Have workers in the United States ever had any real security?

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This past week I viewed the massive demonstrations that expressed outrage at the murder of 17 people in a school in Parkland, Florida, as well as the mass murders in other schools. One of the speeches I listened to was by a student from Parkland, and a leader of the demonstration, Emma Gonzalez.

Gonzalez named all those who had been murdered in a little over six minutes in the school she attends. Her clear implication was that the lives of these students mattered and they deserved better than to have their lives snuffed out.

Gonzalez, as well as other student leaders, are demanding that the government adopt stricter gun control laws. Their belief is that with these kinds of laws, the likelihood of other mass shootings would diminish.

In order to place this issue in perspective, I believe we need to look at the facts of our present reality as well as the history of the United States.

What are the facts?

First I believe that it is useful to look at the taxes that the government withholds from our salaries, and then look at what that enormous amount of money is used for.

Let’s look at someone who has a relatively modest salary of $30,000 per year. That person has about $10,000 withheld from their yearly pay in federal, state, and city income tax. In a period of thirty years, this person will have had about $300,000 in withheld from their pay in taxes. In addition, there is the sales tax, real estate taxes, gasoline taxes, tobacco tax, and in Philadelphia there is a soda tax.

So, a legitimate question to ask is: Where does all this money go? Well, as we know, the largest part of the federal budget goes to the so-called defense department. The budget for this so-called defense department is in the range of hundreds of billions of dollars and increasing.

However, this huge payment isn’t the only money that the government claims is used for our protection. There is the city, state, and federal police. Then, there is the National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Then, there is the Secret Service that is allegedly used to protect the President. However, the government felt that all this so-called protection was not enough, so they created a new department and named it Homeland Security.     

So, we might ask another question: If so much money has been invested in our defense, how did a gunman walk into a school and murder 17 people? We can begin to answer this question by looking at the history of the United States.

United States history and the lack of security for working people

We can begin with the revolution that established the United States. Military officers from all over the world joined the revolutionary forces because they felt that this insurrection was justified against a tyrannical monarchy. French assistance in the revolution actually turned the tide of the war and was instrumental in the defeat of the British.

Yet democratic and republican Presidents have made it a top priority of deporting immigrants from this country. President Trump has made it clear that he felt that these measures were not sufficient and promised to escalate the number of deportations.

Yet, anyone who reads the Declaration of Independence will see that one of the grievances the colonists had against the British is that they did not allow enough immigration to the colonies. Another grievance the colonists had was that they didn’t think the British gave them enough support in their genocidal war against the first inhabitants of this part of the world.

After the revolution, the government wasn’t paying veterans for their service. Yet debt collectors demanded payments on debts. This state of affairs sparked Shays Rebellion. United States armed forces fired into a demonstration of about 1,500 citizens demanding relief. Four of the demonstrators lost their lives in this altercation.

Clearly this government had no concern for the security of slaves who worked to produce most of the income in this country for decades. Clearly the government wasn’t concerned with the security of Native Americans when they engaged in over 100 years of genocidal warfare.

After the Civil War the government declared slavery illegal, but then effectively gave power to terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan. As a result, terrorists murdered thousands of Black people and the government made no attempt to prosecute the murderers.

When we think of the 17 people who were murdered in Parkland, Florida, we can also consider the fact that children routinely toiled under horrendous conditions in factories for decades. Mother Jones led a March of the Children 125 miles in protest against these conditions. During this march, a police officer asked if she wanted a police escort. She replied that these children never had protection by the police before, and they wouldn’t need protection during their march.

We might also consider the fact that today there are very strict regulations with respect to guns. When I was 18 years old, I was required to register for the draft. I never served in the military. However, at that time this country as in a war against the people of Vietnam.

In all, millions of people from Southeast Asia died as a result of the war against the people of that region. Had I been a soldier during that war and refused to use a weapon, I could have been placed in prison. These indeed are strict regulations.

Japan

I’ve read that in Japan the regulations on owning guns are much more restrictive. Some argue, that because of these regulations there are fewer murders because of gun violence. I believe we need to look at the history in order to place these facts in perspective.

Japan used to be an imperial power that dominated most of Asia. During their occupation of China, Korea, Vietnam, and other countries, the Japanese armed forces were responsible for literally tens of millions of deaths.

The war between Japan and the United States was about who would control the nations of Asia. The U.S. Air Force firebombed about 67 of the most populated Japanese cities targeting civilian areas. Then, the Air Force dropped atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

After the war the United States government controlled how Japan was reorganized. The U.S. government clearly didn’t want Japanese civilians to be armed and this might be why the laws against gun ownership are so restrictive. We can also say that there have been many demonstrations in Japan against the U.S. occupying forces that reside in their country.

Today’s reality

The Department of Agriculture estimates that one out of every six people in this country do not have enough food to eat. Yet anyone who has been to a supermarket can see that the shelves are overflowing with unused food items. Anyone who routinely experiences hunger or homelessness or unemployment clearly isn’t living a secure life.

Since the 1970s the standard of living has been deteriorating. Perhaps hundreds of millions of jobs have been eliminated. Most of the replacement jobs have lower pay with fewer benefits. The government has been dealing with this state of affairs by vastly increasing the prison population.

So what can we do to begin to establish security for all working people. For this we can gain some insight from the following passage in the Declaration of Independence:

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

We live in a capitalist political economic system. As this paper points out, capitalism has been the cause for the wars of the world that caused tens of millions of deaths. In the year 1929 there was a stock market crash and tens of millions of people lost their life savings. Unemployment skyrocketed and most workers experienced a sharp cut in pay.

Sooner or later there will be another economic collapse. When we look at the history of this country, the time has come to stop asking the government to better regulate itself, and start thinking about establishing a new government altogether. When we have a government that values human needs more than profits, then we can talk about real and lasting security for all workers throughout the world.