LABOR & COUNTRY CHAPTER XI - A letter to American Truckers

I wrote the following letter to American truckers after the Canadian Trucker movement that happened in Ottawa. During this movement I would turn against my beloved party, now sure all leadership needed replaced. I wrote a letter to the Teamsters as well after their leadership were pressured into writing a letter supporting the dismantling of the movement on the bridge between our country and Canada. While I can appreciate the problems caused with so much reliance between our countries, and even the downstream economic consequences, to have a President and leader of one of our largest unions interfere with a working-class movement deserved immediate war within our leadership.

It is bad enough I can't get but a bunch of damn Socialists to show up to picket lines, Democrats often too busy. Now the party of working people actively quelled a worker rebellion in a friendly nation. For this, I bear witness.

My fellow working people,

The fight for the hearts and minds within our workers and trucking community alike is just beginning. I have been disappointed by the lack of thought or strategy of my own party to meet these people in the streets and fight for them however they see fit. I intend to bring tangible alternatives to the unserious politic of the day. The leaders in our country will continue to use the law as a club against the poor to aggregate power and capital into the hands of a few. We must find one another again, sometimes in the unlikeliest of places, to trade ideas of how to build a new generation of businesses and institutions. The goal of which is simple; to see the capital created in our communities, stay in our communities.

At the end of the day, that is what all fights are about. Capital. Whether you see it as hard cash, free time, more options, or security. To fight for capital against modern barons in the form of corporations, lawyers, lobbyists, and politicians, we as a free people must construct a modern army of citizens to put our political and corporate class to heel. Do not forget brothers and sisters, it is politicians who make money off the same stocks when there are Americans getting laid off and businesses destroyed; same as the hedge funds, banksters, and private equity. They all know each other and have continued to show that they would turn our working people into dust for dividends.

The Canadian trucker movement was a righteous cause and only devolved into chaos because of an incompetent and authoritarian liberal government. Most of the demonstrations through the first few days had been little more than an informal block party. I had been watching four simultaneous live feeds through various groups on the ground for over six hours late into the evening. Over that time the amount of love and solidarity in both message and demeanor gave you the sense that the people had found a common language deeper than English. This would prove true as trucker convoys would pop up in countries across the globe, allowing working people in many different languages to remind the administrators of our nations who the actual power belongs to.

Over that time, an organic crowd of ordinary citizens had found common cause in the heavy dense fall of snow into the night air. Sitting in long rows like giant metallic Sphinx statues, the convoy’s trucks were larger- than-life symbols of industrial progress and prowess. Each could be seen from the heavens, heavily ornamented with remote controlled lighting, cameras, and often paint jobs giving each a distinct personality.

These grand machines were all were packed to the gills with families including grandchildren, grandparents, and every age in between. Veterans, teachers, children all accompanied these men in this journey. Everywhere you’d turn, you’d see the wonderful bright red Maple leaf adorned flags seeming to pull the eye to focus on every shot. It was a stark sight amongst the snow drift and a uniquely Canadian snapshot.

More than a handful of spontaneous renditions of the national anthem “O Canada” would continue to break out deeper into the evening with the sounds of the honking and partying beginning to get more adventurous as the children were put to bed. The more raucous of the truckers and veterans would continue to howl at the moon.

All this taking place underneath the wonderful, picturesque Ottawa architecture. The gothic churches with swooping lines and dancing shadows in the movements of light, stood looming over the main streets of Ottawa and remain the sharpest memory in my mind as I look back fondly on that short time. All these images and symbols of solidarity forced those of us that were watching from our homes to be quite moved by such a display in a modern Western society. To watch these free people singing together into the night underneath the snow and flag of their country was a beautiful, human moment of clarity to the service of each other of which we are called to as fellow humans and leaders.

I do not doubt the presence of those that would bring discomfort and even malice to these causes and against the populace in general. These men and women exist in every society, every movement, and are above all else, opportunistic. They were also on the streets of Chicago when we marched after George Floyd was murdered. These opportunists must be rooted out quickly but make no mistake it is they that are the pawns upon which the state builds cases against a free people.

The citizens I witnessed and talked to all had jobs, children, worries, hopes, and responsibilities just like every other tax paying citizen. Yet, when traveling to their capital, they were immediately treated in a revolting manner by the leaders within their own country. I was aware early in the movement that there was a particularly conservative leaning leadership coalition. However, the cause was righteous. A truly free-thinking people shouldn’t need more in matters of great importance. The protest was well organized, thoughtful, and had concrete, strategic objectives paired with deep respect and ties with the veteran and police communities. I now understand these critical for any working-class movement success.

This letter is an attempt to communicate to working people, particularly within the trucking community, to inspire new ideas within the imagination on how to manifest renewed independence within the American empire. We are in the beginning of a new dawn with war on the borders of Europe. As I look out over our land, the destruction of our organized labor forces is nearly complete, and a global pandemic is rearranging the ideas and values we have as a collective society. A great disservice has been done in the fight for our working people, allowing for power to become so concentrated.

We must all now begin to prepare for uncertainty. The true deficit in our leadership within our country is perhaps no more apparent than that in imagination. This trait will need to be sharpened by all leaders. No matter what your chosen propaganda outlet tells you, America’s devotion to the customer or consumer as a servant is useful analogy for why our system will always prevail over others, though it may stumble mightily. Service is at the heart of our society whether in the systems of religion or capital. Capitalism has many faults but does tend to raise the best servants to the whims of the populace and pocketbook alike. Out of this, our country has done a great many wondrous things. In this spirit, I come to you as a servant, asking how I might only help you to see your own visions realized.

As consumers begin to cut back on foreign goods with a weakened dollar paired with increases with all things related to vehicles, an oncoming recession will lead to a great wave of highly leveraged loans to come due. New opportunities will arise as many poorly managed trucking companies will allow for a new generation of technology savvy drivers to compete should their vision be bold enough.

Models for new trucking companies owned by and for the truckers can vary in size and capabilities but are only limited by the imaginations and markets used to build them. Not every trucker needs to be a businessman. However, if you are moved to it, bold vision must be met with quick cunning and openness for experimentation on how to better serve customers in an evolving market. Ultimately, the goal is to have a robust support group and capital and technical capabilities which will be covered and paid back into by the businesses that find early success.

There are multiple different models I intend on experiment on including a COOP and shared services model, which all can exist within the vein of equal partnerships to be able to raise capital but limit outside influence. These types of structures tend to usually be the hardest sell as we are simply an individualistic culture. We must innovate. I’ve been researching the general setup of some of the most dominant companies and will continue to research but if all invoicing and customer centric transactions can be abstracted through technology, physical ownership of vehicle would become primary custodial responsibility that can remain the primary focus for all drivers. I will admit that there is a great ignorance on my part to the overarching issues within the trucking community as it seems all things in our great empire, vary greatly by region. However, technology is the key to competition in the future for the smallest and largest businesses alike. Being a damn good salesman should be expected in all instances. Giving working people the abilities to compete against market leaders in this space is where leaders must focus.

The generation that has been bestowed a great abundance of responsibility and capital has allowed most of the fruits of our labor and country to be sucked to the top of our society. This has now gone completely off the guardrails as it’s been operating without common sense intervention focused on the health and prosperity of the populace in a long-term strategic manner. Citizens believed their leaders would find solutions to deal with the new economic realities but instead have been continuing to remove the localized economic prosperity, centralizing power, and sending yet more ripples of fear and discontent that will become louder very soon.

It is the same lineage of capital puritans and private equity giants that would have you believe that ever encroaching surveillance and control over your lives and vehicles is necessary to ensure the safety for the product, truck, human, _____ insert other bullshit here necessary to comply. The simple truth is that they look at you as a commodity. You are to be measured in terms of a risk score acceptable to the companies you serve. This is a similar case with the insurance companies constantly measuring everything while they’re training humans like cute little dogs. So much in fact, I’m sure they’ll eventually want every piece that makes you free and autonomous. Beep boop. To improve your risk score, like insurance, surveillance is necessary. These same giants will be the first to adopt autonomous vehicles attempting to supplant an untold number of workers with little regard to anything but underlying corporate earnings.

Our society has been programmed to believe the only way to gain a buck in a business is trimming fat even if a little bit of meat gets sliced off by accident. Look at productivity compared to wages. Our so-called leaders of corporations have been getting a lot more work with a lot less MEAT. Yet, we still must watch as jobs are moved overseas, divesting from American employees? All this contempt only to make sure stock dividends match the quantitative groupthink education they’ve all been taught in once great institutions. Now, with our weaknesses to the whims of the dollar on full display for the world, a new Asianic alliance has arisen, as China’s strategic control of their government has allowed them to gather the great abundance in materials necessary to control the future of cyberspace and beyond.

We must arise and ask more of our leaders. Brothers and sisters, this is a letter of desperation. Should your disposition be to conservatives, I would work with you to see a working-class movement within the Republican party built that has policies and incentive structures that line up with class rather than party affiliation. The American First proposition was a romantic ideal but what does a wall do to the economic struggle of a society and system perpetuating the financialization of all the areas of our lives?

Should you be a liberal, I can only offer you a life on the fringe of our party it would seem. I will not offer the people of Ohio a different Democratic politician wrapped in blind loyalty to a party that shows my people none. It is my intent to build out a new Democratic Party, rooted in the Midwest, connected through our rust belt brethren as a unified force for legislation to bring prosperity and capital back to our region by any means necessary. Energy independence and worker power is how we will rebuild our middle class out, using the reflection of our leadership as a beacon rather than force. A new party will arise, built for the American worker. Prepare accordingly. Working people stick together.