January 29, 2007 at 21:57:40

JASON MILLER INTERVIEWED BY CAROLYN BAKER

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By Carolyn Baker (about the author) Page 1 of 5 page(s)

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[Happy Birthday Thomas Paine, born January 29, 1737]

A few months ago I began receiving emails with a subject line "Submission For Linking" from Jason Miller. I'm not sure how he discovered me or my website, but as began reading the barrage of articles that Jason sent me for linking, I became increasingly impressed with his blogspot and with the person managing it. Upon noticing that Jason occasionally interviewed other progressive bloggers, I requested that he interview me, and the results have been extraordinary, in part, because of the nature of the questions that Jason asks. As a result, I asked Jason if I could interview him, not only to return a favor, but because I am genuinely curious about who this man is and what drives his passion to maintain and manage Thomas Paine's Corner, aka, Civil Libertarian Blogspot.

Jason, I take it that you are not the actor, Jason Miller, who played the Father Damien Karras in "The Exorcist." So having established that, I have some questions for you:

1) Jason, I notice that you live in Kansas City. How long have you lived in the Midwest, and how do you find the consciousness in your part of the Midwest with respect to issues of civil liberties, human rights, social justice, and the other topics on which you write?

I have spent most of my 40 years here in the Kansas City area. My father worked for the federal government, so as a child I did live near Washington, DC for a couple of years.

Thanks to a sustained effort by the moneyed interests wielding the power in the United States, a significant percentage of the US American public remains transfixed by a carefully woven tapestry of lies. Up until two years ago, I was amongst that group. A significant number of our fellow citizens, whether they live in the Midwest, the Northeast, or wherever frantically search for ways to fend off threats to their highly addictive and comforting delusions of American Exceptionalism, benevolence, and moral leadership.

As you are well aware, our Constitutional Republic, which was forged by children of the Enlightenment and embedded with democratic principles yet still marred by the legalization of chattel slavery and the exclusion of Native Americans, has been under siege by a ruthless aristocracy from its inception. Cultural myths of equal opportunities for all, upward mobility, glorious wars to "protect our freedoms", and numerous other bundles of tripe serve to blind most of the public to the realities of domestic economic fascism and the mass murder our military routinely commits to advance our imperial foreign policy.

Many US Americans are too busy adhering to their programmed script and "thanking a vet" for their rights and freedom to realize that soldiers serving in wars of aggression were unwitting pawns of an opulent ruling class determined to increase its wealth and power under the guise of "spreading democracy".

Vision obscured by the "rockets red glare", many of us remain blind to truths that would be devastating to the soft form of tyranny practiced by the deeply entrenched Duopoly. Throughout the relatively brief history of the United States, federalists, slavery proponents, Robber Barons, corporations, monopolists, lobbyists, defense contractors, and a host of other entities have waged war on human rights, freedoms, and civil liberties, in one form or another.

Yet many of the people with whom I engage daily (in person and via the Internet) can't seem to get their arms around the fact that we are living one of the biggest lies ever contrived. Nor do they recognize that the civil rights, consumer and environmental protections, "entitlements", and employment benefits are not there because "our boys" donned uniforms and wasted millions of "lesser" human beings nor because men like George Bush and Dick Cheney have hearts of gold.

From my experience, there are still many Flat-Earthers dwelling in many regions of our country who believe that the freedoms and rights which are still extant in the United States, exist thanks to, rather than in spite of, the militaristic plutocrats who have ruled our republic for years.

2) I notice also that your occupation is Loan Counselor. If you feel comfortable doing so, please say more about that. I'm particularly interested in what it's like in the current economy, teetering on the edge of collapse with millions of Americans in debt up to their eyeballs, to be a loan counselor.

I started working in my current occupation about ten years ago. That was prior to my spiritual and intellectual awakening. If I could turn back the clock, I would have made a different career choice. Obviously, I could make a change today if I so chose. However, to effectively fulfill a sacred responsibility, I have decided to stay in the credit industry for several more years. After that I intend to move into the social service sector in some capacity.

On the surface it may appear that the work I do conflicts with my beliefs, my activism, and my avocation of writing and publishing. Yet despite working in the lending industry, I am fortunate to work in a capacity where I can do a great deal to help my customers. My employer lends money to individuals buying tractors and trailers with which they make their livings as owner-operator truck drivers. I manage a group of loans within the portfolio. Most of what I do involves communicating with customers over the phone to help them manage their loans when they want to make payments, become past due, have wrecks, need major repairs, need information about their loans, have problems with their contract employers, experience insurance issues, or need to modify their loan agreements in some way. Within the industry, ours is the largest lender of last resort, so my managers tolerate a high degree of delinquency. This empowers me to offer flexible and generous arrangements with customers who fall behind and are at risk of losing their livelihoods. Many of my customers are Hispanic immigrants. Having taught myself Spanish has enabled me to assist those who haven't mastered English yet.

I laugh with abandon virtually each time I read or hear about our "strong economy". Many economists consider the transportation industry to be the "canary in the coal mine". Decreased freight tonnage is typically one of the first signs of a weakening economy. Things may be robust for Bush and his "base" on Wall Street and in corporate boardrooms, but most of my customers are struggling. I have been working in this industry for five years and this is the worst it has been in terms of delinquency (it is quite high), voluntary repossessions (people giving up on the business and turning in their equipment), and new business (it is way off). I spend five hours a day on the phone talking to thousands of people a month working in various facets of the transportation industry. While I am not qualified to predict an economic collapse, I have gathered enough empirical evidence from my job, reading articles from a variety of sources, and through my recent experiences with personal finances to confidently state that the US economy is rotten for most the poor, working class, and middle class US Americans.

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Carolyn Baker, Ph.D. is author of U.S. HISTORY UNCENSORED: What Your High School Textbook Didn't Tell You. Her forthcoming book is SACRED DEMISE: Walking The Spiritual Path of Industrial Civilization's Collapse. She also (more...)

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