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, December 27, 2012

Politics as Usual Doesn’t Work

Click here to access article by Kevin Zeese from Dissident Voice.

The author exposes the collusive nature of the two capitalist party's performance of "fiscal cliff".
...everything being talked about in the choreographed negotiations is items President Obama has shown repeated support for. His deficit commission, Simpson-Bowles called for cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and social programs. The grand bargain Obama offered to Speaker Boehner before the elections included all of these cuts and more, including to veteran health care and retirement, college financial support and food assistance. And, during the campaign Obama said that he agreed with Romney on Social Security.
The "compromise" that will inevitably be worked out will further weaken the social safety nets that our forefathers and foremothers fought for, and sometimes died for, on the streets across America during the 1930s.

Zeese points out that there is no compromise issue related to military spending:
The bi-partisanship of Washington, DC has also taken military cuts off the table. In fact, while the Congress, president and media elite were fretting over the deficit both Houses passed the $633 billon NDAA with super bi-partisan majorities, a vote of 315 to 107 in the House; 81 to 14 in the Senate. The reality is the Pentagon is so over-budgeted that many retired generals and admirals are calling for military cuts. There is a lot of waste in the Pentagon, much of it quite embarrassing in a time of economic collapse and austerity.
This, of course, is a liberal take on the issue. While exposing the One Percent's games, he fails to see that the whole system is rigged by and for the One Percent. You see, our One Percent masters need that money to intimidate all opposition and to wage secret and not-so-secret wars in Africa, Asia...actually, all over the world including in the US in order to maintain "full spectrum dominance" for their banks and corporations. Along with their control over agencies of indoctrination, our rulers mainly exist because of their control of overwhelming force. For them, money spent on instruments of violence is never "waste", and too much force is never enough. Without it, their Empire will crumble along with all their powers and privileges. 

However, the author gets it right when he implies--although doesn't state explicitly--that the One Percent don't spend billions on political campaigns to just put on a "democracy" show for the masses--they expect that their campaign contributions to pay off.