A New Old Book on Economics and Politics
When I was 12, I swore I would never want to write a book. How times have changed. I’ve written one and edited a few others.
At the time I rejected book writing, I was watching my dad go through a grueling, angst-filled process as he wrote and self-published a book in 1974. Last year, I decided to electronically re-publish his book, The Ruling Minority 1974.
Cover of The Ruling Minority, 2nd Ed.
The inspiration for the re-publication of the book came from two significant and highly visible political protest movements that emerged in 2011. The first occurred in several nations in the Arab world. Social consciousness combined with social media gave rise to a rapid cultural awakening. Passionate activists took to the streets against oppressive regimes which abused power and treated them brutally. Some of these rebellions were successful; some were not. All were bloody.
The second movement took place in the United States. It was equally intense, but its target was less obvious. It did not hold accountable any specific person or institution. It addressed the broad inequities placed on its citizens by a specific class of people. The U.S. movement identified this class as the “1%.” The 1 percent is the small sector of the population which controls vast resources and industrial and political power in the U.S. The movement awakened the American public to the fact that it had allowed the creation of a structure, and a class, that the U.S. economic system seems to be favoring at the great expense of the rest of its citizens.
Political protests are nothing new, but this was the first time that American society had recognized and identified the 1 percent and its counterpart, the 99 percent, as well as acknowledging how the two classes developed. More precisely, it was the first time since 1974, when this book was written, slightly ahead of its time.
I am by no means an expert in economics and politics, but I am happy to share this book with any readers interested in these topics.
