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

Friday, September 6, 2013

Militarizing America's Police Forces

Click here to access article by Jim Hightower from Uncommon Thought Journal

The author points out what appears to be a comical move by small town police departments to acquire military grade weapons because...well, everyone else is doing it, and there might be domestic terrorists out there! 

I don't mean to downplay the author's seriousness about this issue--he, as a political critic, just uses a humorous style with a touch of sarcasm to get his points across. Sometimes one must mix deadly serious events with a "spoonful" of humor in order to help the awful tasting medicine go down. 

The serious aspect of this is that this is becoming a common practice among police departments all across the US. Meanwhile, our ruling class operatives and their corporate media propagandists are continuing to manufacture "terrorist" incidents and sowing distrust among our fellow Americans by any means necessary. 

Because their designs to turn every human endeavor and natural resource into a commodity and to promote wars abroad to satisfy their addiction to profit and power, their propaganda messages which always attempt to hide their nefarious designs are becoming more and more unconvincing to the general public. A current example are the outrageous lies coming from the executive branch of government and corporate media to justify the attack on Syria. Thus, they must protect their addictive habits through the use, or the threat of use, of instruments of overwhelming violence against their own subjects. 

Remember, we are in the age of globalized capitalism. Boundaries mean nothing to them except to control the movement of workers. Potential, and actual enemies are everywhere.