Many will receive no relief from this “stimulus” signed into law on March 27th. Many will be forgotten. Many will lose their jobs. Many will lose their homes.
Privilege will allow many to play board games and enjoy long binges of streaming video.
That’s what neoliberalism does. It takes some of us… Makes us slightly more comfortable than those left out and makes it easy to give into privileged stances.
Bernie Sanders’ platform says “I will fight for someone I don’t know.” Only under his proposals are these programs and stimulus universal. Only under Bernie’s plans do these become rights. Good people. Bad people. Rich people. Poor people. People ..
Neoliberalism seeks to carve out percentages… So there are winners that can enjoy privilege whilst others suffer. That is not freedom. That is not progress. You can see the privilege ooze all around. People who are comfortable patting themselves on the back for thinking of the poor. They go back to privilege shortly thereafter… Without flinching.
Lua Kamál Yuille came onto our podcast Macro N Cheese and said things probably wouldn’t change until comfortable white people are willing to give up their privilege and take big risks. Made big sacrifices.
I take look at those caving into privileged demands and lethargy that prevents them from leaning in and being effective in building against the systems of oppression that they may in fact be benefiting from. The very system from which they glean benefit… The very privileges they enjoy as a result… We see so many content in being a couple of inches above desperation. How quickly those inches could vanish.
This virus is a great opportunity to see the system for what it is. Donald Trump is pushing to reopen the world as many are losing their lives… Capitalism is hungry. Neoliberalism needs a sacrifice. Our government has the real resources and ability to create money anytime Congress authorizes it. We can mobilize industry. We can provide for all.
Write off student debt.
Nationalize payroll.
Pay folks to STAY HOME.
But we won’t unless we stop acting like we have time.
Someone is dying as you play Monopoly. Someone is dying while you watch reruns of Friends. Someone is dying as you act like we are in ordinary times, and more will continue to die as long as our privilege allows us to feel “ok” and allow the many to perish… Or even the few. One is too many.
We are all responsible for making the world a better place.
We all need to say “I will fight for someone I don’t know”… And mean it.