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, October 11, 2012

Stemming the Tides of Protest

Click here to access article by William T. Hathaway from The Greanville Post
The friendly mask that capitalism wore in the USA and Europe has been stripped away, revealing the predatory beast beneath. We are beginning (just beginning) to get the same treatment as workers in the client states. This process is not generated by the greed of a few individuals, nor can it be reversed by social democratic reforms and regulations. This process is inexorable because it’s the essence of capitalism. It’s the nature of the beast to devour.
Very well expressed! It's clear that bourgeois liberals are running out of convincing excuses and remedies for a system that serves only their own class. For American working people, having had their minds thoroughly indoctrinated with the virtues of capitalism most stridently since WWII, the awakening is only now beginning to take shape. However, as life for them continues its downward trajectory, they will wake up at an accelerating rate. Then we will see the gloves come off of the American capitalist class (the One Percenters) to reveal the hidden fist of fascism that will attempt to not only "stem the tides of protest", but to crush them. 

If my assessment is correct, I expect to see voter participation in the upcoming US demonstration elections lower than ever before.