I've been thinking about this issue for quite some time, but what prompted me to write about today is a nagging thought I've been having after witnessing what happened in Egypt.
Before the coup d'état by the American-sponsored Egyptian army that removed president Morsi from power, his position as president seemed pretty safe, the growing uprising notwithstanding.
Until the military said: "Hmm, excuse me, but you have 48 hours to address the protesters demands, or else."
I found that very telling; a head of state will remain so until those who have the guns say otherwise.
Okay, by now I can imagine some scratching their heads in amusement, thinking "what the heck does any of that has to do with us?" Okay, I'll try a somersault hoping I land on my feet...
This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence — economic, political, even spiritual — is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists, and will persist.
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together.
-- President Dwight Eisenhower
Here's how I see it... This thing that president Eisenhower warned us about became a reality, perhaps a couple of decades ago. That was already a done deal.
Now let's move forward to today, and the last 12-plus years... Not only do we have an entrenched military-industrial complex, but in addition we have a surveillance/security industrial complex.
Corporate interests have meshed nicely with government power in what is in essence an incestuous influence-peddling corruption arrangement.
At the Pentagon, the NSA, the FBI, and the entire security apparatus you have people at the upper echelons of power moving back-and-forth between government and corporate (military contractors, etc.) positions.
As evidence of the company’s [Carlyle Group's Booz Allen Hamilton] close relationship with government, the Obama administration’s chief intelligence official, James R. Clapper Jr., is a former Booz Allen executive. The official who held that post in the Bush administration, John M. McConnell, now works for Booz Allen.
-- The New York Times
Of course, in a sane and normal environment anybody seeing this would see it for what it is: a wholesale takeover and corruption of national security apparatus by profit-seeking corporations... But I digress.
So Okay, a new president is elected, and taken to briefing room where all the little secrets are revealed to him. "Holy shit! This job is not what I thought it was; I'm not really the boss here."
Think about it; a huge (enormous) entrenched web of interlocking government/corporate relationships across the entire national security establishment.
Nebulous little groups of corporate insiders everywhere. Massive amounts of information being collected on every American, building very detailed (granular) dossiers.
As more individuals are entrusted with access to and oversight of vast troves of personal data, this information necessarily becomes more vulnerable to misuse, whether by the parties gathering and analyzing it or by foreign governments and private multinational corporations. Because this data literally contains information related to people's entire lives, it is ripe for bullying, blackmail, threats or other improper uses.
But this "top secret" information is already being used by our own government for reasons that have little to do with combating threats to national security. Ownership of this information affords the administration unlimited power to suppress dissent, inhibit free speech and intimidate would-be critics into adhering to the status quo.
-- Heidi Boghosian, executive director of the National Lawyer's Guild / Spying on Democracy: Government Surveillance, Corporate Power, and Public Resistance
So you have a military industrial complex, a security/surveillance industrial complex, and all manner of corporate profiteers in the mix. Advancement and career opportunities for military personnel, especially those at the highest levels, depend on maintaining this arrangement, of keeping the constantly increasing flow of taxpayers' money into the coffers of Booz Allen Hamilton, and a couple thousand other companies.
It seems to me that in order to keep that money flowing, it is beneficial to this monstrosity for the country to be in a constant state of war, under some sort of real or imagine (or purposely created) threat.
Hopefully you get the picture... We're talking about real entrenched power; the kind of power, and establishment that is pretty much stable, that doesn't change much from Administration to Administration.
In the face of that you get a corporate-approved president (of either party) coming into office for what, four years, or a maximum of eight?
Seriously, I just don't think how any one man can really do anything meaningful to rein in this Frankenstein of corruption. I actually pity the one that would even try...
"Yeah, whatever, go do nice speeches, tinker around the edges, do whatever you want, but do not fuck around with our money-flow."
In my humble, subjective opinion, the U.S. Presidency is a Figurehead position. But heck, that's just me.
P.S. I welcome spirited debate about this topic, and I'm especially interested in hearing from people who do not agree with my position. However, I will not engage in discussion with people who write first-person personal insults, or engage in disruptive behavior. I ask other serious people to do the same. To learn more about this subject, please visit the following links: The 15 Rules of Web Disruption / Thirteen Rules for Truth Suppression / Disinformation: How It Works.
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