We hold these economic truths to be self-evident. That a vibrant, growing and secure middle class is the bedrock of American prosperity. That while every society has spawned opportunities for a few individuals to acquire great wealth, America’s economic uniqueness has always been the opportunities enjoyed by so many individuals to realize a middle class comfort for themselves and their posterity. That this aspiration should never be frustrated by laws that foster legal peonage. And that all economic groups ultimately and inevitably benefit from a thriving middle class, the poor naturally drawn into its swelling ranks, the rich further enriched serving its vast and varied needs.
But when in the course of political events, both major political parties, Republican and Democratic, long promoters and enablers of middle class prosperity, turn from this path. When they pursue policies that excessively enrich Wall Street at the expense of Main Street; when they legislate in ways that excessively favor lenders over borrowers; when they systematically and foolishly generate policies that benefit only the very few at the expense of the middle class many; it then becomes necessary to bring these parties back on the middle class path, or failing this, to sever links with both forever,
Within our governing class a strange and pernicious economic notion has taken hold. The idea that the wealthy few are the prime wealth creators, that the middle class many must therefore accommodate these few always in order to enjoy even minimal well being.
We deem this notion both false and destructive. We demand it stop being the basis of our economic governance.
We thus proclaim yet again what all Americans once knew and accepted as the fundamental core of our economic thinking. That we, the middle class, are the economic engine, the main producers of our wealth and the deserving main consumers of this wealth.
We are the true wealth generators. We are the makers. We are the innovators. We are the builders. We have seen our pride of economic place stolen by the few for their own benefit. And we judge the political class that has made this possible wanting.
It is therefore resolved: To restore our economic birthright, we middle class Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Americans who hold different views on so many issues, do hereby declare our unity in this issue.
The policy makers who we have honored with the sacred trust to preserve, protect, and enhance the present and future interests of middle class Americans are hereby ordered to do so immediately. And to do so directly, in ways clearly understandable, and free from the distortions practiced so fulsomely, fragrantly, and continuously to our detriment.
Proclaimed and adopted this July day, 2013, in the city of Philadelphia, where other manifestos of freedom and fairness were proclaimed in years past.
(Now available from Amazon in print and ebook formats — Michael Silverstein’s The Devil’s Dictionary Of Wall Street.)