Reclassification

Without voter suppression, the American elite can't bring its reclassification of the poor to a successful conclusion. The shape of this struggle can be seen in the reconstruction era after the Civil War. Robert E. Lee and other elitists in the South were determined to recreate the old plantation social order. If they could not have pure slavery, they could build a system of near-slavery. Big Business in the North soon agreed. The country united. Black people and some poor white people were disenfranchised. That effort has been revived in recent years, but it might not work this time around.