“The liberal reward of labour [sic], therefore, as it is the necessary effect, so it is the natural symptom of increasing national wealth. The scanty maintenance of the labouring [sic] poor, on the other hand, is the natural symptom that things are at a stand, and their starving condition that they are going fast backwards. … No society can surely be flourishing and happy, of which the far greater part of the members are poor and miserable. It is but equity, besides, that they who feed, cloath [sic] and lodge the whole body of the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labor as to be themselves tolerably well fed, cloathed [sic] and lodged.”
- Adam Smith; An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations; 1776
“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assuming that the whole labor community exists within that relation. …
The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages for awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires a new beginner to help him. This is the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all – gives hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost.”
- Abraham Lincoln; Excerpt from the President’s Annual Message to Congress; December 3, 1861
I don’t think it can be denied: starting with his first run for president, President Donald Trump made many who had not theretofore particularly focused on it – including me — aware that as a segment of our society had handsomely prospered over the preceding decades – realized the American Dream – at least as great part of our people had been left further and further behind – and had justifiably concluded that those in power were no longer interested in attending to their wellbeing. One of the saddest ironies of the Trump Era is that although Mr. Trump correctly identified the corrosive despair that many of our people were feeling, his prescriptions have been toxically divisive, anti-democratic, exploitative, racist, wrong-headed, backward-looking, and self-serving. He’s let down millions who believed in him — whether or not he or they can admit it.
Although the first and most important task to obtaining greater equity among our people is wresting, through legal and peaceful means, the political power from those who are so transparently seeking to overturn our democracy, may the United States Congress starting in 2027, and whoever becomes president in 2029, enact laws and deploy policies which will visibly and effectively start to remedy the inequities that have so sullied the American experience. Let each of us take a moment during the coming weekend to remember and celebrate the efforts of those — both Americans and those from other lands — who toil, or yearn to toil, to make America stronger.
Enjoy the Holiday.
McCoy's Noise 