Getting Back To Work at Wal Mart

IN 1963, ON THE EVE of the "March on Washington", President Kennedy had a brilliant idea. Invite Martin Luther King to the White House, and say to him: "we have an opportunity to pass civil rights legislation, so let's make sure "our" march today will be peaceful". Brilliant move by a brilliant man. Make a potentially volatile protest his own. Shut down the planned protest on capitol hill before it ever begins. And it never began. MLK had a dream, and his dream was deferred the very moment he bowed before the powers which oppressed him. In a nation ruled by a few wealthy powerful elites, and populated by teeming masses of impoverished workers, the strategy is the same. Give 'em enough slack to vent, and to hang themsleves, but keep it within controllable limits, ensuring its ultimate harmlessness. You can protest in America, if you have a permit to do so, and the permit will tell you where and when you can protest, and for how long. Brilliant method of control. The protestors have their fun, their day in the sun, and it all comes to nothing, having been tailored and tamed by the very powers against whom the protest was intended, and against whom it now fizzles and fades. Another example of this ocurred in central Los Angeles yesterday, when fifty impoverished Wal Mart employees, protest permits in hand, had their futile fling in front of the "Always the best price" sign, and got arrested for staying a bit too long. A million and a half Wal Mart employees, half of whom make a wage you can live on, and the other half of whom are slave wage laborers, aka "associates", and do not make a living wage. Those who do, of course, side with corporate management in expressing bemusement at the seeming ingratitude of the lower class. The drivel from the wealthy powerful managers and executives is always the same, because it always sounds so fair, so sensible, and because it works. We pay our workers fair market wages. Anyone working for us has the opportunity for advancement. The fact that the Walton family's combined wealth is equal to the bottom forty two percent of the American people, and greater than the total wealth of all Wal mart 'associates" is beside the point. The point is freedom. Blah blah blah. When inane blather is effective, why alter or amend it? MLK's dream, of human equality, keeps being interrupted. The workers at Wal Mart have not united, and thus have not yet shed their chains. Why should they? Hand 'em a few more crumbs, let 'em twist and shout for a few moments, and then let 'em get right back to work.