According to historian Howard Zinn, the process of using poor whites to protect the wealth and power of rich whites has been a part of American history since the beginning.

In his book “A People’s History of the United States,” Zinn writes:

We have here a forecast of the long history of American politics, the mobilization of lower-class energy by upper-class politicians, for their own purposes. This was not purely deception; it involved, in part, a genuine recognition of lower-class grievances, which helps to account for its effectiveness as a tactic over the centuries.

For instance, to keep Native Americans at bay, landless whites were sent westward to provide a buffer between the native population and landed gentries on the east coast. Zinn writes:

In general, the Indian was kept at a distance. And the colonial officialdom had found a way of alleviating the danger: by monopolizing the good land on the eastern seaboard, they forced landless whites to move westward to the frontier, there to encounter the Indians and to be a buffer for the seaboard rich against Indian troubles, while becoming more dependent on the government for protection.

According to Zinn some time around 1776, the elites in the English colonies had stumbled upon the perfect solution to protect their assets and their asses.

Around 1776, certain important people in the English colonies made a discovery that would prove enormously useful for the next two hundred years. They found that by creating a nation, a symbol, a legal unity called the United States, they could take over land, profits, and political power from favorites of the British Empire. In the process, they could hold back a number of potential rebellions and create a consensus of popular support for the rule of a new, privileged leadership.

When we look at the American Revolution this way, it was a work of genius, and the Founding Fathers deserve the awed tribute they have received over the centuries. They created the most effective system of national control devised in modern times, and showed future generations of leaders the advantages of combining paternalism with command.

So when I scratch my head and ask myself why someone would go against their own best interests to protect the profits of health insurance companies, defense contractors and politicians, the reason is simply that they’re playing their role in American politics. By giving people the illusion that their vote counts, or that some day maybe they too will be wealthy, politicians and power-mongers can mobilize thousands, if not millions of people to do their bidding. It’s always been this way. But can we change?

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“A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn
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