"The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles."

--Plato

I realize now that I do have one more thing to write. I cannot raise the great question of our times without offering the answer. 

To raise the question was necessary. Unless we see its urgency we are unlikely to act. To raise problems is not  sufficient without offering solutions.

The solution to the existence of injustice is no more arcane than the leveling of means. Though there were rich in the 1950's, life in the U.S. was then much more egalitarian. The top tax rate on income here was then 90%. It is now about one third of that. The continuing lowering of taxes on the wealthiest tracks through time tracks precisely the growing disparity between the richest and the rest of society.

My friend, the poet, @Ajay-Kumar, responded by pointing out what we call "rich" in one place is poor in another; what is relative poverty in the U.S. would be welcome means in parts of India, for example.

People feel life is unjust, and crime and other social ills follow, when they perceive great inequality between themselves and those around them. In nations where inequality is greater, crime and violence are greater, whatever the relative levels of poverty and wealth.  

The solution is the leveling of means, first within nations and eventually between them. This leveling must be such that people may live without privation, but also without envy. This can be achieved by the simplest of means, which is tax policy. But, as things stand, the rich control politicians and politicians write tax laws. 

Power does not cede without a demand. And power will not sense demand until its privilege is threatened. 

How do we turn people from passivity and nihilistic acceptance into actors in the drama of change? Change begins with that moment of enlightenment in which we realize that the accumulation of wealth is not the meaning and purpose of life, but rather the growth of love and compassion. Then we embrace meaningful acts that buttress this growth.

The rich love to construct social and religious traditions in which they promise equality later, perhaps as far off as the next or future lives. The vocal demand for equality here and now is  the only retort to such empty promises.

Democracies have the means through elections, to express our demands to change, to affect it. But first their citizens must be awakened to the need for change.

We must stop letting the rich turn us against each other, through appeals to caste, to race, to region, unite, and stand against those who exploit us by distorting our understanding of what is just. In a democracy it is as simple as voting out those who prop up systematic inequality. In undemocratic societies violence and revolution may be the only means.

In either case, change never begins except through the enlightenment of individuals, who then go on to awaken others. 

In embracing such enlightenment we have nothing to lose but the darkness of our ignorance, the ignorance of our collective power. We have everything to gain by spreading the light. 

If you agree please share this article with others.