Perhaps one significant obstacle to the very transformation “REDHORSE” no-doubt sincerely wants to see and be part of, is the compulsion among the “civilized” to “moral”-ize about the condition our CONdition is in….to ‘frame’ what’s happening here in the CONfrontational and zero-sum terms of “good” vs. “evil.”  There are those who habitually talk about various kinds of illness that way, too.  The more virulent and devastating their effects, the more they’re apt to become the target in some socio-scientific “WAR”....with all the hysterical Manichean jargon that goes with it.

Yet most would agree that disease engendering organisms are not at-all responsive to name-calling or any of the other pejorative labeling techniques so frequently resorted-to by the frightnened and CONfused “individual” suffering with any such illness.  How likely is it, then, that such reflexive attacks on other sick (i.e.; frightened and CONfused) “individuals” will result in actual remedies for what ails them, with its destructive effects on vulnerable social CONstructs?

So much precious attention, along with much of Humanity’s not unlimited emotional resources, is squandered futilely in CONtrived CONflict founded precariously upon nothing but the ever-shifting quicksand of make-believe “morality.”  This habitual behavior is itself symptomatic of disease.

Again, has “REDHORSE” actually tried coming together with family and friends and neighbors, where he lives and breathes every Day, as Natural Persons in the Form of Community, functioning as components in Her immune system, in aid of each other and our Mother Earth? 

HokaHey!

TAOWALKER: World Consciousness, GCC and exponential population growth will no longer allow exploitation of natural resources, peoples and eco-systems for the benefit of an avaricious elite. Technology and World population must be fine tuned to harmonize with and strengthen eco-systems. Man must reflect, respect and protect the living forces within his personal geography. If this doesn’t happen it is an absolute that there will be no two leggeds and a better than even chance the Planet Earth will be a dead zone.

  Sane dialogue and progressive action is prevented by an avaricious elite who damage Souls, Minds and Peoples with obfuscation, propaganda. superstition, threat and gunpoint fear. I don’t know how many times I have to say that I consider Washington an open lie. The only political solution I’m interested in is that of the Human Heart, Soul and Community. There is speculation that “our” founding fathers were influenced by the Iroquois Federation so I think you will agree that all Peoples need rules to define a common ground. I also think you will agree (and perhaps fought for) that the Constitution and Bill of Rights is a fine place to start. I’m committed.

    I’ve done a lot of outreach and run the Fire at many a Lodge (I made those Stones “smile for the Ladies”). I get it! I hear you! The good news is that the “lie” is dying. A New Age has come. But the CONnection with the dis-ease is hard to break. Many of us have forgotten who we are:HUMAN BEINGS. “Badges? We don’t need no stinking badges.”

“REDHORSE,” like many here, persists in what is dead-certain to be a futile search for some ‘political’ remedy….for what ails the inmates of the virtual world-o’-hurt CON-TRAPtion.  It seems fair to ask him, at this point, whether he has actually tried getting together where he lives-and-breathes, with family, friends, and neighbors, in aid of our Mother Earth and each other.

Expecting some “leader” to step forward, for example, who’ll only be able to offer domesticated peoples some slight variation on the ‘hair-of-the-god’ that’s sickening and killing them en masse already, seems to be a ‘prescription’ for only prolonging, and amplifying, the-agony.  Given his oft-mentioned desire to somehow ‘redeem’ “America,” though, it’s not all that surprising that “REDHORSE” is reluctant to accept a recommendation of Medicine that has nothing at-all to do with that figment of fevered captive imaginations….except to acknowledge its inevitable erasure from even its present make-believe state.

This Old Indian is not being merely metaphorical describing “civilization” as a disease.  Institutionalized philosophical ideologies are among the symptoms of this disease, and no amount of “tweaking” their enforcement apparatus will ever turn any of ‘em into any genuine cure. 

“Self”-referential thought-systems have been very effective mechanisms in the operation of the immuno-suppression regime here.  They have worked for over ten thousand years to seriously retard the natural Biological and Spiritual development of the domesticated part of Humanity.  The downside of that is the literally Life-threatening predicament we’re All in today, because so much of the Human component of Mother Earth’s natural immune system is not simply non-functional (which’d be bad enough), but virulently dysfunctional….having been turned against the very Living Arrangement by which all our Ancestors were engendered.

The possible upside is a near-limitless ‘reservoir’ of untapped Natural Vitality that will pour spontaneously into genuine Organic Human Communities (the Natural Form of HumanKind), enhancing the Virtue of Organic Functional Integrity which alone can respond with therapeutic benefit to this otherwise fatal (for All-concerned) disease process.  It is equally essential, once the process of the retro-viral ‘entity’ is arrested, to healing the ravages of its run here.

We will either make, all together, this transformational passage altogether beyond every kind of “politics-and-poker,” or we will take our chances going, All together, altogether through Kali’spell.  Even Organic Communities of Natural Persons should expect be extended to the limits of their Organic Functional Integrity, and beyond, if things do go to that extreme.

“Don’t follow leaders, watch your parking meters!”

ALL TOGETHER….NOW!!!!

HokaHey!

I have a news flash for the president:

EVERYTHING is made in China!

Thank you.

Great posts. But nothing here not discussed before. Calls for personal action, as always, were ignored as everyone drank deeply from the well of rage and paranoia. (A little RED MEAT for the beasts in the cage who howl and rage but can do their handlers no harm.)—Our voices are echoes inside an immoral void.

    “What profit a man to gain the whole World if he lose his only Soul”. It’s not “them”—it’s “us”. The Nation cries out in its illness but no pysician comes. There is no Unity, no Action, no Leadership, no common Voice, because there is no Moral Center, no common American ground. People disparage the VOTE and call for a Third Party, but refuse to organize. They daily see and hear a President who betrayed them but with elections two years away do nothing. What conclusion can one draw from that?

      Endless complaint may balm the disease but it will not cure it.

Lafayette said: Creating the Social Democrat Party would be from the rump of the present Democrat Party, which needs (to my mind) to demonstrate forcibly its progressive contingent.

Lafayette, this word: forcibly is the crux of your sentence. It is presented as the mode of getting from where we are to where you think we need to be.

If a person on the Right were to talk that way, using the word “forcibly” in a political context, you would protest against them. You would explain that there are extremists who love the rhetoric of “force”, and it is not good politics to talk that way.

But it isnt someone on the right saying it. It is the Leftist Lafayette. 

I know you walk the rhetoric down later in your post, but there are far Left kooks here on Truthdig and you are giving them red meat.

If you want to pretend to be a thought leader you need to be careful what you say.

I agree with Raylan’s assessment of the arrogance of U.S. Corporations and the eventual reversal that will be done to them.

There was just an article about this (when you read between the lines) and is highly recommended. It is at Axis of Logic:
“Apple under fire for pollution and poisoned Chinese workers”
http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_62087.shtml?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+axisoflogic/AxisFeed+(axisoflogic.com)&utm_content=Google+Reader

This is an example of how U.S. corporations (Even the darlings such as Apple) have taken advantage of working poor people overseas….with the complicity of the Chinese ruling classes.

There are tons of stories like this.

The Chinese ruling classes and tech classes are the main Chinese benefactors of the West/East “arrangements”....Just like so many two-bit dictators around the globe that benefit by U.S. globalism/Corporatism at the expense of their people.

Unfortunately, there are MANY shills working the peace movement sites and truth sites to encourage the degrading of American working classes. My only conclusion on the many shills and operatives pumping these lines is that they work for (whether they know it or not) the global banking cartel…which IS THE ROOT of all the troubles. You can trace almost every institution back to them, as well as the money trail.

THE POLITICIANS in the U.S., as elsewhere, ARE for the most part corrupt, whether they begin their careers that way or not. It is the MARRIAGE between State and Bank (a.k.a. fascism) that is the MAIN problem….....NOT THE PEOPLE AT THE GRASS ROOTS!!!

Now, you will hear over and over from writers, bloggers, and commenters, all over the internet, the consistent smearing of the American people. That they are fat, lazy, stupid, evil, and every thing in between.

This has been increasing over the last few years. As corrupt and disgusting as the government is (Gov = State + Corporation) and the many ignorant citizens, we should never label an entire population as “complicit”. We see over and over the results of this: Iraq, Afghanistan, and EVERY other country in the world….Where the productive society ends up paying the price for the greed and lust for power of those that SNATCH the reigns of power.

Make no mistake, the real leaders of Western civilization did not get ‘VOTED’ into their positions. They TAKE it without consent of the majority. Conclusion: Democracy in much of the West is merely for visual effects only.

The citizens that are floundering about trying to navigate through life with consonant dissonance ringing in their ears all the time, Who have to work for their living, are not only Americans but are those all over the planet.

To those that continue to use subtle tactics to persuade and encourage people to trash my people I can only say; you are evil for what you do. Go back to those other sites where you can openly call for the murder and rape of American people….such as information clearing house (the owners of which have an entirely different agenda than what they purport) where the owners of the site write much of the comments that encourage the killing and raping of Americans. Unbelievable…..that site can only be getting away with it if they are ran by a foreign or domestic agency. One of them actually befriended me over the internet….luckily I never met them in person although they have my address and lots of personal information.

This is one reason that the Anti-war movement has failed; because it made too much use ONLY of the internet. The internet is easy prey to infiltrators and agents….they are all over the place. And I would dare say I have noticed them on this site too….

They’re the ones that want to keep the discussions focused ENTIRELY on the politicians and citizens of U.S….

They especially like to keep the discussion AWAY from the bankers.

It’s not just an American problem, its fiscal future being tangled with the global economy. As America goes, so goes the world, unfortunately. It’s not too corrupt, but corrupt enough, to drag along everybody else. China, especially has learned this trade dependency , luckily being on the positive side of the ledger. As European and other markets move into the same positive balance of trade, then the dependency will reverse. The US corporations are too complacent and arrogant to envision their losing the lead, even with all the outsourceing. They seem determined to prove the collapse of run-away capitalism by example.

Tesla: Next, disenfranchise both major political parties at the state level to permit grass root activist to be heard and empowered.

Not very likely.

However, here’s a way that is: The establishment of a Social Democracy Party. This Center-Left political formation is what brought much in terms of Social Justice to Europe. Living here, I have been able to actually feel and touch it—even if I may rail against its profligacy.

No trick works better than spending money on people ... they just love it. However, recent events, first in Greece, have been a cold shower for the EU. It was about time.

Still, what the EU has accomplished over the past sixty years, after having had its infrastructure almost totally destroyed in WW2, is nothing short of miraculous.

Count the accomplishments:
* It has set the standard for Income Fairness (which can be measured by the Gini Index, now in the mid-thirties whilst the US is in the mid-forties).
* There is a generalized Public Health Option that is the model for World-Class HC-systems.
* Near-free education up to and including Tertiary Level Education (meaning vocational, college or university). No parent need set up a Savings Account for their child’s future university diploma.
* A first-rate civil and industrial infrastructure. Aside from the ceremonial battle-fields, few would suspect that WW2 happened in Europe.
* Renewable energy sources now account in the EU for 27% more output than in the US. Nuclear energy is about 12% more than the US.
* Lower crime rates, particularly lower human mortality from fire-arms since fire-arms are severely regulated.
* Leading R&D in several technology fields, namely fully electric cars, thus having more potential for reducing CO2 emissions.
* Etc., etc., etc.

MY POINT: Distributing the milk

Creating the Social Democrat Party would be from the rump of the present Democrat Party, which needs (to my mind) to demonstrate forcibly its progressive contingent.

Yes, it would be the flag-bearer of “Creeping Socialism”. So what? It is about time that Non-totalitarian Socialism came out into the open in the US—even if the US version would lean less on Centrism and more on Capitalism, by nature of America’s historical context.

Let’s not forget: Capitalism is a highly effective cash-cow. Let’s learn how to distribute the milk more equitably.

POST SCRIPTUM

In terms of the UN’s Human Development Index (HDI), both the US and the EU are almost equal. The HDI is a composite statistic used to rank countries by level of “human development” and is composed from data on life expectancy, education and per-capita Gross National Income (as an indicator of standard of living) collected at the national level.

Which means what? Which means that comparing the US and the EU is not comparing apples and oranges. They are, today, comparable economic entities.

THE NATIONAL DEBT

cam: I don’t think most Americans understand that the U.S. is being sold to foreign interests…as we speak.

A bleak prediction, to say the least.

The US is NOT being sold. There is a tremendous debt overhang, much of which is held by China. How that translates into a “sellout” in proprietary terms is unclear.

Besides, if America owes all that debt, how do you think it was mustered? By Americans buying Chinese goods, because they wanted the best of both possible worlds.

That is, good American salaries with which to buy cheap Chinese goods. So, why are we complaining?

The Chinese did not steal the T-notes that they have in their Sovereign Funds. They earned them through hard work.

Isn’t hard work a trusted American cultural value?

BIG BROTHER

BigBrother (1984 by George Orwell) predictions of the menace at our frontiers has done sufficient damage to our national conscience as a consequence of 911. Our nation would be better served, I suggest, with some rational thinking in terms of economic and foreign policy.

Of course, that would mean that we elect rational people to office. And since any political class in a democracy is an exact reflexion of the sentiments of its constituency ...

Please let’s stop blaming the politicians. That’s just potshot criticism. The blame must be put at the American grassroots—not upon its blighted political lawn. We, the People, are responsible for electing the Congress and PotUS that we have.

Every two years we get to dig up the old lawn and reseed it. There are damn few nations that have this frequency of political alteration.

What a great privilege we have to change both executive and legislative branches! Not everybody on earth has this intrinsic freedom, which is why it is so very precious.

A HOUSE DIVIDED

But that outcome of real change, nowadays, is at the end of a long and arduous road. It is way, way, way over the horizon.

We are a house divided, where the balance swings from Left to Right because only about 5% of independent voters change sentiment, without any fidelity to either national party.

Optimistically, I give the U.S. at most 10 more years before total collapse and Break up.

But being a pessimistic realist, it will likely be much sooner.

I don’t think most Americans understand that the U.S. is being sold to foreign interests…as we speak.

I guess it was Jefferson? that said if a private Central Banking system gained control in the US the American people “would wake up as tenants on their own land”. (it may have been Jackson)

Very prophetic!!

Haven’t read the other comments yet so excuse if I repeat someone else.

The irony of this is that China is investing in U.S. corporations and companies. I missed the name of it, but one U.S. company that was discussed on the BBC was down to 4 people. After China invested in this company (and are now running it) the company is now up to 400 people with back-orders galore.

Also, some of the Native American nations are in communications with China for investing and business cooperation.

The bottom line is the U.S. is so saturated in debt, especially after all the wars, but also in particular due to the Un-regulated derivative markets that the Big-5 banks (although not just the top 5…figure of speech) were dabbling in over the years (and still are presently) which has been and is continuing to be sneakily pawned off to the tax payer. The tax payer thinks they got the “tarp” bill and most people believe (like the good obedient people they are to their masters) it was all paid back. Little do they know that most the debts are being taken over by the government through other programs, and what is really at stake is the “off balance sheet” debts these banks racked up through gambling in derivatives.

“We the people” as a government body are really only referred to as such when debts are being pawned off to us. Otherwise, there really is no “we the people” anymore.

The American consumer will soon be an outdated relic because the “market” is the entire planet now. They don’t need a middle class consumer society to prop up all their shady and corrupt dealings anymore.

Obama is and always has been a representative of Fascist Globalization, where the idea is to create new Modern Day Feudal System, where the people are in complete fear and debt, NOT TO THE Political class, but to the Financial sector.

But most people don’t care. It is happening in broad daylight and most people do not seem to mind.

Bribe, threaten, abuse, do whatever it takes to get
your state house to void person-hood for corporations
who want to operate inside your state.

Next, disenfranchise both major political parties at
the state level to permit grass root activist to be
heard and empowered.

Shheeeeesh.  Imagine if there weren’t any demonstrations?  That sounds like a
pleasant scenario for an autocrat.  Because then there might not have been any
demonstrations in Algeria, Jordan, Egypt etc. 

Fellow Citizens:  Did they care about the possible outcomes in the 1960’s Civil
Rights movement (which was, YES, after the year 1776)?

Both China and the US are opressive, radical capitalist, undemocratic, bellicose, earth-polluting regimes that ignore their workers.  Both need to be reformed into real, direct democracy; no “representatives” or “party leaders” but one vote, one person.

Lafayette said: Look what the Tunisians did in just a week of constant demonstrations.

Again with Tunisia. I know, I know, dont say it. you are ‘an expert on that too’. you ‘been there many times’. etc etc.  Sheeesh.

Except you dont know what is going on, or what is going to happen in Tunisia. You arent aware of the possible outcomes. You dont know and I suspect that you dont care.

Lafayette said I HAVE A DREAM

“I knew MLK.
MLK was a friend of mine.
Lafayette, you are no MLK.”

****************

““Is America Too Corrupt to Keep Up?”“
***************************************
Just the title to this article denotes the obvious. I doubt that
any hegemonic state throughout history was without extreme
corruption. Most likely why they have all failed at one time or
another.
And for america, since the neocon think tanks swelled into
prominence, ‘When has america not been too corrupt to keep
up?’.

I HAVE A DREAM

alt: The Chinese do not elect their leaders yet their leaders show more concern for the people of their country than American leaders do.

And just what do you think are the probabilities that there will the equivalent of the Tien An Men Square uprising on the Washington Mall?

If Americans were not so politically apathetic, maybe their leaders would feel more concerned?

Look what the Tunisians did in just a week of constant demonstrations. Since 1776, we’ve done nothing that is even remotely comparable. Not even during the Great Depression.

I’m not fomenting rebellion. But getting one’s ass down in a demonstration on Capitol Hill gets more attention (at the grassroots level) than any number of posts on a forum, however intelligent they may be.

Why did you think Martin Luther King organized the Washington March in 1963 to arouse our collective conscience regarding the plight of the black man in America?

I too have a dream ... of Social Justice. But it is nowhere near coming true - not until many more Americans share it.

A wonderful insight is offered here by “gerard.”  Only those “self”-obsessed sickos who wage willful war on the Living Arrangement of our Mother Earth, and those among their domesticated dupes who refuse to take The-Hint-Heard-‘Round-The-World, that they should cease-and-desist in their aiding-and-abetting of the privateering pyramid schemers, will have their “time” here cut suddenly short when Kali does Her Purifying Dance.  They’re all at-least half-dead already anyhow, as “gerard” also reminds us in her customarily gentle GrandMotherly Way. 

Natural Persons who’ve got free of the fear-based CONtrol of their artificial “self,” and who’ve come together in genuine Communities in aid of each other and Mother Earth, have nothing to worry about in that Respect.  There is no such guarantee, however, for those who waver foolishly back-and-forth between the deadly false-pride of “individual”-istic “self”-ishness and the natural modesty (Hexagram #15, in The Book of Changes) of Organic Functional Integrity as a Natural Person in-Community, fulfilling the Organic Function of Humanity as a vital component in Her natural immune system.   

This Old Indian was up late the other Night Singing with some of our People.  Don’t know if any of it ‘leaked’ into the dreams of “REDHORSE,” whose own clear-eyed description here of certain symptomatic features of the deadly ‘CONdition’ plaguing us All is exemplary….as usual. 

We sang one Song, though, (‘Inyan Wichapi’) that might’ve translated roughly into English as:  Keep on Rockin’....in the free wild World! 

HokaHey!

The Chinese do not elect their leaders yet their leaders show more concern for the people of their country than American leaders do. 

China was set up to be an experiment in hierarchal form of governance, America in self rule.  Hierarchy is the form used by the Teachers of Humanity - the Masters of Wisdom / Masters of the Far East.  There, the one with the most expanded consciousness / awareness becomes the leader and those second in charge are also second in expansion. 

The United States was set up to be an experiment in self government.  Self government is far more delicate in that the individuals in the country must understand both the individual self and the collective self and how the needs of both must be balanced to enable the right leaders to be elected and good policy to be implemented.  For the average individual it is a much more demanding form of governance.  Hence the founding father’s interest in education.

Our current failings are that we overstress the individual self and ignore the reality of a collective self that exists at a community, city, state, country and world level.  The continued fascination with the Ayn Rand / “Marlboro Man” at the dawn of a time where interdependence is a growing fact puts us at a disadvantage.  So China, a much older country with a longer term vision of history, is able to take us to the cleaners.

“Throughout the world, governments are faced with seemingly intractable problems. But in many places they are not being dealt with appropriately. In Maitreya’s view, a growing barrage of rules and regulations is not the answer. The only way to deal with any problem in life is to understand how it came into being. The moment you know its process, you can reverse it. “When you know its birth, you can know its death.”
According to Maitreya, any problem requires analysis along the lines of how, when, where, why and what. Such an approach yields results.”
- World Teacher Maitreya through an associate as reported in Share International

Voting is practically obsolete.  Politics is as dead as a doorknob.  The only
reason to vote anymore is defensive.  To keep people like Sarah Palin and Newt
Gingrich out of office for example. 

The issue of Corporate Rights and Concerns vs. Human Rights and Concerns is
completely off the table for lay people.  Those are High Court matters, issues to
be decided only by a few enlightened rulers, the High Priests Of Society, and
not to be left trusted with the ignorant working people who are too simple-
minded to understand the vast complexity of the modern world and too
simple-minded to know what’s good for them. 

Therefore, the one remaining option to enable CHANGE LEFT is GRASSROOTS
which is a bit more challenging and rewarding than voting because it requires
self-reflection, and giving something up, maybe a lot. 

It’s clearly US AGAINST CORPORATIONS.  The Body Of Politics, which has slowly
melded with the Kleptocracy over the last three decades into one giant twin-
headed sadistic beast, virtually inseparable, is irrelevant. 

End The War.

JG: We have the best politicians money can buy and these politicians, with few notable exceptions, work tirelessly to keep the campaign contributions coming. Who can really blame them?

You, me and the rest of America.

We are lucky to have the democracy we do. Post what you said in public forum in China (or Iran or Cuba or Byelorussia, etc.) and you’d be invited for an “interview” at the police station.

So if we decide to elect the twits that we do, the consequences are finally whose fault? As I never tire of saying, “Look in the mirror”.

LOOK IN THE MIRROR

DS: ... we shouldn’t shake our fists at communists in Beijing; we should look directly at our own leaders in Washington.

Quite right. Then we should ask ourselves, “Who the hell put them there!?!”

Then we should look in the mirror. We have met the enemy and he is us.

Ain’t a helluva lot that will change politically until grassroot-mentalities change beforehand. Given a fat, dumb and relatively happy American electorate that outcome is way, way beyond the horizon.

Work in progress ...

America is a great country in spite of its rotten readership, not because of it. We have the best
politicians money can buy and these politicians, with
few notable exceptions, work tirelessly to keep the campaign contributions coming. Who can really blame
them?

As always, sharp observation and insight, but the disease remains and slow death continues. Is there a cure, or no? Boehner and the Boys have just begun. They run 24/7 and they don’t quit. They are an open lie.

  Other “Modern Nations” don’t suffer this insanity. Despite the American horror it is good to remember there are places in the World where people lead happy lives. Their children have a future that doesn’t include drugs, cops, prisons, slave wages and violent social disintegration. Again, in all deals with the Devil the Soul is part of the bargain. Does a Nation have a Soul?

  TAOWALKER is correct as regards the serious consequences of willful complicity. The American shadow has been set loose and its darkness touches us all. Human moral reason is its greatest enemy. Washington is exactly what it appears to be, it isn’t something else.

    I feel sorrow for our President and the others there with him who’ve abandoned a Nation and its people for the sake of profit and personal gain. And, I feel sorrow for “We the people—”, lives looted and destroyed, battered and confused, without leadership and hope.

    Other than to one another, there is no place to turn.

    “—give me back my broken night, my mirrored room, my secret life—it’s lonely here there’s no one left to torture—give me back the Berlin Wall—give me Stalin and St.Paul—give me Christ or give me Hiroshima—give me absolute control over every living Soul, and lie beside me Baby—thats an order. Things are gonna slide—slide in all directions—”
                            L.Cohen

  TAOWALKER: Were you and another guy at my house the other night? Were you tangled in my Dream Catcher?

  Did I hear somebody say: Keep on Rockin’?

IMO, part of the problem is not corruption (though there is that) but sheer lack of foresight, lack of interest in almost everything except dollar figures on a computer screen or on profit statements, or at the grocery store.

A once-and-still beautiful world exists, full of millions of people with enormous potential for knowledge and innovation, for living together by helping each other instead of killing each other.
Possible futures beckons to millions of beautiful, eager children and young people whose smiles are as bright as sunshine. Trees still live and breathe, tens of thousands of animals still roam free, clouds still roll across the sky, sun still warms the faces of those who look upward. Millions want to live together in peace, to care for the planet, for cities, villages and farms.  It’s natural. It’s inevitable for survival. Life has unknown potentials for recovery.
  Those who hate and kill and slaver after power and wealth are a small minority who are doomed to die off. In fact, they are already dead to joy and wonder, dead to love and understanding, dead to compassion and hope.
  We need to remember our living capabilities, hone our living skills and rescue ourselves and others from hate and despair. Animals need us; plants need us.  We need us. As Tao is saying forever, ALL TOGETHER NOW!

What the vast majority of theamericanpeople (as exemplified here by David Sirota and most commenting on his piece) are so loathe to face-up-to is the Natural Fact that the very foundation of this make-believe CONstruct is corrupt to its rotten core.  They are evidently still hoping desperately to keep-on getting-away-with (by hanging-on to its poisoned fruits) the rape, pillage, and murder upon which the entire allamericanfeverdream has been built….as perpetrated here on Turtle Island and everywhere around the world.

So as more-and-more everyday of “....your huddled masses” find their “self” on that shitty end of the same imperial shtick they once thought complacently would only and always be the lot of us “lesser breeds,” it’s no wonder they want to assign blame to somebody, anybody else.  Politicians are the most CONvenient targets-of-opportunism for all this angst.  Those, too, seen as the serpentine corrupters of what would otherwise be an eternal democratic CONsumers paradise, the corporo/financial “bonus” babies, are in for a big blast of pundit-abetted popular opprobrium.

So “madisolation” lays responsibility for all the misery at the feet of “leaders” who’ve betrayed the trust of ‘the people.’  “C.Curtis.Dillon” treats the money-power’s “flushing” of the lower classes as if it were still only a future possibility….instead of what’s actually happening here (and “global”-ly) right now. 

To borrow, loosely, from Leonard Cohen, “Kali’spell is coming….to the U.S.A. 

HokaHey!

the author asks:
“In a country of “USA!”-chanting sports crowds, flag-waving rallies and saber-rattling political rhetoric, why haven’t our lawmakers passed muscular “Buy America” statutes that might compete with the “Buy China” policies?”

C’mon, man!
The only thing we make anymore in this country is consumers.
The only chance of landing a McJob anywhere is either peddling cheap plastic Chinese crap at WalMart or humping the counter at Mickey-D’s.
In the meantime, all those flag-waving “USA!” chanting sports crowds are smiling smugly about all that money they saved shopping at WalMart.

But seriously, to answer the author’s question, the answer is obvious: our elected officials are OWNED.
Worse yet: we keep re-electing them!

Im afraid that America via our government is too corrupt for anything other than ensuring that the plutocrats and oligarchs along with the ruling elite bleed our nation dry of everything of value! Solving this will be extremely difficult and will undoubtedly entail much unpleasantness!

For a supposedly communist country, China has a much
better grasp of the principles of capitalism than
supposedly capitalist countries - like the US.

China spent 13% of her GDP on a stimulus package.  The
US spent 6% of her GDP. Which country got it right.

Nice V Icon Freddy the french resistance to Nazi,
northern France 1939-41 I have an original yellow Star
of David, forced to wear always, original, from that
point in History. V for victory against the criminal
banksters, communism is Homeland Security, spying on
your neighbor, children whistle blowing their parents,
this is the beginning of East Berlin Police Tactics,
Stazis from nazis. memories of FEAR VIOLENCE TORTURE
AND DEATH. sounds familiar it should it is happening
right NOW!

From Sam Stein at the Huffington Post, 11/02/2010 (midterm election day):

[When Democrats reconvene following Tuesday’s elections, there is going to be a fairly contentious debate over what went wrong—both on policy and political grounds. On Monday, the moderate wing of the party made a pitch for greater post-election relevance, with the group Third Way explaining that it “is crucial for Democrats to return to the center with bold and bipartisan policy solutions that are realistic in the next Congress and resonate with moderates and Independents.”]

From Russ Baker at AlterNet http://www.alternet.org/story/40482/?page=1 : 
The Top 10 Corporate Democrats-For-Hire
They claim to be ‘centrists,’ but these D.C. Dems—whose corporate agendas aren’t too different from Bush administration policies—are living proof that the system needs fixing.

“How big a problem is the growing influence of the bipartisan Beltway Party? Details on this can be found in a report from the Real News Project, a new nonprofit noncommercial investigative reporting outfit I founded.  http://whowhatwhy.com/2006/06/14/25-democratic-consultants/

RealNews examined the track records of prominent Washington Democrats, consultants, advertising and public relations executives, lobbyists, attorneys and the like who have close connections to the top circles of their party. Many of them served in the Clinton-Gore White House, and many of them will likely be tapped should a Democrat be elected in 2008 and have considerable influence in a future Democratic-controlled Congress.

“We scrutinized scores of Washington Dems and found many ensconced in firms working to advance corporate agendas that don’t look that different from policy we see emanating from the Bush administration. To be sure, many of these people have redeeming qualities, represent some admirable causes as well, and may personally harbor inclinations for the greater good. Yet, in trying to earn a handsome living in Washington, they apparently do what a person’s gotta do. Can political success and influence be attained without working for The Man? Let’s defer that debate for another time and start with a few facts.”

Don’t even ask the question David, it’s all too obvious.  Lie, cheat and steal is all our
political leadership can accomplish. Then comes the manipulation and psyops. 
Americans no longer matter to congress, they could care less what happens to this
country.

The Boner has introduced a ‘Cost Saving, Deficit Reduction’ bill in Congress. It requires the NIH to out-source the answering of all U.S. Suicide Hot Lines.

So now when you call and say, ‘I’m calling from the United States, and everything is going to hell, I’m so depressed I’m going to kill myself, I’m gonna commit suicide’, you’ll be greeted by a heavily-accented, cheerful voice saying, ‘Oh my, Oh my, suicide, eh?... that’s excellent!! And can you drive a truck?’

I don’t see what’s so bad about a “Buy American” plan. But people have been groomed by the mass media and others to be consumers first, Americans second. You would think a good citizen would want to provide his neighbor with a job, wouldn’t you? While we’re at it, a return to the “Union Made” label wouldn’t be a bad idea either. Then maybe the buttons wouldn’t fall off my newly-purchased shirts. As the oil prices rise around the world, and they will, transporting goods across vast distances will cease to be such a terrific idea. Hopefully resulting in a more sustainable industrial model—buy local. Spread the wealth.

“..when Americans see the next wave of bad unemployment news and mass layoffs and want to know who is responsible, we shouldn’t shake our fists at communists in Beijing; we should look directly at our own leaders in Washington.”
We should always look at and shake our fists at our own leaders. They made the choices to deregulate and favor corporations over people. They are responsible. It’s not us against the corporations. It never has been. It’s us against our own elected leaders. And we should do more than shake our fists. We should get out in the streets this summer. The ways things are going, that’s going to happen, anyway, and we should all make a pledge to ourselves to join in the demonstrations.
If China’s leaders are frightened of mass unrest and revolt, you can bet Obama and the Republicans and Democrats are frightened of us. Right now, I’ll bet they’re saying among themselves: “I can’t believe we’ve gotten away with this.”
The anger in this country is palpable, and it won’t be long before corporate media will be ignored and therefore, helpless to tamp it down. The day that happens is the day the simmering anger erupts.

When a nation couples public spending with incentives that encourage domestic corporate investment, an economy tends to grow its own wealth-building industries.

Maybe, in the short-term. The problem is, these public/private partnerships are too slow to adjust to future market demands.

There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen.

- Bastiat

These partnerships create market distortions, and facilitate mal-investments, which contribute heavily to the boom/bust cycle. Politicians with good intentions, eventually become nothing more than “rent seekers”. Public/private partnerships also produce “political” entrepreneurs, which lead to “Robber Barons”. They provide favoritism, in the form of subsidies and regulations, which benefit a select few companies, and destroy the free enterprise system, by placing barriers on start-ups that are supposed to provide the necessary competition. How many mega corporations have already been created by these partnerships? Exxon/Mobile, Haliburton, Blackwater, Monsanto, not to mention all of the financial sector businesses like JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and all of the other Vampire Squids. There’s too many to list. Now, you want to create even more?

Trade protectionist policies are Mercantilistic, in nature. If China wants to do it, that’s on them. Eventually, they will pay the price, and they are beginning to see it with high inflation. What happened to Japan, is going to happen to China. In the 80s, all of the same rhetoric, and arguments were being made against Japan. Look at where they are now. China is trying to avoid that, by manipulating their currency. They know, the US Dollar’s days as the world’s reserve currency are numbered. They also know that we are manipulating our currency, and trying to inflate away our debt.

It’s very simple. The US needs to manufacture products and services that the Chinese want. However, because the dollar is the reserve currency, and we can inflate it, we don’t really need to sell to China. Robert Triffin predicted, in 1961, that when a national currency is used as a reserve currency, it leads to huge trade imbalances, but, the nation that issues the currency has great influence over the rest of the world. That’s the dilemma - Triffin’s Dilemma.

http://www.aier.org/research/briefs/975-triffins-dilemma-reserve-currencies-and-gold

Many are recommending a basket of currencies and SDRs. Perhaps a basket of commodities, or even gold. I don’t know what the answer is, but it is not protectionism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj8rMwdQf6k

We need to repeal Obama and more than that the two-party corrupt system.

As long as voting machines don’t give paper reciepts enabling a 2nd and 3rd party recount of hard data, we all are going to be screwed.

Nice idea, Dave but nothing will ever come of it.  When only 18% of Americans support repeal of Obamacare but the Republicans vote overwhelmingly to repeal anyway we all know where their bread is buttered.  Congress no longer cares what we think or want, only what their corporate masters command.  Quite frankly, I doubt this truth will ever change and America is toast.  Big multinationals only care about their bottom line and, should our country need to be flushed to improve their financials, they will do that in a heartbeat.  We are all expendable in their eyes.