During the Civil War, Johnny Reb rushed to enlist to fight for Confederate Liberty. He wanted the Freedom to own slaves. Of course, slaves were expensive, a good one cost as much as a horse, and to own enough of them to be able to prosper economically was a course of action limited to only a tiny proportion of the South's white population. Still, they had psychologically talked themselves into this, they bargained with Providence that they had to fight for the freedom of slave ownership because that was their only hope of rising above the whitetrash/sharecropper level of society. Unless you had a skill or profession or education, the vast majority of white Southerners were destined to remain poor and exploited themselves until they could accumulate their own slaves. Southern agribusiness, unlike the family farm or commercial/industrial society of the North and West, was based on cash crops and slave labor.

A similar situation exists today. Ask any wage slave today what his ambition in life is, he will usually answer it is to "own his own business". Except for those with a skill, profession or education, owning a business is the only way the exploited worker can move ahead, by having workers of his own to exploit. They feel they are entitled to it.

To the Conservative wage slave, the Babbitts, Bunkers and Bubbas, indoctrinated since birth that becoming an exploiter was his only path out of wage slavery, it was the path Providence guaranteed, the road he bargained for, what he sold his soul for. "Keep your nose clean, follow the rules, work hard and one day you'll own your own business and have workers of your own to exploit. And they'll deserve it, too, because they don't have the courage, ambition, creativity, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit that you obviously do."


Its always been this way, it just wasn't as noticeable because in the past there WAS more opportunity, more possibility that starting your own business, or at least, self-employment, could lift you out of wage slavery. The economy was growing, the country was rich, and there were still some empty seats left at the front of the bus. And even wage slavery was tolerable, because of unions, benefits, white-collar work, good salaries and retirement, and the welfare safety net. And the kids, of course, could get off the treadmill, go to public college, and become doctors or lawyers or MBAs.

It didn't work out that way, though, and now its starting to become obvious it is never going to work out. And rather than admit to themselves they've been conned by the very class they had aspirations to someday join, they have little choice but to look for scapegoats they can blame it all on.

Stand by for heavy rolls.