According to the Declaration of Independence, all men are created equal, and we all have a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The sad truth remains that many of our fellow citizens consider certain people “more worthy” of the pursuit of happiness, than others.
It’s all about hierarchy.
During the “Age of Enlightenment,” 17th century men questioned the “divine right of kings” idea.
However, they replaced it with the equally stupid concept that property-owning people are more important than non-property-owning people.
(Jesus tried to dissuade people of this idea in the Sermon on the Mount.
Unfortunately, human greed, and clannishness, are strong drives.)
Because property-owners were considered “better” than non-property-owners, most American states originally required property ownership in order to vote.
By 1790, only 4% (out of 3.9 million Americans) possessed enough property to vote.
At the same time, immigrants were allowed to become citizens, after only two years of residency.
Therefore, of the relatively few men who voted in the late 1790s, some were likely recent immigrants.
Then, as now, money equaled power.
During the early days of this country, most states required men to own a certain amount of property in order to hold political office.
The amount varied from state to state.
In South Carolina, men had to “be worth” at least 10,000 £ (the equivalent of one million dollars today) to run for Governor.
In New Jersey, men had to own property worth at least 1,000 £ (the equivalent of $150,000 today) to become Senators.
While those old laws are long gone, it’s still an anomaly for a poor man to run for political office in the U.S.
(Governor Tim Walz was the poorest man ever selected to run for vice-president.)
Most men who signed the Declaration of Independence were wealthy.
Benjamin Franklin was the printer of 30% of all books and journals published in America.
Founding Father John Hancock owned fleets of ships, and hundreds of retail shops.
When George Washington died, his estate was valued at $17 million dollars (in today’s dollars).
(A major portion of George’s wealth came to him through his marriage to Martha.)
Beginning in the late 1960’s, society devised yet another factor “to separate the wheat from the chaff.”*
Gradually, a college degree became as necessary, as a high school diploma had been, to enter the middle class.
There were exceptions (Bill Gates, sports stars, movie actors).
However, people aspiring to become clerks, low-level managers, police detectives, paramedics (and even graphic artists) were asked to obtain degrees beyond high school.
Moreover, there’s a money gap between people who earn degrees in order to education others (or to treat them medically), and those who earn their degrees so they can deal with money.
The median salary for teachers in 2024 was $63,000.
The median salary for financial advisors in 2024 was $102,140!
Medical doctors are significantly smarter than bankers, but their jobs don’t bring in the moolah.
It’s clear that, in American society, people whose jobs involve helping others, are valued less highly than people who handle money.
The Founders realized that Americans tend to value money more than other nationalities do.
Therefore, they wrote the Emoluments Clause into the Constitution, to stop Federal officials (including the U.S. President), from accepting “gifts, payments, or benefits from foreign states.”
The goal was to prevent foreign influence.
Soon after the Emoluments Clause was written, Thomas Jefferson (then Ambassador to France) violated the law by his acceptance of a diamond-encrusted snuff box (valued at $81,000 in today’s money) from French officials.
Jefferson solved his ethical problem by removing and selling the diamonds from the snuffbox.
He then used most of the money (but not all!) to purchase reciprocal gifts for his French hosts.
Money has been at the root of many events in the 250-year-old history of the U.S.
One major boost to the budding American economy was the property that Loyalists left behind when they fled to Canada or England.
France spent years trying to recoup the money that it spent supporting the American Revolution, because America was reluctant to pay its’ debt.
America never paid reparations to the African-Americans whose unpaid labor was its’ major source of wealth.
The “40 acres and a mule” promise (made by Northern officials after the Civil War) was unfulfilled.
Despite not holding true to its’ promises, the U.S. has still managed to accumulate a massive debt.
According to Forbes magazine (“Will the U.S. Debt A Staggering $38 Trillion Dollars, Who Exactly Do We Owe?” by Doug Melville) the U.S owes $1.13 Trillion to Japan, $807 Billion to the United Kingdom, and $750 Billion to China, with 75% of the debt controlled domestically.
According to Forbes, the interest on this debt will reach $1 trillion per year in 2026 ($83 billion per month).
America has used many strategies to keep the economic wheel turning for the upper crust.
The U.S. allowed generations of immigrants into the country, and used them to do the menial jobs (earning low wages with no benefits).
Immigrants don’t receive Social Security or Medicare benefits; therefore, immigration has helped to keep those systems solvent.
The U.S. healthcare system is based on insurance offered as a benefit through employment. This gives power to the employer, over the employee.
Essentially, America has set up an underclass of Americans who are, by design, at the mercy of the monied elite.
It’s sad how many Americans are still under the illusion that they aren’t the ones being sifted out, as chaff.
*To separate the wheat from the chaff means to separate out the “good stuff,” the wheat, from the waste, or the chaff.
