Posted: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 12:15 am
People all over the planet recognize the essence of the American Revolution. It was born in the fervor of realization that throwing off the chains of slavery imposed by a ruling elite and establishing self-rule could bring about equality and happiness. Was there ever a collective dream that could capture more of the hopes and aspirations that unite all humanity?
It seems a profoundly simple concept. One might think it is a realization that could be embraced by all nations, all races and all walks of life. The benefits seem obvious. A healthy environment that would encourage creativity, growth, balance and the kind of wisdom that is cognizant of the interrelationship of all things would be heaven on Earth.
And yet, we find ourselves living in a constant state of environmental degradation, economic stress, oppression, inequality, warfare and what can only be described as a major episode of mass extinction, (the first to be caused by human activity). If humans are an evolutionary experiment to determine the viability of large brained organisms, we seem to be loosing ground to the dinosaurs.
While we are intelligent enough to grasp the solutions to our problems, we seem incapable of working through the psychological complications that block our pursuit of a collective path. It seems large brains are vulnerable to flights of fancy, self-delusion, power over others and greed. One might rightly call this pathology “Affluenza”. To say that this pathology has complicated life in the “United” States and indeed, life on this planet, would be an understatement.
As a new political season is upon us, I am starting to hear the same old debates come up. Congress is polling at about 8 percent approval, (which is high considering their performance). A government originally formed to protect the people from the excesses of a pathological aristocracy now seem subservient to it.
There are people on the right who are ready to mount an assault on Washington with their AR-14’s and many on the left who throw their vote away on third party candidates or simply refuse to vote. Those who do vote seem largely uninformed or “misinformed” by a press firmly under the control of corporate interests.
Increasingly citizens are dropping out of participation in a system designed for citizen participation. There are those on both the right and left who have lost faith in our constitutional right to change a government that is no longer responsive to the needs of its people.
Too few realize this is a conditioned response to the work of people like Republican strategist, Paul Weyrich, godfather of GOP voter suppression and founder of ALEC, who now writes legislation for red states based on corporate agendas and organizations like the NRA.
Any argument about whether there is any difference between the Democrats and the Republicans should be informed by the George W. Bush “coup” of 2000 in which a Republican-dominated Supreme Court “appointed” our president over the wishes of the voters. Too few in this country acknowledge the failure in our “democracy” that event demonstrates.
Further Republican attacks on our country’s sovereignty includes their utter incompetence in letting 9/11 happen, the “Patriot Act,” “Citizens United,” an unnecessary $4 trillion war, “Medicare D,” 50,000 factories moved overseas and $18 trillion stolen from the American people by Wall Street.
The failure in democracy that is the Obama administration is illustrated by its failure to bring these banksters, and war criminals to justice. They have simply continued many of Bush’s policies and their “war” on whistle blowers and journalism is despicable. In its drone strikes, this administrations callousness toward human life is just as heinous as the Bush administration’s fondness for torture and incarceration. This implicates them in the new Plutocratic Fascism that dominates our country.
Any argument about the differences (or lack of) in our political parties must acknowledge a system that requires office to be bought and the presence of what amounts to a third party, The Koch brothers.
What do you buy when you have “bought” everything? Well, you buy governments.
I am always amazed at how few realize the wealthy were taxed at 90 percent under the last decent Republican president we ever had, Dwight Eisenhower. When Reagan achieved office the rate had dropped to 75 percent. Under Bush ... zero to 15 percent. Who would argue that our country was never healthier than it was under Eisenhower ... besides the brothers (whose father was a John Bircher famous for calling Eisenhower a Communist).
The Republicans are leaving their party in droves. Now, if only Obama will follow suit.
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