WARNING: This is a looong rant. But you should read it.
Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence — those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. — Aldous Huxley
fas·cism (fash'iz'?m) n. (often Fascism )
A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.
According to various sources, fascism is a government that achieves power through political assassinations or rigged elections; initially poses as the champion of democracy even as it undermines democratic principles; is so nationalistic and excessively patriotic that disagreements with government policies are viewed as treason; controls the media so the people will support the government; coarsens the national dialogue with inflammatory rhetoric; relentlessly attacks the messengers of alternative points of view until they are silenced; uses secret police to spy on the population and eliminate opposition; undermines constitutional rights so the government will have absolute control over the people; stresses the superiority of one's country; promotes internal and external enemies as the sources of evil; sacrifices public interests to corporate interests; funnels a nation's wealth into the military and weapons-producing corporations; keeps the people in a permanently warlike state of mind; and eventually centers all power in a single party headed by a dictator with absolute power over the people.
Does any of that sound familiar??? If not, you might want to begin paying closer attention.
Russians are wondering how and why the people in America are allowing the same thing to happen in the US that Stalin perpetrated in Russia. That what the current US administration is doing is surreptitiously taking away individual freedoms, through stirring up fears in the people, very similar to what was happening in pre-WWII Germany.
Now, consider this:
At about the time our original 13 states adopted their new constitution, in the year 1787, Alexander Tytler (a Scottish history professor at The University of Edinborough) had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior:
"A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
"The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage."
Supposedly, this is a quote from one of Tytler's lectures, as this text cannot be found in any book that he has written, as documented by snopes. Snopes claims this quote is a fraud. Here's what I think: who cares who said it or when? I still think the analogy is valid. Do you think that discrediting the authenticity of the author invalidates the sentiment of the argument? I do not.
Despite whether the thoughts came from Tytler, an anoymous writer, Plato, or God himself, do you not think it merits consideration? Haven't you ever wondered why the people of Germany didn't try to stop what was happening in their country before the Third Reich? Many of those who could simply left Germany. I know several Americans who have or are planning to leave the US.
But not me. I agree with Plato:
"Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber."
I'm tired of "minority rule" and being governed by idiots I can't respect. If you agree, please take a more active role in politics and government, and remember, it starts at a local level. Please Vote. Stop fascism from taking over America!
Where are we now on this timeline? Sound familiar to you at all???
Now I wonder, if these cycles perpetuate themselves regularly, is it human nature or can we change it? Does it matter that I care? Should I just give up caring, if it is ineviatble that our society should destroy itself??
But what about other countries, societies, nations, who have sat by and watched the US as if we think we know it all, having been around for our 200 years, (we are like the annoying (and dangerous) 18 year old teenager who, having just graduated from high school, is certain he knows it ALL) while they have developed over countless more centuries and doubtless have more experience dealing with these problems (yet as a country we belittle other nations' attempts to govern themselves). What about a country like Denmark, which has virtually no homeless, jobless, or obese people, where most of the citizens enjoy all they need to be happy and constructive, and they have quietly been doing it for a thousand years? It makes me question the validity of democracy as a legitimate governing system (commie pinko that I am, right?). I mean, think about communism...as a system it's perfect, but it failed because of human error. I think democracy is the same, but the oppositte end of the spectrum...after all, it seems our country is having all these problems due to human error again. No human is perfect yet we hold our leaders up to perfection and they constantly let us down because it is impossible not to.
To get you started, please check out the Pew Forum to educate yourself on our next presidential election, and educate yourself on local elections so you can take part in them as well. The site has links to all the candidate's websites, explaining their platforms, beleifs, and vision for America.
It's sad to me that while I sometimes wish we had more reasonable choices than what our two-party system offers, I don't think more political parties are the answer (see Duverger's Law), but I'd like to see one party that made sense. What we have is one party that is fiscally and socially conservative, and one party that is fiscally and socially liberal. I'd like to see a party that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal. It is absolutely shocking to me that our country, which was founded by people seeking freedom from religious persecution, and has provided in its constitution that its citizens have freedom of religion, has now gone 180 degrees in that it now attempts to legislate a morality based on religious concepts. We're going from freedom to chains in 200 short years. You think I'm exaggerating? Just think about it, please.
And vote.
"To initiate a war of aggresion. . . is not only an international crime, it is the supreme international crime, differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." - Nuremberg Tribunal
"The US-led invasion of Iraq was an illegal act that contravened the UN charter." UN Chief Kofi Annan - -September 2004. Source BBC (read the book "The Dark Side" by Jane Mayer)
"When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law." Frederic Bastiat - (1801-1850) French economist, statesman, and author. Source: The Law, by Frederic Bastiat, 1850 (who doesn't feel this way these days? Don't get me started on prohibition!)
Today someone asked me to sign a petiton to end the war in Iraq. I said No. You might think I am crazy, but I, unlike the sound-bite obsessed politicians and the American sheep they govern, have actually thought about the war and its ramifications. Having lived in an international community has given me an outsider's view on the US and it's not a pretty picture.
I agree that the US should bring the war to a speedier resolution, but I do not agree that resolution should consist of us picking up and just leaving the country (which WE invaded/destabilized) to break up in civil war. Just removing our troops is not the solution. I beleive that if we were to do that, it would destabilize the nation to the extent that it would be ripe for takeover by some other dictator a la Saddam, and then we are exactly where we started 10 years ago, or worse. Shall we create another Uganda or Afghanistan or Ethiopia or Somalia or Lebanon? Remember, Osama et. al. were created by the United States who trained and armed them and then pulled out of their revolution (Afghanistan 1978-1989 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan) at last minute - that is one reason besides "Islamic jihad" they hate us so much - we abandoned them in their hour of need after we promised to help. The US created its own enemies - and evacuating Iraq prematurely will certainly do this again. You think that will "save American lives"? Ever hear the phrase "penny-wise but pound-foolish"? I am opposed to the way the "war" is being waged, but I do not think leaving is the solution. Otherwise, for what did all those who have already perished give their lives? We can validate their sacrifices if we stay the course. And I do not mean to use Bush terminology because I think he has mismanaged every single aspect of his presidency, including Iraq (God, if only he was just getting blowjobs in the Oval Office - Bush made me long for Clinton!).
Don't tell me the strongest military organization in the world cannot CRUSH any opposition, including Iraq. Our military & political leaders just don't want to use the forces needed to achieve the goal (see "war gulit", below). What is the difference between sending in the full extent of our capabilities and taking a percentage of losses versus losing the same, if not greater, amount of collateral damage during extended wishy-washy warfare and dragging it out to the same denoument? Is it a matter of not pissing off the other nations of the world? (Don't let US politicians fool you into thinking they care. Many countries the US has invated in order to "protect democracy" in the last 50 years have ended up worse for the wear). Yeah right, these are the same nations who were against the invasion to begin with (this was NOT a UN-sanctioned event - and for those that say the UN has no teeth and nobody listens to what they say, well how can we expect anyone to when the very country that CREATED the UN eviscerates its power by just doing what it wants to do?). In this instance, I am NOT proud to be an American, I'm embarrassed about our government's rampant hypocrisy...we parade around the world moralizing other countries and assuming we are better than them because we have "democracy" and we want to "make the world safe for democracy" - well take a look at "our own backyard"...who says democracy is the best/only way to go??? (who says this is actually a democracy anymore?) Who are we to judge how others live or how other countries condct their affairs? How would Americans feel if other countries imposed their moralities or political systems on us?? We say we want freedom but we just want everybody to be like us so we can control them. We aren't the greatest power because we are 'the land of the brave & home fo the free", we're just the biggest bully on the block and everyone's afraid we're going to take their lunch money. I say we stop pushing other nations around. And as far as how that applies to Iraq, if we just pull out now we will leave that poor country worse than it was to begin with. Let's finish what we started, with the forces that are necessary in a resonable time frame, and be done with it. And let's learn to mind our own damn business from now on.
Some intersting References:
(war guilt) http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/war-guilt.html
(Foreign Policy) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_the_United_States
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/usinterventionism.html
A good one: http://adbusters.org/media/flash/hope_and_memory/timeline.swf
FOR SURE READ THIS http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008318
For those who liken our current war with Iraq to the Viernam war, I invite you to take a closer look at the FACTS, which is something our news services oversimplify or "sound bite". The US created the situation in Vietnam and mismanaged it the same way by indecisiveness. I just spent six weeks in Viet Nam being educated about the history there. 20 years of warfare could easily have been avoided. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War
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Well I digress. I don't know who I am going to vote for this fall, but it damn sure won't be a Bush or a Bush lackey...a trained monkey would do a better job, because at least a trained monkey wouldn't be such a devious liar who abused his office, and the wealth and power of his familty to connive and cheat and cover it up. He's responsible for killing people that did nothing to us, for god's sake! When did Congress vote to declare war on Iraq? John Yoo and David Addington did amazing damage to our country and no one seems inclined to reverse it. Someof the key players in the Bush administration responsible for eroding the moral fortitudeof our government (and create things like waterboarding) maintain positions inthe Obama administration! What did Iraq do to us? Hey nobody likes Saddam but we can't just invade some country because we don't like them! Bush led our country in to doing the EXACT SAME SHIT we hate when other countries do it, and that my friends, is the biggest hypocrisy out there ans we refuse to acknowledge it. For example, when Iraq invaded Kuwait, the US went in and said, hey you cant just conquer another country like that (yeah the US had ulterior motives of course and I know it's not that simple). But when we invaded Iraq, the rest of the world said, hey you cant do that, and we said FUCK YOU, who's going to stop us? What are we trying to do, start a new world war? Nobody wanted to do that and nobody rallied to Saddam so we just got away with it. AND not only does Saddam not have WMDs, but BUSH has been funding the development of NEW WMDs for the US!! What a bunch of hypocrites!!! I am ashamed to be a part of what we as citizens are allowing to happen. Aren't you? If you aren't appalled then you aren't paying attention. It's easy to be overwhelmed when our so-called news agencies present trivialities as news to dostract us or just downright don't even mention the atrocities our own goverment is perpetrating. You have to really try and get the information for yourself.
And allow me to pre-empt anyone who thinks I am not a patriot or that I don't support our troops. Supporting our troops is different from disagreeing with the reasons they are deployed. Some of my closest friends are active or retired military - of course I support them. But I don't want their efforts and our tax dollars to be in vain! As far as patriotism goes, it is OUR CIVIC DUTY as Americans to educate ourselves on the issues and act as we see fit. That was the whole damn reason for the American Revolution! I consider myself to be VERY patriotic: I love my country and my fellow citizens and I won't stand idly by whilst they are abused.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
Say NO to American Hegemony and the "McDonaldization" of world culture!
And...check out the RAND Institute's "America's Role in Nation-Building: From Germany to Iraq"; PDF at 192.5.14.110/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1753/MR1753.pref.pdf
I feel like a crazy broken record but nothing will change until we all say, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"
Which I don't know if I do yet or not, but isn't it funny that my doctor found a mass in my right breast the day after I volunteered to be team captian for the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure? I'm having a diagnostic test this week to find out what's going on. But it got me thinking, how would I react if it was the big C? What would I do?
