“We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral,
political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the
Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the bench.
The people are demoralized. … The newspapers are largely subsidized or
muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes covered
with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the
hands of capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right to
organize for self-protection, imported pauperized labor beats down
their wages. … The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to
build up colossal fortunes for a few, unprecedented in the history of
mankind, and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic
and endanger liberty. From the same prolific womb of governmental
injustice we breed the two great classes—tramps and millionaires.”
“Our plutocracy now lives like the British in colonial India: in the place
and ruling it, but not of it. If one can afford private security, public safety
is of no concern; if one owns a Gulfstream jet, crumbling bridges cause
less apprehension—and viable public transportation doesn’t even show
up on the radar screen. With private doctors on call and a chartered plane
to get to the Mayo Clinic, why worry about Medicare?”
