Times Change ... but not really. (Political)

[mojo]

Last week about this time I wouldn't have written anything about this topic.  Not because I didn't have strong feelings about it, but because there were rules.  No Political Rants being very high on that list.  Times Change.

There are ramifications I cannot ignore that lead into the political realm and question many of the decisions that the US makes in its foreign policy, so politics rears its stupid and corrupt head.

What I see as a failure and even more, a danger to the safety of the United States, our leadership seems to think creates a safety net for the citizenry of the U.S.  If the USA were to be invaded by a superior military force and if the USA were forced to surrender -  If our government from the Federal to the State to the Local level were removed and a new system of government based upon the military victor's form of government were to be imposed -  Do you think the citizens of the United States would resist?  Of course they would!  Were our armies defeated and our government dissolved and 'another' form of government imposed, the American citizen would be forced to accept this new reality, but would resist in many ways - don't get me wrong, some would embrace the new system fully, some would just try to get on with their daily life, but many would resist either passively or actively.

Why then do we seem to shocked that Iraq and Afghanistan behave in the same way?  Why are we amazed when people come the the United States and try to kill us?  Afghanistan's form of government has been in place since when?  Alexander the Great?  Something like that, right?  I believe they've been a tribal government for time out of mind.  How can we step in there and force our way of thinking upon them?

Our foreign policy is wrong.  We can't go back and fix it, that ship has sailed.  We've made choices and taken positions that will affect the United States for decades to come.  Even if we stopped what we're doing and began to work in a more humanitarian way - providing support, instruction and technical support in methods of improving the lives of those we have invaded - we have already created enemies that can't resist in any other way but through guerrilla warfare.  From their point of view, we're the bad guys - the same way Americans would view an invader on our home soil.

Our military is NOT to blame, and they deserve our support, as much as we can provide.  It is our government, our political leaders, who are to blame.  These people, beholden as they are to lobbyists and special interests that out-and-out purchase the political process, have placed us in the position we now find ourselves.  Corporations have no place in the American political process.  Lobbyists are bribing and buying the influence of the U.S. Congress, the Senate, the President and even our Supreme Court.  The rank and file, the common American voters, have no meaning when Super PACs dump tens of millions of dollars into the war-chests of their candidates.  Only those candidates who have accepted the bribes from these groups will be made available to the voters.  Those candidates are ethically compromised.  The do not represent the interests of the United States, they represent the interests of Corporate America.

It is undeniably obvious that the current political system in the United States has been corrupted, just read the news.  What is more depressing is that there is nothing that we as common citizens can do.  We watch as our rights and freedoms are revoked, we sit by and watch as blatant violations of the Constitutional Rights are illegally violated, and we can do nothing.

The "Patriot" Act is illegal.  The TSA performs thousands of illegal searches every day.  Our President tries to sign into law an act that would allow the detention of US citizens on US soil without trial, warrant or even Habeas Corpus.  We're in trouble and we can't stop it.

[illi41]

I think there are things that people can do. Admittedly the 50 years since Ike's warning about the ('Military-Industrial Complex' from memory) has been mostly wasted, but the true enemies of the people are only really hitting their stride now, only really paying big money to put an organised plan in place against the 99% now. That's cause for some optimism, because it shows they know they have less right than ever to further widen the gap between rich and poor. And this is the key issue, money.
 
http://mattbruenig.com/wp-content/uploads/oecdinequality.jpg
 
They, the Republicans, corporate scum and stooges, Libertarians, 1%ers, the Rich, will say that black is white, and will pay for poor people to say that free healthcare is the work of the devil, oil can/should be burned forever/to the last drop. Foreign wars when the US and UK are never actually threatened are a symptom of this, too. Adam Curtis makes connections better than I ever could in his documentary "The Power of Nightmares". Here's a link to his blog:
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/adamcurtis/
 
These problems can be fought. Systems, such as US foreign policy, the way the constitution works, the power of lobby groups, the laws and the constitution itself, can be changed leftwards by voting, legally, for the good of the people, the 99%. The President and his party could develop a backbone...Many activist groups out there are fighting parts of the problem in other ways. Shocks to this system will show off its horrible nature, including the coming shocks related to peak oil and global warming, and presumably the financial system. Disinformation must be fought with information. It will be tough fighting it. Me vs. the Koch Brothers is an uneven fight, although spreading the simple fact that they are funding the Tea Party and grooming groups of poor Americans to say that free healthcare is communist evens the fight a lot. It may be hard in other ways. You say that the military is a pawn of politics and should be supported. Unfortunately wherever the enemy raises its head it should be opposed, so I don't agree with you on that. I'm in the UK and all this applies to us precisely the same. Any support given to the military, is taken as support for the politicians of the day, who are only to happy to claim it as support for their own policies which bring unnecessary misery to military families. There are almost a million US secret service personnel. That is plenty to fight Al Qaeda.

[mojo]

Republicans, Democrats, there is no difference between them.  Look at the current US president.  Obama has run as a Democrat, was elected as a Democrat, preaches the Democratic Party Line - but is a moderate Republican in action and in deed.  Worse, even criminal in my opinion, it was Obama that tried to sign into being the bill that would have allowed US citizens to be held in secret, indefinitely. 

I suppose I should point out that I am decidedly not Socialist.  The federal government has no business at all trying to be involved in people's everyday lives. We need less - a lot less - government, not more.  How do you think we'd get them to relinquish their power?  They wont. 

You say change things "Leftwards" and I say the Federal Government of the United States needs to be restricted to a weak central establishment that represents the States internationally - which is the exact opposite of what the Democratic (left) party wants for America.  You said voting works - I say, no it doesn't, not any more - Not when the only options in front of us are individuals that for whom we are "allowed" to vote are already compromised by the very fact that they couldn't reach a national audience without someone with very deep pockets. The Democratic Party, is just as corrupt and just as ethically bankrupt as the Republican Party.

Citizen soldiers are not the enemy, they are to be respected for being willing to put themselves into harm's way for us.  The bad guys here are the ones telling the military where to go and who to attack.

Your position, while admirable, is unattainable.  When (speaking about the USA here) our government is no longer by the people, for the people and of the people, the people are powerless.  Which, as it turns out, is exactly where we are now.

[robs456]

This is the same old story, history repeating itself.
I could make a long story about it but I won't, but look at Rome.
That empire started falling apart when the fighting was not for Rome anymore, but for private interests within Rome. The people could have done something about it, but they were kept at bay with cheap entertainment and bribes in the form of bread etc.
That's where we are today with the US, and the rest of the western world. Even the East is getting there faster and faster so while the next big empire will be China, it might not be for that long.
 
There are a few that realize this, but they are quite few and are being ridiculed in the media, meaning they never get any 'normal' people to listen to them.
Look at that 'nut job' Ron Paul, at least he's trying to wake up a few but I don't know if he's for real or just another corrupt politician. Probably the latter.

[mojo]

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s112-1698

[Maj Pig [27thMEU]]

Even though I might get picked off by people her now, I am a republican. I am not afraid to say it. However, I am a mixed republican. I for once fully support the republican platform with capitalism, social Darwinism, civic virtue, a strong national defense, lower, but equal taxation, fiscal responsibility on a national level, and last but not least, a limited government. However I am more open-minded to the issues that I believe should not be discussed so much in Congress by politicians and which should not be the major planks in a party's platform. Like for instance: marriage (opposite or same sex marriage), abortion (in the case of rape or incest), etc. All the less pertinent issue, which I believe should be regulated by state governments or by other means (special interest groups, etc.) I do understand the idea of the corrupt republican is a very vivid one, because of various affairs and scandals (Watergate comes to mind, U. S. Grant and lobbying...). There is also a democratic archetype of a white slave trader with lots of farmland. What I am trying to say is that you cannot stereotype people. You cannot say that the republicans are a bunch of white corrupt corporate business men who are out to relive the time of imperialism. Same as you can't say that for instance all Mexicans are border-jumping thieves and murderers.

You cannot say that republicans are the evil ones. That big corporations are destroying America. Because fact is that Corporate America provides jobs. When did a poor person provide a job?? Corporate America and the wealthy class are also the biggest consumers.
The Democrats believe that the government is the answer to all our problems. However, the government has become so destructive, so overpowered in the past years. Look at President Obama, he showed everything, just not leadership. When he was a senator, he campaigned to be the President and now, while he is the president, all he is doing is campaigning for his next term. He showed a lack of leadership. He is reluctant to sign the Keystone XL pipeline which would provide 120,000 jobs directly and indirectly. He is doing everything to preserve the current economic turmoil. He wants to create a classless society - socialism. The democrats like him, because he is holding his party-line so well. But what they don't see is how America is being changed. Laws that allow the imprisonment of US citizens without a writ of habeas corpus? The killing of a US citizen (Al-Awlaki) without a court order? The 47 czars of the executive branch? This is the beginning of a dictatorship.
Saying that the American people are powerless is not entirely true. The Framers have included several things in the US Constitution that protects the People:
- Government by consent (the government and the people have to realize that having the government is the will of the people and that it can be abolished by the people)
- The right to revolt against the government (if it become too powerful, the people can revolt against it and establish a new one)

And, the Healthcare bill is a very stupid thing. It is unconstitutional. It only serves the poor people well. Those who never had a job in their life. It is just another plank in Obama's reelection campaign so that people vote for him. It will only lower the quality of the medical services provided and it will only get Obama the votes he currently needs from the unemployed people, the green people, and the illegal immigrants.

[mojo]

I'm not talking about stereotypes, or past corruption, I'm talking about Obama, Romney, more than 80% of Congress, 95% of the Senate and over 50% of the Supreme Court currently in office.  All ethically compromised and corrupt.. 

I'm talking about the DHS (ICE, DEA, TSA) being complicit in illegal activities on a daily basis.  Violating the bill of rights like it isn't even there.  I'm talking about Habeas Corpus being ignored and laws being passed that allow US citizen to be held in military camps indefinitely.

I'm talking about the fact that you don't get a chance to see a national candidate standing for election unless and until he's already been compromised by his party and the huge contributions he has to raise to compete with the others - so really no matter who is running, he's already been bought and paid for.

The healthcare bill is NOTHING when you consider the all the rest.  As Yeats said: Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

There is no retreat from our current path.  Unless there is a real change in our political system - we're fucked.

[Maj Pig [27thMEU]]

I can see your position Mojo, I don't like it either. The US, once a great nation famous for it's liberties has forgotten what liberty is.

I do not think that changing the political system would be a constructive move tho. The Framers were a bunch of pretty darn skilled people, they knew what they were doing and they did it correctly. If I were to redesign the US constitution I would keep it as it is and only rewrite certain badly phrased parts. Like the Necessary and proper clause, Deem and pass and just generally badly phrased parts.
The US constitution would work, it works. It works with an informed population. The framers designed bit and pieces of it so that it accounts also for an uninformed population (like the electoral college...) bu they have not accounted for it completely. I guess it's almost impossible.
People seem to forget that government is by consent and they can remove it.
The government forgot that about the rule of law way too easy. I would forbid career politicians and limit the number of terms for every politician in every office.

The imprisonment of citizens in military camps without the writ of habeas corpus is a very bad thing. It is clearly a violation of the Bill of Rights and therefor can be declared unconstitutional. Government has become very destructive.

[mojo]

I agree, I don't think the constitution is the problem at all.  I think the problem is how far away from the framer's intent we have gotten over the years.  Can you imagine their response to a DHS or "Patriot" Act which is anything but patriotic?

[Maj Pig [27thMEU]]

My social science teacher told us, that the Framers are probably rotating in their graves now from all the bollocks the current administration is doing. i fully agree with him. The Framers would probably get a heart attack when they would see this.