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Class War II
The Budget Reconciliation Bill affects education in a calculated manner. Grants will be steered to students who major in math and science. Yes, this nation needs skilled engineers. But, who will these future technocrats serve? Why is it so important to forget about history and the arts?
Maybe, a student of history might see that this nation was born out of the “Enlightenment”. Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson embodied the thinking of John Lock. They also drew there democratic ideals from the confederacies of the natives.
During the depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt not only warned of the tyranny of the masses but also rallied against a tyranny of royalty. Roosevelt saw what happens when capitalism runs amuck. He realized that free enterprise had little to do with the monopolistic concentration of wealth that led to the depression. After years of bloody battles, the labor movement realized important rights to assembly and free speech under Roosevelt.
Those rights have been seriously undermined. In fact, most of The Bill of Rights has been undermined in the past few decades. The labor movement has been in decline and vilified since Reagan. It seems that the masses would do well to learn from history. The aristocrats are gaining a tremendous concentration of wealth through their well thought out propaganda campaign. They are setting up unprecedented police powers to crush the masses that they know must soon rebel.
The aristocrats are motivated by greed born of fear. They see an evil world were the people must be contained. They simply do not believe there are enough resources to go around. Six billion people on this planet cannot all have mansions and SUV’s.
The lesson of McGovern’s drive for school lunches in Africa goes unheard. An educated population declines. What is wrong with an educated older population? Who will do or be the cheap labor? Let’s see if these technocrats can replace with machines all the poor huddled masses. We do not need cheap labor.
It can’t be said enough. This class war is fought on one side by a wealthy few who are terribly afraid and greedy. But, progressives have reason and enlightenment on their side.
Progressives lack a strong propaganda campaign. But, it is developing. Air America is spreading throughout the nation. Thom Hartmann and Randi Rhodes are two of the best examples of a growing cacophony of voices that can have real impact. Non-commercial media sources such as FSTV and Pacifica radio are proliferating. Progressives need to support these institutions before it’s too late. The aristocrats are pushing full steam ahead in a descent toward totalitarianism. Unless progressives wake up the masses, the inevitable result will be very bloody.
Omnipotent International Liberalism
Why does Bush want to allow the sale of accelerometers to China?
Why does he want to allow foreign ownership of airlines?
It seems that there is much more going on than a cabal of greedy industrialists running our nation. Yes, this nation is controlled by defense and oil industry interests that have Bush in their pocket. But let’s look at the international mega corporate interests that the elites of both parties are beholding to. Why such massive investment in China? Why are many technology companies assisting China to enhance its surveillance capabilities? Why are such massive data mining capabilities being pervaded throughout the world including here at home? Why is nuclear and weapons technology spreading. As Iran annexes Iraq, a stronger Islamic empire will develop. As China ascends, another empire manifests. Our nation is descending into a state of totalitarianism. This is just what the corporatists need. Great empires make good enemies. And, enemies are necessary for a state to control its own population. Common people will not accept a police state without an external threat. More accurately, the police powers themselves would not suppress their own people without that threat.
The key to great empire is control of resources. The most important of these are people, food, water, energy and information. Mega-corporations that can consolidate control over these resources are the vehicles of this increasingly dwindling ruling class.
So, in contradiction there is a form of greed pervasive. But, it seems apparent that this is a cabal of elite international interests. Nations are playthings to vie off each other. The greatest threat to consolidated power is the people that are subjugated. These elites are afraid. They do not want to share the planets resources with billions. They do not want billions educated to realize any potential to aspire for accumulation. They seem to have concluded that with global warming and diminished resources that billions must die.
Of course, they wouldn’t want a nuclear winter. Nor, would a biological weapon kill enough. The only thing that could kill billions would be starvation.
In short, the elites are consolidating control over food, water, energy resources, weapons technology, information and people. It seems that they are also split amongst at least three emerging or existing empires. These are characterized with various religions or races which suit them well. Their greatest power comes from an enemy.
Common people cannot win or survive by fighting with violence. The only weapon that seems to have any effect is information. This is the hardest for them to control. Expose them.
Of Intolerable Looting
Production has been disrupted by 11% yet gasoline prices in some places have risen by 100% to over six dollars a gallon. The billions in corporate welfare looted from tax revenue for the oil companies are now a lucrative opportunity to invest in new refineries and production capacity to replace the damaged 11%. The RNC is currently pushing the elimination of the “death tax” that individuals pay on estates over 3.5 million.
Grover Norquist’s wish to “drown it in the bathtub” has only partly come true. The Federal Government is drowning in the bathtub; at least the services dedicated for the common social good. The kakistocracy’s plan to privatize Iraq continues utilizing about seven thousand Louisiana National Guard soldiers. These soldiers are not available to prevent New Orleans from drowning in the bathtub. The bathtub is filling up because Federal funds were cut for levee reconstruction. And the stretch of chemical alley between Baton Rouge and New Orleans is populated by companies that have been busy cutting new canals to starve the flood absorbent wetlands of replenishing sediments. One reason New Orleans continues to sink further below sea level is the depletion of the supporting oil fields beneath the region.
And the poor black people left behind in the city are under the “shoot to kill” threat for looting. Many, who could not afford gasoline, or even own cars, had little choice but to remain; the Greyhound bus terminal closed last Saturday. Now, troops must make their way from as far away as Wisconsin to crack down on the looters. Instead of holding their guns in a provocative manner; shouldn’t they hold out bottles of water first?
But, this seems to be the plan: Starve the government of any capability to respond to social need. But, keep the capability to impose martial law and “shoot to kill” the looters. This is what the corporate elites need most of all; a police force to keep the masses under control so they can loot this nation of all its wealth.
On Inciteful Labels
Webster’s dictionary defines kakistocracy as “government by the worst men in the state”.
This could be the simplest, most encompassing, label to give the government of the United States. The ‘worst’ is a subjective, emotional adjective that could allow people to contemplate for themselves all the evidence justifying such as label. Gone would be all the explanations of such labels as; corporatist, profiteer, military junta, privatized, privileged, to name a few. Without the need to describe exactly what a corporatist is in general, for example, one could simply use the label kakistocratical and go on to give specific examples of how the government deserves such a depiction. These specific examples will draw on much energy and resources to clarify so general descriptions of more complicated labels may confuse matters.
So for example, instead of a complicated description of why our government is corrupt and took us to war for contrived motives, the facts can simply be laid out for people to judge themselves. The only commentary to the question of why might be: kakistocracy.
To continue with the example, one might lay out simple statements and expand upon them as needed: There has been no serious effort to capture Osama during or since the invasion of Afghanistan. Before the invasion, U.S. interests had no success making a deal with the Taliban to lay out a pipeline from the Caspian region. The greatest concentration of U.S. military installations in Afghanistan is now being built along the proposed pipeline route.
These simple statements might lead people to investigate for themselves and uncover the real motives for government actions and interest in deeper scandals. Labels, such as war profiteer, only conjure up general distasteful images that are easily dismissed. A label like kakistocracy is not easily recognized and has, at first, little repellant effect yet after definition; it is so vague and simple that it might provoke curiosity.
One Industrialist Leader
Who Would Jesus Kill?
Pat Robertson’s appeal to have the president of Venezuela assassinated by U.S. agents doesn’t sound very Christian. But is Robertson’s suggestion just the raving of a lone Christian who has lost his way? Or, is Robertson employing an orchestrated plan to psychologically prepare Americans for the inevitable.
Robertson straddles the realms of the corporate world and the evangelical Christian community. Most, know him as a leader in the Christian Dominion movement. But, not everyone knows that he is worth somewhere between two hundred million and one billion. He has invested in natural resources including oil and, in particular, a gold mine in an African dictatorship.
In his comments calling for the assassination of “one strong arm dictator”, the democratically elected president Chavez, he reassures “I don’t think any oil shipments will stop”.
Yes, it is a shame that Chaves repeatedly threatens to cut off the supply of OUR oil from his state run supply system. And each time he is threatened with a U.S. backed coup he punishes U.S. oil companies by collecting back taxes or raising royalties. Maybe the biggest threat is that Venezuela’s oil supply system is state owned and Chavez has raised living standards for his workers. Or, it might be that Chavez is working to reduce his countries dependence on the U.S. as a major market and courting countries like China and Iran to buy their oil. He is quite friendly with Castro and supplies most of Cuba’s oil.
Chavez seems to care about poor working people. He has offered to sell discounted gasoline directly to working class communities here possibly through his state owned company, Citgo. But, there would be difficulty avoiding the heavy mark-up of U.S. refining.
Robertson has close ties to the Bush administration. He has contributed financially and campaigned for Bush. This holy alliance offers an insight into the shared values of corporatists and Christian Dominionists.
The Dominion movement contains the idea that the “end times” are coming soon and that the U.S. should be a Christian nation preparing the way for the second coming. Those that cannot be converted will have the “mark of the beast”. This makes them less than human and their lives valueless. Wealth is a sign of good living and destitution is the result of decadence. And, conserving the planet’s resources is not necessary if the world will end soon anyway.
The corporatists are interested in short term profit. As long as there is a cheap supply of oil that can be significantly value added through refining, there is no need to worry about investing in alternatives or environmental consequences. And, short term windfall profit surpasses any concerns for the living conditions of people at either end of the supply chain. The corporatists are content to ally themselves with Christians who they can manipulate with fear and bigotry to vote for their not so hidden agenda.
There are many current and former members of the Bush administration that truly believe in the Dominionist movement. It is convenient for many of them who are also invested in the oil or defense industries. The military is heavily dependant on oil and oil is heavily dependant on the military.
The rendezvous between the military industrial complex and Christian Dominionists that is exemplified by Pat Robertson will lead to the self-fulfilling “end times” prophecy. This will be marked along the way by virtues such as greed, hatred and war.
Action:
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0516-25.htm
Class War
Why be afraid to admit it? There’s been a class war going on for thousands of years. Ever since the first tribal chief claimed privilege because he was smarter or more powerful than anyone else in the troop, there were underlings that would challenge that authority. There used to be what’s called a social contract. The kings were given privilege only as long as their power was used to protect the people and their knowledge was used to benefit the community.
The obligations of the social contract have been sustained tentatively throughout history. Breeches of the contract have been met with revolution and failed societies. It seems that up until the 1970’s conditions for the peasants have steadily improved despite steps back and the wars of elites. War is usually the result of one elite power structure vying for control or displacement of another.
Anyway, Americans in particular enjoyed a steady improvement in living and working conditions as well as increasing political power and civil rights up until about 1970 or so. Who was that billionaire, Walter Bennett, or someone who said “the class war is over and we’ve one”? He said this around 1980 or so.
Yes, there’s been a steady decline in power and conditions for the peasant class. I remember when only one parent had to work outside the home for a wage. And the most puzzling thing about this decline is that the working people don’t see it. The propaganda has worked so well that we now live in an Orwellian age where things like the “Healthy Forest Act” are swallowed with enthusiasm and not seen as the backslide they are. How about the “Leave No Tree Behind, Act”; They’ve already started logging the Cherokee National forest in my neck of the woods.
Well, I intend to go on and on; tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts in social programs, corporate dominance obliterating the power of all nations and making workers fearful wage slaves, fear mongering, surveillance society … it’s becoming a “brave new world”. It seems the nation/ state system is failing. Ever since it developed, it’s led to war anyway. Now, we’re heading toward an oligarchy of a few world wide corporations exercising totalitarian authority.
And the erosion of living standards for the commoners has greatly accelerated; it’s an all out assault on bottom 98 percent or so of society worldwide.
If evidence isn’t obvious, I’m going to try and lay some of it out.
But let’s be clear; the most pressing issue above all else is the class war.
Action
Here is a short, incomplete list of things that can be done:
Support / join unions Boycott companies that do not support labor / environmental standards (Wal-Mart, Coca-Cola … ) Boycott / protest war profiteers (Boeing, Lockheed Martin …) Utilize progressive / green investment strategies Support alternative / renewable energy sources Flood Congress / media with hard letters and calls Investigate corruption and report to … who cares? (I’ve investigated e-voting software and logs) Vote Support third parties Call for election and campaign finance reform |