History is a vast early warning system.
– Norman Cousins
Both democratic and authoritarian governments claim to be revolutions of the people. Yet, the distribution of power in a society is not measured by the passions of the masses or the propaganda in the media. The measurement of democracy is economic. The only way to keep power distributed among the governed is to keep wealth distributed among the people.
The current and speeding wealth consolidation in the United States is untenable. The inevitable dissolution of the barriers between wealth and governing power has already occurred. We have advanced from plutocracy to oligarchy. Furthermore, we already have a group of power-hungry individuals, which includes the current president of the United States, who are actively seeking further consolidation and control of the government.
We must declare ourselves again a democratic nation, or we will become an authoritarian one. We must remember that we are first a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. This means that our government exists for the specific purpose of keeping power distributed among the governed. We must remember who we are as a nation, and we must make radical changes to our economic system in order to achieve a working democracy.
If we do not act to change the flow of history as it is developing, then we will see a new world order, and it will be an authoritarian one. We will have lost the American Republic and witnessed the birth of the American Empire. War, poverty, and indentured labor will follow. Then, eventually, revolution.