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  Michael Schwartz Schwartz is a fifth-year sociology student who graduates this quarter. He would like to thank all you of you made all of the hours of research and stress worth it. Click Here for more articles by Michael Schwartz

Those of you who have been reading my articles know that I make strong statements about the United States. Since this is my last article, I want to be very clear about something; I am in no way whatsoever referring to the people of the United States. When I discuss the United States and when I point to the atrocities and genocide committed, I am referring to actions of the government, not the people. Neither you nor I get to vote on the question of whether or not we should bomb Iraq.

I know that many of you believe that the Democrats are somehow “better” than Republicans. I disagree completely. Let’s quickly look at some facts.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who is held up as a model Democrat, presided over the forced deportation of one million Mexicans in 1931. Over 60 percent of these people were U. S. citizens at the time. He also signed the executive order that resulted in over 150,000 Japanese Americans being rounded up and herded into concentration camps, which were called “internment camps.”

President Truman, a Democrat, ordered a nuclear attack on Japan. Those bombs were responsible for over 500,000 deaths. This is the only time in the history of the world that atomic weapons were used.

  Illustration by CASEY CROWE/Daily Bruin Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, both Democrats, presided over the war in Vietnam. This war was responsible for the deaths of over four million Vietnamese.

President Carter, a Democrat, increased military aid to Indonesia after their genocidal attack on East Timor in which one third of the population was killed and he also supported Nicaragua’s dictator Saomoza until he was toppled in a revolution.

Former President Clinton ordered the bombings of Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and Yugoslavia as well as the continuation of the genocidal sanctions on Iraq. He also increased the militarization of the border with Mexico where more people have died in the last six years trying to enter the United States than those who tried to cross the Berlin Wall during its entire existence.

As I have documented on numerous occasions, our government is a government of the wealthy, by the wealthy, and for the wealthy. The facts show that no matter how loud people yell about a difference between the two parties, giant corporations are equally happy to give to both Democrats and Republicans.

In this last election securities and investments firms donated $13,782,003 to the Republicans and $10,370,038 to the Democrats. Telecommunications firms donated $9,058,026 to the Republicans and $8,713,920 to the Democrats. Computer and electronics companies gave $6,469,521 to the Republicans and $6,658,172 to the Democrats.

For good measure I’d like to point out that there are almost 100 millionaires in the U.S. Congress and this list includes both Democrats and Republicans. Since millionaires make up a little more than one percent of the population I’d say they’re slightly over represented in our legislative body.

Many times I have said that our military serves the interest of capitalism first and foremost. Why do I say these things? Let me give you a quick example: according to the March 4 Los Angeles Times article, “Executives Considered to Head Military,” three corporate executives are under consideration to lead the Air Force, Army and Navy. These three top executives from General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman and Enron are now headed to the Senate for confirmation.

With information like that do I really need to explain that our military serves the interests of corporations? This shouldn’t be a shock considering that almost everyone in Bush’s cabinet is a former Fortune 500 executive.

So, if the government is not run in the interests of the people, whose interests are served? My answer is that the one percent of the country that controls 90 percent of the wealth in this nation are the true beneficiaries of Democratic and Republican policies.

Lots of people write me and say that if what I write were true the media would be reporting it. Well the media is not really a “free press.”

The media is owned by the very institutions and people that we’re discussing. Viacom owns CBS, General Electric owns NBC, ABC is owned by Disney, CNN is owned by Time Warner and AOL, MSNBC is owned by General Electric and Microsoft, and Fox News is owned by Rupert Murdoch. I think it’s safe to say that since the corporations own the media we shouldn’t be surprised when the media does not tell the truth about corporations.

The incentives for buying media organizations have long been obvious to Wall Street, which has seen vicious competition break out in order to capture the remaining media markets. Christopher Shaw, a Wall Street expert who has handled over 120 media mergers, articulated these incentives in 1986. Shaw told investors that media buyouts would give them two things: “profitability” and “influence.” Shaw predicted, and has since been proven correct, that by the year 2000, major U.S. media would be in the hands of six giant corporations.

One question faced by those who fight for change is whether they should press for reform or revolution. Often, people think that the way you can change society is by pulling a lever for a candidate every four years.

But the system won’t change whether the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the Green Party or any other party that wants to change things from the top down instead of bottom up controls it.

We’re not going to change the fact that billions of people in this world lack the basic necessities of life without replacing the system that produced that reality in the first place. Today, we have the resources to feed, clothe, house, educate and provide health care for every man, woman, and child on this planet. So, who or what is stopping us? Well, think about the fact that the top one percent of Americans owns more wealth than the bottom 95 percent combined.

Think about the fact that they own the means of communication and the means of production. Obviously, our interests and their interests are opposed to each other. What we need is an economic and political revolution.

For years, like many of you, I’ve been fighting against all the symptoms of capitalism. Every one of my articles has dealt with a major symptom of capitalism, from prison slave labor to the sanctions on Iraq. All of the facts in this article just depict parts of the economic system that controls our lives. But I decided that I am tired of fighting the symptoms; I want to go after the disease itself.

There is no way to reform a system that has put billions of people into extreme poverty. I have decided to dedicate my life to the fight for socialism. I want to live in a world where the people who create the wealth of society run society. I refuse to live in a world where the majority of the population lacks the basic necessities of life. I welcome all of you to join me in the struggle for a society that is truly in the interests of humanity and where no one would lack the necessities of life. I welcome you to join me in the fight for socialism.