Noam Chomsky: "Elections have become a charade, run by the public relations industry."

noam chomsky... (watch the full video of this speech that i posted back in mid-march here...)
http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/2011/03/fake-democracy-noam-chomsky-march-13.html

Elections have become a charade, run by the public relations industry. After his 2008 victory, Obama won an award from the industry for the best marketing campaign of the year. Executives were euphoric. In the business press they explained that they had been marketing candidates like other commodities since Ronald Reagan, but 2008 was their greatest achievement and would change the style in corporate boardrooms. The 2012 election is expected to cost $2 billion, mostly in corporate funding. Small wonder that Obama is selecting business leaders for top positions. The public is angry and frustrated, but as long as the Muasher principle* prevails, that doesn't matter.

............

http://takeitpersonally.blogspot.com/2011/04/us-public-is-angry-but-as-long-as.html
piss on the goddam peasants... let 'em eat cake...!

until you realize that is what our military costs every day.

now, if you are a Dem wouldn't it occur to you that it's about time to

give up the corporate buck -- and go straight?

how much it costs the taxpayers and the country to have legislators who are bought and paid for by corporate interests. The money we lost by our elected officials giving up our right to bargain for lower drug prices on Medicare to their corporates masters would have funded federal elections for a century.

Your point is well taken, but $2B spent on obtaining a job where it's assured 50% of the populace will despise you signals something is wrong with the system.

for those like me who had to look it up.

apparently, "quiet" means not marching in the streets, since we WERE loud about TARP ( Congress ignored us)
Health Care ( Congress ignored us)
Iraq ( Congress ignored us)
Afghanistan, etc etc.

words the marketeers will come up this time around....'Change' and 'Hope' won't work. Maybe, "We're Better than Them." Sets up a nice rivalry like a high school football game. Or maybe, "We Will Do Better."

It's unfortunate that there is "None of the Above" to vote for. It's all about the 'Lesser of 2 Evils' imho.

I'll vote, but giving money and knocking on doors....won't happen.

The Circus is on overdrive and the Bread supply is running low.

;)

:rofl:

"Win the Future" :silly:

'The Future is Ours'.....whatever that means. I'm just waiting to hear the Marketers start testing their little 'ideas.'

ETA: Since all the polls are saying that Americans are frustrated....duh....maybe it'll be: "I'm angry, too!" Go back to the great movie, "Network," and work the theme: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."

That's what we need to come from a Grass Roots/Populist candidate....

I wondered what that meant.

everything will be fine and rosy and good! We are a nation of laws, and everything I learned in high school civics still applies! Come, let's go sing America the Beautiful at the corporations. That will make them willingly give us our freedom.

Not so naked, actually. Very, VERY non-transparent--covert, disguised, sneaky, "black-holed" in the 'news,' unknown, privatized, behind-closed-doors, mysterious, unseeable, easy--EASY!--high speed, undetectable election theft magic.

We wonder how this utterly unrepresentative, Scumbag Congress could have happened, after eight years of the worst scumbaggism and lawless, murderous horror we've ever seen in our government.

THIS is HOW.

Half the states do NO AUDIT AT ALL of these election theft machines. The other half do a miserably inadequate 1% audit, with 99% of the ballots never seen by human eyes. ALL 'counted' by 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that we have no right to review.

And, what is worse, 80% of our voting systems are now controlled by ONE, PRIVATE, FAR-RIGHTWING CONNECTED corporation--ES&S, which bought out Diebold.

Stop wondering that nobody in Washington DC--and increasingly in state government--represents the interests of the majority. They don't even need to PRETEND to, any more--as you say, it's quite "naked." But what is NOT naked--and what should be naked for all to see--is WHO is counting our votes and HOW they are being counted.

Go down to your local county registrar and ASK, and you will be met with blank looks, covert looks, maybe some guilty looks, and utter obfuscation. They, too, have been infected with the culture of corporate secrecy. And if you get insistent at all, about what happens to your vote and to all the votes, they will call the security guards and toss you out. You, the voter. You, the public. You, a citizen of this alleged democracy.

There are a lot of grave problems with our election system. But, believe me, this is the worst, as well as the latest, of them. This means we have NO CHANCE to turn things around. Not even a chance against their billions in corrupt money and their corrupt, controlled media. 'TRADE SECRET' vote counting is the ultimate in reform-prevention.

They have terrible corporate media and lots and lots of bad money in Latin America (--a lot of the bad money right out of our own pockets, in USAID and other U.S. funding of rightwing groups) but they have nevertheless elected strong leftist (majorityist) government all over the region--in Brazil, in Venezuela, in Argentina, in Bolivia, in Ecuador, in Uruguay, in Paraguay, in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala (and, until the U.S.-supported rightwing coup d'etat, in Honduras). The difference is they've done the tough civic work of ensuring TRANSPARENT vote counting and honest elections.

With TRANSPARENT vote counting, you have a CHANCE--and Latin America's grass roots, majorityist movements could then mobilize voters in efforts that were not futile.

I am NOT saying "don't vote," by the way. DO vote! It COULD make a difference in the way these corpo-fascist rulers are playing with their new 'TRADE SECRET' powers. They have various things they are trying to accomplish and various narratives they are trying to foist upon us, in a large, complicated country, with multiple jurisdictions and multiple political events occurring. NEVER give up your right to vote. That's what they want. They want us to give up. Exercise your right to vote, even if you are in despair. Don't give in to despair! Make it as hard for them as possible, to steal your vote. And SPREAD THE WORD, so that a movement can get started to throw these election theft machines into 'Boston Harbor' (so to speak).

That's another thing these shits have co-opted and pre-empted--the Boston Tea Party. Let's have a REAL "Boston Tea Party" on a REAL issue--the bottom line of democracy: our right to vote and the essential right to see our votes counted in PUBLIC VIEW!

Whether they do it with voting machines or bags of money in the night the result is the same.

Voting at the national level(at least)is a hopeless act at present, the major parties are totally owned. Only when there is a contender by of and for the working class will the act of voting have any relevance. There is none now and the work of building one is the immediate crying need.

and you can't elect leaders who will do it if you can't SEE and UNDERSTAND how the votes are being counted.

These election theft machines provide ONE, PRIVATE, FAR RIGHTWING-CONNECTED corporation with the high-speed, SECRET power to steal virtually any election in the country. ES&S/Diebold has an 80% monopoly on these election theft systems. Auditing is NON-EXISTENT in half the states and miserably inadequate in the other half.

Latin America has our money problems and our media problems, yet they have elected leftist governments in Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala.

HOW DID THEY DO IT? They have TRANSPARENT vote counting. We don't. That is the single most important difference between us.

Look, TRANSPARENT vote counting won't change things automatically or overnight. But without it, you can't even begin to change things. It is the BOTTOM-LINE of democracy.

And there is no more perfect illustration of Corporate Rule--and no better rallying point than this. They have privatized the very counting of our votes.

There is not a single official in this country who can prove that he or she was actually elected. It is not being verified, and half the states CAN'T verity it. This IS Corporate Rule. 'TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting' sums it all up. And when we overturn it, we will have REGAINED the power to elect people who actually represent us. We will be a democracy again. That won't solve all our problems, but it will give us a chance. People power can overcome money power and it can overcome corporate media power, but it CAN'T overcome 'TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting.'

And a campaign to get corporations out of our voting system is still doable. Power over voting system decisions still resides at the local/state level, where ordinary people still have potential influence.

Overturn this illicit, secret, horrible corporate power over the very 'counting' of our votes, and it will illustrate the problem and it will give us the most essential tool we need to begin solving all the other problems. Bottom line: our right to vote and to SEE our vote counted in PUBLIC VIEW.

we do not elect our own president, the Electoral College does.

I don't think people in this country have ever been honest about our electoral process and what it does mean, at least at the federal level.

Our founding fathers had a very specific vision for the democracy they were creating, and it was a patrician one. The electoral college was intended to filter which candidates were allowed to control the executive branch. The judicial branch is fully outside the scope of direct elections. And initially the senate was not elected either, and they had the power to filter everything the only actually directly elected branch of our government did: congress. Luckily the Senate is elected now, but it is heavily biased towards millionaires (the group which most senators belong to).

We have to first realize what kind of "democracy" we have, before we go wondering what it is wrong with it. There is a big divide between the expectations a lot of people project on to our democracy, and its reality.

As you illustrate the purpose and result is a facade of democracy with the bourgeoisie in firm control. The business community demands continuity and that's what they get, could the past two years make that any more clear? The relative democratization of the Senate is more than offset by current campaign finance practice, a self perpetuating scam which once in place will not be rescinded for reasons of both tactics and self-aggrandizement.

There is no 'fixing' this within the system, it is self-perpetuating, change can only come from the outside.

the corporate-run, 'TRADE SECRET' vote 'counting' system.

It's the show stopper. The final coup de grace. The end. The thing the rats have wanted all along--to directly dictate who gets (s)elected. Now they have it, and we are truly screwn until we evict the 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines from our election system.

--------------------

"We have to first realize what kind of 'democracy' we have, before we go wondering what it is wrong with it. There is a big divide between the expectations a lot of people project on to our democracy, and its reality."

I don't disagree with this. In fact it's a pretty good statement of what I think about our democracy--except that I wouldn't discourage people from "wondering what is wrong with it" just because they may not know everything about how it is "stacked."

I have a practical streak. I think strategically. It is not enough just to know; people need to know what to DO. What are they supposed to DO about the Electoral College, hm? Or the millionaire Senators? Nothing they can do about it without true representatives of the people elected to do our will. And right now that is NOT possible.

ONE, PRIVATE, FAR RIGHTWING-CONNECTED CORPORATION now has control of 80% of the voting "results" in this country, using 'TRADE SECRET' code--code that we are not permitted to review--with virtually no audit/recount controls, and can easily--EASILY!--steal any election in the country including the presidential election.

It seems to me you start THERE--with something practical and doable, about the very thing that gives us democratic power--our vote--and that would re-open the country to change and reform.

You don't start with the Electoral College. You start with the right to vote. We can't do anything about the Electoral College until we restore our right to vote. And the way that that right has been undermined and taken away is still a local/state matter.

We've had good presidents with the Electoral College. FDR is a good example. We've had good congresses, too. We can at the least elect an FDR and a much more representative Congress, IF we can verify the vote count.

Lord, even the Vikings at their "Thing" had a better voting system than we do. They used rocks. One person, one rock. And can you just imagine what the Vikings would have done if somebody had come in and put all the rocks in a box and covered it up, and said, "I win!"?

LOL!

And I agree with a REAL Boston Tea Party. An event, not a political party as in the astro turf Tea Party.

"....... have become a charade, run by the public relations industry" could have its blank filled in by a plethora of things these days...

In fact every aspect of American society need change! Too much money and influence from the multinationals and the military/industrial complex has a hold on the political system. We need the following:

1. Better proportional representation.
2. Get big money out of the electoral process!
3. Give the voters more election choices other than the two-party system. (Freedom of choice!)
4. Shorten the election season.

This and other ideas will improve the political system in this country which is a dilapidated tired mockery that it is now.






John

There are individual and whole dynasties which have fed at the public trough for generations:

Bushes
Byrds
Rockefellers
Even Gores

Let's end the days of the career politicians. Also another good idea is a 2,000 feet exclusion zone between politicians and lobbyists. Also, no lobbyists at the Capitol! It's a building of government not a whorehouse!

John

Something to the effect of an exclusion zone.
So what do they do?
They rent a house a certain distance from the Capitol and continue business as usual.
I was reading about it recently, a google should find it.
sort of making them 100% illegal, I don't think we will ever get rid of them.

except for the Kennedys and it seems like they are gone as well.

This among the many things that has been getting us into trouble. We need more people involved and not just a bunch of people with fat wallets.


John

In 10 years Pepsi will be our new POTUS and Coke will have 3 drones on the SCOTUS! I would say they also have Senators and Reps...but the already own them in the form of special interest groups and lobbying firms.

The PR industry should be razed to the ground. They are pure EVIL and anyone who works in the PR industry is just as EVIL. PR is all about deception over truth, impression versus substance.

PR has no place in a truly just society.

Our electoral system is more like a shared hallucination masquerading as a cruel hoax.

Try the election of 1876, for example.

to see an old friend
peace, kpete

:hi:

All on equal footing, only the ideas speak, not the money.

Also instead of who has the best dog and pony show, it would be nice to vote on actual results achieved by parties and the politicians. Stop voting for tall guys with good hair only.

I know, I'd laugh but for the crying.

Thomas Hobbes is smiling, touching cloth, and rubbing hands

There are two parts to this.

First, whenever there is an election and the candidates are allowed to campaign, even if that campaign consists of a 2-5 minute speech given for free with no media in an auditorium, you are getting marketing. You are getting the candidates attempt to make themselves seem the best for the job. You arent getting a dispassionate and bias-free version of who that person is. If Chomsky is railing against that then he needs to come up with an entirely new way for people to run for office and for us to be able to evaluate and vet them that somehow doesnt involve marketing. Good luck with that.

The second part is regarding HOW MUCH is spent. And sure, it's ugly, and needs to be fixed, but that is beyond Obama's ability to do. The Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United. If Obama doesn't want to involve himself in the spendfest, he might as well not run for re-election. He would have no chance at all. So why is Chomsky aiming this at Obama?

Whenever Chomsky attacks Democrats, its as if he shuts most of his brain off because what comes out of his mouth when he does it is nonsense.

Chomsky knows more in 3 minutes than you ever did or ever will

It is the gift of omniscience that comes with being a "moderate."

was dividing the left.

From Joe McGinniss site on wiki:

"McGinniss graduated from the College of the Holy Cross in 1964 and became a general assignment reporter at the Worcester Telegram in Worcester, Massachusetts. Within a year he left to become a sportswriter for The Philadelphia Bulletin. He then moved to The Philadelphia Inquirer as a general interest columnist.

The Selling of the PresidentMain article: The Selling of the President 1968
McGinniss became an overnight success when his first book, The Selling of the President 1968, landed on The New York Times bestseller list when he was 26 years old, making him the youngest living writer with that achievement. The book described the marketing of Richard Nixon during the 1968 presidential campaign. McGinniss

stumbled across his book’s topic while taking a train to New York. A fellow commuter had just landed the Hubert Humphrey account and was boasting that 'in six weeks we’ll have him looking better than Abraham Lincoln.' McGinniss tried to get access to Humphrey’s campaign first, but they turned him down. So he called up Nixon’s, and they said yes.".<1>

The book was very well received by both critics and the public, and has been recognized as a "classic of campaign reporting that first introduced many readers to the stage-managed world of political theater."<1> It "spent more than six months on best-sellers lists, and McGinniss sold a lot of those books through television, appearing on the titular shows of Merv Griffin, David Frost and Dick Cavett, among others."<1> Conservative writer William F. Buckley "assumed McGinniss had relied on 'an elaborate deception which has brought joy and hope to the Nixon-haters.' But even Buckley liked the book."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_McGinniss

The origination of the Snake oil salesmen's history is older than recorded time but the new science of corporate mass marketing is what is killing us. Yea, sure they have been doing with some success all through the time but the accuracy of hitting their targets of maximizing the goal is what they have accomplished. It's not that people have gotten more naive or selfish but more of the incessant chants and jingles that echo in everyone's heads when exposed to it. Pre-Programed if you like :shrug:

and it's the same with all 'good' analysts- there is no searchable database of what 1000 coordinated radio stations have been repeating 24/7 and the corporations get a total free speech free ride to create made-to-order constituencies for whatever they want - hence the teabaggers (dittoheads).

since there is NO organized opposition to it the chomsky's play second fiddle to the limbaughs, and the collective left allows it by ignoring the right's most important media/political tool.

Which means that 100% of persons who claim to be Democratic Party supporters/members must be diametrically opposed to his positions on things.. unless they are just bullshitting us. We believe in the existing party system. He does not. He wants a system of NO government (ultimately). We do not. Under those circumstance it is kinda foolish to say he's "picking" on Obama. By his principles he's going to be against anybody involved in the current political system.

on the most important issues: finance & war -- the ruling class is in general agreement.

in an otherwise hopeless world.

This is something I wonder about. How does he do all that research? How does someone both research and write books that quickly? Does he have peculiar habits? Is he superman?

to admit there's a fundamental problem,