If reading this, you know that we are part of the greatest revolution in communications history since Gutenberg developed the printing press. Indeed, this may be the grandest advance in the history of civilization. Never before have the people of the entire world had such an opportunity to communicate with each other and to learn so much. With e-mail messages traveling nearly at the speed of light we can write to each other for less money than required for a telephone call. And if we have the available equipment, we can see and talk to each other right from the comfort of the chair in front of our computers.
Moreover, on this great cyberweb of the world, innumerable sources are disseminating information from every major cultural point on the globe. The most complete library and data resources ever conceived by humanity now exist on the fiberoptical strands of the world wide web. And we can reach them by merely clicking cursors on illumined words. Marvelous, though a hackneyed word, is the appropriate term to apply to this enlightening development. By cybernautical means we can beam to international capitals, literally explore metropolitan libraries, and virtually visit monumental museums. We can learn languages; we can enrich our knowledge of letters and science; we can get and give services to individuals and companies in most every country on the planet. Cyberpolitan is a good adjective for this universally important communication phenomenon.
Now, we have in view and on hand the power to make another Renaissance. Only a few such golden ages have existed briefly throughout history. Ancient Egypt enjoyed the first. China and India were next. The classical Greeks followed. And Europe flourished twice--in both the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries of the western world. Since then, however, we have not experienced a renewed flowering of intellectual progress. Appropriately, on the threshhold of a new western millennium we find ourselves blessed with this directly effective system of international communication. If true unity were ever possible for the benefit of all life on Earth, it is at this propitious time. For that purpose we all should dedicate our talents and our skills, our minds and our hearts. The beneficent future of the world is at our fingertips.
Now, one may ask: What is wrong with a plutocracy? Don't we all want to get rich and participate in it? And doesn't it all trickle down anyway? Again, lots of very intelligent people have shown us that the rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer. The rich know it and celebrate it by wanton waste and wanting more to waste. The poor also know it--too well. They wake up before dawn nearly every day of the week to work low-paying jobs most of their lives merely to stave off landlords, banks, and even the specter of hunger. So the wrongness in plutocracy is certainly the stunning lack of compassion but far worse is the social bomb it slowly explodes in the midst of civilization.
History is replete with riches to rags stories. Look into the ancient Roman civilization--the most notably tragic case. Look also into the prerevolution era of the French monarchy. And into the endlessly sunny days of the British empire. Most recently look at the United States of America. As a small number of wealthy individuals, especially chiefs of corporations, suck up more and more of the finite pie that Earth in all her wonderful resources has provided, and while a huge and steadily growing number of unwealthy people struggle to keep their lives together, our plutocratic national government has ventured upon a campaign of world dominance. Oh, this is not new for us: perhaps the most memorable occasion being the Spanish American War.
However, all is not dismal darkness. History is also brightened by the occasional enlightened leader who directed a fair distribution of the commonwealth. The Roman emperor, Vaspasian, comes to mind. Other leaders in our own time, such as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, sniffed the same altruistic air. Naturally, because of the inherent selfishness of human nature those adventures did not stick with us for long. Sooner rather than later the rich and powerful take back benefits given to the common people like gluttons devouring the contents of a cornucopia.
Keep in mind, though, that those overindulgent ogres are not invincible. They are no different than Jack's Giant. Or Gandhi's British Empire. They too can fall. The bigger they are...you know. And most reassuringly we all have right in our hands the weapon to bring them down. No, it's not a tool of violence but a peaceful instrument of resistance. It is called a closed wallet.
One can easily guess the method. Boycott. We keep the money we earn to ourselves. We buy what we need but little of what we want. And we tell the gargantuas what we are doing. We tell them why. Most of all we must be sure to tell them what we demand. We all know what we all want: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a peaceful productive world.
If we deny the giant the satisfaction of his gluttony and greed, he will crumple to his knees and beg to grant our every wish. Then we can finally take back our power. Then we can guarantee health care, housing, education, training, safety, and food for every one of us on the planet. Then we can create the civilization we deserve. The power is in our humble hands. Oh, yes, we can vote, complain, and protest to death but we will not make a better world until we stop giving money to the wealthy. Hit them where they are most vulnerable--in the heart of their fondest desire--monumental self-gratification.
Of course this way will not be easy. Gandhi and Chavez found it dangerously difficult. But it works. If we stop buying things, especially expensive or needless products--big houses, new cars, extra clothing, technical toys--we will find the monsters of moolah turning into generous jinns eager to grant our every wish. Their wealth depends on us. Two thirds of the US economy runs on money that we spend. Consumption. So they need us more than we need them. Without our earnings in their big fat hands they would be exactly like us. Then we would have true equality. A level field of chance for all. An archetypal event where talent, hard work, and sincerity would actually reap appropriate rewards to benefit every living thing on Earth.
Too difficult? Unpatriotic? Unnecessary? One may argue the answers to these questions. But anyone who adheres to affirmations of them should always keep one fact foremost in mind. Civilizations decline and fall. Ours is no different. We are no more nor less blessed by God than has been any other civilization. Whether or not ours again rises and ultimately sustains any semblance of a golden age depends not on the rich and powerful but on ordinary people like us. We are the stewards of our world. If we mismanage it we will continue to suffer. If we insist on being blind, deaf, and dumb to the rampage of the giant we will always be subservient to his ruthless campaign to bloat himself on the fruits of our labor. If we do not challenge the beast with our invincible power, he will bleed us dry and blow us away like the abounding scraps of refuse on our mountainous dumpsites.
Let us stand up and fight this plutocratic oppression! Not with angry curses nor violent blows. Nor even by marching in the streets. No. Let us simply refuse to be the consumers the ogre so desperately wants us to be. We must stop feeding him. Let us take charge of our lives and our world. Then indeed we the people shall not perish from the Earth but prosper in peace.