The statement at left has a certain surface-level appeal, but it’s inaccurate.
What’s true:
The United States was started by rich white male landowners, and its original laws were put into place to maintain the dominance of the wealthy Europeans.
The subjugation of blacks, immigrants, and the native peoples further cemented the hegemony of the upper class whites.
What’s also true:
Throughout most of its history, the U.S. has seen times where the common American somehow succeeded in grabbing a significant amount of power: the abolitionists of the mid-19th Century, the women’s suffragists, the anarchists of the early 20th Century, organized labor, the New Deal, the post-WW2 booming affluence of the middle class, Brown vs. Board of Ed., and the Civil Rights Act.
It really wasn’t until the neoliberalism that blossomed under Reagan that the super-rich forged a way to use their wealth to take control of our lawmaking processes, and the United States began its path toward oligarchy.
As a financially comfortable, educated, straight white male, one might think I’m impervious to any of Trump’s policies.
I have a weakness, however, and it’s one I share with virtually every other progressive on the planet–I care deeply the well-being of other people. It disturbs me greatly to see other people suffer, especially when that suffering would be so easily avoided.
At left is a great example of a fallacy called a “false dichotomy.”
We all crave information that backs up what we already believe, and, in general, Trump supporters have this going on in spades.
When we think about it, isn’t in possible to both protect American citizens and respect the Constitution rights all people living here?
What would one expect a sycophant to say?
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