Capitalism has brought America to its knees

Being poor has been a crime since before the founding of this nation, but the last 35 years or so it seems it has become a capital offense.

While bound up in the racial tensions resulting from black people being killed at the hands of white police, the real issue is that these were poor people killed by other poor people (most cops are poor compared with those who pull the strings).

Rich people don’t fight wars, they profit by them. Rich people aren’t killing each other the way poor people seem to. Rich people don’t die in police custody.

What about black-on-black crime, you ask? If excessive numbers of black people seem to be getting killed, maybe it’s because excessive numbers of them are poor and oppressed – they’re sure not killing each other over being black. I contend that, even if rooted in events of the past, today’s excesses may be laid at the feet of Ronald Reagan and conservative control of government since 1981, the National Rifle Association, which vehemently opposes any and all regulation, and the Republican war on the poor.

Together they represent the triumph of capitalism, one that has brought America and the world to its knees.

This story was originally published September 30, 2015 at 5:08 AM with the headline "Capitalism has brought America to its knees."