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

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Vote Obama – if you want a centrist Republican for US president

Click here to access article by Glenn Greenwald from The Guardian.
American presidential elections are increasingly indistinguishable from the reality TV competitions drowning the nation's airwaves. Both are vapid, personality-driven and painfully protracted affairs, with the winners crowned by virtue of their ability to appear slightly more tolerable than the cast of annoying rejects whom the public eliminates one by one.
What I find hard to believe is that excellent journalists like Greenwald really believe that elections are about who actually governs the US. This article, along with so many by the author and others, decries the fact that Obama is no different than Bush. And, many other articles by this author and others complain that lobbyists control Congress. Yet, Greenwald and so many other intelligent people too often appear unable to take the next logical step to look for the real decision makers, or the directors behind the actors on the political stage.

On the other hand, what do you think would happen to Greenwald if he did take this step? He would be banished from any mainstream media outlets and end up on some obscure blog like this one. 
Unfortunately, by failing to take the next step, he functions as a gatekeeper to keep political discourse within acceptable limits--acceptable to the political operatives of the ruling One Percent. 

If you want to learn about these political operatives, you could do no better than read the book entitled, The Secret Team, by (retired) Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty.  

When political leaders fail to follow the orders of the real decision makers, they are removed from office one way or another ranging from assassination in the case of Kennedy or withdrawal of funding in the case of Sen. Frank Church who asked too many embarrassing questions.