Bruce Springsteen’s song “Born in the USA” means something to me that might be different than to most folks. I was born in a dead man’s town, and the first kick I took was when I hit the ground. The town where I was born in the 1960s had a population of 1,500 folks and the current per capita income is about $14,000 per year.
That said, my situation was a bit better than my father’s was when he was born. His home didn’t have running water nor an indoor bathroom. We had both, but not much more.
I escaped being “working class” the same way my father escaped being “working poor.” We both enlisted in the military. Back then, that was a way that many folks escaped the socioeconomic situation they were born into.
My father and I both had to do some “dirty work” before and during our stints in the military. Some folks know what civilian dirty work is. Some folks know what dirty work in the military is. We did what we had to do. My work paid off more than his. Mine led me to a military graduate school program where I met well-heeled and well-connected professors. While I benefited greatly from their teachings, I benefited more from their insights into technology companies and the stock market. And those insights led to my wealth.
But even after I became wealthy and retired from the military, I could not give up my trade. My work is decidedly less dirty now. These days I do data analytics on the results of other people’s dirty work. It’s all I really know, and I rarely feel comfortable with members of my new class. Most of the time I feel like some poor kid from the streets that somehow managed to win the lottery. And maybe that’s what I am – but with a few college degrees.
I have taken a lot of kicks, but I got very lucky in life. That doesn’t seem to happen much these days. As inequality has widened over the last few decades and the rich have climbed further and further up the socioeconomic ladder, they’ve managed to pull the ladder up behind them, making it virtually impossible for others to get ahead. The various supports that I had in life – including high-quality public education, strong labor unions, and decent and affordable healthcare – have all but disappeared. The result is that, in America today, kids born at the bottom tend to stay at the bottom – and keep getting kicked over and over again. No matter how bright, talented, hardworking, or eager a poor child may be, the cards are stacked against them before they’ve even exited the womb.
I decided to join the Patriotic Millionaires because I want to level the playing field in America and see more success stories like mine. I believe that the organization’s three priorities – tax the rich, pay the people, and spread the power – hold the key to closing the gap between the rich and the poor and unlocking new levels of prosperity for all.
I would be proud to pay more in taxes to strengthen the various parts of our nation’s shared social infrastructure that enabled my success. I’m wealthy enough that paying higher taxes wouldn’t affect my standard of living in any meaningful way. More importantly, however, I think that the tax code should be used to put a check on extreme wealth concentration and safeguard our democracy. Over the years, members of my class have used their fortunes to get in politicians’ good graces and twist public policies in their preferred direction. If we want to save our country from tipping further and further into an oligarchy, we need to start by requiring them to pay what they owe the country in taxes.
I also feel strongly about reforming our country’s wage system. There is no reason why those at the bottom should have to work two or three jobs just to survive. That is not sustainable from an economic standpoint, as we need working people to make enough money to be able to buy goods and services and keep demand afloat. But it’s also not sustainable from a political standpoint either. I’m not a history expert, but I can’t help but think that millions of hardworking people being led to believe that they “deserve” to live on the edge of poverty seems to be an excellent breeding ground for a fascist takeover.
I love my country enough that I risked my life for it. Now, I love my country enough to join my wealthy peers at Patriotic Millionaires in calling on lawmakers to fix it before it’s too late.
Pierre Hollis is the Managing Director of Embracing Health and is a board member of several businesses and professional associations in Northern Virginia. He is also a retired US Marine Corps officer and served as a Military Transition Team advisor during Operation Iraqi Freedom and as an operations officer in Medan, Indonesia during the 2005 tsunami relief effort.
Pierre is available to speak the media about the Great Economy Project.
To get in touch with Pierre, please contact Emily McCloskey, Deputy Communications Director, at [email protected].