The Twin Pillars of Misery: Unequal Justice and Income Inequality

June 5th 2020

person holding smash the oligarchy sign (Carl Palmer)

By Scott Trimingham

Barack Obama is right when he says that this country has an “ongoing problem of unequal justice“.

But that’s only half the story. Because we cannot fix unequal justice without fixing income inequality at the same time. Some could argue that they are one in the same.

These are the two pillars that support the status quo: unequal justice and income inequality. They are inextricably linked and cannot be fixed separately. How can there be justice when you are deprived of income? And how can you hold onto to your earnings without justice to protect you?

You could merely fill a train car with the handful of wealthy families who control most of the wealth in this country. In fact, the three wealthiest families in the U.S. now control as much wealth as the bottom 50% of all Americans. That is a damning critique of our current situation in a single sentence.

And control it they do. These families control our financial system to the point that, as Main Street dives into recession and depression, Wall Street has been sailing ahead. They’ve appointed judges who favor them and law enforcement to protect their interests. It is no wonder that, since Reagan, law enforcement has been arming to the teeth with military grade weaponry. They have been preparing for our protests of the policies that they have known - unbeknownst to us - will decimate us. It’s as if they have known of, and have prepared for, the showdown they have orchestrated.

Simply put, over the years the wealthiest have leveraged their money to gain power over our financial, political and legal systems to direct most of our wealth into their own pockets. In other words, the system isn’t broken, it’s fixed. It’s not complicated. It’s not moral either.

Giving money to a politician used to be a crime called “bribery.” Can you imagine it? Can you imagine such common sense?

We need to pivot from the current unequal, immoral and unsustainable perversion of what our founders envisioned into the promise, and promises, of this fragile American experiment in democracy. 

Call it a revolution or call it a return to true American values, but it should be done peaceably and with resolve. Now.

If we do not, then we will not be up to the greatest challenge we have ever faced; climate collapse. Which is just around the corner.

Consequently, getting our domestic house in order needs to be done quickly, efficiently and with compassion for all. It will require a fair distribution of blind justice from now on and “trickle up” economics on steroids. It can be done. 

We all need to be shoulder-to-shoulder to meet the greatest existential threat humanity has ever seen.

It’s time for us to act, before it’s too late.