I finished watching the final night of the PBS series about religion in america.They had footage of obama giving his inauguration speech. I have often been struck by what seemed the occasional flatness of obama's speech. not in this clip. He talked about the plurality of america, and he said something i interpreted to be inspired by martin luther king, of civil rights and true total equality for absolutely every shade and hue. i dont think it was lip service. obama wanted to be a civil rights president. he wanted to raise the underclass. he is after all the first black president.
Early in Obama's quest for a health bill, the former premier of singapore, a very wise, worldly and experienced guy, summarized the bill very quickly, its an attempt to insure 30 million uninsured with no plan to pay for it.
obama has scared the overclass, mostly white. they have seen somewhat correctly that obama wanted to raise people, but he had not much plan for paying for it and they presumed it would necessarily have to be at their expense. this is what sets them off the most, the redistribution of wealth button. this is at the heart of the socialism charge. I cannot explain the muslim suspicion and the secret plan to chop off your head if you love jesus. that is beyond my tolerance for bullshit.
obama of course is right, the vision of a pluralistic color-blind, religion-blind free country is a wonderful thing to hear anyone speak of with conviction, and to be a part of. not just education, but every child deserves a loving and supportive environment. we will all be richer if everyone has a chance to be their full self.
what disappoints me most bitterly is the relentless propaganda, chiefly, saying obama is ruining the country on purpose. i have heard limbaugh, hannity, beck, savage, the usual mccarthyist cabal, say this so forcefully and so repeatedly, i have no choice but to conclude once and for all, these men are in the historical tradition, not only of mccarthy, but of goebbels.
joseph goebbels of course is the nazi propaganda artist. 6 million people were shoveled into furnaces. it took a lot of people to do that. how do you get people to do something like that? do you find crazy people, or do you turn them? the bigger the lie, said goebbels, the more likely it is to be believed. the lie: jews were ruining the country.
mike taibbi of rolling stone is one of my favorite journalists. perhaps he can explain better than i. social issues are a red herring. a red herring is a diversion. in this article, he remarks near the middle, how democrats in congress can side themselves with the theft of billions of dollars, all the while championing proper social issues.
http://www.rollingstone.com/...
I build industrial equipment, equipment for other factories. I have been doing this for 30 years. the view from my small corner is that almost all of it is going out of the country. to simplify, i believe wall street is sucking money out of main street. its a little more complicated than that. to survive we have to solve the problem, what is the second stage of capitalism? has there ever been a capitalist country thrive and grow that did not have low labor rates?
mother jones did a fine public service in their january 2010 issue, they called, "too big to jail". Basically they showed how the legislative process in congress is corrupt.
http://motherjones.com/...
last but not least, our military budget approaches a trillion dollars a year. this is for the purpose of keeping america safe. while this is a noble purpose, you only have to study what we have done with these good intentions for the last 60 years, and wish we had not been quite so eager to shower our protection around the world. human rights extends across national boundaries. everyone has the right to self-determination. ron paul's military policy is more liberal than barack obama's.
why are social issues a red herring?
the american economy is in serious long term trouble.
the legislative process, no matter who wins, is corrupt and irrelevant.
american militarism is a bleeding sore.
national politics, things that really matter, the economy, the legislative ability to solve problems, american militarism, have changed the least from republican to democrat president. you don't have to give people equality if they can take it. if you don't have a shrinking pie, you don't have to fight so much how to carve it. our modern democracy is largely a battle of propaganda. barack obama has a wonderful vision of a country that has the most varied most pluralistic population in the world, a country truly equal and free. but there is always going to be a struggle for power. the struggle for power in our democracy is largely a war of propaganda. propaganda to be effective must have a kernel of truth.
very simply, the propaganda is saying barack obama is a win-lose situation. Its not overtly racist, but it is overtly have versus have nots. The victims are not necessarily bad people. they have families to raise too. they worry about their future. they can go bankrupt as easily as anyone else. they face an uncertain future. approximately a third of the american population is measured as no longer approving of the performance of barack obama as president. they hired him, they can fire him.
modern leaders have got to learn to deal with propaganda. they cannot ignore what is being used against them, and why it is working. the reward for propaganda, winning elections, would be harder to claim, if instead of minimizing the other side, the other side is understood. what is the image of prosperity? is it constant war, legislative corruption, factories leaving town, unemployment, under-employment, entire life savings fluctuating by 50% in retirement funds while super computers buy and sell in seconds? you cannot manage social issues if the society is in decline or perceived decline. you cannot bullshit people into feeling good if for the first time in their life they are afraid of the future. these are the real issues. either everybody has a better economic future, or its a struggle, and fairness is out the window. sound economic decisions have to be de-politicized, corporate theft has to be effectively controlled, research and education have to flourish, the insanity of a prostitute congress has to end, the 60 years of a militaristic america has to begin to end, for the sake of the american people.