By Richard Arena
Until relatively recently, corporate titans and Wall Street high-rollers were the mainstays of the Republican Party, while factory and farm workers made up the base of the Democrat Party. Today it seems the roles are largely reversed. President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies and unwavering support of traditional American values has made the Republican Party home to both blue- and white-collar workers; whereas the Democrat Party’s coffers are filled with donations from corporate giants and the lions of Wall Street.
It is not hard to understand why middle America gravitated to the GOP, despite the fact that establishment Republicans’ self-serving objectives are deleterious to the working class. But it’s not so obvious why so many billionaires and corporate elites gravitated to the Democrat Party – especially when the bulk of the party’s rank and file is composed of people attracted to victim politics and the idea that government can and ought to solve every problem and provide for every need.
Many billionaires and leaders of corporations like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Disney, etc., not to mention Wall Street hedge-fund managers and currency traders like George Soros, are the largest financial contributors to Democrat campaigns. They also counter-intuitively embrace many of the left’s policies such as open borders, abortion on demand, the Green New Deal, and the left’s cultural leanings, which are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, anti-male, anti-nuclear family, anti-free speech and politically correct – and are dismissive of any respect for American traditions, values and history. The reason for their embrace of Democrat ideas is that they have purchased power in the Democrat Party to have laws and regulations written that restrain their competition, while providing themselves with generous tax incentives, lucrative access to public funds and a continuous supply of cheap immigrant labor.
Many pundits on the right assume the American left is working toward a socialist state. I don’t see it that way. Socialism is a political ideology in which the means of making, moving, and trading wealth is owned or controlled by the people through the power of the state – think the old Soviet Union, Communist China under Mao, Castro’s Cuba, and Venezuela. Today, Russia and China have abandoned classic socialism because it failed. They have transitioned to oligarchies with strains of monarchism and fascism, wherein the means of production is owned by individuals and corporations seated at the table, where everything is regulated by the government, while the heads of state, such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Nicolas Maduro, Kim Jong-un and their inner circles live in extravagance.
This is a modern form of feudalism. During the medieval period only the titled few owned land and lived lavishly. Commoners – the masses – were not citizens: they were subjects of the ruling class. When they weren’t fighting the elites’ battles, commoners toiled to provide the needs and luxuries of their rulers.
As I see it, this is what elites seek – a global oligarchy – despotic power exercised by a small and privileged group for selfish purposes. They are almost there. All that stands in the way are the voices of we, the American people, through the vote – which the left is in process of dismantling by flagrantly corrupting the process – and what we are willing and able to do to resist.
Ultimately, what is at stake in this election is the life we, the non-elites, and our progeny will live going forward. Will there still be an attainable American dream where each and every individual can be whatever their imagination, talents and industry can deliver, or are we to become vassals of a powerful few who control every facet of our lives?
We are in the midst of a revolution. The enemy is within the gates. They have many advantages – perhaps the greatest of which is their willingness to say or do anything to gain power. They control virtually all the institutions that are the most influential in the formation of public opinion and policy – the mainstream news media, the entertainment industry, the education system, much of the judiciary, the House of Representatives, the deep state, and Big Tech. They readily lie, cheat and use physical intimidation to achieve their objectives, and they are relentless.
The veil has been lifted from the eyes of those of us who value the American way of life. We understand what’s at stake. We have the enemy’s measure. Time is not our friend. The questions for us are: How we will retain individual liberty and how we will restore limited self-government? If the American way of life is to survive, we who cherish liberty must seek and implement timely, realistic, rightful solutions – now!
Ephesians 6:14
Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place.
Richard Arena is a member of the Franklin Roundtable Board of Directors.