A few days ago, reader Sam Gruen wrote me to encourage that I write an essay incorporating some factual information that he supplied me in support of my effort to expose, with facts, the lie of the Bushite pretense to morality. Among those facts were these points:
**In 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau announced that poverty rates in U.S. had increased for the fourth straight year and had jumped from 31.6 million people in 2000 to 37 million, including 13 million children.
**For the first time in our nation's history, the Forbes list of the 400 wealthiest Americans includes only billionaires.
**Real median earnings of full-time working males fell nearly 2% last year, according to the Census Bureau, while the real wages of working women fell by 1.3%.
**Real median household income did manage to rise slightly last year, though that small gain was the first increase in household income since 1999.
**The number of Americans without health coverage rose by 1.3 million last year, up to 46.6 million, according to the Census Bureau. What's worse, more than one in 10 American children are now uninsured.
**The Kaiser family foundation says the cost of family health insurance, in fact, is up 87% since 2000.
**Prices for the most popular brand-name prescription drugs rose every year this decade. The AARP concluded prices for the top 193 drugs climbed 6.3% over the last 12 months ending in June 2006, while inflation went up 3.8%
I was pondering what I might do with this information (and Sam's suggestion) in an article that would be reasonably brief in length, coherent in argument, and intellectually fair and responsible.
That last issue --fair and responsible-- arises because not all of this can exclusively be attributed to the policies of American office-holders. Though the culpability of the "evil forces" that dominate Bushite America is real, it is not sufficient to say, simply: these bad things are happening, and this group is in power, and therefore this ruling group is to blame.
It's true that traditional Chinese culture interpreted earthquakes and floods as signs that the Emperor had lost the Mandate of Heaven, but I've never much cared for conducting our own political analyses on that same basis.
And I wasn't sure I was up to the job of connecting, in a responsible way, the various facts about the abuses of power by the Bushite regime --and by the larger forces that have created this regime, through the corrupt Republican Party, through the fascistic element that has ascended in American capitalism-- with the facts that Sam had adduced.
Then, over the weekend, I read an article in the May/June issue of Mother Jones magazine that provides, I feel, an appropriate framework in which to present those dismal facts about this growing inequality and economic injustice in America.
The article is entitled "The Predator State," and it is by James K. Galbraith. Here is an excerpt from that article:
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"Today the signature of modern American capitalism is neither benign competition, nor class struggle, nor an inclusive middle-class utopia. Instead, predation has become the dominant feature-a system wherein the rich have come to feast on the decaying systems built for the middle class. The predatory class is not the whole of the wealth; it may be opposed by many others of similar wealth. But it is the defining feature, the leading force. And its agents are in full control of the government under which we live.
Andrew Bard Schmookler's website www.nonesoblind.org is devoted to understanding the roots of America's present moral crisis and the means by which the urgent challenge of this dangerous moment can be met. Dr. Schmookler is also the author of such books as The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution (SUNY Press) and Debating the Good Society: A Quest to Bridge America's Moral Divide (M.I.T. Press). He also conducts regular talk-radio conversations in both red and blue states.
The present state of civilization is as odious as it is unjust. It is absolutely the opposite of what it should be, and it is necessary that a revolution should be made in it. The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye is like dead and living bodies chained together.... The great mass of the poor are becoming an hereditary race, and it is next to impossible for them to get out of that state of themselves.... The condition of millions... is far worse than if they had been born before civilization began.
From "Agrarian Justice," Tom Paine, ~1797
by
Daniel Geery (26 articles, 73 quicklinks, 123 diaries, 742 comments)
on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 5:10:10 PM
Thanks for your interest in my suggestion. I'd like to clarify my purpose in addressing Republican economic swindles as a moral issue.
Long ago, California Gov. Pete Wilson had a plan to "stop" illegal immigrants by denying health care and education to their children. I thought, if they actually wanted to suppress illegals, they could aggressively penalize employers, but their plan was really about making the migrant workers even cheaper and helping the state budget through the elimination of basic services to some children. I noticed then that everything the Republicans did was about increasing the value of assets and reducing the value of labor. And it's only gotten worse.
Since 2000, the economic assault on working people has accelerated shockingly, hardly surprising given the "corporate presidency" that didn't even bother to fulfill its promise to be efficient and effective. But the primary purpose of the Republican party has always been to enrich the powerful and be empowered by the rich. The ruling class has never liked democracy, especially once workers began receiving protection from the government, after the greedy precipitated the Great Depression. They had to shift their method from coercion to swindling.
Then they got the gift of Kennedy's acceptance of the civil rights movement, which shifted the racist vote to the Republicans. They saw the enormous potential in forming a coalition between the greedy and the stupid. Also, Kennedy's defeat of Nixon revealed that they couldn't swindle effectively unless they controlled the power of TV, and they have finally succeeded in buying it all up.
Andy, I do not refute your point that the Bush team is a whole new level of immorality. I only wish to avoid the possible conclusion that it would be OK to have old guard Republicanism in charge again.
We should condemn the whole damn party (meaning elected officials and paid operatives, not voters), for their true character is constantly revealed, from embracing and courting the racists rejected by the Democrats to nominating Bush over McCain.
John McCain had the exact same "platform" as Bush and would have beaten Gore like a tin drum, so why did they reject him? It seemed McCain's only defining position was his stated desire to suppress corruption by reducing the influence of wealth on politics. And so his party savaged him in stead of grabbing the chance to have a sure winner, and they choose an easily manipulated man-child in stead of a highly regarded man.
My son's best friend joined the Army in June 2001 so he could pay for college. He was sent to Iraq, and "stop-lossed" into a second and third tour. When he was finally discharged, the Army refused to send him to college as promised unless he re-enlisted, including that he could be sent back to Iraq "if necessary." It was reported recently that this is now a common practice.
The Republicans put the Army into this dishonorable bind, just as they have reduced numerous veteran benefits to save their precious tax cuts. They've even re-written long-standing credit card rules to allow families of active servicemen to be hounded if they fall behind. And on and on, all the while screaming that Democrats don't support the troops. The non-stop swindling of the Republican Party has reached massive proportions under the crony-loving Bush crowd.
Your website has been calling on liberals to renew their own expressions of morality, and it's in support of that purpose that I am jumping up and down about the economic immorality that can perhaps now be made clear to honest conservative voters who are disgusted by the Republicans' shielding of Mark Foley. If they never recognize that Republicans are about swindling them on behalf of an insanely destructive ruling class, I don't think Bush's exit in 2008 will make much difference.
by
SamGruen (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 17 comments)
on Tuesday, October 10, 2006 at 7:22:13 PM
Do you remember how calm Al Gore was as he was certifying the electoral votes? Do you recall how he calmly kept telling Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) that he could not accept the Congressional Black Caucus petition to reject the fraudulent Florida electoral votes because the petition lacked the signature of a Senator? Are you aware that as he said this, he had already ordered the Democratic Senators, who had a majority at the time, including Senator Barbara Boxer who was reportedly near tears in recounting the story, NOT to sign the CBC petition? Do you remember Gore saying something about avoiding "civil unrest" as he graciously smoothed the way for his Republican colleague's ascension to the presidency of the United States? Do you even recall who his Democratic Vice-Presidential running mate was?
But some say that despite Gore's long tenure in Washington, D.C., in Congress, and in the White House, he may not have realized just how bad the Bush administration would be. Certainly after four years of it, however, Kerry could not have been unaware. Do you remember Kerry breaking his campaign promises to ensure that every vote was counted and not to concede early, so that he also could graciously concede to his Republican colleague?
Do you remember Gore, or Kerry, or any other Democratic Senator voting against the war, against globalization, against the PATRIOT Acts, against the tax cuts for the rich, against the confirmation of Republican judges and agency heads who were opposed to the very Constitution they were sworn to uphold? Or did they vote for the Republican agenda because they also favored the same agenda as their Republican colleagues?
Who pushed through GATT? Was it Republicans, Democrats, or a coalition of both? Who voted for NAFTA? Was it Republicans, Democrats, or a coalition of both? Who favors globalization, the further enrichment of the already obscenely rich at the expense of the impoverization of those already suffering from outsourcing, privatization, deregulation, and other cruelties of corporate rule? The Republicans, the Democrats, or a coalition of both?
The rich have been waging total war on the middle class and the poor, but the rich are not members of a single political party, citizens of a single nation, or members of a single religion. They are distinguishable from us by only one specific characteristic that unites them: they are rich. Of course they favor their friends -- how could it be possible that so much power would not corrupt them completely?
A political party is nothing more than a corporation. It exists to seek power within the system and to use that power to maximize profits, the same as any other corporation. It does not exist to represent citizens or voters, but to control them by convincing them to vote for people who will represent the wealthy elite and thereby ensure the wealthiest donors. If the Democrats really cared about our votes, they'd have fought to ensure that our election procedures were open, honest, and verifiable. Instead they've spent six years ignoring the fact that 80% of us vote on easily hacked, totally unsecurable voting machines owned by people with close ties to the Republicans, and telling anyone concerned about election integrity to shut up because they might dissuade people from voting. But when people vote for them, as in 2000 and 2004, when they won both presidential elections by a wide margin (Kerry got 9 million more votes than Bush), they simply concede graciously to their Republican colleagues anyway. So they obviously don't care about our votes, all they care about is our donations. And they are so cynical and corrupt that Kerry had the nerve to ask for donations specifically to be used to ensure that our votes were counted, and then decided to just keep the money in his war chest instead where it still sits.
Yes, we have a predator state. And if the Republicans want the Democrats to take over for a while, the Democrats will be happy to oblige. But they'll do as they're told or they'll get anthraxed. Read John Perkins' book, "Confessions of an Econonic Hitman." Here, just as anywhere else, when someone attains a position of power, they get a visit from a highly-placed friend of theirs. And they are given an offer they can't refuse: Plata or plomo? Silver or lead? A bribe or a bullet? Wealth beyond your wildest imagination, or a sudden "accidental" death. You can always tell which ones didn't go along to get along. There are memorials to them, and people visit their graves and call them martyrs. Those who are still alive and doing well made the other choice.
by
Mark E. Smith (21 articles, 30 quicklinks, 100 diaries, 1325 comments)
on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 3:25:08 AM
Faced with a similar situation the rational French had a pretty good idea. They killed the lot of them.
That may have been a couple of hundred years ago, but the bestial cruelty and injustice proposed by the present crop of villains in power is very much in keeping with some of the worse places on earth of those times, so the idea of the same being repeated to save the day here does not seem really all that incongruous, does it.
So they want to visit war on others and capture and torture any who object, do they?
OK
by
amazin (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 400 comments)
on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 11:45:18 AM
It was a very interesting watching Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore.
I could not understand why Gore did what he did even though he said he did not want civil unrest.
When Kerry suddenly disappeared after he had been cheated out of the election, and then reappeared as though nothing had happened.
Lieberman was the so called vice-president to Gore. Lieberman is a Neo-Con-Artist.
As I am writing this Lieberman is on T.V. lying about his marching for civil rights in the 60's, the photo might be fixed. Well that sounds about right for New-ConArtists, they always have a way to win.
Mr. Mark Smith you have a way with words and thank you for your very informative comment. And also thank-you Mr Schmookler for provoking some people on the net to read between the lines.
I was always taught that only 6 people ruled the world and that one was Rothchild and the other was Rockefeller.
Now getting back to the Manchurian candidate McCain, he was a total idiot when he was being interviewed by the Comedy Channel. What a chump. Another Bush wannabe....
Anyway lets keep the faith. Theres more of us than them.
And of course they will never steal the November election, or will they have the balls to do it just one more time like somebody addicted to drugs, just once more before I go into treatment
by
anthny (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 39 comments)
on Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 4:17:17 PM
Lead or gold, that is the choice offered to the political employees of our current crop of members of the Merchant Murder Class.
Good commentary from those who point out many things, including the fact that there are more of us than them.
That is why they built up such an overkill ability with nuclear weapons.
They knew long ago that there are more of us than them, so nuclear weapons provided a way for "Them" to "Kill us all" in a "Cost Effective manner."
They are not joking with us: They have already pulled the nuclear trigger on us many times over the decades since 1947.
The only thing that has prevented our extermination in a full blown all out nuclear war, is the intervention into our world by the unknown visitors that we call "ET."
When our genocidal cannibal elite went nuclear, they were and are still much too primitive to understand the consequences of their plans to destroy the mass of the human race.
We owe our nuclear war fighting elite nothing.
The fact is; we continue to exist in spite of the efforts of the best educated and the best financed genocidal nuclear war fighting cannibal elite, to have ever degraded the human race in History. We still exist even though they have repeatedly pulled the nuclear trigger on us.
For those who follow the doings of the English Bankers and their Death Squad operations here in this old crown colony; As this is but a big game for the Predator classes, part of any game is that everyone gets a turn.
The lists of the members of the internal Death Squads are on the street, thanks to modern communications technology, and They are all scheduled to "Get their turn."One thing is for certain; we have no shortage of able and capable resources in this nation to give them all the exact same treatment that the Fucking Cardinal got.
For those who understand what has happened, here is a synopsis. Our nuclear war fighting elite understood long ago that a buildup of nuclear weapons would eventually lead to the genocide of humanity. They decided then to kill us all and the plan has not changed.
The only reason that we continue to exist is due to the intervention into our world by some unknown group of high level powers, that we usually refer to as the "ET."
Most Every evening we are entertained by the comedian and war criminal and thief who himself is the son of a war criminal and also the grandson of another war criminal. At what stage do we as a community need to seek some sort of therapy for a family that is steeped in the death and suffering of the human race, and is still actively trying to exterminate us.
Now the stand up comedy routine continues every night. Hoping against hope to get these nuclear weapons flying and exploding over our heads. Iran is being used as the the current pretext to get us all turned into nuclear waste.
.
by
Patrick (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 417 comments)
on Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 12:13:10 AM
Mr. Sullivan, the Rothschild family are not English, as with your name you should well know and quite probably do.
Equally the 'Monarchy' of England are not English and never were, and neither is the Consort of same nor therefore their offspring.
The malignant power of finance and those who operate it can quite easily be broken if the electorate select individuals independent of the ridiculous political party system presently imposed on us all as the 'democratic institution', which it most certainly is not.
All that is necessary is to propose to the vast voting majority that we slough off the dead weight of politics and take back our own adminstration and renounce the dominion of money and those who manipulate it against the interests of us all. That with a few controls and a few changes will be enough.
Is that clear?
by
amazin (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 400 comments)
on Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 9:18:38 AM
8 comments
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