Speak Up & Speak Out!!!
{I posted, in my lao hong han guise, this reponse to Edger on DailyKos. Apologies if you've already read it.]
I am in substantive agreement with your points, Edger, but want to shade one thing a little bit here.
I think there's a ruling class in this country. As I am sure there are people reading this who disagree, can we stipulate that there are people in the US who have a great deal more say than you or I about what policies the government adopts and who benefits from those policies? Good so far. Can we further stipulate that the biggest difference between these people and you and me is that they have goo-gobs of money? Okay.
To proceed, the folks who run this country are well and truly screwed. They cannot afford to continue the occupation of Iraq--it's a disaster which has done them enormous damage on a global scale, it's crippling their military machine, and it's helping erode the domestic economy for decades to come.
And they cannot afford to end the occupation of Iraq. As edger points out, that would mean a spectacular loss of control over Mideast oil, and we all know what that means for US global hegemony.
I think they're paralyzed. Some have come to recognize that there really is no alternative to clearing out, but most are still casting about for some magic wand that'll salvage something, anything, from the disaster--attacking Iran, splitting Iraq into three separate countries--and they are going along with the deteriorating status quo hoping something will turn up.
Obviously, this doesn't map one on one to the political crisis we face, but it sure has a big role in it. Without a significant chunk of the high and mighty aboard, the pols, including all too many Dems will keep pussyfooting.
Which tells us what to do. Ramp up the struggle in the streets and, especially, move more people who now are against the war to act against the war. This is not an argument that a clear majority of us everyday folks can bend the government to our will just by holding strong opinions. But one of the things worrying our ruling elite is the unfolding legitimation crisis in their system. The poll figures for Congress are stunning--just above Dick Cheney and slightly below ritual cannibalism.
So get out there and do something. And get your friends, neighbors, coworkers, fellow congregants, classmates to do it too.
Check out the Iraq Moratorium.
What do the Dismalcrats have to fear from voters who are disenchanted with their failure to get out of Iraq? Are voters going to stay home from the polls and risk a reversion to Republican rule?
They fear a ground swell of support for Kucinich. I think it's time to write him another check, if only to send the Dismalcrats a message.
Here's the same response that I posted to Dennis at dKos:
Not only was the invasion and the occupation of Iraq was not done to deliver 'freedom and democracy' to Iraq. It was done in what is now seen to have been - as progressives and liberals and anyone with half a brain have been saying it would be since before the invasion - an insanely misguided, immorally wrongheaded attempt at ensuring US economic dominance, and is producing the opposite result...
It is also I think irreparably damaging not only the US' but the world economy.
We are walking on a tightrope now, with no net beneath.
You Must Be Mad, Or You Wouldn't Have Come Here
One of the legacies of six years of the George W. Bush Administration is that America has gone "From $20 trillion in fiscal exposures in 2000 to over $50 trillion in only six yearsThe United States is Insolvent
© Dr. Chris Martenson
...
The US is insolvent. There is simply no way for our national bills to be paid under current levels of taxation and promised benefits. Our combined federal deficits now total more than 400% of GDP.
That is the conclusion of a recent Treasury/OMB report entitled Financial Report of the United States Government that was quietly slipped out on a Friday (12/15/06), deep in the holiday season, with little fanfare.
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