Chris Hedges - I hunch you drink often from the spring of living waters - how else can you continue such truth telling without going loco? I so appreciate your sword and shield! You see the awful yet somehow transmit it in a way that I land in the possible. Instead of in the ditch of collapse and resignation. Praises!
"The militarists, corporatists, oligarchs, politicians, academics and media conglomerates champion identity politics and diversity because it does nothing to address the systemic injustices or the scourge of permanent war that plague the U.S. It is an advertising gimmick, a brand, used to mask mounting social inequality and imperial folly. It busies liberals and the educated with a boutique activism, which is not only ineffectual but exacerbates the divide between the privileged and a working class in deep economic distress. The haves scold the have-nots for their bad manners, racism, linguistic insensitivity and garishness, while ignoring the root causes of their economic distress. The oligarchs could not be happier."
This is maybe the most brilliant and succinct synopsis of the situation that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Saving it.
My dismay over the last decade has been that the people, instead of coming together with a shared goal to fix what was clearly broken as demonstrated by the 2008 financial and real estate meltdown, went full ape-crap greed pursuit... primarily driven by the recovery of real estate values. And thus we just gave the damn keys back to the same Wall Street corporatist looting crooks that made the mess... and made them even more wealthy and powerful.
And the cabal used that added wealth and power to cement a defense for what they had feared might have happened to them around 2008-2010 if not for getting one of their elite compliant supporters in the White House. Trump, the severely flawed counter, was soundly routed by them and they planted yet another corporatist puppet in the White House.
Now we are frankly screwed in that they control the federal government. They control most state governments and all the large cities. They own the media. They own tech. They own most of the major corporations that provide all our necessary life products and services. They are pursuing a global new world order... not because it is a benefit to the human condition... but because it will just increase their power and wealth and the lock of it.
Democracy was supposed to be the tonic, but they have brainwashed the voting population into being bleating sheep committed to their own slaughter.
Left and right are at each other's throats and the corporatist cabal loves it that way.
I think the right gets it more than the left... the right had been on this fight to take back the country from the cabal. It is the left that is stuck in a fog... so desperate for their political team to win that they have in effect sold their souls to the corporatist devil and adopted the racist woke ideology.
It is Democrats that need the political epiphany here.
If you read the history of neoliberalism it takes time for movements to form intellectually first and then manifest themselves into political action. Neoliberals got started in the 1950's, started winning Nobel Prizes and pushing many failed legislative policies, like closing public schools,in economics in the 60's but they never got real political power until the 80's..
Yes, the Democratic part needs the epiphany. But that is not going to happen. EVER. Instead the hard work of winning elections and taking power has to continue. The Squad, Roho Khana, Katie Porter, Bernie and Warren are the start. No they don't have real power yet but it is growing.
This is a battle and it takes time but if your not in the fight then you are part of the problem and not the solution. I see progress. I see it in what Biden has actually accomplished in 2yrs. He is still a corrupt dithering fools in my view, but he got more shit done that aligns with our way of thinking than Obama ever did... And that is progress. Stay in the fight...
Here is a good advice rendered by Thomas Frank in his book
"Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?"
"Democrats will need to remember who they are. They will have to rededicate themselves to the economic well-being of ordinary citizens. They must publicly attack concentration of wealth and economic power whether it happens in Silicon Valley or in farm country. They must rediscover that higher education, like health care, is a free people’s right, not a privilege. They will need to turn away from fatuous (if convenient) theories about how smartphones liberate us all. They will have to shake off their fuzzy-minded admiration for Wall Street. Think twice about trade agreements. Defend the right of workers to organize. Start enforcing antitrust laws again, and tell the public why they are doing all of these things in no uncertain terms."
One of the latest iterations of identity politics has in essence destroyed women’s sext based rates. Identity politics obscures much as you mentioned in your article. Trans gender ideology is the latest form of misogyny that is successfully erasing women and obscuring the reality of biology and science. Starting with Obama and being intensified by Biden, title IX has been gutted to give men who somehow think that they’re women, Access to women’s sports, prisons, bathrooms, locker rooms, and even rape crisis shelters. Intensifying stereotyped sexist gender roles this movement, which is a multi trillion dollar movement impact by big Pharma, is medicalizing children and sterilizing them in the name of identification. Women as a class or a press on the basisOf our sex, but now we have men cleaning a deeper oppression as an excuse to file a women’s boundaries and spaces. I wish you would include this analysis, or one of your own, in your writing. Thank you for all the work you do.
I just now noticed a bunch of voice to text errors unable to edit. Bummer. There’s a lot of us speaking out. Look up women’s declaration international, stop female erasure.com, REDFOXX, and Meghan Murphy on Substack as well as others
First, there's no such thing as a cultural woman. That's ridiculous. There are sexed stereotypes that are based on misogyny which spins all cultures. There are many dsds ( incorrectly referred to as intersex) , each and every one of them is associated with either a male or female pathway. In other words they are also binary in terms of sex. Men invading women's spaces and putting on Woman face is not only insulting to women, but it is a direct attempt to break down women's boundaries and erase us. We are not uterusavers or chest feeders we are women, adult human females. Further, transitiology is homophobic. It tells non-conforming boys and girls that they need to surgically alter themselves to become conforming. They're transging away the gay. Lesbians don't even have dedicated dating sites or spaces anymore. Men are demanding that they accept male bodies. If you don't think this is degrading and harmful to women that men are in our spaces, prisons, Rape Crisis shelters, restrooms, Locker rooms, Sports Etc then you have no idea what feminism is about.
Right on. People will snap out of this, I hope, when the reality of it becomes clearer to people. In the UK, it's kicking off and is a very divisive issue - which immediately alienates half the population. You can't change sex, it's an immutable fact and category that is not up for discussion. The amount of intimidation, mudslinging and aggression aimed at women for standing up and attempting to simply discuss the issue is an indication of how misogynistic the entire 'movement' is. Unscientific, and wholly based on theories, it's not allowed to be scrutinized because the people who purport it know it's horseshit.
You're reducing this persons concerns and anxiety. Yes, it is about having sex specific spaces. Sorry. It's simple. If you think it's an issue maybe you should find funding for rape crisis centers for transwomen. Men inflict upwards of 98% of violence against women. If you can't understand someone's anxiety about being around men after such a traumatic event, then you aren't on planet Earth.
Mr Hedges I love this commentary and yes I say commentary because until we know and name individuals at the top of the ethereal empires elites we are throwing our bodies at shadows. Names please. I believe the true power still whisper into targeted ears what they want and never write it down for fear a trail would be traced, what do you say?
I do not think we need names, the names will disappear if we fight to change the systems that support them, such as unfettered capitalism and militarism. This will take a large force of peoples saying enough is enough, and a movement to protect the commons for the people and for the sake of the environment. Wealth redistribution is an essential component. Education of the people and good healthcare and adequate food and shelter are essential. Nuclear disarmament is essential. Stop producing war weapons and stop fantasizing about going to another world, fix our home Earth.
I agree, names will disappear. As Chomsky wrote in Manufacturing Consent, many of the journalists that did the misleading reporting during Vietnam or El Salvador were not really intentionally corrupt... It is just that the ones that wrote what was allowed got published and the ones that wrote truth did not get published. Media that published the truth did not get advertisers and media that published the "right" narrative did get advertisers.
To implement the policy you note above we need to elect law makers that can win election while supporting these policies. It is as simple as that. And that means every one of us needs to do the hard work of getting these types of law makers into office with out taking money from the donor class. It is that straight forward.. No?
My only problem with your conclusion is you assume you can still follow the money and the truth is the whole financial world is turned upside down. Read Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari report , former undersecretary of Housing under Bush 1 and you will Se my points about knowing names. The entire US budget is now under Black and we can no longer trace us taxpayers money FASB 56
That is a major problem, who is doing what and where. The rich protect the rich.
For a start it would be necessary to stop the bribery of our Congress who make the laws, and put a few of the financial crooks in jail, for lengthy sentences. If possible change elections to public financing only, and cut the never ending election politics to a six month period prior to voting. And go after the absolute liars on the media, with massive lawsuits. Destructive free speech is an issue that needs addressing. And immediately arrest the recent coup plotters in Congress, let them fight for their “innocence” in court like any other criminal.
Tall orders. I suspect it may take a revolution, but that is also frightening. The lice have infected everything. A severe recession may spark change for the better.
The problem is that the law makers we have in office today will NOT agree to change elections to public financing only. So to make that happen you have to get law makers that will agree to that elected to office.
The current law makers are not going to "stop the bribery" They were not elected to office to do that nor are their donors asking that of them.
The more realistic opportunity is to vote in the primary elections. To organize and vote in primary elections against the "Party" choice. The Dems did not want AOC to win, but she did it. The GOP did not want Trump to win but he did it. It is all about winning primaries.
Organize and vote and vote out of office DEMS that are on the corporate Payroll. If they can't win elections with corporate money then that money has very little value to them... Winning elections is the only currency that works.
FDR did not truly care about the poor. He was an arrogant rich dude. What he cared about was winning elections and to do it he had to help the poor. LBJ was more racist than Trump. He did not pass Civil Rights because he care one wit about blacks civil rights he did it to get votes.
Control the party primary and you control the party!
I heartily concur. Names please. If one is taking a stand then its being witnessed is to assume responsibility and be held responsible for it. Answerable. A matter of consciousness and conscience.
I check for names of corporates in the list of CEO's of the biggest corporations and in the list of big contributors to our politicians. For the religious right I look at the names of the preachers appearing at the TV or radio. And, of course, we know the name of the richest of our 735+ billionaires. It is easy to know who are the perpetrators, the important thing IMHO is to identify and denounce the problem.
We need a wholistic analysis, Chris, that comprehends and covers patriarchy, chauvanism, imperialism, class divisions, inequality, corporate control, and colonialism. your way of thinking disparages the resistance to patriarchy, racism and other chauvanisms, that separate us. Of course the corporate system will do everything in its power to divide us along class, race, gender and age lines… and make profit off our circumstances, but to relegate these issues, as bourgeois, or secondary, is an old thought pattern. Class divisions and corporate system of profit at any expense, including our very survival, is important to understand, as is racism and sexism. Its not either/or. You have an excellent analysis of corporate controlled political and economic systems, but your analysis lacks integrating an anti racist and anti patriarchal approach.
Do you think it’s just a question of liberal vs conservative? I think people are uprising because of the inequality, and lack of justice… which has been due to policies by corporate conservatives and corporate liberals. Workers’ interests nor the middle class’s interests are met by the political system. Its laws are written to protect the upper classes. What do you think Michael Piketty… your book highlights how the corporate private sector is robbing the “public” of its resources in education, health care, etc
I could not agree more that "people are uprising because of inequality and lack of justice". And further that the cause is corporate conservatives and corporate liberals.
This is not the first time nor will it be the last that our democracy has been taken over, on both sides of the isle, by law makers controlled by the "upper class"
My point is that every time Americans citizens have fought to over come this situation we have prevailed. But we have never prevailed with out FIGHTING. To end Slavery we had to literally fight a war. But since then voters have been persuaded to change the way they vote when properly inspired by protest from real victims. From Labor winning the right to organize (which cost many in labor their lives) to woman getting the right to vote to civil rights all of these battles from progress against "the upper class" have been won by PROTEST in the streets which lead to VOTES for progress...
A liberal voting for Nancy Pelosi in the primary is voting for the interests of the "upper class" just like a liberal voting for Mitch McConnell in the primary is voting for the interests of the "upper class"
When voters vote in the primaries for law makers like Katie Porter or AOC or dozens of other progressives they are voting against the upper class. GOP law makers can oppose the Upper Class, though i dont currently know of any..
It is a CHOICE.. how we vote matters and that is my point. We all need to fight to get voters to "do the right thing". that is my point. THere is a solution, we just need to win elections.
And also, I would submit that we need to mobilize/organize at all levels and not just to get out the vote, but to educate and lead about what is democracy. For me, it’s my background, but I think the labor movement has to lead in this fight, and quite frankly, our labor movement has been severely weakened. Our natural/organic leaders of civil society are under deep surveillance. We are in the heart of this beast of concentrated capital and corporate control and any resistance is under the most scrutinized surveillance.
We need to have the best organizers/leaders to make it clear what we are up against and how each resistance point is a part of the whole…. We need democracy in civil society and workplace democracy! We don’t have workplace democracy in the uS.
There are differences among politicians values, somewhat, but the very nature of their work, and to get re-elected, make them unreliable to lead us out of this mess we are in today. Of course, living in Florida, there is a full assault on our constitutional rights to speak, read, protest, practice religion other than Christianity; but this is spreading beyond Fl. Our constitution has been over taken by the Christian Right., attacking workers’ rights, women’s rights, minority voting rights. So yes voting is one piece to the puzzle to stop this onslaught of concentrated capital in fewer hands, and an attack on our democratic rights. But it’s not enough. Real progress has happened when there are coalitions of labor, women, minorities, immigrants demanding our rights and to have our voices heard. Green peace is leading some of this resistance; the workers in France are leading…. And those young people in Iran and Hong Kong… wow, such bravery in highly authoritarian Iran and China. But Fl is not far behind in its authoritarian leadership, under DeSsntis’ leadership.
Politicians are useless now. Our Supreme Court has been hijacked by the Christian fundamentalists; most of the politicians have been asleep and self-satisfied. They are like used-car salesman. They just want your money to get re-elected. Not ONE POLITICIAN, including Bernie, has a clue how to organize a resistance. If you have any energy learn how to organize…
Politicians do not, nor have they ever, "organized resistance" Resistance happens in the streets with real organizers. From Susan B Anthony to Eugene Debs to MLK these were organizers. Law makers changed their policies because of these organizers.
Sanders did all he can do for a nation of voters who fears Woke Professors more than corporations slashing workers wages for 40yrs.
Our problems are our own fault. Either we go in the streets and fight for our rights to be paid fair or the donor class will keep paying politicians to steal from us. Politicians do what it takes to get votes. Period. That is their job.
This is off topic a bit, but it is an observation of mine which I think holds merit. As a child growing up in the 1960's, I'm 64 now, the main-stream news was all there was on television. In fact there was no "Main Stream" anything. It was the nightly news with___________________. It was not long, and the reporters reported the facts as they found them and nothing more. That was great news compared to the propaganda and fraud that typifies Main-Stream News today. And the number of topcis were a few, not 24-7-365 as we have today. We are Over-informationalized. today and cannot catch out breath before another bombshell event is reported analyzed, hypothesized, criticized, memorized and then thrown into the garbage heap never to arise again. And this is Intentional because it leaves the viewer no time to digest anything, and no time to analyze anything, and certainly no time to investigate the massive corruption schemes going on right now, and no interest in doing so because the next disclosure of corruption is around the corner, here it comes, catch it before it gets away, oh its gone. And nothing is done to stop the Crimes against Humanity such as the Gain of Function proposal that the military shot down, and Fauci went ahead on anyway which killed millions of people. And he walks freely today. Not to mention the fact that the military understood ivermectin and hydroxychloraqiun were effective alternative treatments for Covid and the government turned that completely around so that there would be more deaths.. And the parade moves on down the street to the next town.
Crazy Horse, a Lakota leader, was also killed by some of His own people after He surrendered at a military fort at Crawford Nebraska. Must say, Eunice you have a beautiful voice.
Whether or not that's true - and I completely disagree - it doesn't matter, because women are the victims of sexual assault by men by such a big margin, that the the best and safest way is to safeguard the many from the few. That it's even been up for discussion blows my mind, frankly
This is another ploy of the Corporate State Control mongers who live by the Problem -Reaction-Solution method of Mass Population Control. What they must be told is that we understand that we are NOT our bodies, but rather the Divine God Consciousness inside which is ETERNAL. We cannot be hurt or destroyed. Therefore we have nothing to fear, but they do. The full exposure of each person and their nepharious demonic plans. They operate on fear- based events designed to scare people into accepting whatever they offer simply to have a brief period of peace in their lives.
We are in control now, and we will determine our course from now on. We are peaceful, and compassionate. And we encourage Amnesty as a ,eams of these controllers to come out and tell the complete TRUTH in exchange for full Amnesty. Once this has been done, humanity can move forward.
Chris Hedges - I hunch you drink often from the spring of living waters - how else can you continue such truth telling without going loco? I so appreciate your sword and shield! You see the awful yet somehow transmit it in a way that I land in the possible. Instead of in the ditch of collapse and resignation. Praises!
"The militarists, corporatists, oligarchs, politicians, academics and media conglomerates champion identity politics and diversity because it does nothing to address the systemic injustices or the scourge of permanent war that plague the U.S. It is an advertising gimmick, a brand, used to mask mounting social inequality and imperial folly. It busies liberals and the educated with a boutique activism, which is not only ineffectual but exacerbates the divide between the privileged and a working class in deep economic distress. The haves scold the have-nots for their bad manners, racism, linguistic insensitivity and garishness, while ignoring the root causes of their economic distress. The oligarchs could not be happier."
This is maybe the most brilliant and succinct synopsis of the situation that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Saving it.
My dismay over the last decade has been that the people, instead of coming together with a shared goal to fix what was clearly broken as demonstrated by the 2008 financial and real estate meltdown, went full ape-crap greed pursuit... primarily driven by the recovery of real estate values. And thus we just gave the damn keys back to the same Wall Street corporatist looting crooks that made the mess... and made them even more wealthy and powerful.
And the cabal used that added wealth and power to cement a defense for what they had feared might have happened to them around 2008-2010 if not for getting one of their elite compliant supporters in the White House. Trump, the severely flawed counter, was soundly routed by them and they planted yet another corporatist puppet in the White House.
Now we are frankly screwed in that they control the federal government. They control most state governments and all the large cities. They own the media. They own tech. They own most of the major corporations that provide all our necessary life products and services. They are pursuing a global new world order... not because it is a benefit to the human condition... but because it will just increase their power and wealth and the lock of it.
Democracy was supposed to be the tonic, but they have brainwashed the voting population into being bleating sheep committed to their own slaughter.
Left and right are at each other's throats and the corporatist cabal loves it that way.
I think the right gets it more than the left... the right had been on this fight to take back the country from the cabal. It is the left that is stuck in a fog... so desperate for their political team to win that they have in effect sold their souls to the corporatist devil and adopted the racist woke ideology.
It is Democrats that need the political epiphany here.
If you read the history of neoliberalism it takes time for movements to form intellectually first and then manifest themselves into political action. Neoliberals got started in the 1950's, started winning Nobel Prizes and pushing many failed legislative policies, like closing public schools,in economics in the 60's but they never got real political power until the 80's..
Yes, the Democratic part needs the epiphany. But that is not going to happen. EVER. Instead the hard work of winning elections and taking power has to continue. The Squad, Roho Khana, Katie Porter, Bernie and Warren are the start. No they don't have real power yet but it is growing.
This is a battle and it takes time but if your not in the fight then you are part of the problem and not the solution. I see progress. I see it in what Biden has actually accomplished in 2yrs. He is still a corrupt dithering fools in my view, but he got more shit done that aligns with our way of thinking than Obama ever did... And that is progress. Stay in the fight...
Here is a good advice rendered by Thomas Frank in his book
"Listen, Liberal: Or, What Ever Happened to the Party of the People?"
"Democrats will need to remember who they are. They will have to rededicate themselves to the economic well-being of ordinary citizens. They must publicly attack concentration of wealth and economic power whether it happens in Silicon Valley or in farm country. They must rediscover that higher education, like health care, is a free people’s right, not a privilege. They will need to turn away from fatuous (if convenient) theories about how smartphones liberate us all. They will have to shake off their fuzzy-minded admiration for Wall Street. Think twice about trade agreements. Defend the right of workers to organize. Start enforcing antitrust laws again, and tell the public why they are doing all of these things in no uncertain terms."
One of the latest iterations of identity politics has in essence destroyed women’s sext based rates. Identity politics obscures much as you mentioned in your article. Trans gender ideology is the latest form of misogyny that is successfully erasing women and obscuring the reality of biology and science. Starting with Obama and being intensified by Biden, title IX has been gutted to give men who somehow think that they’re women, Access to women’s sports, prisons, bathrooms, locker rooms, and even rape crisis shelters. Intensifying stereotyped sexist gender roles this movement, which is a multi trillion dollar movement impact by big Pharma, is medicalizing children and sterilizing them in the name of identification. Women as a class or a press on the basisOf our sex, but now we have men cleaning a deeper oppression as an excuse to file a women’s boundaries and spaces. I wish you would include this analysis, or one of your own, in your writing. Thank you for all the work you do.
Thank You Laura, not nearly enough is being said about this, you called it correct, “latest form of misogyny”.
I just now noticed a bunch of voice to text errors unable to edit. Bummer. There’s a lot of us speaking out. Look up women’s declaration international, stop female erasure.com, REDFOXX, and Meghan Murphy on Substack as well as others
I can decipher, thank you much.
First, there's no such thing as a cultural woman. That's ridiculous. There are sexed stereotypes that are based on misogyny which spins all cultures. There are many dsds ( incorrectly referred to as intersex) , each and every one of them is associated with either a male or female pathway. In other words they are also binary in terms of sex. Men invading women's spaces and putting on Woman face is not only insulting to women, but it is a direct attempt to break down women's boundaries and erase us. We are not uterusavers or chest feeders we are women, adult human females. Further, transitiology is homophobic. It tells non-conforming boys and girls that they need to surgically alter themselves to become conforming. They're transging away the gay. Lesbians don't even have dedicated dating sites or spaces anymore. Men are demanding that they accept male bodies. If you don't think this is degrading and harmful to women that men are in our spaces, prisons, Rape Crisis shelters, restrooms, Locker rooms, Sports Etc then you have no idea what feminism is about.
Right on. People will snap out of this, I hope, when the reality of it becomes clearer to people. In the UK, it's kicking off and is a very divisive issue - which immediately alienates half the population. You can't change sex, it's an immutable fact and category that is not up for discussion. The amount of intimidation, mudslinging and aggression aimed at women for standing up and attempting to simply discuss the issue is an indication of how misogynistic the entire 'movement' is. Unscientific, and wholly based on theories, it's not allowed to be scrutinized because the people who purport it know it's horseshit.
You're reducing this persons concerns and anxiety. Yes, it is about having sex specific spaces. Sorry. It's simple. If you think it's an issue maybe you should find funding for rape crisis centers for transwomen. Men inflict upwards of 98% of violence against women. If you can't understand someone's anxiety about being around men after such a traumatic event, then you aren't on planet Earth.
That is the most contemptable load of word salad I've ever had the displeasure of reading. It doesn't change the fact that sex is an immutable fact.
Mr Hedges I love this commentary and yes I say commentary because until we know and name individuals at the top of the ethereal empires elites we are throwing our bodies at shadows. Names please. I believe the true power still whisper into targeted ears what they want and never write it down for fear a trail would be traced, what do you say?
I do not think we need names, the names will disappear if we fight to change the systems that support them, such as unfettered capitalism and militarism. This will take a large force of peoples saying enough is enough, and a movement to protect the commons for the people and for the sake of the environment. Wealth redistribution is an essential component. Education of the people and good healthcare and adequate food and shelter are essential. Nuclear disarmament is essential. Stop producing war weapons and stop fantasizing about going to another world, fix our home Earth.
MG
I agree, names will disappear. As Chomsky wrote in Manufacturing Consent, many of the journalists that did the misleading reporting during Vietnam or El Salvador were not really intentionally corrupt... It is just that the ones that wrote what was allowed got published and the ones that wrote truth did not get published. Media that published the truth did not get advertisers and media that published the "right" narrative did get advertisers.
To implement the policy you note above we need to elect law makers that can win election while supporting these policies. It is as simple as that. And that means every one of us needs to do the hard work of getting these types of law makers into office with out taking money from the donor class. It is that straight forward.. No?
My only problem with your conclusion is you assume you can still follow the money and the truth is the whole financial world is turned upside down. Read Catherine Austin Fitts, Solari report , former undersecretary of Housing under Bush 1 and you will Se my points about knowing names. The entire US budget is now under Black and we can no longer trace us taxpayers money FASB 56
That is a major problem, who is doing what and where. The rich protect the rich.
For a start it would be necessary to stop the bribery of our Congress who make the laws, and put a few of the financial crooks in jail, for lengthy sentences. If possible change elections to public financing only, and cut the never ending election politics to a six month period prior to voting. And go after the absolute liars on the media, with massive lawsuits. Destructive free speech is an issue that needs addressing. And immediately arrest the recent coup plotters in Congress, let them fight for their “innocence” in court like any other criminal.
Tall orders. I suspect it may take a revolution, but that is also frightening. The lice have infected everything. A severe recession may spark change for the better.
Great idea: "change elections to public financing only"
The problem is that the law makers we have in office today will NOT agree to change elections to public financing only. So to make that happen you have to get law makers that will agree to that elected to office.
it can be done, but it will take work.
MG
The current law makers are not going to "stop the bribery" They were not elected to office to do that nor are their donors asking that of them.
The more realistic opportunity is to vote in the primary elections. To organize and vote in primary elections against the "Party" choice. The Dems did not want AOC to win, but she did it. The GOP did not want Trump to win but he did it. It is all about winning primaries.
Organize and vote and vote out of office DEMS that are on the corporate Payroll. If they can't win elections with corporate money then that money has very little value to them... Winning elections is the only currency that works.
FDR did not truly care about the poor. He was an arrogant rich dude. What he cared about was winning elections and to do it he had to help the poor. LBJ was more racist than Trump. He did not pass Civil Rights because he care one wit about blacks civil rights he did it to get votes.
Control the party primary and you control the party!
I heartily concur. Names please. If one is taking a stand then its being witnessed is to assume responsibility and be held responsible for it. Answerable. A matter of consciousness and conscience.
I check for names of corporates in the list of CEO's of the biggest corporations and in the list of big contributors to our politicians. For the religious right I look at the names of the preachers appearing at the TV or radio. And, of course, we know the name of the richest of our 735+ billionaires. It is easy to know who are the perpetrators, the important thing IMHO is to identify and denounce the problem.
We need a wholistic analysis, Chris, that comprehends and covers patriarchy, chauvanism, imperialism, class divisions, inequality, corporate control, and colonialism. your way of thinking disparages the resistance to patriarchy, racism and other chauvanisms, that separate us. Of course the corporate system will do everything in its power to divide us along class, race, gender and age lines… and make profit off our circumstances, but to relegate these issues, as bourgeois, or secondary, is an old thought pattern. Class divisions and corporate system of profit at any expense, including our very survival, is important to understand, as is racism and sexism. Its not either/or. You have an excellent analysis of corporate controlled political and economic systems, but your analysis lacks integrating an anti racist and anti patriarchal approach.
KW
Or we could just work in elections to get more actual liberals elected to office? No?
Do you think it’s just a question of liberal vs conservative? I think people are uprising because of the inequality, and lack of justice… which has been due to policies by corporate conservatives and corporate liberals. Workers’ interests nor the middle class’s interests are met by the political system. Its laws are written to protect the upper classes. What do you think Michael Piketty… your book highlights how the corporate private sector is robbing the “public” of its resources in education, health care, etc
KW
I could not agree more that "people are uprising because of inequality and lack of justice". And further that the cause is corporate conservatives and corporate liberals.
This is not the first time nor will it be the last that our democracy has been taken over, on both sides of the isle, by law makers controlled by the "upper class"
My point is that every time Americans citizens have fought to over come this situation we have prevailed. But we have never prevailed with out FIGHTING. To end Slavery we had to literally fight a war. But since then voters have been persuaded to change the way they vote when properly inspired by protest from real victims. From Labor winning the right to organize (which cost many in labor their lives) to woman getting the right to vote to civil rights all of these battles from progress against "the upper class" have been won by PROTEST in the streets which lead to VOTES for progress...
A liberal voting for Nancy Pelosi in the primary is voting for the interests of the "upper class" just like a liberal voting for Mitch McConnell in the primary is voting for the interests of the "upper class"
When voters vote in the primaries for law makers like Katie Porter or AOC or dozens of other progressives they are voting against the upper class. GOP law makers can oppose the Upper Class, though i dont currently know of any..
It is a CHOICE.. how we vote matters and that is my point. We all need to fight to get voters to "do the right thing". that is my point. THere is a solution, we just need to win elections.
And also, I would submit that we need to mobilize/organize at all levels and not just to get out the vote, but to educate and lead about what is democracy. For me, it’s my background, but I think the labor movement has to lead in this fight, and quite frankly, our labor movement has been severely weakened. Our natural/organic leaders of civil society are under deep surveillance. We are in the heart of this beast of concentrated capital and corporate control and any resistance is under the most scrutinized surveillance.
Better to fight for our rights, even if we loose, than not to fight and loose in addition our pride and hopes.
We need to have the best organizers/leaders to make it clear what we are up against and how each resistance point is a part of the whole…. We need democracy in civil society and workplace democracy! We don’t have workplace democracy in the uS.
There are differences among politicians values, somewhat, but the very nature of their work, and to get re-elected, make them unreliable to lead us out of this mess we are in today. Of course, living in Florida, there is a full assault on our constitutional rights to speak, read, protest, practice religion other than Christianity; but this is spreading beyond Fl. Our constitution has been over taken by the Christian Right., attacking workers’ rights, women’s rights, minority voting rights. So yes voting is one piece to the puzzle to stop this onslaught of concentrated capital in fewer hands, and an attack on our democratic rights. But it’s not enough. Real progress has happened when there are coalitions of labor, women, minorities, immigrants demanding our rights and to have our voices heard. Green peace is leading some of this resistance; the workers in France are leading…. And those young people in Iran and Hong Kong… wow, such bravery in highly authoritarian Iran and China. But Fl is not far behind in its authoritarian leadership, under DeSsntis’ leadership.
KW
I don't think we disagree. Florida is heart breaking but it also serves as an example of how voters have power to improve or harm their lives.
Floridians voted for Increased min wage and at the same time relected a governor that is fighting against the law that voters passed.
What voter want economically is not how they vote for law makers. And that is my point.
I totally concur with your claims on who is standing up. More power to them and less power to the Fascist governor of your fair state.
True. And for the voters to "do the right thing" is not voting if one needs to go to the polls holding their noses. Voting only for PROVEN candidates.
Politicians are useless now. Our Supreme Court has been hijacked by the Christian fundamentalists; most of the politicians have been asleep and self-satisfied. They are like used-car salesman. They just want your money to get re-elected. Not ONE POLITICIAN, including Bernie, has a clue how to organize a resistance. If you have any energy learn how to organize…
KW
Politicians do not, nor have they ever, "organized resistance" Resistance happens in the streets with real organizers. From Susan B Anthony to Eugene Debs to MLK these were organizers. Law makers changed their policies because of these organizers.
Sanders did all he can do for a nation of voters who fears Woke Professors more than corporations slashing workers wages for 40yrs.
Our problems are our own fault. Either we go in the streets and fight for our rights to be paid fair or the donor class will keep paying politicians to steal from us. Politicians do what it takes to get votes. Period. That is their job.
This is off topic a bit, but it is an observation of mine which I think holds merit. As a child growing up in the 1960's, I'm 64 now, the main-stream news was all there was on television. In fact there was no "Main Stream" anything. It was the nightly news with___________________. It was not long, and the reporters reported the facts as they found them and nothing more. That was great news compared to the propaganda and fraud that typifies Main-Stream News today. And the number of topcis were a few, not 24-7-365 as we have today. We are Over-informationalized. today and cannot catch out breath before another bombshell event is reported analyzed, hypothesized, criticized, memorized and then thrown into the garbage heap never to arise again. And this is Intentional because it leaves the viewer no time to digest anything, and no time to analyze anything, and certainly no time to investigate the massive corruption schemes going on right now, and no interest in doing so because the next disclosure of corruption is around the corner, here it comes, catch it before it gets away, oh its gone. And nothing is done to stop the Crimes against Humanity such as the Gain of Function proposal that the military shot down, and Fauci went ahead on anyway which killed millions of people. And he walks freely today. Not to mention the fact that the military understood ivermectin and hydroxychloraqiun were effective alternative treatments for Covid and the government turned that completely around so that there would be more deaths.. And the parade moves on down the street to the next town.
Crazy Horse, a Lakota leader, was also killed by some of His own people after He surrendered at a military fort at Crawford Nebraska. Must say, Eunice you have a beautiful voice.
Because of banking secrecy I’m afraid we don’t know who the richest are. Think “Trust Funds”
Whether or not that's true - and I completely disagree - it doesn't matter, because women are the victims of sexual assault by men by such a big margin, that the the best and safest way is to safeguard the many from the few. That it's even been up for discussion blows my mind, frankly
This is another ploy of the Corporate State Control mongers who live by the Problem -Reaction-Solution method of Mass Population Control. What they must be told is that we understand that we are NOT our bodies, but rather the Divine God Consciousness inside which is ETERNAL. We cannot be hurt or destroyed. Therefore we have nothing to fear, but they do. The full exposure of each person and their nepharious demonic plans. They operate on fear- based events designed to scare people into accepting whatever they offer simply to have a brief period of peace in their lives.
We are in control now, and we will determine our course from now on. We are peaceful, and compassionate. And we encourage Amnesty as a ,eams of these controllers to come out and tell the complete TRUTH in exchange for full Amnesty. Once this has been done, humanity can move forward.