By Houston Communist Party

Republicans and their Tea Party sycophants have laid down a challenge to the working class never before seen in history. They are calling for a roll back in education, health care, law enforcement and any other public services which benefit all economic classes of our country. It is quite literally a “War on the workers” as illustrated by the song written by Anne Feeney. Meanwhile, we are embarking on another imperialist war in Libya.

To their credit, some of the ultra-right Tea Partiers and Libertarians have opposed these aggressive wars in the Middle East.

After 8 years of imperialist wars in the Middle East, most people understand that these wars are only for the benefit of the corporations and ultra-wealthy class. Profits for the wealthy have been skyrocketing while the working class has taken it on the chin as a result of these aggressive wars.

Real wages of working people have been stagnant since the 1970s. Higher education has been rolled back with extraordinary tuition hikes and cuts in research funds. Public education is under assault by the right wing like never seen before. Right wingers are proposing to increase class size and increase the emphasis on testing. Such test scores are easily manipulated and can be used effectively to harass teachers, reduce their wages and terminate them.

Massive demonstrations against the draconian budget cuts have been seen across the country. Little response has been seen from the right wing other than to ramp up the attack.

The working class has started the fight back. One push back needs to be on the legislative level.
One such push could involve demanding that the Federal Government levy a tax on the ultra-wealthy and corporations who have benefitted from the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya. Our government could impose an immediate tax on all individuals, groups and corporations who have benefitted from military activity in the Middle East.

We would propose a 90% tax on the ill-gotten gains that individuals, corporations and any other organizations have reaped from the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. This might include military contractors, munitions manufacturers, and private mercenary companies for a start. These funds could be used to fully fund public education, universal health care and support other vital social services beneficial for all classes of people. A 10% profit rate on blood and stolen resources as well as geopolitical posturing is extremely generous and more sensible people may want to scale this back. Any profit on the murder of the soldiers of our armed forces as well as the murder of innocent working people overseas may be seen as unfair by working people throughout the globe.

It was recently pointed out that GE reaped $14 billion in profits last year and paid no taxes. This is not an isolated incident. So far, the wars have cost the U.S. well over $1 trillion. It is time that working people demand that services that benefit the working class should be fully funded. Working people should fight with all their collective might the funding for aggressive wars in sovereign nations overseas.
We may not be fond of some dictator overseas, but it is not our business to intervene and try to push revolutionary change to benefit the interests of the U.S.A. Some people overseas may not be exactly pleased with the leadership of the U.S.A. now or in the past. Would it be OK for a foreign country to intervene in the affairs of our nation? We think not. Each country must pursue its own historical development and this should be possible without the intervention of a powerful nation seeking to impose its own needs on a smaller country.

cpusahouston@comcast.net