No Kings

"No Kings" is America's whole deal, on paper.  In practice, "The Rich Do Whatever They Want" has always been the undercurrent.

We're a nation built on land stolen from other people, using enslaved people stolen from their lands.  That's how we got started.  And to this day, any time someone dares to point out that those were and are incredibly crappy things to do, there are loud and angry voices blowing back.  We must "hate America" if we are critical of the racism and kleptocratic elements it has and continues to express.

Capitalism is the nation's only real religion or culture.  Capitalism said it was lucrative and therefore fine to steal land.  Capitalism said it was profitable and therefore fine to own other humans.  What's good for the runaway rich is usually at odds with what is actually good.

In practice, America already has a bunch of feudal kings.  They're in plain sight, right at the top of the stock market.  The rich own us.  Right now, this message lives on a server owned by Google.  (Sorry, "Alphabet".  "Plain sight" is becoming less of a good place to hide, isn't it, Meta?)  Eventually, these richest of the rich will need to steal from each other, but they're not done stealing from us yet.  We still have, on paper, a government where we choose our leaders and decision-makers.

That means we still have the power to say (and act like) something besides money has importance.  We used to have a 90% tax on the richest of the rich.  That alone would be a huge improvement.  If we elect leaders who value humanity more than profit, we could start seeing decisions and laws and systems which protect individuals from corporate sleaze, instead of the other way around.

"No Kings", or "The Rich Do Whatever They Want".  Choose wisely; we only get one.