By: PEOPLE’S TRIBUNE & Others
On July 4, 1776, during the American Revolution, the Second Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies approved the Declaration of Independence (A Trust). While we are no longer the subjects of the British Empire, we are now the subjects of The Corporations.
Today, the American people are governed by a corporate-government dictatorship that serves and protects only the private interests of the corporations and the wealthiest Americans. The democratic and civil rights of the people have been eliminated. This is the 21st century definition of fascism. Our freedom requires we declare our independence from a system that is impoverishing the American people.
Recent reports from the Internal Revenue Service show that nearly 50% of the American people are living at or near the federal poverty level. One-third of working Americans earn less than $23,000 a year, not to mention the millions of unemployed. Youth unemployment is “officially” 16.1% and gets worse by the day.
While American poverty rapidly increases, it is also criminalized. A recent example is 44-year-old homeless Navy veteran James Kelly, who was looking in a garbage dumpster for something to eat. He was charged by the Houston police with breaking a city ordinance: “disturbing the contents of a garbage can in the business district.” Kelly said, “I was just basically looking for something to eat.”
Congress, state and city governments across the country continue to cut life-sustaining, public, government sponsored programs, while at the same time selling off all public property and resources to corporate privateers. In Detroit, the city-owned Detroit Institute of Art announced its intention to sell up to a billion dollars worth of precious paintings. In Chicago, 49 public schools will close to open the way for more corporate owned and operated schools. Efforts are underway to privatize the federally owned Tennessee Valley Authority, the U.S. Post Office and the government controlled mortgage giants, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.