It’s Time For the General Strike.

Summary

The article calls for a general strike in response to the American government's perceived prioritization of economic interests over the welfare of its citizens amidst the 2020 pandemic.

Abstract

The author expresses a growing sense of rage and despair among Americans as the government fails to support the populace during the 2020 crisis. While corporations receive substantial financial aid, essential benefits for the unemployed have lapsed, and the eviction moratorium has ended. The article criticizes the hypocrisy of political leaders, particularly President Trump, for pushing to reopen schools and delay the election while the wealthy accumulate more wealth. The author argues that the time has come for a general strike, as workers realize their worth and the power they hold by withholding their labor. This collective action is seen as a necessary step to dismantle a system that exploits the working class and to make the elite fearful, as they only respond to financial impact.

Opinions

The author feels that American citizens are being treated as expendable by the government and corporate elites during the pandemic.
There is a perception that the government is more concerned with economic gains than with the health and safety of its people.
The expiration of unemployment benefits and the end of the eviction moratorium are viewed as abandonment of the American people by their lawmakers.
The author is critical of President Trump's contradictory stances on election safety and school reopenings.
Joe Biden's tweet about not worrying about his tweets as president is seen as out of touch with the urgent needs of the working class.
The article suggests that a general strike would be a powerful tool for workers to assert their value and demand change.
The author believes that the wealthy and powerful are afraid of workers realizing their worth and the potential disruption to the status quo.
The call for a general strike is framed as a response to the systemic issues of end-stage capitalism and the need to prioritize human welfare over profit.

If our lawmakers won’t look out for us, it’s time to take matters in to our own hands.

As the days progress and the toll that 2020 has taken on the people of the United States only continues to worsen, I’m sure I’m far from the only one finding themselves sinking further and further in to their grief and despair about the future of the country. But with it, there’s no denying I’ve been surprised by the sense of blatant rage that’s grown within me as well, and as I consider everything that still lies ahead in the days and weeks to come I’m sure that sentiment will only continue to intensify. In all honesty, why wouldn’t it?

Every step along the way throughout this crisis, the American people have been treated as nothing more than collateral damage, or a commodity that the elites and the lawmakers in their control have determined can be sacrificed for the good of their economic benefit. While hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money has been handed over to unknown corporations, the 600 dollar a week unemployment benefits that were keeping tens of millions of unemployed Americans housed and fed in the midst of a pandemic have expired, and the eviction moratorium has as well. Meanwhile, at the very moment he is insisting it’s safe for children to get back in to the schools, the President of the United States is arguing that the election should be delayed until it is safe for people to vote in person. It’s also absolutely worth noting that at this moment of unprecedented economic hardship, the richest among us are seeing equally as unprecedented increases to their wealth.

Is it really surprising that the rage inside me and I’m sure countless others is only continuing to grow when at this pivotal, unprecedented moment in history, on top of everything else the one man we have as a viable alternative to replace the President after the November election tweets:

“You won’t have to worry about my tweets when I’m president.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t find that particularly reassuring when I can guarantee without a shadow of a doubt that I’ll still be worrying about — among other things — my multiple coworkers who are over 70 years old, working housekeeping in a nursing home in the middle of a pandemic because they can’t afford to retire. If nothing else, Joe Biden’s tweet served as yet another reminder that we’re essentially all on our own.

The time is now for workers to organize a general strike.

At this point it’s time for us to begin asking ourselves what else is left, and start thinking about the logical next step in a scenario when we have been more or less abandoned. Frankly — outside of a full blown rebellion — I can’t think of what those in a position of power would fear more than workers all across the country refusing to give them their labor. It’s been readily apparent not just in the present moment in the context of this pandemic, but in America’s broader end-stage capitalistic society overall that what our lawmakers and their corporate overlords are most anxious about is the moment in time when we realize the true value of our work.

There’s no denying the wealthy and powerful are fully cognizant of the fact that if we are allowed just one second to breathe, contemplate, and reflect on our worth, then their carefully crafted scheme they’ve been implementing over the course of the past forty years is over. Just imagine if everyone forced to work two or three jobs just to make rent and eat was able to pause, and consider that it does not and should not have to be this way.

It is not by accident that such a significant percentage of people are so busy just trying to survive that they aren’t given even a second to think about the injustice of it all, and if any meaningful, lasting steps towards progress are to be made, the system which allows those practices to flourish needs to be dismantled all together. It has been made abundantly clear that even if it comes at the detriment of the overall stability of the entire country, the only thing that people in positions of power listen to is money. We are are rapidly approaching the point in which tens of millions of us are going to determine there is nothing left to lose. For far too long, our politicians and the elites they serve have been comfortable and insulated from our anger. What better way to fight back in the ever-escalating class war than to hit them where it hurts the very most: their pocket books.