Motivation, History, and Political/Economic Control by a Few

In this article I continue to discuss motivational factors that must be taken into account to develop different ideas for helping black Americans improve their position in the American economy. Decades of government programs and trillions of dollars have not achieved acceptable outcomes. Some black American demographics are worse now than when massive government programs started in the mid-1960’s, involving increased family breakup and increased number of children born out of wedlock by teenagers. Different knowledge must be applied to develop different approaches that will achieve acceptable outcomes.

This article, and several that follow, discuss a major motivational factor relating to people understanding the significance of what they do. People who understand the importance of their actions will strive harder to do better. To understand the importance of their actions black Americans, along with all common Americans, have to increase their knowledge and understanding of history.

News reports recently stated that Americans know little about history. Having extensive university course work and decades of independent reading in the social sciences, including history, reviewing high school and university history textbooks brings to mind the possibility that little governmental or media effort is directed toward Americans knowing much about the real past. Uninformed, uneducated people, kept ignorant of their past, are easily fooled and herded for the political and economic benefit of a few wealth people. People, who study the social sciences across the broad scope of history, can see this pattern. It has existed for thousands of years and is designed to control the many for the benefit of a wealthy few. The pattern continues to exist throughout the world but is little discussed in textbooks or publicized through media news or programs.

Because of our American representative/democratic form of government it is more difficult for a few wealthy people to control our government as opposed to other nations like England, China, Russia, Angola, Mexico, etc. These other nations’ governments recognize different classes of people within their populations either legally or on a practical basis. They are established based on the assumption that a few wealthy people will control the government and economy and these few people will stay wealthy generation after generation while most people will remain uneducated, uninformed, politically powerless, poor, and a source of cheap labor.

Throughout thousands of years the wealthiest nations have been class-based made up of a few people who controlled governmental power and structured the economy for their personal benefit. During the last 500 years a movement has gained traction based on the idea that all people should be first-class citizens. The American founding documents included words about people being created equal and having equal rights, etc. Our history has included progress toward making these words a legal and practical reality, but only since the mid-1950’s has our Supreme Court and Congress institutionalized these concepts into legal practice. This progress must be seen as a continuation of the American Revolution but progress has not been uniform or continuous. It has been a “two steps forward but one step back” activity. Our efforts to continue this revolution must continue today.

A normal, human impediment to continuing the American Revolution involves efforts by the already wealthy to control government for their benefit and pass their riches from generation to generation. Based on our democratic system and practical implementation of a classless society during the last 60 years, wealthy Americans must resort to other means to control government and the economy as opposed to those used in other nations. Today to maintain this control, the wealthy own media outlets including television and radio networks, newspapers, news websites, movie and television production companies, and contribute massive masses of cash to political campaigns.

The following articles briefly discuss several elements of this strategy, including passage and enforcement of laws and government regulations that encroach on civil rights and liberties and imprison large segments of Americans, overemphasis on the need for government and government protection, increased taxes for common Americans, and implementation of approaches that foster divisiveness among the common people. This strategy involves governmental pronouncements and manipulation of news and historical information designed to keep common Americans in their place. Of course, black Americans continue “in their place” where they have been for 400 years, but for them to do anything meaningful about this they have to better understand their past and devise new approaches to accomplish different results from that that have been resulting for the last 60 years.

Joseph L. Bass, Ed.D. is a retired business/organizational consultant, seeking to improve society using his decades of experience enhancing corporations and government agencies. What is a society other than a large, complex organization created by a people for their own betterment? He is executive director of the non-profit ABetterSociety.Info, Inc.