Wealth gap proves system is unfair

We are plagued by a wealth gap that exceeds all reason. That is dangerous. History tells us such gaps lead to revolution. Some examples: 1776 (America), 1789 (France), 1917 (Russia) and 1945 (China). In each, the “poor” revolted to overthrow the “wealthy.”

Why?

With a growing gap the poor believe the system is unfair. The peasant says “I work my butt off, but the lord takes my earnings. That’s not fair.” The peasant realizes he can’t improve his lot because the lord likes wealth and does not want the peasants to better themselves. The peasant concludes the only way to get fairness is armed insurrection, so the peasants overthrow the lord.

Recent signals are flashing red. Money is power, plain and simple. Those on the right think the left is unfair by having too much of each. Meanwhile, the left thinks the right is unfair for the very same reason.

It doesn’t matter which side is correct — what matters is that the sense of unfairness is growing dangerous (e.g. Jan. 6 rioting). And the biggest reason is the wealth gap. If the left felt its power equal to the right, do you think there would be unrest? If the right felt it had enough power to equal the left, would we have had a riot? There are other reasons for unrest, but isn’t the main driver our underclass’ sense of unfairness? The underprivileged, right and left, hate the over-privileged because to them the system looks unfair.

If we are going to preserve this country, I believe we absolutely must address our wealth gap, because wealth equals power. How we do that is a decision not on my duty list. But it seems to me that we need somehow to come to agreement that the system is fair to all.

Parker Maddux

Basalt