Weeks ago I had a grand vision for my next great blog post that would change the world. It would be a review of all the events I'd read about, plus it would reflect what's happened in the last century, and what's happening today, in the USA. What follows is an incomplete summary of a few month's worth of study and thought, grounded in the recent events in Wisconsin and Egypt. If nothing else watch the Michael Moore speech at the bottom of this.
The Wisconsin GOP (or actually the Koch-funded Tea Party GOP) is stripping public unions of their power, but the people are protesting. The protests were sparked by a student-teacher walkout and the world is watching. But the GOP decided they would ignore the idea of popular consent; "In 30 minutes, 18 state senators undid 50 years of civil rights in Wisconsin. Their disrespect for the people of Wisconsin and their rights is an outrage that will never be forgotten," said Democratic Senate Minority Leader Mark Miller. "Tonight, 18 Senate Republicans conspired to take government away from the people." Read this article about the consequences of a prank call to Governor Walker from a David Koch impersonator.
Speaking of the Tea Party (bowel) movement, if you had any doubt that the Tea Party is a racist organization, check this out from Daily Kos. Here elected federal officials openly fan violence and hatred, making oblique threats against Muslims everywhere. These are the same people who compare Obama to Hitler, but the obvious parallels are ignored, washed out with an incredible amount of mind-bending and -destroying rhetoric whose exact purpose is to obscure the facts and inundate those who would listen with fear and hatred, oh and to keep the zombies glued to the tube so they can sell some anti-depressants, potato chips, disneyland, and everything else.
Luckily the GOP's front is showing fissures, and it might be a good thing the financial industry is running things since they have no reason to replace good boy Barack Obama. The election of any one of these reactionary "libertarians" would be a disaster, with the one possible exception of Ron Paul, who is, in my opinion, much closer to a true libertarian. Not to say Paul wouldn't raise serious concerns, but that is too much to think about for now. These others are libertarians only in the sense that they want to be free t0 fuck over whoever they need to, even maybe the whole world. By the way, oil production in the US is up, but so is the cost of gas. Apparently we can't solve every problem through American know-how and self-effacing hard labor.
Meanwhile Bradley Manning, after languishing in solitary confinement in conditions that have prompted a UN investigation and complaints filed by Amnesty International, has been formally accused of a slew of crimes. He has, among other charges, been charged with aiding the enemy, apparently directly, among other things. But what enemy, exactly? No one seems to say. And no matter what comes of the charges, I applaud his bravery and am gracious for the essential knowledge he has delivered to the whole world. Whether or not you think what he did is a crime, you cannot ignore the new information, the truth he has enabled others to see. Everyone needed to see the video he allegedly leaked, "Collateral Murder," below, in which an American death squad circles a group of unarmed men, two of whom were AP journalists, fires on them, and when some are seen struggling to a van that came to try to help the survivors, the copter opens fire again. The Army has defended the actions of the servicemen that day. Is it our "way of life" they hate?
Manning also allegedly disseminated secret diplomatic cables to Wikileaks. Many government officials are calling for Wikileaks to be declared a terrorist organization and/or bring up Julian Assange on conspiracy charges. Good ole Joe Biden said Wikileaks actions are "close to terrorism" whatever that means. However Wikileaks is performing a service that no media outlet in America, and I suspect few in the Western world, would do. The fact that Wired has been withholding chat conversations between Bradley Manning and Adrian Lamo, his accuser, is a case in point. Furthermore, as leaders of a country whose government carries out and oversees some of the worst terrorism on Earth.
The American official response to the events in Egypt were worrying, especially in light of the leaked diplomatic cables which, Noam Chomsky argues on Democracy Now!, and I agree, reveal a "profound hatred for democracy on the part of our political leadership." The interview will be a great starting point for anyone who is confused about what's going on in the Middle East and how it relates to US foreign policy, especially regarding Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, Palestine, and Israel.
If you have 45 more minutes watch the related episode of Democracy Now! aired online Thursday, March 10, 2011, below this paragraph. Great video of what's going on in Wisconsin, an update on what's happening in Libya, and an interview with Michael Moore. Moore outlines exactly what is at stake not only in Wisconsin, but also in neighboring Michigan where "the Senate voted on Wednesday to grant broad new powers to emergency managers who oversee financially struggling cities and schools, including the authority to void union contracts and remove elected officials" and replace those officials with contractors. It is no conspiracy theory to say that there is an oligarchy that may or may not be in complete control already, and that oligarchy is, in either case, tightening its grip.
For some help understanding the dense, seemingly impenetrable world of Wall Street and the financial crisis, check out Matt Taibbi's excellent book Griftopia. It reads like a crime drama, but it is a totally non-fiction account of the "big con" that started decades ago with Regan deregulation, and continues today in the complex web of home, and even disturbing public service, foreclosures, many of which are happening not to delinquent, irresponsible homeowners buying beyond their means, but to victims of deeply systemic fraud. A video of Taibbi discussing the book's contents can be found here.
Bringing it all together, mix together that "profound hatred for democracy" among those in power with apathy among large swaths of the population stemming directly from being either too comfortable or too defeated to begin to fight, and you get the scary situation we are in today.
Extremism is not something to be ashamed of in itself, but extremism that does not accept the equality of man as a fundamental tenet is something to be ashamed of. Whether it be the Koch brothers, the Wall Street grifters, the neo-Nazis and other varied racists of the United States, or brutal, violent, oppressive dictators and warlords in the Middle East and Africa, any of them, are evil counteracting the progress that the human race has made. Certainly militant self defense as endorsed by Malcom X is a reasonable response to a state of affairs where those in power threaten to block basic rights and resources for and/or steal from the people. His words resonate today, black men and hispanic men are incarcerated at incredibly unequal rates, just for one obvious example that is regularly ignored. The 'racialists' Malcom X talks about are still here today, "deceitful, deceptive," and indeed we need to start talking their language because otherwise democracy in America will be completely in name only, worse than the Hollywood hologram it is today.
In closing, it is clear that many of the powerful elements of America today truly do hate democracy, and I posit the reason is democracy will hurt their personal interests. They have gotten away with all sorts of thievery and unlawful, unethical manipulation because so many Americans want to be just like them, with a sexy gorgeous spouse and electric sex life, ten cars, private jet, maybe a private island if you're lucky, just generally living the "good life". Even if they don't actively want to be like them it's assumed that the wealthy and wicked "earned it" and that the poor must be shiftless and lazy, especially if they're black or latino. If they're Chinese or Arab and successful it's because they're planning a communist coup or jihad. It's phallic the way Americans need to believe that American military might and intervention is necessary and just, but it's actively bankrupting the people of this nation. People get lost in television where no real thought need occur because of the desire we all share sometimes, the need to "escape reality."
Reality, though, is complicated, and requires all our attention to even try to understand a small fraction of it. You can't get it all just from one source, not even Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. But knowledge is power, so I suggest that for Lent you give up television and eat more bacon if you must. The mind is a terrible thing to waste, and as we waste our minds we at least passively destroy the future of mankind. Democrat/republican = coke/pepsi. I do prefer coke, but mostly I don't drink soda. Just because our options appear limited, the world and our minds are limitless, so don't ever let anyone else limit your mind.
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