I just ran into this quote this morning.
I found it at the site Stop Me Before I Vote Again, a blog “dedicated to the deconstruction of the Democratic Party.” Its masthead slogan?
The Ferguson quote so mirrors my own perception of what we are presently about here in America that I am going to go out today and buy this book.
For that matter…so does the slogan from Stop Me Before I Vote Again.
Read on for more.
Unfortunately, I have no solutions to this problem.
Only predictions, based upon a lifetime of observation.
First the observations.
I have lived as an adult through:
The Vietnam War.
The assassinations of a number of brilliant and brave men who were trying in one way or another to change the system as it has functioned since at least the Eisenhower “Beware The Military-Industrial Complex” speech.
What will have been 44 of 56 years where Republican Presidents have slowly tightened the noose of essentially fascist control upon the government. (Disregarding the complicit murderer Johnson’s term. If you have not yet noticed this perfectly evident fact because the media keeps on flogging the old “It’s a horserace!!!” idea, that’s a batting average of about .900. American politics has really been more like the Harlem Globetrotters vs. the hapless other guys, really. )
INNUMERABLE overt and covert military operations by the U.S. designed to maintain its economic dominance over the third world. Large AND small operations. 600,000 Iraqis dead? A drop in the bucket of blood that is American history over the second half of the 20th century.
The rise of the media as a truly massive hypnotic propaganda force in the lives of a good, solid 75% or 80% of the population of this country. Maybe an even larger percentage.
The descent of this culture…popular culture AND so-called “high” culture…from a meritocracy of true genius to a wasteland of meaningless, masturbatory bullshit.
The only “opposition” candidates to occupy the Presidency being a well-meaning mistake (Carter) who got cut off at the knees before he could really DO anything and a crafty political family that tried to play using the same corporate rules as have the Republicans but got taken down by the majority stockholders in Corporation America because they were about an inch and a half too far to the left of the “We own everything and you will do as we say” philosophy of the corporate ruling class here.
The absolute defeat of the black population of America as a force for possible effective resistance to what has been happening here. The carrot of “inclusion” and the stick of poverty were used to break that society’s back. It was Cracked.
And last but not least, he TOTAL defeat of EVERY DEMOCRATIC POLITICIAN OR OPPOSITION POLITICIAN OF ANY KIND who appeared to oppose the hegemony of corporate big money in American affairs. A hegemony that is totally responsible for the descent of America into the Madness of King George government that we see today.
And here on the blogs I see over and over again regarding the coming elections…”WE’RE GONNA WIN!!! WE’RE GONNA WIN BIG!!!”
I am here to call bullshit.
Ferguson had it right.
Dems?
The Dems are Rahm Emmanuel and James Carville.
They sleep with the enemy.
” ‘We’re’ gonna win???!!!”
Give me a break.
As Tonto so succinctly put it to the Lone Ranger…”Who ‘we’, white man?”
The blog Stop Me Before I Vote Again has it right, too.
So in this time of transition in power from the right wing of the right wing to the left wing of the right wing…and this is going to happen, because that’s the real “October Surprise” as can be plainly seen by even a cursory look at the corporate news spin (“SURPRISE!!! We’re Democrats and we are working for the same people as the Republicans!!!”)…let those of us who are REALLY on the left remember this one truth.
The American nightmare will not truly be over until America, Americans and America’s allies join the rest of the population of the earth in the amount that we consume.
20% of the population of this good green earth consumes about 70% of its assets.
This cannot continue.
And one way or another…it WILL not.
Now for the predictions.
Only one, really.
The United States of America will be taken down.
Dismantled.
Back In The U.S.S.R, v.2.
We will continue to equivocate in terms of our position at the bogarting end of the table…”Well…OK. We’ll just take 69% of everything. What ? NO? Well…63%.” and so on until we create a worldwide al Sadr world of opposition to us (Muqtada al-Sadr: Next Strong Man Ruler of Iraq?) that is so strong that it breaks our economic back as we put more and more money into the military fray and curtail more and more domestic freedoms at home until what is left of the American engine of industry absolutely and totally collapses.
And then we will re-form as several independent states.
Maybe Northeast America, Southeast America, Middle America, Southwest America, Pacific America, etc. SOMETHING like that.
Over the next 20-30 years or so.
Maybe sooner. It depends on the scope of the oncoming economic collapse. (You can only amass SO much debt before the shylocks come a’callin’, you know…)
Or…nuclear war and the end of human civilization as we know it on earth.
We have gotten too big.
Too powerful.
Absolute power has bred absolute corruption.
Goodbye America.
Is there an out?
I don’t see it.
The only remotely possible out is if Ms. Clinton or some other so-far unforeseen political genius manages to get elected by following the old rules and then stages some sort of miraculous revolution.
FDR v.2
And I do not see this happening.
If I were a bookie (and foolish enough to set odds on a proposition the winning of which on either side of the bet would totally collapse the house in which the bet was made)…I’d lay about 1000 to 1 against this happening.
it would be a true miracle.
However, since I am also a man of faith…I stay to watch the show.
Besides…
In an age of almost sure eventual nuclear war…where ya gonna hide?
Have fun.
And…keep up the good work.
We gots to get them Lamonts ELECTED!!!
Right?
Riiiiiight.
Later…
AG
Wanna talk?
Anyone have any BETTER ideas?
I’m all ears.
AG
Sorry, I don’t think you have a clue.
yes, the dems are somewhat helpful to corporations.
But, this idiotic idea that there is NO DIFFERENCE between the Dems and Republicans?
Anyone, ANYONE, who says that is a total moron. The last 6 years demonstrate that the Republican Party of today is totally corrupt, totally lost its moorings and totally insane.
The Dems are not. They are not perfect.
If I wanted perfection, I would look in the mirror. Unfortunately, there’s only one of me. Everyone else still exists. We must deal with reality, not perfection. And, that requires compromise.
I’ll take Harold Ford 100 times over Corker, Jim Webb 1000 times of macaca felix. If you see no difference there, you are an idiot.
Chill.
Yoiu write:
“The last 6 years demonstrate that the Republican Party of today is totally corrupt, totally lost its moorings and totally insane.”
My answer?
If the Dems had been in power when 9/11 happened…do you really think that much of what followed would have been different?
I do not.
Until a party arises here that is dedicated to getting America OUT of the economic imperialism business, dedicated to drastically curtailing the impact of big corporate money on the political system, and dedicated to a true free press…it’s still the right wing of the right wing versus the left wing of the right wing.
And…I may be many things. But brother…do NOT call me an idiot.
‘Cuz number one, I ain’t.
And number two…I’ll fight ya.
And win, too.
Wake the fuck up.
AG
Here is where a similar point, not as it relates corporations, but foreign policy. Obviously, thet are intertwined.
Here is where I ask for you support in starting to do something about it.
I’m often sympathetic to your positions and arguments, Arthur, but I have to quibble with this.
I don’t think much of what immediately followed would have been different. I think we still would have gone into Afghanistan. But I don’t think we would have expanded operations into Iraq.
We had guys in office just looking to start a fight with them, had been ever since the days of PNAC and Daddy Bush’s war. Probably before. Without that cabal in office, I don’t think the Iraq War happens.
Possibly.
But the Middle East would have remained in turmoil, and we would have been forced into military action one way or another eventually if we were not willing to surrender our control of the oil in that region.
We must face this full on, ejmw.
Given the choice of maintaining an economic imperialist system, the use of military force is inevitable. I am by no means a neo-con supporter, but their CHOICES were correct given their aims. They have managed those choices very, very badly and perhaps the Dems would have done better on that front, but other than that…it would have been the same.
Maybe a little slower, but essentially the same.
Listen…here’s what’s happening.
U.S.-We are militarily MUCH stronger than you, and we are taking as much of your stuff as we possibly can without destroying your infrastructure. (Which would be dumb because we need you to run your game if we are going to take the FRUITS of that game.)
Various factions of the Third World, the Islamic countries foremost among them at the moment because they are the wealthiest.-No. We will fight you.
U.S.-OK. Let’s get it on.
And…much to the shock of a fat, decadent, weak and OH-so-stupid U.S. (So stupid that this the second time in 50 years or so that we have had to learn this lesson)…we CANNOT any longer impose our will on much of the Third World without using weapons of mass destruction that will most certainly collapse their infrastructures and thus render the very effort totally useless.
Result?
Stalemate.
In a stalemate between someone who has a great deal to lose and someone who does NOT have a great deal to lose?
Advantage, underdog.
They get stronger as they wait; we get weaker.
The PROPER tactic?
GET OUT OF THE FUCKING GAME.
In this case…the oil game.
In the larger picture?
The economic imperialism game.
Tighten our SUV-girth belts and once again get on with the business of becoming self-sufficient.
We have 300 million people here in America.
Let us use each and every one to his or her fullest potential.
Human ecoolgy.
Duh.
We also have amazing natural resources and a scientific/technological community that, if unleashed from its present dependence on military dominance and corporate greed, could literally free us from our energy problems in under a decade if allowed to do so.
But no.
We float Plan A on the Ratpooub side and Plan A Lite on the demRat side.
Why?
Both are owned by corporate money.
Bought and sold.
Pepsi or Coke?
Bud Light or Miller Lite?
Less taste or more filling?
It doesn’t matter if they BOTH suck.
Later…
AG
Absolutely. I agree with you 100%.
And here’s the kicker: If you talk with a lot of people about investing in alternate energy, they prattle on and on about a ‘market solution’.
They think that oil and gas will gradually go up, causing more private sector investment in research, and an eventual weening off of oil as newer technology is discovered and refined.
But what they don’t account for is that our oil and gas prices will always be artificially suppressed because of our presence in the Middle East and the strength and effectiveness of our military in looking out for our interests.
It’s not going to take care of itself. And our current strategy leads down a dead end road.
If we can’t get people’s heads out of the sand soon and working on some proactive solutions, I see it ending very badly.
But, as you say I do still believe we have the potential to solve this problem. We need to invest in education and research, and kick this shit into high gear, on no less a scale than we geared up our manufacturing and production upon entering WWII.
AG
Well, sure. All it takes to seriously consider these concepts is a look at the national trajectory.
Accept the definition of a ‘failed state’ as related to this particular democratic experiment & a search for reasons why is pretty compelling.
In fact, nothin’s changing without that meditation, either on an individual or a communal basis (as a matter of actual discourse) — though some will see the forest, some will see the trees.
By & large, however, we don’t seem at all ready for it.
AG you’re correct about 99% of what you say. But you’re missing an important point.
If you think that Al Gore would have attacked Iraq, you’re nuts. If you think ANYONE but Bush would have attacked Iraq, you’re nuts.
Let me explain something: in my opinion, attacking Afganistan was a big mistake. The Taliban offered to turn over Osama before we bombed. (Yes, I can prove that.)
Al Gore would have bombed Afganistan, too. I know that. The difference between democrats and republicans is not that big. However, only a completely insane man would have attacked Iraq.
And only a completely insane party would have supported him.
I agree with you on this one. I see Al Gore responding to 9/11 with precision logic. I think he would have portrayed strength, but with a lot of thoughtful analysis of the situation as well.
Imagine Clinton as president post 9/11. I see someone that would have fostered our ability to express our sadness and vulnerability as well as anger. In the long run, I think we would be more healthy as a nation for that.
Of course both of those assume that the administration in place when 9/11 happened had nothing to do with the fact that it happened. And I still have way to many questions about that to go there.
So I guess I am saying that there is a difference. But that doesn’t mean that I disagree at all with the big picture analysis you’ve written about here AG. I think the country is on its way down the rabbit hole and neither party is doing what it would take to stop that from happening – maybe just the pace at which it happens.
do we take the blue pill or the red pill?
Yup. About nails it. Gore would most likely have continued the previous administrations’ approach to Iraq: crippling sanctions that would have been genocidal in their own right.
BOTH parties supported him.
And I did not say that Gore would have “attacked Iraq.”
I wrote:
I do not.
I ALSO wrote:
We must face this full on, ejmw.
Given the choice of maintaining an economic imperialist system, the use of military force is inevitable.
I do not know WHAT Gore would have done, under pressure. I do not even know what pressures would have been brought to bear on him. But I DO know that he was NOT running an anti-imperialist campaign.
He was running on Plan A Lite, pre-9/11.
Give the American people what they “want”…what they have been advertised and propagandized INTO wanting, really…an SUV in every pot and plenty of medicocre bread and lame circuses.
And if he had been elected, he would have had to promote and defend that empty way of life. Because the people he owed for his campaign funds are the ones who PRODUCE that life, and the production of that life…that gluttonous, 70%-of-the-fruits-of-this-world-being-consumed-by-20%-of-its-people life…demands economic imperialism in its current form in order to sustain the illusion of wealth and freedom that keeps Americans voting for Plan A and Plan A Lite advocates in the first place.
So military action would have been INEVITABLE if the people of the Islamic countries continued to demand independence from U. S. hegemony.
Maybe it would center around Israel.
Maybe there would have been WORSE terrorist actions.
But eventually, because of the policies that EVERY mainstream U.S. politician so far has been forced to promote in order to get enough money and coverage to get elected…war would have come.
As big as this?
As bad?
Maybe, maybe not.
Or maybe he would have been DE-elected in 2004.
Who knows.
But one thing is for sure.
The bombs would have fallen, one way or another.
Gore or no Gore.
Bet on it.
AG