FDR really did nail it, when he made THIS statement, 75 years ago….
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.”
— Franklin D. Roosevelt, April 29, 1938. Message to congress
And, so did neoliberal economist Jeffrey Sachs,
whose commentary I will
sum-up and slightly paraphrase when I make the statement,
"Our government is now controlled by five corporate gangs: Big Energy, Wall Street, the Military Industrial/Intelligence Complex, Big Ag/Big Food, and Big Pharma."
It's time we stopped mincing words.
Of course, another (perhaps slightly more appropriate and polite term) way of labelling this is the term: "Inverted Totalitarianism," a phrase coined by Princeton University Professor Emeritus Sheldon Wolin.
One need look no further than this event for confirmation of everything stated above: 2011 Gov’t Report Confirmation: DHS, Banks Gathered Key Intel On OWS From Daily Kos, Other Sites.
They say that understanding and/or "knowing the problem is half the solution."
IMHO, it's time we stopped mincing words...if not now, when?
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NOTE: My sentiments, above, have relatively little to do with any particular government or major party that's in power in the U.S., today. I truly believe that--Republican or Democrat--due to the greater, over-arching realities of America's "two-party" system, also as noted above, right now, we would be where we are, regardless.
UPDATE (6-13-13 4:35PM EDT): I hope you will take the time to “rec up” this very relevant piece, just posted by Kossack Jen Hayden: "Sen. Elizabeth Warren calls for the release of trade documents." It directly relates to everything I mention in my post, above. The trade legislation before our government, if passed as-is, complete with the Fast-Track legislation--which greatly contributes to obfuscating these comprehensive trade initiatives—will shut the proverbial door when it comes to our society addressing many of the inconvenient realities I note in the post, above. It’s one of the most important issues of our time, and it affects just about everything in our society—from climate change to Wall Street—and everything in-between. It’s really not as “sexy” as, say, the NSA/Snowden story, but it’s just as important, if not moreso. Checkout my posts, HERE and HERE, for more on this topic.
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