Disabuse yourself of your notions of what this country is about. Get that frame out of your head.

Here's what I posted in a response to a thread here, and I will expand on it:

There are no free markets. Never have been. The difference now is that the utter fuckups and jerkoffs on Wall Street have ripped away the thin veneer that has shielded what they were really about, their real relationship with government, from the one-fodder-units.

What we have, and what we have had since Reagan, and from when the repukes accelerated the process in the 90's, is classic, pure, unadulterated Mussolini-Style Facism.

The government and the tax dollars we pay in exist to serve corporations. Not the people, not the common good, not civil society, but to make the wealthy few wealthier and indemnify their wealth. They exist to enable their every profligate scheme, many ripped from the annals of organized crime history.

And we, the one-fodder-units, get The War on Drugs and The War on Terror, DHS, ICE, The FBI, The IRS, Government Intrusion into our every financial transaction, taxes and fees and Government Spying for our trouble, to keep us in place and feeding this monster.

Oh yeah: and cable TV. Lots of channels of cable TV. With lots of 24-hour fundamentalist programming and shopping channels.

specimenfred1984 added: "I'll add that it's not just TV, it's a highly refined network of propaganda that covers the entire "full spectrum dominance" of all media. The propaganda has been taken to new heights only dreamed of by former fascist regimes."

Terry In Austin added: "Free" is the mother of all marketing catch-words

It sounds good, it's hard to knock, and it's utterly meaningless until you specify "free from what?"

"The Free Market" (tm) is just as much a pile of branding BS as "The Free World" (tm). The latter includes nations that are cheerfully dictatorial, while the former includes near-monopolies like Microsoft."


The fact is, a lot of people here on DU, many of whom fancy themselves as the types of thinkers who possess one of those Tibetan Crystal Knives that "cut through illusion" may well be kidding themselves. In the interest of avoiding a complete cognitive breakdown, they cling to comforting illusions about America and what it is and what it means, the frames of thought that have been fed to them in other times, when things were, at least to a small extent, different.

Well, things have changed. This is not the United States of America you were promised in school, by your parents and in Boy and Girl Scouts. That America is gone. Finished. Tits up. A Norwegian Blue Parrot of a country. Face the facts and you will start on the path of being an aware and effective citizen, and perhaps, become a real agent of change.

We can no longer afford the luxury of our illusions that we live in safe and comfortable times of economic opportunity, personal liberty, protection of constitutional rights, or a government that is by and for The People. If that ever truly existed, those times are gone. The events of the last week have proven that in the starkest terms. The United States of America now exists to serve only the most privileged and wealthy. The rest of us are well and truly screwed, blued and tattoo'ed, fucked, flustered and far from home.

Now, Facism is a strong word, and one with much baggage, all honestly earned. That said, we must be exacting in our use of words in times like these, and sadly, when one looks at Mussolini-Style Facism and then at the country we live in today, it is the only reasonable word we can use to describe the system we now live under, when that system is viewed honestly and in its totality, without the filter of those comforting illusions. The starkest example is that our tax dollars, pried out of our hands every year, sometimes in the cruelest manners that can be contrived, are evidently collected to indemnify the wealth of the few who can afford to buy into the American Facist System and Connected Person Funfest. Reasonable health care? Nope. Crumbling infrastructure? Fuhgetabouddit. Meaningful and gainful employment? Are you nuts? There are more. Too many more to list.

There is an elephant in the American room that all avert their gaze from and work very hard to not discuss. If one has the temerity to say "Look! An elephant! By the drink cart!", he or she is derided, shunned, cast out from polite society and given a crown of tin-foil.

The elephant, on the other hand, orders another Sidecar from the roving waiter at the cocktail party and snickers. The elephant is no less there for all the denial.

When you ignore that elephant in the room, you are doing the bidding of those who are profiting most from this perversion of America. You are surrendering to pirates. You are trading Jesus Phones, SSRI's, flat screen TV's and a new car for the very things that make America America. You have bought into their bargain, on their terms, then you come here and squeal about it.

For shame.

Take it from a drunk in recovery: This denial behavior is EXACTLY how guys like me got our asses in The Drinkin' Sling. Ain't a dime's worth of difference.

We have to stop taking to the fainting bench whenever someone uses the "F" word, and I don't mean "fuck". America has a problem that is destroying its way of life. It's citizenry will remain powerless to deal with it until said citizenry rips the scales from its eyes and looks clearly and honestly at what is destroying The United States:

We are a Facist Nation now, as defined. Facism has destroyed our economy and now Facism is raping our treasury, for all the world to see. Shamelessly. Openly. Our government serves no one but the few, the connected, the wealthy. We, the citizens, have been cast adrift by the government, to fend for ourselves, but not too much or we will end up in prison. Meanwhile, the economy rapers get a golden parachute.

There is no other honest way to describe what has occurred.

There's what should be giving you impetus this election season. Not Sarah Palin and her religious practices. Not porcine makeup tips and pointers. Not Hillary Clinton's loss in the primaries. Not how Barack the boy was raised or what his pastor said from the pulpit. Not Joe Lieberman's sad silliness. Not whether Obama may have, at one time in his career, supported some laws that gun owners don't like. These and more are all distractions, the cheap tricks of the parlor mesmerist.

The only real issue in this election is that The American System is now a Facist, Elitist, Neo-Royalist system. Everything else recedes into insignificance. Would that we could have a candidate speak to this sad and sorry fact.

But I suppose that is asking too much.

And it NEVER has lived up to it's promise to we the people.
Because we let bullies have their way,we by-stand as abuses go on,We have social stockholm syndrome..we close our eyes and look the other way more often than not and will not risk anything ,especially incurring the wrath of the assholes oppressing us because we only see OUR OWN family and our own associates as mattering.We have been prone to fascism for a long long time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At the height of antirent strife in eastern New York in the 1840s, tenants disguised as Indians violently resisted rent collection. Their costumes evoked the Boston Tea Party, republican patriotism, and defiance of aristocracy. These Indians along with many of their contemporaries and subsequent historians saw their rebellion against landlords and leases as a repudiation of the last stronghold of aristocratic entitlement in the northern states.

James Fenimore Cooper's 1846 novel, The Redskins, is about antirenters disguised as Indians, republicanism, and aristocratic ideas in America. The Dictionary of American Regional English took a sentence from the novel for its first example of the Americanism aristocratic. The sentence begins by establishing that a landlord's home called "Ravensnest" was thought "aristocratic" meaning "Stylish, culturally superior" a standard usage then and now. The sentence continues, however, by calling attention to the "expansive signification" of the "word 'aristocratic'" with "its meaning depending on the particular habits and opinions of the person who happens to use it."1 The full sentence actually muddies the meaning and also appears to contain a complaint. If the "meaning" depends on the user, there is license for abuse.

http://external.oneonta.edu/cooper/articles/ala/1996ala-axelrad.html
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/american-icons-or-how-trade-characters-rule-the-world
http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/swabeck/1946/05/usimp.htm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So...
Every time an aristrocratic bully abuses and goes without a painful(to the bully) consequences they think they can take a little more.Each time an asshole,an abuser,a criminal a rapist, a corporate thug or power abusing politician gets away with it it blurs the boundaries of what freedom MEANS and every priciples we call good erodes along with boundaries on what conduct from those with power is tolerable.
Freedom has two definitions depending on your character or type of personality.

Freedom means to non -psycchopaths means freedom FROM abuse and abusers.To expect to be treated with fairness,compassion and decency if the person expecting fairness,compassion and decency is fair,compassionate and decent themself.A social conduct contract basically.


To a psychopath/authoritarian/narcissist it means freedom TO manipulate and abuse everyone they can get away with doing it to.
It meas freedom FROM the social conduct contract.

What is a social conduct contract?
If you want to be trusted, if you want to interact with others in said society freely ,behave in a way that is just,promotes peace yet is intolerant twords people who do not behave in a good way To to be supported by the social conduct contract you have to behave with fairness, honesty,integrity and justice and not abuse people,abuse systems or abuse power,even when no one is looking.

None of this might makes right crap,can be tolerated in a social conduct contract, nor the so called superior manipulators or bullies are the most worthy of the best and most of what we collectively we create .Entitlement and elitism when it comes to how well you are treated when you violate the social conduct contract is BULLSHIT.

"freedom FROM the social contract".... you reveal the empowering mindset behind the predatory bastards in our society.

They fly on wings of "freedom". Just not freedom as any of us understand it!

Your small, but all important distinction is really going to stay with me. I now see more clearly than I did a few minutes ago. :patriot:

they invaded Ohio. The USA was built on genocide and theft.

It has taken many years for my own idealism about what I thought this country was about, to fall away and let me see what is really the case here.

K&R

:kick:

for this country.Because I grew up knowing the truth.Born radical I guess..And to me this country is just where I live. To me it's myths are just myths to manipulate those who like pretty stories and like to play make believe .Just listening to my father drunk asshole he was, tell me about the trail of tears,well that just made the lies stand in stark relief separated from the awful reality of the fascist tactics the imperialists that founded this country's lies did and still do.Atrocity,genocide, and abuse done under fig leaf is still wrong and it is sick.No matter how many call it normal, or accept it as the way things are.
Things do not have to be this way.

...knew about the Indian wars, and the imperialism, the unjust war in Vietnam and all the other crap. But then there was the Civil Rights movement, and the supposed "democracy" that we lived under, giving the illusion that we the little people actually had something to do with how things were run.

It just took me longer to get all the way there -- here -- and to realize that no, we the little people are just that, having really nothing to do with how the ruling elites rule, and we are and ever were expendable in their scheme of things.

some flotsam so we cannot fend for ourselves.
:kick: & R

Highly recommended.

I have just read this again... and need to add. This is brilliant. VERY well done.

Will "The Boston Destroyer" Pitt and my partner in WNT, Tace, tell me I should write more.

I am one of those people who cannot write without a fire in the belly or something stirring my heart. Thus my terrible output.

You have much talent.

I have dared to utter the cry of fascism on other political sites which was countered and branded as communist rhetoric. One of the main problems I see in this country, are the people upholding and defending this regime who are by no means in that priviledged 1%. This 'supreme' mentality is what smacks of 'Nazism.' What will happen to the poor, the disenfranchised? The answer will be provided in the construction of more prisons and shelters. Not wanting to sound like the voice of doom, but I fear the eventual extermination of anyone not in the exclusive 1%. I decided long ago to leave this country as I've watched the gradual progression of totalitarianism.

I clicked on this in DU just because I speak some German, so I know what Scheisskopf means. Your post was well-worth my curiosity. My parents came over to Canada from Germany in the late 1950s, and would get a big kick out of you.

to the power that be - the rich; the clergy; the politicians both democratic and republican - that the working class continue to believe in them.

and from reading DU, they have nothing to worry about.

Nietzche's "collective myths" live on in comfort, here at DU.

What is often not pointed out is that eventually, Nietzche went mad in the streets, at the sight of a horse being beaten by its owner, and never spoke or wrote a word again.

There is a lesson there, somewhere.

,...to overcome those scales upon peoples' eyes. I wonder what catalyst is required to break from the illusion. I wonder all the time.

Yup! Ours may be a more "user-friendly" fascism, but it is still fascism and it flat out sucks!

I could see the groundwork being laid in the Reagan-Poppy Bush administrations, especially in their alliances with the right-wing forces in Latin America and Asia. Clinton didn't do enough to reverse their evil ways--he was too eager to be liked by the Beltway establishment and didn't have Reagan's gift for persuading the public to follow him over a cliff, and the Republicans ran away with that trait. Gore campaigned timidly, and now we've had eight years of the Bush boy, the figurehead and mouthpiece for an unholy coalition of fascists and Dominionists.

They're not Nazis. That's an important thing to note. People whose knowledge of European history comes from the History Channel recognize the parallels to the rise of Hitler and yell, "Nazi!" but that's a poor tactic from a PR standpoint. All most people know about Hitler is that he tried to conquer the world and exterminate the Jews, and in the mind of the public, if Bush isn't doing that, it's not Nazism yet.

Actually, Nazism was a variety of fascism, a style of government that has existed in many countries--in its own unique form in each country--over the years.

In all its forms, fascism is militaristic, pro-big business and anti-workers' rights, for glorification of athletics and against intellectuals and artists, against all forms of religion that don't get with the national program, and obsessed with national security and being tough on crime.

I did not use the "N" word. I wanted a clear distinction between the German variant and Mussolini's more...ahem..."pure" version.

As if that shit could ever be pure.

of "fascism," to which I would add the elements of "nationalism" and the one-party state.

Both of the afore-mentined are used to paper over the class struggle between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The US still maintains a nominal 2-party system, i.e., not yet a 1-party state. But come on, does anyone believe the Dems still represent workers??? Please, give me a friggin' break. (Look how fast Pelosi and Reid ran into the arms of the parasites this week if you don't believe me.)

Or is that a stupid question?

But when you consider the alternatives, voting is all we have, in truth. The alternatives offer nothing but visceral thrills and generations of ruin.

Be that as it may, I have long predicted that whoever wins this election has three years, tops, to right this listing ship of state. Should that person fail to show substantive improvement, the lid will come off this sucker in the most horrible manners imaginable.

Mark those words closely. The collective patience and faith in government has limits.

both party structures

we have heard and seen negative accusation after negative accusation of how bad of a choice Obama would be for president. Yet through all of that "vetting" Obama has managed to stand the test of time, while at the same time inspiring millions in America and hundreds of millions around the world to believe in a better way of governing, a way of governing that is not tied to special interest groups or corporations. We are listening to Barack Obama because we see in him what we demand and expect leaders of our nation to be. The evidence of his ability to bring people together is crystal clear. We've seen far long enough the kinds of so called leaders in Washington... And are wide awake now to the consequences of voting them into office.... But our vote is our power, collectively as citizens our greatest civil power, yet that power is only truly unleashed when care for humankind is put before our own interests. With the national budjet we generate in taxes, we can do orders of magnitude more for the betterment of our country's citizens. While we have come a long way, we must do better.

At Federal and State levels of government, we must take seriously our responsibility as thoughful decision makers with regards to who we elect.... Because if we don't, how can we complain about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin?

Most people still don't believe their vote makes a bit of difference... This is because of the "MATRIX" effect syndrome. We've been programmed to be distracted.

But that vail has been rapidly coming down. I predict that by Nov 4th 2008(Our Second Independance Day), this country will experience a staggering awakening.... The blinders will be removed and millions more will be able to see what the Original Post is truly talking about.

Read Thom Hartmann. He likes to detail how pressure from the progressive movement of his time - and the pressure of growing national disaster - turned FDR from a fairly innocuous and undistinguished civil servant type into the FDR we know and love.

Should Obama win - the work has just begun.

It's up over yonder. In those big houses up on the hills. Who wants to grab their torch and pitchfork and follow me?

The other reason we have pitchforks. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Marseillaise

I remember some of my kinfolk saying tha America was acting like "Nazi's, when I was a youth but now I guess its right out in the open for all to see.

Smedley Butler thought that the government worked for the corporations quite a while back. Business attempted an outright coup against FDR (and the government did nothing, btw).

We have been an imperialist nation since roughly the turn of the century, longer if you count our "Westward expansion".

While I generally agree with your post, I think you might want to consider a longer view of the matter.

Can anyone tell us the last time business and government were NOT joined at the hip?

Can anyone tell us when the Democrats were the ANTI-business party?

During my childhood in the 40's 50's even 60's.................When small towns were pretty much self sustaining units. All you needed right there, provided by your neighbor's small businesses. My Grandfather was a self made man ( for real..from poverty with an alcholic Father to the 3rd largest selling mail order business (Cheap Wallpaper!)in the country during the depression. I have a picture of my Grandparents vacationing at Lake Louise in Western Canada ( 40's) ( a long way to go from south Jersey) Our neighbors with 4 kids lived ina 1/2 double house, ate popcorn for Sunday Dinner, Dad was a blue collar worker. We all moved to a woodsy suburb across from the city park lake.....we bought a Dutch Colonial Home They built their own home, convenient ( 50's) one story rancher, nestled into it's landscape. ( Homes equal in comfort, good looks, sturdy build.) After the kids were out of the nest they took lovely vbacatons.....driving to ALaska, cruises, he built a pleasure boat as a hobby. All 7 of us kids went to college, although I am the one who dropped out and married young; & had a successful adulthood.
My Father in Law was a painter for Dupont. He usually had a house he was flipping........( Not anywhere near the Learning Channel Show, bungaloes, He probably only made $5-10,000, on the sale but that went A LOT FARTHER THEN!.) He retired in a lovely condo overlooking the inland waterway in Miami, on his Dupont pension, his SS and what ever he had saved in CD's)
After my divorce I ran a successful small freelance art business for 20 years...................UNTIL: REAGAN! THATS WHEN IT CHANGED 1/20/81! THOSE BASTARDS SWIFTBOATED CARTER,,,,,BAMBOOZLED THE PUBLIC PROPAGANDIZED AND BOUGHT UP THE MEDIA, PUBLISHING, INFILTRATED EDUCATION,DEREGULATED AND MADE SHOPPING AN OLYMPIC EVENT!
I WAS FINISHED BY 1987 AFTER THE STOCK MARKET CRASH IN OCT. Do you remember how they said the economists were so much more sophisticated than 1929 and they had saved it? That was only for those 50 & under. My peer group was pretty much finished unless they were a celeb. or very comfortable. In the 90's "everyman" was in the stock market.............and I watched the corporations gain more power and control over EVERYTHING! I haven't been able t get off my back since!

Once again, pretty much right on the money.

"Free market," "freedom," "democracy," "private property," these are all key propaganda terms of the capitalist robber barons.

With the events of the last few weeks, the masks have really come off and the truth about our "economic system" is standing there in all it's naked, savage glory. The rape and looting of America are upon us. Unfortunately, Obama appears to be on board with the bailout. McCain, as usual, is unintelligible and babbling. We are in DEEP shit.

Unfortunately, most Americans don't have a clue about what Wall Street really is. Basically, it's a casino where the REAL game in town is all the Ponzi and pyramid schemes being run in the back rooms. It's all about the transfer of wealth and power to the bosses at the top. The bailout is NOT about protecting OUR money and financial security; that is a monstrous lie.

It's a global criminal syndicate and cabal, a mob of gansters like MS-13, or the Bloods and Crips. The only difference is they wear suits and get the military and police to do their killing and dirty work in the name of "patriotism." Fear, blackmail, extortion, and terror are their basic tools, wielded by the enforcement and judicial arms of the syndicate.

My advice: buy rice, gold (if you can), beans, and bullets! (A good NBC kit is also a good idea)

Convert as much of your money as you can into storage tangibles necessary for survival, because there are some brutal times coming...

The initials make me think it's something connected to the NBC network, but it's clear that's not what you mean. Perhaps because I don't own guns I don't know, but please enlighten me.

Does the kit contain nuclear biological and chemical items? Means of detecting those things? A cure for all of the above? And where does one get such a kit? Are they sold at WalMart?

This line, for obvious reasons (see signature if you need to see said "obvious reason"):

"This is not the United States of America you were promised in school, by your parents and in Boy and Girl Scouts."

The BSA didn't promise me anything in regards to America.

Obviously, I'm proud of the fact that I busted my ass and got to the Eagle rank. It was one hell of a personal achievement, but in regards to "patriotism", beyond having to earn the Citizenship series of merit badges, which was nothing but rudimentary civics at best, no one in my entire scouting career said America was some great bastion of democracy. In fact, the BSA is a breeding ground for future "Young Republicans" and neo-cons (no offense to current Scouts or Scouters who may be reading, but you know it's true). Why do I say this?

After the First Class rank, there was always a requirement for holding "leadership positions". If you played Rovian style politics - and many did, long before it was labeled "Rovian" - you'd get ahead faster. You were rewarded for greasing the wheels and doing whatever it took to win troop elections. If you were the friend of someone who won a troop election, you might get appointed to one of the appointed offices (eg. Librarian, Quartermaster).

If you had a parent who was also a leader or a committee member, you could do no wrong. You could get rubber stamped service projects and earn merit badges doing a fraction of the work. Neither of my parents would be involved short of the occasional assistance with transportation to campsites and I was only one of two scouts in my Troop during that time frame who earned Eagle without having a parent either as an Assistant Scoutmaster or Troop Committee Member.

Yet, everyone called this "ambition". I got criticized for my "lack of ambition" because I never kissed ass to win Troop elections and if I lost, I would just try again next cycle. Eventually I won and eventually I had my time done to move up. I got criticized for my "lack of ambition" because I got Eagle Scout when I was 17-1/2 when "I could have gotten it much earlier" (if only I had gamed the system like everyone else and kissed a lot of ass). And don't even get me started on the Order of the Arrow, the "brotherhood" where you have to kiss ass on a grand, council wide, scale and donate insane amounts of time and money while doing so just to hope to get nominated to be a "Vigil" member.

I'm still a member of the BSA, but I like to think I'm a thorn in their side.
My stepson didn't like the program so he dropped out. Since I have no children in the program, I routinely get treated like a second class individual amongst the Scouters. None of the scouts get a free pass on any merit badge I teach (which, by the way, includes all three of the Citizenship merit badges). I've spoken out repeatedly at Troop committee meetings because of scouts playing dirty politics or scouts getting preferential treatment because their Dad happens to be a Scoutmaster or Committee Member. On the Council and National levels, I have repeatedly criticized the myopic stance on religion and sexuality in the organization.

Frankly, I'm surprised they haven't found a reason to kick me out.

I've ranted, and for that I apologize, but I said all that to say this:
Yes, I believe the "American Dream" is dead and we're in the middle of a crisis of Fascism, but we don't have to accept that this will be the case forever. We merely have to accept that if we want to see things the way they were ever again we need to become involved instead of throwing up our hands and complaining. On some level, I suppose this is in agreement with your post, just put less negatively.

(Edited for grammar.)

but was zealous in the lower ranks. I had too much else, mainly church stuff, music lessons etc. competing for the time. A lot of the other young Iowa scouts were there mainly for companionship and our scout master was a real nice guy. No politics I can recall though the scoutmaster's daughter later became one of the wealthier women in Orange County CA!!

my "Eagle" story doesn't come off as elitist.

In fact, the only reason I even made a signature with "Eagle Scouts for Obama" is because everyone in my current Troop, and everyone I've spoken to at the Council level, are solidly for McCain/Palin. Local Council even has a McCain yard sign in front of the Scout Shop. Sadly, it appears that with the verdict that they are a private organization who could discriminate against atheists and homosexuals the national council has thrown itself solidly in the Fundie camp.

My personal thoughts on that is that it does a disservice. We have multiple parties in the country for a reason. We have many points of view. The council shouldn't be promoting one candidate over another, but, naturally, they will.

I'm just happy my official Eagle certificate is signed by William Jefferson Clinton.

Dwight David Eisenhower!! The place in town where the scouts used to meet is still there but it was nip and tuck awhile there when a fourth of the town burned down in 1961.

But why shouldn't the Scouts be as sick as the rest of society?

That the BSA didn't instill some idealistic view of the U.S. for me.
If anything, it tried, but failed, at least in my case, to be a right wing propaganda front.

Screw the little guy, do whatever you have to do to win.
Smear anyone who disagrees with you or get someone else to smear them by proxy.
Reward loyalty by giving friends positions of power, even if they're clueless about the job.
Promise dissenters whatever they want to hear to get their vote but don't make good on the promises.
Have favorable people in positions of power above you so you can get ahead with less effort.

These are the things the BSA tried to teach me, and I still see these 'lessons' being applied to this day.
It happens every 6 months, at Troop elections time and I'm in a different troop now than the one I was in as a youth.

:thumbsup:

Let's talk about SARAH PALIN

Thank you so much for posting it because it gives me hope that there are still people out there who are willing to speak the truth and speak it with conviction.

The truth you speak is what is being lost here on DU and in the larger world because of fear and oppression.

So yes, well done. VERY well done...Kudos to you! :applause:

Brilliant. Just.Fucking.Brilliant. :yourock:

The elusion / paradigm is much more "appealing" to the brainwashed political party citizen, than is the terrifying and hidden reality of what they allow. Refusing to see the folly as they acknowledging the fact that they no longer choose between good and evil, but rather, what they hope to be is the lesser evil. Mostly because these are the only choices given in our pretend elections within our pretend democracy, by those who own the M$M. But still, show me someone who says that the good guys are not weeded out one way or another, and I will show you a fool! Sadly enough, people grow accustom to this practice because they put on their blinders and forget, so as they can defend the indefensible as some great sport, only to become a nation of fools, and a nation that eventually ends up despising those who have the good and common sense to see through the lies and question the motives of our http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleptocracy">Kleptocratic authority. With that - I will finish by just saying, that every submissive citizen and conformist, get themselves a mirror, so as when they can no longer provide food, shelter and protection for themselves and their family, they can look into the mirror and see the guilty…

K&R

I was "separated" from the local Democratic Party for simply reposting economic data that challenged the comfortable memes, 4 years ago, on the party website, which I provided and ran as a volunteer. Economic data from respected and mainstream sources. Economic data that was all true and all quite prophetic.

The final straw was posting a Howard Dean picture with a link to a DNC fundraising page. One of the party leaders, a state committeeman with an extensive history of repuke contributions, made getting me out his personal and ceaseless obsession.

This local party site was getting 100,000 hits a year, many from other countries. It was called, by the most important liberal blog in the state and by the state party's chief IT guy "The best local party website they had seen in the state, and one of the best in the nation". Not too shabby, that.

that weaken the ”them verses us” conformity paradigm. And I glean from your comments that you are true to yourself and others, as well as creative. Well now…, that’s not exactly the stuff conformist followers are made of... To be a good follower you should know that in-group leaders are the ones whom in-group followers expect to hear the facts from, and followers are suppose to parrot what the leaders tell them, right or wrong… Be part of, support and spread the elusion. And if in-group followers have a habit of finding and pointing out that the leaders facts conflict with reality, such follower will find themselves amongst the out group, ignored and ridiculed as a traitor.

It’s sad to say that practically all republicans and most democrats follow the rules of this paradigm, although the exception seems to be more so among democratic in-groups, which are, instinctively, more amenable too objective facts, but that is, when and if such facts happen to show up, and are allowed to be seen and heard. This means the sheep dogs have to work their asses off to keep facts hidden from the democratic in-groups, as if the truth would rock the boat and set them free, which means the democratic paradigm is potentially fragile. But on the other hand, I don’t think sheep dogs have to work as hard when it comes to republican in-groups, because republicans are more authoritarian, their blinders are more individually inherent as well as collectively, which makes it easy for them to think that it’s wrong to question their leaders, on top of that they have a profound difficulty with things like syllogisms and hypocrisy, etc…

And hell I'll let them have my mirror if only they'd admit the truth,that they are guilty in complicity. They helped psychopaths redefine OUR social contract and helped them abuse power and abuse us all.Submission,obedience,'ambition', acquiescence,ass kissing,conformity these are not skills to promote freedom for the people or the general welfare for people like me,you or any person who is NOT a fascist uber-wealthy parasite.Those actions are of fear they are the actions of a complicit coward.

There have been some times in the recent past when I have been excluded from polite company because I used the term fascist to describe the current government. Those people, as recently as six months ago, insisted that the economy is "going well."

T_S, you have laid it out beautifully.

--IMM

I see no revolutions or brave patriots coming to save us anytime soon. I plan on sending my boys to college out of this country. I sure hope that will give them a chance at a life.

K&R!

and call it the Freedom Isn't Free Market.
The average person is free to pay taxes for socializing the risk, and the insiders are free to take the privatized gains. Some of these fuckers need electric cattle prods shoved up their asses.

your rant, a Semon on the Mount for our times.

anymore and haven't been for a long time....they are about Fascism v Open Government.

There are MANY Denial Dems, even here on DU, who just cannot wrap their brains around the facts of the last 5 decades that clearly points to the fascist agenda, especially when it is SO APPARENT in the Dec 1992 BCCI report.

Your post today is one of the more important posts I have ever read here at DU.

I hope the deniers wake the hell up.

That if someone thinks enough of this screed that they would like to redistribute it, in its entirety, go ahead. I ain't gonna be making any money off of it. Especially not in this fukaka economy. ;-)

You have a talent. I was enthralled to see written what I feel! How DO you keep your sanity? I hide in my artwork and envision a more promising society.

Sanity was maintained by Conehead-style amounts of alcohol and drugs. Just like everyone else back then. Then, I got incrementally smarter and a lot poorer, so that knocked that solution on the head.

These days...well, I don't know, for the life of me. I just have no idea.

:applause:

Because, it will involve change...

And, people fear change. Even GOOD change...

Every single person here has experienced it in their personal lives. A bad relationship or a bad habit clung onto for dear life because you have no idea what your life would be without whatever is making you miserable. At least its familiar, at least its known. And, until the day comes when one can be honest about what is really going on - nothing changes. That is why in crisis, there is change.

Human beings are just animals who haven't evolved to the point of being able to comprehend this type of abstract and removed type of crisis, at least not on a collective scale. It distills down to individual survival, and we are ruled as a race by fear. I really don't know why we even ponder how it can be - it simply is what we are. Neither good nor bad. Just a bunch of terrified organisms trying to make it through this weird game that has become removed from reality.

I used to be angry at the human race, and now, I just feel sorry for us. We are a very unevolved life form, and we aren't prepared to deal with the realities of this spun out of control, globalized world. I think that given time, the human race could evolve past this point, and move onto a grander level, but we can't reach that level because our technology has outpaced us.

Individually, there is a lot of good and a lot of beauty. However, it became too big, too fast...

in that context, this bailout sort of seems like giving an alcoholic, with a gambling problem, who has finally just about hit bottom, a loan on his next paycheck, instead of checking him into rehab.

Like, "if I can just keep things from reaching the total disaster point for a little bit longer, I'm sure I can make it all right with this extra boost...now as soon as I get a little drink in me, I'm off to bet on the ponies...."

Ya know I am sad and pissed at the human race.sometimes for the same reasons.
As for Psychopath,Authoritarian and toxic narcissistic "humans" I hate them all.

I agree most people are a species ruled by fear,unending fear,fear that kills. Since the planet being basically murdered by the bullies among us that we fear,I feel that the human race collectively may very well be suicidal.As well as those with depression addictions and other issues rates are on the rise dramatically.I don't think there is absolutely no correlation here.

We are conscious of what ifs, a worrying animal, a pattern seeking creature, capable of great self deception.But why on Earth if we are not in a collective suicide attempt do we fail to CEASE doing the things that are killing us?.Is it JUST fear? I know fear kills us and it keeps us in the same situation at the same time.In Fear,learned helplessness and engineered dependency. As the circle closes in on itself,this will be the time, we either stop being afraid and change or we will die.

What happened to our beloved country is just heartbreaking.

I have worn a tinfoil hat for years now. It's getting to the point where I could see myself becoming one of those "crazy" people who walk the streets with posters strapped on, warning people that they have to pay attention because we're losing our country.

Tandalayo_Scheisskopf, you write beautifully. Please try to get your essay published.

This is it (Sorry if I used the word "Nazis" too often: I was clearly off the mark.)
You spotted a clear bright light on the past-leading-to-current state of the disunion!

> "There are no free markets. Never have been. The difference now is that the utter fuckups and jerkoffs on Wall Street have ripped away the thin veneer that has shielded what they were really about, their real relationship with government, from the one-fodder-units.

What we have, and what we have had since Reagan, and from when the repukes accelerated the process in the 90's, is classic, pure, unadulterated Mussolini-Style Facism.

The government and the tax dollars we pay in exist to serve corporations. Not the people, not the common good, not civil society, but to make the wealthy few wealthier and indemnify their wealth. They exist to enable their every profligate scheme, many ripped from the annals of organized crime history.

And we, the one-fodder-units, get The War on Drugs and The War on Terror, DHS, ICE, The FBI, The IRS, Government Intrusion into our every financial transaction, taxes and fees and Government Spying for our trouble, to keep us in place and feeding this monster."

DING!!!!

I can't clic the Post message button before asking THE questions:

"Now that we know it, is it possible to CHANGE this awful state, and if it is, HOW? (Where to start?)"

when clearly that free market approach has completely and utterly failed. I hope he is smart enough to change his tune. FDR, after all, wasn't exactly a populist either.

perfect summary as well.

Redstone

:thumbsup:

I agree with you 100%

Thank you for your brutal eloquence.

We have a cancer that is spreading at a rapid rate that is threatening to destroy our lives.

I can agree with you that it sure looks like fascism and needs to be eradicated with no sympathy for the creeping crud that is spreading it.

But from what you are saying is that 100% of America is filled with this cancer and we are already dead.

THAT is a slap in the face at every DUer and DEM that has been fighting this fight and making incremental strides in taking our country back.

When a new person comes into AA do they welcome that person and share what they have to offer or do they yell at that person and say, "YOU FUCKING ALCOHOLIC, EVERY PIECE OF YOUR LIFE IS HOSED, SO JUST ADMIT IT AND GIT WITH THE PROGRAM, DUMBASS."

Maybe you're not an AA alcoholic in recovery, but let me tell you, I've never seen the corollary to your post at any meeting I've ever been to in the 12 step programs.

You make some really good points about a lot that is happening and how systemic it is and how we have to ratchet up our game, but it's JUST AS MUCH DENIAL to think AMERICA IS NOT AND POSSIBLY HAS NEVER BEEN A COUNTRY BASED ON DEMOCRACY because we're hitting bottom.

Lighten the fuck up and get some hope.

You don't have to beat this country up to make it better.

One thing I have seen is a hard and fast rule that AA's don't come to the meeting drunk. OK still a guideline and some exceptions might be made, but if someone can never sober up long enough to get to a meeting dry, then there really isn't any point.

THIS administration is part of a group that 30 years ago decided to trash this country and they have made great strides on their agenda, but what we have to do is remove them and prosecute them for crimes against our nation and war crimes against the world.

THEY have to GO so the rest of us can do what needs to be done to restore our country even if we have to rebuild it from the ashes. BUT as long as AMERICANs believe in DEMOCRACY it ain't DEAD yet and NEVER WILL BE.

YEAH, there is an elephant in the middle of the living room, give it whatever name you want and hand me the shovel so we can scoop him and his piles of shit out. Every thing done to move this monster out is part of the solution because there is a greater power than just you or me even if it's just all of us working together.

When someone is doing chemo to eradicate any traces of cancer they have to treat their body with kindness so it will survive. THINK about doing the same for your friends on DU. We are right in this with you. You don't have to rage against the machine alone.

NO MATTER HOW HARD IT GETS many someones in many somewheres will keep getting up one more time than we are knocked down. Some of us may have to give our lives to this cause in one way or another, but that will only make it all the more important for the rest to keep getting up and refusing to give in to allowing this creeping cancer to overtake our country.

You are right that this administration and their supporters want to turn America into a Neo-Royalist Fascist Regime, but THEY DON'T GET TO TELL US what America will be and every lie and cheat they have put in to trip US all up still isn't what America is about.

We may have to figuratively chop off an arm to survive, but if we think "KILL THE BEAST" then we're over reacting just a tad.

OK?

Peace.


You did give us a lot to think about though.
http://tinyurl.com/Disabusing-the-notion

Was to point out the problems. Solutions? Well, perhaps in another post, if I can get fired up enough to write it.

On the other hand, while I commune with a friend who has been doing AA forever and who just gave me a 10 year coin, for my 10 years of unsatisfied nagging thirst(Sobriety? I would be the last person to judge whether I have attained that.), it is attitudes like yours why I didn't do well at meetings, but I wasn't gonna let that stop me from quitting. I have never walked lockstep well.

Let me put it this way: My higher power is different from your higher power and it informs me differently.

Keep up the struggle, on all battlefields. You have my undying support.

I don't want to be disagreeable to anyone on DU, but if we lose hope and think they have already won, it gives them our power as well as their own.

It's funny, but it seems to me you are looking for people to walk lock step with you (ie this is the only way to look at it) and I was hoping to show you that if you open your mind, it could help.

You do have a lot of good points, I do think the extent of the it is mitigated by how hard we all are battling.

What you had to say was important. I simply hope that you aren't feeling like giving up because it's so overwhelming the way you described it.

You and I do have a different approach to many things it seems. I still am of the opinion that as long as I have one little tiny corner of this country where I can stand and shout truth to the powers that be, then it's still on them to pry my country from my cold dead hands. And certainly with the administration as it is, by myself I stand about as much of a chance as that dude in MIB against the interstellar cockroach, but I have to go down fighting to live with myself.

Actually, I'm in a different 12 step, but lately I've been understanding the appeal of drinking to dull the pain. I do what I need to stay sharp and not dive into the bottle, but I commend anyone who can leave it be.

My dad said he stopped drinking one day when he looked at the bottle, then looked at me and said to himself, "One of these has to go and I kinda like the kid." He was the person I loved most in this world, so don't think I'm down on you for the way you stay sober. Whatever works.

Because my solutions may not be your solutions. I can tell you what works for me, but that might be martian to you. Recovery for people and countries both are highly subjective. Besides, I do not want to be guilty of the sin of hubris.

I would be a lot happier taking heat for saying too little, rather than too much. I tend to offer what help and what hope I can on a very micro scale, one person at a time, with what meager talents I have to offer.

I don't really have any grand illusions about myself left standing. I sent them packing a long time ago.

so right you are... I guess the only difference is the "fix" one falls for. Say hi to Bill for me...

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

But it should be.

You say, "Give me your money." How the fuck is that any different than what we have NOW? They aren't literally reaching into your physical pocket and taking what little you have (YET), but they're taking it from your checks and GIVING it to the fucking assholes who ALREADY have billions. "Give me your money?" That money is already fucking GIVEN.

If they're going to take our money and give it to others, I'd rather that it be taken and given to back to We The People in the form of increased services, nationalized health care, a competent and adequately-funded educational system, and other things that benefit AVERAGE people more than they benefit billionaires. I'd like to see the government spend our money on nationalizing the essential industries that we NEED in order to survive as a nation, and make damned sure that those jobs stay HERE, even if it costs more.

Socialism is not communism. I don't want the government to take every penny I make (literally) and provide me with "ration books." But I WOULD like to see the money that the government is *already* taking put to better fucking use than a bloated, ineffective military and feeding the Wall Street leeches hand over fist. I'd like the assurance that, while we can all play Monopoly with small businesses and houses to our hearts' content, the BIG stuff is collectively owned by We The People--with no golden parachutes for the poor, downtrodden billionaires and no NEED for bailouts because the accountability to a nation full of "owners" helps to keep things from going badly to begin with.

If you have somehow mistaken socialism for communism, well I can forgive that. Thanks to the right-wing media, a LOT of people are under the mistaken impression that socialism and communism are the same thing. It's not true. The kind of socialism *we* need is the kind that involves government (i.e., collective) ownership of the industries and services that are "too big to fail," and private ownership of the rest. Well-regulated capitalism at the lower levels, but with government management and oversight of the stuff that could knock the nation to its knees, AND a vastly increased level of governmental openness and accountability. Sunshine Socialism, if you will.

As for college education--that should be free at state universities, provided that a student meets the admissions standards, and that the admissions standards take affirmative action into consideration. Private colleges can charge whatever they want, but every citizen who's willing to work hard enough to earn the grades for college admission deserves the chance to go--WITHOUT incurring a hundred grand in suffocating student loan debt, and REGARDLESS of ability to pay. This is the least that we can do for the future generations whom we have royally fucked-over with our selfishness and greed.

On Edit: I see from your other posts that you're just another piece of "I've Got Mine, Fuck The Rest Of You" human trash, so this post of mine was likely pointless. Go away, and tell Zell Miller we said, "Good Riddance."

On Edit Again: Thanks, mods. :thumbsup:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=219516

:) :bounce: :toast: :party:

:hi:

I posted this in tomeboy's thread early this morning:

:hi:

Is there a way to live that isn't immoral?

:hi: Your picture is the best I have seen of McCrazy. Says it all.

I see that some here are a bit miffed and think that you're saying "that's it! we're fucked and there's nothing that we can do about it!". I don't see your post like that. I see it it as a "here is how it is, what are we gonna do about it?" kind of post. kudos.

You are a true gem and a genius.

Not only did I just send this to more than one hundred other people, I am going to print it large and put it in a frame over my bar. It will be required reading for all who enter my house.

Thank you,
Tom

ago in regards to what the US has become. Your post is very accurate and the world knows it. The link is the real proof. The only people in denial are the American people glued to their TV screens and the propaganda that spews out of it. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4035074

We are missing one point which is the fierce urgency of NOW! NOT THIS TIME NOT THIS YEAR.
This really touched my heart as I am a christian but I am not religious. Religion and christianity are not one in the same one is a belief the other a practice of man made rituals. You can obey GOD without following man. That being said the Bible clearly states in the last days they will have eyes but cannot see ears but cannot hear. I know people have their own beliefs but everything that has happened is in the Bible the book of Isiah describes Iraq right down to the wounded women and children and pillaging of the museums. As for fear it comes from evil it is False Evidence Appearing Real. Believe things can turn around and know they will turn around. If they can get us to see they world in only a negative view. They have won half the battle.

:thumbsup:

but it is not something we have not witnessed before. It is just that now these thugs have got their tentacles in so deep they may not let go. It is the puke nature of things. When they gain power things for us begin to go down hill and the longer they stay in the more the snowball grows and the more dangerous it becomes.

This last slide into the depths and darkness of Mussolini's addled brain in my opinion was started by Ray-gun picking up the pieces of the Nixon gang of thugs building on it and while nearly bringing this country once again to its knees was finally put on slow play during the Clinton years, but began again far more malignantly in the * years. It cycles with the elections of democrats and republicans. This is not to say all democrats are good and all pukes are bad but at this time in history in my opinion that is an apt analogy. There have been great moments for us and bad ones over the last 100 years. There used to be good republicans but they were few and far between, Like Teddy and Ike but think of when times were good. Camelot was destroyed because it posed too great a threat to malignant shadows that have taken hold of our very existence.
I lived through the aftermath of the great depression, which brought this country to its knees and by the same people of a different time and along came a knight in shinning armor and for a long while made things right. I believe Obama is such a man, though I am not sure these thugs will give up the power they have stolen at knife point to rob steal, cheat and murder and get away with it Scot free. Very evil robber barons are running roughshod over this great country and like the horsemen of the apocalypse are destroying and pillaging anything good and decent in their path. You are right that this sorry catastrophe has blown their cover and I'm betting folks will not stand for another stolen election.