I often hear people repeat the adage, “money is the root of all evil.” My response is always, give me a ton of money and I’ll show you what good can be done with it! I understand the sentiment because it seems the people with money use it to get more wealth and more power for themselves at the expense of the masses. The working class has been conditioned to believe their money is not as powerful as the rich elites’. It’s time to debunk that dangerous myth.

My view about taxes and money sharpened after watching the docuseries, “While the Rest of Us Die: Secrets of America’s Shadow Government.” I knew about some of these truths that are revealed in the series. A number of the government’s despicable plans over the last 100 years have been exposed and de-classified. The power of this documentary is how it chronicles the way that the American public (and the world) has been duped into buying into the doomsday theory that in turn, allows the military budget to grow exponentially.

Government spending has been substantially reduced in critical areas like social services, education and watchdog agencies. It’s not because fewer tax dollars are coming in. It’s because the neo-liberalism policies have forced privatizing of vital services so that corporations get the benefit of our tax dollars on the local, state and federal levels. Trillions of dollars have been funneled into the military industrial complex so that the U.S. maintains its global economic and military dominance.

This explains why human needs have been totally neglected, why the infrastructure is in shambles and why the government has turned its back on relief from natural disasters. One tragic example that brings this all together is the levees breaking in New Orleans twenty years ago. The Crescent City is still a shell of its former self, and the total costs of lives, livelihoods and personal property have yet to be assessed. “While the Rest of Us Die” reminded us that FEMA is part of Homeland Security, a companion agency to the Department of Defense.

When I think of Wesley Bell’s campaign to unseat incumbent Cori Bush, I think about the millions of Zionist dollars that poured into his campaign. The American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC) threw down almost $9 million and other pro-Zionist forces (including Democrats) added another couple of million.

Upon his inauguration, Bell joined the Black Congressional Congress. He’ll be in good company, most of them support Israel. Cori Bush was the first of her colleagues – Black or white – to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, a big reason to block her return to the Big House.

During the holiday season, a meme was circulated encouraging consumers to use discretion when they spend. Businesses like Amazon, Kohl’s, Chick-fil-a, Home Depot and several others were on a no-buy hit list. We saw these companies and others falling over one another to pay for the presidential inauguration while the Black invited marching band from Mississippi Valley State University had to set up a GoFundMe page to cover its $350,000 expenses to Washington, DC.

Yes, indeed. Money can be a mover of people and ideas. We must pay attention to the dollars that we control because they really do influence the game of politics. Where and how we spend our money has got to be the first step in flexing our collective muscle. Meeting the challenges of 2025 calls for a more sophisticated consumer who understands the power of their dollar. This means not going into debt to buy the capitalists overproduction just because they have a sale. Second, it means keeping your dollars local, supporting small businesses that give back to the community. Third, it means supporting candidates with a proven track record of service, not those with false promises of future change.

A convicted felon will soon be in charge of this country’s affairs. He’s told us his plans. Now we have to show him and the MAGA thugs our power. We must be intentional about how we organize to use our mighty power: our money, our voice, our time and our energy.