BY RICHARD GALE & GARY NULL
Is it only me or is there something fundamentally flawed with the people who are running our government? This includes the thousands of policymakers, opinion leaders, oligarchs, autocrats and technocrats, the hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats and their loyal underlings, including millions within the corporatocracy who facilitate the maintenance of power. Does it bother you that the Wall Street banks and major corporations, many of our academic and religious institutions as well as our medical, military and intelligence gathering complexes, have their needs met at the expense of everyone else?
They control our government. We don't. Instead, we fear our government. They tell us, "Trust us. We know what to do and how to fix all of our crises." Okay, we trust you. They say we are for peace, democracy and freedom but everywhere we look, they are colonizing and militarizing foreign countries with over 960 military bases with a budget of 1.6 trillion going to numerous corporations to keep American imperialism afloat. At the same time, there have been massive home foreclosures, repossessions, for-profit prisons stuffed to the brim with inmates for minor crimes, and the now reappearance of debtor prisons in 27 states. We are graduating students who are functionally illiterate.
They say trust us, unemployment has decreased to 6.7 percent. And we say that the real number is 24 percent due to the millions who no longer receive compensation and have stopped looking for work.
They say lower taxes. We say why don't you pay what you owe instead of getting accountants to fudge the numbers in order to pay no taxes? They say that the economy is booming and the stock market is reaching record numbers. We say is that because you are loaning to small businesses? Is that because you are helping new companies to jumpstart manufacturing again in the US, or is it because you can go to the fed to be bailed out at zero interest?
They say trust us, we need more law and order. And yet, private banks and corporations have been fined tens of billions of dollars for engaging in criminal activity repeatedly and never go to jail. On the other hand the average person gets caught jaywalking and can be thrown into the slammer.
They say they are uncertain whether or not global warming is real. And we say we have had 120,000 extreme weather events globally in the past year and the scientific consensus around the world is that global warming is very real and a global threat to humanity's future.
They say they believe in protecting our rights for our freedom of speech, but then our government monitors anyone who is critical of Washington policy and major corporations. They say we need Obamacare. We say there is nothing in Obamacare to prevent disease nor any provisions to enhance a person's survival if they have a disease. The US is the sickest developed nation in the world and the pharmaceutical giants and insurance companies are perfectly happy to keep it that way.
They say we should not have rules that limit globalization nor hinder free market casino capitalism. And we say look at NAFTA, the outsourcing of jobs overseas, which collapsed American industry, and the ghettoization of America's cities like Detroit, Compton and Camden. They say we should not give welfare to the lazy and nothing should be socialized. We say major corporations reap 200-300 billion a year in corporate welfare. When they succeed, citizens don't share in the profits. When they fail, we are forced to pay for their ineptitude.
They encourage us to watch television and shop because it is good for people and the economy. And we say our life is more substantial than a reality show. And why is there no honest effort by the media to know what it means to be a person suffering today. They say, we are doing everything for your benefit; however, when whistleblowers come forward they are immediately demonized and prosecuted.
We are bothered by this and much more, because behind all the corruption, lies and deception there is no viable solution to the nation's increasing economic disparity and the rise in unemployment, poverty and depression.
Our education policy makers welcome us to their institutions. They convince us they will help our children master the art of critical thinking so they will be more empowered to live authentic, constructive and meaningful lives. Yet to the contrary, their expertise has been limited solely to teaching children how to take exams and behave as programmed robots. Many of our educational leaders refuse to join protests over the takeover of schools by immoral business privatizers, which goes to show academia is nothing more than a handmaiden of the corporate industrial complex.
Our leaders tell us that they want the nation to be energy independent and this can be done safely and efficiently while also addressing the increasing challenges of climate change and global warming. And we trust them. But to the contrary their cards have been stacked to abet the fossil fuel moguls and hydrofrackers who without remorse contaminate and destroy the environment while depleting precious water resources upon which communities depend. And then, even in the aftermath of Fukushima, we are told believe that nuclear power is a clean, safe and green alternative.
We constantly hear from our politicians that the US is the greatest democracy in the world and they are fully devoted to keep it as a "shining light on a hill." But then, as we have learned from Edward Snowden and other courageous whistleblowers, none of the politicians trust the American people. Otherwise there would be no incentive or reason to conduct massive covert spying and surveillance on every aspect of our lives. As well as militarize the police to assure that demonstrators are dealt with the needs of Big Business and Big Government
They tell us we have medical freedom of choice. But if we don't want to treat our children who suffer from cancer with their toxic chemotherapy drugs and radiation, they take the children away. And where is the choice in declining a vaccine when state governments mandate vaccination in our school systems?
After they tell us we have a Bill of Rights and our Constitutional rights are protected, they then turn around and take away habeas corpus which allows them to search and seize anything they want. In addition, they can harass and arrest those who they fear.
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