by Cayla Dodd
Worcester, MA
Teamster Local 170 (personal capacity)
I was just a kid when I experienced the 2008 financial crisis as I was leaving high school. My life was shaped firsthand by these catastrophes. The financial stress of the collapse led to my parents’ divorce in 2009 and then the loss of my childhood home in 2010. My mother and father, who worked long, hard hours and sacrificed their youth and health chasing the American dream, lost everything in a matter of months. It seemed to me then that something with this system was flawed. What hope did I have to achieve the American dream if even the two hardest-working people I knew couldn’t make it?
Then the Occupy Movement made headlines. I saw these mass protests and sit-ins all over the country, in the media, and locally at Worcester City Hall. I became aware of the idea of the 99% and the massive, vast income inequality that somehow was allowed to exist. I was also beginning to realize that this inequality was no fluke but was baked into the very system that we all are forced to live under: Capitalism. I now realize that Capitalism can be blamed for the decline of every system on the planet.
Humanity is setting the stage for its own extinction. Precious, finite resources are perpetually wasted in the name of short-term profits and free markets without any regard for the planet or the ecosystems we rely on. The social values of our society have been reduced to a base artificiality of materialism and mindless consumption. All the while, the monetary powers control the political structures of a supposedly “free society”. Capitalism is a stain on human existence and is a cancer to human growth and potential. It isn’t sustainable; it must go, end of story.
We need an economic system that works to provide for human needs. We need to rearrange the way money is distributed so that it can never be hoarded by a few at the top. We need to structure our society in a way that puts humans in harmony with the environment, maximize our growth and development, and provide for everyone.
Independent Socialist Group 