We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The fiscal cliff deal

Click here to access article by Barry Grey from World Socialist Web Site.

The author provides a much needed early summary of the temporary deal worked out between the two capitalist parties which mostly consists of tax give-aways to the One Percent. Meanwhile, they are revving up their media engines to prepare their assault on our programs in the coming months. Yes, folks, the class war continues. What? Did you expect something different?
Part of the process is the creation by the media of a synthetic “public opinion” that has nothing to do with the real concerns and views of the population. Already on Wednesday, the morning news programs were speaking of a groundswell of popular anger over the failure of Congress to enact “real” deficit-reduction measures and serious cuts in social programs—this in the face of repeated polls that show a large majority of the population opposed to such cuts.
Also, Kevin Zeese provides more details here.