Our money is taken from us and the only reason we are given for this extortion is that it is necessary for our protection. To quote Henry James: "How can we, who cannot honestly govern ourselves, take up the task of governing others? Are we to govern the Philippines from Tammany Hall?" As we now approach the 60th anniversary of our project to spread Tammany Hall around the globe, our own shortcomings and corruption at home have never been more evident, our inability to govern ourselves justly have never been more apparent.
A majority of our "political" leaders are not interested in preserving a civil society, our laws, the domestic peace or our few shared customs, but are instead solely reliant and addicted to the preservation of global, industrial warfare, the U.S.'s preeminent leadership in that industry, and close coordination with the companies who manufacture, procure, or sell items necessary to sustain a "permanent war economy" so that they can buy a seat in government.
America is not the policeman of the world because a policeman acts in accordance with recognized laws and within a moral framework.
All politicians act in the interest of this industry first and foremost, and neither Obama nor McCain is an exception to that sad standard. We are getting a corporate loyalist, first and foremost, dedicated to the military and to profits wrought from contracts formed with weaker military leaders and governments under duress, and if it it works out that the liberties, security, and privileges of the other 99% of Americans are advanced or preserved as a result of our practicing corporate socialism and privatized warfare, then it's simply a by-product of our un-shakeable commitment to designed destruction, and our acceptance of authoritarianism and inequality. When this happens it is as random as being struck by lightning and is evidence that most people see the government as some kind of incomprehensible divinity which brings terror or gifts, but is completely beyond their power or understanding.
90 generations ago, professional soldiers and mercenaries commanded by politically ambitious generals, roamed the borders of the known world terrorizing "uncivilized" tribes, exploiting their resources and stealing their wealth, in order to secure political leverage and power at home.
Warfare was wholly privatized. And warfare is largely privatized today.
The public tax system was used in order to transfer wealth from a majority of the citizenry to a lawless minority subordinate to the military which had seized total control of a once-democratic, lawful government. The tax system operates in this way today. This is called "trickle-down" economics and it's certainly trickling-down all over most of us.
Today, taxation is used to build and sell arms and technology to ideological and moral enemies of our nation, so that public officials can look forward to investment returns and a comfortable retirement once they leave office. While politicians on both sides of the aisle shamelessly dismiss any claim that their dedication to international business endeavors and extortion could possibly constitute a conflict of interest in one breath, they stoke religious and moral outrage with another on "hot key" issues in order to preserve their own political position and popularity and in most cases they are so far removed from the population in terms of values that they see nothing wrong from privately benefiting from instability, inequality, injustice, war, and conflict, and feeding lies to the unenlightened. This kind of deceptive and selfish leadership is simply accepted as a new kind of political realism.
The recent FISA bill, the many failed calls for Impeachment, the lack of Senatorial outrage at Bush and Cheney's policies, the PATRIOT Act, all of these should prove to us that no politician is seriously trying to dismantle the "great game" or challenge the real power-brokers, i.e. the war industrialists and their "friends" in government, along with the businessmen who oversee the taxation and intimidation of foreign governments, because they know that this would be fatal to their political careers and possibly their lives, and because they are cowards, and will allow the game to go on as long as they are able to beg for a few scraps in the name of the "public good" and carry on some false crusade in the name of "the people."
Because if they wanted to address the root of the issue, and treat the source of the sickness instead of the severity of the symptoms, they would ban all private contributions to political campaigns, which is the appropriate, reasonable and moral thing to do.
This is more than a "bi-partisan issue" to borrow a ridiculous word from contemporary political discourse, in that this is an issue that involves the very preservation of democratic order within our society. We are not a democracy or a republic simply because we say so and because we have songs about these things. Democracy isn't an object or a prize that is defended, it is a behavior and a practice and a tradition which we either choose to preserve or don't. Outlawing bribery is perhaps the simplest of all decisions and is a question that should preclude all others when discussing elections and democracy.
Obama, like all politicians, is not immune to corrupt politics and connections, and I say this only to bring the saintly image he enjoys in the media back into the real world.
Enthralled supporters who ecstatically chant "change, change, change" couldn't be more on target. Our government is about change. It is about change and cents. Change and cents gained from war and conflict and weapons sales to foreign governments.
Democratic elections, which should involve substantive change and sense, when able to be purchased, are about dollars and cents.
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