On April 1, Pamela Bondi, the Department of Justice attorney general, directed the prosecutors of Luigi Mangione to seek the death penalty. To me, this sounds like the worst April Fool’s joke known to man, but for the United States government, it is a real part of their agenda. The only way I can read this is as a desperate attempt to maintain control of the masses at a time when trust in the system is at an all time low.

In a time of misinformation, false narratives and propaganda, I am glad to see common sense take charge over America’s way of thinking; the injustice and disparities that riddle this system can go unnoticed no longer. 

The case of Luigi Mangione shows us this firsthand. In a previous article, I argued that although his challenging of the economic base of the healthcare system did not lead to systemic reform, it challenged how mainstream media reports events where class consensus is questioned. It exposed the contradiction in the system’s condemnation of violence against the ruling class versus its perpetration of violence against the oppressed. 

While the ruling class continues to try to make a statement out of his act against their control by charging him on 20 counts, including killing as an act of terrorism, and even moving for the death penalty, their attempts have, in some ways, backfired. 

This act exposed the ruling class’s wavering level of control over how people think, yet made clear that their control over the economy is stronger than ever. No notable changes in the healthcare system resulted from Mangione’s act, however, I believe it was one of many in a causal chain that may, in summation, lead to true change that benefits people worldwide. 

For social change to be truly effective, it must succeed in moving both the base of the economy, which in the U.S. is capitalism, and the ideas about the base. This requires a fundamental shift in how people think and behave, and it is not something that happens in a flash: it emerges over time by the compounding of movements in the pursuit of justice. 

When such movements do shift belief, they expose the level of control the ruling class has over our beliefs, which in the modern age changes constantly. As the ruling class hones their measures of control, the working class develops new ways to subvert and establish their own agency. The cycle continues viciously. These movements also expose the level of control the ruling class has over the base of the economy. 

The ruling class’s main source of control is its ability to control and manipulate the economy. Specifically, how the economy is structured, which they control by manipulating how we think of and interact with existing rules, structures and economic systems. 

An example of this in modern society is cryptocurrency. For years, large corporations and mainstream media were skeptical of decentralized finance, often writing it off as a scam. In the past, many banks have issued statements advising clients away from investing in digital assets. However, the narrative surrounding cryptocurrency has shifted since President Donald Trump took office. 

With Elon Musk’s influence, the U.S. government and large financial institutions have shifted their perspective on cryptocurrency, with the U.S. government now arranging a “strategic bitcoin reserve” and large banking institutions like JP Morgan advocating and establishing platforms for the use of digital currencies.

All this and more, just as the IRS comes out with new laws regulating the taxation of digital assets. This incorporation of a change into the dominant culture happens when members of the ruling class see an opportunity to seize more power and simultaneously prevent power from shifting away from them. 

The change that is allowed is only that which does not challenge late-stage capitalism – the power structure that allows the exploitation of the working class to create wealth for the already wealthy.

The manifestation of this phenomenon has resulted in the extremely rigid power structure characteristic of late-stage capitalism. Companies use divisive forces such as gerrymandering, lobbying, echo-chamber media and more to convince people that they cannot create change, while simultaneously controlling what other changes are allowed and disallowed in modern society. 

Any cultural shift is allowed in society as long as it does not challenge the powers that be. Although we are watching modern capitalism shift how people think about capitalism as a whole, the control over the economic base is still very difficult for the working class, or any class, to change. 

Ideas quickly die down when there is no ability to act upon them. This power, the power over policies, procedures and administration of the economy, is something that even those in power have always fought over. 

There is an internal power struggle between members of the ruling class to seize the most power. They continue to play this game, calling it politics, and it is all fair game unless one decides to overshare that power with those “below” them. That is when they are ostracized and disallowed from the game of politics. When power begins to fall out of their hands, or their control is challenged, that is when the politicians are most united.

We must not allow the ruling class to get away with punishing the working class for violence against them while those in power continue to perpetuate violence against millions around the globe without consequence. This is common sense and not a divisive stance. 

Why should we continue to allow those in power to kill, even if it is not them directly killing, but rather the people in the system they created doing the killing for them of their own perceived volition?