Let’s not forget, the billionaires have long played different sets of society against each other. Poor and struggling middle class Black people and white people have often been set against each other as a strategy to divide and weaken the people.

Right now, we are seeing the billionaires again play puppeteer with both the Republican and Democratic parties, letting the populace exhaust themselves in infighting, while the nation’s treasure is exploited for their own benefit.

The lesson, I think, is to not succumb to infighting against false enemies, but to unite against big money’s efforts to undermine our society and democracy through corrupt financial transaction-based policy-making that benefits the few. Let’s also be wary and limit those who are peddling that influence — those who seek to profit individually or as corporations in ways that conflict with the greatest good for the greatest number of people.

Craig Donnan
Bowdoinham