," clearly delineates the battle lines: Either you keep power in the hands of the many — a democracy committed to the American founding ideals of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness — or the state will become more brutal in order to maintain a rigid social order that benefits a small handful of super-rich oligarchs.
"In the final stages," Hartmann said, the oligarchs"rise up through seemingly democratic processes and take complete or near complete control of government," smashing the programs that give economic and democratic power to the people and cruelly punishing dissent. "I feel that we are at that crisis point," Hartmann said."If we are well-informed about these lessons of history, we can make it through. If we're not well-informed, then we end up like Germany did in 1935."
And while oligarchs and their defenders loudly claim taxes on the wealthy will kill the economy, the historical record shows these same solutions have repeatedly worked in America's past to ease economic inequality, creating a strong economy that worked better for everyone.