Pay attention to Bernie Sanders while he warns against America’s new ruling class and its major trait: Naked greed

It’s time to start paying attention to Bernie Sanders again. Nine years ago, he had us fervently nodding our heads at the idea that health care should simply come under American citizenship, that college should be as free as all our previous public schooling, and that this is all easy to pay for by simply having the extremely wealthy pay a fair share of taxes. So simple.

Even those who would turn out to be Trump supporters were solidly with Bernie because he promised real, authentic change and that’s what they really, really wanted. But once the Democrats defeated themselves by fixing their own process on behalf of Hillary Clinton, these would-have-been Bernie fans turned to the other candidate who promised change, even if it was much darker with few specifics.

Bernie has been talking about a “ruling class” in America for quite a while, and only the dumbest and most self-absorbed among us cannot see very clearly right now that he’s totally right.

Three years ago, Bernie shared his thoughts on this “ruling class” and the condition of America. It might as well have been written this afternoon. It's powerful and succinct.

Now, Bernie is on the road in red states — Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma are coming up and he’s drawing huge crowds everywhere. They are starting to listen.

What scares the hell out of me is that our youngest generations have never seen what those of us born prior to 1970 have seen. What is real now has been pretty much real for them since they were born.

And, it seems at least to me, that too many of them are spending their reality and their lives staring into the device they’re holding. Too few of them are honestly looking up and around and gaining at least a clue of how things should be, how things once were.

I grew up in a town of 7,000 people. We had ONE really rich guy. Yet he wasn’t rich enough to affect any other lives. He did not seek or receive any power because of his wealth. He was not possessed of naked greed, working only to augment his wealth, and along with it, any power over others.

It’s not been this way in a long while. Bernie is right. We now have a “ruling class.” We did not consciously choose them, but we let them happen. The “ruling class” in the UK is comprised of largesse and overall kindness, coupled with only the best and highest education levels.

None of that here.

Anyone who has had the knack or the luck along with the drive to amass huge profits have become the ‘rulers’ we now kneel to, kowtow to, while the worst of us enable them while hoping to join their ranks. Smart in business, they collectively know almost nothing about US. They collectively care very little about US.

Now add periods and realize how little they obviously care about the U.S. as well.

We were a great nation, looked up to by most of the world, a hope and beacon for those downtrodden elsewhere.

In only a few short months, that vision has been destroyed. We've allowed the destruction and 1% of America now rules.

We have allowed a cabal of too, too wealthy men to overcome our system, including those we’ve elected to protect us from just such events. Only money talks now.  Raw capitalism rules, along with its companion naked greed.

Let’s begin listening to Bernie again. He’s known all along.

Van Carter of Sioux Falls is a retired broadcast journalist and environmentalist who published a green website for 15 years. This essay originally appeared on the Change Agents of South Dakota website.

Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons

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