Capitol siege seemed like middle-class revolt
Dear Editor:
Using the poor and ignorant as cannon fodder is a tradition the upper classes have indulged in throughout history. It’s exactly what Donald Trump did with his supporters on Jan. 6, goading them to fight for him and prove they’re not “weak.”
But the riot at the Capitol didn’t look like a rebellion of poor peasants preceding the birth of democratic modernity. Press photos of this community in other settings show some of them carrying guns that cost more than $2,000. Tactical gear worn by some rioters, and plane tickets to D.C., aren’t cheap. This looked like a revolt by members of the middle class who think they still benefit from the current cultural and economic status quo, and don’t want it to change.
Therein lies the rub. Trump did not create this phenomenon. It, and he, are a predictable outcome of 40 years of reactionary economics and politics, instigated by the upper classes, under the fig leaf of conservatism. Their goal has been to continue channeling the proceeds of the public’s labor toward themselves. They have worked diligently to undo our nation’s halting progress toward universal equality, and the government that guarantees it. Instead of the social value of aspiring to advance the human condition, they have promoted aspiring to affluence, which some of their preachers claim is evidence of righteousness and God’s favor.
This does not serve the interests of the people, including Trump’s base, but rather those of his own class.
As the child of a World War II refugee whose family was lucky enough to lose only their home and possessions, rather than their lives, I have some personal understanding of the outcomes of delusional ideologies centered on leader figures, and supported by economic elites, who sell a victim mentality and promise a return to greatness via a brutalist culture. We have produced better results in our own 240 years of nationhood when we’ve focused on humanist values of fundamental rights and progress for all, and have worked hard, together, to implement them.
Johannes Sayre
Kingston