“I can hire half the working class to kill the other half.”  (uncertain origin—usually attributed to Jay Gould)

In the aftermath of the electoral debacle just perpetrated upon the American people by themselves, I would like to place myself solidly with those who would support a general strike at some not-too-distant point. I suggest that the nearly half of the nation that is still in possession of its right mind, move to strike against the impending lawless oligarchy of Donald Trump and his billionaire puppeteers. I envision a general strike of all wage earners, as well as any right-minded employers who find themselves able to participate.

In my view, our situation borders on the desperate. As I consider how to oppose this groundswell of fascism in America, I see far too few good options available. All have their risks. But doing nothing carries risks of its own, and they are not small. 

I would not focus such a strike on Donald Trump above (or excluding) all else. At 78 and in failing mental and physical health, the Trump of today is just a placeholder for other, more enduring interests: the totalitarian oligarchy, the evangelical Christian fanatics, the criminal opportunists, Vladimir Putin—and anyway, this was never just about Trump. As Barack Obama has said many times, “this” did not begin with Trump. We have had this date with each other since the Gingrich speakership,a if not before. 

If I were the decider, and I had to decide right now what should be the main target of a national strike,  I think I would focus on the unsatisfiably greedy and power-mad 1%: the billionaires and near billionaire class.

This country could survive perfectly well with no billionaires at all. As Elizabeth Warren has observed, none of them got rich entirely on their own. They benefitted from a social contract with the people of this country, which has guarantted their property rights, their defense from enemies foreign and domestic,  rescue from their mistakes, and cleanup f their abandoned failures—in exchange for theoretical, trickle-down benefits that have now largely evaporated if they ever existed at all. No billionaire has earned the enormous wealth they now control. How do I dare say this? Most of their income is the very definition of what we call “unearned income.” Not wages. Unearned income includes investment income such as taxable interest, ordinary dividends, capital gain distributions, cancelled debt and trust distributions.

The cult and mythology of the American oligarchy claims that they deserve everything that has come to them; that they have earned it all, including their unearned income, even though it is, increasingly, generational wealth, and the product of politcal capital that warps the system in their favor. This is not a merit system and cannot be defended as such. It is a system custom-tailored to provide arbitrary advantage to the Club of the Few.

We should base our general strike on the message that the oligarchs do not pay their fair share in taxes; that they exercise undue influence on our government and our laws; that they are rewarded out of all proportion to their actual economic or social value. A general strike might be difficult to carry out and uncertain of success, b ut it has two great, overpowering advantages: first, if it were successful at all, it would hit the fascist menace where it hurts—and second, there is little they can do to keep it from happening.

Too extreme? Un-American? Then show me  exactly, how a kinder and getler resistanc preserves the America of our highest ideals. Show me the resistance of persuasion and delicate manners, of long petitions and yard signs, and the “high road,” that will succeed better.

Nothing comes with guarantees. That ship sailed long ago.