It used to be that the cogs, wheels and gear shifts in our government machinery worked to keep our republic running smoothly. However, without our fully realizing it, the mechanism has changed. Its purpose is no longer to keep our republic running smoothly. To the contrary, this particular contraption's purpose is to keep the corporate police state in power. Its various parts are already a corrupt part of the whole.
Just consider how insidious, incestuous and beholden to the corporate elite the various "parts" of the mechanism have become.
Congress. Perhaps the most notorious offenders and most obvious culprits in the creation of the corporate-state, Congress has proven itself to be both inept and avaricious, oblivious champions of an authoritarian system that is systematically dismantling their constituents' fundamental rights. Long before they're elected, Congressmen are trained to dance to the tune of their wealthy benefactors.
The President. What Americans want in a president and what they need are two very different things. The making of a popular president is an exercise in branding, marketing and creating alternate realities for the consumer--a.k.a., the citizenry--that allows them to buy into a fantasy about life in America that is utterly divorced from our increasingly grim reality. Take President Obama, for instance. This is a president who got elected by campaigning against war, torture, surveillance only to make them hallmarks of his presidency, and yet somehow these "indiscretions" are overlooked and forgiven as long as he presents a jocular, hip faà §ade.
The Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court--once the last refuge of justice, the one governmental body really capable of rolling back the slowly emerging tyranny enveloping America--has instead become the champion of the American police state, absolving government and corporate officials of their crimes while relentlessly punishing the average American for exercising his or her rights. Like the rest of the government, the Court has routinely prioritized profit, security, and convenience over the basic rights of the citizenry.
The Media. Of course, this triumvirate of total control would be completely ineffective without a propaganda machine provided by the world's largest corporations. Besides shoveling drivel down our throats at every possible moment, the so-called news agencies which are supposed to act as bulwarks against government propaganda have instead become the mouthpieces of the state. The pundits which pollute our airwaves are at best court jesters and at worst propagandists for the false reality created by the American government. When you have internet and media giants donating to the Clinton Foundation, you no longer have an independent media that can be trusted to hold the government accountable.
The American People. "We the people" now belong to a permanent underclass in America. It doesn't matter what you call us--chattel, slaves, worker bees, drones, it's all the same--what matters is that we are expected to march in lockstep with and submit to the will of the state in all matters, public and private. Through our complicity in matters large and small, we have allowed an out-of-control corporate-state apparatus to take over every element of American society.
We're playing against a stacked deck.
The game is rigged, and "we the people" keep getting dealt the same losing hand. The people dealing the cards--the politicians, the corporations, the judges, the prosecutors, the police, the bureaucrats, the military, the media, etc.--have only one prevailing concern, and that is to maintain their power and control over the citizenry, while milking us of our money and possessions.
As long as they are dealing the cards, the deck will always be stacked in their favor.
As I make clear in my book, Battlefield America: The War on the American People, our failure to remain informed about what is taking place in our government, to know and exercise our rights, to vocally protest, to demand accountability on the part of our government representatives, and at a minimum to care about the plight of our fellow Americans has been our downfall.
Now we find ourselves once again caught up in the spectacle of another presidential election, and once again the majority of Americans are acting as if this election will make a difference and bring about change. As if the new boss will be different from the old boss.
When in doubt, just remember what the astute commentator George Carlin had to say about the matter:
The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything" They want more for themselves and less for everybody else" They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking" They want obedient workers" who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork". It's a big club and you ain't in it... The table is tilted, folks. The game is rigged and nobody seems to notice". Nobody seems to care. That's what the owners count on". It's called the American Dream, 'cause you have to be asleep to believe it.
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