Billionaires, Solidarity, and Why We Forgot We’re All on the Same Team

I’ve Been Thinking… About Billionaires, Solidarity, and Why We Forgot We’re All on the Same Team

I saw an influencer recently say something like, “Nordic countries do better with democratic socialism because they see themselves as one group.”
And at first I rolled my eyes — because I hate when people try to explain entire countries in a single sentence. But after sitting with it, I realized she wasn’t wrong about the core idea:

Solidarity works because people actually see their neighbors as part of their “us.”

And that’s where the United States took a hard left into a ditch.

We built a system where helping other humans is treated like a threat.
Where “someone might benefit from my tax dollars” is considered theft.
Where billionaires hoarding more money than entire nations is fine — but feeding hungry families is somehow controversial.

I keep thinking about how many people say things like,
“We can’t be like the Nordics because they’re homogeneous,”
when what they really mean is:
“I don’t want people who aren’t like me to get help.”

The flaw in that thinking is obvious:
A human is still a human, even if they’re different from you.
And a society that doesn’t care for its humans becomes a competition nobody wins.

The Taker/Maker Myth Is One of the Biggest Lies Ever Sold

I saw a comment online proudly claiming: “The rich are the makers, and the poor are the takers.”
And I just sat there thinking… really? THAT’S the worldview we’re rolling with?

Because last I checked:

• teachers aren’t “takers,”

• nurses aren’t “takers,”

• restaurant workers and baristas aren’t “takers,”

• delivery drivers certainly aren’t “takers,”

• and the entire working class isn’t a burden — they’re the reason anything functions at all.

The only reason billionaires don’t protest is because they don’t need to.
The system is already shaped in their favor.

Somehow we’ve convinced ourselves that billionaires are “special,” almost superhuman, while the people doing the actual labor are the problem.

As if Bezos built Amazon alone by hand.
As if Elon soldered Teslas together one bolt at a time.
As if success is proof of moral superiority instead of structural advantage.

But sure — “makers and takers.”
Give me a break.

The Real Issue: We Stopped Seeing Each Other as One Community

This country spends so much time arguing over who deserves help that we’ve forgotten the simplest truth:

Shared success is better than individual victory.

We treat life like a competition.
As if someone else’s improvement is a threat to our existence.
As if supporting a family across town means we personally lose something.

Meanwhile, the countries that actually thrive do something radical:

They decide everyone counts.

They don’t obsess about whether someone “deserves” help.
They don’t run moral background checks before supporting social programs.
They don’t lose sleep wondering if “those people” might benefit too.

They understand what we’ve forgotten:

Taking care of each other doesn’t weaken society — it protects it.

And when society works, everyone benefits.

We’re Exhausted Because We’ve Been Lied To

We’ve been trained to fear the wrong people.
To blame the wrong groups.
To point fingers downward instead of upward.

We’re told the problem is:

• lazy individuals

• “undeserving” families

• minorities “taking advantage”

• or people receiving benefits we think we’ve earned more

But the people actually pulling resources out of the system are billionaires flying to their second private island to discuss how to avoid taxes on the first one.

We’ve been so busy arguing with each other that we haven’t noticed the wealthy quietly choosing who gets to rise.

That’s not democracy.
That’s a hierarchy — and we’re stuck at the bottom fighting for scraps.

I’m Not Crazy for Wanting Better — And Neither Are You

I really believe something is shifting.
People are waking up to the fact that individual success doesn’t matter if the cost is collective collapse.

And I keep coming back to this:

A society where everyone wins isn’t unrealistic.
It’s not naive.
It’s not a utopian fantasy.

It’s literally happening in multiple countries right now.

The only thing holding the U.S. back is a belief — deeply ingrained and relentlessly marketed — that humanity should be ranked, earned, or rationed.

We can do better.
We should do better.
And maybe the first step is remembering we’re all on the same team, whether we like it or not.

I’ve been thinking…
maybe that’s the real American dream we haven’t tried yet.