Join the Fight to Preserve our Democracy
How To Defund the Plutocrats and Reclaim our Democracy
For the past 50 years our country has been on the path to oligarchy, driven by Republican trickle down fairy tales and the Democrat’s mostly ineffective efforts to mitigate the economic damage. This transition was supercharged by the 2010 Citizen’s United decision, which delivered an inexhaustible source of funding for the Republican’s populist media machine and voter suppression activities.
Another stake in the heart of our democracy came with the Covid crisis which was exploited by the conservative rage machine and transferred a huge amount of wealth to the already bloated billionaire class.
Inequality.org has been tracking inequality-related news and views for nearly two decades. A project of the Institute for Policy Studies since 2011, our site aims to provide information and insights for readers ranging from educators and journalists to activists and policy makers.
And yet today the Republican Trumpublican party is insisting on even more tax cuts for the wealthy, paid for by vandalizing the social safety net and further impoverishing the working class. History tells us that we are on an unsustainable path where the outcome is invariably “massive and violent disruptions of the established order”.1
We have been here before. During the gilded age2 oligarchs dominated the economy and controlled government until they were defeated by popular unrest resulting from the great depression and world war. This is a rare example of a decrease in wealth inequality that occurred without violent revolution. If we hope to avoid catastrophe we need to find a way to do this again. Here’s how…
Defund the Plutocrats
Our government has been sold to the wealthy. But the solution is in the hands of our citizens. You can help by not giving your money to billionaires.3 Cancel your Amazon subscription and buy from ethical suppliers like Costco and Trader Joe’s who haven’t caved to Trump’s DEI BS. Our Democracy is worth more than saving a few dollars and overnight shipping. Shop locally, whenever possible from local sources. Buy from your farmer’s market instead of Whole Foods.
Quit Facebook and X and follow the ethical journalists who have fled corporate media to Bluesky and Substack. Cancel subscriptions to corporate media like the Wall Street Journal and find non-commercial sources. Stop watching network news which has refused to hold the Trumpublicans to account.
Fight for Our Democracy
Vote. (30% of eligible voters didn’t in the last presidential election). Follow local politics and vote in every election. Run for office. Call or write to your congressional representatives and let them know how you feel. It matters. Attend local protests and rallies. Make your feelings known. Now is not the time to hide. It doesn’t work.
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me." - Martin Niemöller
Elect ‘Radical’ Progressives
The traditional Democratic politics of appeasement and compromise hasn’t worked. The old guard of the Democratic party needs to be replaced with a new generation of warriors who will fight against oligarchy and for progressive democratic principles. For those who fear that a progressive candidate can’t win remember that in 2016 the most popular candidates were Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Both candidates who promised radical change. The Democratic machine choose Hillary Clinton and lost.
Democrats need to address kitchen table issues by talking to working people. They have been left behind by 50 years of wage stagnation and unlike the middle class their economy is not good. We need to talk to voters where they live and refuse to kowtow to commercial media talking heads who have a financial interest in balanced politically neutral coverage.
We need to return to core democratic principles of fairness, democracy, the rule of law and compassion. Champion increasing the minimum wage, support for unions, strengthening Social Security, health care reform, worker protections and defend the government services and protections that the Trumpublicans are dismantling in the name of inefficiency, woke policies, and religion. We need to deliver a message that our government may not be perfect, but it is good. That improvements are needed, but they aren’t accomplished by chaotic destruction. That privatization is a handout to billionaires whose profits will come from higher costs. And that compromise is essential to democracy.
Tax Wealth, Not Work
The only way to reverse the obscene level of wealth inequality is by taxation. And although proposing a tax increase is assumed to be a political death sentence it’s time to challenge the laughable and empirically false conservative dogma that government is bad and tax cuts for billionaires will deliver prosperity to all.
How? Typically debate around taxation focuses on income tax. Why? Because it’s the tax that most citizens are familiar with, it’s easy to understand, and the rich earn a relatively small amount of their wealth as taxable income and can afford to pay accountants and lobbyists to minimize their exposure. But the steady increase in wealth inequality resulting in the wealthiest 1% owning 30% of the nation’s wealth is proof that our tax policy favors the rich.
Reducing wealth inequality will require a new type of tax. A tax on wealth rather than on work.4 For instance, in the US the top wealthiest 1% have an average net worth of $13M plus and own about 30% of all the wealth in the US, or about $50T. A flat 3% wealth tax on this group would generate $1.5T annually, enough to eliminate the 2024 deficit. Combined with a more aggressive policy on income/earnings for this class we could start to end and ultimately reverse our country’s descent into economic ruin.
Click here for an in depth course by best selling author and economist Gary Stevenson on how wealth inequality is destroying our economy.
Make Government for the People Again
The fact is, wealth inequality is recognized as a problem that is destroying economies worldwide5. But I believe that the chaotic and destructive Trump administration has elevated awareness of the problem and support for change. Because of this we have an opportunity to build a progressive movement, reclaim our Democracy, and create an economy that works for all. Join the fight. We can win.
Click here for a deep dive on wealth, economics, and inequality.