Existentially Speaking in the New American Dark Age

FASCISM…

It’s an ugly word.  Yet, it appropriately fits the present state of the U.S. government.  I recently learned that 70% of our intelligence budget goes to private corporations.  In Iraq, private corporations received no-bid contracts from the U.S. government for the reconstruction of that country after the American incursion of 2003.  Also, there are over ten thousand private security forces receiving US government dollars for military operations without any US government oversight.  No Iraqi corporation can act upon its own to participate in the reconstruction of their own country.  All corporations and companies must sub-contract to Halliburton.  The decision to put Halliburton in charge of the Iraqi reconstrucdtion was made through Vice President Dick Cheney, its former chief executive, and others in secret, closed-door talks before the war began.  Michael Moore made reference to the corporate control of Iraq and its pre-planned exploitation of a soon-to-be-bombed and warred-upon Iraqi people in his film Fahrenheit 9/11.  Michael Moore may present the facts with humor and sarcasm, but he does present the facts.  You may check his documentation and resources for the film at www.michaelmoore.com.  When the minutes of this meeting were sought by congressional members, the White House and Cheney’s office refused to supply them.  Worse, a newly corporate-favoring and politically conservative US Supreme Court supported Cheney, a key employee of the American people, in holding back vital information about how US taxpayer dollars were spent in these secret meetings.

Fascism is the detestable marriage of corporation and federal government.  All three branches of our government are controlled by corporate interests.  Corporate lobbyists and lawyers not only push for legislation affecting their industries.  They write the legislation.  Corporate monies heavily line the campaign coffers of just about every congressional, senatorial and executive member of our government.  It is a sad fact that it is always the candidate with the most money in their campaign coffers that win federal elections.  Our communications media are controlled by a handful of global corporations whose interest and priorities are far removed from the working class people in the United States,  and also far removed from providing any relevant news concerning the health, welfare, education and enlightenment of US citizens.  Our highest courts have been stacked with pro-corporate judges and justices to ensure that corporations wield absolute control over private citizens in the United States.  This is the most powerful fascist alliance in world governmental history.  Yet, the word “fascism” is seldom used, because the popular media are part of the fascist regime and, thus, cannot stand outside of themselves with any objectivity to report the truth.

For more information about the fascist US government, please link to the following:

http://www.oldamericancentury.org/14pts.htm

An Election is Coming, But Will Change Come With It?

The 2008 election is coming.  A number of “debates” have already taken place among the plethora of candidates for each of the two parties, but no one who cannot buy their way into the White House is allowed much of a voice.  Dennis Kucinich has been a consistent voice for democracy, peace, universal health care and a mutual respect among all peoples regardless of race, creed, color, faith, gender or sexual preference.  John Edwards has been a similar voice of compassion, reason and a desire for peace, as well as a strong pro-labor voice.  But, a substantive address of important human issues is not what the campaign for the presidency is about.  The Electoral College doesn’t allow a multiplicity of political parties to exist, representing the diversity of three hundred million Americans.  Instead, we have a meager and ineffective two-party system that distills issues into either/or propositions, and disenfranchises voters who do not have a bundle of money or property at stake, only survival against a receding economy and a healthcare system that is non-inclusive to the working poor. 

Let’s face facts.  An American presidential election is about who can coalesce a massive campaign chest of corporate donations, and in this respect, Hillary Rhodam Clinton is the frontrunner.  We actually have only a one-party system.  It is the corporate lobbyist party, and whomever rises to represent corporatism the best will win the election.  The candidate with the most money has won the presidency every American presidential election since Kennedy.  Therefore, the interests of banks, insurance companies, weapons-makers, pharmaeceutical manufacturers, energy producers and corporate media are put ahead of issues of public health, labor, the environment, reason, compassion and common sense. 

The short answer is this.  The status quo that supports the major corporate campaign contributors will remain intact.  Imperative issues, such as “global warming”, ending the Iraq war, creating a universal healthcare system, ending torture as an American policy, repealing the damage to Constitutional rights resulting from the US Patriot Act,and restoring our dessimated international reputation with reasonable diplomacy among the world’s nations will take a back seat to the needs of corporate giants, their welfare and protection.  Changes will be few, progressive campaigns to the contrary, because the terrrible precedents of unreasonable, and illegal, presidential power have already been allowed to pass into policy, without a challenge by Democrats, without a call for impeachment, without the legal checks and balances.

An Election is coming, but don’t look for any change reflecting reason, compassion and a desire for peace.  The American Dark Age will continue.  The singular hope on which the fate of this nation rests is that Hillary Rhodam Clinton can rise above the means that will get her elected, creating a revolutionary presidency for humanistic and rational progress,  and use the new ”unitary exective” precedents set by Bush that are now so acceptible to Congress and the Senate to establish a benign dictatorship that reflect the needs of the American people.  If she can do so, my hope is that she can effectively lead and communicate her directions in a manner that is much more direct and decisive than her husband’s presidency.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that Bill Clinton has a rare gift for communication and speech-making, but he didn’t have the confidence in his own policies and his gift for communicating to courageously defend his agenda.  Thus, the Bill Clinton presidency was marked by watered-down promises, over-compromising on ideals that he could have persuaded the nation to put into action.  My hope is that Hillary will have the courage of her convictions, and use the revolutionary ocassion of being the first woman president in U.S. history to create a much-needed renaissance to the American Dark Age.

It’s a long, long shot of hope, with odds very much against it.  But, it is a hope.

Amen.

MH