It Can't Happen Here?!

Eighty-five years ago (1935), the American author Sinclair Lewis published a political novel titled, It Can't Happen Here. This is Wiki's description:

The novel was published during the heyday of fascism in Europe, which was reported on by Dorothy Thompson, Lewis' wife. The novel describes the rise of Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, a demagogue who is elected President of the United States, after fomenting fear and promising drastic economic and social reforms while promoting a return to patriotism and "traditional" values. After his election, Windrip takes complete control of the government and imposes totalitarian rule with the help of a ruthless paramilitary force, in the manner of European fascists such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The novel's plot centers on journalist Doremus Jessup's opposition to the new regime and his subsequent struggle against it as part of a liberal rebellion.¹

I would suggest that totalitarian rule HAS happened here, BUT with a twist. The twist is this:

Liberal / conservative DNA have conjoined — a conception of opposites giving gestation to a WO of total domination whichever side "wins." The Republican half spouts patriotism and traditional values, while under the sheets it is anything but. The Democrats spout equality, fraternity, and social justice while behind the blackout curtain they, like the Republicans, sell everything and everyone for the dream of increasing power, gain, and glory. Both are totalitarian to the core. Both stage their opposing scripts like Punch & Judy² shows before the masses who face-off in psy-oped rage (egged on by crisis actors) while the hidden puppet-masters manoeuvre arms and legs, heads and speech at will.

To the puppet-masters everyone is a useful prop — rabble-rousers in the making; gangsters of opposition (birthing gang / counter-gang strategies³): maskers v. anti-maskers; vaxxers v. anti-vaxxers; trackers v. anti-trackers; believers v. skeptics; police v. defunders; obedients v. disobedients; sleepers v. conspiracy analysts; and on and on.

Lewis saw the inevitable déjà vu outcomes (Right or Left) of "well-intended" rabble-rousers :

[Doremus] recalled an article in which Neil Carothers asserted that the “rabble-rousers” of America in the mid-’ thirties had a long and dishonorable ancestry of prophets who had felt called upon to stir up the masses to save the world, and save it in the prophets’ own way, and do it right now, and most violently: Peter the Hermit, the ragged, mad, and stinking monk who, to rescue the (unidentified) tomb of the Savior from undefined “outrages by the pagans,” led out on the Crusades some hundreds of thousands of European peasants, to die on the way of starvation, after burning, raping, and murdering fellow peasants in foreign villages all along the road.
There was John Ball who “in 1381 was a share-the-wealth advocate; he preached equality of wealth, the abolition of class distinctions, and what would now be called communism,” and whose follower, Wat Tyler, looted London, with the final gratifying result that afterward Labor was by the frightened government more oppressed than ever. And nearly three hundred years later, Cromwell’s methods of expounding the sweet winsomeness of Purity and Liberty were shooting, slashing, clubbing, starving, and burning people, and after him the workers paid for the spree of bloody righteousness with blood. Brooding about it, fishing in the muddy slew of recollection which most Americans have in place of a clear pool of history, Doremus was able to add other names of well-meaning rabble-rousers:
Marat and Danton and Robespierre, who helped shift the control of France from the moldy aristocrats to the stuffy, centime-pinching shopkeepers. Lenin and Trotzky who gave to the illiterate Russian peasants the privileges of punching a time clock and of being as learned, gay, and dignified as the factory hands in Detroit; and Lenin’s man, Borodin, who extended this boon to China. And that William Randolph Hearst who in 1898 was the Lenin of Cuba and switched the mastery of the golden isle from the cruel Spaniards to the peaceful, unarmed, brotherly-loving Cuban politicians of today.
The American Moses, Dowie, and his theocracy at Zion City, Illinois, where the only results of the direct leadership of God— as directed and encouraged by Mr. Dowie and by his even more spirited successor, Mr. Voliva— were that the holy denizens were deprived of oysters and cigarettes and cursing, and died without the aid of doctors instead of with it, and that the stretch of road through Zion City incessantly caused the breakage of springs on the cars of citizens from Evanston, Wilmette, and Winnetka, which may or not have been a desirable Good Deed.
Cecil Rhodes, his vision of making South Africa a British paradise, and the actuality of making it a graveyard for British soldiers.
All the Utopias— Brook Farm, Robert Owen’s sanctuary of chatter, Upton Sinclair’s Helicon Hall— and their regulation end in scandal, feuds, poverty, griminess, disillusion. All the leaders of Prohibition, so certain that their cause was world-regenerating that for it they were willing to shoot down violators.
It seemed to Doremus that the only rabble-rouser to build permanently had been Brigham Young, with his bearded Mormon captains, who not only turned the Utah desert into an Eden but made it pay and kept it up.

Pondered Doremus: Blessed be they who are not Patriots and Idealists, and who do not feel they must dash right in and Do Something About It, something so immediately important that all doubters must be liquidated— tortured— slaughtered! Good old murder, that since the slaying of Abel by Cain has always been the new device by which all oligarchies and dictators have, for all future ages to come, removed opposition!⁴

How much has happened already? Just look around. Listen to the exposés, the witnesses. Consider the new laws. Consider the threats, fines, shaming, censorship, smears, bullying, harassment, intimidation, arrests, unlawful prosecutions, convictions, disappearances, countless impossible suicides, secret murders, and on and on.

Let us admit: It can and is happening here at this very hour. Trump is no more a savior than Biden, Harris, Pelosi, Hillary or whatever other counter-force should arise to take the "win." How much more are we going to allow?? How long will we insist that this is a two-sided show when, in real time, the DNA has become a single, twisted strand?

Perhaps it's time to review:

Tragedy and Hope 101: The Illusion of Justice, Freedom, and Democracy by Joseph Plummer / Carroll Quigley⁵

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1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_Can%27t_Happen_Here (footnotes ommitted)
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punch_and_Judy
3. For a discussion on the gang v. counter-gang strategy see Thursday Trio with Professor Hamamoto and George Webb. 081320 (McDuff: Kennedy's Man to Smash the CIA | August 13, 2020 | Time - begin about min. 25:00 of 58:41) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3WkkvF-ps8
NOTE: I see these astute men as being blind to the real Trump despite their otherwise valuable information. On the other hand, the Democrats also seem utterly blind to the hypocrisy of their own leaders.
4. Lewis, Sinclair. It Can't Happen Here (Signet Classics) (Kindle Locations 1926-1953). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Bold emphasis added)
5. https://www.joeplummer.com/ (free audio available here) | See also: http://tragedyandhope.com/

Déjà Vu: Pandora*?

? Donald “Jack” Trump ?
Public Domain
Wiki Commons source below

It is understandable why many concerned viewers of Trump's impeachment “trial” were thrilled with his acquittal this past week.¹ They had been so intensely focused on researching the backroom coup attempts and concealed crimes of an entrenched (DOGS-of-War) cabal²  that was opposing Trump, that they blindsided themselves to what has now been utterly confirmed for Trump: that his power to do whatever comes into his mind or heart has no rebuttal and no limit.³ Somehow, his supporters (and SOTU grand-standers) remain completely blind (or bowing) to his speech and body-language of hubris, bullying, non-self-reflection, and consciousless mendacity.⁴ Yes, it's probably true that Trump's betrayals do not yet match those of the entrenched cabal of ratline-ers, but how long will it take?

Folks, we are not dealing with competing white suits and black suits; good and evil; truth and deception. We are watching combative heads of the multi-headed dragon of domination fighting to the death to retain positions of power and unbelievable gain, whatever the cost. Both sides of the aisle (and their enriched offspring, spouses, friends, and obedients) are locked into this game of thrones. Whatever the seeming choice, right or left, it is a choice for continuing betrayal of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. Trump is no US savior. He is no Cyrus. And at some near-future, the facade of his acumen, success, and “renewed” US will be exposed. As to Pelosi and company, they are perhaps even more faux (and dangerous) with their decades of self-service, weapons-dealing, and global injustice.

So what is the next drama being written as we speak? Could it be Mitt Romney, crossing the floor to try and salvage his Republican values from a different angle?? — a silvered knight, a gift of the gods for beleaguered, meta-exposed Democrats? Who knows, but the CNN accolades were profuse!⁵

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Pandora: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box

1. https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/impeachment-senate-trial-trump-1.5452967 ; https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/05/us/politics/trump-acquitted-impeachment.html
2. https://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/2019/05/the-dogs-of-war.html  |  (an essentially non-partisan cabal of power- and gain-players both to the right and to the left and the closet-left, if the truth were known)
3. https://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-making-of-tyrant.html
4. Harsh words, yes, but any harsher than New Testament | Matthew 23:27 ? ~ “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” Just listen to Trump's State of the Union, then reverse all his claims and one might get a truer picture of the State of the Dissolving-Union: State of the Union 2020: Highlights from Donald Trump’s speech (Global News | Time 13:58) at  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81eWnIOLyAc  :  or full speech (Global News | 1:25:34) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbvrPqaeuh0
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-rnsJo0_yI ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpOMsjWnEo4

Image Info: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jack_in_the_box,_pg_1.jpg | {{Book |Author= |Translator= |Editor= |Illustrator= |Title=Jack in the Box |Subtitle= |Series title=Father Tucks Tiny Tots' Series |Volume= |Edition= |Publisher=Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd. |Printer= |Date=c. 1890 |City=Bavaria |Language=en |Description=C...

Faux-Socialists? Faux-Polarity?

Past time to wake up, folks! Do we really think that the Clintons, Obamas, Pelosis, Reids, Bidens, McCabes, et al. al. al. have the first notion what socialism is? They are first and foremost pawns (and future fall-guys) in an oligarchic game being played by their ghostly superiors / supervisors. These dupers / dupees have sold their souls for transitory sceptres, off-shore mega-riches, and rampant hedonism—the very same things that the power and gain “rightists” have always pursued (as in Bushes, McCains, McConnells, Comeys, Muellers, Rosensteins, et al. al. al.).

The so-called leftists have not the remotest intention of establishing “socialism.” It's all a facade to cover the One-World focus of a MEconomy where elites, left AND right, serve the agendas of their grasping masters till all (even their surprised selves, and that includes Mr. K.) become robotic slaves to a master oligarchy.

So why do we keep obsessing over left and right? keep dividing ourselves in service to a faux polarity? keep believing that Trump is a divinely sanctioned trump-card against those _____ socialists? Yes, Trump is somewhat unique in the presidency. His self-service is child-like egoic. He seems trapped in some level of pre-operational¹ unawareness. If he contradicts himself, he seems to genuinely think the past ceases to exist. If he denies his lies, he seems to genuinely think our cognitive abilities cease to exist. Most of his opposing elites know they are in service to a “higher” power-monger and acquiesce for the sake of their perks (though sometimes from fear) which they fantasize will last forever. But Trump? he doesn't seem to know there is anything higher than himself. He orders and ordains in the most general of terms (“buy, sell, get me off the hook, make money, make a deal,” etc., etc.) and his paid servants carry out the specifics they were trained and hired for; then Trump takes credit for the work, results, and ideas (unless the result is less than satisfactory).

If we have the integrity to review “conservative” Trump's demeanour, speeches,² tweets, history, grandiosity, mendacity, etc., etc. in a full 360 degrees, do we not see the face of Ayn Rand where service to self superseded service to anything broader? On the other hand, the faux-socialists liberally serve themselves on the way to a WO (World Order) that they seem to view as greater than any one person. BUT whether Trump-style or WO-style, the agenda is the SAME: power and gain.

So to all those who think Trump is divinely appointed; they may be right in some measure! At least the entrenched, secretive, criminal cabal of the faux-left did not prevail to perpetuate their cover-up of murder and mayhem from a presidential throne (though they are still trying in every possible way). As to Trump? his childish, egoic ways — spending his tenure self-serving as opposed to also WO-assisting — may leave some wiggle room for a few white-hats to be able to work a little justice, accountability, and restoration into corrupted governance. All the while Trump devotees will “seeing him, see not; and hearing him, hear not” the all-to-visible selfie character of the man.

So, get a grip folks. Trump is no savior; nor team-player (whether the team be good or bad). His self-focus / self-distraction / self-delusion just opens the door enough (we should pray) for a few good people to do something good while he is tweeting, TVing, and travelling.

But those who think Trump is knowingly presiding over a draining-of-the-swamp do not appreciate the nature of his self-delusion, or the full-spectrum extent of our global swamp, or the way power and wealth (or the perception of power and wealth³) corrupts. And those who think that the departure of McCabe or even 100 like him will drain this swamp are in for a rude surprise. Pulling the plug on McCabe or even 500 other power-pluggers will only drain a few compartmentalized fetid shafts. The global master(s) will re-plug all the drains with new, expendable pluggers. The global agenda is too far established for entrenched, hidden power to relinquish with an exposure or two, or even a thousand. The great deception will increase in sophistication, violence, and coercion. More faux-saviors will appear and we shall be suckered again and again if we refuse to see what we see and hear what we hear in full 360; and above all, if we do not persist with courage to expose and counter at every turn the sewage that sustains the agendas of the secretive oligarchy in their never-ending pursuit of power and gain.

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1. Remember Piaget?
2. (his extemporaneous speeches, not the carefully crafted speeches of writers who have been tutored in the skills of propaganda and myth-making / -preserving; and then delivered methodically, without passion, with the essential aid of a teleprompter)
3. http://dejavu-times.blogspot.ca/2014/03/truly-afflicted-with-riches.html

A Coming American Déjà Vu?

Circa 87 BC, a chief judge, governor, and prophet named Alma, lived and recorded his observations of a political event that occurred somewhere in the present-day Americas. These were his observations:¹

Chapter 2
1 And it came to pass in the commencement of the fifth year of [the reign of the judges] there began to be a contention among the people; for a certain man, being called Amlici, [arose] being a very cunning man, yea, a wise man as to the wisdom of the world, ... —
2 Now this Amlici had, by his cunning, drawn away much people after him; even so much that they began to be very powerful; and they began to endeavor to establish Amlici to be a king over the people.
3 Now this was alarming to the people of the church, and also to all those who had not been drawn away after the persuasions of Amlici; for they knew that according to their law that such things must be established by the voice of the people.
4 Therefore, if it were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people, he, being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of the church; for it was his intent to destroy the church of God.
5 And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every man according to his mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another.
6 And thus they did assemble themselves together to cast in their voices concerning the matter; and they were laid before the judges.
7 And it came to pass that the voice of the people came against Amlici, that he was not made king over the people.
8 Now this did cause much joy in the hearts of those who were against him; but Amlici did stir up those who were in his favor to anger against those who were not in his favor.
9 And it came to pass that they gathered themselves together, and did consecrate Amlici to be their king.
10 Now when Amlici was made king over them he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren; and this he did that he might subject them to him. ...
12 Therefore the people ... were aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore they did prepare to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind.
13 And thus they were prepared to meet the Amlicites at the time of their coming. And there were appointed captains, and higher captains, and chief captains, according to their numbers.
14 And it came to pass that Amlici did arm his men with all manner of weapons of war of every kind; and he also appointed rulers and leaders over his people, to lead them to war against their brethren.
15 And it came to pass that the Amlicites came upon the hill Amnihu, ... and there they began to make war ...
Chapter 3
1 ... —now the number of the slain were not numbered, because of the greatness of their number— ...
2 Now many women and children had been slain with the sword, and also many of their flocks and their herds; and also many of their fields of grain were destroyed, for they were trodden down by the hosts of men. ...
Chapter 4
1 Now it came to pass in the sixth year of the reign of the judges ... there were no contentions nor wars ...;
2 But the people were afflicted, yea, greatly afflicted for the loss of their brethren, and also for the loss of their flocks and herds, and also for the loss of their fields of grain, which were trodden under foot and destroyed ....
3 And so great were their afflictions that every soul had cause to mourn; and they believed that it was the judgments of God sent upon them because of their wickedness and their abominations; therefore they were awakened to a remembrance of their duty.

In the present political climate, do we see potential “American” parallels? And what about other parallels from history?

Are USians² descending a wrong road and thinking that the fork ahead gives them a right choice?

Do Trumpers really think:

▪ that a corporate tyrant is, at heart, a freedom-loving constitutionalist?
▪ that this so-called “non-establishment,” outsider candidate is really “non-establishment” when his surrogates and advisers are deeply, far-right establishment?
▪ that a fight amongst GOP (& Dem) narcissists makes this “underdog” a good guy? (or is he really just the guy who is so self-absorbed and -deluded that he is his own cabal-of-one, totally unaware that he is being manipulated by a more cunning cabal?)
▪ that the enemy of all good cannot have a forked tongue (R&D)? a two-pronged approach? two candidates? two fronts? two scenarios? multiple options?
▪ that the exposures from WikiLeaks (deception, intimidation, corruption, manipulation, etc., etc.) cancel the flood (deception, intimidation, corruption, manipulation, etc., etc.) from this man's past and present (and juvenile mouth³)?
▪ that WOE is not in the works when seeing, we see not (what DJT does in real RECORDED time and space) and hearing, we hear not (what DJT really says and thinks from a place of self-delusion)?

Perhaps USians have come to this fake R&D choice-point (a PONR?⁴), because previous, genuine choices were botched (sometimes without consciousness) in déjà vu of every other great nation.

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1. See Book of Mormon | Alma, chapter 2-4 for the full text which can be found at https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm?lang=eng.
2. Since “American” has been co-opted by the United States (US) despite the equal rights of all North, Central, and South Americans, the citizens of the United States are herein being called USians in the spirit of equality with Brazilians, Canadians, Chileans, Hondurans, Mexicans, Venezuelans, etc., etc.
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS4Lw2yMmuA
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_of_no_return

Bawdy Politics ?

(OR, Alas! Alas! Wo is US!)

In remembrance of the 120th year of the death of

Joseph Ferdinand Keppler (1 February 1838 Vienna – 19 February 1894 New York) … an Austrian-born American cartoonist and caricaturist, who greatly influenced the growth of satirical cartooning in the United States;^[*]

and the 125th year of the publication of his The Bosses of the Senate^[†], I repost his sadly enduring look at puppetry, power, and “bawdy politics”:

The Bosses of the Senate by
Joseph Keppler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
First published in Puck 1889.
page URL: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AThe_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg
file URL: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg

How many déjà vus before we actually VU? and then DO something about this?! And that includes especially you: SCOTUS, POTUS, SOTUS, and HOROTUS!

PS: If “bawdy politics” can describe the (past and current) Senate, what might we call the House^‡?!

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* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ferdinand_Keppler
† http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Bosses_of_the_Senate_by_Joseph_Keppler.jpg
‡ (being the House of Representatives, which, in this age of abbreviation and economy, may be shortened to HOR, which surprisingly!! may be a synonym!)

So, it has come to this! Again!

~
▪ That the sun never sets on American bases and SOFA’s¹ in near déjà vu of a recent fallen/defeated Empire;
▪ That so many pretend that money ≠ power ≠ undue influence ≠ inevitable corruption ≠ inevitable death of freedom;
▪ That we manufacture/manipulate citizen consent thru deception and propaganda and call it freedom of speech;
▪ That so many malign “enemies” for sins copied in secret (though sometimes openly, without apparent shame or remorse);
▪ That so many still praise, pursue, envy, and worship excess (while calling it, “deserved prosperity”);
▪ That we openly admit, justify, and sometimes celebrate assassination and torture;
▪ That pundits spin 1984 newspeak without apparent consciousness (aka: SCOTUSese; Newtspeak; Mittification; Santorumph; aPauling attachment to romanticized, libertarian dogma and fallacies²; and donkey parallels);
▪ That we stage democracy like a propped up storefront.

Is this the preferred point of destination for the American Constitution? Apparently not, for we have also come to a turning point, again! as more and more are turning up to protest. Thank goodness (and for believers in something higher than man and mammon, Thank God!)

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1. Status of Forces Agreements: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_forces_agreement
2. see http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2011/05/back-to-square-1601.html . Observation: One thing that can be said for Mr. Paul to date (vis-à-vis his competitors), is that he has been consistent in his disconnect with the real world. The current field of 2012 GOP candidates being Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

HOW TO SPOT A FAUX ROGUE*

(to the right and to the left)

* Rogue (as defined by some) is to BE everything “Washington, DC” is NOT; as in honest, true, chaste, virtuous, wise, free of undue influence, etc., etc.. Because John (as in McCain) and Sarah (as in Palin) have claimed (and/or unclaimed) rogue-status, they will, of course, find themselves more in the cross-hairs of this checklist, but do not be distracted by their self-appointment. ALL who claim special rogue-dispensation to save freedom, democracy, and the Constitution (as also in the TeaPartyExpress) should be check-listed (NOT black-listed as some politicians and pundits prefer for their opponents, but check-listed) so we can see that they are really not rogues, BUT just more of the SAME OL’ STUFF—as in SOS.

So, if your “rogue” favors in the main:

□ Big Business
□ Small Government†
□ Privatization (especially of public goods)
□ Upper-crust Tax cuts
□ Lax rules ‘n regulations
□ “Free” & global markets
□ PAC money
□ Donations
□ Rewards
□ Hand-me-ups
□ Credit
□ Defense spending
□ Soldiers
□ War
□ Guns
□ Cheap shots
□ Expensive accounts
□ Appearances
□ PR
□ Sound bites
□ Fawning Reporters/Interviewers, et al.
□ The power of right words‡
□ Enhanced interrogation
□ Redacted facts
□ Grizzly tactics
□ One-winged eagles
□ Dual-winged aircraft
□ God (with Pentagon backup)
□ Oil
□ Money &
□ Manifest Destiny

we regret to inform you that your rogue is a phony—as in SOS.

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† Caveat: expressed support or favor almost NEVER translates into action—as in the Reagan years—as in promises for smaller government and deficit reduction—as in the difference between GOP actions in power and GOP words in campaigns and opposition. Small government seems to be but code for weak government vis-à-vis Big Business. There is also an increasing disparity between DEM actions in power and DEM words in campaigns and opposition, again related to the powers and persuasions of Big Business. They are both deeply corrupted.
 ‡ As in Mister Luntz.

ECON 006 ~ Graphic Proof

~

If you really want the "right" side-up of GOP deficit records, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms and also check out the links to government and other sites. The Ten Trillion Dollar Question: Is 30 years of data not enough to prove that deficit reduction is a promise devoid of substance or intention?

With Their Lips …1

(OR Why it is PAST TIME to abandon the Republican/conservative “read my lips” allegiance)

Note: This is not a back-hand endorsement of liberals or Democrats. They have their own endangering (and often similar) failures. Rather, this is a voice of warning concerning those who present themselves as the last-gasp “saviors” and “guardians” of liberty and the American Constitution. Their rhetoric is full of “freedoms” and “values,” but by their actions, they repeatedly violate those very freedoms and values. Consider:

With their lips—they claim grounding in rational economic and Constitutional truths, but manifest a reflexive, emotional devotion to words over realities, seemingly unable to acknowledge the colossal inconsistencies between their words and their deeds.²

With their lips—they espouse the virtues of small government and fiscal conservatism, yet preside over massive government growth and ballooning debts and deficits.³

With their lips—they claim the moral high ground and divine endorsement, yet espouse and implement policies that foster and sustain economic darwinism (survival/enrichment of the richest and most powerful).⁴

With their lips—they ennoble the sacrifices of the military, yet denigrate the service and opinion of soldiers, veterans, or family members who oppose war or criticize the conduct of war.⁵

With their lips—they denounce central, planned economies, yet cater to the centralized, planned economies of multinationals and bow to the “invisible [deterministic] hand” of (fictitious) free-markets and -trade;⁶

With their lips—they venerate justice and equity, but preside over egregious injustices in pursuit of American and business hegemony.⁷

With their lips—they scorn the follies and corruptions of their opponents, yet turn a blind eye to their own.”⁸

With their lips—they advocate the rule of law, yet justify “executive” powers that enshrine the “opinioned” rule of presidents.⁹

With their lips—they claim to be defenders and promulgators of freedom, human dignity, and the Constitution, yet foment uprisings against democratically elected governments in foreign countries that do not bow to the Washington Consensus; sanction torture and assassination; suspend habeas corpus; deliberately deceive citizens and “uncooperative” officials; turn a blind eye to human rights violations in favored nations; foster the aggregation of power and wealth to the detriment of individual citizens, etc.¹⁰

With their lips—they denounce extremists, yet wildly applaud Barry Goldwater’s infamous “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice”; and champion the bombing of enemies to manifest toughness.¹¹

With their lips—they advocate free-markets, yet subsidize big-business; bailout corporations; award no-bid contracts; cater to lobbyists; legislate private agendas; sell off public assets; etc.¹²

With their lips—they claim to speak truth, yet continually neglect/refuse to fact-check or correct themselves.¹³

With their lips—they advocate individualism, yet favor private corporate collectives and reward compliance to authoritarianism.¹⁴

With their lips—they denigrate government, yet spend their private fortunes in pursuit of its power, privileges, employment, and (where politically possible) earmarks.¹⁵

With their lips—they speak of moral and family values, yet pursue pro-war agendas that tear families apart, exacerbate moral decay, and shatter minds, hearts, and bodies.¹⁶

With their lips—they claim to honor free speech and democratic values, yet vilify voices that question their ideology, “facts,” opinions, worldview, etc., especially attacking journalists, professors, researchers, historians, dissenters, anti-war advocates, scientists, philosophers; in fine, anyone who does not “see” as they do.¹⁷

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Note 1: This is a post from Deja Vu ~ Times II blog of Thursday, March 18, 2010.
Note 2: I do not concur with all that is claimed in the recommended reviews (RR) below, but there is much to consider, reconsider, and research in going beyond the “speed-of-knee-jerk” rejection characteristic of too many right and left ideologues. Both right and left have positives, but both have become enmeshed in the negatives of money, power, and ideology. Thus, we are increasingly presented with two unacceptable alternatives. But, the reason I find the right even more dangerous than the left, is their increasing abandonment of honor and justice as they pursue and justify the extremes of “individualism,” nationalism, and the primacy of the market-place.

1. “With their lips do honor democratic principles, but their actions are far from it.” Variation on a theme: Old Testament: Isaiah 29:13; New Testament: Matt. 15:8; Mark 7:6; Book of Mormon: 2 Nephi 27:25
2. RR: Conservatives Without Conscience by John W. Dean; The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism by Andrew J. Bacevich; hyprocrisy segments on The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)
3. RR: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750 ; http://thepoliticsofdebt.com/?p=177 ; http://mises.org/daily/895 ; http://zfacts.com/p/480.html ; The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too by James K. Galbraith; Tear Down This Myth: The Right-Wing Distortion of the Reagan Legacy by Will Bunch; government statistics of relevant periods
4. RR: Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill) by David Cay Johnston
5. Remember: John McCain 2000; Max Clelland 2002, John Kerry 2004, “Swiftboating” tactics; Pay attention to how they profile veterans or family members who oppose war
6. RR: The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power by Joel Bakan; One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism by William Greider; The Soul of Capitalism: Opening Paths to a Moral Economy by William Greider
7. RR: Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq by Stephen Kinzer; Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy by Noam Chomsky; Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson; Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
8. That is, all liberals are evil, but errant conservatives are an infrequent aberration—“a ‘few bad apples’ in a gigantic barrel of goodness.” Observe political discourse; review http://www.factcheck.org/ ; check in on occasion with The Rachel Maddow Show (MSNBC)—hyprocisy watch; suspend emotion in order to assess facts
9. Aka: government by legal memo; Also read John Yoo, et al.
10. RR: The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Ruined Government, Enriched Themselves, and Beggared the Nation by Thomas Frank; Torture Team: Uncovering War Crimes in the Land of the Free by Philippe Sands; see also RR at #7
11. 1964 speech: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9buEI8SgwU ; other Republican Conventions: 1984, http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4690 ; 2000 or 2004
12. RR: see RR at # 4 & 6
13. Listen to both conservative and liberal newscasts. Reference http://www.factcheck.org/
14. RR: see Johnston at #4; and Dean at #2
15. Listen to faux-rogue candidates from McCain/Palin past Romney to Reagan; observe the realities of politicians in power
16. See Republican Convention 2004, 2008; observe the “tough on terrorists/extremists” talk by GOPs such as Sarah Palin ( http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MTI5NzBmYThkM2M5MDI4NThiMDQwNGU1NmRkMzMxMDE= ) and the repeated accusations of liberal softness—of liberal wimps. Do they forget that republican Reagan actually talked to Gorbachev of the “evil empire”? Do they forget that Democrats have taken America into more wars than Republicans? Not an accolade for either side! The tendency to romanticize war is a national shame. We can be grateful for the sacrifices of service men and women and their families, but do not pretend that war is not attended by moral degeneracy and terrible, lifelong consequences. Also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_history_of_the_United_States
17. Observe political discourse; pundits commentators, etc.

Beware the Optimates!

After nearly four centuries of Republican government, Rome began its century-long descent toward tyranny¹ beginning about 133 BC with the murder of the Gracchus brothers.² Perhaps the chief facilitator of that descent was the conservative/traditionalist group of elites in the Roman Senate—a group that came to be dubbed the optimates (“the best”).³ They claimed to be defending and preserving the “old values,” yet their tactics were chiefly to preserve their own interests and the status quo of wealth and power. Is there any equivalency in our day to these optimates and their tactics? Any déjà vu?

The optimates:

▪ supported the aristocracy of wealth and power
▪ blocked the wishes of others groups
▪ labeled their opponents “demagogues”
▪ resorted to violence on an increasing scale
▪ used the backing of the aristocracy and the senate to achieve personal goals (via rampant corruption)
▪ opposed the extension of Roman citizenship,
▪ sought (or claimed to) the preservation of the mos maiorum, the ways of their forefathers.
▪ called themselves “liberators”
▪ published lists of those they considered enemies of the state and legislated “open season” on them⁴

Their opponents, the populares, had their own hypocrisies and in the end, the struggle between the optimates and the populares was “more about power than the public good” because, despite seductive words, no one was seeking the true interests of the Republic or of the people. The ploy, by both factions, was to gain support and votes while holding onto (or gaining new) wealth and power.⁵

“What happened to the Roman Republic?” is summarized by a Great Courses scholar⁶ and set forth, in part, as follows:

▪ Power, influence, and unimaginable wealth [often from vast plunder] could be won in the empire and deployed in Rome with no checks by the traditional system.
▪ People became inured to violence and quite willing to use it against fellow citizens.
▪ Disruptions in the countryside led to countless numbers of landless, rootless people who felt no sense of commitment to any old-fashioned values.⁷

Why can we not see how little has changed in 2000 years?—how we have our own collectivized aristocracy (corporatocracy) intent on preserving their own interests with the support and rhetoric of our optimates; how corrupted our politics has become by wealth and power; how insular and prone to violence our optimates are in their speech and imagery; how suckered we are by words?

Will we ever learn?

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References:
1. Tyranny can sometimes be benevolent, and Rome experienced several benevolent emperors, but many of the gains of the Republic were lost in the descent from the “rule of law” to “rule by emperor.”
2. See “The Foundations of Western Civilization,” Lecture 20, Rome—From Republic to Empire, taught by Professor Thomas F.X. Noble, The Great Courses: The Teaching Company © 2002. See pp. 83-86 of the accompanying Course Guidebook.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimates
4. During Sulla’s reign “Any man whose name appeared on the list was ipso facto stripped of his citizenship and excluded from all protection under law; reward money was given to any informer who gave information leading to the death of a proscribed man and any person who killed a proscribed man was entitled to keep part of his estate (the remainder went to the state). No person could inherit money or property from the proscribed men, nor could any woman married to a proscribed man remarry after his death. Many victims of proscription were decapitated and their heads were displayed on spears in the Forum.” See “Proscription of 82 BC” and “Proscription of 43 BC” at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proscription
5. http://www.roman-empire.net/society/society.html
6. See footnote 2 above.
7. Like “Do unto others …”, honesty, integrity, generosity, compassion, etc.

AC 180

(va: The Ann Coulter Conversion)
Sondra’s telephone call came before I was ready to face the day. My clock read 5:21 AM.

“I’m not here,” I mumbled into the receiver.

“You will not believe what just happened to me!” she exclaimed. (The enthusiasm in her voice seemed unhealthy for such an early hour.) “Oh, I know you’re only half-awake, but you know, some people say half-awake is the best time for breakthrough insights. And I think I just had one!”

“Could you not spare me till at least 7?” I groaned.

“No,” she said. “This is too bizarre.” [Dramatic pause.] “I dreamt about ANN COULTER.”

“Oh, dear,” I said coming slightly more alert for I had heard Sondra bemoaning Ann, not more than one day ago. “I mean, she just seems so caustic and parallel-challenged,” Sondra had said. “Honestly, I think I share some of her conservative values, but if she ever met me, she’d probably shred me like a liberal, because I happen to believe that “We, the people” means more than, “Me, the Right & True Republican.”

“You don’t sound as if you’re bleeding profusely,” I said.

Sondra laughed. “No, actually Ann began reading to me, quite animated, from one of her books. I started to follow along with this fantastic scrolling reader-thing—you know how dreams are. Anyway she was reading along and I was following with this scrolly thing, when suddenly there was this bizarre disconnect. You pretty much had to be there to get the full effect, but suddenly my scroller began highlighting words at the same moment Ann would read other words in place of them. She was inverting liberal and conservative references! After several “mistakes,” I decided it must be intentional, so I looked up, all shocked-like, but she just smiled sweetly and read on, making these crazy substitutions! Isn’t that bizarre?!”

“Confusing is the word,” I said staring wide-eyed into the dark, “for there is no chance to infinity that Ann Coulter is a closet liberal.”

“Oh, no,” Sondra laughed. “She didn’t always substitute—but always in those places dealing with strategy—you know, the despised liberal/Democrat attack/bias/liar methodology stuff. So it ended up like, everything she accused them of, she’d re-attribute to herself or like-minded conservatives; even changing whole paragraphs. Was still reading when I fell asleep in the dream, which is when I woke up to see the spine of her very book—the “Talking to a Liberal” one—propped against my lamp. That was startling strange, till I remembered I had stashed it there—courtesy of my pastor’s wife—wants to know what I think! Confused me though for a moment. Wasn’t sure I was waking from a dream or into one.

“So maybe you should tell me your breakthrough insight, so I can go back to sleep,” I sighed.

“Wait a minute!” Sondra said. “You’re not getting the feel for this. I can hear it in your voice. You just should have been there—here—wherever. The gist of the whole thing was like—well you know those hidden paragraph codes in word processing. Well, this was like The Ann Coulter Code. Actually even way beyond her—like The Authoritarian Conservative Code. Like whatever they condemn in liberal strategy, and you’re right—I can hear it in your breathing— there is plenty to condemn on all sides—but the dream-Ann was telling me—with a smile, to boot—that she was foreshadowing and perfectly nonchalant about making extreme use of every nasty strategy she so vehemently condemned. In fact, seemed quite exhilarated to do so.”

“Well, it’s probably historical precedent—déjà vu.” I said.

“Exactly, exactly,” Sondra said, “but shouldn’t we have learned by now too see through these finger-pointing deflections. Anyway, Ann got me so interested, I might start her book where she left off reading, and do the dream reversal. And from now on, that’s how I’m going to interpret all those hostile opinion books of both persuasions—with my little mental scroller highlighting AC conversion in the background.

“Maybe you should rewrite her book,” I suggested. “You could acknowledge her as the ghost writer.”

“Wouldn’t that be the height!” she exclaimed with a laugh. “I could label it satire or parody or something. I could republish, reversing all the liberal/Democrat stuff with conservative/Republican stuff. It would be bang on from what I have been seeing, and I could call it … AC 180.”

“Sounds like the perfect title,” I agreed.

“Oh, yeah, that reminds me!” Sondra exclaimed. “For a split second, AFTER I awoke, I saw this big “ME” plastered over part of her title. You know, so it read, How to Talk to ME (if you must).”

“Oh dear,” I said, “she’ll swear your vision-giver is a cloistered liberal.”

“Honestly,” Sondra moaned, “one gets so tired of this uncivil discourse and strategy blame-game. I mean both sides seem to be in full spin-cycle most of the time—like it's an equality contest of grenade lobbing, which isn't what I signed on for. And worse than that, so many "rightists" are so busy cursing liberal craters, we don't seem to notice the bottomless pit we’re digging ourselves into by our own follies and self-deceptions.”

“I doubt Ann will be—” I began, but Sondra was not finished.

“So you see what my breakthrough is? What this dream-Ann has awakened me to?—to the decision that I’m totally tired of all this beam-in-the-eye stuff we’re pretending isn’t there. I just seems we're doing as much—if not more—damage to America as any so-called liberal, so if I have to poke the eye of my grand-old-party just to get them to look into their own contorted, parallel reflection, then so be it.”

“Well from what I see, some of them don’t just poke back, they try to decapitate,” I cautioned.

“Oh, I know,” she said, “but too many of us seem to be asleep or else so enraged by the other guy’s sins we lose our own focus. So maybe it’s time more of us started flinging facts into our own fan.”

“So, does this mean you have an answer for your pastor’s wife?” I asked.

“I guess so,” she laughed. “This vision/dream thing should be the clincher. I’ll tell her too, it’s like crossing the street. If you don’t look both ways, with eyes wide open, you ain’t as safe (or as smart) as you think. Anyway, gotta go, but I’ll send you a little sample of the dreamy rendition.”

And that was that (except for the email).

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ [Sondra’s Email] ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

As I promised, here’s a little sample of Ann’s very own dream-revisions—truly an “AC 180,” don’t you think? She was a tad erratic, skipping about, but this gives you a taste. (I've italicized her changes from the book.)

p. 1: We, conservatives, traffic in shouting and demagogy. In a public setting, we will work ourselves into a dervish-like trance and start incanting inanities: “Obama lies.” “Baby killer.” “Racist!” “Fascist!” “Socialist!” “Conspiracy!” “No, No, No, Hell No.” ... We, conservatives, as opposed to sentient creatures, have a finite number of memorized talking points, which we periodically try to shoehorn into unrelated events, such as 9/11 and Iraq; but our favorite is to deny parallels like enhanced interrogations in Guantánamo and “bad apples” in Abu Ghraib, or like shoe and underwear bombers, or like OUR use of House reconciliation, OUR numerous flip-flops, OUR earmarks, OUR moral lapses, … [She had quite a list.]
p. 2: Our idea of a battle of wits is to say, “Socialism” in front of adoring conventioneers and be wildly applauded for our brilliance and courage. …, we have a number of stratagems to prevent liberals from talking. We shout liberals down, cut the microphones of interviewees, threaten liberal politicians, and heckle liberal speakers. We target them.

Sorry, this will take too long to scribe all AC’s inversions and changes. In the dream, it all seemed to just roll off her lips. And she was SOOO well-versed in conservative/liberal parallels—even things I hadn’t heard yet. (Could there be astonishing things YET to break in the news!?!)

Wonder if we could get someone to do a “fair and balanced” AC 180 of her book. Then maybe, between her book and the inverted one, we’d really have AC 360 (Astute Citizens!?! even). Anyway here are two other inversions, she seemed quite pleased about.

p. 7: “Our other new hobby is to call people “liars.”
p. 15: “Even if you’ve led a blameless life, we invent absurd stories about you.

(PS: You get the gist! I wonder if a daily reading from Matthew 7 in Congress and before every pundit-cast would be of any help! I’ll save you the trouble of looking it up.)

Matthew 7:3-5: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. (Also see Luke 6:41-2)

Is there any hope to save us from ourselves?! Till next time, Sondra

The Speed of Emotion

“In The Making of the President, 1960,^[1] Teddy White lamented that TV might spell the death of serious politics: to give a thoughtful response to serious questions, a politician needed a good thirty seconds to ponder, but television allowed only five seconds of silence at best. DDB [the ad agency of Doyle Dane Bernbach^[2]] found nothing to lament in the fact. They were convinced you could learn everything you needed to know about a product, which in this case happened to be a human being, in half a minute—the speed not of thought but of emotion” (Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein, © 2001).

It seems Theodore H. White was right—about both left and right. Much of our political news, views, tweets, trailers, and posts proceed at the speed of emotion. No need for thought, memory, fact checking, sourcing, courtesy, caution, truth, or déjà vu. Ads, images, sound bites, talking points, “spontaneous” stagings, and so forth—often market-tested for trigger-efficiency and -effect—all set on “speed” and ad nauseam recycle. “Truth” verified by repetition. Enhanced by selective, romantic myth-making!

And though both left and right get caught up in the speed of emotion, there seems no crowd more addicted to “speed”³ than the fractured far-right—particularly Tea Partiers and libertarians. These far-rightists, despite their professed devotion to “individualism,” freedom, and “free markets” have a remarkable predisposition to flock to authoritarian, charismatic leaders; to conform to group-speak without personal examination of issues; to repeat emotive phrases as end-all answers; to denigrate the individualism and freedom of everyone to the left of them; to disregard ideological contradictions⁴; and to advocate violence when “democracy” does not favor their worldview.

Since many to the right claim an affinity to the Christian faith and to an “end-of-times” scenario, perhaps a look backward to the “beginning” and forward to the “end” might prove enlightening.

What powerful groups in the “beginning” of Christianity was so convinced they were right, so devoted to preserving their faith/ideology, and so alarmed at the “devilish” doctrines of a popular itinerant preacher that they devoted themselves to his destruction? Could there be any parallels in our day? Are we so convinced we are saving freedom and the American Constitution that we kill the very (“devilish”) reforms that might preserve a MORE perfect union? Remember Peter and the dream that opened him to the inclusion of Gentiles in his gospel—a complete reversal of prior belief?⁵

And what about the “end-of-times”? What does John the Revelator identify as the great opposition?⁶ Have we been caught in a masterful diversion and deception exacerbated by the speed of emotion? So obsessed with socialism, we miss the Trojan horse cavorting in our midst. The Trojan horse we unfetter and feed to excess as if it were a living thing!

Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we can be enlightened by higher truths IF we are not open to new perspectives.

Perhaps it is time we took the time to temper emotion with thought, memory, research, and honesty about ourselves, our ideologies, our hypocrisies, and the possibility of “being partly right and partly wrong.”

There are options to the speed of emotion. Yes, TV and the internet may overwhelm us with emotive pitches, BUT the internet also gives us the speed of access to fact checking, verifiable history, reputable research, sworn testimony, rational observation, diverse opinion, and communities of thoughtful discourse. Surely, the present speed of emotion, untempered and unbalanced, as we have seen in recent months, cannot continue, if we are to survive as a nation. Emotions are ONLY A PART of who we are. Reason, research, and balanced thought must also precede action. In paraphrase of Mark Twain: “The person who does not think⁷ has no advantage over the one who cannot think⁷.”

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1. Published 1961; best-seller and 1962 Pulitzer Prize winner for general nonfiction
2. The ad agency of Democrats JFK and later LBJ. Republicans became quick imitators.
3. Speed can manifest both as reactionary, knee-jerk explosions or frantic running in place at the speed of “NO,” “NO,” “NO.”
4. One of their main ones is the redistribution of wealth mantra. See http://dejavu-times.blogspot.com/2009/12/beyond-mark_14.html
5. See New Testament Acts 10 for Peter’s enlightenment. Also, could Paul’s words have any parallels? “… they have a zeal of God [or freedom or free markets], but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness [or point of view], and going about to establish their own righteousness [or point of view], have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness [point of view] of God. (New Testament Romans 10:2-3). How does God view the rich and the poor? Are free-markets free or just facades to justify power and elitism? See also http://dejavu-timestwo.blogspot.com/search/label/EconomicsOfJesus
6. New Testament Revelation 17 & 18
7. and study, research, ponder, fact check, remember

“Free”-fall?

▪ Free of civility so anyone can say anything in passionate defense of one-sidedness.¹
▪ Free to demand that the American eagle fly as a one-winged bird.²
▪ Free of laws and regulations so every business and financial institution can be a profiteer and scrutineer unto itself.³
▪ Free of memory so the re-cycling of “boom and bust” can keep booming the few and busting the many.⁴
▪ Free of moral and ethical restraints when castigating moral and ethical lapses in others.⁵
▪ Free of consequence so OLC lawyers, military & CIA interrogators, and their directing/consenting superiors can violate human rights and dignity without accountability.⁶
▪ Free to go to extremes in finding and punishing (alleged⁷) extremists.
▪ Free of constitutional restraints; checks and balances; Accords, Conventions, and Treaties by re-categorizing.⁸
▪ Free of facts so strengths can be distorted into weakness and follies recast as strength.⁹
▪ Free of self-reflection so “rightists” (of both wings) can spin innocence, sincerity, the reality of things present, and the amnesia of things past.¹⁰
▪ Free to avoid taxes via off-shore shells.¹¹
▪ Free to privatize gains and socialize losses.¹²
▪ Free to say one thing and do another with impunity (yea, even with enhanced legacies).¹³
▪ Free of self-awareness so one can sling mud from one’s own flawed actions onto “enemies” in diversionary ploy.¹⁴
▪ Free of rational analysis so any challenge to one’s worldview (from right, center, or left) can be SUMMARILY DISMISSED as socialist agenda OR hypocritical propaganda.¹⁵
▪ Free of the maturity and/or courage required to reconcile differences or acknowledge other points of view.¹⁶
▪ Free of memory so “déjà vu” does not disturb trajectory and repetitious folly.¹⁷

And the list goes on.

Have we forgotten that America was established as a free nation by virtue of a constitution of laws with check and balances, with a Bill of Rights, and with accountability? Can we be free as individuals or corporate collectives without similar parallels?

Perhaps it’s time we remembered that life, society, progress, harmony, fairness, justice, equity, and an eagle’s flight come in a balance of right AND left; individualism AND collectivism; updraft AND downdraft; listening AND talking; giving AND receiving; freedom AND responsibility; transcending AND including, AND synergizing. Remember, NOBODY is so right they can’t be wrong about something?! Ask the Pharisees.

----------------/
1. Coulterites, Frankenites, et al. [i.e., fans or mimics of Ann Coulter (R) or Al Franken (D)]
2. Listen to the KRovites of all persuasions [pronounced Crow-vites, in acknowledgment of Karl Rove and his masters and mimics, whether R or L, and meaning: a) half-circle, 180°, one-wing purists; and b) spinners of assets into liabilities and vice versa]
3. Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman, et al.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boom_and_bust
5. See 1. above; also “... he [Satan] saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him. … Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.” (Scriptural text from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Doctrine and Covenants Section 10:25, 28.)
6. http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/issues_OPRReport.html (OLC=Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice)
7. See 6. above and scripture at 5. above. See slso http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/19/ex-bush-official-guantanamo-bay-innocent/
8. See 6. above; and POWs become Enemy Combatants in "1984 newspeak"
9. DDB innovators for LBJ (1960s); Lee Atwater disciples; Swiftboaters; , KRovites, et al.; If facts are important to you, check out http://www.factcheck.org/
10. Pundits, politicians, etc. E.g., see the KRovite Sarah-spin (in my view) in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62zufrMneFw&feature=player_embedded [Was apparently removed by the user on or before March 6, 2010]
11. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tax/
12. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privatizing_profits_and_socializing_losses
13. Remember election promises? Classic case: small government & fiscal conservatism in the Reagan years: see HarryBrowne.org article “The Quintessenstial Politician”; and beyond.
14. Listen to Convention speeches. Watch for KRovite tactics on both the left and the right. Also, classic case: compare handling & criticisms of shoe bomber 2001 and underwear bomber 2009: http://factcheck.org/2010/02/dick-cheney-vs-joe-biden/
15. Pundits, blogs, postings, news comments, etc.
16. Present U.S. Congress; ideologues; extreme party loyalists
17. E.g., Are we not déjà vu the ’50s/’60s Republican crisis profiled in Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein © 2001?

The Looming Great Divorce

(or When are we going to open our eyes and ears that we might SEE and HEAR?!!)

“Almost thou persuadest me [NOT] to be a Christian!”¹

That was my first reaction upon reading an email forward sent by a good Christian lady. So here is my latest “whoa, woe, whoa!!!” This church sister introduced her “forward” thus:

THIS LADY NOT ONLY HAS A GRASP OF 'THE SITUATION' BUT AN INCREDIBLE COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!
[“THIS LADY” is allegedly Cyndy Miller, writer of a letter to AARP.²]

Cyndy’s letter followed and set forth her reasons for declining to renew AARP membership because AARP’s “Divided We Fail” and other “Socialistic politics” are viewed by Cyndy as “threatening our way of life [and] offending our sensibilities.” Cyndy declares that “when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent.” And so she divorces AARP and decries “This Presidential Administration [that] scares the living daylights out of us.” [Did the prior presidential administration scare her? She does not say!]

Then Cyndy gets to the apparent “meat” of her regrettable divorce from AARP; a part that appears to “raise the blood pressure [her] medical insurance strives to contain.” She writes:

“Your [AARP] website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish.. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our 'house', invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn the perp language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.
I DON'T choose to welcome them.
I DON'T choose to support them.
I DON'T choose to educate them.
I DON'T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing. …”
[etc., etc. Emphasis all hers.]

Now, of course, I’m not going to jettison my faith because a Christian “forwarder” thinks there is “grasp and command” in this divorce decree.³ But it set me to thinking about the coming Great Divorce—the one many of my church and/or fellow-Americans don’t seem to realize is increasingly imperative. It is the divorce looming between their professed Christian⁴ allegiance and the current STATE of their politics. How the incompatibility has endured so long is already beyond comprehension!

So, for just a moment, I ask my Christian friends—many of whom are conservative Republicans: Will you honestly look at the STATE of YOUR politics? NOT your enemy’s politics, but YOURS.

What is the state of things when radio/TV pundits become more quotable, reliable, and fundamental than the Sermon on the Mount?! When ends claim to justify means? When deception and spin are strategized? When finance capital dictates governance? When extremism in the defense of “liberty” is deemed patriotic? Where sound bites substitute for informed research? When your GOP says one thing with its mouth and does another with its power?

How long can you pretend YOUR political “spouse” is being faithful to founding principles and values? Look at your record! Your documented history! Your investigations! Your subterfuges! Hear the eye-witnesses! The whistleblowers! The sworn testimonies!⁵

Why do you castigate only the infidelities of your enemy’s “spouse”? Is THAT helping your own degraded house? Open your eyes! Open your ears!

How long can you ignore the egregious incompatibilities between GOP words and practices? Between values and actions? Why do you dismiss with alacrity and scorn all criticisms as if they were but false and hostile smears upon a pristine conscience?

Do we imagine a professedly “chosen” people (or party, religion, nation, ideology, constitution, etc.) is immune to folly, error, deception, corruption? Perhaps a brief tour of the gifted and chosen ones of history would be instructive. Count how many were swept away in whirlpools of stiffneckedness, excess, and folly. How few died in the harness of integrity, humility, purpose, and honor.

We are not going to clean up the mess of our universal corruption and partisanship by focusing solely on the crimes and corruptions of “enemies.” We must first look to our own ways and affiliations. What did Biblical Micah caution? “… a man's enemies are the men of his own house.”⁶ And please, instead of knee-jerking to accuse and fault your perceived enemies in the national house, look first to the threats and offenses from within your own GOP house.

In this current state of politics, surely it is time to reject the blindness of partisanship and unthinking loyalties. It is time to demand more of ourselves than we do of our “enemies.” It is time to reject rampant, internal hypocrisies; to refuse the propaganda of PACs and the persuasions of mammon.⁷ It is time to seek out and support honest, wise, good, and courageous candidates free of compromising ties and dictates. It is time for self- and party-awareness. It is time to take a new moral way. It is way beyond time.

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(For those who wish to know my views on the Democrats, capitalism, socialism, free-market myths, the dire state of America's democratic values and republican form of government, etc. you may peruse other Déjà Vu posts.)

1 New Testament Acts 26:28
2 AARP: American Association of Retired Persons
3 Of course, Cyndy has every right to reject the philosophies and practices of the AARP, if they conflict with hers, but the tragic thing is, too many partisans utterly fail to comprehend the present chasm between professed values and opposing actions. Their focus remains unwaveringly on their enemy to the exclusion of self-awareness—a classic diverting strategy promoted by C.S. Lewis’ astute senior demon, Screwtape (from The Screwtape Letters, 1942).
4 Applicable to other religious faiths and ethical adherents because most acknowledge a common set of human and moral values.
5 There are hundreds of meticulously, documented studies, books, and articles that are dismissed or ignored because: 1) they do not sustain the myths of rightness, justification, and ideology; 2) they are strategized as aiding and abetting the “enemy”; and 3) it takes so much precious time to sift truth from half-truths and error when lives are already so time-and info-stressed. Perhaps one approach is to prefer confirmed and documented information over passionate denials or justifications.
6 Old Testament Micah 7:6
7 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (New Testament Matthew 6:24).

Democratic Blues: Confessions & Lamentations of “The Unknown Democrat”

(:Transcribed from meetings of Democrats Anonymous in undisclosed U.S. locations:)

▪ Unfortunately, too many Democrats seem confused by the media’s “blue” labeling. Historically, we Democrats have been closer to the theoretical left, which is not conservative (or big-business) blue. However, by this same twist-of-color, our political rivals appear even more disoriented by their “red” label. They continue to proclaim true-blue conservative (plus b-b) values but have taken to furtive, authoritarian tactics and strategies. This Republican dualism should be a huge Democratic advantage. Why it isn’t, is probably attributable to the American monocle.
▪ Unfortunately, even though we stump for the poor and needy, labor and small business, the middle class, and mother-earth, the reality is: big-business is more present, persistent, visible, and donation/perk-oriented, so we can’t always financially justify what we proclaim or prefer.
▪ Unfortunately, we would prefer to always honor the constitutional checks and balances, but executive orders and an imperialistic presidency (expanded by our predecessors) are too useful and efficient to disregard.
▪ Unfortunately, b-b lobbying is a fact of political life that pays personal and family dividends, both now and in the future.
▪ Unfortunately, since the revolving door between business and government is too lucrative to bypass, exceptions, exemptions, etc. must be made to our lobbyist-free commitment in order to re-access our best, compromised experts for public service. This can make for public relations problems, but there is some consolation in the general shortness of American memory and the abundance and frequency of their distractions.
▪ Unfortunately, nearly every qualified candidate for elected or appointed office will experience moral-, tax-, or nanny-challenge in our hyper-vetted, public-service contests, so PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, young Democrats, keep your nose, hands (yea, your entire portfolio) CLEAN for future service to your party and country.
▪ Unfortunately, too many businesses have become so big, pervasive, and interconnected that they cannot be allowed to fail; therefore prudent government must periodically step in to halt credit and capital free-falls in order to save the world from capital follies. It is regrettable that labor, small business, the average Joneses, the poor, and the common good* suffer disproportionately in these recurrent meltdowns. We would it were otherwise.
▪ Unfortunately, bail-outs, stimuli, and deficit spending often reward the unwise, imprudent, corrupt, greedy, and capital-elites; not to mention mortgaging the vast, uncertain future—which we try not to talk about; but from one POV, if NOW implodes, there may be no future to worry about!
▪ Unfortunately, big-business can cancel its pension, health-insurance, and contract obligations with past and present employees when restructuring; however, present government is limited in the adjustments it can make to CEO/management salaries and bonuses when bailing-out or resuscitating. On the brighter side, this may result in less Republican censure for offending The Myths of Big-Business, and also be less subject to campaign blowback by big-donors.
▪ Unfortunately, despite our beliefs that laissez-faire economics should be less laissez and more fair; that regulations and taxation have purpose; that environment matters; that we can be an inclusive, imaginative people; and that there are good alternatives to every bad idea; we are still mired up to the hip-pocket in status quo. (Sorry, folks.)
▪ Unfortunately, our political rivals are predisposed to repetitive leaps, generalizations, and mis-labelings (e.g., calling us socialists, communists, Marxists, traitors, treasonists, “aiders and abettors,” wimps, crazies, scary, etc., etc.), which is targeted to our electability and to make us think we must support regrettable authoritarian measures to avoid being labeled or seen as “unpatriotic” or “soft-on-terrorists.”
▪ Unfortunately, sometimes it works.
▪ Thus, unfortunately, we have, too often, been in the Congressional minority. Therefore, try to push through as much as possible when in the majority. Try not to be discouraged when in the minority. Try not to resort to neo-Con-Rovian strategies (unless necessary). And try to get elected somewhere other than Minnesota!

(*i.e., the general welfare provision? of the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution)
(Posted in full version on Tuesday, May 19, 2009: 9:17 pm)

Neo-Republican* Redbook** (Ideological & Practical Samplings)

*ska, Neo-Cons; **Not to be confused with other Red books.

• Advertizing: The art of manufacturing desire and producing dissatisfaction, envy, and so forth, all in the greater cause of economic growth and free-market capitalism. A pillar of democracy.
• American Covert Operations: Secret interventions to promote democratic values and thwart anti-capitalists/corporatists. These are necessarily secret to minimize the loss of American lives, values, and image.
• Capital Facts: Greed is good; selfishness is a virtue; paper and property have real and speculative value; and God is a free-market capitalist. (Cautionary note: His rhetoric can be deceptively regulatory, but do not be deceived. See Common Good.)
• CEO Compensation: A means to confer and/or acknowledge prestige and power. Preferably attached to knowledge, expertise, and competence, but not essential. A fundamental of competition. Not to be confused with Efficiency or maximizing profit or Conquest & Plunder.
• Common Good: A subtle, emotive phrase that is leftist code for Socialism and its more evil sibling.
• Conquest & Plunder: The most efficient means of acquiring wealth and power. (See Efficiency.) Not to be confused with acquisitions & mergers, takeovers, British Empire (et al.), globalization, Haliburton, Charles Keating, CEO Compensation, Enron, Dot-coms, Abramoff, business subsidies / bailouts, American Covert Operations, and so forth.
• Cooperation vs. Competition: Cooperation was a Neanderthal necessity, but competition is the name of the greater game where the manufacture of desire (see Advertizing) supplies the demand for manufactured goods.
• Depression: Rare, commonly recurring, mysterious market-system failure characterized by negative growth (aka, bottomless market), pink-slip employment, low caloric intake, vaporization of financial institutions, and massive adjustments to real value and home ownership. Not associated with Deregulation or Poverty. Potentially eased by bailing out the VIC’s and substituting a Recession. (See Talking Points.) Alternately, the feeling one may have resulting from any of the above.
• Deregulation: A capital fact that free-market businesses whose bottom line is growth and profit do best without oversight. Not to be faulted for Enron, Freddie or Fannie, Lehman Bros., the 2008-2010 mortgage meltdown, the recent corporate/bank supplicants, the Dot-com-cons, the former S&L problems, etc. And not to be compared to the Constitutional checks and balances mandated for government. (See Public vs. Private.)
• Efficiency: That which confers maximum return for minimum cost / effort. A pillar of free-market capitalism. No to be confused with Indolence or callousness.
• Environment: That which surrounds you. Not to be confused with lobbyists. Cleaning up the environment means cleaning up on oil and gas reserves from in or near national parks.
• Fabrication in pursuit of true conservatism is no vice. Moderation in the denouncement of Liberals is no virtue. (See Public Speaking.)
• Global Warming: A figment of liberal imagination and a scientific misappropriation of the heat generated by angry liberals. (Not to be confused with the righteous anger generated by Rush Limbaugh, et al.)
• Indolence: The cause of Poverty. Tendency to be unproductive. Not to be used to explain the differential in production outputs of management and labor.
• Invisible Hand: Term coined by Adam Smith to explain the competitive market’s intuitive management of goods and services through self-interest. Not to be confused with Bernie Madoff (et al.), CEO Compensation, or vaporization of assets.
• Litmus test for true Conservatives: God ______ America. God ______ those Liberals.
• Military Spending: A spiraling growth-industry of destruction segued into reconstruction. To be inflated, conflated, and repeated as necessary.
• Patriotism: 1) To support all American efforts (overt or covert) for the perceived safety of America, the liberation of all people, and the imposition of American capitalism; 2) To honor military service and sacrifice in all cases—except perhaps during elections, as in such cases as John McCain 2000; Max Clelland 2002, John Kerry 2004, etc.; and 3) To not question Traditional Values.
• Poverty: Caused by Indolence. Not to be attributed to Conquest & Plunder, medical crisis, layoff, Abramoff/Madoff, Deregulation, Depression, and so forth.
• Public Speaking: Opportunity to espouse small government and proclaim fiscal conservatism. Not to impact spending practicalities such as earmarks; costs to produce House or Senate majorities; subsidizing deserving VIP’s and VIC’s; appointing loyalists to bureaucratic posts; waging war; running deficits; etc. Also an equal opportunity to ____ those ____ Liberals.
• Public vs. Private: Government (of the people, by the people, and for the people) is a necessary evil and must be constrained. Free-market structures (of the few, by the few, and for the few) are pillars of democracy and must be allowed to self-regulate all growth and profitizing.
• Right: There is only one Right, and it is us. Not to be confused with the 4th Crusade or with certain bombastic Reverends.
• Speculation: 1) Unsubstantiated rumor that Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand, CEO Compensation, hedge funds, derivatives, creative accounting, NASDAQ, the IRS, and the U.S. Tax Code are a volatile mix of this & that, which is not comprehensible by anyone with a PhD in economics; or 2) Short-term massive gains by propheteers of rising (or falling) values, real or imagined—see Depression; or 3) An unproven theory that market bubbles (aka, booms) cause virtual amnesia, leading to unexpected, déjà vu vaporizations (aka, busts).
• Talking Points: Saying something often enough makes it true—or at least believable, which is close enough. (See Public Speaking.)
• Traditional Values: Competition, Efficiency, maximized profit, Deregulation, supply & demand, individualism (as to corporate collectives), public virtue, uncompromising loyalty, anti-collectivized-labor, pro-collectivized-capital, growth and consumption, manifest destiny, truth (see Fabrication), certainty, affluence and influence, Patriotism, good reasons, and re-election.
• Transparency: A smokescreen is more transparent than an iron curtain. (See Environment.)
• U.S. Constitution: A document of uncommon wisdom where WE, THE PEOPLE of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure prosperity to all who merit and deserve it, do uphold these values proclaimed in this Preamble of the Constitution for the United States of America. (See Talking Points.)