Speak Your Piece: Antitrust Law Perverted

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http://www.dailyyonder.com/speak-your-piece-antitrust-law-peverted/2012/02/13/3759


When Nebraska farmers in the 1880s saw that their economic future was being controlled by large businesses, they didn't occupy Wall Street. They built a new political party. Here is a picture of the Nebraska People's Party convention of 1890, meeting in Columbus, Nebraska.

Current socioeconomic issues are not unlike they were in an earlier time in America’s history, the late 1800s and early 1900s. The “Farmers Revolt” against the “Robber Barons” led to formation of the Grange. The platform of the Grange was simple:

“We are opposed to such spirit and management of any corporation or enterprise as tends to oppress the people and rob them of their just profits. We are not enemies to capital, but we oppose the tyranny of monopolies.”

The Granger’s declaration of 1874 went further,

“We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot box, the Legislatures, the Congress, and touches even the ermine of the Bench. The people are demoralized...the newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, our homes covered with mortgages, labor impoverished, and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists.

The urban workmen are denied the right of organization for self-protection; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages ... The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up colossal fortunes, unprecedented in the history of the world, while their possessors despise the republic and endanger liberty. … The land, including all the natural sources of wealth, is the heritage of the people and should not be monopolized for speculative purposes, and alien ownership of land should be prohibited.”