George Carlin on the American Dream

The Late George Carlin, known for his acerbic and insightful humor stated, "It’s called the American Dream, because you have to be asleep to believe it." (See http://shoqvalue.com/george-carlin-on-the-american-dream-with-transcript#ixzz1qjLILQNJ  for a transcript of this now classic comedy bit.) Carlin expressed what many Americans now know is the reality despite propaganda by the Left and Right. The American Dream ceased to be a reality thirty years ago, yet the myth pervaded and drove consumer spending and debt until the system collapsed in 2008. Both sides are is denying that our country is no longer a democracy, but a plutocracy, run by corporations and the extremely wealthy (the One Percent.) The One Percent wants Americans to uneducated and follow their program which has made the majority of Americans economic slaves. Carlin recognized this many years before the Economic Crisis of 2008 and the Occupy Movement brought this blatant reality to the forefront of most Americans.

Is capitalism in crisis?

Until the 1970s, American real wages were increasing and standards of living was improving. Starting in the late 1970s to the present, the real American wages have reminded stagnant while the One Percent gained by a very large amount. Meanwhile,
Americans have never been more productive. Why did they not share in the greater profits that companies were making? The reason lies, as Wolff states because the corporations and financial institutions realized they could take this enormous profit and lend it back to the Middle Class at exorbitant interest rates.


Robert Wolff, Visiting Professor at the New School, reveals the details of why the Economic Crisis is a temporary blip, but it a structural problem of the plutocracy dominating the U.S. and global eonomy.

Repost from Alan Grayson; Relevance of words of Robert F. Kennedy to racial tensions in Florida over death of Trayvon Martin

The following is a re post from an e-mail that was sent to me from the Office of Alan Grayson (Dem-FL)  on 26 March 2012.   Grayson is the kind of voice we need in Washington. Help support the reelection of Grayson

Alan Grayson states:

I live in Orlando, so a number of people have asked me what I think about the death of Trayvon Martin. Trayvon, a teenager, was shot dead by a "neighborhood watch" member as Trayvon was walking home from a convenience store. Trayvon was armed with nothing but a bottle of iced tea and a bag of Skittles. For me, it calls to mind the sentiments in the speech that Robert F. Kennedy gave from his heart on April 4, 1968, in Indianapolis, after Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. This is what Robert F. Kennedy said:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some – some very sad news for all of you – Could you lower those signs, please? – I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Martin Luther King dedicated his life to love and to justice between fellow human beings. He died in the cause of that effort. In this difficult day, in this difficult time for the United States, it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are and what direction we want to move in. For those of you who are black – considering the evidence evidently is that there were white people who were responsible – you can be filled with bitterness, and with hatred, and a desire for revenge.

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization – black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort, as Martin Luther King did, to understand, and to comprehend, and replace that violence, that stain of bloodshed that has spread across our land, with an effort to understand, compassion, and love.

For those of you who are black and are tempted to be filled with hatred and mistrust of the injustice of such an act, against all white people, I would only say that I can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling. I had a member of my family killed, but he was killed by a white man.

But we have to make an effort in the United States. We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

My favorite poet was Aeschylus. And he once wrote:

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget
falls drop by drop upon the heart,
until, in our own despair,
against our will,
comes wisdom
through the awful grace of God.

What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.

So I ask you tonight to return home, to say a prayer for the family of Martin Luther King, but more importantly to say a prayer for our own country, which all of us love – a prayer for understanding and that compassion of which I spoke.

We can do well in this country. We will have difficult times. We've had difficult times in the past, but we – and we will have difficult times in the future. It is not the end of violence; it is not the end of lawlessness; and it's not the end of disorder.

But the vast majority of white people and the vast majority of black people in this country want to live together, want to improve the quality of our life, and want justice for all human beings that abide in our land.

And let's dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that, and say a prayer for our country and for our people.

Thank you very much.

Courage,

Alan Grayson

Do rap and hip hop popular performers serve the One Percent?

This morning I was switched on my radio while in my car to a radio station that plays top ten selections.  This time there was a current hip hop song playing.  I listened to the lyrics and they concerned the usual:  abusive references to women, drugs, and money.  Hip hop and rap have long since ceased to be a Post-Modern critical vehicle of the ills of  post-industrial urban life  and the plutocracy, but one that encourages uber-consumerism and the opiates of sex and drugs. Religion is not the opiate of the masses now. It has been substituted by the plutocracy with the basal desires of humans and has elevated them to the status of a religion.  The One Percent never allows anything that would lead to a disintegration of their control.  They own the majority of media and therefore have co-opted performers to serve their needs.  However, as with anything which is presumed to absolute, chaotic elements emerge to upset them.   As the Occupy Movement grows, there will be an opposing group of musicians, writers, actors and artists what will soon come to the forefront to bring the message to the general public, despite all that can be imposed by the One Percent.

Why Progressives must win

Today (24 March 2012), Common Dreams,  reposted an article by Robert Reich titled, “Big Government' Isn't the Problem, Big Money Is” that was originally  published in The Nation on 23 March 2012  (go to http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/23-2 . )  His words in this article are succinct and poignant. A clear example of this in this article is when he states,” Millionaires and billionaires aren’t donating to politicians out of generosity. They consider these expenditures to be investments, and they expect a good return on them.”  There is only one correct term for a minority acting in their own interest against a majority—tyranny.

Do we need a clearer statement as one expressed by Reich to understand why the U.S. has come to the point that we are now a declining nation slowly evolving toward a developing nation?  Is this being a ‘chicken little’ or alarmist? It is arrogant to think that American will continue to be the leader in the world economically and politically, without reigning in the control of the One Percent over our present economic and political system, 

The dreary future that the One Percent presents to the world is one of further concentration of wealth to a minority, dictation of all policy by multinational corporations and financial institutions; a rapidly declining Middle Class and real wages; environmental degradation; continued dependence on non-renewable resources; elimination of the social net, restriction of freedoms and constant war based on control of countries with key resources.. Is it their intention to buy out American politics so that it will serve their need?  Yes.  If the One Percent can bully the political system and manipulate the population, the U.S. will have a sham democracy and ‘pretend’ capitalism.  Some could say we already have this and they may be correct.
 

The state maintained by a form of command capitalism and pseudo-democracy will remain in this way for a long period..  A U.S. dominated by a plutocracy will ultimately spell the decline of their even the One Percent’s wealth and influence.  It does not take a degree in economics to arrive at these conclusions!  America will not be destroyed by terrorists, but by our own.  As there is continuing stagnant growth more and more people will slip from being Middle Class to Lower Class.  Since the bulk of the tax revenue comes from the Middle Class, two things will result: increasing of the national debt and cuts in social services.  The rich will continue to have tax cuts and corporations will pay fewer taxes. Still replying on the financial stability of the U.S., corporations will ship more jobs overseas, further taking more people into menial jobs and poverty.   At the same time, wages will go down such that foreign companies will see it as an advantage to operate in the US.  Some American oriented multinational firms may relocate their operations, but the wages will mainly be slightly above the poverty level with reduced benefits.  However, without much discretionary income, consumers will shop less and the consumer-oriented society that feeds all types of retail (automobiles, clothing, restaurants, hair salons, insurance companies, health care etc.) will start to decline. (Some of this is already evident with the closing or decline of former ‘giants’ in retail such as Montgomery Ward, Sears, and K-Mart.)   This will mean more unemployment and further burden to the social net, if it survives. The end result will not be a resignation of the people to their plight, but a massive social upheaval resulting in a totally Facist government to protect the One Percent’s wealth from the masses or a violent revolution which result in a great tragedy for everyone. These basis for these scenarios have already been set in place.

There is an alternative and this is one that is being advocated by Progressives.  There are a growing amount of Progressive candidates running for Congress and presently in Congress.  Obama is a Progressive, but has been hampered by Republican dominated House and Blue Dog Democrats (Conservative Democrats that side with Republicans.)  The Progressives would limit campaign funding contributions by corporations, provide incentives to build a Green economy, side for diplomacy instead of involvement in foreign wars, encourage participatory democracy, reduce unnecessary military spending, reform education, provide pragmatic and balanced means to reduce the deficit without causing damage to the social net, provide universal health care, lessen income inequality, provide for significant financial reform , bring jobs back to the U.S., rectify problems with illegal immigration, establish the right to marry for gays and lesbians,  and legalize drugs—thus eliminating a large amount of people now filling our prisons. Which do you think is the future that America should pursue?  There is no viable alternative coming from Conservatives.  Progressive Republicans and Democrats are the framers of the new future of the U.S.

We the People, need to make the One Percent aware of our influence by: signing petitions, calling/writing our Congress person, voting for Progressive candidates at all levels, and supporting the Occupy Movement financially or joining in their demonstrations.  We fought against tyranny to gain our independence from the autocrats of the day, the British; and will have to struggle against them again.  The fortunate thing is that is that we have three powerful tools: democracy, the U.S. Constitution and a relatively free press that will eventually ‘turn the tide’ to bring us back to the democracy and society that was envisioned by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution.

Neo-Conservatives’ are lurking in the background of the present conflict with Iran

The recent justification of the defense of Israel's right to exist is related to an apocalyptic view that Charismatic/fundamentalist hold. They believe that to support Israel means that when Armageddon occurs that America will be spared.  The original reason for the establishment of Israel was on humanitarian reasons to protect Jews from further persecution by creating a homeland where they could feel secure. Despite almost continual warfare Israel has prospered, albeit with substantial military and economic support from the U.S. It is also a democratic nation surrounded by totalitarian regimes, until about 1 year ago.  However, its belligerence in the persecution of Palestinians and the refusal to allow for a limited autonomy for the Palestinian State has placed the US in a precarious situation and has generally caused Israel to be considered a liability to Liberals in the U.S. instead of an asset.  Israel has also alienated the one democracy in the area, Turkey, which it once had friendly relations.

The other reason that the U.S. supports Israel is geopolitical. It provides for a country that is friendly to the US amidst those that are moderately to lukewarm about the US presence in the Middle East. Israel gives us a permanent proxy base in the region to defend American interests. In a Realist point of view of foreign policy, this trumps the previously mention religious view and the humanitarian view for reasons to defend Israel. It is the U.S.’s self-interest to defend Israel as a paid surrogate for protecting its economic and political concerns.

These stances are not new, but have been prevalent in American foreign policy and political thought for  several decades. What has brought these world views into the forefront is the possibility of Iran developing nuclear weapons and threats from Iran toward Israel.

Behind the curtains, in the present conflict with Iran is a Noe-Conservative agenda to secure another country-Iran-to be brought into the sphere of influence of the US and provide it with cheap petroleum.  Conveniently  (and perhaps orchestrated by this group of radical Republicans), as the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan are dissipating,  a new war is being ‘invented’ to draw the U.S. into a war with Iran to serve their world vision.  They are co-opting the Religious Right's support of Israel and the threat of nuclear proliferation as a ruse for their ultimate view of creating a globe dominated by the US for the sole purpose of supplying it with the necessary natural resources and global economic/political domination.

It is Iraq and Afghanistan repeated again within the Neo-Conservative's mindset. To them: Iraq was not compliant with supplying US with cheap petroleum. and Afghanistan was useful because of its connection with a proposed pipeline going from Central Asian to ports in Pakistan. Likewise, now is the time to bring Iran "under the umbrella' of  the domination of American capitalisit domination and within its political sphere of influence.. The Neo-Conservative subterfuge in the case of the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan was to ‘stop world terrorism’, precipitated by 9/11. In the case of Iran, they have found two very convenient means to create a ‘smoke-screen’ to hide their agenda. The Neo-Conservatives serve the One Percent and have no interest in the overall welfare of the US public, but only accumulating more wealth in the hands of a few. That the overall health of the U.S. economy and the lives of our young men and ladies are sacrifices for their cause is just a necessary evil for obtaining their distorted global vision.

Paralyzing polarities: the state of American politics

While there has always been a difference between the Republicans and Democrats, it seemed that
that before the present onslaught by Tea Party Republicans there was common ground (e.g., bipartisanship.)  U.S. Congress members used to brag about ‘reaching across the aisles’ and their close friends in another party.  This is unfortunately gone.

The Republicans has created a situation where there is no common ground.  This is very obvious in the U.S. Congress where the Republicans Party’s aim was not solving the economic, social and political problems in America, but opposing every effort by Obama to bring about change.  It is also represented by the radical  views of the Republican candidates for the nomination for President. However, in the same breath, one must point to the lackluster performance of the Democratic Party dominated by Blue Dog Democrats and mainline Democrats which are tied to the same corporate money and under the influence of the same special interests as the Republicans. The only bright spot is the Progressive Democrats and Republicans and the Occupy Movement. The Progressive Movement is gaining strength, but is being fought by the monies being poured into the campaigns of Republican Party candidates.  The outcome is still developing and solidifying.  This spring could be a very interesting one.