Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips

The above link leads to the website of a book that I just finished watching a lecture on cspan about. The author spoke about his book and current events that are related to its theories. The effect of capitalism and wealth upon society are so ubiquitous and well documented that its seems almost excessively tautological to discuss or analyze the subject at all. Obviously, either the message has not yet penetrated or the message is wrong. I believe that its a little of both.

One of the points made by the author during his talk is the parallels to the former empire's of the netherlands and Great Britain. His point (during the talk, I haven't read the full text of the book yet) was that at its zenith, Great Britain suffered from the same inequities and social problems that the USA is now. History is full of parallels when it comes to the fall of great empires and anybody that thinks that the USA isn't an empire is living in a drug-induced haze. I believe that the fundamental dynamic involved in the top heavy pyramid. As capital is concentrated at the top of the pyramidal structure of society, political power, social class, culture and even religion become a function of the persons in who's hands the power is concentrating. This creates a kind of socio-economic unreality that begins to pervade every aspect of the society's life, character and actions. The "masses", "population" or "people" that form the greater number of citizens are increasingly disenfranchised. The everyday life of the population becomes less and less relevant. The strain upon them grows exponentially as the bar is raised economically, socially and politically. They vote less (in the case of a democracy) because they feel that it matters less. The value their contribution to society and culture less as they are made to feel that, as a group, their lives matter less and less. They give up the race to prosperity and familial security as the effort to achieve it increases more and more like a hallway the lengthens as you run through it. That process, if allowed to continue, must result in a collapse of the base foundation of society's structure. The wealthy and powerful believe that they can just "take their act on the road" if need be. The unreality grows and society collapses once the top of the pyramid outstrips the capacity of the base to support it. At the beginning of the twentieth century The great empire's of europe had reached just such a watermark, the result was a century of British decline, 2 world wars, communism and the liberation of Asia and Africa from the heel of colonialism. Regardless of how you look at it, it was a collapse. For better or worst. There was a time in american history when the average man was the hero, the farmer, the factory worker, the father. A time when religion was something that held an individual to a higher moral standard rather than dictating the nature of morality to an unseen audience. When the lifestyles of the rich and famous were no where near as important as the life of the community. Is the United States of America to be the new centuries empire collapse?