Do We Identify As Caesarism?

If we can get union people elected to political office, we will expect them to work on getting rid of the Taft-Hartly Act, which John L. Lewis, of the United Mine Workers, said this is the first ugly savage thrust of fascism in America. The Taft-Hartley Act, also known as the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, limited the power of labor unions in the United States. The act was passed by Congress over President Harry S. Truman's veto. Quick run down on this Act. Its main purpose was to weaken unions’ influence, which had grown during the Depression and World War II, and to create a more favorable legal environment for businesses and industry. The Act outlawed closed shops, jurisdictional strikes, and secondary boycotts. It restricted union political contributions and health and welfare funds. It required union officials to file non-communist affidavits. It allowed states to enact "right-to-work" laws. It defined unfair labor practices. It protected employees from union coercion; and required unions to bargain in good faith. The Act essentially gutted unions. We also need to get rid of Citizens United, which will eliminate the big dark money from elections. But if these things cannot be taken care of, then the other options are to give up and become a slave of the rich and corporations. If that happens we lose healthcare, no pensions and no workers’ rights or we can go to the streets with the pitchforks, either way, with the way things are going, we could end up having to fight our own Army. At this time social justice is not possible without leveling the colossal accumulation of wealth and the power that makes a mockery of the idea that we live in a democracy. How was it possible that in 2015, the U.S. had 535 billionaires. Today, just ten years later there are 813 billionaires. Now consider, there are 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S. That’s 11.6 percent at or below the poverty line and less than 1 percent in the billionaire class. This wealth is mostly generated off the sweat of our brows and we’re supposed to be happy with chump change, no health care, and sometimes unsafe work environments. The best weapon we have at this time is to just put our hands in our pockets, which can stop the whole country. If we plan correctly for this, it could be a full workers stop for one hour or one day or longer. We have to start educating our workers, whether union or not, for this to work. Sacrifices have to be made before we, the workers, become the sacrifice. We also should be looking at our members for potential candidates to run for office. We need representation at all levels to bring about the change we need and reign in the corrupt five members of U.S. Supreme Court, who outnumber the three jurists who actually follow the rule of the law. At this point in our country’s history, we can say we identify as Caesarism, a form of authoritarian used by Julius Caesar, the ruler of Rome from 49 BC to 44 BC. His form of government was that he had absolute power as a dictator and not beholden to a constitution or its laws. There are three types of dictatorships: military, civilian and royal. Authoritarianism is when a country’s government has concentrated and centralized power structure ruled by political repression and using the military to retain power at the exclusion of potential or supposed challengers. This form of government relies on strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom. Of the 172 countries looked at, 76 are under a dictatorship, 77 if we include the U.S. We currently have a government of the wealthy by the wealthy for the wealthy.