The problem has become even worse under Trump and the Republicans. The lack of historical knowledge in the American population combined with the mass misinformation campaign by the right wing media is convincing the “working people” that if they “behave”, everything will be fine - it’s just a bunch of disgruntled liberals that are fighting the system. Pretty much going back to feudalism.
I like the salt of the earth, lay me down on Mother Earth any day. Though struggle for generations is not cool. I’d like a robust middle class; the thought of my just launched son to suffer and struggle financially really hurts me. I don’t want him to have the life of financial hardship I have had. Gotta think ahead, where is all this exorbitant wealth grab gonna lead us, back to the dark ages….
I hear you, Diedre!! My heart goes out to you and to everyone else, especially the voiceless innocents. But, between a billionaire and a peasant, being more down to earth works for me. Mom used to say that, as long as we're willing to work hard, we can accomplish anything we set our mind to doing. So, I'm a Duracell-Timex combo with a tireless, meticulous work ethic but, yes. Struggles in life can be quite harsh. Most of us have done that (without complaint). We've picked ourselves up when we've fallen, straightened our clothes, dusted ourselves off, and kept going and going and going. We've lived on the edge, wondering how bills would get paid, busting our buns working day in and day out, and then rushing home to deal with problems there. It's all so (too) relatable! And, yes. I do worry that this Immense Power Grab is affecting us not just in the here and now, but also in the future. But, we can hope. And, thank goodness, we have each other for support even if it's from afar. I'm grateful for the lovely folks with whom I've interacted on Substack... despite the (few) ogres along the way.
Thank you for pointing out the damage done to the country by Ronald Reagan. His deliberate destruction of the mental health system is one of the greatest sins committed against a vulnerable population. The GOP does not care about individuals. And yet people keep voting them into office and then suffering the consequences.
I am raging peasant mad! Thank you for this swift kick in the butt. I despised Reagan. I cast my first vote for Dukakis, now I am taking compound bow lessons for what is to come.
Delve into some of the backgrounds and you find authoritarians at heart. The belief in a “lazy worker” who’s as replaceable as changing a tire. One of Bezos henchman stated that on what they pay the warehouse workers the workers could live like kings. The ongoing joke amongst the workers is that’s why you run into your coworkers at Aldi, Walmart, Dollar Tree and Goodwill.
"Both sides are the same" is a Russian propaganda talking point, to demotivate Democrats and discourage them from voting, to help Trump win. Trump works for Putin.
And the anti-NATO lies are also typical Russian propaganda.
Billionaires already know that Marlon Brando’s private Tahitian island has become one of the world’s most exclusive resorts. Despite my dread of Hawai’i—it’s an us problem, not a them problem—my mouth watered with no trouble atoll (www.thebrando.com).
If every billionaire gave just a portion of their wealth that they couldn’t spend in 4 lifetimes, there wouldn’t be any homeless or starving families in America. Just a portion!
But then they wouldn’t be such a biggety-big billionaire! This is why my view from my room on Mount Sinai’s cardiology floor wasn’t of the Zuckerberg Surgery Wing instead of the Skolnick Family’s. And there’s no Bezos Free Library. Gotta buy those books via One-Click.
When I was a teenager, I began working in the service industry, and discovered that what I was paid wouldn’t cover the expenses of transportation to and from work. I asked why and was told that my parents were expected to pay for these expenses. This was my first experience of an employer expecting someone else to pay when they chose to pay low wages.
Then, later I saw employers shamelessly watch as their employees access government programs such as SNAP to put food on their tables. These employees showed up to work every day, they were not Reagan’s low life’s “Welfare Queens” they were put in a financial bind by employers’ continuing their choice of paying low wages. Their justification, profit.
Accompanying employers all-powerful desire for profit is the even more powerful under handed ‘whip’ of societal shaming. The brainwashing of the majority of our population into believing that they are responsible for their own lot in life, the “pull yourself up by your boot straps” a societal myth. If you aren’t on top it’s your own fault.
Corporations are a wall of insulation, removing the wealthy from the frontline of public awareness, because the wealthy are seated on the boards of these small number of powerful corporations. As executives, they remain focused on increasing profits and are spending money for obtaining government contacts and grants, extracting funds from the “United States Treasury” the pot of money that are not required to pay into. The workers who they deny living wages pay their taxes creating the pool of money, then the wealthy and corporations extract these funds for increasing their profits with government contracts and grants. The modern-day reinvented method of circling funds back to the wealthy, “buy only from the general store owned by your employer” using the small wages that they have chosen to pay you.
What is happening is psychological warfare benefiting only the wealthy. Is it any wonder why the rich and powerful want the majority of our population to remain ignorant of their two-handed methods of profiting from your work while increasing their profits? Pay low wages then extract the money that taxpayers pay into the United States Treasury in two forms, through government grants (money not to be repaid) and profitable contracts. Their completed circle of employees and government for more profit.
The Modern Peasant I read this and saw the faces behind the words. A waitress in Ohio refilling coffee for a man who’ll never tip enough to cover her rent. A young miner in Zambia, his palms dusted with cobalt, watching the sky turn gray from the same factory smoke that poisons his lungs.
Different continents, same hunger. Different accents, same exhaustion.
In Los Angeles, someone drives through the night, praying the gas prices don’t swallow his paycheck. In Lagos, a mother sells roasted corn under flickering streetlights, her child asleep beside the stove. In Johannesburg, a taxi driver hums along to the radio, counting change that will barely fill his tank.
Both whisper the same prayer beneath their breath: Maybe next month will be better.
Somewhere, the same billionaires sip champagne above the noise. Stock charts rise like sacred scriptures while the rest of us count coins and calories, scrolling past pictures of yachts we’ll never touch.
They say America is free. They say Africa is independent. But the same debt collectors wear different flags, and the same system just speaks in different tongues.
Still, something is stirring. You can feel it in Detroit’s abandoned factories reborn as co-ops, in Nairobi’s solar labs glowing through power cuts, in Accra’s street markets alive with invention, in Lusaka’s small builders shaping homes from dust and determination.
We’re not begging anymore. We’re building. Quietly. Stubbornly. Beautifully.
And maybe one day soon, when the worker in New York and the dreamer in Nairobi both look up at the same moon and realize they’ve been fighting the same invisible enemy that’s when the world will change.
The problem has become even worse under Trump and the Republicans. The lack of historical knowledge in the American population combined with the mass misinformation campaign by the right wing media is convincing the “working people” that if they “behave”, everything will be fine - it’s just a bunch of disgruntled liberals that are fighting the system. Pretty much going back to feudalism.
It always has been under Republicans. Lots of history to prove it. Shallow bastards.
Disgruntled citizens, are half of the country.
It’s us versus them
Always has been….
When do we break the chain?
You are so CLEAR. Thank you for validating and expanding my thoughts/knowledge. Looking forward to part 2.
I'm a peasant. I like that! I'd rather be salt of the earth than have my nose so high up in the air that bird doodoo falls into my nostrils.
I like the salt of the earth, lay me down on Mother Earth any day. Though struggle for generations is not cool. I’d like a robust middle class; the thought of my just launched son to suffer and struggle financially really hurts me. I don’t want him to have the life of financial hardship I have had. Gotta think ahead, where is all this exorbitant wealth grab gonna lead us, back to the dark ages….
I hear you, Diedre!! My heart goes out to you and to everyone else, especially the voiceless innocents. But, between a billionaire and a peasant, being more down to earth works for me. Mom used to say that, as long as we're willing to work hard, we can accomplish anything we set our mind to doing. So, I'm a Duracell-Timex combo with a tireless, meticulous work ethic but, yes. Struggles in life can be quite harsh. Most of us have done that (without complaint). We've picked ourselves up when we've fallen, straightened our clothes, dusted ourselves off, and kept going and going and going. We've lived on the edge, wondering how bills would get paid, busting our buns working day in and day out, and then rushing home to deal with problems there. It's all so (too) relatable! And, yes. I do worry that this Immense Power Grab is affecting us not just in the here and now, but also in the future. But, we can hope. And, thank goodness, we have each other for support even if it's from afar. I'm grateful for the lovely folks with whom I've interacted on Substack... despite the (few) ogres along the way.
We need more action
Yes, we do!!!
Flood our congress members and senate with letters asking to remove the WHOLE ADMINISTRATION!!!!
Alas, ours in (from) Texas are truly unwilling (and rude) about doing for anyone other than themselves.
Sooooo…..when is America great again? Pretty sure rump is batshit crazy - evoke the 25th!
trump is trying to put the nails in our coffins. I don't think it's a coincidence that we were in this same situation 100 years ago.
Thank you for pointing out the damage done to the country by Ronald Reagan. His deliberate destruction of the mental health system is one of the greatest sins committed against a vulnerable population. The GOP does not care about individuals. And yet people keep voting them into office and then suffering the consequences.
Fantastic read! Thanks for sharing this. I believe in win-win deals but that isn’t the reality. The 1% do not allow anyone else to win.
With billionairs it's always been about their privilege that matters, never yours. That's not respect.
I am raging peasant mad! Thank you for this swift kick in the butt. I despised Reagan. I cast my first vote for Dukakis, now I am taking compound bow lessons for what is to come.
Delve into some of the backgrounds and you find authoritarians at heart. The belief in a “lazy worker” who’s as replaceable as changing a tire. One of Bezos henchman stated that on what they pay the warehouse workers the workers could live like kings. The ongoing joke amongst the workers is that’s why you run into your coworkers at Aldi, Walmart, Dollar Tree and Goodwill.
you just described and explained CAPITALISM
This is exactly how capitalism is designed to work
nothing will change until we reject capitalism itself
"Both sides are the same" is a Russian propaganda talking point, to demotivate Democrats and discourage them from voting, to help Trump win. Trump works for Putin.
And the anti-NATO lies are also typical Russian propaganda.
That is not true of Russia!
Are you sure? https://consortiumnews.com/2025/02/25/ukraine-timeline-tells-the-tale/
Why are you spreading Russian disinformation?
Billionaires already know that Marlon Brando’s private Tahitian island has become one of the world’s most exclusive resorts. Despite my dread of Hawai’i—it’s an us problem, not a them problem—my mouth watered with no trouble atoll (www.thebrando.com).
If every billionaire gave just a portion of their wealth that they couldn’t spend in 4 lifetimes, there wouldn’t be any homeless or starving families in America. Just a portion!
But then they wouldn’t be such a biggety-big billionaire! This is why my view from my room on Mount Sinai’s cardiology floor wasn’t of the Zuckerberg Surgery Wing instead of the Skolnick Family’s. And there’s no Bezos Free Library. Gotta buy those books via One-Click.
True that!!
When I was a teenager, I began working in the service industry, and discovered that what I was paid wouldn’t cover the expenses of transportation to and from work. I asked why and was told that my parents were expected to pay for these expenses. This was my first experience of an employer expecting someone else to pay when they chose to pay low wages.
Then, later I saw employers shamelessly watch as their employees access government programs such as SNAP to put food on their tables. These employees showed up to work every day, they were not Reagan’s low life’s “Welfare Queens” they were put in a financial bind by employers’ continuing their choice of paying low wages. Their justification, profit.
Accompanying employers all-powerful desire for profit is the even more powerful under handed ‘whip’ of societal shaming. The brainwashing of the majority of our population into believing that they are responsible for their own lot in life, the “pull yourself up by your boot straps” a societal myth. If you aren’t on top it’s your own fault.
Corporations are a wall of insulation, removing the wealthy from the frontline of public awareness, because the wealthy are seated on the boards of these small number of powerful corporations. As executives, they remain focused on increasing profits and are spending money for obtaining government contacts and grants, extracting funds from the “United States Treasury” the pot of money that are not required to pay into. The workers who they deny living wages pay their taxes creating the pool of money, then the wealthy and corporations extract these funds for increasing their profits with government contracts and grants. The modern-day reinvented method of circling funds back to the wealthy, “buy only from the general store owned by your employer” using the small wages that they have chosen to pay you.
What is happening is psychological warfare benefiting only the wealthy. Is it any wonder why the rich and powerful want the majority of our population to remain ignorant of their two-handed methods of profiting from your work while increasing their profits? Pay low wages then extract the money that taxpayers pay into the United States Treasury in two forms, through government grants (money not to be repaid) and profitable contracts. Their completed circle of employees and government for more profit.
The Modern Peasant I read this and saw the faces behind the words. A waitress in Ohio refilling coffee for a man who’ll never tip enough to cover her rent. A young miner in Zambia, his palms dusted with cobalt, watching the sky turn gray from the same factory smoke that poisons his lungs.
Different continents, same hunger. Different accents, same exhaustion.
In Los Angeles, someone drives through the night, praying the gas prices don’t swallow his paycheck. In Lagos, a mother sells roasted corn under flickering streetlights, her child asleep beside the stove. In Johannesburg, a taxi driver hums along to the radio, counting change that will barely fill his tank.
Both whisper the same prayer beneath their breath: Maybe next month will be better.
Somewhere, the same billionaires sip champagne above the noise. Stock charts rise like sacred scriptures while the rest of us count coins and calories, scrolling past pictures of yachts we’ll never touch.
They say America is free. They say Africa is independent. But the same debt collectors wear different flags, and the same system just speaks in different tongues.
Still, something is stirring. You can feel it in Detroit’s abandoned factories reborn as co-ops, in Nairobi’s solar labs glowing through power cuts, in Accra’s street markets alive with invention, in Lusaka’s small builders shaping homes from dust and determination.
We’re not begging anymore. We’re building. Quietly. Stubbornly. Beautifully.
And maybe one day soon, when the worker in New York and the dreamer in Nairobi both look up at the same moon and realize they’ve been fighting the same invisible enemy that’s when the world will change.
— Patrick Muson