America’s super rich, its oligarchs, pay a pittance in taxes – 8% on average – while getting almost everything they want. The rest of us pay 30% or more in taxes and despite this burden, we get nothing in return, not even the basics such as healthcare and education.

The current administration is launching a war on the populace. They’re going after unions, free speech, transgender people, and the safeguards that protect the most vulnerable—protections that essentially keep our country afloat. You can’t destroy a demographic and think it won’t harm the economy.

Trump is dismantling the last vestiges of the New Deal and reinflating the Robber Baron era. This will likely bring back child labor, reverse minimum wage laws, or halt any increases. Environmental destruction will worsen, and investment in green energy will decline. The prison system will become more privatized, with innocent people incarcerated for minor offenses. Our actions will fuel global resentment, alienate our allies, and allow arms manufacturers—along with Netanyahu and Trump—to tarnish Israel’s reputation worldwide.

Opportunities for startups will shrink, and overtime pay may disappear. Sick days for workers could be at risk, along with federal holidays and cooperation in humanitarian efforts. Education will suffer, leading to a less informed populace with fewer opportunities. Libraries, parks, and cultural investments will be challenged—except in privileged enclaves and gated communities where the wealthy congregate. Intellectual thought and freedom of expression will be discouraged.

The renaissance era we once inhabited will give way to a new dark age. America will cease to be the shining “city on a hill” that once served as an example and source of encouragement for the world. Instead, we risk descending into a violent feudal system—perhaps even civil war—leading to an authoritarian surveillance state. Watching films about Nazi Germany comes to mind.

The oligarchs can and probably will destroy everything, including themselves. At least we—and our founding fathers—fought for democracy. This reality has been a long time coming. It’s the end result of what Reagan started and the neoconservatives built. Corporate America exploited and ultimately abandoned the U.S. for profit, only to be devoured by the oligarchs and their insatiable thirst for money and power.

America has a troubling ability to produce greedy, violent, and lawless individuals and organizations. Can we, one day, all agree that we matter?

United we stand. Divided we fall.