America's poor and working class are increasingly sick of being stuck at the bottom. But a people can only be pushed so far... the erosion of the middle class, political corruption, and societal distrust.
From Roe v. Wade's fallout to deindustrialization's impact, we explore how growing inequality and systemic failures could turn America into an empire of vigilantes.
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VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
CALLER DON: I was surprised that the guys—the executives—his personal protection, apparently, you know, didn’t stop any of these people.
Yeah, well, that’s not the way it works in a society that’s unjust, with the constant outrages and the killing of our children. From everything—school shootings to oxycodone and all kinds of other tragedies—I’m surprised there hasn’t been more of this. It’s a heavily armed society.
Yeah, and you know, they’d be getting exactly what they deserve. Now, I personally don’t support it.
THOM: I don’t think he got what he deserves. You know, what the heads of the insurance companies deserve is for their families and children to lose insurance coverage. They don’t deserve to be shot on the street.
CALLER: Right, but for instance, since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a thousand extra women have died who otherwise would have lived.
THOM: Well, we don’t know the exact number, but we know of three for sure, and it’s probably around a thousand.
You’re probably right, Don. Yeah, and 26,000 women who were raped and impregnated in Texas were forced to carry babies to term.
CALLER: A lot of these women who died were tortured first. Now, we don’t have pictures of the right-to-lifers in their leather aprons with their implements of torture, but they knew when they set these policies that many women would suffer horribly in the process.
THOM: Yeah, I mean, so is your point, Don, that you think America is going to become more of a vigilante nation?
CALLER: Well, I hope not. You know, I’m a year older than you. I grew up in Detroit. I can remember an orderly, well-run society. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but it didn’t have this weird edge we see now.
THOM: Back then, over 80% of people trusted the government, and by and large, the government worked for the people. That was before political bribery was legalized by five corrupt Republicans on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Yes, and I put that at the top of the list of things that have destroyed America.
CALLER: Well, you know, the assassination of JFK—so clearly, the official story was BS—the Vietnam War, the deindustrialization. If you want to create a fascist movement, make sure that formerly prosperous blue-collar people are sitting around twiddling their thumbs and drinking beer.
THOM: Yep, that’s exactly what’s happening. We went from two-thirds of us being in the middle class to around 45% now. We went from being able to raise a family on a single income to needing 2.3 incomes to maintain the same standard of living. My generation in our 30s controlled 21% of the nation’s wealth; the generation now in their 30s controls just 4.6%.
And people are rightly pissed off—they just don’t know where to direct their rage. They don’t realize this was a program implemented by Ronald Reagan with the explicit intention of reducing the size of the middle class and increasing the wealth of the top 1%. It was unambiguous.
CALLER: There’s no question about it. I quote you on that frequently, Thom—on the reduction of the size of the middle class.
Yeah, and middle classes are conservative. But look where we’re at. You know, I live where we have Trumpists across the street, with their flags and...
THOM: Oh God.
Yeah, we all have them. And of course, Fox News is ubiquitous. That’s the problem.
Don, thank you for the call. It’s always good talking with you—I appreciate it
