Meanwhile, in the United States, Bush and his accomplices have persistently striven to replace a constitutional republic with a fascist regime. Invading and occupying a nation that posed no viable threat the United States and had no connection with 9/11, exterminating an estimated 655,000 innocent Iraqis (3), legalizing torture, staging fraudulent elections, jettisoning the Constitution and legal principles from the Magna Carta, and consistently advancing the interests of the super rich at the expense of the working class and vulnerable members of society (4,5,6,7) qualify the US government as a fascist regime.
In Bush's "ownership society", a relatively tiny slice of the population does most of the owning (8). Lulled into a dogmatic slumber, many US Americans are content to fulfill the roles of obedient workers and consumers. Bread and circuses, the idealization of "go it alone, rugged individualism" personified by cultural icons like the Marlboro Man, and the perpetuation of the delusion that their nation is a meritocracy serve to cripple the minds and consciences of many citizens of the United States.
Thus those leaders (like Chavez) who fight for the poor and oppressed are treated as threats and pariahs, champions of the privileged elite like Reagan are enshrined in the pantheon of American politics, and malefactors in the Bush Regime garner enough support to continue perpetrating their heinous crimes.
Thomas Paine penned these words in The American Crisis:
"These are times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country...Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered..."
Today's American Crisis? These are the times that enslave men's souls. And the hell of the Bush Regime will not be easily conquered.
Tragically, many spiritually shackled US Americans remain blissfully ignorant of their bondage. And a myriad of myths and distractions shield them from awareness of (or concern for) their complicity in the United States' over-consumption that threatens the perpetuation of life on Earth (9), genocide (10,11), and campaigns of mass murder like the one in Vietnam.
Relentless psychological manipulation has armed the US ruling elite with a vast army of "patriots" eagerly submitting to the yoke of economic subjugation and enabling governments like the Bush Regime to inflict abject misery upon hundreds of millions of human beings.
The staggering 43% of US Americans who still embrace a tyrant who has unleashed hell upon the world with impunity (12) are a testament to the power of the siren call to be a "patriot" in the United States.
If the melodious strains of Orpheus' lyre don't captivate more listeners soon, the ship of humanity may be doomed to share a watery grave with mythological mariners.
It's rare that I read something with which I agree 100%; this is one such occasion. Thank you for sharing your vision.
It is said that the sign of a true prophet is one who delivers the message that the people need to hear, not what the people want to hear. That's the message I hear in your post.
And there might also be a correlation here to intervening against an addiction. Initially, since people cling to their addictions as if they're the only things in life worth fighting for, they consequently see any attempt to take the addictions away as "evil". It's only after the addict achieves a significant degree of sobriety that s/he is able to then see how distorted the addiction had caused his/her vision to become.
Most of us in this country have become systematically addicted to things like the "News Media", "Hollywood Fairy Tales", subliminal advertising, false patriotism, drugs flooding into all our communities, false religious, educational, and political leaders, etc. It's a real shock to confront the "American Dream"-turned-Orwellian-Nightmare. But at some point, we need to face down this reality, or else stare straight into the face of World War III. For me, reading this post was like basking in the company of an old friend.
by
Lilith's Spirit (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 99 comments)
on Saturday, October 14, 2006 at 10:24:21 PM
you noted yourself that Bush is a dictator. That is why congressmen on the other side of the aisle have to cover their backs. Charlie Rangel has spoken out plenty on BushCo, but one must survive to continue fighting the good fight. Ask Thomas More. Rangel is not only a Democrat, but he is black. How fast do you think the feds would have had him in the clink if he had come out in support of Chavez?
by
terri Kionka (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments)
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 9:43:41 AM
The worst addiction in many ways is the compulsive, materialistic consumption that drives Americans to borrow, spend and work long hours while not understanding that they are feeding an economy that is designed to make the rich richer and screw everyone else. Forget political freedom - its freedom to spend that defines the United States of Delusion.
by
Joel S. Hirschhorn (126 articles, 31 quicklinks, 58 diaries, 508 comments)
on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 11:56:09 AM
3 comments
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