Reatra wrote:“You cannot be satisfied with this minimum wage and these “liberal” policies that this country is creating!” Riley exclaimed to the crowd of about 400, in the theater as Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco. “California is… I’d rather live here than in Alabama, obviously, but it is nothing like the liberal utopia people think it is! Being a liberal state does not mean it cares for everyone. Think about it, we have this minimum wage, it’s incredibly high, too, and you may all think “Wow! That helps equality and helps everyone pay for their needs!”. Well, it doesn’t. The people that should be benefitting from this raise in wages, the poorest of our society, the people who work minimum wage jobs, are the ones that can’t keep a steady job in the first place! That’s why despite all this new government’s work poverty is just as prevalent, drug abuse and crime too! These issues aren’t caused by lack of wealth, they’re caused by too much wealth in certain peoples’ hands... and I’ll tell you what I mean.” Riley paused, putting his thoughts together.
“The government doesn’t care for the people. It, honestly, never has. The president didn’t lift the ban on corporations moving because the people rioted, but because the corporations threatened to stop their funding. There has never been a time since the industrial revolution that the super-rich didn’t control countries. The United States of America was, very obviously, controlled by the giant companies. Everyone seemed to know that, but nobody seemed to care! Why? Because we all thought that our country was fine! We all thought that we had a better quality of life than… I don’t know… Africa, and therefore that we didn’t need to change anything. Then Bernie Sanders ran for president and people began to realize that socialism is pretty good. Here in San Francisco, we’re probably the most left-leaning part of the continent, yet we still think that corporations running our society is fine. Why? Because these corporations make the government enact liberal policies to appease the people and make them think that they are living “the good life”. Yet look at California! Almost a fifth of the region is impoverished. We’ve the largest prison population on the continent behind Texas. We’ve been tricked into believing that we are the best and need no improvement, just like the USA before us. Just like the Americans before us we were convinced that the mythical “middle class” is what we want to be in, that the middle class votes and creates a democracy, when it doesn’t.”
“We are in an endless cycle of oppression, where those on top keep those below in line by promising that “You can succeed too, as long as you work hard!”. We need to break this cycle. We need to make this world a better place, for us and for our children. A true democracy needs to be our government, not a secret plutocracy. A true society of equality needs to be our goal, not one where we are told to believe that we can be happy. If we demand that this government of the people but definitely not for the people change its ways, then we can rest easy.”
President Allen heard about the rally at the high school on social media and was confused. His minimum wage laws dictated $8.50 an hour for UNSKILLED labor ONLY. Skilled laborers, people with STEM degrees, industrial skills, emergency services, military, etc. received a living wage based on where they lived. His nation had no electoral college, which put ALL voting power in the hands of the people. The government didn't get funding from businesses. Not legally, anyways and most certainly no one in his administration. If the General Assembly had a corruption issue, he had no POWER to look into it. Separation of Power. He could get the Supreme Court to look into it but, in the end, the PEOPLE elected their representatives from their counties. If he removed members of the General Assembly on accusations of corruption, he would, likely, be accused of removing Representatives that he didn't agree with. He also wasn't proud of being compared to the Liberals. "Grace, get the word out. I want to talk to this, um, Riley kid. I have some things to discuss with him."
