I believe that America is in far worse shape than most people realize. We are being financially raped and it won't be finished until the oligarchs have completely plundered the assets and labor of the USA. Few Americans are prepared for the final outcome of this, which I believe is just a few years away. The class war is already lost, we've been sold. As long as the supreme court decision giving corporations the right to buy our elections still stands, there is not a chance in hell. Do you see our beloved president and other democrats in congress moving to neutralize that ruling? No one important is even talking about it.
One positive thing is that I'm starting to see, is the divisive right/left, liberal/conservative paradigm beginning to break down - not among our politicians (as the theater must continue), but for the general population who are starting to realize just how much we've all been sold out by the elected officials from both parties. We will soon have more in common (a greatly lowered standard of living) that will make previous ideological differences seem minor.
I am becoming convinced that working within the structure of the two traditional parties is no longer meaningful. I realize this is a democratic blog, but this country is not going to change under the present two-party system, it is broken. I think time and energy would be better spent organizing protests such as general strikes and other acts of civil disobedience, because voting certainly isn't getting their attention. Obama might have been the best we could have done, but it's apparent that he's not near to being good enough. While he is "better than Bush", in the final analysis, he is just another front man for large economic interests that do not have the people's welfare anywhere in their hearts.
What inspired me to write this was stumbling across a blog called The Rookie Cynic. There are a couple of great interviews posted on this site with Chris Hedges and Michael Hudson.
Follow me below the fold for a list of some of the points made in these interviews. In aggregate, they predict a future which I think few Americans are prepared to face. I'm not much of a writer so please forgive any syntax or organizational problems with my diary. I publish this not as a "sky is falling" doom & gloom report, but as a reality check.
Chris Hedges:
there are no major institutions in U.S. today that are genuinely
democratic
a form of “inverted totalitarianism” now controls America, not via an
individual dictator, but through a mostly anonymous corporate state
coup-de-etat in “slow motion” occurred; corporations used the media
and the iconography of patriotism and the Constitution to corrupt the
levers of power to such an extent that the citizenry is now “impotent”
liberals and conservatives now pay fealty to the corporations
Bush and then Obama destroyed national and international law with
invasion of and continued war in Iraq (loss of habeas corpus,
bypassing of “just war” theory, pre-emptive war etc.)
it’s now a waste of energy to engage in electoral politics because
it’s rigged
Obama administration is a “poster-child” of the “craven hypocrisy” of
the liberal class: they’ve walked out on women’s rights, allowed
spying and targeting of U.S. citizens, kept Guantanamo camps open,
continued borrowing to support wars etc.
U.S. is now an oligarchic state, the enemy is Wall Street
Tea Party and Libertarian anger is purposely steered away from Wall
Street and toward government in general and Obama in specific, also
towards Muslims and immigrants
only non-violent way to resist the corporate superstructure is by
going local: gardens, local business, get off grid, local government,
etc.
U.S headed for “really rough times”
ecosystem is in trouble: liberal agenda failed at Copenhagen,
basically killed Kyoto accords,
he states Americans are living in twilight world of electronic hallucination “characteristic of dying civilizations”
liberal establishment was formerly a “safety valve” within a
functioning democracy by making change and reform possible through
official channels and by discrediting radicals, Chris states that such
a safety valve which no longer exists
“news” is not the same as truth
corporate assault has dismantled and corporat-ized the traditional
“liberal strongholds”: the press and universities, institutions which
are now powerless to change society
both parties now completely dependent on corporate money to stay in
power
the permanent war economy fostered by Wall Street and Madison Avenue
isjustified through emotion laden propaganda: fear of enemies, foreign
and domestic
press missed the nexus of the recent financial crisis and actually
furthered the propaganda of the “criminal class” by becoming
stenographers for the perpetrators on Wall Street (What’s wrong with
the economy? Let’s interview Robert Rubin. He’ll know.)
internet propels people towards “intellectual ghettos”
no ethic of “reality based facts” in much of the blogosphere
the “Church” was run over by the Christian fascists (killing Muslims
in Iraq is okay gang) and corporate Christians (Jesus wants you to be
rich gang)
comfort and career-ism mutes people’s natural response to evil and
falsehood
action tips: get out of consumer culture, focus on moral imperatives
over political expediency, change via bottom up activism
profile of typical politicians: they’re either mediocre (Obama) or
venal (Bush)
Michael Hudson:
the corporate and banking power structure favors a depression in U.S.
as an excuse to lower wages by 20% in a “vain” attempt to make the
economy more viable and themselves richer
Wall Street bankers and corporations (Obama’s financiers) are
parasites, feeding off a host (the U.S. economy)
financial sector wants to hog all available money to bail out banks
instead of working people
U.S. government’s and citizenry’s inability to pay debts = game over,
means banks and corporations likely to look elsewhere for profits
Federal Reserve wants to re-inflate a housing bubble and in so doing,
push middle class into eternal debt, essentially positioning them “one
paycheck away from homelessness” (editors note: this will be handy for putting a chill on strikes, or general strikes)
U.S. bailout money was reinvested by finance sector, not in U.S., but
in emerging markets
finance capitalism stifles the industrial economy because all the
surplus goes to the banks, instead of being reinvested in the “real”
economy
parasitic bankers will feast on the current host (USA) until it dies,
then move on to greener pastures (BRICs and Asia)