The Real Power Behind the Throne
The rot lies in the system, it is not caused by one "King"
Why am I so bothered about these anti-fascism, anti-Trump, No Kings protests? I’m certainly no fan of Donald Trump, and I am alarmed by what is happening in the US (and internationally) right now. I do firmly believe that people should be protesting en masse, and I am happy to see so many people finally realizing that they have to be active participants if they want to retain their rights.
So, why is my bullshit detector on high alert?
Because I feel that people are being herded towards viewing our current problems as being the fault of one gangster politician and his mob of goons, and are falsely believing that getting rid of Trump, et al, will solve the crisis that we now find ourselves in.
I’m not implying that people shouldn’t speak their minds. Good for you for damning fascism and for supporting civil rights for all of us. Just don’t be fooled into believing that the Democrats, if returned to the majority, will do anything to address the vast (and growing) inequality in our society which is the actual root cause of our problems.
Nor will the Republicans. The two-party system (which is actually a duopoly) is irretrievably broken. Both parties have been bought and paid for by the corporatists who are running the show behind the scenes, and have been for a long time.
We are being enveloped by “anti-Trump” rhetoric, and that’s hindering independent thinking. We need to think about what kind of government we actually want. When Trump goes away, then what? Do we really want to stay mired in a system that is continually deadlocked when it comes to programs that would benefit the people?
There is always bipartisan support for increasing the military budget (the rich get richer during wars), but yet it is a constant battle to keep social welfare programs funded (the rich want to escape taxation). There is little money to improve our roads and bridges, our healthcare (what healthcare?) system is killing us, and increasing numbers of Americans are finding themselves homeless.
Over the past 50 years, the CEO-to-worker compensation ratio has exploded, causing the gap between rich and poor to grow, with some economists theorizing that this gap is the largest it has been since right before the Great Depression. (link)
We may cognitively understand that our politicians are corrupt, and that the divide between the rich and poor is massive, but why did it take a second Trump administration to wake so many people up? Why didn’t more people heed the message of people like Chris Hedges or Cornel West or Noam Chomsky who have been warning us of this moment for decades?
If you are wondering who those people are, don’t feel stupid or ashamed. You have been living your life under the spell of the American propaganda system. Drop by drop we drink the propaganda KoolAid, unaware that it is poison.
“The most effective propaganda is the subtlest” is a phrase you should try to remember, because it’s so very true. This is because propaganda only works if it doesn’t ring people’s cognitive alarm bells. You can’t slide propaganda down people’s throats if it triggers their critical thinking gag reflex. If you want to poison someone’s food, you can only pull off the deed if they don’t taste the poison or throw it up before it takes effect.— Caitlin Johnstone
Every one of us has been infected. It’s not about how intelligent one is, because propaganda plays on emotions, especially the emotion of fear. This is how the two-party system has become so entrenched, leaving voters continually with a choice between the lesser of two evils.
Poll after poll shows that most Americans want the same things: universal healthcare, jobs that pay a living wage, rents and mortgages and education that is affordable and of high quality. Does anyone remember when Bernie Sanders went on Fox News and talked about his “socialist” policies?
Who made sure that Bernie didn’t get elected? The DNC. And so Hillary Clinton ran against Donald Trump — and lost. And did the DNC learn anything? No. They stuck with Biden until last minute, and when they couldn’t hide his mental deficiencies any more, the DNC anointed Kamala Harris. And, we know the rest of that story.
And that is why my bullshit detector alarm is ringing loudly. The propaganda machine (owned and operated by the corporatists) is herding the general public towards a continuation of the battle between the Democrats and the Republicans — it doesn’t matter which party wins, because the corporatists always win.
America is a full blown kleptocracy. The demolition of the social and political structure, begun long before Trump, makes a few very, very rich and immiserates everyone else. Mafia capitalism always leads to a mafia state. The two ruling parties gave us the first. Now we get the second. It is not only our wealth that is being taken from us, but our liberty. . .The mafia state ignores legal constraints and regulations. It lacks external and internal control. It cannibalizes everything, including the ecosystem, until there is nothing left but a wasteland. It cannot distinguish between reality and illusion, which obscures and exacerbates gross incompetence. And then the hollowed-out edifice will collapse leaving in its wake a shell of a country with nukes. — Chris Hedges, The Mafia State
So, please go out and protest, but don’t allow yourself to fall right back into the trap of allowing yourself to believe that this time, yes this time, if we place our faith in the Democrats that all will be well. It won’t.
The mafia state cannot be reformed. We must organize to break our chains, one-by-one, to use the power of the strike to cripple the state machinery. We must embrace a radical militancy, one that offers a new vision and a new social structure. We must hold fast to moral imperatives. We must forgive mortgage and student debt, institute universal health care and break up monopolies. We must raise the minimum wage and end the squandering of resources and funds to sustain the empire and the war industry. We must establish a nationwide jobs program to rebuild the country’s collapsing infrastructure. We must nationalize the banks, pharmaceutical corporations, military contractors and transportation and embrace environmentally sustainable energy sources.
None of this will happen until we resist. (link)
Thank you, Jean, it is of basic importance to point out the futility of working through ”the system”; the prevailing order; the money-oriented structure of society. The ”We must” quotes of Chris Hedges however is a wish list rather than a strategy. How are WE going to ”forgive mortgage and student debt, institute universal health care and break up monopolies”?
Of course we have to organise. But how and for what? Why not start building the society we want right now? Should we wait until we ”cripple the state machinery” before educating the people? What can we do to improve people’s heath now? Ditto for the thousands of things that can be done to help, support, improve, and brighten the conditions for the people around us.
This is a major topic beyond the scope of a comment section. I’m trying to point our that a single step too big will result in a fall. One suitable step at a time can take us all the way to a future where the world looks like a garden of healthy, strong, and motivated people mingling their laughter with bird songs.
”Everyone doing what the can is enough to do everything that need to be done.” Dartwill Aquila
The DNC can't get behind Bernie's campaign against the oligarchy nor the plutarchy because underneath Trump, the Republicans and Democrats lies the same shared values and reward systems. Even Bernie holds many of the myths and values as he declares "Israel has every right to defend itself" when heckled by pro Palestinian supporters at those anti oligarchs rallies. America needs a radical change in its values and reward systems before it can mount a massive movement towards the common good. Carl Jung understood this when he wrote The Undiscovered Self in 1958. Even Cornel West could use some serious ego deflation. Cornel begins his autobiography by telling you he has a I Q of 168. An IQ is a poor measure of a man. What we need is a serious ego deflation one that has us looking at our values and reward systems. Individuals have to do that deep inner work before they just join a crowd or a party. There is little room time, insensitive, nor inclination in America's reward systems (school system economic system) to do the inner work but to just join a crowd or carry on apathy and alienation or just too busy trying to make ends meet. There are no short cuts around the deep individual inner work needed. We must suffer that and suffer through that. We must suffer those unwilling to do such productive suffering.