How much systemic corruption and muddled ineffectiveness will it take to blow up our top down, bureaucratic, corporate system that requires looking good over doing good, profit over progress? Take a look around and you’ll see this virus attacking from all directions. From government to non-profit to NGO’s to insurance to manufacturing and global finance, the power centered DC model is woven throughout, a molecular level sickness that can only be rooted out by means of total destruction. It’s really that bad I’m afraid? The question now is: what will the proverbial “straw” be that ignites this kindling?
I’m not one of these doomsday prepper’s or conspiracy nuts. I don’t subscribe to the “lizard people” theories, the Bilderberg Group nonsense or any number of false flag operations Obama has supposedly carried out in order to secure a 3rd term, or whatever else the elite supposedly want? Truth is, I’ve known some of these people that travel in these circles and they’re just not that clever. Sure, the government lies all the time. From the Gulf of Ton-kin bullshit to W MD’s in Iraq, groups within the halls of power will inflate certain information through sophisticated PR schemes in order to get what they want. The difference being, it never takes too long for the truth to come out. The government is horrible at keeping secrets. 20th Century history has proven this true more times than I care to describe, from the Pentagon Papers, to MK-ULTRA, to Bush’s secret wiretapping order post-9/11, nothing remains buried for long. Do anyone truly believe we could capture and hold some “aliens” at Area 51 for more than 10 minutes without proof leaking out? In fact, the only example of a secret being pretty well under wraps for long was the Manhattan Project. But is it really a secret if 50,000 people are working on it and both the Russians and the Germans had up to date specifics on progress?
I say all that to say this: People will eventually demand change in regards to corporate greed and power. Banks avoiding punishment for mobster style behavior, the Red Cross accepting Billions in donations with only a small percentage making it out of the administrative bureaucracy, the Pentagon spending 2.5 trillion on a new fighter system that is plagued with flaws, Congress seized up with raising money 80% of the time, unable to pass even the most basic and necessary legislation, 20 to 30 year long wars in the Middle East that are unwinnable, public school systems colluding with the EPA to manipulate testing for PC-B’s causing severe health problems in teachers and students, -you know things are getting blatantly foul when it’s occurring not just in poor urban schools, but in affluent districts like Malibu California- insurance companies -life, health, property- actively participating in schemes to defraud customers as regular business models, corporations that use a post office box in Ireland or the Bahamas claiming it their headquarters, depriving the US Treasury hundreds of billions in tax revenue, investment bankers and hedge fund brokers paying almost zero tax on income through a loophole that’s basically legalized fraud, in fact, a financial system that provides less than nothing to the macro economy outside of Washington and Manhattan immune to law enforcement, the IRS, and the SEC.
There is a breaking point. There is a moment that the pitchforks come out. This year, next, in ten, who knows. but people will reach a red line and break. Cable TV and $7 Lattes will not be enough to keep them happy any longer. There will be a moment when Reality TV, once a portal to look down upon the idiots and ignorant, will reveal something of truth. I say all this knowing that few people will ever read this, or care. It’s more like thinking out loud. Looking around at the world we occupy and combining all the nefarious practices so easy see, it occurs to me that it’s all likely a multi-story house made of cards? Or maybe more apropos, our society encapsulated within a stack of Jenga? The most important structural framing within the tower is represented by the middle class empowered throughout the late 20th Century; the Baby Boomers if you’d like? They enjoyed a standard of living and a sense of economic security previously unknown in modern history. The idea of a livable wage, healthcare and a pension was all but taken for granted among those who lived within their means. This is no longer the case. That former generation cannot be compared to that of their children and grandchildren. No longer is retirement feasible for the majority. Or a single income. Or healthcare generous enough to avoid financial ruin in the face of cancer or even a normal hospitalization. Why is this?
The answer is as simple as it is maddeningly unattainable through modern levers of societal power structures. Politicians no longer look out for their voters en mass, rather, they look out for their donors, i.e., their golden geese allowing them to fund their campaigns and provide golden parachutes should they fall. The maddening quality within this truth is the pure impotence of ordinary, voting Americans. The media, the local governments, and the top-down nature of governmental agencies stack the deck against them, -us- effectively promoting a culture of acrimonious hate. Its effect being simple but obvious: most voters ultimately cast ballots for candidates who are anathema to their constituents well being.
How so? For example, white working class voters overwhelmingly choose GOP candidates despite easy to see proof that they end up governing beset of those voters best interest. Cutting services while lowering the tax rates for wealthy individuals and corporations is the first example that comes to mind, however, several other, less obvious positions are present. To say Democrats are much better is also quite impervious to empirical evidence. From devastating trade deals, -NAFTA- to stripping long held Wall Street regulations bare, -many put in place almost a 100 years ago following the crash of 1929, causing the Great Depression not only in the US, but worldwide- to welfare reform and the perpetuation of the Drug War, -both policies targeted at the poorest among us- these Neo-Liberal types codify republican narratives like Paul Ryan’s, “we don’t want the safety net becoming a hammock.” Evidence and truth are of no consequential value in DC. If they were, the Democrats would have legislated law in 2009, while in absolute power, like single payer health care, increasing Social Security benefits and raising a stagnant minimum wage. All of which are policies shown to not only lift the bottom 80% of the citizenry’s standard of living, in addition to a financially sound central government. Instead, this mandate from the people was squandered, leading to, I believe, the historic losses in 2010. -it wasn’t that the voters thought Obama went too far, but not far enough- I could be wrong, but in my case, the gulf between what I imagined Obama to be and his actual governance, was quite wide. I wasn’t the only voter who felt this way, that we felt duped by the process once again, sucked the wind out of our idealism and trust in public figures. Combine this sense of apathy with an equal dose of hate simmering on the right and the drastic swing in 2010 looks, in hindsight, inevitable?
Like 2008, Bernie Sanders captured a sense of optimism, riding this wave out of obscurity, and into mainstream prominence. A new/old face promising change with a historical record of integrity to assuage skeptical voters, Senator Sanders gave it a run, yet ultimately fell short of the nomination. Now, do I believe a Sanders president could’ve lived up to his idealistic pandering? I cannot say. What is clear is the thick cloud of cynicism the country has for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. A win for either will only amplify the derision countrywide. Neither will win over the other side, that’s almost as sure a bet as one can place. Their disapproval numbers are historic, to put it mildly. And as such, our modern machine will continue on down the line, fanning the embers.
Ordinary folks will eventually be pushed too far. The open questions only history will be able to answer are: Will we choose a Constitutional Convention or Civil War, rebuilding or burning it all down, an FDR or a Mussolini?
AKBOOGY 