down. The corporations are protected by governments with big armies and deep pockets. The planet is calling out for planetary leadership that puts Earth first before corporations’ profits.

In the US, we ‘ll need the power of executive branch to ban fracking, end pipeline construction project and stop the disinformation coming from the Big Oil CEOs according to Peter. The president should declare a climate emergency and get our economy on a “war footing” like we did during World War 2, but instead it would be fighting to save our planet and its people.

Peter confessed that he didn’t trust either of the “red” or “blue” teams to be up to the task. He recommended Americans work to enact Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) in order to give an alternative (or “third”) party US presidential candidate a chance of gaining the presidency who is willing to take on Big Oil and do what needs to be done. 

Okay, now that is a choice and an action I can get behind. What do you think?

Peter emphasized that disinformation (or what I’d call “propaganda”) aimed at the working class has made these workers vote against their best interests for decades. The Green Party isn’t widely known as being pro-worker, even though its platform is clearly pro-worker with its support of universal health care and the rights of workers to strike. A “Green-Labor alliance” needs to form. The labor movement, working hard to organize the proletariat in order to enact a general strike, and the environmental movement, working to save our world from further ecological disaster through acts of civil disobedience against Big Oil and others, must come together to take on the “rich sociopaths” destroying our planet.

These rich sociopaths, whose private jets and yachts burning fossil fuels cause a large portion of the carbon building up in our atmosphere, have never been held accountable for their actions under our present system of government. Why? They simply bribe the politicians (through their lobbyists with big briefcases full of cash), as well as gifting jobs and trips to the politicians after they leave office. 

 

If both environmentalists and laborers don’t take them on then what will our children say about us in the year 2040 or 2050? That we cared more about placating the polluting status quo than we cared about our planet and their very lives?

In the end, we all have a choice to make. It is a difficult choice, but we must make it. We will all live with the consequences of that choice, for better or worse. Peter Kalmus says we should never give up. The hour is late, but we must rise up together to save all that we can. Nothing is more important. Our children deserve our best efforts.

Which choice will you make?

 

Peter Kalmus:

“Biden’s refusal to declare a climate emergency and his eagerness to push new pipelines and new drilling — at an even faster pace than Trump — goes against science, goes against common sense, goes against life on Earth.”

--from Joe Biden must declare a climate emergency. And he must do so now

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

Keynote address from Peter Kalmus https://youtu.be/Subt87Vsp9E 

Joe Biden must declare a climate emergency. And he must do so now https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/27/joe-biden-climate-emergency-peter-kalmus

The climate movement has a recruiting and retention problem – here’s how we fix it  https://wagingnonviolence.org/2023/08/climate-movement-recruitment-retention-problem/

There Are Enough Resources In The World To Fulfill Human Needs
https://popularresistance.org/there-are-enough-resources-in-the-world-to-fulfil-human-needs/

US/France threaten intervention in resource-rich Niger: Fears of war in West Africa  https://geopoliticaleconomy.substack.com/p/us-france-intervention-niger-west-africa

SCOTT RITTER: The Atomic Executioner’s Lament
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/08/02/scott-ritter-the-executioners-lament/

Decades later, the US government called Hiroshima and Nagasaki ‘nuclear tests’ https://www.nationofchange.org/2023/08/03/decades-later-the-us-government-called-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-nuclear-tests/

Commemorating Hiroshima And Nagasaki Bombings
https://popularresistance.org/commemorating-hiroshima-and-nagasaki-bombings/

Military.com Op-Ed Calls for Military Draft
https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/02/military-com-op-ed-calls-for-military-draft/

How to Ignore 4.5 Million Deaths
https://fair.org/home/how-to-ignore-4-5-million-deaths/

'Will Literally Change Lives': Massachusetts Legislature Approves Universal Free School Meals https://www.commondreams.org/news/will-literally-change-lives-massachusetts-legislature-approves-universal-free-school-meals

Patrick Lawrence: Reading the Mess the Democrats Have Made
https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/02/patrick-lawrence-reading-the-mess-the-democrats-have-made/

Report Details 'Shocking Pattern' of Abuse by US Agents at Mexico Border https://www.commondreams.org/news/migrant-abuse

The Forever War’s Forever Legacy https://scheerpost.com/2023/08/03/the-forever-wars-forever-legacy/

Deep State? Or American Mafia? https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/deep-state-or-american-mafia

Judge Orders DOI to Move on Rule for Tribes Reapplying for Federal Recognition https://truthout.org/articles/judges-orders-doi-to-move-on-rule-for-tribes-reapplying-for-federal-recognition/


Another 165 million people join more than one billion in poverty as cost of government debt servicing soars
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/08/02/kxiy-a02.html

 
UPS-Teamsters: The Strike That Wasn't, The Tentative Agreement, Union Leadership and The Upcoming Vote | How Did We Miss That? https://indienewsnetwork.substack.com/p/ups-teamsters-the-strike-that-wasnt

Wage Gains at UPS Have Amazon Workers Demanding More
https://www.labornotes.org/2023/08/wage-gains-ups-have-amazon-workers-demanding-more 

Headlines and front lines: How US news coverage of wars in Yemen and Ukraine reveals a bias in recording civilian harm https://theconversation.com/headlines-and-front-lines-how-us-news-coverage-of-wars-in-yemen-and-ukraine-reveals-a-bias-in-recording-civilian-harm-209652

 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

If you'd like to help out in the meantime, buy me a coffee!  https://ko-fi.com/therevolutioncontinues

More details to come. Power to the people! 

 

Seen on the (formerly known as) Twitter:

Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, just recorded a heat index of 136°F (57.8°C) at midnight.

A heat index that high is near the limits of human survival. pic.twitter.com/nFRPhJWyM7

— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) August 6, 2023

Fourteen Years and Counting

Fourteen Years and Counting

by C. A. Matthews

 

Most of us can remember our “first, real paying job.” For Americans, we were most likely in high school, and a classmate mentioned to us between classes how their boss was looking for more summer workers and that we should apply and make some money. I had been babysitting for our neighbors since I was about twelve years old, but it was very hit and miss work, and there was a lot of competition on our street. This was my chance to enter the “real paying job world” at age sixteen. I road my bicycle a couple of miles from my home to interview and got the gig. I worked a long, hot and stormy summer standing on my feet for eight hour shifts in a soft-serve ice cream walk-up stand along Main Street and made the huge sum of $1.25 per hour for about 32 hours of work per week.

Hard to believe $1.25 an hour was considered "good pay,"but that was the state’s minimum wage for “tipped employees” at that time. All restaurant workers were paid that amount hourly. It didn’t matter that we didn’t get tipped making ice cream cones for folks who walked up to the window. We were still considered “food service workers” and paid that lowly wage. I worked hard that summer and ended up getting a raise—a whole $1.35 per hour.

Wow. I thought I’d had it made.

The next summer, a friend told me about a job working at a warehouse clearance sale for a national franchised dress shop located in our local “mall,” a newfangled place built on the east side of town and not located downtown where a few of the big department stores were still to be found. I was overjoyed when I heard what this job paid—a whole $2.35 an hour! It was the federal minimum wage. It was what older people made working similar jobs, so I really felt like an adult at age seventeen. Even though I spent a lot on clothes with my employee discount of 10% off that summer, I saved a bit of money that I later used to get ready for college.

Almost a half century and many jobs later, the federal minimum wage hasn’t moved upward all that much when adjusted for inflation. For the past fourteen years, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25. But why? Corporate profits are up practically across the board or so we’re told on the nightly news. CEOs get huge bonus packages. “Bidenomics is working,” neoliberals insist. What’s wrong with us if we’re struggling to get by in the midst of all this “booming economy” we’re told exists in the US today?

Maybe it’s not us who are wrong about the reality of our situations. Consider this:

The federal minimum wage in the United States would be more than $42 an hour today if it rose at the same rate as the average Wall Street bonus over the past four decades, according to an analysis … by the Institute for Policy Studies.

Citing newly released data from the New York State Comptroller, IPS noted that the average Wall Street bonus has increased by 1,165% since 1985, not adjusted for inflation.

Last year, the average cash bonus paid to Wall Street employees was $176,700—75% higher than in 2008 but slightly lower than the 2021 level of $240,400.

The federal minimum wage, meanwhile, has been completely stagnant since 2009, when it was bumped up to $7.25 from $5.15. While many states and localities have approved substantial pay increases in recent years, 20 states have kept their hourly wage floors at the federal minimum.

US Minimum Wage Would Be $42 Today If It Rose as Much as Wall St.Bonuses: Analysis

So, where’s our $42 per hour? I guess it’s in the same place where our $600 went when we were promised $2,000 COVID relief checks when Biden took office, but we only received $1,400, right?

What’s a working stiff in the US to do? We can’t even afford to rent an apartment anywhere in the fifty states working full-time hours (if you can get them) at $7.25 an hour. There have been talks and protests centered around raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, but can anyone even afford to rent a decent place to live on that amount? It’s doubtful. Not even a $25 minimum wage can help a family rent a home in many cities.

American workers do have one powerful option, but it’s rarely been discussed since Reagan took office. We have the ability to strike—if we’re not forbidden to do so by federal law, such as the case with railroad workers or air traffic controllers, that is. But so many Americans have been brainwashed into thinking that a strike will cost them their job and their health insurance, so they simply won’t consider it.

Are Americans cowards? Not necessarily. I’d say we’re realists. We know we have no safety nets like workers in other countries who are blessed with universal health care and universal basic income or "UBI" payments. With no way to provide for our families without our lousy paying jobs, we’d best stay put and put up with the harsh treatment of the bosses.

But are strikes really all that risky for workers? Where did we get this idea that we the working class are essentially powerless and only billionaires can get what they want? Consider this:

The Teamsters Union and UPS have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract to cover the 340,000 Teamsters who work for the package shipping giant.

According to a statement released by the union, the new contract is “the most historic tentative agreement for workers in the history of UPS,” promising wage increases, an end to the two-tier wage system, new air conditioning in vehicles, Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a full company holiday, and more.

In the days and weeks to come, members will debate the pros and cons of the proposal as thousands of UPS Teamsters vote on whether to ratify the contract. But one thing seems undeniable: Any significant gains won by Teamsters against a reluctant employer will have come about because rank-and-file workers showed the company that they were prepared to strike.

UPS Workers Disproved Corporate Media’s Narrative That Strikes AreHarmful

I put that last sentence in italics for emphasis. It bears repeating: Any significant gains won by Teamsters against a reluctant employer will have come about because rank-and-file workers showed the company that they were prepared to strike.

Rank-and-file workers actually have power? Yes, we do! Even the possibility of a strike can motivate a reluctant employer to sit down and discuss the workers’ grievances and demands. And if push comes to shove, the workers walk out and give the employers even more to worry about as the company's profits take a hit and its reputation as being a fair and honest employer is thrown into the dumpster.

Fourteen years of a stagnant federal minimum wage (with no maximum wage for billionaires set) and no universal health coverage for all Americans should be a wake up call even for the sleepiest of workers. Our government doesn’t work for us, the people, but for those who already have more than enough wealth and power and obviously don’t give care one bit about how many workers can’t even afford to rent an apartment or put food on the table for their families. Our government doesn’t care if we or our loved ones get sick, and we have no way to afford medical care other than to beg strangers for donations via GoFundMe.

Face it, America. It’s time to lose the blind loyalty to both your employers and to our government. They don’t have our best interests at heart. And we have the power to make them see things our way—strike! 

Related Articles and Interesting Links:

UPS Workers Disproved Corporate Media’s Narrative That Strikes Are Harmful https://truthout.org/articles/ups-workers-disproved-corporate-medias-narrative-that-strikes-are-harmful/

UPS & Teamsters Reach Tentative Deal, Averting Strike https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/28/ups-teamsters-reach-tentative-deal-averting-strike/

 

“We have to show them we’re not going to retreat, we’re not going to concede”: Southern California warehouse worker speaks out against UPS contract https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/28/upsi-j28.html

The UPS Strike Looms As Corporate America Cashes In
https://popularresistance.org/the-ups-strike-looms-as-corporate-america-cashes-in/

Record Wages Should Be Received If Record Profits Are Being Generated https://popularresistance.org/record-wages-should-be-received-if-record-profits-are-being-generated/

US Minimum Wage Would Be $42 Today If It Rose as Much as Wall St. Bonuses: Analysis  https://www.commondreams.org/news/minimum-wage-wall-street-bonuses

‘An Abomination’: Today Marks 14 Years Since the Last Federal Minimum Wage Increase https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/25/an-abomination-today-marks-14-years-since-the-last-federal-minimum-wage-increase/

Michigan Amazon Workers Stage Largest Delivery Station Strike Yet  https://labornotes.org/2023/07/michigan-amazon-workers-stage-largest-delivery-station-strike-yet

Canadian and US autoworkers must fight together in upcoming contract battle https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/27/kxes-j27.html

 

Ignoring Warnings of Mass Job Loss, Fed Hikes Rates to Highest Level in Decades https://www.commondreams.org/news/fed-rate-hike-july-2023 

 

Americans With Health Insurance Are Increasingly Putting Off Important Medical Treatments They Can’t Afford
https://capitalandmain.com/americans-with-health-insurance-are-increasingly-putting-off-important-medical-treatments-they-cant-afford

Chris Hedges: The Forgotten Victims of America’s Class War https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/30/chris-hedges-the-forgotten-victims-of-americas-class-war/

The Yellow Corp. bankruptcy: A brutal attack on the working class
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/31/rntl-j31.html

A Vital Atlantic Ocean System Could Collapse Sooner Than Previously Thought
https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/31/a-vital-atlantic-ocean-system-could-collapse-sooner-than-previously-thought/

A video tribute to Daniel Ellsberg
www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/watch-my-video-tribute-to-daniel
 

 

Patrick Lawrence: No, The Truth About Biden Is Not Democratic

https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/27/patrick-lawrence-no-the-truth-about-biden-is-not-democratic/ 

 

The Russiagate psyop was about trying to prevent the rise of BRICS, and it’s failed to do this https://rainershea.substack.com/p/the-russiagate-psyop-was-about-trying

Zelensky: The Selling of a President https://open.substack.com/pub/joebrunoli/p/zelensky-the-selling-of-a-president

Why Capitalism Is Leaving the US in Search of Profit
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/07/21/why-capitalism-is-leaving-the-us-in-search-of-profit/

The Star-Spangled Kangaroo https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-star-spangled-kangaroo

Dr Jill Stein & Kshama Sawant Join RBN | Building Power Outside The Democrat and Republican Parties
https://www.youtube.com/live/C4_IAQHrfHU

US post-9/11 wars caused 4.5 million deaths, displaced 38-60 million people, study shows  https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/05/18/us-911-wars-million-deaths-displace/ 

 

Largest School District In Texas Eliminates Libraries https://popularresistance.org/largest-school-district-in-texas-eliminates-libraries/ 

 

Five Myths In The House Anti-Trans Hearing Against Gender Affirming Care https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/30/five-myths-in-the-house-anti-trans-hearing-against-gender-affirming-care/ 

 

RBN's Labor Organizing Summit Part 2 Livestream -- featuring Kshama Sawant. I sat on a panel with other Green Party members and former presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein. (It starts at approx. 3:02 and the video should start there.) Hear what I and other Greens have to say about the labor situation in the US currently. (The answer to many of our troubles is to "Go West!")

https://www.youtube.com/live/1-4DD-KwXY8

 

Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog:  The Little Red Book of Revolution

How can you get your e-copy? The easiest way is to subscribe to The Revolution Continues on Substack as a paying subscriber. Choose what level you'd like to subscribe at via the buttons on any post online at: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com

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More details to come. Power to the people!