September 28, 2012 at 07:29:23
By Dan Mage
opednews.com
Cut the crap, quit the bickering and pay attention.
Never in my lifetime has the reality of a one-party state, under the control of the global corporate elite shown itself so openly, so blatantly, and so seemingly without significant resistance. This absorption of civilian government by the shadow state, The Security State/War State, in the service of international capital, faces only a fractured resistance. Useless left vs. right-wing finger pointing and name calling, all in the name of anachronistic ideologies, further aggravated by sectarian bickering among seekers of ideological purity, creates an image of futility and impotence.
Public opposition to the state becomes increasingly dangerous with each passing day, for anyone outside of the mainstream media, or the party discipline of elected office. The ability of the state to initiate force against perceived threats with impunity is now the law of the land. The office of the president, now may detain, torture, and execute commoners at will. The president is a mighty monarch to the peasants, and a powerless puppet to the corporate overlords. The power retained by the presidency is the prerogative of kings, and the "sport of the elected" (murder).(1)
It's easy to point out how disgusting the Republican Party is; Romney, Ryan, and their legion of lesser local tyrants deliver their message with blatant and ugly fascist-theocratic words and images, bloated white male faces contorted with hatred, delivering messages of misogyny and unabashed hatred for all who do not fit their vision for "Saving America;" they are making Obama look good by default. In this age of intensive marketing research and information control, such contrasts and altered perceptions are rarely accidental.
It's a bit more of a challenge to the mind of the bourgeois liberal to picture Barack Obama as a bloodthirsty fascist despot, warmonger, corporate puppet, and traitor to his own constituency. Obama's superior intellect, his articulate if not particularly brilliant or original speeches, and carefully arranged poses of warmth and compassion towards the poor and the struggling middle class, obscure the ugly realities of his presidency.
Particularly shocking was the administration's betrayal of medical cannabis patients and providers. For political gain, jobs and lives were destroyed, good people were imprisoned, and the quality of life of cancer patients, persons living with MS, and all manner of chronic illnesses was sacrificed. In Obama's first term in office, the DEA raided more medical cannabis dispensaries than during the entire 8 year reign of George W. Bush.
I've heard the "legalizing weed is not important" argument, and also Obama's statement that the disastrous "War on Drugs," an ongoing crime against humanity that has resulted in an immense prison population, disproportionately affecting the poor of all colors, and people of color most of all, will not end "on his watch." The president could have supported real change, and given some hope to the most hopeless and despised members of American society. Instead, he turned his back on the powerless yet again.
Obama's supporters defend this conduct; comments appear in online threads using terms like "Dr Feelgoods" issuing recommendations to "turd stoners," (much as the president himself was during his formative years) and "why shouldn't the president lock up those who break the law?" His prosecutors use bizarre authoritarian leftist reasoning about people "making a whole lot of money" from "drugs" (as yet no prosecutions have resulted from the wholesale manufacture and distribution of narcotics by pharmaceutical companies, in spite of the fact that the DEA knows that large amount of the drugs are destined for the underground market, and actually calculates this market's needs when deciding what quantity of a given drug, such as oxy-contin, will be manufactured with DEA approval) and seem to be terribly worried that people without a "legitimate medical need" will be able to procure cannabis products without dealing with a law-breaker.
Liberal tolerance often stops dead in its tracks when it comes to the issue of "drugs." A woman on NPR starts to condemn Rush Limbaugh's misogynistic hate speech, but quickly digresses to hate speech of her own. "He's a drug addict!" she proclaims, over and over, each time with more venom in her voice, when the term "drug addict" leaves her mouth. Liberal hate speech is perhaps the worst of all.
The mantra of "It's about JOBS, JOBS, JOBS," is repeated as some magical formula that will somehow erase all the bloodshed and restore the lives lost to the American Gulag. I've even seen comments indicating belief in the ultimate idiocy, that "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Tell that to the couple whose door was kicked in while the cops shot their dog, terrified their children and made them lie face down in handcuffs while they ransacked the house after an informant gave a wrong address. They can be counted among the lucky ones; people who have committed no crime whatsoever are ending up dead on a regular basis from official bullets and beatings. In highly public cases, where impossible to ignore videotaped evidence becomes public, criminal charges against police officers sometimes result, however acquittals are common and the absence of any legal repercussions for official violence is the norm.
Most of Obama's campaign promises with regard to civil liberties, human rights, and efficient use of federal resources proved empty and false. The few crumbs he throws to liberal causes, such as same sex marriage and reproductive rights are not to be trusted, and the future of the Supreme Court, would best be regarded in light of Obama's actual behavior while in office.
The forgiveness and endorsement of the war crimes of the Bush Administration, and his refusal to repeal the PATRIOT act, or veto the NDAA, define who Obama is, not his image, his words, or his overwhelmingly worthless promises. Those championing LGBTQ causes, reproductive rights and women's equality should take a long hard look at the promises made to the medical cannabis movement.
Even if he publicly expresses support for some cause close to your heart, Obama is a fascist. If Romney wins and goes on a rampage of war, looting, and crushing the most defenseless members of society under the weight of The War State and ruling class greed, he will do so using powers Obama signed into law. If Obama gets another four years, we can expect more of the same. Perhaps some of the Republican targets groups will be spared within the borders of the US. However, that is a matter of little concern to the global elite, as the depredations and trampling of innocents on the frontiers of the empire will continue unabated. That is where the largest profits and opportunities for population control by war, famine and pestilence are. Can you honestly say that even being spared the humiliation of begging and digging through trash is worth the torture and death inflicted on subjects of any dictator or democracy whose time has run out?
Get it through your head: America is gone; if historical precedent is any indicator, time is running out. All who care about civil liberties, human rights, privacy, the property rights of persons outside of the ruling class and the lives of innocents caught in the crossfire of endless wars, must set aside their differences and take a stand. Recognize a government that exists only as an overseer on the global corporate plantation, for what it is. This government can only be regarded as a very dangerous man-made disaster in progress.
The Federal Government is not something to be provoked, protested, or controlled through elections from which candidates presenting real alternatives are systematically excluded. It is to be watched closely, and each lie, each murder, each theft, and each desecration and betrayal of the once-mighty US Constitution made known to all. Pay attention, appeal to the international community of artists, intellectuals, and activists for peace to come to our aid now; now we are the ones who need to appeal to the civilized world to come to our aid against a totalitarian regime. As the underclass grows, swelled by the ranks of displaced and bewildered formerly middle class citizens, the extent of the betrayal will be known. Maybe then reason and sanity can still prevail.
Only when even the soldiers and police will no longer take part in this headlong rush to self annihilation, and when the lives of children are valued more than the pride and power-addiction of the elite will we be able to rest. What we are up against can be defined, on the basis of its documented behavior and measurable results --body counts speak for themselves- as a planetary torture and death cult. Only when this cult is identified, isolated, and denied all forms of compliance, cooperation and assistance, only then can this disaster, this massive factory churning out corpses and poisons be closed, crushed, and buried, with a few relics stored as a reminder in museum of historical horrors and deviance.
The electoral process, subverted in part by laws allowed to stand by this incarnation of the Obama Supreme Court, leaves only the direct confrontation of power and money, by direct political and economic means as the only non-violent avenue of resistance left open. General strikes, universal rent strikes, and mortgage and interest payment refusals en-masse, gasoline boycotts and massive defections from the major banking and credit institutions might get the point across. "Taking it to the streets," is now a potential felony, and already, people identified with sensitive causes are singled out and pulled from crowds by police, and detained without charge or explanation. Public demonstrations can be defined as terrorism whenever the secret service feels the need to be present. Don't take it to the streets, just stay home, don't drive your car, and deliver nothing of value to "the 1%" at any price. Cancel the agreement that their imaginary money exists.
Knee-jerk libertarian-bashing by what passes for "the left" in this country is another example of "rebels" with "causes" advancing the division and conquest of the people. Reach out to those on the right who believe in your basic civil liberties. Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson may not be perfectly P.C. according to the liberal Democratic Party line; however, along with Ron Paul, he is perceived as a genuine threat by the Republican Party, to the point where republican operatives attempted through legal actions to exclude him from the ballot in multiple states. Gary Johnson cares about you more than Obama does.
Green party nominee Jill Stein also is worthy of your vote, although in my opinion, she labors under the illusion that the power of the state can still be returned to the people, and that the government can fix the problems it creates.This is open to debate;we can argue about what makes a perfect society after we restore the right to have such arguments without fear of indefinite detention.
The time for a united anti-fascist opposition front is now; tomorrow, next week or next month may be too late. The ammunition, the detention camps, and the necessary equipment for quick and efficient mass burials are already in the hands of our wise and benevolent overlords; so is the ability to shut down internet and phone communications en masse, at will.
If we do not make a stand now, we might as well shut down our brains, watch our TVs, go to corporate shrinks, take our government approved medications, and pretend that we don't notice when our neighbors disappear. Arguments about how "the republicans are so much worse" have the sad logic of slaves trying to figure out which overseer will be more generous with the food rations, and more sparing with the whip.
What all of us forever dismissed as "crazy, hippie types," "conspiracy theorists," anarchists, communists, and acidhead mystics have been warning of since Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young released the song "Ohio"(2) has arrived. "...gotta get down to it, soldiers are gunning us down, should have been done long ago".*
Cut the crap, quit the bickering and pay attention. Time is running out.
*References: 1. "Murder by Numbers" by Sting and Andy Summers
Album: Synchronicity A&M Records 1983
2. "Ohio" by Neil Young, Atlantic Records 1970
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