THE MORAL CORRUPTION OF OUR LEADERS
by John Spritzler
The URL of this article for sharing it is https://www.pdrboston.org/the-moral-corruption-of-our-leaders
[Please also see "Persuading Someone to Start" building an egalitarian revolutionary movement.]
When a politician, or any other supposed leader such as a community activist, claims they are working to make our society more equal and democratic, but does not explicitly advocate abolishing the class inequality that makes our society unequal and undemocratic, then that so-called leader is in effect, if not intent, a morally corrupt fraud. (If it is only in effect but not by intent, then he/she will do the right thing when told to do so; otherwise it shows that it's by intent as well, if only for the fame or power or ego-gratification it provides if not due to an actual bribe or threat from the ruling class.)
Such a "leader" may not be a child molester or a spouse beater or be taking bribes from the rich and powerful, but they are as morally corrupt as any "leader" during the slavery years in the United States who claimed to be working to make society more equal and democratic but who did not advocate abolition of slavery!
Class inequality--the existence of an extremely wealthy upper class of billionaires and almost-billionaires who exercise the real power and who treat the rest of us like dirt--is the modern form of slavery and it needs to be abolished. Any supposed "leader" who ignores this fact--as virtually all our politicians and community activists leading the zillion "progressive" organizations today do--and who refuses to forthrightly call for the abolition of class inequality is nothing but a self-serving fraud.
Such leaders lie to the public by saying that they will solve the problems created (on purpose, by the way, to make us easier to control and exploit) by the upper class without ending the class inequality that guarantees the existence of that never-elected, dominating, totally anti-democratic, inequality-loving upper class. They're as morally corrupt as slavery era leaders who wouldn't call for the abolition of slavery but who claimed they were working to make a more equal and democratic world.
These leaders lie to us when they say that it is sufficient to just tax the billionaires a bit more, but let them remain billionaires. These leaders pretend not to know that the rich upper class will continue to rule over us and treat us like dirt even if they are taxed a bit more. The billionaires smile and say to each other, "These new taxes and laws will fundamentally change the way we get around them."
Furthermore, as long as our society remains one that is friendly to any class inequality at all, in which some can get even a little bit richer than others (meaning to have more than they need or or reasonably desire), those people will get a little bit more powerful than others and then use that power to get even richer and so on, until we're right back where we are today. Our leaders refuse to acknowledge this key fact.
How DARE these Morally Corrupt Leaders Excuse their Corruption by Claiming that the General Public Doesn't Want to Abolish Class Inequality!
Most ordinary people know full well that the cause of our major problems is that we live in a fake democracy that is really a dictatorship of the rich. People know that big money calls the shots, that money is power and the very rich have it, not ordinary people. Most people would LOVE an egalitarian revolution to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor. When "leaders" say they can't advocate abolishing class inequality because they'd lose support from ordinary people if they did, guess what? These "leaders" are flat out LYING! (And the rich use their mass media to try to make this lie seem credible.)
Most people feel hopeless about being able to abolish the dictatorship of the rich and thereby get real democracy. They feel hopeless because they don't know that most people share this aspiration (the media censors it to make people think nobody else wants an egalitarian revolution). They feel hopeless because they see that there are no leaders or organizations advocating egalitarian revolution.
Our existing morally corrupt so-called "leaders" only get what limited support they get from ordinary people by seeming to be "the only game in town." People either don't vote at all for our politicians or vote for a "lesser evil" while holding their nose to keep from smelling the obvious stench radiated by the moral corruption and cowardice and self-serving careerism of our politicians.
The Rich Upper Class LOVES our Morally Corrupt "Leaders"
The rich upper class LOVES these morally corrupt "leaders." These "leaders" work for the upper class by doing everything they can to prevent the growth of an egalitarian revolutionary movement, i.e., one that explicitly aims to abolish class inequality. When their followers say they want to abolish class inequality these "leaders" tell them never to mention that aspiration out loud. These "leaders" prohibit the rank-and-file from even discussing the idea of advocating the abolition of class inequality in email groups or newsletters, etc. that the leaders of "progressive" organizations control. Such "leaders" gain the tacit, if not overt, support of the upper class; they sometimes get Big Money grants to open up an office and hire a staff, or they get favorable treatment in the mass media so they can get elected and enjoy the personal perks of being a city councilor or a state or Congressional legislator or a mayor or a governor or even president. These leaders are morally corrupt frauds!
When we encounter one of these morally corrupt fraudulent "leaders" what should we do? We should demand that they explicitly and forthrightly advocate the abolition of class inequality. If they won't do that then we should condemn them as the morally corrupt frauds that they are. Until we respond to these "leaders" this way, we will remain trapped on the treadmill of defeat.