“Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic.”
She's present in our country right now, just waiting to make her - to carry out her divine mission
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/27/1454229 CHALMERS JOHNSON: Nemesis was the ancient Greek goddess of revenge, the punisher of hubris and arrogance in human beings. You may recall she is the one that led Narcissus to the pond and showed him his reflection, and he dove in and drowned. I chose the title, because it seems to me that she's present in our country right now, just waiting to make her -- to carry out her divine mission.
By the subtitle, I really do mean it. This is not just hype to sell books -- “The Last Days of the American Republic.” I’m here concerned with a very real, concrete problem in political analysis, namely that the political system of the United States today, history tells us, is one of the most unstable combinations there is -- that is, domestic democracy and foreign empire -- that the choices are stark. A nation can be one or the other, a democracy or an imperialist, but it can't be both. If it sticks to imperialism, it will, like the old Roman Republic, on which so much of our system was modeled, like the old Roman Republic, it will lose its democracy to a domestic dictatorship.
I’ve spent some time in the book talking about an alternative, namely that of the British Empire after World War II, in which it made the decision, not perfectly executed by any manner of means, but nonetheless made the decision to give up its empire in order to keep its democracy. It became apparent to the British quite late in the game that they could keep the jewel in their crown, India, only at the expense of administrative massacres, of which they had carried them out often in India. In the wake of the war against Nazism, which had just ended, it became, I think, obvious to the British that in order to retain their empire, they would have to become a tyranny, and they, therefore, I believe, properly chose, admirably chose to give up their empire.
As I say, they didn't do it perfectly. There were tremendous atavistic fallbacks in the 1950s in the Anglo, French, Israeli attack on Egypt; in the repression of the Kikuyu -- savage repression, really -- in Kenya; and then, of course, the most obvious and weird atavism of them all, Tony Blair and his enthusiasm for renewed British imperialism in Iraq. But nonetheless, it seems to me that the history of Britain is clear that it gave up its empire in order to remain a democracy. I believe this is something we should be discussing very hard in the United States.
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Over the ashes of blood marched the civilized soldiers,
Over the ruins of the french fortress of a failure
Over the silent screams of the dead and the dying
Saying please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
The treaties were signed, the country was split into sections
But growing numbers of prisons were built for protection
Rapidly filling with people who called for elections
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
Ngo dinh diem was the puppet who danced for the power
The hero of hate who gambled on hell for his hour
Father of his country was stamped on the medals we showered
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
Machine gun bullets became the bloody baptizers
And the falcon copters dont care if someones the wiser
But the boy in the swamp didnt know he was killed by advisers
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
And fires were spitting at forests in defoliation
While the people were pressed into camps not called concentration
And the greater the victory the greater the shame of the nation
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
While we were watching the prisoners were tested by torture
And vicious and violent gasses maintained the order
As the finest washington minds found slogans for slaughter
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
Then over the border came the bay of pigs planes of persuasion
All remaining honor went up in flames of invasion
But the shattered schools never learned that its not escalation
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
Were teaching freedom for which they are yearning
While were dragging them down to the path of never returning
But, well condescend to talk while the cities are burning
But please be reassured, we seek no wider war.
And the evil is done in hopes that evil surrenders
But the deeds of the devil are burned too deep in the embers
And a world of hunger in vengeance will always remember
So please be reassured, we seek no wider war,
We seek no wider war.
phil ochs