Charles Dickens Revisited

by Bob Henderson

If you’ve read any nineteenth-century English literature, several societal conditions leap out at you instantly.

In books that accurately portray the facts of life of more than a century ago, children are the best source of cheap labor. In fact, collective bargaining is against the law. The rich invariably exploit the working class. And the fate of women is such that they are exploited by practically everyone.

You would think that all such conditions, so richly engrossing when we encounter them in Charles Dickens, would be out of place in the 21^st century. But if Dickens were still alive, he might be surprised to learn that the policies he wrote about are still in vogue in some circles today.

According to the most recent national polls, the leading candidate for the Republican nomination for president is Newt Gingrich. Last week, Gingrich called for the repeal of child labor laws, and advocated nine-year-olds go to work as school janitors. He also proposed firing adult janitors to make way for the children.

Since Republicans gained control of a majority of state legislatures in the 2010 election, they have attempted to outlaw the collective bargaining rights of teachers, police, fire-fighters and other public employees in more than a dozen states, including Oklahoma. Their policies have so inflamed citizens in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida that petitions are being circulated in each of these states to recall their newly elected Republican governors.

Republicans also call for an end to federal funding of Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization that provides high-quality, affordable sexual and reproductive health care for millions of women, men, and teens at more than 800 offices around the U.S.

And rather than allowing women to make their own reproductive choices, the Republican Party insists that our mostly male government make these choices for them. How’s that for equality, ladies?

During 30 years of conservative hegemony over the American government, corporate monopolies, Wall Street banks, insurance companies and big oil have gained nearly complete control over the United States Congress.

During these three decades, the shrinking American middle class has made economic gains of only about 15 percent, minimal gains that have been more than consumed by the rapidly growing costs of healthcare and higher education. The Republican solution to these problems is to rely on fair competition and free enterprise, conditions that exist only in our memories. A friend of mine likes to call them holograms.

Meanwhile, during these same three decades, the top two percent of American earners have seen their incomes grow by close to 300 percent, and income inequality has ballooned to its highest point since the Great Depression.

Thousands of Americans have taken to the streets during the past two months to protest such conditions. I view these protesters as citizens exercising their Constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and free speech. But most Republicans on Fox News call them vagrants, radicals and socialists. Newt Gingrich said they should “get jobs, right after they take a bath.”

Did you catch Grover Norquist on “60 Minutes” last week? Norquist is the anti-tax activist who has pledges from 279 members of Congress, nearly all Republicans, never — under any circumstances – to raise taxes. Norquist is a libertarian who thinks we should shrink our government to run on just 8 percent of GDP, about the same as in 1900.

The super-committee of 12 Republicans and Democrats was unable to reach a compromise because Republicans insisted any deal include extending tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

Do you think this benefits you or your family? Do you think our government should do nothing about the giant corporations and billionaires who are not paying taxes at even the same rate as your family, if at all?

If you do, you’d like J.P. Morgan. He knew Charles Dickens personally.

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My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom Book’s Webpage: http://amzn.to/dt72c7 – Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies

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