'We the People' or 'I the Person'?

By Linda Wagner Schmoldt
CommonDreams.org
July 4, 2011

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/04-3

There is a concerted effort these days by the powers that be
to break down the structures that allow people to come
together.

It is no accident that we see the Supreme Court taking rights
and power away from groups of citizens and workers while
increasing the powers of the ruling class and corporations.
On state and federal levels we see rulings that restrict the
formation of unions, negate collective bargaining, and
squelch class-action suits.

It is harder and harder to hold public demonstrations and
protests as codes, laws, and fees limit where, when and how
we can gather. We have lost many of our common spaces--places
where we can come together and speak truth to power. The
rights of civic/social leaders and organizers are threatened
with scrutiny and abuse. Exorbitant prison sentences and
fines are imposed on those who gather to protest and/or do
civil disobedience. The making of crowd control devices is a
strong industry in the U.S. (and in our ally, Israel.) We are
becoming a police state and the military is waiting in the
wings.

When the news covers demonstrations they always focus on the
most radical looking people. They don’t show the old women
and the families walking peacefully with their children. The
media relishes any show of violence or aggression. The
message is clear. These people are not like you. People like
you don’t take to the street and protest. We are taught to
fear the masses.

And what shall we gather around? It becomes more and more
difficult to sort out truth from lies, especially when the
lies are echoed across the corporate-owned media and halls of
power. Support for Wiki-leaks, or any other organization that
exposes the truth behind what is really going on, is labeled
as treason. There is a crack down on whistleblowers.

Terrorist alerts and the nightly news, as a police blotter of
all the crimes we need to fear, forces us to stay in our
homes, to be suspicious of our neighbors and to be fearful of
anyone who differs in skin tone, speech, culture or way of
life. Report your neighbors; don’t talk to them.

Whole groups of people get labeled as a threat to our
security, whether it is gays who want to marry, immigrants
who want to earn a fair wage for their labors, teachers and
other public “servants” who want to claim the money set aside
for their health care or retirement. Our enemies and those we
can’t trust increase daily.

We are taught that what are most important are our rights as
individuals. Our god is free-enterprise, the unchecked,
unregulated right to make as much as we like, even at the
expense of our society and our earth. We see regulations as a
threat to our individual rights to do business and make a
profit.

We are urged to think of ourselves first. If I am not old,
why should I pay for those on Social Security or Medicare? If
I don’t have children, why should I care about education? If
I’m not gay, not an illegal immigrant, not unemployed, not
losing my house, not confronting an unwanted pregnancy…

And when crisis affects me, I will blame myself. I will think
I am alone. I will think I have to solve my own problems. I
certainly won’t blame a broken social system.

Across the world there are huge demonstrations. The powers
that be are threatened by masses of people in other countries
who force their leaders to put the good of their society
ahead of individual and corporate interests. Note the
reaction to any resource industry being nationalized. In
Venezuela we have spent millions to bring down the popularly-
elected Hugo Chavez who has nationalized the oil production
and channeled the profits to fund social programs. That’s one
of the actions that Muammar Gaddafi was threatening to do as
well.

Countries or leaders that might want to put their people
first are a threat. We constantly hear about the high taxes
individuals pay in socialist countries. If we knew the truth
we might start to compare how other countries empower their
people by meeting their basic needs--that when the needs of
the community are put ahead of individual rights, everyone
benefits. We are told the myth that the U.S. is number one
and do not see the abysmal ranking of our country on meeting
social needs.

To those who want to protect their greedy accumulation of
wealth and power, We the people (anywhere) are a scary
proposition. God forbid that we should come together and
discover our commonality and our strength. We might demand
education that teaches us to think. We might start to
question. We might want transparency in government or demand
truth in the media. We might demand justice and equity, a say
over our daily lives.

It is effective to keep us isolated. To use wedge issues to
keep us divided. To make us think we aren’t connected to the
rest of the world. To keep us suspicious and fearful. To keep
us ignorant. To keep us focused on 'I the person.'

We, together, are obviously a huge threat, otherwise why is
so much effort being expended to keep us apart? Some people
this Fourth of July will celebrate their independence and the
rights they have as individuals. A few will recognize our
interdependence. They realize that we can’t do it alone, that
we need community and that democracy is about We the People,
not I the Person.

[Linda Wagner Schmoldt is a 'wonderer, wanderer, writer and
social agitator' who lives in Portland, Oregon.
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