If only we were all socialists ... truely enlightened socialists ... who actually wanted a better world

I'm not just metaphorically ... or defacto ... a socialist ... I really am a socialist. I care more about my fellow man than faceless, amoral corporations.  I care more about working families than people who have more wealth than ancient kings and emperors ever could have dreamed of yet pay no taxes ... yet pay not their fair share ... for the wealth gathered off the backs of the masses.  I care more about preserving the environment for every future generation of man and animal ... than I do for short term profits  or for local peoples rights to exploit nature for luxury homes and golf courses and yet another strip mall.  It is a bleak new world in which we live ... when most of the world has no free will ... nor a free mind ... Wall Street comprised of faceless immortal titans of destruction known as corporations decades ago linked hand and hand with religious zealots. Today they continue to set the world aflame. From literally burning people to burning forests ... catastrophic oil spills ... to altering the entirety of nature itself.  All while the masses either starve to death or die from obesity. The post industrial world wallows in orgies of self pleasure (America, Japan, Europe, etc.) while most of the rest of the world is forced to deforest priceless environments ... forced to over fish the oceans ... forced to lay open the earth and wreak havoc upon the planet ... just for daily survival.  This bleak new world has very little hope ... as reason, logic, rational thought and enlightenment thinking fall upon the funeral pyre ... the great book burning of truth ... I can't help but shed a tear and feel nothing but bitter regret.  Socialist ... communist ... democrat ... republican ... how do any of those terms ... those fleeting identifiers have any meaning at all with the backdrop of utter destruction and cataclysm that is the world today??  Man will either learn (and quickly) to live for each other ... or die while living only for ones self ... my money is sadly on the later.

American Facism ... a reality?

"The really dangerous American fascist... is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."

-- U.S. Vice President Henry A. Wallace, quoted in the New York Times, April 9, 1944

That quote nearly sums up my fears about what America is becoming. It is insane if you look at that quote and look around, listen to your co-workers ... listen to half of your family members ... people on the street ... the media. What do you see? A larger percentage of what people are saying is really in support of the neo-fascist movement which has swept over America. This time fascism has wrapped itself in racist/religious clothing ... but its still fascism all the same.

Speaking of which people these days love to toss around Socialism like its the great evil facing America. Next time you encounter that toss out the definition Facism. For a refresher here you go straight from Wikipedia:

Fascism, pronounced /ˈfæʃɪzəm/, is a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology.^[1][2][3][4] Fascists seek to organize a nation on corporatist perspectives, values, and systems such as the political system and the economy.^[5][6] Fascism was originally founded by Italian national syndicalists in World War I who combined left-wing and right-wing political views, but gravitated to the political right in the early 1920s.^[7][8] Scholars generally consider fascism to be on the far right of the conventional left-right political spectrum. 

Fascists believe that a nation is an organic community that requires strong leadership, singular collective identity, and the will and ability to commit violence and wage war in order to keep the nation strong.^[15] They claim that culture is created by collective national society and its state, that cultural ideas are what give individuals identity, and thus rejects individualism.^[15] In viewing the nation as an integrated collective community, they claim that pluralism is a dysfunctional aspect of society, and justify a totalitarian state as a means to represent the nation in its entirety.^[16][17] They advocate the creation of a single-party state.^[18] Fascist governments forbid and suppress openness and opposition to the fascist state and the fascist movement.^[19] They identify violence and war as actions that create national regeneration, spirit and vitality.^[20]

Fascists reject and resist autonomy of cultural or ethnic groups who are not considered part of the fascists' nation and who refuse to assimilate or are unable to be assimilated.^[21] They consider attempts to create such autonomy as an affront and threat to the nation.^[21]

Fascism is strongly opposed to core aspects of the Enlightenment and is an opponent of liberalism, Marxism, and mainstream socialism for being associated with failures that fascists claim are inherent in the Enlightenment.^[22] Fascists view egalitarianism, materialism, and rationalism as failed elements of the Enlightenment.^[23] In contrast, Fascists promote action, discipline, hierarchy, spirit, and will.^[24] They oppose liberalism — as a bourgeois movement — and Marxism — as a proletarian movement — for being exclusive economic class-based movements.^[25] Fascists present their ideology as that of an economically trans-class movement that promotes ending economic class conflict to secure national solidarity.^[26] They believe that economic classes are not capable of properly governing a nation, and that a merit-based aristocracy of experienced military persons must rule through regimenting a nation's forces of production and securing the nation's independence.^[27]

Fascism perceives conservatism as partly valuable for its support of order in society but opposes its typical opposition to change and modernization.^[28] Fascism presents itself as a solution to the perceived benefits and disadvantages of conservatism by advocating state-controlled modernization that promotes orderly change while resisting the dangers of pluralism and independent initiative to order in society.^[28]

Fascists support a "Third Position" in economic policy, which they believe superior to both the rampant individualism of laissez-faire capitalism and the severe control of state socialism.^[29][30]

Following the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II and the publicity surrounding the atrocities committed during the period of fascist governments, the term fascist has been used as a pejorative word,^[31] often referring to widely varying movements across the political spectrum.^[32]

Is anybody there? Does anybody care??

Why do I feel that line so easily applies to Washington these days? The world looks to Washington ... the people of America look to Washington ... and I see a man in the White House today who is fighting an uphill battle. Is anybody there? Does anybody care? I see Americans ... ALL Americans ... FREE forevermore! I see the world ... all the people in the world FREE forevermore!

Is anybody there? Does anybody care? Does anybody see what I see? ....

"Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion." Edmund Burke, Speech to the Electors of Bristol, November 1774.  

To the right ... ever to the right ...

This is why Wall Street will always win ... this battle was lost so very long ago. Yes this clip isn't that historically accurate ... but to me it captures the spirit that has always pervaded the upper echelons of the American power elite. Right now as I watch this debate on a national level I think of this ... "Most men with nothing would rather protect the possibility of becoming rich than face the reality that they'll always be poor." That seems to be the basis for American politics these days. So many truck drivers, school teachers, laborers, lower middle class and lower class voters ... continue to throw their lot in with the Republicans, year after year. Why? Yes indeed religion is a large part of it. But listen to the Tea Party ... listen to the Glen Beck-ites and the Rush Limb-ites ... the vast majority of them just average joes ... they dance to the tune of the RNC whether they know it or not. Why? I can only think of that quote ... here we are in 2010 ... still dancing to the tune of the Eastern old money power elite ... nothing has changed ... and I doubt anything will.

Time for change ... a return to representation

First a few links: Link 1  and Link 2

I don't disagree with anything presented there (or discussed on that blog) ... however I feel that even beyond this it is time for America to strongly move towards a multi-party system. Having only two political parties makes it entirely to easy for corporate interest to manipulate the system. More importantly in such a complex world how can two parties adequately represent our interests? Everyone I know whether dyed in the wool republican or democrat ... feels that their party does not remotely represent their interest anymore. I agree that a large part of it is what Dr.Lessig is talking about, but I would be so bold as to say ... what if its more ... what if two parties just are no longer capable of giving reasonable representation to such a large and diverse populace in a world with extraordinarily complex problems. It is time for a system that is divorced from manipulation by corporate interest AND a system that is actually capable of representing we the people!!

I believe that breaking corporate dominance of our political process is the only way we the people will reclaim our government. I also firmly believe that two parties are simply incapable even in the best of times ... of doing a remotely adequate job of representing America. It is time to become a multi-party nation ...  we have been for a very long time ... however the corporate powers and entrenched political powers have resisted representing the citizens because they really don't want to. The corporations want exactly what they have and the politicians simply want to be re-elected ... what incentive would there be for either of those groups to self reform? our system will not break ... the sky will not fall. What will happen is government will do a better job of listening and representing ...

Tea Party Hatred and Deception

The Tea Party most of all stands for the ugly America that George W. Bush represented. That America that a good portion of the American citizens hate and almost universally the citizens of the rest of the world hate. 

Why would from what Fox News tells us so many people want to return to that? My only conclusion can be  fear. I'm so tired of the endless media attention the Tea Party is getting. The Tea Party leadership is a group of very wealthy Southern attorneys who have been accused of having links to the KKK.  Whether or not that is the case the leaders of the "movement" have repeatedly made public racist statements. Its clear that at the basic level the Tea Party is an angry white religious political interest group ... that would happily bring back Southern Apartheid and violate the Constitution by forcing all Americans to be Christians. Turn on FOX news even and that is all you see angry white hillbilly types with racist, religious zealotry slogans painted on their placards ranting and raving made up "founding father" quotes senselessly. Its just an obstruction movement being funded by Wall Street and the Moral Majority. If it was a truly patriotic movement it would be a-political .. and its not ... its a whose who of the far right of the Republican party .... plain and simple. Just the latest political publicity stunt. Just angry McCain (McCan't) voters who are incensed that we have an African American president now and that the party that cares more about the average citizen is in power.  

The absolute deception about the "founding fathers" that has been going on for so long by conservatives is really laughable to me. Certainly if they were alive today many of the "founding fathers" would identify with the ultra right wing conservative Southerners, however Jefferson would likely be an Obama administration cabinet member and Franklin would as well. As for the rest its highly debatable and really a moot point. But this just demonstrates the idiocy bordering on insanity that the right wing uses. I feel it boils down to the religious connection. If your willing to basically tell lies and sell a system which is clearly a bunch of BS ... for your religion. Why would you have a problem making things up and telling lies to people about your politics?

The bottom line is the forces that control the Republican party are essentially in control of the Tea Party and the same hillbilly crazy right wingers are showing up at all the Tea Party gatherings and protests. The Republicans called the passing of the health care bill Kabuki theater ... well if you want to see real Kabuki theater take a look at the Republican led Tea Party movement. Its a "movement" that can say the things the Republicans can't yet the Tea Party is 100% beneficial to the Republican party. There is no criticism of the Republicans by the Tea Party ... essentially just a desire to return them to power ... so how is this a "movement" at all ... at the end of the day its just a carefully orchestrated get out the votes for conservatives "movement." 

Healthcare reform ... free at last ... free at last ... not yet

A friend on Facebook posted something to the effect of "thanks congress for passing the health care bill ... now I can pay for other people's health care."  I mean first of all I'm shocked that anyone would complain about paying taxes for health care for EVERYONE (just shows how selfish many Americans are) and second it shows how deeply the corporate rhetoric has permeated so many people in this country. Huge numbers of sheep following religious zealots and corporate shills ... they blindly parrot whatever they are told by Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and Fox News. Anyway here was my quick and angry reply:

--------------------------------

Thanks for paying for my health care then ... I'm an unemployed father of four ... who earned 80K (with my wife's income well over 100K) per year for the past ten years paid tax up the ying yang and now make 30K. I myself don't currently have health care ... though just last year I had great health care. My wife and kids do through her work ... but... we can't afford to cover me ... every time any of them needs to go to the Dr. they have to pay 35 bucks which might not sound like alot but for us ... we feel it. I guess I'm irrelevant. I don't expect Republicans to care about me ... or my kids ... or anyone else ... they have their money ... they have their stuff ... everyone else can just die right :( We are all godless illegals (even though I'm a 6th generation Caucasian American of German-Finnish ancestry) by what I see on Fox and read in the anti-liberal rants. Basically its come down to the rich (or wannabe rich) teaming up with the right wing religious vs. everyone else. I feel I did everything right in life, went to school ... worked my way through college earned a BA and a Masters Degree ... worked hard to get a good job. Now thanks to Wall Street (the rich guys who took power with the help of the religious folks) ... I'm out of work with really little hope in sight ... so people decide to throw me a life line ... and now the same guys who put me out of work are throwing rocks at me while I try to get into the tiny little rubber dingy.

TEA Party = NAZI party?

Is the Tea Party the new "Brown Shirt" movement?

Anymore it feels like 50% of the American public really is ready for the next Adolf to come along. Seriously some of the things I hear people saying, some of the things the talking heads are spouting, some of the things people write online. I'm starting to understand how people in Germany in the 1930s must have felt. Again I ask is the Tea Party the new brown shirt movement? Many people seem to be getting so selfish in America now the old progressive, optimistic, helpful, can do attitude is gone. The generation that was the free love generation, the generation of hope, has morphed into a generation of hate and the "greatest generation" ... the generation that did so much is also the one that created many of the problems we are facing today, well those that are still alive from that generation, they are pretty hateful too. People joke about concentration camps but I don't really think its funny. I could see it happening. America the beautiful is transforming to America the hateful.

Is the American Political System Broken? That isn't the real question ...

Ok ... been awhile since I've had a political rant to put down in writing. Lately hearing the talking heads all spouting off about how the American political process is broken ... I just can't take anymore. For the love of all that is good in the universe ... from the time of the Constitutional convention (lets not even talk about the Articles of Confederation period of our history) critics, citizens and the media have been making that statement. I feel there is a single, fundamental flaw in the American political process that could be quite easily rectified. The two political party system is horrifyingly broken and it has been since its inception. Would a multi-party political system solve all the problems? No. Yet it might start giving the people of America, the common citizen, more of a voice in Washington. It might help restore the common American's faith in government and perhaps give the rest of the world hope that ... maybe America is coming around ... maybe they really do get it. It would certainly help break the strangle hold corporate America has on government.  Do I think that a multi-party system is inevitable? No. I think that such a move will be quashed by both the Democratic and Republican parties ... brutally ... with the aid of every company in America that has two nickles to donate to the cause of enslaving the citizenry. In short ... while I think it would usher in a political renaissance and give us all renewed hope and energy ... such a wondrous event is as likely to occur as a lottery win for me. It is just not going to happen.

This is why the American political system is broken ... has been broken for a long, long time ... and will continue to spiral downward. The Democratic and Republican parties do not represent the average American ... they just don't. I know very few people ... D or R ... who are happy with their party or feel their party represents even a fraction of their true interests. Our nation is far to large and far to diverse to have only two choices. If someone is a fiscal conservative but liberal on social issues ... what party would they select?? What if someone is a staunch gun rights advocate but happens to be an atheist who believes in public health care ... what party would they join? There are endless other concerns people might have that neither party cares about. Both parties are totally co-opted by corporate America ... lock, stock and barrel ... Wall Street owns the American Political process. It matters not who is in the white house or who controls congress ... Wal-Mart, Google, Exxon, etc. etc. have their interests represented first and foremost .. often at the major expense of the vast majority of Americans. What if that is one's main concern ... reigning in corporations ... there is no party which represents that interest. So hearing people complain about a third or fourth or tenth party ... well ... one thing is clear ... there is no hope for the average American anymore. We are chattel, slaves to giant immortal corporations whose only care is grinding our bones to generate ROI for largely foreign investors. Who knows maybe that is the new American Dream ... endless fiscal enslavement ... with the only escape to go deeper into debt, tune out the bleak reality by taking whatever mind numbing pleasure one can ... until you end up dead or in jail. Meanwhile quality of life spirals downwards, the contribution of America to the world declines ... and idiocy reigns supreme ... just as the immoral, immortal corporations want it .... 

Dan Dennet

 This is a repost of something from Facebook but its very good, insightful, funny stuff ... this is rational thought. This is human progress ... sadly this is a rarity in the world today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvJZQwy9dvE

Worried about the elections

One can only hope that the Republicans do not gain any ground. Honestly if America is stupid enough to return to such a course already ... I really feel that we deserve what we get. Hopefully people will retain their senses and do anything but vote for a Republican.

CNN Article

Malthusian Relief??

Here is an interesting article regarding global fertility rates from the Economist, I just thought I'd share.

Population

Very interesting. Too little too late in my opinion ... but ... perhaps a little ray of sunlight. I think that population is only one part of the puzzle. Wealth = increases in consumption ... as China, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. become more wealthy ... consumption rates go up. Natural resources are harvested at an ever increasing rate, as mineral prices rise mining activity increases, etc. etc. the planet is impacted to a greater extent. So while overall population is important ... in the world of globalization ... fertility rates really don't say anything in and of themselves. I hate to say such horrible things, but I have come to feel that unless there is a global catastrophe which wipes out a few billion people, our species is likely doomed. It might take another 500 years but I don't think we will make it ... I hope I'm wrong ... I really do.  To close I will simply site a figure from the article ... "Assuming fertility falls at current rates, says the UN, the world’s population will rise from 6.8 billion to 9.2 billion in 2050, at which point it will stabilize." Imagine a world with 9.2 billion people ... imagine ... can you really argue against my theory that we are doomed??

The path of no return ...

I hate the denial that goes on in this country and the idiotic mindset that the good will of all the countries around the world is somehow irrelevant. Fortunately I think that rhetoric has died down a bit over the past several years. What is still occurring sadly though is the dumbing down of America combined with the surge in evangelical Christianity. That dynamic has really created some scary ideology in the mainstream out there these days.  I think the ever diminishing quality of main stream media and the poor quality of the educational system will ensure that American's by and large stay stupid.

Ok sort of switching gears but not really, just bare with me for a bit. I think that the power vacuum created with the fall of the communist block and the USSR really had some intellectual implications here in the US that not many people have acknowledged. I think it gave people ... even just the average Joe out there ... a sense of smug "we won" and to some extent that eroded the impact of the lessons we learned during the Vietnam experience. I think that what was already occurring in the mid 1980s was the beginning of the media revolution brought on by the widespread impacts of cable television, print media was beginning to undergo a transformation as well. From the mid to late 1970s many States in the US began to experience tremendous funding difficulties and this had widespread impact on education and social service. Through the 1980s these trends continued and by the early 1990s the media revolution was taking on a whole new scope with the early beginnings of the internet, with the global media networks like CNN and with over a decade of underfunding education and social services things were getting bad. Now in the late 1970s evangelical Christians began to unite in lobbying efforts and in efforts to effect policy change, to elect sympathetic politicians, etc. etc. All of these things were coalescing in the same decade ... by the 1990s the foundations of disaster were firmly in place. The election of George W. Bush all but sealed the fate of America ... and the rest is as we say history. Look at where we are today, not just because we elected a horrible president, but because we as a nation have been asleep for nearly 20 years. After Watergate the American people simply checked out and never really have seemed to check back in.  My feelings about America's hopes of regaining its senses are not very high, I just don't see how we can turn the ship around. People are so fixated on themselves now, the consumerism of the 1950s and 60s ... well it never stopped it simply progressed. The attitudes of the average citizen now is one of utter complacence regarding the political process, even those who do care seem to be woefully ill equipped to understand what is actually going on.

Ok hopefully here is where I pick back up on the starting passage. Many of those people sadly turn to the demagogues on the right like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, the 700 Club, or authors like  Glen Beck, Ayn Rand  (who was an atheist by the way) etc. etc. These sources are the ones which lead people down the path of "who cares what the rest of the world thinks" and "to hell with em nuke em if they don't like it." These are the forces which white wash consumerism, and the degradation of American financial stability, these sources advocate wholesale capitulation to corporate interests. Obviously those sources are also bombarding people with evangelicalism whether overtly or indirectly.  Of course there are forces on the far left that in ways are just as counter productive ... though I struggle to name one with the recognition and clout of those I just mentioned. So where are we headed as a nation? How can we plot any course different than that of the past 9 years? Again I hope somehow, some way ... we come to our senses collectively and stay the course with Obama and the Democrats and I hope somehow they manage to find a way to disengage us from this path.

Very disturbing stuff ...

"Aristocrats... fear the people, and wish to transfer all power to the higher classes of society." --Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 1825. ME 16:96

I don't know what is more disturbing the allegations or the seizure of someones property based on twitter activity? Many crazed far right wing nuts out there who erroneously cite the founders based on made up quotes and ideas by bible thumping revisionists ... the reality is the mindset of the founders strongly favored civil liberty. Thomas Jefferson believed that citizens should overthrow the government periodically in order to insure the ideals of liberty and freedom remain fresh. Sadly what has occured over the past 230 or so years has been a vast erosion of those ideas, ideals and concepts. People today seem either totally oblivious to or quietly consigned to the lives of servitude they lead. When people do wake up and take notice and try to do something about it in a reasonable way they are bludgeoned by the pawns of the corporations, religious institutions and the new aristocracy. The wealthy, the powerful, the religious collude to smash and oppress anyone who questions whether or not our corrupt destructive form of capitalism should be changed. Our two party political system will endlessly allow the largest and most powerful (i.e. wealthiest) groups to maintain iron fisted control. Certainly there will be victories for the left ... but as with Obama being elected ... those victories are hollow. Corporations co-opt all viable liberal candidates long before they get into the white house. For example just look at how Obama has delt with the current economic crisis. He has designated most of the leaders of the old regime ... the very people who caused the problems in the first place ... to oversee the rebuilding. What else will happen than a simple reconstruction of the existing system? He is utterly beholden to the money-power elite of Wall Street. Wall Street long ago co-opted the religious right to serve as its foot soldiers on the free market, deregulation wars ... they were content to do so as long as they could continue championing prayer in school and anti-abortion legislation. This article though is simply another example of how really there is little anyone can do to make their voice heard in this once land of liberty. There is no liberty, there is no freedom, there is only servitude and enslavement to the masters of capital and consumerism.

My first post related to this topic ...

 This is an example of something that at first blush might seem innocuous, however I would say this is a jingoistic wingnut post. (Dragnet)

My response to it is this, the clip shows a couple of old white guys from the 1950s talking for the wingnut right wing. Is that the right message, hidden in some paternalistic tirade?

I'm no Obama white washer ... if he screws up .. its on him. But I think that most of the angry rhetoric being thrown at his administration right now is from those who voted for McCain (and for Bush before ... Read Morehim). So this stuff is nice for the Dub fans out there ... these statements are great for delusional people who think everything is A-OK and who want to go back to living under the tyranny of Jerry Falwell the Moral Majority and the wingnut fringe. Meanwhile the true masters behind the curtain on Wall Street go on destroying the middle class ... they are more than happy to allow no abortions and prayer in school in return for being able to do whatever they want. I'm tired of "political experts" over simplifying things with corny little soundbites on Fox and CNN and on youtube. I'm sorry but the warm fuzzy 1950s BS patriotism just doesn't solve problems, it keeps us from doing what needs to be done and it is used by those who want to preserve the status quo endlessly ... even if that course is leading us off a cliff. America is one massive American Idol, Brittany Spears/Paris Hilton who-ha watching bunch of idiots.

We need to WAKE up and pay attention and actually start voicing our concerns based on not buying in to the rhetoric from Wall Street or the 700 Club. Otherwise the wingnuts are going to win out and the normal citizens are going to get hosed ... yet again. Those who are happy letting the country be handed over to China on a silver platter (thanks Wal-Mart!) ... happy defying the will of the founders of our nation by allowing religious zealots to blend politics, government and religion ... keep it up ... keep voting Republican, cycle after cycle ... play right into the hands of the wingnuts. We won't end up with Mayberry or Life with Father or a John Wayne movie or Dragnet ... we'll end up with a broken nation more akin to Iran than the America we all love. We are in trouble like we haven't been since before World War II ... and a return to the policies of the Bush administration (which led us TO the present situation) won't help us.

I believe that despite the jingoism behind that clip ... for the most part Obama hears that message loud and clear. I however do not know if the fringe on both sides will allow the things that must be done  like effective health care reform or the major overhaul of our financial system in a way which stops permanently screwing the middle and lower class in this country. I have no confidence that the mob will allow anything meaningful to get done and the mob will point its finger at the easiest target to blame for such failure ... one President Barak Obama. The loony trailer park political experts in the country have already conveniently forgotten who and how we got into the current mess as a nation.

Good article on fringe politics in America

This is a great article pertaining to the somewhat unprecedented polarization (at least since the 1960s) in American Politics. 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/07/avlon.civility/index.html

Good article on fringe politics in America

This is a great article pertaining to the somewhat unprecedented polarization (at least since the 1960s) in American Politics. 

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/07/avlon.civility/index.html