What is an average citizen able to do about the elite ruling class? They own the media, the banks; they have bought and paid for your lawmakers. The lobbies of the Military-Industrial-Complex that Eisenhower warned you against is firmly in control of every facet of spending of your hard earned tax dollars. The bought and paid for Congress ignores the will of ‘We, the People’. Sitting on your butt typing your protests to others on the Internet seems to me to be whistling in the wind -" nothing is going to happen.
So, what is an average citizen able to do about all this? Nothing? Yes, I know people have occupied Senator’s offices, dropped banners and protested, and got arrested for their trouble. But has that changed anything? Has it brought fire to the feet of the representatives?
Apparently not because today the feeble attempts to stop the war in Iraq has ended, and the provision for Bush to have to come back to Congress before attacking Iran was removed from the bill due no doubt to the influence of AIPAC.
So, everything that the dedicated antiwar Internet protesters, the 70%+ Americans have wanted to happen has failed, and failed completely. So, what to do, what to do?
There seems not to be enough people willing to take to the streets to change this administration, this situation, the decimation of the Constitution and all the rest, too numerous to list. Americans seem to be thoroughly brainwashed, cowed and bamboozled by the media, the elite owned media. Americans have a saying, which I admire -" wake up and smell the coffee -" but very few have, and I think very few will.
The only thing that will stop all this is money, or rather, the lack of it. If China and Japan began to off-load the vast dollar reserves they hold, the dollar would plummet, the USA would rapidly become bankrupt, as it really is already but very few are talking about it.
The consequences of a meltdown of the dollar and the economy of the United States will bring hardship and poverty to many Americans who have enjoyed a very high standard of living for many years, at least since the great depression of the 30’s. It would provoke a worldwide economic recession and the poverty stricken masses of people in third world countries would -- guess what? Not notice a thing.
What is the alternative to this undoubtedly catastrophic scenario? It may well be that the attack on Iran by Nuclear bunker busters, by Israel backed by America, or by America alone, will devastate and make uninhabitable vast areas of land for hundreds of years, never mind the unimaginable radiation poisoning of millions of people in the area and downwind of the blasts. (See articles about the inhabitants of the Bikini Islanders from the United States testing of Hydrogen bombs, who are still waiting to get some compensation for loss of habitat and way of life after all these years.) And is this just to take control of the oil in the area so that you inconvenience China’s need for energy? Do you really want to put radioactive gas in your SUV?
Given the alternatives, which would the world choose? American’s popularity around the world, with its 700+ military bases, is not very high, no doubt due to the "pre-emptive" wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, with Iran next and Syria isolated and subservient.
All the sympathy and sorrow for the American people with 9/11 that millions of people worldwide felt, has now been completely lost.
So the choices seem to be -- worldwide recession and a massive "correction" to the US economy, or a holocaust, which will make what the Jews went through look like a cakewalk. You choose.
A well traveled and slightly worse for wear 72 year old Englishman; widower, several children and grandchildren and a penchant for wondering 'what is the hidden agenda' in almost everything I read. A keen interest in American culture (an oxymoron?) (JOKE!) and politics and an international world view, except where I haven't got first hand experience of the parts of the world I have not visited. Editor of some books about the Qur'an and Islam. Teacher of English in little known countries like Mauritania, Istanbul, Turkey and Morocco.
