The U.S. reactionary-ruling-classmass media would like nothing better than to keep oppressed communities in the dark, divided either around sensational news, or false non-class-based issues, such as: "Are you for gay marriage, or not?" "Are you for Affirmative Action, or not?" The real questions need to be: "Are you in favor of everybody earning enough money to keep food on the table, clothes on their back, a roof over their head, be able to afford health care and education ... or are you in favor of hunger, homelessness, privation, disease and ignorance?" "Are you for the elimination of capitalist exploitation and oppression, or not?" "Are you for the redistribution of wealth and resources, or not?" "Are you for `all power to the people,' or not?" "Are you for the U.S. government ceasing its implementation of monopoly capitalism and imperialist policies throughout the world, or not?" These are the important questions that make sense to those of us who have to work every day for a living.

Imperialist wars cause us pain and hardship and cost lives, while making great wealth for the reactionary ruling class that owns companies like Bechtel, Halliburton, and Wall Street itself. These corporate families con-tribute multiple millions of dollars to both Democrat and Republican alike, and they have the connections and influence to keep their children from dying in U.S. war adventures.

People need to understand the built-in contradiction of the capitalist system to the needs of the masses of ordinary working people. People need to understand that there is a systemic solution for every systemic problem, and that the history and science of capitalism versus the history and science of labor is still with us today.

People need to understand that behind every monopoly-ruling-class-move lies an objective to control people's lives for the purpose of economic exploitation and class oppression as the prerequisite to maintaining the bourgeois status quo.

George W. Bush has the same ruling class historic self-interest; relation-ship and background as that of Senator John Kerry from Massachusetts. As a matter of fact, they both have the same alma mater: Yale University. They both are part of, and bankrolled by, the very same ruling class.

If we, as a society, are to turn around deteriorating conditions and mass deception, then we must broaden our political perspective so as to understand there are only superficial differences between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee. Both have said they want to continue the war in Iraq. Both have offered strong support of NAFTA, for instance.

To overcome the mass deception, one must engage in political struggle with all the social institutions in our daily lives in our neighborhoods, churches, schools, shelters, colleges and social clubs. We need to speak out not only against the war, as a thing in itself, but we must speak out and act against the policies of U.S. imperial-ism, a tool of monopoly capitalism.

As President George W. Bush's approval ratings fall even among those who still see hope in elections, Senator John Kerry is obligated by his ruling-class constituency to take up the slack, to "energize" the electorate as the representative of the loyal opposition, conveying to those who are doubting the willingness of the rulers to even listen to the needs of the majority, much less to try to serve them. "Yes, Virginia, there is an alternative." Yet George W. is at the helm, fixated, seeing terrorism under every bed, following his "higher power," and if that does not fly with the population, John Kerry is to ride in on a white horse to the rescue, and save monopoly capitalism, once again, from the inevitable grave-yard of history.

The ruling class owns both the Republican and Democratic parties, as well as the media (and of course their street — Wall Street), and they have an agenda. They have already deceived, lied to, and stolen from the American people through the control of wages, taxes, and the high cost of goods and services, energy and medicine. Now they will try to consolidate their gains. They seem to play a little game in Congress. The Republicans put forth a bill calling for drastic cuts in social services. The Democrats cry that maybe somewhat smaller cuts would hurt less people. Then the Republicans loudly accuse the Democrats of putting "class war-fare" on the agenda. The Democrats loudly deny it. But the fact is that there is a class war raging in our country and in our world and both the Democrats and Republicans are on the same side. And it's not ours.

On the other hand, working-class Americans (middle-income and low-income) do not have any time to waste. We need to move with a sense of urgency to educate everyone each day that unless you are a part of the ruling class, all of us are in the same boat. Some of us have a little more

than others, and therefore identify with Mr. Charlie, but they will find out soon enough as Mr. Charlie demands more and more labor for less and less pay. Today, this truth is hitting home to more and more people. It's manifested with young men, women, and children dying on the streets of Iraq, Haiti, and the United States simply because they are poor.

Imperialist aggression in Iraq, Haiti and elsewhere, causes unspeakable human suffering. And with the taxpayers footing the bill, wealthy families and friends are handed billion-dollar military contracts through Pentagon deals and war production.

For instance, the Carlyle Group, an investment firm based in Washington, DC — with George Bush Senior as the board head, along with other Reaganite cronies (such as former Secretary of State, James Baker and former Secretary of Defense, Frank Carlucci) — is making profits directly from investment in military production, or production related to the "war on terrorism." The Carlyle Group includes investments in about 300 different companies and properties. These investments include United Defense Industries, a maker of combat vehicles, naval guns and missile launchers, and a maker of submarine systems, as well as many more.

According to David Lazarus, San Francisco Chronicle, March 21, 2004, the Carlyle Group also includes a New Jersey pharmaceutical firm called MedPointe, which just so happens to be one of only three companies licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to manufacture over-the-counter potassium iodide pills. What is the significance of this? Potassium iodide can help protect against thyroid cancer in the event of exposure to large amounts of radiation — from a small, easily transported nuclear weapon, say, or a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. In June 2002, President Bush signed into law the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act. It requires state and local officials to "provide adequate protection" by distributing potassium iodide to all public facilities within a few miles of a nuclear power plant. So "if you are one of just a handful of authorized makers of potassium iodide, you're in a position to profit handsomely if the worst case scenario should actually come to pass," writes David Lazarus in the Chronicle article.

While the Bush administration and the U.S. mainstream media reported to the American people, over and over and over, that Saddam Hussein was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, it was the United States government that destroyed Iraq's infrastructure. Then Halliburton and Bechtel, among other construction and engineering companies, were handed lucrative multibillion government dollar contracts to repair the massive destruction caused by the U.S. attack on Iraq. Halliburton's contract is potentially worth $12.6 to $16.8 billion for repairing oil pipelines, for security services, and even for washing soldiers' clothes. Bechtel is receiving $2.85 billion for repairing electrical plants, water systems, airports, and railways. The Washington Group holds a contract for $2.1 billion for repairing electrical plants and water systems. And the Fluor Corporation is receiving $1.1 billion for reconstruction, building renovations, and electrical repairs.

In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and those he represents, recently won by cutting workers' compensation. The California Senate recently passed a bill, 33-3, favoring the cuts, following a 77-3 vote in the Assembly. Since the Legislature passed the bill with more than a two-thirds majority, it will become law immediately after the Governor signs it. By cutting worker benefit costs by $7 billion, employers and insurance companies will save several billion dollars. This will not only limit benefits, but will also disallow some inexpensive medical procedures, lower the state's five-year limit on disability payments to two years, and make workers who have grown accustomed to picking their own doctors instead have to choose from a physicians list authorized by employers and insurance companies. HMOs will make their profits by cutting costs and services.

Today, we see the few at the very top of the economic pecking order profiting from wars and war production. But what's going on with America's specialized and promising work force? "The dollar keeps going down, and the trade deficit keeps going up," writes Paul Craig Roberts of the Washington Times, who explains the economic forces of off-shore production in today's global economy. "A country cannot close the trade deficit if its economy is being moved offshore. Offshore production hits the trade deficit from both ends: goods once produced domestically become imports, and as production moves offshore, the ability to export declines. Foreign labor is being substituted for U.S. labor in the production of the goods and services Americans consume. Americans lose the incomes and employment associated with the production of goods they consume." Roberts said.

Though the strategy of appropriating technology that was built from the labor, sweat and blood of working class people is now used by multinational corporations, would they pro-vide us with the resources and technology that the masses of the world need, right now? After all, middle-income people, low-income people or no-income people, worldwide, face the same oppressive ruling class, from generation to generation. The Black Panther Party Ten Point Program points out a crying need for

American people to do something about eliminating poverty, and to build the machinery independent of government in there own interest without reliance on the imperialist system that is responsible for the slaughter of mil-lions of people every year.

If the truth is to be told, there are not enough living wage jobs in the country today to meet the needs of the majority of the American people. This is because capitalism will not allow for everyone to have a living wage job to provide security for themselves and their loved ones. Capitalism simply needs the poor to maintain the status quo. This gets to the root of the problem.

On health care? The majority of the American people cannot afford health care to get the treatment they need to survive, even though the technology is plentiful. Why is this? And would any con-tender for George Bush's job really change that? What about voting in a kindlier and gentler capitalist politician? Would that create a systemic change? Historically it hasn't. The point: it's not the particular politician or personality that makes a difference in our lives, but their policies, or lack of policies; and class forces deter-mine what the political choices are across the board.

The implementation of the Ten Point Program would activate people to do something about the commonality of our struggle: especially the economics. Our first premise is this: Every able body has the obligation to contribute their part to society to maintain a high standard of humanity at the point of practice. But at the same time, everybody has a need for a living income, affordable housing, affordable health care and affordable education. This recognition will eventually bring about an understanding among middle-income people, low-income people, or no-income people — that people from all working class communities are essentially in the same boat. This is the awareness that the few that make up the ruling class are afraid of.