I’m Confused

Why are the majority of Americans letting the top 1% turn our country into something unrecognizable?

September 2026

BY G. MARSHALL BROOKS

I’m confused.

Let me explain: In April, the U.S. Supreme Court made it harder to challenge re-districting maps that dilute the voting power of racial minorities.

Why?

Because weakening the voting rights act is the will of the upper 1% of income earners in the U.S?

If so, who are they exactly and why do they care?

Well, according to Investopedia, the top 1% of earners is primarily made up of men (83%)—and more specifically—White men (71-75%).

They essentially control 38% of privately owned stock, plus the majority of private business equity. What this means is they can direct vast sums of money towards political lobbying and campaign contributions. And they can then gain great control over who’s elected to government positions and how they vote in Congress. They can also influence who’s elected to the White House.

Theoretically, this 1% can also control legislation concerning immigration laws and practices, possibly as we’ve seen with ICE activities recently. We’ve watched Latinos being hunted down, illegally detained or even deported. And we’ve seen American citizens murdered while exercising their rights of free speech.

So, if this trend continues, who’s next?

Blacks? Asians? LGBTQIA?

And, if the U.S gets rid of all these people, who’ll be left?

So yes, I’m confused.

I mean, there are a lot of mixed-race people that would have to go, too. Right? And let’s not forget about the homeless, the disabled, those in prisons, hospitals, and the elderly. Are they on the list as well?

According to the United States Census Bureau, Whites in the U.S. account for 53% to 56% of the population. So, if the rest of the current U.S. citizenry were to be removed, how many Whites would be willing to do the bulk of the work of sustaining the American economy?

Exactly who would grow and process the food? Who would work in the grocery stores? Who would build and sell cars? Who would build houses? Who would run textile machines? Or make and design clothes? Amazon, Walmart, Apple, and the car companies would all crumble.

Even more confusing, how many people would be left to even buy these goods and services? Wouldn’t the stock market crash if consumer spending fell off a cliff?

Who would be paying all the taxes needed to fund the government? Paying for all the police, firefighters, and hospitals.

I’m simply confused about the rationale of wanting so many people out of the United States all at once. About making the United States so UN-united. What happens when there’s nothing for the top 1% to be the top 1% of?

Another thing I’m confused about is the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (or SAVE America Act). Apparently, part of this proposed legislation would invalidate a person from voting if he or she couldn’t provide documented proof of their identity if they’ve ever changed their name.

This means women who’ve taken the legal name of their husbands would have a discrepancy between their birth name and their married name. This could disenfranchise millions of women who would struggle to provide the required documentation.

So, I’m confused. If the vote is taken away from millions of women, what does the predominantly White, predominantly male 1% think would happen? That women would just happily give up their right to vote and become good little servant wives, quietly agreeing to this outrage?

Women are absolutely not built like men. We can hold down full-time jobs, keep house, raise children and make sure our men have meals and sex, all at the same time. Women have always taken up the slack, in order to keep the lives of everyone around us moving forward. Generally speaking, men depend on women for almost everything except peeing standing up.

But let’s not forget how women got the right to vote in the first place. Men didn’t give it to us out of love and concern. Women made it impossible for them to do otherwise. The Women’s Suffrage Movement began in 1840 and continued until 1920 when the 19^th Constitutional Amendment was passed. It stated that no one could be denied the right to vote because of gender.

If a century later men think they can once again control women or our vote, they’re sadly mistaken. They’d be left eating Ramen noodles and abusing their right hand for the rest of their lives.

Fortunately, at this writing the SAVE America Act is currently stalled in the U.S. Senate after passing the House of Representatives. But if it does pass, who do you think will be next?

Again: Blacks? Latinos? Asians? LGBTQIA?

All this tomfoolery is coming from a small faction of people, but they scream so loud, some of us think they speak for the majority. Of course, no one is louder than the Orange demigod wannabe in the White House as he spouts nonsense on social media at three in the morning. (Like a toddler throwing a tantrum when he knows his parents aren’t watching!)

I’m confused because I wonder where the common sense of the common people has gone.

I’m old enough to remember what it costs to create Civil Rights laws. I remember Governor George Wallace of Alabama, deciding that turning firehoses and dogs on peaceful demonstrators was the way to peace. I remember photos of the body of 14-year-old Emmet Till hanging from a tree because he supposedly looked at a White girl. I remember the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers. I remember White college students arrested, abused and murdered because they believed in freedom for ALL Americans. I remember watching the riots and bus boycotts in the 1960s. I remember separate but equal that was anything but. I remember colored and white drinking fountains. I remember red-lining in certain neighborhoods so that Blacks were blocked from buying homes—so that rich Whites could become richer because of it.

I remember it all.

Do you?

I’m confused because it seems that so many of us do not.

And that the younger generations haven’t been told.

What are we going to do about all this? Are we just going to let our country be destroyed? Are we going to let freedom become remembered as a failed experiment?

To those who haven’t been specifically targeted yet: Just wait. If they can do it to some, they will do it to all. Your turn is right up the road. As Lord Dahlberg-Acton, an English Catholic, historian, liberal politician and moralist from the 1800’s said, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” No one is excluded as the list grows.

This fight is up to us. The voice of American citizens can still stop this stupidity from overtaking our government. We just have to make our Senators and Representatives know how we feel. They’re also in the top 1% (most of them) but their jobs still depend on our tax dollars.

On this I’m most definitely NOT confused: they work for us and we get to say what they can and can’t do with our money and our votes. It’s time to end any confusion about who’s really in charge of our country.

G. Marshall Brooks can be reached at msgrmb@yahoo.com.

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