On Class Bias

The United States Constitution conveys passionate democratic thought. The statesmen who drafted the ostensibly just moral code for the new nation spared no pains to ensure equality for all. An elaborate system of checks and balances protected the infant nation against dictatorship. Power, divided among several branches of government, ultimately belonged to the people.

Conceptually, the Constitution bespeaks a vibrant aesthetic sentiment. In comparison, Marx and Ingles’ Communist Manifesto unfolds a beautiful concept of true equality in an organized society. Both concepts work optimally on paper; however in practice, both systems fall prey to various manipulations of human nature.

It shall be the direction of this paper to convince the reader that despite the faithful intentions of the Founding  Fathers, the United States Constitution selectively protects its’ citizens. This assertion, formulated on the grounds of class bias, is in disagreement with the essay quote. The following argument bases its’ opinion upon the belief that abuses of power occur within the infrastructure of American politics.

One man, one vote; the Constitution rests upon this concept. Originally this one vote rule was limited to white male property owners. Many elections passed before non-white males and women enjoyed the liberty of voting. In contemporary society inaccessibility to the polls provides a problem for both elderly and illiterate citizens.

Members if the lower socioeconomic and minority groups tend not to vote. The U.S. government consequently wastes no effort on encouraging these citizens to take part in the voting process. A relative pittance is allotted for voter education programs. Less money educates the illiterate, consequently a fair segment of the population loses representation in government by default.

Congress resembles a Southampton yacht club rather than an assemblage of the “great melting pot.” Few women and fewer black people represent their respective segments of society in Congress, while representation from the working class is virtually non-existent.

This class issue deserves fair consideration when evaluating the nature of democracy. In this high technological media arena of the nineties, air time makes or breaks a political career. Clever advertising campaigns sell a prospective candidate to an unwitting public. Money in enormous amounts must be raised to feed the campaign dragon. Undoubtedly, countless under the table deals are struck, campaign donations in exchange for future favors.

Working class people lack the enormity of funds needed to launch a competitive campaign, thus, candidates with sound financial backing tend to dominate the political scene. Again, the interests of poor people remain neglected in Congress.

The judiciary system enforces laws passed by congress, Supreme Court judges, hand picked by the President, reflect the political views of their appointers. The President possesses the power to stack the deck with either a Conservative or Liberal bench. Few women and people of color occupy seats in the judicial system, leaving the right to a fair trial subject to interpretation. Coincidentally, few white collar criminals go to trial whereas the majority of criminal cases prosecuted wear blue collars. Perhaps evading justice is a perk of the represented.

Poor people struggle to pay bail. If they fail to produce their bond, they await trial in prison. People freed on bail fair better within the court system than the ninety percent unfortunate enough not to make bail. Statistics prove that individuals incarcerated while pending trial are more likely to be found guilty than those that paid their bail.

The juror selection process similarly reveals class bias tendencies. Selected from the lists of registered voters, jurors tend to be from the upper echelons of society and are therefore unrepresentative of people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Blue collar prospective jurors find jury duty a financial burden, as a juror’s pay often is less than a days’ pay. More affluent people have the means to absorb the financial shock while serving jury duty. Deductively, individuals awaiting a fair trial must rely upon the conscience  of an unrepresentative jury pool.

Often black and hispanic people serve longer time in prison for the same crimes committed by a white person. A study of sentencing reveals the injustice of the system as small time drug pushers receive much heftier prison terms than large scale drug traffickers. Corruption in the judiciary system is apparent and perhaps even accepted by a complacent society.

Corruption threads its’ way through the fabric of most political structures, and the United States government is no exception. The American people often settle for the fall guy instead of the real composers of the deceit. Incomprehensibly, people allowed Reagan’s convenient memory lapses without much political repercussion. Events of phenomenal consequence, such as Bush’s cozy relationship with Noriega remained on the collective tongue of America for only a moment.

Unfortunately, the list is long. The general public accepts corruption on local, state, and federal levels as daily fare. The scalp of an occasional fall guy quenches more lustful public cries for justice.

Blatant abuses of power exist within the United States legal system. Class structures etched into the American society set lower income individuals up to fail. Often the line demarcating a ghetto and an affluent urban neighborhood is no more than a few streets. In Boston, the re-gentrification of the South End and North End by Yuppies provide a lucid example of escalating hostilities within the surrounding project dwellers.

Forced from their homes by investors anticipating the return of the upperclassman from the suburbs, lower income families endured various manipulations from local government. During the seventies garbage left uncollected in lower income areas illustrates one power pressure move by those invested in relocating people that occupied dilapidated brownstones. Orchestration of the ousting of black and hispanic people from their homes paved an open door to investors who rehabilitated the brownstones into desirable condominiums. The real estate market boomed in the eighties, creating many new rich people and leaving countless others to relocate to projects or the metro’s surrounding suburbs.

Ten years later, racial strife-including rising incidents of violent gang attacks and drug abuse leaks from the projects on to the streets. Real estate, formerly so lucrative in the South End, remains stagnant.

People repressed by society, the welfare state and insidious racially biased maneuvering turn their anger outward and perpetrate crime. Instead of education and vocational training, people receive welfare checks. Without training and a road out of the poverty basin, people feel hopeless and turn to crime and violence. The stage is set for a life of desperation and an accelerated access through the broken the legal system.

Quests for money and power surreptitiously strangle the justice from the application of the Constitution. Human nature and greed perpetrate crimes of injustice and create class bias within the social structure of the U.S. Much of the American culture, built upon advertising and the buy now pay later ethic, indoctrinates need for the immediate gratification within the public. Material wealth becomes a substitute for nurturing and self esteem. People without money sink lower into feelings of self loathing and despair.

Class bias, a product of the corporate capitalist ethic, beleaguers the American legal system and leaves the concept of true equality up for interpretation. Democracy bends more pliably for those with money. Though people each have the power to vote in this country, only an elite few really possess the power to make things happen according to their needs. Corruption, social abuses and greed create class bias in America and tarnish the eloquent concept of democracy.

Essay written March 13, 1991, ©Macaulay Woods 2026, All rights reserved.