austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

270 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
optimally be a prohibition on spending money on political advertising
or campaigns. The top 1000 or so candidates in the election would
be entitled to an administrative post, so that there would be room for
many media firms in which only a small minority of people are interested.
Although the government could still sell commercial advertising
time on these media (perhaps, however, subsidizing the advertising of
smaller firms with new products to level the playing field and to encourage
innovation), the advertising revenue would optimally go to the overall
federal government (which would centralize such sales separately
from the independent programming of the media companies) in order
to eliminate any financial pressure the advertisers might be able to put
on the media companies. In addition, in order to further democratize the
media, it would also be necessary to outlaw the information-repressive
effect of allowing big businesses to pay for top placement on an internet
search engine (that should be done more randomly or independently of
money considerations).
Once Americans recognize that the USA's wealth was stolen via hor­
rible crimes against humanity, they might also see the justice in ending
any further domestic or foreign exploitation. While reparations to the
USA's victims might also seem appropriate, it might be sufficient (and
more practical) to merely give the poor the freedom to grow out of their
poverty using some economic plan such as proposed in Chapter 5. Such
growth might very well benefit all, including the USA itself.
In addition to sparking faster worldwide economic growth, an enlightened
American people might also decide to have a system that shares
the existing loot more evenly. In particular, it would seem only fair that
the surviving Indian victims of possibly the worst holocaust in history
(i.e., the virtual genocide of the native Americans) should be provided
with jobs that give them close to an equal share of the income fro�
the land that was stolen from them by force. While the native Amencans
have clearly been the people most abused by the USA's capitalist
system, other victims of USA capitalist crimes like the Afro-Americans
(i.e., the fo rmer slaves) should also be entitled to a fair share of the
income from the wealth that they helped create while being exploited.
In addition, since a very large percentage of white Americans initially
came over to the USA as indentured servants and were forced to effectively
work as slaves for a limited number of years (Zion, 1995), the
CHAPTER 7
27 1
ancestors of the majority in the USA have been exploited and should
really be entitled to an equitable portion of the loot/income of the
USA.14
Moreover, it must be remembered that American workers in general
(hourly or salaried) have always received compensation that was less
than the value created by their work (and that often represented a form
ofwage slavery) in order to ensure a good profit margin to rich investors
(Marx and Engels, 1988b ). One result of this exploitation is a significant
amount of poverty among many Americans (Strobel and Peterson,
1999) that is so severe that the rich USA ranks 24'h in the average
healthy life-span of its residents even though it spends more than any
other country in the world on health (Associated Press, 2000i). lt would
thus seem just and humane to have all Americans be provided with jobs
that pay approximately an equal share of the USA's national income
(or GOP), which would come to about $70,000 per worker in 2000.
Note that incomes in such a socialist system could still be allowed to
vary somewhat for differences in skill and performance (e.g., ranging
between $50,000 and $150,000 in the USA). Thus, although the USA
capitalists have shared some of their loot with the average American
(as a form of bribe or diversion to keep them from investigating or complaining
about USA crimes and exploitation), and although most Americans
today (at least the middle class) therefore have a higher standard
of living than people in most of the rest of the world (and thus profit
from the USA's past atrocities), over 95% of the American people earn
less than the value of their work created and would therefore benefit
from a more equitable socialist system (the only exceptions being those
currently with an abnormally large share of the USA capitaVloot). That
benefit could come from higher wages and salaries or a shorter work
week, or both.
Note that incomes would also grow faster under a socialist system
than under capitalism, as documented in Chapters 1 and 4. Note also
that taxes for social security and government services in a socialist
system would be less than under capitalism because unemployment
CCMIId be eliminated, wasteful and destructive defense spending could
be reduced to an extremely low level, and a more efficient government
COUld be Created, as explained in Chapter I. As documented in Chapter
2• a SOCialist system would also be advantageous for many non-eco-