The US political class and their corporate pay-masters don't give a rat's ass about what is in the best interests of working men and women. The people are treated as nothing more than malleable serfs in our new "techno-feudalistic" society. Self-aggrandizement and war making are the only two urges they have. The system is irrevocably broken, not to mention corrupted. With the looming weeks-long bombing raids against Iranian supporters that are planned by Biden/Blinken/Sullivan/Nuland, we are staring into the abyss.
And don't forget the most important question in the week leading to the Swift, I mean Super, Bowl - who will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce endorse?
Unfortunately, I think we are long past the point where any national election is going to make a difference in the direction this country is headed. Politics is too corrupted by money; the politicians themselves are degenerate representations of who we are told they are. US foreign policy is controlled by defense contractors and the state of Israel. The MSM functions as a propaganda ministry to push narratives that keep the citizenry in fear and uncertainty - and hating their neighbors that hold different views of some carefully selected issues.
Voting third party may satisfy, but it will change nothing.
Unfortunately, I think that depends on each state's election laws. Some require a write-in candidate be registered before the election; some have thresholds for counting those votes. I agree in spirit that NOTC or NOTA would be great. I'm just not sure if it would actually work given the lack of consistent approach to vote counting.
"A write-in candidate is someone whose name does not appear on the ballot, but whose name must be written on the ballot by voters.
"As of 2020, most states allowed voters to write in the name of a candidate who does not appear on the ballot. However, states had varying rules about which write-in votes would be counted. These rules can be grouped into three categories:
~ No requirements for whom voters may write-in
~ Only write-in votes for registered candidates will be counted.
~ No write-in votes allowed
"Eight states did not have any requirements and would allow voters to write in any name as a write-in vote.[3] Those states were Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Wyoming.
"Thirty-three states would only accept votes for write-in candidates who officially registered with the state. In order for the vote to be counted, the candidate must have submitted all the necessary registration documents by a specific deadline, either by filing paperwork, paying a fee, collecting signatures, or some combination of the aforementioned.[4][5]
"Nine states (Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota), did not allow write-in votes."
And an alternative to writing-in NOTC is to get NOTC listed as an actual choice on the ballot, like it is in Nevada and has been since 1975. Nevadans don't need to write-in "None Of These Candidates"; all they have to do is pull a lever on the voting machine, just like every other voter for every other candidate.
And with 278 days until Election Day 2024, there is PLENTY of time to make that happen in every other state in America.
I keep seeing articles about widespread anxiety and depression in this country, and I think, "It's not all in our heads. We have damn good reason to be anxious and depressed!"
A growing number of Americans are sensing ~ even if they are not saying it out loud or actually really DOING something, anything about it ~ and in fact realizing that this nation is on a Collision Course with Reality, and that when Contact occurs, it is going to get very, Very Ugly.
So where is the political candidate who is saying that, and actually, really proposing to DO something about it.
Oh, I think most Americans live reality every day. Just ask the parents who are working four jobs between them to put food on the table. They do indeed sense what's going on. They just snatch at any diversions offered to distract from their predicaments, and slog on. In other words, they know, but they feel completely disempowered (which, in fact, they are).
The parties in power will never allow a candidate who fights for the poor/working class. Just ask Bernie Sanders.
i'm not talking about the Reality faced and experienced by individual Americans and their families and neighbor, Denise.
i'm talking about the Reality of a Nation State that is beginning to unravel at the seams of Civil Society, the Economy, the Environment, and above all, the Government.
i'm talking about the Reality of the end of The American Experiment in a democratically-elected Constitutional republic under a Rule of Law.
i'm talking about the Reality of a descent into Economic, and thus and then Civil Society Chaos. And then its only alternative: Tyranny. Coupled with Wars in Europe, the Middle East, and soon, East Asia.
That's the Reality i'm talking about.
And Bernie Sanders may "fight for the poor/working class," but as Caitlin Johnstone noted in her 1 Feb piece i posted here on BV earlier today:
… “The ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party isn’t much better, with political pop stars like Bernie Sanders flailing all over the place to avoid advocating a ceasefire and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying she fully supports Biden despite his actions in Gaza and adamantly refusing to say if the president is backing a genocide.” …
And even if somebody who "fights for the poor/working class" could somehow manage to get elected President, what is he or she going to do without solid majorities of like-minded Congress[wo]men and Senators down at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue up on Capital Hill?
Excellent piece; you nailed it. have been observing American “democracy” ever since I arrived for university education in the USA 58 years ago. I was naive and then became disillusioned when I saw what happened in Chicago in 1968. The only time I had hope for a real working class oriented presidential campaign was when my wife and I campaigned for George McGovern in 1972. Every presidential election since showed more and more who was the real political power in this country. President Woodrow Wilson stated in 1913!!! “The masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States.” (ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ BANKERS - The Hidden Agenda that Drive American Power, p. 57) Unfortunately, they were the ones who took America into WW I. The repercussion of that action was catastrophic for the world. The system hasn’t changed since those days.
And along with taking the United States into that "War To End All War" ~ which turned out to be just the beginning of a century and more of Modern War] ~ and to "Make the world safe for Democracy" ~ ie, the Bankers and the CORPORATISTS [Note: not "capitalists"; big, big difference] ~ Wilson also gave America and the Planet the Federal Reserve System, and its ability to pay for anything the government does thru the magic of the printing press and, thus, the magic of Deficit Spending and, ultimately, the National Debt.
And the system has actually changed quite a bit since those days. Those Bankers and CORPORATISTS now completely and totally own, operate, command, and control this nation's elected politicians, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed appointees.
Things were at least a little different from that back a century ago.
Jeff, while capitalism and corporations/ corporatists refer to different things, it's my view that corporations are an almost inevitable consequence of capitalism. The latter's very goals (of profit and growth thereof) lead it to all kinds of abuses (for lack of a better word). There's a natural tendency to want growth, to seek to fulfill it by dominating markets / eliminating competition, to seek to influence public policy in furtherance of these goals, to minimize production costs via eliminating or limiting regulations and minimizing labor costs, and to promote environments that support demand for their products (Say, weapons, for example).and services.
So, money's corruption of the political class doesn't come just from 'corporatists' but is a basic tendency of capitalism in the absence of sufficient counterforces - such as is the case in our pay to play system of governance.
Agree. The characters have changed and even the institutions have changed, but the basic character of the profit driven system is still the same. Politics was and still is exclusively controlled by these financial elite individuals.
In case you'd be interested, Karl, a great period novel based on that premise about capitalists and manufacturers is, "Captains and the Kings," by Taylor Caldwell. Her Afterword is chilling.
Thanks for the recommendation. It will be difficult to fit it in with all the other books I am currently reading. I did order the Kindle addition and will go directly to the afterword as soon as possible.
You're welcome, Roger. The novel was made into a mini series back in the mid-70s. Excellent production. But the book goes into much more depth about the power of the industrialists and other wealthy people/entities.
Extracts from Caitlin Johnstone’s 1 Feb 24 piece DEMOCRATS ARE DEMENTED GENOCIDAL WAR SLUTS regarding the planned and programmed escalation of the situation in the Middle East by making Iran pay for the killing of those 3 and the maiming of those 40 or so American Soldiers in Jordan [or was it Syria?]… :
… “So this looks to be yet another dramatic escalation in the middle east by the warmongering policies of the sitting US president, who has also been waging a new bombing campaign in Yemen and backing a genocide in Gaza of unbelievable savagery where starving Palestinians are now eating grass and drinking polluted water in a desperate attempt to survive. According to a memo obtained by The Intercept, US troops have been put on standby for possible involvement in Israel’s assault on Gaza as well.”…
… “Longtime Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi has been behaving even more freakishly. The former House Speaker said this past Sunday that people advocating a ceasefire in Gaza are promoting “Mr. Putin’s message,” claiming on no basis whatsoever that some pro-Palestine demonstrations are backed by Russia and should be investigated by the FBI.
… “In a video posted the very next day by antiwar activist group Code Pink, Pelosi is seen admonishing protesters against Biden’s Gaza genocide to “Go back to China where your headquarters is.” …
… “The ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party isn’t much better, with political pop stars like Bernie Sanders flailing all over the place to avoid advocating a ceasefire and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying she fully supports Biden despite his actions in Gaza and adamantly refusing to say if the president is backing a genocide.” …
… “A Democratic president engaging in genocide during a re-election year is highlighting the depravity of this warmongering corporatist party more starkly than anything else I can remember. Democrats frame themselves as responsible humanitarians who stand in opposition to the reckless murderousness and fascism of the Republican Party’s worst impulses, yet here they are openly falling all over themselves to justify mass atrocities driven by the racist feeding frenzy of a tyrannical far-right regime.” …
… “In reality the Democratic Party exists to promote the interests of the murderous US empire just as much as the Republican Party does. They might sometimes promote imperial interests in different ways, in the same way the left jab and the right cross are used differently in boxing. But just as a boxer uses jabs and crosses together to score a knockout blow, the empire uses the Democratic and Republican parties in conjunction to keep the imperial war machine trudging forward over human bodies, year after year and administration after administration.”
PS: Check out Caitlin’s piece if for no other reason than to read POTUS Maxximmuss XLVI Biden’s latest Twitter post, which includes an adorable picture of Sesame Street’s Elmo and, referring to Israel [and no doubt Ukraine], reads:
“I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days.
“Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it.
What most people fail to grasp is that both parties are simply two branches of the same tree. For years people have denied the existence of a shadow government but in fact, one does exist. However it is outside the government, not within it; and while it is not organized as such, it consists of the myriad of promoters and profiteers who steer public policy by purchasing the elections of those who govern.
Good point. And when that Shadow Government buys the elections of those governors, they buy owner's rights to operate, command, and control those that they got elected. And then keep in office.
And i can assure You that AIPAC is not the only group greasing the wheels in Washington. Itemize the "Industrial" members of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, and You will find folks giving just as much money to America's political machine as AIPAC, and more.
I really don't understand how it is that so many people obsess about trivia and truly stupid issues while ignoring all things that affect them the most. It would appear that their brains have been anesthetized - or at least that portion used for rational thought. Few people seem to be able to think clearly. Most simply want to follow the leader regardless of how blind or stupid the damned fool is, and few even know or care about how that leader is selected. I have no idea who coined the word "sheeple", but it truly applies to the majority of Americans.
Until the sheeple wake up and start using their brains, start challenging the official narrative, and revolt against the two parties, I see no hope for our future.
A good place to start, wrknight, in Your attempt to begin to understand the obsession with trivia and particularly, "stupid issues," would be the Public Education System of this nation.
How many Americans now in their 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s, 20s, or Late Teens are there who ~ when they came out of High School ~ had been taught anything about Thinking? About what it is and isn't, how it works, why it isn't always easy and is sometimes very hard, and ultimately, how to actually, effectively Do it.
Not, please note, WHAT to Think. But HOW to Think
As to those in their 70s today, enough came out of High School prepared to start to ask some serious Questions about what was going on in America at that time: First Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Dallas; and then more Vietnam along with Riots and the Assassinations.
And the Answers were not very comforting. And a significant number of those folks decided to try to do something about it. And in some cases, made some significant differences in how things unfolded as the decade wore on into the 1970s.
So the initial Question is: How well have Americans have been taught to THINK by this nation's Public Education System over these past 50 or so years?
And the follow-up Question is: And How and Why did that happen?
And the next Question is: Can anything be done to teach the Young Teens and Children still in that same Education System THINKING?
And the last and most important Question is: Can anything be done to teach Americans age 15 and up How To Think? Or at least enough to do what Folks of all Ages ~ but predominantly led by the Young ~ did back in the 60s: To start to do some serious, effective Thinking so as to be able to ask some serious Questions about what is happening in America and on this Planet, and then come up with the Answers.
Jeff, you touch on the very important issue of critical thinking, including its apparent loss, what it takes to ensure its existence, etc. This is a problem I've recognized and struggled with for several decades now. I recall well a conversation I had with a cousin's wife (I had served as an altar boy at their wedding) perhaps 20 years ago now. She was a teacher, and our conversation fairly quickly turned towards that problem. She didn't set curricula, of course, but we agreed strongly that students were not getting enough in the way of teaching about the NEED for critical thinking ability, much less any guidance for learning HOW to develop and maintain it.
It is clear to me, in any case, that whether or not they had at some time developed that ability, for far too many (as evidenced by electoral choices / outcomes) it has somehow given way to blind tribalism and the belief structures promoted therein.
Creative, critical, even combative thinking is actively discouraged.
As the college I taught at put it, succinctly and honestly, we "learn to earn." Colleges and universities today boast openly of how much their graduates make, not how critically and cleverly they think.
That's an important, if sad observation. I entered university (Fordham) in 1969; but for various personal reasons transferred (regrettably) to a State College closer to home. Perhaps it was just youthful impatience, but I came to see then that the academic thrust was in producing widgets to fit into a social system from which I was already alienated. Not wanting to be 'widget-ized', I dropped out within that next year.
While sometimes I've regretted my impatience and felt I should have at least persevered long enough to get the degree, with all its significance, (and, who knows, perhaps get some more interesting / meaningful education along the way), today I'm completely comfortable with that choice. While I didn't become a lawyer or doctor (like some of my age-peers), and didn't become a millionaire by age 30, I managed to have a fulfilling life and most importantly, to be clear about values and also, to a happy degree, live consistent with them. Yet that very fact has led to a sense of even greater bewilderment about the insufficiency of critical thinking in the greater society.
As to your initial sentence, wrknight, the Romans had the answer more than two millennia ago: bread and circuses. The Super Bowl being a prime example.
Oh, just enough of the populous gets just enough of the bread (crumbs?) to keep them complacent and willing to 'go along to get along'; and the precarity even they feel is enough to keep them from rocking the boat too hard. And among those for whom precarity isn't experienced, they are kept distracted with the Culture War issues that are wielded so artfully by both sides of the duopoly.
CEO of "What is Our Country Our Choice", Col. Douglas Macgregor, explains about the primary purpose behind "Our Country Our Choice", and the importance on joining the movement to create real change in America!
I respect the analysis of Douglas Macgregor, and the info for his Organization has the very same goal Bill has been attempting to foster here as the Regulars all know.
It's good to see there are so many new Regulars here!
This is Col. Macgregor's assessment of where this World is at as of Yesterday, and I mostly agree with his perceptions;
We need strong 3rd parties cause the duopoly ain't working for democracy ain't working for the people. People are so frustrated with the inner beltline in Wash. DC they vote for a Trumpster.
Where are 'for the people' candidates in the duopoly: *ain't none*
Excellent piece, Bill. Another nominee for inclusion in THE BEST OF BV.
However, finding "candidates who actually want to help America without killing massive numbers of foreigners overseas" ~ and have even a snowball's chance in Hell of actually getting elected ~ is 2024's "Mission Impossible."
Again, yet, and still, i recommend voting for NOTC: "NONE OF THESE CANDITATES."
If a critical mass of Americans did that, things would have at least an opportunity and thus chance to change.
As it stands right now, nothing is going to change except to get worse; for Americans and for the rest of the Planet.
Yes, a wonderful song, nevermore and, I fear, forever relevant absent a major leap in collective consciousness. Yet the very system we are talking about itself tends to impede that development.
How come no Nation in the United Nations is bringing a Motion to the Security Council calling for an IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE again since the International Court of Justice ruling it is satisfied there is enough evidence Israel IS committing Genocide, and the Court will look into it, but in the MEANtime, stop killing and displacing Palestinians in Gaza on such a MASSIVE scale?
Maybe the US has already VETOED such a Motion beforehand, behind the scenes, preventing it from getting to a Security Council Vote, so the US is not put in the position it would have to use it's VETO in Public?
"Push a Biden supporter hard enough on what their president is doing in Gaza and eventually they’ll start babbling about how bad Donald Trump is. As though Trump being bad somehow negates the depravity of backing an active genocide. Or as though backing an active genocide is an excusable offense if it means a little more student debt forgiveness or something.
Democrats have no way to reconcile Gaza with what they believe about themselves and what values they supposedly hold, so when confronted with the horrifying reality of what their president is doing in the middle east they’re left with no option but to plunge their heads into the sand and scream “TRUMP!!!” as loud as they can. Nothing has exposed the true nature of the Democratic Party like a Democrat president running for re-election during a US-backed genocide.
How an arcane Old Testament legend and Rapture-ready Texas evangelicals may have helped set the table for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Hamas plotted the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in great secrecy. Although Israeli military intelligence caught wind of extensive and mysterious training in Gaza months earlier, the final preparations for the Oct. 7 attacks were known only among Hamas’ top leadership. A rare window into the decision-making process, however, was opened during a bizarre interview on Oct. 26 on the Egyptian satellite TV channel Sada El Balad.
Mustapha Bakri, an Egyptian member of Parliament and prominent media personality, interviewed the former head of Hamas in Gaza and now senior leader of its Qatar exile group, Khaled Mashal, about the surprise attack on Israel three weeks prior. As reported later that day by the Egyptian newspaper Shorouk News, Mashal told Bakri that the operation was necessary to disrupt Israel’s scheme “to import five red cows from the United States of America to implement the Zionist plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa [mosque] in the shortest possible period.”
“Shame would stain the nation’s forehead,” Mashal continued. “And so, the Al-Aqsa Flood operation was necessary.”
Five red cows? Imported from the United States? The destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque? What on earth was he talking about? ...........................................................................
If anyone thought my priority Spiritual beliefs were strange, I believe this is very serious with the Old Testament Jewish Religious Establishment that took over Israeli government priorities in January 2023.
Hamas is basically a Religious Movement, and the Quran also has sacred cows you'll discover following the link.
It's the natural reaction/consequence, seeing the extremist Jewish Zealots excited about the cows and their plans to build a 3rd Jewish Temple once they find the way to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount.
That necessitated the Hamas Al-Aqsa Flood operation October 7 that really did shake up this complacent World with unpredictable consequences.
Netanyahu has come out with his post Gaza WAR plan.
First, it establishes an Israeli military government in Gaza to manage civil affairs.
That's exactly what the Israeli military government is doing already in the OCCUPIED West Bank long before October 7.
There's no Sovereignty for OCCUPIED Palestinians when they're tried in Israeli Military Courts for any infraction, even minor ones, with a 99% conviction rate.
Over 300 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Settlers or the IDF since October 7, but that doesn't get much coverage in the US-West
October 7, 2022
United States President Joe Biden has warned the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
It is coincidence or design as a SIGN, one Year to the Day, October 7, 2023 opened the way to Armageddon, that Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty?
The US political class and their corporate pay-masters don't give a rat's ass about what is in the best interests of working men and women. The people are treated as nothing more than malleable serfs in our new "techno-feudalistic" society. Self-aggrandizement and war making are the only two urges they have. The system is irrevocably broken, not to mention corrupted. With the looming weeks-long bombing raids against Iranian supporters that are planned by Biden/Blinken/Sullivan/Nuland, we are staring into the abyss.
And don't forget the most important question in the week leading to the Swift, I mean Super, Bowl - who will Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce endorse?
Unfortunately, I think we are long past the point where any national election is going to make a difference in the direction this country is headed. Politics is too corrupted by money; the politicians themselves are degenerate representations of who we are told they are. US foreign policy is controlled by defense contractors and the state of Israel. The MSM functions as a propaganda ministry to push narratives that keep the citizenry in fear and uncertainty - and hating their neighbors that hold different views of some carefully selected issues.
Voting third party may satisfy, but it will change nothing.
Vote NOTC: NONE OF THESE CANDIDATES.
If enough Americans did that on November 5, it could change everything.
Unfortunately, I think that depends on each state's election laws. Some require a write-in candidate be registered before the election; some have thresholds for counting those votes. I agree in spirit that NOTC or NOTA would be great. I'm just not sure if it would actually work given the lack of consistent approach to vote counting.
Indeed it does, TomR. According to Ballotpedia [ https://ballotpedia.org/Write-in_candidate ]:
"A write-in candidate is someone whose name does not appear on the ballot, but whose name must be written on the ballot by voters.
"As of 2020, most states allowed voters to write in the name of a candidate who does not appear on the ballot. However, states had varying rules about which write-in votes would be counted. These rules can be grouped into three categories:
~ No requirements for whom voters may write-in
~ Only write-in votes for registered candidates will be counted.
~ No write-in votes allowed
"Eight states did not have any requirements and would allow voters to write in any name as a write-in vote.[3] Those states were Alabama, Delaware, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and Wyoming.
"Thirty-three states would only accept votes for write-in candidates who officially registered with the state. In order for the vote to be counted, the candidate must have submitted all the necessary registration documents by a specific deadline, either by filing paperwork, paying a fee, collecting signatures, or some combination of the aforementioned.[4][5]
"Nine states (Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina and South Dakota), did not allow write-in votes."
And an alternative to writing-in NOTC is to get NOTC listed as an actual choice on the ballot, like it is in Nevada and has been since 1975. Nevadans don't need to write-in "None Of These Candidates"; all they have to do is pull a lever on the voting machine, just like every other voter for every other candidate.
And with 278 days until Election Day 2024, there is PLENTY of time to make that happen in every other state in America.
A fringe idea that has failed to get traction in the US in 50-years!
Very debatable that it has ever had any effect on anything.
Tantamount to wasting your vote.
A long, long time ago, there was a saying that was popular among some of us that went:
Roosevelt proved that you could be president for as long as you liked.
Truman proved that anyone could be president
Eisenhower proved that we don't need a president.
I sometimes think we would be better off without one.
And the latest one I heard: No matter who you vote for, you get John McCain.
"I can’t recall an election season less connected to the concerns of middle- and working-class Americans."
Me either, Bill. The tone-deafness is beyond belief.
I feel better having you say that. Sometimes I think I'm losing it ...
I keep seeing articles about widespread anxiety and depression in this country, and I think, "It's not all in our heads. We have damn good reason to be anxious and depressed!"
A growing number of Americans are sensing ~ even if they are not saying it out loud or actually really DOING something, anything about it ~ and in fact realizing that this nation is on a Collision Course with Reality, and that when Contact occurs, it is going to get very, Very Ugly.
So where is the political candidate who is saying that, and actually, really proposing to DO something about it.
Oh, I think most Americans live reality every day. Just ask the parents who are working four jobs between them to put food on the table. They do indeed sense what's going on. They just snatch at any diversions offered to distract from their predicaments, and slog on. In other words, they know, but they feel completely disempowered (which, in fact, they are).
The parties in power will never allow a candidate who fights for the poor/working class. Just ask Bernie Sanders.
i'm not talking about the Reality faced and experienced by individual Americans and their families and neighbor, Denise.
i'm talking about the Reality of a Nation State that is beginning to unravel at the seams of Civil Society, the Economy, the Environment, and above all, the Government.
i'm talking about the Reality of the end of The American Experiment in a democratically-elected Constitutional republic under a Rule of Law.
i'm talking about the Reality of a descent into Economic, and thus and then Civil Society Chaos. And then its only alternative: Tyranny. Coupled with Wars in Europe, the Middle East, and soon, East Asia.
That's the Reality i'm talking about.
And Bernie Sanders may "fight for the poor/working class," but as Caitlin Johnstone noted in her 1 Feb piece i posted here on BV earlier today:
… “The ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party isn’t much better, with political pop stars like Bernie Sanders flailing all over the place to avoid advocating a ceasefire and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying she fully supports Biden despite his actions in Gaza and adamantly refusing to say if the president is backing a genocide.” …
Got it, jg. Didn't initially understand the reality you were referring to.
And even if somebody who "fights for the poor/working class" could somehow manage to get elected President, what is he or she going to do without solid majorities of like-minded Congress[wo]men and Senators down at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue up on Capital Hill?
The first event is impossible from the get-go without the second event.
Trust me, Colonel... You are not losing it. In fact, You are beginning to find it. ~ jeff
Excellent piece; you nailed it. have been observing American “democracy” ever since I arrived for university education in the USA 58 years ago. I was naive and then became disillusioned when I saw what happened in Chicago in 1968. The only time I had hope for a real working class oriented presidential campaign was when my wife and I campaigned for George McGovern in 1972. Every presidential election since showed more and more who was the real political power in this country. President Woodrow Wilson stated in 1913!!! “The masters of the government of the United States are the combined capitalists and manufacturers of the United States.” (ALL THE PRESIDENTS’ BANKERS - The Hidden Agenda that Drive American Power, p. 57) Unfortunately, they were the ones who took America into WW I. The repercussion of that action was catastrophic for the world. The system hasn’t changed since those days.
Excellent point, Karl.
And along with taking the United States into that "War To End All War" ~ which turned out to be just the beginning of a century and more of Modern War] ~ and to "Make the world safe for Democracy" ~ ie, the Bankers and the CORPORATISTS [Note: not "capitalists"; big, big difference] ~ Wilson also gave America and the Planet the Federal Reserve System, and its ability to pay for anything the government does thru the magic of the printing press and, thus, the magic of Deficit Spending and, ultimately, the National Debt.
And the system has actually changed quite a bit since those days. Those Bankers and CORPORATISTS now completely and totally own, operate, command, and control this nation's elected politicians, entrenched civilian and military bureaucrats, and anointed appointees.
Things were at least a little different from that back a century ago.
Jeff, while capitalism and corporations/ corporatists refer to different things, it's my view that corporations are an almost inevitable consequence of capitalism. The latter's very goals (of profit and growth thereof) lead it to all kinds of abuses (for lack of a better word). There's a natural tendency to want growth, to seek to fulfill it by dominating markets / eliminating competition, to seek to influence public policy in furtherance of these goals, to minimize production costs via eliminating or limiting regulations and minimizing labor costs, and to promote environments that support demand for their products (Say, weapons, for example).and services.
So, money's corruption of the political class doesn't come just from 'corporatists' but is a basic tendency of capitalism in the absence of sufficient counterforces - such as is the case in our pay to play system of governance.
Agree. The characters have changed and even the institutions have changed, but the basic character of the profit driven system is still the same. Politics was and still is exclusively controlled by these financial elite individuals.
In case you'd be interested, Karl, a great period novel based on that premise about capitalists and manufacturers is, "Captains and the Kings," by Taylor Caldwell. Her Afterword is chilling.
Thanks for the recommendation. It will be difficult to fit it in with all the other books I am currently reading. I did order the Kindle addition and will go directly to the afterword as soon as possible.
You're welcome! I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Thanks for the reference... I'll put it on my reading list.
You're welcome, Roger. The novel was made into a mini series back in the mid-70s. Excellent production. But the book goes into much more depth about the power of the industrialists and other wealthy people/entities.
Extracts from Caitlin Johnstone’s 1 Feb 24 piece DEMOCRATS ARE DEMENTED GENOCIDAL WAR SLUTS regarding the planned and programmed escalation of the situation in the Middle East by making Iran pay for the killing of those 3 and the maiming of those 40 or so American Soldiers in Jordan [or was it Syria?]… :
… “So this looks to be yet another dramatic escalation in the middle east by the warmongering policies of the sitting US president, who has also been waging a new bombing campaign in Yemen and backing a genocide in Gaza of unbelievable savagery where starving Palestinians are now eating grass and drinking polluted water in a desperate attempt to survive. According to a memo obtained by The Intercept, US troops have been put on standby for possible involvement in Israel’s assault on Gaza as well.”…
… “Longtime Democratic Party leader Nancy Pelosi has been behaving even more freakishly. The former House Speaker said this past Sunday that people advocating a ceasefire in Gaza are promoting “Mr. Putin’s message,” claiming on no basis whatsoever that some pro-Palestine demonstrations are backed by Russia and should be investigated by the FBI.
… “In a video posted the very next day by antiwar activist group Code Pink, Pelosi is seen admonishing protesters against Biden’s Gaza genocide to “Go back to China where your headquarters is.” …
… “The ‘progressive’ wing of the Democratic Party isn’t much better, with political pop stars like Bernie Sanders flailing all over the place to avoid advocating a ceasefire and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez saying she fully supports Biden despite his actions in Gaza and adamantly refusing to say if the president is backing a genocide.” …
… “A Democratic president engaging in genocide during a re-election year is highlighting the depravity of this warmongering corporatist party more starkly than anything else I can remember. Democrats frame themselves as responsible humanitarians who stand in opposition to the reckless murderousness and fascism of the Republican Party’s worst impulses, yet here they are openly falling all over themselves to justify mass atrocities driven by the racist feeding frenzy of a tyrannical far-right regime.” …
… “In reality the Democratic Party exists to promote the interests of the murderous US empire just as much as the Republican Party does. They might sometimes promote imperial interests in different ways, in the same way the left jab and the right cross are used differently in boxing. But just as a boxer uses jabs and crosses together to score a knockout blow, the empire uses the Democratic and Republican parties in conjunction to keep the imperial war machine trudging forward over human bodies, year after year and administration after administration.”
Full article at https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/democrats-are-demented-genocidal .
PS: Check out Caitlin’s piece if for no other reason than to read POTUS Maxximmuss XLVI Biden’s latest Twitter post, which includes an adorable picture of Sesame Street’s Elmo and, referring to Israel [and no doubt Ukraine], reads:
“I know how hard it is some days to sweep the clouds away and get to sunnier days.
“Our friend Elmo is right: We have to be there for each other, offer our help to a neighbor in need, and above all else, ask for help when we need it.
“Even though it's hard, you're never alone.”
What most people fail to grasp is that both parties are simply two branches of the same tree. For years people have denied the existence of a shadow government but in fact, one does exist. However it is outside the government, not within it; and while it is not organized as such, it consists of the myriad of promoters and profiteers who steer public policy by purchasing the elections of those who govern.
AIPAC being among them.
Good point. And when that Shadow Government buys the elections of those governors, they buy owner's rights to operate, command, and control those that they got elected. And then keep in office.
And i can assure You that AIPAC is not the only group greasing the wheels in Washington. Itemize the "Industrial" members of the Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex, and You will find folks giving just as much money to America's political machine as AIPAC, and more.
Attributed to many people, I credit Upton Sinclair: "The Democrats and Republicans are two wings of the same bird of prey."
The eagle.
As I recall Ben Franklin opposed the adoption of the eagle as a national symbol on the basis of it being a predator.
Also attributed to many people:
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross."
As a very wise somebody once put it: “You can’t make this shit up.”
I really don't understand how it is that so many people obsess about trivia and truly stupid issues while ignoring all things that affect them the most. It would appear that their brains have been anesthetized - or at least that portion used for rational thought. Few people seem to be able to think clearly. Most simply want to follow the leader regardless of how blind or stupid the damned fool is, and few even know or care about how that leader is selected. I have no idea who coined the word "sheeple", but it truly applies to the majority of Americans.
Until the sheeple wake up and start using their brains, start challenging the official narrative, and revolt against the two parties, I see no hope for our future.
A good place to start, wrknight, in Your attempt to begin to understand the obsession with trivia and particularly, "stupid issues," would be the Public Education System of this nation.
How many Americans now in their 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s, 20s, or Late Teens are there who ~ when they came out of High School ~ had been taught anything about Thinking? About what it is and isn't, how it works, why it isn't always easy and is sometimes very hard, and ultimately, how to actually, effectively Do it.
Not, please note, WHAT to Think. But HOW to Think
As to those in their 70s today, enough came out of High School prepared to start to ask some serious Questions about what was going on in America at that time: First Vietnam, Civil Rights, and Dallas; and then more Vietnam along with Riots and the Assassinations.
And the Answers were not very comforting. And a significant number of those folks decided to try to do something about it. And in some cases, made some significant differences in how things unfolded as the decade wore on into the 1970s.
So the initial Question is: How well have Americans have been taught to THINK by this nation's Public Education System over these past 50 or so years?
And the follow-up Question is: And How and Why did that happen?
And the next Question is: Can anything be done to teach the Young Teens and Children still in that same Education System THINKING?
And the last and most important Question is: Can anything be done to teach Americans age 15 and up How To Think? Or at least enough to do what Folks of all Ages ~ but predominantly led by the Young ~ did back in the 60s: To start to do some serious, effective Thinking so as to be able to ask some serious Questions about what is happening in America and on this Planet, and then come up with the Answers.
Jeff, you touch on the very important issue of critical thinking, including its apparent loss, what it takes to ensure its existence, etc. This is a problem I've recognized and struggled with for several decades now. I recall well a conversation I had with a cousin's wife (I had served as an altar boy at their wedding) perhaps 20 years ago now. She was a teacher, and our conversation fairly quickly turned towards that problem. She didn't set curricula, of course, but we agreed strongly that students were not getting enough in the way of teaching about the NEED for critical thinking ability, much less any guidance for learning HOW to develop and maintain it.
It is clear to me, in any case, that whether or not they had at some time developed that ability, for far too many (as evidenced by electoral choices / outcomes) it has somehow given way to blind tribalism and the belief structures promoted therein.
Creative, critical, even combative thinking is actively discouraged.
As the college I taught at put it, succinctly and honestly, we "learn to earn." Colleges and universities today boast openly of how much their graduates make, not how critically and cleverly they think.
That's an important, if sad observation. I entered university (Fordham) in 1969; but for various personal reasons transferred (regrettably) to a State College closer to home. Perhaps it was just youthful impatience, but I came to see then that the academic thrust was in producing widgets to fit into a social system from which I was already alienated. Not wanting to be 'widget-ized', I dropped out within that next year.
While sometimes I've regretted my impatience and felt I should have at least persevered long enough to get the degree, with all its significance, (and, who knows, perhaps get some more interesting / meaningful education along the way), today I'm completely comfortable with that choice. While I didn't become a lawyer or doctor (like some of my age-peers), and didn't become a millionaire by age 30, I managed to have a fulfilling life and most importantly, to be clear about values and also, to a happy degree, live consistent with them. Yet that very fact has led to a sense of even greater bewilderment about the insufficiency of critical thinking in the greater society.
When was the last time you were in a Public Education System classroom Jeff?
55-years ago?
How would you know what is taught about "Thinking" in classrooms in 2024? GMAFB
As to your initial sentence, wrknight, the Romans had the answer more than two millennia ago: bread and circuses. The Super Bowl being a prime example.
True, but in our case, we're only getting the circuses and not the bread.
Agree. But perhaps the endless, continual, "cheap pizza and extras" ads have supplanted the bread distributions. ; )
Oh, just enough of the populous gets just enough of the bread (crumbs?) to keep them complacent and willing to 'go along to get along'; and the precarity even they feel is enough to keep them from rocking the boat too hard. And among those for whom precarity isn't experienced, they are kept distracted with the Culture War issues that are wielded so artfully by both sides of the duopoly.
Heh. Good point.
I won't vote for the Genocide Joe party at any office or level.
For them Palestinians are same as fetuses, non human.
What is Our Country Our Choice?
CEO of "What is Our Country Our Choice", Col. Douglas Macgregor, explains about the primary purpose behind "Our Country Our Choice", and the importance on joining the movement to create real change in America!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvy92jQQ1sw
This guy will go down in history as one of the most important voices in US foreign policy.
A man of truth, honor and truth. People like him can restore faith in America.
ourcountryourchoice.com
I respect the analysis of Douglas Macgregor, and the info for his Organization has the very same goal Bill has been attempting to foster here as the Regulars all know.
It's good to see there are so many new Regulars here!
This is Col. Macgregor's assessment of where this World is at as of Yesterday, and I mostly agree with his perceptions;
https://youtu.be/w9l7-JyXPp4?si=QvFOt-HSVccJd4BT
We need strong 3rd parties cause the duopoly ain't working for democracy ain't working for the people. People are so frustrated with the inner beltline in Wash. DC they vote for a Trumpster.
Where are 'for the people' candidates in the duopoly: *ain't none*
Excellent piece, Bill. Another nominee for inclusion in THE BEST OF BV.
However, finding "candidates who actually want to help America without killing massive numbers of foreigners overseas" ~ and have even a snowball's chance in Hell of actually getting elected ~ is 2024's "Mission Impossible."
Again, yet, and still, i recommend voting for NOTC: "NONE OF THESE CANDITATES."
If a critical mass of Americans did that, things would have at least an opportunity and thus chance to change.
As it stands right now, nothing is going to change except to get worse; for Americans and for the rest of the Planet.
Where oh where have all the flowers gone?
“Young girls picked them, every one…
“Where have all the young girls gone
Gone to young men, every one…
“Where have all the young men gone
Gone to soldiers, every one…
“Where have all the soldiers gone
Gone to graveyards, every one…
"Where have all the graveyards gone
Gone to flowers, every one…
"When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?"
~ Pete Seeger
Yes, a wonderful song, nevermore and, I fear, forever relevant absent a major leap in collective consciousness. Yet the very system we are talking about itself tends to impede that development.
How come no Nation in the United Nations is bringing a Motion to the Security Council calling for an IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE again since the International Court of Justice ruling it is satisfied there is enough evidence Israel IS committing Genocide, and the Court will look into it, but in the MEANtime, stop killing and displacing Palestinians in Gaza on such a MASSIVE scale?
Maybe the US has already VETOED such a Motion beforehand, behind the scenes, preventing it from getting to a Security Council Vote, so the US is not put in the position it would have to use it's VETO in Public?
"The only debate is over which foreign country is more dangerous to America. China? Russia? Iran? Maybe even North Korea?"
The answer is the United States of America,
Caitlan Johnstone:
"Push a Biden supporter hard enough on what their president is doing in Gaza and eventually they’ll start babbling about how bad Donald Trump is. As though Trump being bad somehow negates the depravity of backing an active genocide. Or as though backing an active genocide is an excusable offense if it means a little more student debt forgiveness or something.
Democrats have no way to reconcile Gaza with what they believe about themselves and what values they supposedly hold, so when confronted with the horrifying reality of what their president is doing in the middle east they’re left with no option but to plunge their heads into the sand and scream “TRUMP!!!” as loud as they can. Nothing has exposed the true nature of the Democratic Party like a Democrat president running for re-election during a US-backed genocide.
Trump showed himself to be the servant of Israel in his 1st term.
Trump-Biden '24? Two sides of the same coin of the realm!
The Gaza War and the Red Cows of Jewish Prophecy
How an arcane Old Testament legend and Rapture-ready Texas evangelicals may have helped set the table for Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Hamas plotted the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in great secrecy. Although Israeli military intelligence caught wind of extensive and mysterious training in Gaza months earlier, the final preparations for the Oct. 7 attacks were known only among Hamas’ top leadership. A rare window into the decision-making process, however, was opened during a bizarre interview on Oct. 26 on the Egyptian satellite TV channel Sada El Balad.
Mustapha Bakri, an Egyptian member of Parliament and prominent media personality, interviewed the former head of Hamas in Gaza and now senior leader of its Qatar exile group, Khaled Mashal, about the surprise attack on Israel three weeks prior. As reported later that day by the Egyptian newspaper Shorouk News, Mashal told Bakri that the operation was necessary to disrupt Israel’s scheme “to import five red cows from the United States of America to implement the Zionist plan to destroy the Al-Aqsa [mosque] in the shortest possible period.”
“Shame would stain the nation’s forehead,” Mashal continued. “And so, the Al-Aqsa Flood operation was necessary.”
Five red cows? Imported from the United States? The destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque? What on earth was he talking about? ...........................................................................
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-gaza-war-and-the-red-cows-of-jewish-prophecy/
If anyone thought my priority Spiritual beliefs were strange, I believe this is very serious with the Old Testament Jewish Religious Establishment that took over Israeli government priorities in January 2023.
Hamas is basically a Religious Movement, and the Quran also has sacred cows you'll discover following the link.
It's the natural reaction/consequence, seeing the extremist Jewish Zealots excited about the cows and their plans to build a 3rd Jewish Temple once they find the way to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount.
That necessitated the Hamas Al-Aqsa Flood operation October 7 that really did shake up this complacent World with unpredictable consequences.
Netanyahu has come out with his post Gaza WAR plan.
First, it establishes an Israeli military government in Gaza to manage civil affairs.
That's exactly what the Israeli military government is doing already in the OCCUPIED West Bank long before October 7.
There's no Sovereignty for OCCUPIED Palestinians when they're tried in Israeli Military Courts for any infraction, even minor ones, with a 99% conviction rate.
Over 300 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed by Settlers or the IDF since October 7, but that doesn't get much coverage in the US-West
October 7, 2022
United States President Joe Biden has warned the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at its highest since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962
It is coincidence or design as a SIGN, one Year to the Day, October 7, 2023 opened the way to Armageddon, that Battle of the Great Day of God Almighty?