APPROPRIATING AN OBSERVATION

Crisis And Analysis, by Gary (Yahoo Hippy Group),  
July 30th, 2011

The country, ie, the USA, is going through what has been described as a manufactured crisis. Republicans want to make shrinking the size of government a major issue. They think because of the election of 60 tea party members to Congress in 2010, that they have a mandate to bring about the right wing agenda that previous presidents have toyed with but have never been able to impose due to opposition from the left and center. Most Americans like their benefits. They count on Social Security and Medicare being there for them and even though the media has propagated the myth that these benefits will probably disappear in the next twenty or thirty years, most Americans will fight to keep that from happening.

Question is how hard will they fight?

Unions were out maneuvered by corporations that threatened to send jobs overseas if labor did not cooperate and accept lower wages and benefits. There are no laws on the books in the USA to prevent companies to up and leave whenever they want, disrupting communities, destroying tax bases and lowering the standard of living, all in the name of seeking to maximize profits.

The international labor organization is weak and consequently there are large sectors of the world with no effective labor organization, thus wages are low and because of population pressure, the countries with cheap labor are willing to let corporations get tax breaks and other incentives to come and set up shop. Governments actively work to suppress labor organizations and international bodies look the other way unless a case is made by an NGO from the developed world working with local labor.

The rule of law, initially designed as a check on the power of kings by the gentry, and a mechanism to disarm the gentry by the kings in Europe, with the goal being to consolidate power and establish a centralized state with less violent conflict between power blocks. Also rule of law provided a more rational means of repressing peasants seeking redress by establishing a mechanism that established hurdles to suppress demand for rights, and also a means to identify and imprison or execute troublemakers before they became too dangerous and a threat to the state. All ruling class elements have made a fetish of the rule of law and citizens are indoctrinated in acceptance of the system at an early age.

There probably will always be a need for governance, as long as there is complex society. But it does not have to be one so biased in favor of the wealthy. Since the political and economic systems are so tightly intertwined, there is no reason why a more equitable method of social control and wealth distribution cannot be devised. I prefer a form of socialism that tends to communism and direct democracy. But for that to work it implies an educated citizenry not distracted constantly by concerns over survival, war, bread and circuses. There needs to be the space and time to consider the issues of the day in a fair and balanced manner. Whatever we have now, it is not that.

Moneyed interests using lobbyists influence the passing of legislation. Wall Street sends it warnings and the executive winces and bends to its will. The media circle this small group of elected officials and mirror their interests and decisions, worrying over them like a piece of road kill meat. Analysis is reduced to digestion and regurgitation.

The system is broken, we all know that. Question is where are the people willing to replace it with something that reflects the will of the people. Or have the people become so corrupted and stunted that we need philosopher kings? A dictator over the proletariat, or a dictatorship of the proletariat?