By Michael San Nicolas
The class warfare outcome in reality turned out reversed, eliminating the middle class put politicians in the pockets of the wealthy and made their elections dependent on them solely as the means to finance money-dependent campaigns.
On Guam the government politically hires the poor to corral the vote into a manufactured government-only middle class, relies on the wealthy to capitalize their campaigns, and squeezes out the non-government middle class as a threat to the construct of control.
It then becomes a community funded with minimal taxation of the wealthy to minimally capitalize public services (just enough to keep the government middle class employed and loyal), ensuring the poor don’t get enough education to vote wisely, don’t get enough healthcare so they remain desperate, don’t earn enough to feel safe in expressing independent views of the realities they’re living under, and leave at the first chance they get to emerge or join the government when opportunity presents itself to.
The wealthy then have a permanent low cost private sector labor force, politicians in their pocket, indifference to the state of public services (up to the point that it begins to inhibit their operations) as they have the means to pay for their own preferred education and healthcare choices, and massive barriers to entry against any competition because outside investment sees little to gain in the face of so much government hurdles and the lack of skilled labor. Naturally little competition emerges also from the population because it is decimated and subjugated.
Then it just becomes a wealthy funded battlefield for government control and the victor gets the spoils of what little government spending is made in excess of payroll, and the ability to rain regulatory hell on their wealthy competitors.
This, actually, was what Marx anticipated when he confidently believed it will be capitalism that leads to communism.
The only thing preventing it on Guam is the fact that people can leave, and that the federal government subsidizes welfare expenses (not local taxpayers), otherwise the gross imbalance would have boiled over decades ago with resource deprivation triggering desperation.
As long as we continue to starve our people of quality education and decent healthcare, and as long as elected government is able to weaponize against its opposition, the non-governmental middle class will remain a vast minority, and the status quo will remain intact.
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Michael San Nicolas served Guam as her delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives and member of yet Guam Legislature. He was a banker before that. He is a resident of Dededo and originally is from Talofofo.
