Politics Offer Pretend Revolutions To A Discontented Public [Caitlin Johnstone]
Listen to a reading of this article:
In 2008 the American public was fed up with the disastrous status quo politics of George W Bush, so they came together and elected a progressive candidate who campaigned on hope and change to replace him.
But no progress happened; the hope and change never came. Barack Obama continued and expanded all of his predecessor’s most depraved policies at home and abroad, and it wasn’t long before the initial elation wore off and the illusion that things were looking up evaporated. It was as if Bush had never left office.
Worn out and disgusted by crushing neoliberal policies at home and murderous neoconservative policies abroad, Americans elected a political neophyte who ran on a populist platform which criticized both Bush and Obama. Trump promised to “drain the swamp”, end the wars, and fight the establishment in the interests of ordinary people. This time for sure there would be change.
But the wars kept going, and the swamp got even fuller, and the US empire kept chugging along on the same trajectory it had been on throughout the Bush administration and the Obama administration. Despite all this, the Democratic Party and its allied media institutions acted as though some drastic deviation from the norm had taken place, insisting that the United States had been plunged from a free democracy respected around the world into an isolationist fascist dystopia.
In order to stop fascism, the American people had yet another people’s uprising against the corrupt status quo and… elected Obama’s vice president. Lifelong corporate crony and empire lackey Joe Biden now sits in the White House, advancing all the same murderous, oppressive, exploitative, authoritarian policies as his predecessors, as a result of the latest fake, decoy revolution against tyranny.
And that’s all mainstream electoral politics ever is in the US empire: a fake, decoy revolution staged for the public every few years so that they don’t have a real one. A symbolic ceremony where the public pretends to cast the abusive status quo into the sea so they feel like the battle against their oppressors has been won. And then their oppressors just keep right on oppressing them.
Every few years the public gets to choose between two reliable lackeys of the oligarchic empire, and then all of the evils of that empire get pinned upon the winner. The public then directs their rage at the lackey rather than the actual power structure which has been oppressing them, after which they have another election to rid themselves of the scoundrel once and for all. They hug, they cry, they celebrate, and the oppression machine continues completely uninterrupted.
As Gore Vidal once said:
“It doesn’t actually make any difference whether the President is Republican or Democrat. The genius of the American ruling class is that it has been able to make the people think that they have had something to do with the electing of presidents for 200 years when they’ve had absolutely nothing to say about the candidates or the policies or the way the country is run. A very small group controls just about everything.”
That small group is the plutocratic class whose legalized bribery and propaganda machine has immense influence over US politics, as well as the imperial war machine and special interest groups with whom the plutocratic class is allied. It is necessary to form coalitions of support within that power cluster if one wants to become president in the managed democracy that is the United States, and no part of that power cluster is going to support a president who won’t reliably advance the interests of the oligarchic empire.
From this point of view, the oligarchic power cluster is essentially running its own employees against each other and having them promise to end the injustices which are inextricably baked in to the oligarchic empire. Americans live in a totalitarian state whose most important elections are rigged from top to bottom, and they’re fed news stories about Evil Dictators in other countries rigging their elections to remain in power.
Politicians cannot change the status quo to one which benefits ordinary people instead of their oligarchic owners, because the oligarchic empire is built upon the need for endless war, poverty, and oppression. You cannot have a unipolar global empire without using violent force (and the threat of it) to uphold that world order, and you cannot have a plutocracy without ensuring that a few rulers have far more wealth control than the rank-and-file citizenry.
For this reason, even politicians who run on relatively progressive-sounding platforms are themselves a part of the fake decoy revolution unless they demand a complete dismantling of oligarchy and empire. The politicians who present themselves as progressives in America today offer only light opposition to some aspects of empire and oligarchy, in effect merely supporting an oligarchic empire that gives Americans healthcare. Since keeping Americans poor, busy and propagandized is an essential dynamic in the hub of a globe-spanning oligarchic empire, this is a nonsensical position; the oligarchs don’t want ordinary Americans to have money to burn on campaign donations and free time to research what’s really going on in their world, because then they might meddle in the gears of empire. A power structure built upon economic injustice will never permit economic justice.
The door to meaningful change in America via electoral politics has been closed, locked, bolted, welded shut, and barricaded with a metric ton of solid steel. The only thing that can cause an end to the oppression and exploitation is an end to the oligarchic empire, and the only thing that can cause the end of the oligarchic empire is direct action by the American people: mass-scale activism, general strikes, and civil disobedience the likes of which the nation has never before seen, in sufficient numbers to bring down the plutocratic institutions which maintain the status quo.
The problem is that this will never happen as long as Americans are being successfully propagandized into being content with their fake decoy revolutions. There is a zero percent chance of electoral politics leading to an end of the empire, but a concerted effort to spread awareness by those who understand what’s going on just might.
All positive changes in human behavior are always preceded by an expansion of awareness, whether you’re talking about awareness of the consequences of one’s addiction leading to their getting sober or an expansion of awareness of the injustices of racism leading to racial justice laws. Making people aware that the mass media are lying to us about what’s real, aware of the horrors of war, aware of the underlying dynamics of the economic injustice which is grinding Americans into the dirt, that can lead to a chain reaction which sees the collective using the power of its numbers to shrug off the chains of oppression as easily as you remove a heavy coat on a warm day.
What’s needed is for the people to awaken to the truth. An entire empire is built upon a pair of closed eyelids.
Commentary:
Remember---This isn't a news report. This is opinion developed from many sources, some of which are included for clarity, transparency, and rebuttal, and is the Free Speech that shares ideas.
CAPITALISM ISN'T A HUMAN RIGHT
Homogeneous transformation of diverse communities works in the goal of control by hierarchy.
https://psyche.co/ideas/dare-to-speak-your-mind-and-together-we-flourish?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=37fc211946-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2021_06_07_12_03&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-37fc211946-70464341--So, according to Aristotle, in order to have a sense of what makes something good, we need to discover its ergon, or function.
Well, what is the ergon of human beings? Since a thing’s function is supposed to be its distinctive work, Aristotle thinks that we need to ask what makes humans distinctive. When we look around at the animal kingdom and inanimate reality, the distinctive feature that only humans possess, Aristotle argues, is reason. Thus, a flourishing human being exhibits the proper development and exercise of the rational capacities, over the course of a reasonably complete life.
--end of psyche info--
The difficulty of approaching the following 2 stories unencumbered by stereotypes is probably impossible. The need to be capable of holding 2 opposing views at the same time is necessary but generally strained out of MSM coverage. The phenomenal success of the women's soccer team cast shadow upon the men's soccer team recently. People with no interest in sports tuned in to watch the talent, spirit, and cohesiveness of the women's soccer team. Their wins were wonderful. As to the NFL story, any white person who is disdainful of the cognitive ability of others, hasn't played chess with a black person.
The requirement to use the standards of patriarchy and capitalism have interjected as valuable, such traits as aggression, sneakiness, and greed into situations that are better practiced using other traits. To hold people to these inferior traits is offensive.
https://moguldom.com/356404/what-is-race-norming-inside-the-nfls-tricknology-to-not-pay-black-players-for-head-injuries/?utm_source=moengage&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=subscribed--The NFL says race-norming was never mandatory, but that’s simply semantics, USA Today reported. The NFL continued to appeal some claims filed by Black players if their scores weren’t adjusted for race.
--end of moguldon info--
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/11/814656567/male-players-have-more-responsibility-than-women-u-s-soccer-says-in-court-filing---U.S. Soccer stated that "it is undisputed that the job of [Men's National Team] player requires materially more strength and speed than the job of [Women's National Team] player." It also added that "the job of MNT players carries more responsibility than the job of a WNT player."
---end of npr info--
While the bait-and-switch of requirements of negotiating skills is paramount to success in playing soccer, the women's soccer team will continue to be flummoxed.
But while people who possess finer traits than those of greed, aggression and sneakiness continue to gravitate toward the notoriety controlled by capitalistic hierarchical Establishment, we will not address the value of diversity, and act accordingly.
Perhaps after the self-confidence of diversity has been more completely manifested within the public, we will also have the self-confidence of embracing the finer traits of democratic (small d) socialism over capitalism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDhDw1w2mDM--------
Food Forum: Presented by the Green Party Eco-Action Committee--------- In anticipation of the 2021 United Nations Food Summit, The Green Party of the United States EcoAction Committee is hosting a nationwide online Food Forum this Sunday, June 6, 2021 at 4:00-5:30 PM ET. The following presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with Q & A.
•”Food is Not a Human Right: Issues in Food Democracy” - Lana Chehabeddine, Behavioral Research Lead, Ruminate
•”Green Solutions: Black Veganism and the End of Factory Farming“ - Omowale Adewale, Black VegFest
•“‘Building Wiyot Plaza: Native American Studies Food Sovereignty Lab & Cultural Workshop” - Cody Henrickson, Carrie Tully, Evie Ferreira, HSU Food Sovereignty Lab
•”Food Sovereignty: an Immigrant Farm Organizer’s Journey“ - Lupita Vazquez Reyes, Florida Farmworker Organizer and Community Garden Outreach Assistant
•“Learn How to Live by Your Own Means” - Michelle “Chef Shelli” McInnis, Entrepreneur Chef
•"Food Sovereignty and Indigenous Peoples' Traditional Knowledge" - Rocio Velendia (INTI: International Native Tradition Interchange)
-------end of greenparty info---
Race has been used in place of relevant political policy.
https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2021/06/07/mainstream-politics-offer-pretend-revolutions-to-a-discontented-public/---------In 2008 the American public was fed up with the disastrous status quo politics of George W Bush, so they came together and elected a progressive candidate who campaigned on hope and change to replace him.
But no progress happened; the hope and change never came. Barack Obama continued and expanded all of his predecessor’s most depraved policies at home and abroad, and it wasn’t long before the initial elation wore off and the illusion that things were looking up evaporated. It was as if Bush had never left office.
------end of caitlinjohnstone info--
The patriarchy that supports capitalism, in the thought wondering of one person, is the Superman as portrayed by this comic strip----https://thenib.com/forever-alone/
This is a personal view that is not associated with the actual comic strip producer. The stereotype as presented has been given too much power by many who may know better.
Self-confidence is the anecdote.
The path of self-confidence has been cleared, making it less frightening to those who follow----https://socialistproject.ca/2021/06/two-ecosocialist-reports-old-growth-forests/#more--The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), adopted by the BC government in 2019, contains multiple articles that relate to resource extraction; specifically articles 4, 26, and 32, which all state that Indigenous communities have inherent rights of ownership over their territory and its resources. It would seem that in implementing a profit-sharing agreement, the BC government was keeping its promises to uphold UNDRIP, but the reality is that even with agreements such as this Indigenous communities are always at a disadvantage. Canada’s colonial legacies have had profound social, cultural, spiritual, and economic effects on Indigenous communities – 25% of Indigenous adults and 40% of Indigenous children live in poverty. Almost 40% of Indigenous people don’t have food security, and 73% of First Nations’ water systems don’t provide clean water to their communities. For many Indigenous nations, they are faced with an impossible choice – either partner with the colonial state and receive some compensation for the resources extracted from their territory or continue to live with the effects of the ongoing oppression at the hands of the Canada’s neocolonial government.
--end of socialistproject info--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2WEVdNQAxE&t=3s----------------------TAKE BACK THE EARTH - JOHN TRUDELL
The anomaly of infinite growth using finite resources has yet to be seriously discussed or challenged----http://www.greensocialthought.org/content/rush-white-gold--On January 15, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) approved a lithium mine at Thacker Pass, the site of the largest known lithium deposit in the United States. Through its subsidiary Lithium Nevada, Vancouver-based Lithium Americas plans to dig a 1,000-acre open-pit mine to tap into the estimated $2.6-billion resource over the next 45 years.
But at Thacker Pass, Wilbert and Falk — and a growing list of ranchers, farmers, tribal members, and environmentalists — have argued that this transition to a clean energy future has, so far, been anything but clean, or just. They assert that the mining industry is simply greenwashing old practices and exploiting the political climate that favors green energy, while using the laws that have enabled dispossession and destroyed environments for over a century.--end of greensocialthought info----The intimation that practice of democratic (small d) socialism or eco-socialism is separate from capitalistic hierarchical control, and only needs to be acted upon by local communities acting in accord.
Consider the Bernie Sanders ideas of democratic socialism or Howie Hawkins ideas about eco-socialism.
Nature Way people may honor wildlife that goes ignored in war time----https://us.e-activist.com/page/email?mid=a281820d6ba142e2bf4fc3b0c48e42d4---
Welcome to another great issue of Wildlife Online, packed with our latest blogs and updates regarding conservation news you care about. We'd also like to remind you that our highly effective and unique Adopt-a-Wildlife Acre campaign is coming to a close for 2021.---end nationalwildlife info--
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Mr0gzNIsM--#GreenSocialist Notes #26-------For 5/29/21: Biden and student loans, more.--end of greenparty info----
We deserve better. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQlBDcU5ak------#GreenSocialist Notes #22
https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud--LEAGUE REFUSES TO "HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD"
WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE--end of lwv info--
Along with Climate Change, many people oppose the imperialism of the USA under control of the Republican/Democratic duopoly. Use of the wealth of our nation should be to enhance quality of life for We The People rather than for imperialism. Some people vote accordingly.
In-depth understanding of policies of the Green Party probably will offer promise for most of We The People.
Greed is associated with money and afflicts everyone. When governance is based on greed, such as when we choose to "run our government like a business", the result seems to be oppression and censorship.
-----------------------
That "we are a 2-Party system" is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM. In FACT the majority of voters aren't either registered Democratic or Republican. The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.
Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic. Several items to challenge---
*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won't feel compelled to "hold your nose and vote"
*Censored debates must be stopped. The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show. Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored. (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control). The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People
*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.
*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression. Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation
*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won't be told again, by D&R duopoly, to "hold your nose and vote"
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. As a Green Party supporter, if these changes were made, regardless of outcome, we should be satisfied. The problem is manipulation and censorship. There is nothing honorable about either.
*******************************************************************
https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx----
Republicans Independents Democrats
%
%
%
2020 Feb 17-28 30 39 29
2020 Feb 3-16 33 39 26
2020 Jan 16-29 30 42 27
2020 Jan 2-15 27 45 27
----end of party affiliation info----
And many of the most non-Establishment voters are in the Green Party.
In Solidarity With People And Nature --
www.mothersoutfront.org
www.facebook.com/gpnjbc ;; -- Green Black Caucus
www.greenpeaceusa.org
www.economichumanrights.org
www.draftbernie.org
www.psr.org
www.blackyouthproject.com
www.riverkeeper.org
www.catskillmountainkeeper.org
www.celdf.org
www.wearesenecalake.com
www.democracynow.org
www.gp.org
https://www.greenparty.org/Platform.php
www.freepress.net
www.codepink.org
www.m4bl.net
www.starhawk.org
www.openthebooks.org
www.nyipl.org
www.pogo.org
www.opensecrets.org
A Resource -- www.7song.com
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