Grassroots action needed to reform consumer capitalism
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Editor,
“Restoring an America that has lost its way,” was the headline to this last week’s Moyers and Company PBS program. Did you happen to catch it? His guest, for the half hour, was columnist Bob Herbert. He is also the author of an insightful book, “Losing Our Way.” Herbert’s answers and comments to Moyers' insightful questions and comments were so eye and mind opening. I was transfixed for that half hour.
Here are just a few things he said, probably somewhat paraphrased: “The consumer capitalism system we’ve become demands we must each have a good job and make plenty of money. Look up ‘consumer capitalism,’ it is most interesting.
What we’ve seen and allowed to happen with our banks and large companies is to pay our workers the least amount possible and to bring the most amount of money to the bottom line.
The economy must work for everyone. The gap between big money interests and decent pay for a decent day’s work is disgraceful.
We are ruled by big money interests and to change all this we need civic actions. We need a powerful grassroots movement.”
Just looking at our present political structure in America today, ruled by special interests with huge financial resources, it seems that Barack Obama, like most any president in the last 40 years, has sat in a sort of “puppet oval office platform” and been manipulated and made almost impotent to change the very things that Mr. Herbert has identified as needing to be changed. Mr. Herbert’s book is a fine and important book for our time.
Will the next change in our “highest office in the land” in 2016 make a difference? The answer to that question is most assuredly up to us.
What do you think? Are we really a democracy? Consumer capitalism could be as deadly as the Ebola virus.
Bob McClellan
Polson
