I don’t believe for a moment that we have a free market in this country. Corporate elites have prevented that from happening, way back to the time of Nixon.

In spite of everything that has been sacrificed by the people of this country in the name of free market capitalism, we are all witnessing its decline and fall.

As Marx pointed out, competition between capitalists would ultimately cause an economic contraction, as unemployed workers could no longer afford to be consumers.

Countries in which this happens almost always turn to facism, in a last ditch effort to forestall collpase.

Corporations are legal fictions - nothing more than bundles of contractual agreements.  At this point, however, they have taken on the status of their earlier counterparts, divine-right monarchs.  In the West at least we’ve overthrown them either peacefully or violently and it’s time that we did the same, one way or another, to our parasitic mega-corporations.

The Gilded Age mentality has been around a while.  In 1897, Grover Cleveland, a Democrat, vetoed a bill passed by Congress to provide financial aid to the poor explaining himself with “The lesson should be constantly enforced that though the people support the government the government should not support the people.” 

It’s safe to speculate that the same sentiment continues to exist today, which until eradicated will continue to relegate social, economic and political justice to the hinterland of merely a nice idea.

For all you pro-Baraak, anti-Paul people, it’s just gonna be more of the same from a different angle. 
Baraak is such an insider with the bailout backing, the Israeli lobby and beholden to corporate payouts to his campaign that there can’t REALLY be any real change. Not in this administration. It’s the same corrupted path that you expose the system as being. So is it more the system or the ******** running it?! Or the not even so dumbed down public not caring one way or the other!

“We Must Infiltrate and manipulate through participation, Just like the Religious ‘Right’ did to the Republican party.”

Do you know how the Religious Right took over the Republican Party? Voting is only half of it. The other half was not voting. When Republican candidates didn’t adhere to the Religious Right’s line, the volunteers and voters stayed home. That’s how they got the Republican Party to take them seriously.

Democrats, alas, have no grasp of this strategy. The Democratic leadership knows that liberals, terrified of the Republicans, will always support them no matter what. If people start to catch on, as they did with Hillary, just find a corporatist centrist with a better sales pitch and less skeletons in the closet.

Most major changes in American history came from outside the two-party system. That’s why the best way for progressives to make an impact is by supporting the Green Party (and instant runoff voting so you can vote your conscience freely). Doesn’t mean you have to run for president - just support Green candidates in local and state races, and I guarantee you that the Republicrats will listen up real fast. Already we’re seeing politicians from Obama on down trying to repackage their platforms in terms taken directly from the Green platform.

Socialist, capitalist, conservative, progressive, whoever - if you want real solutions, check out the Green Party.

This socio economic downfall did not happen overnight, It took the majority of the 20th century to accomplish, so tearing it down will be a lengthy objective.
I was a Kucinich voter before he was run out.
Nadar has done NOTHING in the last 40 yrs except screw up elections handing them to the Repugs.
As for McKinney..who? This was not an election for the Unknown candidate.
There was NO way any of these Folks would have won, but would have taken enough votes to assure a McCain presidency (Cheney’s 8th Term).
What Obama has done is create his own Frankenstien..Grassroots organizational capabilities.
I’m now part of 2 Local Politcal groups- Dems & progressives- Groups I was Unaware of until the Obama campaign.Attending meetings, getting E-Mail alerts, particpating in the Obama Website forum, Attended politcal News Conferences, Went to the MI Dem Caucus. I knocked on doors and phone banked for his candidacy.All as a Volunteer.And isn’t that at the heart of Socialism? Being Engaged.
Throwing Sticks and Stones like Nadar at the Organized Crime synicate will not solve the problem..We Must Infiltrate and manipulate through participation, Just like the Religious ‘Right’ did to the Republican party. Because socialistic ideals ARE Moral Values too.
so for all my fellow Lefties standing on the side lines Bitching, We could use a hand. We finally shot down the Clinton’s/DLC ‘Third Way’ (Corporationism).Did You miss Teddy whipping the ‘Torch’ past HillyBilly’s heads at the DNCC?
I see a number of suspecious faces in Obama’s nominees (most notably Hillary), but I figure we need to know Where all the Bodies are buried and who better to point them out, explain how they got there and Know who to hold accountable…I consider them the ‘Sammy the Bulls’of the Politcal and Corp mafia.
This could really be the ‘Shock Doctrine’ for the progressives.
Americans are pissed about being lied to, Outraged about two reckless & costly Wars, Irrate about Usury practices, Livid about Hoarding of essential resources and finally cognizant of what Trickle Down really means.

Carpe Diem!

Chris Hedges, I do not approve or endorse your polarizing rhetoric.

While I agree that “corporate forces” are looting the treasury, and would further agree that these forces will not likely be “contained by the existing political parties”, I do not agree that “free markets and globalization” are mere con games.

Globalization and free markets have permitted the economic enfranchisement of an extraordinary number of men, women and children. The problem is that with improved conditions come increasing expectations for which only local markets can answer. The surplus they produce should at a minimum be saleable on free markets.

There is no doubt that a deep political shift is underway in Europe as it is in America. Only I do not think the shift is toward socialism. Rather, I believe the shift is toward a fragmenting polity, towards a new tribalism.

Only local authority and responsibility have relevance when you can do nothing about systematic greed and a military-industrial state which employs a standing army of 1 million. If you want to avoid “corporate food, corporate clothes and corporate lifestyles”, promote local options. Buy locally grown foods, locally made clothes. 

We Americans are ideally situated to practice and indeed, to invent this new politics. Only we need a vision. Not the tired old vision of socialized means of production.

Puhlease…!

I voted for Brian Moore, the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate.  I didn’t vote for the “lesser of two evils,” as they were/are indeed evil to me…and so are the corporate-controlled system they represent.

I proudly cast my ballot for the person whom I wanted to be in the White House.  Period.

Hopefully, the voters will wake up and realize that they keep voting for people who are screwing them over, time and time again.