Excellent article Chris. Unregulated capitalism without a maximum wage is not financially or environmentally sustainable and it is not compatible with true Christianity or democracy. The right wing dictator supporters, think that the robber barons will give them a piece of the pie because they are white. In reality, they will lose their minimum wage and all social spending including social security, food stamps, earned income tax credit..., and they will be cast into the world labor pool where the going labor rate is less than a dollar an hour. A world where the old and handicapped and all the useless eaters will be left to die of covid or a fungus or starvation, regardless of race. There are about 1,500 right wing am hate radio stations in America. Also the billionaire globalists own the television stations and the newspapers as well. The rich will pay the poor to kill the poor, while flying from Nation to Nation to avoid being cornered by the angry mobs. First and foremost, we must maintain our democracy to keep the ability to replace Biden, Trump and all of the bought off leaders of the last 60 years. If the crazy GOP Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, and causes a Great depression and a dictator gets elected, it will be too late. Very few dictators are benevolent. Now doesn't look like a very good time to be bringing more babies on board the planet. But that won't stop the non-thinkers, only the thinkers. There will be a Utopia for the rich and a dystopia for the poor, at the same time.
This is a powerful cri-de-cœur manifesto on behalf of the worker - of the union-member worker - and against the autocratic faux-democracy of the US - determined to further entrench the privilege of the über rich and corporations. I'm Australian - but I see so many parallels here - clearly "learnt" by our own oligarchic vested interests from the "example" of "our-great-and-powerful friend" - so many of our bright young ones enticed to study at the Chicago School of Economics - at Harvard School of Business - programs wherein ethics seems to have been unknown. I was a proud unionist - of the NSW Teachers Federation - from my first year of teaching when I was still 21 - the school's union representative - despite only two+ years earlier newly emerged from a fundamentalist Protestant sect for which syndicalism was aligned with Satan. I was a member of no political party until just three years ago (a membership now resigned from) when a new movement appeared seeking proper reconciliation with First Australian, decent and respectful treatment for asylum-seekers - demonised here more-or-less by both sides of the political divide though with truly inhuman abuse and torture by the coalition party we see here as allied to the Trumpian Republicans of the US - then in power already for seven years - until the brave little protest party I had joined was swamped by others known as the TEAL - a loose alliance of others who garnered all the headlines and attention - in the lead up to the Federal elections held here in May, 2022 when the incumbents were blown away. The party I had joined was part of a Zeitgeist. Attacks on unions by the Rupert Murdoch NewsCorp TV/Radio/newspaper attack dogs (holding over 70% of Australia's media outlets) and its trademark divisiveness - continue unabated - despite "helping their boys and girls" to lose every state and territory election - and the federal one, too over the past three years. Only tiny Tasmania remains within their control. It suggests hope - yet not any hope for Julian Assange! Following US "orders" in provoking China, in aiding the oligarchs of Ukraine... Again, Chris - such clarity in your enunciation of these matters. (As Robert Billyard states just below - 29 vassal states of the US in NATO - and I noted to-day that Stoltenberg was telling (!!) Australia how to respond to adding assistance to Ukraine - Australia now virtually an adjunct member of NATO - despite our location between the South Indian and South Pacific Oceans.) Yesterday in London the newly appointed Australian High Commissioner (Ambassador - to a British Commonwealth nation) met with Julian Assange in Belmarsh - though afterwards he - Stephen SMITH - refused to say anything about what had been discussed - prevented - he said - by an agreement with Julian Assange. I do not believe that! I can't see why he could not have left with Julian Assange and taken him to sanctuary in the Australian High Commission - vast by comparison with the little Ecuadorean Embassy which for so long offered Julian sanctuary till the forces and money of the US brought that to an end.
Great speech but here's the conundrum. My union, the National Education Association (retired member), like many big unions, is entirely beholden to the Democratic Party. I have never succeeded in getting them to stand against any DNC policies, no matter how destructive to their membership. Like the DNC, the effort to reform them from within is a waste of time and energy. What's best done about that, Chris? Yours dreaming of a #GeneralStrike, Lisa
Get involved in the union. Clean house. I sympathize though, I am a railroad worker and our union isn't particularly militant anymore (nor has been for a long time).
Reform from within is not likely to be possible for the NEA at this point in history. Big cities with their own education union e.g. Chicago have better results standing up for people's rights. I note that the Los Angeles school workers who struck recently are represented by SEIU, not the NEA.
Chris Hedges has been repelled by hard news since the March 2020 lock-downs when he threw the working class under the bus with COVID ... his trademark has since become his tendency to always avoid the issues of tyranny that are right in our face ... when the lockdowns were declared, he refused to stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... on this topic he has only said: "it's a tough decision" ... and then he brazenly took sides with big pharma just one month after the explosive court-ordered FDA FOIA release:
On DEC 2, 2021 ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's internal vax data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years!
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made the following comment right here on SubStack on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54) - go to the 1:08:48 mark ...
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ...
Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ... he could have said it's a personal decision, but he chose to play it safe and recklessly stand with big pharma ... his worshipers continue to describe him as an activist when that term no longer applies, not since the lock-downs ... he's now a retired activist and a "straddler" ... he's got one foot in "their" world and only one foot in our world ... People just don't understand what happens to journalists once they break into the big-money ... the pseudo-progs like Hedges, Krystal Ball, Briahna Joy-Gray and Katie Halper now all make way too much money to be trusted ... they all narrow the scope of their commentary in fear of being demonetized ... they spend more time studying social media analytics as their perspectives become increasingly predictable ... Chris Hedges is repelled by hard news, he won't go near it, it's just too risky ... I used to love this guy, but not anymore ...
"Janet Yellen’s need to orchestrate unemployment to bring down inflation is, for them, a vital fact. "
Inflation is one of those key words that has suffered an Orwellian redefinition. It used to mean a spiral in which both wages and prices rise. Nowadays the rise in prices overwhelms the rise in wages. Nevertheless interest rates are pushed up to stamp out even a slight increase in the power of labor. Nothing will be done about prices.
It's astonishing that in a country as large as the United States, there isn't a political party aligned with, or dedicated to, representing workers and worker rights. The decimation of labor unions was deliberate, and it stifled the organized voice of labor, plus it eliminated the political and economic education that unions routinely engage in. It's a helluva parlor trick to make a working person believe the boss is his benefactor and that being a "right-to-work" employee is freedom.
I remember riding with my friend in his parents car when we were young teenagers and him pointing to a building with "National Right-to-Work Headquarters" emblazoned on the cornice. He exclaimed, "Jeez, I'd hate to work there; they just put you right to work at that company".
Those who possess the emotional and intellectual fortitude to face what lies before them will always be in the minority. There is a numbing comfort that comes with surrendering moral autonomy for abject servility and obedience, and this comfort is especially attractive in a crisis.
Because of the disproportionate amount spent on the military, Americans must endure the neglect of environmental needs, the financial insolvency and decay of our cities, the deterioration of our transportation, education, and health care systems, and the devastating effects of unemployment and underemployment upon millions of households and hundreds of communities. In addition, there are the frightful social and psychological costs, the discouragement and decline of public morale, (anomie) the anger and suffering of the poor and the not-so-poor, the militarization and violence of popular culture, ubiquitous presence of the protean security and surveillance apparatus, and the application of increasingly authoritarian solutions to our social ills….
If we are to mobilize resistance to the empire, we must appeal not only to people’s moral values but to their self-interest (and I do not mean their selfishness). People may rally around the banners of empire when convinced that their security and survival are at stake. They will not choose morality if they think it brings endangerment to them and their loved ones. Nor will they choose disarmament and peaceful conversions if they think it will show weakness and invite aggression against themselves and their families.
So they must be shown that the republic is being bled for the empire’s profits, not for their well-being. That real national security means secure jobs, safe homes, healthcare for all, access to higher education without incurring debt peonage, and a clean environment. They must be informed that this empire, which is paid for by their blood, sweat, and taxes, has little to do with protecting them or people abroad and everything to do with victimizing them in order to feed the power and profits of the few. The global military apparatus they grudgingly support at such immense costs to the national treasury, does not serve their interests. To cut it drastically will not leave us prey to some foreign adversaries. On the contrary, to lay down the sword and use our labor and national treasure for peaceful reconstruction so desperately needed at home and abroad is not to become a weak nation but a truly great one.
Mainstream pundits and propagandists label our desire to move away from corporate militarism and imperial domination as weakness, folly, isolationism, or self-defeating pacifism and yes, even treasonous. But there is another name for the course of action that aims to wrest the wealth and power out of the hands of the military-industrial complex, the protean security and surveillance apparatus, and the Davos jetting World Economic Forum players, and give it back to the people so that they become the agents of their own lives and social conditions: it is called democracy, the victory of the republic, the consent of the governed over the dogma and dictates of the small group of oligarchs, plutocrats, and authoritarian ruling class of empire
“Those who do not move do not notice their chains”. Rosa Luxumberg.
"The global military apparatus they grudgingly support"
In the United States, polls show that the military is the most trusted of institutions.
***
From the book “Nuremberg Diary” by American psychologist G.M. Gilbert, who collected the testimonies of Nazi leaders. An imprisoned Hermann Goering said,
“Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship,” Goering reportedly told Gilbert in his cell on the evening of April 18, 1946.
Gilbert replied: “There is one difference(...) In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare war.”
To which Goering said: “Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
The psychological phenomena is not restricted to the military apparatus of government. It has been proven to work if the Attacker is an imaginably unique and deadly virus.
Also, Gilbert, failed to imagine the power of executive order under a declared state of emergency by the same branch of a democratic government. This circumvents, and indeed negates, the "say" of the people in a democracy which he believed distinguished the United States from, oh let's just say, Nazi Germany.
P.P. "In the United States, polls show that the military is the most trusted of institutions." What polls are you referring to and trusted for what? winning wars, wisely using our funds? I'm ignoramus but willing to learn.
Thank you P.P very interesting Gallup report showing that the military lost only 5% confidence from the public in general comparing 2022 with 2021 though it is still the second highest trusted institution with a 64% overall. For me, the most surprising part of this poll is the change in the trust of the military by political party:
Republicans trusted it -10%, Independents -8% and Democrats +4.
Given that among my Göring/Goering cousins - HG was a first cousin to their great grand-father - I have long taken a particular interest in this "intelligent" but heartless scoundrel/war criminal - and in exactly his assessment here outlined. Thanks PP for this reminder. We are all currently being fed this kind of reasoning re wars against Russia and re preparation for war against China. Largely lies - but to call them out ... watch out!
Let me add here that similar rorts/shenanigans/skulduggery is going on in Australia where US weapons companies are now sucking out hundreds of billions of dollars from the Australian taxpayers - money for our health system, our public education, welfare and infrastructure - to service nuclear submarines of absolutely no benefit to Australia!
The Republican oligarchs in Iowa, despite 61% of voters not wanting the private education bill passed, went ahead anyway with what will surely end up being the single largest upward transfer of wealth in the state's history.
The Private School Funding Bill was presented to voters by Gov. Reynolds as simply parental choice and school choice, an opportunity for less fortunate students to attend a private school.
Of course, the reality is much different. We're dealing with far right Republicans, after all. Billions of public dollars are being transfered from the state's general fund and placed directly into the hands of a relatively small group of private school investors under the guise of "school choice" and "parental choice."
Who are the investors? How much money, exactly? What corporations are getting the money? How will the money be spent?
No one beyond the main corporate and government players will have a clue because Iowa's corporate-controlled far-right Republican legislature passed a law criminalizi g any inquiry or oversight into what will be billions of dollars of formerly public money that is now owned by private corporations.
The entire private school argument is simply the Republican's way of getting their hands on all that money, money that used to belong to all Iowans. The whole nauseating affair has been a massive, illicit money grab right from the start.
I'm sorry for the long post, but it needs to be known that within a week of passing the private school bill, plus the gag law prohibiting accountability or even inquiry into who has the money and how it's being used, Iowa's ever fair-minded and frugal right wing legislature declared war on SNAPS recipients. They have spent a couple of weeks reducing benefits and tightening eligibility requirements. It's been a nauseating, right wing shit show that reveals their true dark character and self-serving intent.
You see, Iowa's fascist Republican legislature is just making sure that those single mothers knocking down 10 bucks an hour at a convenience store, most of which goes to child care, isn't making too much money to qualify for a few food stamps and by god they're going to root them out.
Billions for faceless, unknown corporations with literally NO QUESTIONS ASKED - such an inquiry may get you arrested in Iowa, but they go after food stamps recipients.
This is presently the corrupt conservative Republican culture that is destroying Iowa and the country as a whole.
Similar shenanigans in Australia - and money over the years pumped by governments, state and federal - into private schools and systems - has been directly therefore deleted from public education. In the US - Townsend Harris must be turning in his grave!
France had historically low (67%) voter turnout in recent elections vs. over 87% in 1974. I wouldn't call anything the French do a powerful lesson these days. The U.S. voter turnout has been, generally speaking, always been abysmal. The lesson for our Republic there is: you reap what you sow.
In Australia - elections are ALWAYS held on Saturdays - between 8.00am and 6.00pm. Provision has always been available to vote by postal-vote for those working or otherwise of religions which see those hours as part of the Sabbath. In recent years pre-polling day centres have been set up operating Monday-to Friday for two weeks beforehand. The truth is that the politicking which goes on in the final two weeks is only followed by a very small percentage who claim they have not yet made up their minds - and the frenzy of claim and counter-claim of the political opponents can be faded out as of no relevance if one has already voted early. In Australia voting is compulsory - it's not a burden as some might think - and if one misses with a seemingly valid reason - medical emergency for instance on the day - the reason is usually accepted and the fine will be waived. During all my years living abroad I was denied my right to vote (I had no permanent address of domicile in Australia) and that annoyed me no end! Because though I had an address in the country where I lived, worked and paid my taxes - I did not have citizenship and so no entitlement to vote! Stymied in both lands!
Ronald Reagan was the gilded knight who laid down before the rich and powerful, bequeathing them a largesss beyond all measure. His assault on the working American and the various "lower" classes as he saw them served as a huge spike in the coffin of the United States. Reagan was a whore to profiteers and oligarchs.
This is an historic document explicating the near total control of the peoples of America and the West by entrenched, systemic force. Well done, Chris.
My take: Striking for more just wages in a suppressed workforce may be less embraced than an orchestrated declaration that peace is our right and our present order is failing us.
Perhaps when President Biden pronounces the western hemisphere a “united,” front representing democracy and democratic values, as he will on Pan American Day next week, an unscheduled response could be poetic in timing and tenor. It ought to be easy for many “comfortable” Americans to acknowledge that our values are absent in a system that is fundamentally opposed to humanity. I think this is a message that can have left and right support. It is pre-political pro-humanity.
Great report. Mr. Hedges: "The legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, along with the media and universities, have been seized by a tiny cabal of billionaires and corporations who pass laws and legislation that consolidate their power and obscene wealth at our expense." and the solution to eliminate this problem is given by Robert Reich in his interesting article linked in this report:
"The majority of Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, believe the ultra rich should pay higher taxes. There are many ways to make them do so: closing the stepped up basis loophole, raising the capital gains tax, and fully funding the Internal Revenue Service so it can properly audit the wealthiest taxpayers, for starters.
Beyond those fixes, we need a new wealth tax: a tax of just 2 percent a year on wealth in excess of $1 million. That’s hardly a drop in the bucket for centi-billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, but would generate plenty of revenue to invest in healthcare and education so that millions of Americans have a fair shot at making it. "
Healthy and well educated union members and citizens in all our institutions will be able to save our democracy.
Now that the petrodollar is hitting the skids the USA can no longer run a trillion dollar deficit. They'll have to raise taxes and cut spending. They will go after Social Security.
Not only do Americans have to take back what is there's, there are 29 other NATO vassal states colonized as slave states to the empire.
This is how I feel about my country, Italy. It is a US colony in its own ways.
You're lucky. Very tough to invade Italy.
Excellent article Chris. Unregulated capitalism without a maximum wage is not financially or environmentally sustainable and it is not compatible with true Christianity or democracy. The right wing dictator supporters, think that the robber barons will give them a piece of the pie because they are white. In reality, they will lose their minimum wage and all social spending including social security, food stamps, earned income tax credit..., and they will be cast into the world labor pool where the going labor rate is less than a dollar an hour. A world where the old and handicapped and all the useless eaters will be left to die of covid or a fungus or starvation, regardless of race. There are about 1,500 right wing am hate radio stations in America. Also the billionaire globalists own the television stations and the newspapers as well. The rich will pay the poor to kill the poor, while flying from Nation to Nation to avoid being cornered by the angry mobs. First and foremost, we must maintain our democracy to keep the ability to replace Biden, Trump and all of the bought off leaders of the last 60 years. If the crazy GOP Congress does not raise the debt ceiling, and causes a Great depression and a dictator gets elected, it will be too late. Very few dictators are benevolent. Now doesn't look like a very good time to be bringing more babies on board the planet. But that won't stop the non-thinkers, only the thinkers. There will be a Utopia for the rich and a dystopia for the poor, at the same time.
This is a powerful cri-de-cœur manifesto on behalf of the worker - of the union-member worker - and against the autocratic faux-democracy of the US - determined to further entrench the privilege of the über rich and corporations. I'm Australian - but I see so many parallels here - clearly "learnt" by our own oligarchic vested interests from the "example" of "our-great-and-powerful friend" - so many of our bright young ones enticed to study at the Chicago School of Economics - at Harvard School of Business - programs wherein ethics seems to have been unknown. I was a proud unionist - of the NSW Teachers Federation - from my first year of teaching when I was still 21 - the school's union representative - despite only two+ years earlier newly emerged from a fundamentalist Protestant sect for which syndicalism was aligned with Satan. I was a member of no political party until just three years ago (a membership now resigned from) when a new movement appeared seeking proper reconciliation with First Australian, decent and respectful treatment for asylum-seekers - demonised here more-or-less by both sides of the political divide though with truly inhuman abuse and torture by the coalition party we see here as allied to the Trumpian Republicans of the US - then in power already for seven years - until the brave little protest party I had joined was swamped by others known as the TEAL - a loose alliance of others who garnered all the headlines and attention - in the lead up to the Federal elections held here in May, 2022 when the incumbents were blown away. The party I had joined was part of a Zeitgeist. Attacks on unions by the Rupert Murdoch NewsCorp TV/Radio/newspaper attack dogs (holding over 70% of Australia's media outlets) and its trademark divisiveness - continue unabated - despite "helping their boys and girls" to lose every state and territory election - and the federal one, too over the past three years. Only tiny Tasmania remains within their control. It suggests hope - yet not any hope for Julian Assange! Following US "orders" in provoking China, in aiding the oligarchs of Ukraine... Again, Chris - such clarity in your enunciation of these matters. (As Robert Billyard states just below - 29 vassal states of the US in NATO - and I noted to-day that Stoltenberg was telling (!!) Australia how to respond to adding assistance to Ukraine - Australia now virtually an adjunct member of NATO - despite our location between the South Indian and South Pacific Oceans.) Yesterday in London the newly appointed Australian High Commissioner (Ambassador - to a British Commonwealth nation) met with Julian Assange in Belmarsh - though afterwards he - Stephen SMITH - refused to say anything about what had been discussed - prevented - he said - by an agreement with Julian Assange. I do not believe that! I can't see why he could not have left with Julian Assange and taken him to sanctuary in the Australian High Commission - vast by comparison with the little Ecuadorean Embassy which for so long offered Julian sanctuary till the forces and money of the US brought that to an end.
Great speech but here's the conundrum. My union, the National Education Association (retired member), like many big unions, is entirely beholden to the Democratic Party. I have never succeeded in getting them to stand against any DNC policies, no matter how destructive to their membership. Like the DNC, the effort to reform them from within is a waste of time and energy. What's best done about that, Chris? Yours dreaming of a #GeneralStrike, Lisa
All unions need to be made into Direct Democracies, without any hierarchy. Only way that the workers truly run them.
What we need is a self-empowering social media platform IMO.
I'd want it to look/operate like this:
non-partisan,
independent,
user funded, $2-4/mo
no trolls (no anonymous accounts)
no bot accounts
self-organized (leaderless)
non-profit (501c4 status)
No ads
No corporate sponsors
No manipulative algorithm
Never sell user data,
democratically organized
Private chat rooms for friends
Public areas by geography (local, city, county, state, national)
Everyone is welcome & encouraged.
For everyone, no exceptions.
And propose, discuss, and vote on issues and candidates
so everyone can see what the group is thinking.
If people would commit to voting as a block on the candidates
they support, they would win.
I started Democracy-Means-Everyone.org to become this type of site
but I can't give it away. Can't get thru to anyone, even Public Citizen.
Very frustrating.
Get involved in the union. Clean house. I sympathize though, I am a railroad worker and our union isn't particularly militant anymore (nor has been for a long time).
Reform from within is not likely to be possible for the NEA at this point in history. Big cities with their own education union e.g. Chicago have better results standing up for people's rights. I note that the Los Angeles school workers who struck recently are represented by SEIU, not the NEA.
Not much hope. Education is the D stronghold.
Chris Hedges has been repelled by hard news since the March 2020 lock-downs when he threw the working class under the bus with COVID ... his trademark has since become his tendency to always avoid the issues of tyranny that are right in our face ... when the lockdowns were declared, he refused to stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional mandates and passports ... on this topic he has only said: "it's a tough decision" ... and then he brazenly took sides with big pharma just one month after the explosive court-ordered FDA FOIA release:
On DEC 2, 2021 ...
The FDA was compelled by a court ruling to release Phizer's internal vax data that revealed 1,223 post-jab deaths and 34,762 adverse events in the first 10 weeks of its trial ... The FDA attempted to delay the full release of this data for 75 years!
On JAN 1, 2022 ...
Chris Hedges made the following comment right here on SubStack on the Krystal Kyle & Friends Podcast (Episode #54) - go to the 1:08:48 mark ...
https://krystalkyleandfriends.substack.com/p/episode-54-audio-chris-hedges#details
"I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ...
Chris Hedges DID NOT have to take sides on this issue ... he could have said it's a personal decision, but he chose to play it safe and recklessly stand with big pharma ... his worshipers continue to describe him as an activist when that term no longer applies, not since the lock-downs ... he's now a retired activist and a "straddler" ... he's got one foot in "their" world and only one foot in our world ... People just don't understand what happens to journalists once they break into the big-money ... the pseudo-progs like Hedges, Krystal Ball, Briahna Joy-Gray and Katie Halper now all make way too much money to be trusted ... they all narrow the scope of their commentary in fear of being demonetized ... they spend more time studying social media analytics as their perspectives become increasingly predictable ... Chris Hedges is repelled by hard news, he won't go near it, it's just too risky ... I used to love this guy, but not anymore ...
"France is giving us a powerful lesson in how to pit popular power against a ruling elite. "
"Janet Yellen’s need to orchestrate unemployment to bring down inflation is, for them, a vital fact. "
Inflation is one of those key words that has suffered an Orwellian redefinition. It used to mean a spiral in which both wages and prices rise. Nowadays the rise in prices overwhelms the rise in wages. Nevertheless interest rates are pushed up to stamp out even a slight increase in the power of labor. Nothing will be done about prices.
When speaking of workers' movements in the US, one name that should never be missed is Staughton Lynd:
https://sbahour.medium.com/staughton-lynd-died-staughton-lynd-lives-on-1b6d676068f4?sk=882073e4c500b958309e2ce680bf07cf
Such a beautiful tribute. Thanks for posting this, Scrapper Sam!
It's astonishing that in a country as large as the United States, there isn't a political party aligned with, or dedicated to, representing workers and worker rights. The decimation of labor unions was deliberate, and it stifled the organized voice of labor, plus it eliminated the political and economic education that unions routinely engage in. It's a helluva parlor trick to make a working person believe the boss is his benefactor and that being a "right-to-work" employee is freedom.
I remember riding with my friend in his parents car when we were young teenagers and him pointing to a building with "National Right-to-Work Headquarters" emblazoned on the cornice. He exclaimed, "Jeez, I'd hate to work there; they just put you right to work at that company".
Sometimes a moment of lightness is needed - necessary - in the gloom of reality! Thanks, WWII.
Those who possess the emotional and intellectual fortitude to face what lies before them will always be in the minority. There is a numbing comfort that comes with surrendering moral autonomy for abject servility and obedience, and this comfort is especially attractive in a crisis.
Because of the disproportionate amount spent on the military, Americans must endure the neglect of environmental needs, the financial insolvency and decay of our cities, the deterioration of our transportation, education, and health care systems, and the devastating effects of unemployment and underemployment upon millions of households and hundreds of communities. In addition, there are the frightful social and psychological costs, the discouragement and decline of public morale, (anomie) the anger and suffering of the poor and the not-so-poor, the militarization and violence of popular culture, ubiquitous presence of the protean security and surveillance apparatus, and the application of increasingly authoritarian solutions to our social ills….
If we are to mobilize resistance to the empire, we must appeal not only to people’s moral values but to their self-interest (and I do not mean their selfishness). People may rally around the banners of empire when convinced that their security and survival are at stake. They will not choose morality if they think it brings endangerment to them and their loved ones. Nor will they choose disarmament and peaceful conversions if they think it will show weakness and invite aggression against themselves and their families.
So they must be shown that the republic is being bled for the empire’s profits, not for their well-being. That real national security means secure jobs, safe homes, healthcare for all, access to higher education without incurring debt peonage, and a clean environment. They must be informed that this empire, which is paid for by their blood, sweat, and taxes, has little to do with protecting them or people abroad and everything to do with victimizing them in order to feed the power and profits of the few. The global military apparatus they grudgingly support at such immense costs to the national treasury, does not serve their interests. To cut it drastically will not leave us prey to some foreign adversaries. On the contrary, to lay down the sword and use our labor and national treasure for peaceful reconstruction so desperately needed at home and abroad is not to become a weak nation but a truly great one.
Mainstream pundits and propagandists label our desire to move away from corporate militarism and imperial domination as weakness, folly, isolationism, or self-defeating pacifism and yes, even treasonous. But there is another name for the course of action that aims to wrest the wealth and power out of the hands of the military-industrial complex, the protean security and surveillance apparatus, and the Davos jetting World Economic Forum players, and give it back to the people so that they become the agents of their own lives and social conditions: it is called democracy, the victory of the republic, the consent of the governed over the dogma and dictates of the small group of oligarchs, plutocrats, and authoritarian ruling class of empire
“Those who do not move do not notice their chains”. Rosa Luxumberg.
"The global military apparatus they grudgingly support"
In the United States, polls show that the military is the most trusted of institutions.
***
From the book “Nuremberg Diary” by American psychologist G.M. Gilbert, who collected the testimonies of Nazi leaders. An imprisoned Hermann Goering said,
“Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship,” Goering reportedly told Gilbert in his cell on the evening of April 18, 1946.
Gilbert replied: “There is one difference(...) In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare war.”
To which Goering said: “Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
The psychological phenomena is not restricted to the military apparatus of government. It has been proven to work if the Attacker is an imaginably unique and deadly virus.
Also, Gilbert, failed to imagine the power of executive order under a declared state of emergency by the same branch of a democratic government. This circumvents, and indeed negates, the "say" of the people in a democracy which he believed distinguished the United States from, oh let's just say, Nazi Germany.
P.P. "In the United States, polls show that the military is the most trusted of institutions." What polls are you referring to and trusted for what? winning wars, wisely using our funds? I'm ignoramus but willing to learn.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-down-average-new-low.aspx
Thank you P.P very interesting Gallup report showing that the military lost only 5% confidence from the public in general comparing 2022 with 2021 though it is still the second highest trusted institution with a 64% overall. For me, the most surprising part of this poll is the change in the trust of the military by political party:
Republicans trusted it -10%, Independents -8% and Democrats +4.
Given that among my Göring/Goering cousins - HG was a first cousin to their great grand-father - I have long taken a particular interest in this "intelligent" but heartless scoundrel/war criminal - and in exactly his assessment here outlined. Thanks PP for this reminder. We are all currently being fed this kind of reasoning re wars against Russia and re preparation for war against China. Largely lies - but to call them out ... watch out!
I have long wished I'd been in that cell to ask Hermann, "c'mon big guy, did y'all burn down the Reichstag"?
Let me add here that similar rorts/shenanigans/skulduggery is going on in Australia where US weapons companies are now sucking out hundreds of billions of dollars from the Australian taxpayers - money for our health system, our public education, welfare and infrastructure - to service nuclear submarines of absolutely no benefit to Australia!
The Republican oligarchs in Iowa, despite 61% of voters not wanting the private education bill passed, went ahead anyway with what will surely end up being the single largest upward transfer of wealth in the state's history.
The Private School Funding Bill was presented to voters by Gov. Reynolds as simply parental choice and school choice, an opportunity for less fortunate students to attend a private school.
Of course, the reality is much different. We're dealing with far right Republicans, after all. Billions of public dollars are being transfered from the state's general fund and placed directly into the hands of a relatively small group of private school investors under the guise of "school choice" and "parental choice."
Who are the investors? How much money, exactly? What corporations are getting the money? How will the money be spent?
No one beyond the main corporate and government players will have a clue because Iowa's corporate-controlled far-right Republican legislature passed a law criminalizi g any inquiry or oversight into what will be billions of dollars of formerly public money that is now owned by private corporations.
The entire private school argument is simply the Republican's way of getting their hands on all that money, money that used to belong to all Iowans. The whole nauseating affair has been a massive, illicit money grab right from the start.
I'm sorry for the long post, but it needs to be known that within a week of passing the private school bill, plus the gag law prohibiting accountability or even inquiry into who has the money and how it's being used, Iowa's ever fair-minded and frugal right wing legislature declared war on SNAPS recipients. They have spent a couple of weeks reducing benefits and tightening eligibility requirements. It's been a nauseating, right wing shit show that reveals their true dark character and self-serving intent.
You see, Iowa's fascist Republican legislature is just making sure that those single mothers knocking down 10 bucks an hour at a convenience store, most of which goes to child care, isn't making too much money to qualify for a few food stamps and by god they're going to root them out.
Billions for faceless, unknown corporations with literally NO QUESTIONS ASKED - such an inquiry may get you arrested in Iowa, but they go after food stamps recipients.
This is presently the corrupt conservative Republican culture that is destroying Iowa and the country as a whole.
Similar shenanigans in Australia - and money over the years pumped by governments, state and federal - into private schools and systems - has been directly therefore deleted from public education. In the US - Townsend Harris must be turning in his grave!
I forgot to say that, of course, much of the money came from the state's public school funding.
Then it is exactly the same system - thanks for this confirmation - choice and theft - the two unprincipled principles!
Lede buried:
"France is giving us a powerful lesson in how to pit popular power against a ruling elite."
France had historically low (67%) voter turnout in recent elections vs. over 87% in 1974. I wouldn't call anything the French do a powerful lesson these days. The U.S. voter turnout has been, generally speaking, always been abysmal. The lesson for our Republic there is: you reap what you sow.
In Australia - elections are ALWAYS held on Saturdays - between 8.00am and 6.00pm. Provision has always been available to vote by postal-vote for those working or otherwise of religions which see those hours as part of the Sabbath. In recent years pre-polling day centres have been set up operating Monday-to Friday for two weeks beforehand. The truth is that the politicking which goes on in the final two weeks is only followed by a very small percentage who claim they have not yet made up their minds - and the frenzy of claim and counter-claim of the political opponents can be faded out as of no relevance if one has already voted early. In Australia voting is compulsory - it's not a burden as some might think - and if one misses with a seemingly valid reason - medical emergency for instance on the day - the reason is usually accepted and the fine will be waived. During all my years living abroad I was denied my right to vote (I had no permanent address of domicile in Australia) and that annoyed me no end! Because though I had an address in the country where I lived, worked and paid my taxes - I did not have citizenship and so no entitlement to vote! Stymied in both lands!
I wish in our America voting would be compulsory too. Anybody could vote blank if he wished to but had to comply with that important civic duty.
Ronald Reagan was the gilded knight who laid down before the rich and powerful, bequeathing them a largesss beyond all measure. His assault on the working American and the various "lower" classes as he saw them served as a huge spike in the coffin of the United States. Reagan was a whore to profiteers and oligarchs.
Once again Chris, thanks.
Keep writing Chris we need you
This is an historic document explicating the near total control of the peoples of America and the West by entrenched, systemic force. Well done, Chris.
My take: Striking for more just wages in a suppressed workforce may be less embraced than an orchestrated declaration that peace is our right and our present order is failing us.
Perhaps when President Biden pronounces the western hemisphere a “united,” front representing democracy and democratic values, as he will on Pan American Day next week, an unscheduled response could be poetic in timing and tenor. It ought to be easy for many “comfortable” Americans to acknowledge that our values are absent in a system that is fundamentally opposed to humanity. I think this is a message that can have left and right support. It is pre-political pro-humanity.
Is there a video of this talk posted anywhere?
Great report. Mr. Hedges: "The legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, along with the media and universities, have been seized by a tiny cabal of billionaires and corporations who pass laws and legislation that consolidate their power and obscene wealth at our expense." and the solution to eliminate this problem is given by Robert Reich in his interesting article linked in this report:
https://inthesetimes.com/article/robert-reich-elon-musk-capitalism-inequality-wealth-tax
"The majority of Americans, both Democrats and Republicans, believe the ultra rich should pay higher taxes. There are many ways to make them do so: closing the stepped up basis loophole, raising the capital gains tax, and fully funding the Internal Revenue Service so it can properly audit the wealthiest taxpayers, for starters.
Beyond those fixes, we need a new wealth tax: a tax of just 2 percent a year on wealth in excess of $1 million. That’s hardly a drop in the bucket for centi-billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, but would generate plenty of revenue to invest in healthcare and education so that millions of Americans have a fair shot at making it. "
Healthy and well educated union members and citizens in all our institutions will be able to save our democracy.
Now that the petrodollar is hitting the skids the USA can no longer run a trillion dollar deficit. They'll have to raise taxes and cut spending. They will go after Social Security.