The Return of Imperialism/Tryanny to U.S from Within

How do you feel, my fellow Americans, as you watch the Congress refuse, over and over, to truly serve US, the people of this Republic, while they consistently polish the fat rumps of their Corporate Masters?  I fear we may be watching the beginning of the end of Democracy in the “land of the brave and the home of the free.” If we lose our Power as a People, if we are so easily fooled, if a runaway governor in Wisconsin can dictate radical, radio-active policies and get away with it despite the wishes of the bulk of his constituency, doesn’t that border on Tyranny?  If there are peaceful demonstrations being shut down violently in this country that gives us a right to them, what have we become?

The Republicans have not accepted that going against the will of the people is a very bad idea.  They favor the Imperial style of Leadership, the “my way or the high way” style of rule.  The kind of rule that likes surveillance tools, power in faraway places, and sneak policy attacks in various states that have stripped the working class of people of rights traditional to states such as Wisconsin, and for no reason that would ultimately serve the people.  

That move was part of a Karl Rovian strategy to keep tightening the GOP’s constant attempt to make this a permanently Republican nation.  The further moves to suppress traditionally Democratic (the young, the "other" and the senior citizens) voters threaten our Democracy -- and yet the GOP seems intent upon absolute rule.

Fortunately, it seems as though the people's eyes have opened and a rising tide of  "Oh NO you will NOT!!" may wipe Scott Walker out of his Governor's mansion, and not a minute too soon.

The GOP won the last election by speaking of jobs and “true fiscal conservatism.”  I don't object to  fiscal conservatism as long as it is not drained from the blood of the poor and middle classes.  The neo-cons and Mitt Romney-style businessmen who espouse this philosophy and are elected on the basis of it should not be able to serve in Congress as the lackeys of the rich, either during or after their terms are finished.  The revolving door among between Congressional employment and lobbying is way too porous, and integrity is in short supply. 

  

Congress people are obviously a commodity up for sale – Democrat and Republican, and so obviously.

After throwing all their weight behind the infamous, unnecessary tax break for the rich, Republicans are suddenly moving as one to strip the American Worker of the right to bargain with dignity for wages, hours, etc.  I was amazed that these men could argue so righteously that we must ALL share the pain of balancing the budgets!!  Nothing, said they, could be more important than that. But – wait!! WTF about that tax cut for the rich you bozos passed last year?

  
How, HOW could the richest among us possibly want more when more and more of our children are homeless, wandering the street, gathering at the various Occupy Movements because they have no other place to sleep, among other reasons, of course.

After giving this wretched tax cut to those who didn’t need it – Boehner and Mitchell fought furiously for their own, and now seek to attack entitlements – let the middle class and poor pay the price -- the American people are sinking into a less gracious and conscious form of living.  There have been one million foreclosures last year; so many  more since then -- and yet these heartless people want to place even more stress on the groaning many for the sake of the mighty few.  In such a terrible time as these years have been, the only possible reason is corruption. The latest news is that the unholy GOP voted down the middle class tax extensions, and in so doing are pushing people like me into a lifestyle where "daily bread" is now questionable.

If the GOP continues to stifle our NATURAL FREEDOMS including the right of free assembly, the right to be properly educated, to vote on the matters that concern us, to have a voice on these matters -- and continues to promote the growth of a vast underclass, stripping us of various Rights won in the past -- they will be electorally wiped out at some point—unless they can make good on the next step in their plan, which has to do with making it more difficult for folks in the Democratic demographics, i.e. students and the elderly, who typically vote the Democratic ticket, to vote.

How does that make you feel – to know that this is a nationwide effort by GOP politicos to restrain the Democratic voter-turnout, to destroy collective bargaining, to strip the Unions of all power and to make the United States of America into a dreary banana republic where only one party CAN EVER attain power? 

But who benefits?  Who would have the most to gain, however bizarre, and for what reasons?  In my opinion we are witnessing the struggle between Plutocracy and Democracy in America the Beautiful, and it is an awful sight to witness.  Somehow the de-volution of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire comes to mind.  Only we're the Roman Empire on crack, and on a quick downward slide.

In my opinion – and this is an opinion piece -- the GOP is trying to create a "new peasantry" -- a modern  breed of children raised as ready cannon fodder (“meet the new boss; same as the old Boss”), for our Orwellian cycle of endless war.  These kids are inheriting the results of our specifically human passion for unchecked arrogance/violence/blood-lust.

Failed by local schools and pre-trained by vicious games, they’ll be snatched up by the Masters of War. As educational systems begin to fail our children the culture becomes more brutal and violent.  Kids spend way too much time fascinated by blood-soaked games put out by the Military – just a little basic training, pre-high school basic training – there are so many army games out there!

How purposeful is the creation of a class of the citizenry more suited for soldiering than the manufacturing jobs we no longer have?  So many of our kids have felt and feel that a life in the military was the only option.  They go because they have to.  They are our modern-day blood sacrifice.  The high and sustained rate of unemployment has made and will continue to make great use of the “feeder pond” of kids with no hope.  These young American heroes go off to serve and fight and die.

And then the heroes come back, but they come back changed, many of them broken, some shattered beyond our help.  Because of the underlying philosophy that sends these people off to war, there’s not enough help for them when they get back --  not for current veterans, nor for the rest of the recycled vets of our many wars; there are so few options. 
 

They deserve everything from us, yet to the GOP that elite 2% is somehow more deserving than our veterans. Our veterans come home, and they have certain particular warlike skill sets.  The folks that aren’t too psychologically or physically damaged have to make a living, and naturally they will look into the U.S. prison and jail systems.  

Some go for the shadowy world of the mercenary; some readjust, go back to school and shake the traumas of War.  Some blow themselves away, too traumatized to go on. Many of them will make excellent tools of any police state, including one right here.  We watch as the armed forces busily militarize our police, and that knowledge scares the hell out of me.

I was disgusted by the presence of Blackwater/Wackenhut security forces patrolling the streets of Wisconsin while the police are on strike.  I was horrified when the peaceful Occupy Oakland protest turned violent.  Who looks like the "land of the free" now? What a bitter joke.

It is important, essential to know that right in front of our eyes we are watching an entire reshuffling of the American Opportunity, a purposeful re-sizing of the American Dream, a casual toss away of our pretense to Excellence.  This fundamental dumbing down of the culture can't be strategic, it just can't be.  Can it?  Again, who benefits?

Fascism is the union of the Military-Industrial-Congressional complex (wonderful choice of words by President Eisenhower), who told us to beware of such a government.  It is my deepest fear that our beloved country is changing in front of our eyes into a collective of little states/tyrannies run by out-of-control, power-mad governors who seem to feel Absolute Power is their Right.  I don’t understand why the GOP members of Congress don’t value their “worthy opposition” and why they seem to be trying to destroy us utterly -- electorally, militarily, and financially -- and we are the 99%!

Rumination upon Education

As the daughter of a teacher, I KNOW what my mother put into her four decades as both a fifth grade teacher and a high school teacher/college counselor.  She brought her job home every single day and most weekends.  That job dominated her life; she loved it and influenced countless lives positively.  She elevated the prospects of thousands of kids in the San Joaquin Valley and 29 Palms, California. A great many among them were children of seasonal migrant workers, mostly from Mexico, kids who lived with entire families in rooms the size of a small bedroom. 

At her funeral in 1994, I met a wonderful gentleman, at that point head of the local junior college, who told me that she was the reason that he, the American born son of Mexican migrant workers, was able to turn his passionate desire to succeed, help others, and prosper into reality.  I heard this said about my mother over and over again as she fulfilled her passionate desire to enlighten receptive minds.  That is what a Teacher does.

She was always passionate about her job.  One person CAN make a difference, and the public service workers of our country -- the teachers, the nurses, the firefighters & police -- each ONE of those people dedicate their lives to making a difference.  I believe they should be able to RETAIN the RIGHT to bargain with the Big Boss Men, who already, it seems, believe they should be as kings unto their workers.  Gah!
 
United (Union!) we stand, divided, we are cracked like dried twigs, which is pretty much what they want, isn’t it?

The sneak attack by the GOP in Wisconsin that killed collective bargaining in Wisconsin smacks of tyranny to me.  For example, when these slick creeps demean teachers, they are attacking societal fundamentals.  Do we, as a nation, value education?  Do we value educating the blue collar/middle class family as much as we value educating their peers at a higher social level?  If not, why not?


We’ve always had issues with class in this country.  We’ve had slavery, indentured servitude, the plight of women, children, the sick and the elderly who can’t fend for themselves.  And there has always been the model of the Banker (Big Business usually = GOP) with the cold heart in this country – plenty of those around today.  (“If you don’t give me the deed to your ranch I’m gonna tie you to the railroad tracks”)

Tell me, O weasel-eyed Governors with eyes of flint - I would like to know how destroying our precious national safety nets will do anything but impoverish those too weak to pull themselves up, thereby weakening our national fabric.  These “nets” are in place; they serve the people.  Honestly, really – what will take their place?  Smile, say "charity" and I will laugh in your face.

What happens when there’s no protection for the firemen, the teachers, the police, the drivers -- the We that are the People?  For Governor Walker to act like an over-confident bully, smashing the long-held values and Rights of a state known for securing those Rights, thereby paving the way for the rest of us, was viscerally shocking to me.

Governor Walker appears to be a mini-dictator, and there are several others of his ilk governing other states.  Their aim is to strip the Democratic Party of their one power base, the Unions, and to prevent President Obama from being elected or from achieving policy objectives.  It is also Karl Rove’s Machiavellian goal to achieve total GOP dominance within all systems of government.  If that happens, kiss the idea of America goodbye.

The state of Wisconsin is not supposed to be a dictatorship, run by a Governor with an unseemly urge to please billionaire businessmen such as the Koch Bros. His mini-dictatorship is somehow protected by states-rights while the rest of us watch in horror, wondering what next parliamentary bit of deviance will be used inappropriately.

In my state, California, a Democrat Governor was recalled a few years ago for NOTHING compared to what Governor Walker is doing, and I mean NOTHING.  I have nothing against Governor Schwarzenegger - I came to be quite fond of him -- he's MY kind of GOP-GOV.  I like moderate Republicans -- we do have a lot in common. I want to cultivate that love of the moderate which is unfamiliar to the flaming Progressive!

It's time to unite from within the center, reaching out -- reaching out to one another with a sense of inclusion towards ALL except the bat shit crazy.  I refuse to take this challenge to our working people without reacting in a protective fashion -- as they have protected us.  I refuse to watch a challenge to education in this country without working to educate people about why it matters!

People must know why a wide, stimulated, open & well-trained mind is worth more than gold.  The fewer great minds we have, the lower is our status as a country, period.  I would feel more comfortable with the direction of our country if we pointed our kids in the direction of math/science/saving the earth than by bombing the crap out of it.

When we stop respecting education, we are stale, through.  Do you hear me, America? WE – the almighty paragons of remarkable excellence, are on the verge of being  finished, second rate.  Our worth, capacity, flexibility and vigor as a nation are diminished; our educational scores are mediocre, our intellectual appetite dulled.   The mediocre are easily led like sheep, which makes me wonder if it’s too late already.  Again, how have we arrived at this point?

We have failed to educate our people. When people are not trained to think, they cannot discriminate.  Lack of discrimination leads to collective failures in judgment, resulting in cultural lurches like allowing GW Bush to invade Iraq (President Clinton was impeached for infinitely  less), forgetting the Bush years so easily, forgetting who the real Party of the People has always been, which led to the stupid, impatient results of the last election, etc.

Remember the old adage about getting the Government one deserves?  It seems that most of Congress has been bought off and now these Governors too. What do the Koch Brothers have to do with all of this and HOW do they stand to gain?  AND DON’T THEY HAVE ENOUGH WEALTH, NOW REALLY?? The idea that they have anything to do with policy that impoverishes the rest of America sickens me.

If you haven't noticed anything peculiar yet, to arms, to arms -- the Corporations are coming!