Chris Hedges: Do No Pity the Democrats (Fear the underlying corporate power structure)

[marmar]

from truthdig:




Do Not Pity the Democrats
Posted on Sep 13, 2010

By Chris Hedges


There are no longer any major institutions in American society, including the press, the educational system, the financial sector, labor unions, the arts, religious institutions and our dysfunctional political parties, which can be considered democratic. The intent, design and function of these institutions, controlled by corporate money, are to bolster the hierarchical and anti-democratic power of the corporate state. These institutions, often mouthing liberal values, abet and perpetuate mounting inequality. They operate increasingly in secrecy. They ignore suffering or sacrifice human lives for profit. They control and manipulate all levers of power and mass communication. They have muzzled the voices and concerns of citizens. They use entertainment, celebrity gossip and emotionally laden public-relations lies to seduce us into believing in a Disneyworld fantasy of democracy.

The menace we face does not come from the insane wing of the Republican Party, which may make huge inroads in the coming elections, but the institutions tasked with protecting democratic participation. Do not fear Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin. Do not fear the tea party movement, the birthers, the legions of conspiracy theorists or the militias. Fear the underlying corporate power structure, which no one, from Barack Obama to the right-wing nut cases who pollute the airwaves, can alter. If the hegemony of the corporate state is not soon broken we will descend into a technologically enhanced age of barbarism.

Investing emotional and intellectual energy in electoral politics is a waste of time. Resistance means a radical break with the formal structures of American society. We must cut as many ties with consumer society and corporations as possible. We must build a new political and economic consciousness centered on the tangible issues of sustainable agriculture, self-sufficiency and radical environmental reform. The democratic system, and the liberal institutions that once made piecemeal reform possible, is dead. It exists only in name. It is no longer a viable mechanism for change. And the longer we play our scripted and absurd role in this charade the worse it will get. Do not pity Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. They will get what they deserve. They sold the citizens out for cash and power. They lied. They manipulated and deceived the public, from the bailouts to the abandonment of universal health care, to serve corporate interests. They refused to halt the wanton corporate destruction of the ecosystem on which all life depends. They betrayed the most basic ideals of democracy. And they, as much as the Republicans, are the problem.

“It is like being in a pit,” Ralph Nader told me when we spoke on Saturday. “If you are four feet in the pit you have a chance to grab the top and hoist yourself up. If you are 30 feet in the pit you have to start on a different scale.” ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/do_not_pity_the_democrats_20100913/

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Here's a K

to go with that R.

[kentuck]

2. Reality...

what a concept!

[el_bryanto]

3. If that is what needs to happen we are going to have to wait until society collapses

And a lot of us are probably dead or dying.

Bryant

[BeFree]

5. You are dead on

What will happen on this 'stay the course' agenda is just that.

Oh, the US will outlive the rest of the world, but the cliff will come if we don't change, and change fast. There is hope. We can change. But will we?

[marmar]

7. "the US will outlive the rest of the world"

What makes you think that?

[BeFree]

9. Our military & our rich lands.

'Live' being a relative term, of course. The people who live in the woods will be the survivors.

Bonus question: Where will the survivors be buried?

[krabigirl]

135. I don't know...I see some other countries surviving it a bit better.

[Recursion]

154. Money and missiles

We have them both, and have a history of using them when other people have other stuff we want.

[SteveM]

217. I don't see this working well anymore. Sounds good, but the power structure ain't God.

[JDPriestly]

187. I'm not so sure that the US will outlive the world.

I think that our usefulness to the corporations is dwindling. The last resource that we have that they want is our military power. And through privatization, they are corporatizing that just as they have corporatized everything else. Once the military is basically independent, virtually stateless and corporate-controlled, they won't need the U.S. to be the surrogate "country." They will declare the concept of "country" to be obsolete and the one world (read one corporate world) to exist. Any "nationalist rebels" will be done away with by the very clean, very efficient corporate military machine.

Best to tend your garden and learn to live on as little as possible. Subsistence will be the name of the game in the not-so-distant future.

[SteveM]

218. Good points here...

I don't think a "very clean, very efficient corporate military machine" is a given. We already rely on what is nothing more than Johnny-come-lately, military-based imperialism, and it's not working out well. The military may recognize, if for their own sakes, what Omar Smedley saw generations ago, and act as a counter-veiling pole to corporate power -- I don't like the prospect, as it smacks of some South American politics, but there is little institutional strength elsewhere.

Your notion of country (nation-state?) obsolescence is probably coming on. Curious, isn't it, that the cornerstone of "Conservative" philosophy in this country, national sovereignty, has been given up with so little fight by conservatives. Less curious is the desire for some "progressives" for world government; we may be getting what we wish.

"Best to tend your garden and learn to live on as little as possible. Subsistence will be the name of the game in the not-so-distant future."

Yassuh, it can't hurt, and may stand us in good stead. Draw your SS now.

[pattmarty]

16. Unfortunately I think you're right.

[el_bryanto]

20. I am actually considerably more optimstic about the strength of our institutions

I don't think we are actually doomed; just that if this is the only way to save us, it's not likely to pan out.

Bryant

[RKP5637]

4. America is already too dumbed down to take appropriate action, and only a tiny

minority read something like this... We are already deep in the pit IMO.

[NJmaverick]

98. and we will end up far deeper in the pit if this author has his way

and the Dems stay home

[RKP5637]

113. Hopefully dems will not stay home. That would be far far beyond ignorant. I never

get what any dems are trying to prove by sitting at home on their ass. It's ridiculous. No politician is perfect IMO.

[kentuck]

6. There's another word for it...

fascism.

[NJmaverick]

32. I was going to go with voter suppression

[flyarm]

46. that is a result.. of the fascism, and knowing you are getting fucked from both sides! eom

[NJmaverick]

47. Fascism grows from the mistaken belief that both sides are the same

[Name removed]

49. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NJmaverick]

50. I see you are proving Godwin's law

good for you:hi:

[Enthusiast]

181. Not the same.

Serve the same master.

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[NJmaverick]

52. Did you sleep through the 2008 ELECTIONS????

[Raoul]

212. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yeah, who won? I know we didn't so who won?

[fascisthunter]

70. indeed

[NJmaverick]

53. Who's the dictator in your "fascism" claim???

[Name removed]

86. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Raoul]

213. Let's see..hmm

How about GE or Walmart or Halliburton or BankofAmerica or,,or..??

Get it?

[femrap]

67. We're in the pit

of Corporate Fascism. I'm doing my best to not get thrown into the pit. I really, really hate Corporations. I worked for them for a long time and they just suck your soul right out of you and then spit it out on the floor.

They're evil. Maybe we could start one like they have in Sweden...a non-evil Corporation. That would be cool. The evil Corporations would send their lobbyists to eat us up. However, our Corporation will manufacture pitchforks and the evil lobbyists will be skewered!

Hey, I can dream.

[indepat]

8. It's enough to make one wonder if our corporatist government (they've sold out the people) will

slither into pure de fascism. ;)

[kentuck]

10. The only weapon we have is our tax system...

but we must have a Congress that understands the reality of what is happening.

And for that, we need enlightened voters to make demands on these Congress persons.

And for that to happen, we probably will have to experience some deep economic calamity.

[TBF]

92. Deep economic calamity -

I thought it was pretty bad already, but I know that you are right.

[sendero]

121. I've been saying this for months..

.... nothing is going to change until we hit ROCK BOTTOM. People are not going to wake up and smell the coffee until they have NO CHOICE.

That is why I no longer give two shits about whether we have Dems running things or Reps. The only difference is timing, with Reps the ROCK BOTTOM will come a bit sooner.

But either way it is coming and then and only then will we see if Americans have the sense to fix this mess.

And frankly, I'm not all that optimistic about that.

[another saigon]

198. so true

excellent analogy.

[bvar22]

206. There will be no real change until...

...The Working Class & The Poor realize we have more in common with each other than we have in common with the Ruling Class Elite Leadership of BOTH Political Parties.
WE outnumber THEM.

As long as TPTB can keep the national dialog framed as a contest between The Democrats vs The Republicans, and keep the focus on Wedge Issues...there will be NO Real "CHANGE".

[defendandprotect]

130. That's not true . . . we have individual and collective power ....

however, I wouldn't look to Congress which has been bought out by corporations

to "understand" the reality of what is happening! They very well understand.

Rather, as Nader is pointing out, it is the public which has to "understand"

what is going on and take appropriate action.

WE are experienceing deep economic calamity -- we have 25 million unemployed or

underemployed -- we have millions losing homes -- we have huge numbers of impoverished

children -- we have Obama/Arne knocking out our public education as fast as they can --

we still have the Reagan homeless and the Bush homeless and poverty is increasing under

Obama. We have trade agreements sucking out hundreds of thousands of jobs every month!

And we have elites/corporate criminals being rewarded for their corruption and crimes by

being bailed out by Obama and granted new subsidies at every turn. Is any of that what

you voted for? Did you vote for a Democrat so he could put Republicans in charge of our

government?

Further, we have no idea how or how quickly Global Warming will compound and the planet

will become unlivable. Nature is ALL. And capitalism's exploitation of nature is suicidal.

[NNN0LHI]

11. These fools who believe that the Dem politicians lives will change one IOTA if they lose kill me

Their lives won't change at all. But ours sure will.

Just goes to show you what people who do their critical thinking from below the waist gets them.

Never fails. Seen it happen over and over again.

Don

[Vincevega]

12. I hate it

When people like Chris hedges try to convince me that theres no hope of enacting change via the democratic process, the feeling of hopelessness is what causes people to commit terrorist acts. We cannot give up all hope now, if by 2011 Obama continues down the road of corporate servitude, then we still have the option of primary-ing him in place of someone so anti corporatist that it will bring about the breakdown of our system say Nader, Kucinich, Grayson or even Ron (not Rand the wing nut) Paul or Sanders.

Obama has no time, he needs to start listening to the people that elected him, fire all the insiders in his administration now he gotten some experience working in Washington. Time has come to abandon the centrist and embrace the far left(yes i said it). You can only talk a good game and split that baby so many times before the 2 moms start thinking u are crazy.

God help us

[Dappleganger]

13. "fire all the insiders in his administration"

Don't hold your breath.

[pattmarty]

17. Yep, and the same with "primary-ing" him too.

[Dr.Phool]

23. You don't have much experience in the real electoral system, do you?

Been there, done that, several times.

Kucinich would get as much media attention as he got last time, along with a little more derision. They've already written Nader's story line. He's just in it for his ego, he's a spoiler, a vote for him...blah, blah, blah.... Grayson would be caricatured as a freak show. The corporate media could tolerate him in Congress, but not the executive.

I've been through several campaigns where good, honest, thinking candidates are slandered by supposed "left-leaning" news media. Even when they're running against flat-out crooks.

[flyarm]

51. ++ OR.. the national dem party gives money to repukes to run as dems! eom

[Hekate]

215. The faux Nigerian is no longer with us, perhaps freeing him to learn more about reality. nt

[SemiCharmedQuark]

40. ROFL. Fantastic. You come to DU to suggest primary-ing Obama for Ron Paul.

Good lord.

:rofl:

[Vincevega]

79. weird

How is it that the only thing u took out from my post was the name Ron Paul? Yes adding Paul's name to the list of potential primaries was a slip. I am essentially what politicos call a 1 issue voter and that 1 issue is ending the american empre and having a humble foreign policy. I am a 1st generation American(by way of Nigeria) who is worried sick that the Americans will someday bring their war machines to my homeland (all it takes is for the govt to nationalize the oil fields something most Nigerians support) if things stay the same so sue me for trying to hedge by bets for a sensible republican opponent for Obama, this unlike the many democrats you see here who would wish nothing more that a Palin/Romney/insert neocon republican to win the nomination of the republican party, as a way of spiting the country to rejecting a democratic administration. Not everyone here would want to see the country destroyed if Obama loses in 2012.

But then again, maybe you are just trying to use the troll witch hunt to get me banned because I dont have 1000+ posts, cos u know, any new member could be a republican troll.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

84. Ron Paul is a racist troll. We don't support him here and I'm sure Grayson would be horrified to

hear his name mentioned in the same sentence as "Ron Paul". Ron Paul is not "reasonable". The fact that you suggest he is tells me you either aren't familiar with his platform or you are such a single issue voter that you don't care what happens to this country as long as we have an isolationist foreign policy.

100 posts, 1000 posts or 10,000 posts, anyone declaring their support for Ron Paul brings derision on themselves and if you doubt that, get some sucker with over 1000 posts to post "Go Ron Paul!!" and see what happens. If I wanted to declare you a troll, I would have alerted your post-which I didn't.

[Vincevega]

106. thanks for the response

Btw i do care for other issues that would benefit all Americans, like healthcare, financial reform, civil rights, women's rights etc. Theres a reason why am still supporting the democratic party and the ones that still adhere to party principles. Grayson is my favorite politician and it was through their partnership on the audit the fed bill that i got to know him. So not only is Grayson not be horrified by mentioning the 2 in the same sentence but the 2 probably go very close to each other during the whole debate, what again did they say about politics and bedfellows?.

Anyway, let me stop here before I tick more people off :)

[Hekate]

122. So you're an African immigrant to the US? How fascinating. I just love hearing people's stories

As you know, we do call ourselves a "nation of immigrants" and many DUers themselves have parents who immigrated to this country and started over, often with nothing. My husband and his late parents are immigrants, so we always like to hear how others got here.

Where in Nigeria do you hail from, if you don't mind my asking? A cousin of mine was posted to Abuja for several years, and he sent many long and detailed emails back to the extended family.

What do you want to do with your life, now that you are here? Did you come here to attend university? Your command of exceedingly colloquial American English is impressive, and I just wondered how you came by it. Also, your impressions of our political system are ... undeveloped. Usually immigrants come with more idealism, and don't call the USA an "empire" on such short acquaintance. So I just wondered if you come by all of this in a college dorm. (Just curious, not a criticism.)

Well, that's all for now. I do hope you will take this opportunity to expand on what you have already told us about yourself.

Welcome to DU! :hi:

Hekate

[Dappleganger]

201. "a sensible republican opponent for Obama"

Look at the title at the top of your browser.
Look at what you just wrote.
Look at the top of your browser again.
Look at me.

You're on DEMOCRATIC Underground!

[SoxFan]

64. Ron Paul?

The guy who wants to eliminate every fiber of the safety net?

Who wants to abolish the Peace Corps?

Who wants to get rid of Social Security?

Who has a documented history of hiring racist loons?

That Ron Paul?

[femrap]

71. I don't think he's saying there is NO

hope...he is simply stating that the Corporations are the root of the problem, not the Republicans or DLC.

We must focus our energy on the TRUE enemy....the Corporation. And that Citizens United Supreme Court Judgment.

I always read Chris Hedges. He's been a long-time journalist who has been all over the world and seen many, many wars. He is one of the few true journalists out there today.

ETA: Welcome to DU

[CLANG]

114. I'm afraid that any individual that seriously threatens the

corporate stranglehold on the people would likely be assassinated.

[Enthusiast]

183. It's pretty clear

from the words of Robert Gibbs that the Administration isn't going to start listening to us anytime soon. I've complained to the Administration about their "insiders" - thousands of us have. They don't hear me. Rahm is still in charge.

[Bullet1987]

14. "Investing emotional and intellectual energy in electoral politics is a waste of time."

Truer words have never been spoken. Elections have become nothing more than a game played for the cameras. Arguably they always have been like that.

[NJmaverick]

33. More like deceptive words

designed to help the GOP by suppressing Democratic voter turnout

[femrap]

73. And for MSM to make

a shitload of $$$$$. It's just part of the Circus....but the bread certainly is dwindling.

[SteveM]

219. In all honesty, MSM is going down faster than the Lusitania. nt

[SemiCharmedQuark]

89. You continue to believe we'd be here with a President Gore.

I'll have to disagree.

[defendandprotect]

134. Please ... Gore was sponsored his lifetime career by an oil company .....

Gore selected Lieberman -- do we want to suggestion that after years in Congress

with Lieberman that he didn't know what he was all about?

Gore also gave the nod to Clinton to overturn 60 years of Welfare guarantees --

Gore and Clinton were co-founding members of the DLC -- the corporate wing of the

Democratic Party!

Hillary Clinton is part of DLC leadership!

[yella_dawg]

15. Kick.

About time somebody laid the truth out in the open.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

18. It took me a long time to get --

here but I think Hedges is 100% right, and that the only real change is going to come from working outside the current two Party political system. Both parties have become assimilated by the Corporate Borg and are all but useless to help us and the planet.

I think it is time for the People to make them both irrelevant.

[NJmaverick]

34. The GOP hopes you think that way and stay home in Nov

they will sure appreciate your misperception

[bvar22]

19. My wife and I came to this conclusion in 2004.

"Investing emotional and intellectual energy in electoral politics is a waste of time. Resistance means a radical break with the formal structures of American society. We must cut as many ties with consumer society and corporations as possible. We must build a new political and economic consciousness centered on the tangible issues of sustainable agriculture, self-sufficiency and radical environmental reform."

In 2006, we sold everything, moved to The Woods, and as much as possible, stopped "CONSUMING".
Wall Street can live or die without our money or concern.

Next year, we will CONSUME even less.
Its a process.

One of our pledges in 2006 was to break the addiction to Political Websites dedicated to National Party Politics.
But, as you can see, we're still here.
The addiction was harder to break than we thought.
However, we have directed our funds & focus to local Humanitarian and Community Issues.

[bertman]

25. bvar 22, please don't stop informing the rest of us on political websites

that what you are doing is possible. We need that example, and leadership, and guidance.

Your pledges and successes are an inspiration.

[bvar22]

63. Thanks for your kind words.

We were incredibly lucky in our timing, and all the stuff that could have gone wrong, and didn't.
Going in, we thought we were doing due diligence and research, but in hindsight I realize how lucky we really were.

This is not for everybody.
We are both healthy, strong, and have no dependents.
We have a compatible set of skills to make this fun (most of the time), and love a good challenge.
We are both introverts and enjoy isolation.

The one thing currently beyond our control is access to Health Care.
At the time we committed to this, we were certain that the Democrats were going to help us.
We had no idea that they would force us into the arms of the Health Insurance Industry without so much as a Public Option.
Had we known they would do this, we would have left the country.

For anyone considering taking this route:
It will cost twice as much,
take 3X as long,
and require 5X as much labor....
but for us it was worth it.

LESS is MORE.

:hi:

[truth2power]

72. bvar22...I'll second what Bertman said. I read your posts and always

appreciate your ideas.

[Enthusiast]

184. Me too............nt

[KoKo]

204. another + Great Photo of garden..too!

[femrap]

74. I am in such awe of you....

and envious. My back isn't as strong as it once was. The years are adding up. But I still believe I can find others interested in communal farming. I don't think I could kill any animals to eat though. Do you have animals? Chickens?

I've been on a Consumer Strike forever it seems. Haven't bought anything Made in China since 1989 unless I absolutely had to....like fans! But I clean them after every summer and take very good care of them so I don't have to buy anymore of them. I tear them apart and put them back together. Good as new.

My garden was awful this year...couldn't even get zucchini to grow. Got a few yellow squashes and maybe a few butternuts. So hot this year...for Ohio.

I know how you feel about leaving the country. I'm too old to get accepted anywhere, I think. Austria allows you to buy your way in....$400,000 last I heard.

Anyway, please keep inspiring us.

[bvar22]

205. Bad Garden Year here too.

Way too hot, way too dry.
Tomatoes/Squash were a wash, but some things(Berries, Melons, Cukes, Beans, Okra, Field Peas, Peppers, Asparagus) did well. Berries were a bumper crop in the Spring, but so were destructive insects later this Summer.
We were sorely tempted to use pesticides as the Squash Bugs destroyed our Zucchini, and beetles wiped out the Potatoes and Eggplant. They simply overwhelmed all the Organic methods we used.

Yes.
We have chickens.
They have proved to be the most economical source of year round healthy food (Free Range Eggs).

If we did this again, Chickens would be the very first thing we would get Up & Running.

Funny you should mention the harvesting of chickens.
For the first time, we will be thinning young roosters tomorrow.
They are absolutely beautiful (Blue Copper Marans). We will not enjoy this, but there is no way we can keep that many roosters. It is part of our commitment to sustainability.
We will also harvest two young Wellsummer roos in about a month.

We aren't looking forward to it, and have procrastinated too long already.

There is a good thread in Rural/Farms posted by hippywife that we are using for support:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=268x2949

Again,
Thanks for the kind words.

[DemReadingDU]

110. You are an inspiration to us in consuming less

I could do this, but not my spouse. He truly believes that Obama and the Democrats are going to save us when TSHTF. He is totally clueless what is going on around him, as is everyone else in my circle of family and friends. They think I'm absolutely crazy warning them that we're living in Ponzi world, and it's going to implode (as all Ponzis do). All I can try to do is prepare as best as I can physically and mentally, and have enough stamina to help them.

Thanks for continuing to post.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

128. You've got the right idea --

Now that is what I call bypassing the System - bravo! My biggest dream is to free myself from the various tenticles that keep me beholden to and complicit with the Corporate Problem, including that of politics. What I need to buy I try to get second hand, I am looking to bartering directly with others for service, and take advantage of freecyling when I can. I am working towards the goal of energy independence. I do financial services with credit unions and local banks. And starting a neighborhood organic food coop is on my plate.

Hedges is 100% correct -- it is the only way to bring genuine change to our lives and, eventually, politics.

[BeFree]

21. Sorry, but:

This quote is BS.
"Investing emotional and intellectual energy in electoral politics is a waste of time."

It is like saying there is no difference between bush and Gore.

*************************

Our electoral votes have been stolen. We got them back in 2008. They could be stolen again, and if they are then we will have another bushco style government. Otherwise we will make progress.

Then there is the vote with our dollars. Vote wisely, is good advice.

[femrap]

75. The Corporate Machines

count the votes.

[tblue37]

91. Oh, I am quite sure votes were stolen in 2006 and 2008, as well, but

the landslide was so great that the best they could do was to shave Obama's mandate and steal a few close seats in Congress. I belieeive they are working even harder to make sure they steal seats in this election.

[NJmaverick]

96. You nailed, unfortunately there are many that fail to learn from theirs and other's mistakes

like listening to Nader in 2000

[defendandprotect]

137. Here's the problem . . . we "won" in 2006 and 2008 . . . what happened?

Has justice been served in any way?
Did we get MEDICARE FOR ALL?
Do we have Obama/Arne attacking public education relentlessly?
And, setting up to attack Social Security and Medicare?
Did the wars end in '06 -- Pelosi: "Dems were elected to end the war!"
Did Obama appoint an all corporate team ?

I'll grant you that our elections have probably been stolen by computers -- both

large used by MSM and the voting computers -- back to the Nixon/Humphrey election!

The computers began coming in just as America was passing the Voting Rights Act!

Was there ever a "Southern Strategy" or was there only ever computer steals?

Problem is -- who has questioned all of this -- and who believes all of it?

Remember Cheney's brag: "Right wing creates the reality and the rest of us live it!"


Most people who have been involved in election campaigns will tell you what Nader is

saying is true. We had a landslide vote for Obama -- some say we actually should have

had something like 24 more Dem Reps in Congress!

What have you gotten for it other than more pro-corporate decision making by Democrats?

[Enthusiast]

185. Did we investigate Bush malfeasance?

This tell us all we need to know.

[KoKo]

203. Remember when the Netroots first started? Remember the energy of we Dems who thought

the power of the Neroots would change the Media or at least provide an alternative Media to the one that we had to deal with during the Clinton Years?

There was such energy and activism on this site and others. Activists reporting on the stolen election, the Scaife money behind the Clinton Impeachment, the activism on trying to Stop the Iraq Invasion and the Marches and Demostrations, local vigils that went on for years after the Invasion. The investigations into what was going on in Iraq with Blackwater and Private Contractors replacing what our Military used to be responsible for. The Corruption of our Judicial System, Military, Wall Street, Corporations, Pharma and the degradation of our infrastructure and environment.

I have file drawers filled with investigations and reports from NYT's even and all the other thriving new outlets like Raw Story, Daily Kos, Firedoglake, Talking Points Memo, Buzzflash, Media Whores Online,and the many other Netroots sites that were reporting and exposing the atrocities of the late Clinton and Bush/Cheny Rumsfeld years.

When Obama was Inaugurated...most of this stopped dead. I thought it was because we thought "Help is on the Way" and that most of the Bloggers and Investigative Action was waiting for the actions of his new administration to clean up the cess pool our country had become. I thought this Administration surely knew what the Netroots had done to invigorate the Democratic Party for Change. I thought it would take a bit for them to get up and running, but was assured by the "Center for American Progress" that they would make sure his transition would be the smoothist in history and that he would be up and running with his cabinet in place and positions filled that normally take months for a new administration.

It's been downhill for the Netroots Activists since then. I turn on the TV and all I see are Right Wing slanted News on all channels. C-Span and their Booknotes show has become all consevative Think Tanks hawking books, having forums and sending their Reps onto the Morning Journal. Even during Bush there was Dem and Liberal coverage there....but not now.

The energy is gone. This Administration doesn't seem to send any Reps out there to counter the hate of Beck/Palin and the other loonies. They hold the keys to power....yet they can't get their views out on the Media?

They attacked the Left Activist Netroots and the Party isn't supporting giving money anymore to help the Netroots or Activists expand. Someone was supporting us in the late 90's through 2008. WHO WAS IT? Why did they stop once Obama was Inaugurated.

I think Chris Hedges makes points that are worth discussing. I would disagree with him that no politician is worth investing time or intellectual capital on. I think we have to be local with our support and keep trying to get some decent people into Congress and Senate. Also focus on our State Legislative races like a laser beam. But, I no longer believe that even the decent people can change anything. Mainly they will be a small finger in the Dike to hold back the flood waters of Corporate Greed and Military Power that is in control, now.

And, we really aren't going to get any President who can change this. It has to come from the Bottom Up and not the Top Down.

[raccoon]

22. This is a must-read!

"Investing emotional and intellectual energy in electoral politics is a waste of time. "

ITA!

[NJmaverick]

35. NOT- more like a good way to suppress Democratic voter turn out

and help the GOP win in November

[flyarm]

54. you are doing an excellent job of that all by yourself! eom

[NJmaverick]

58. So black is white and up is down

how utterly odd.

[krabigirl]

136. Why would these people vote GOP?

[defendandprotect]

138. If Democratic vote is suppressed it will be because of pro-corporate decisions of Obama/Dems ....

that's what we are all reacting to-!

Had Dems/Obama done what 76%+ of the nation wanted -- single payer --

MEDICARE FOR ALL -- everyone would be joyously looking forward to voting for Dems.

Obama and his Wall Street/pro-corporate team are suppressing the Democratic vote.

[RKP5637]

24. EXCELLENT!!! n/t

[NJmaverick]

31. only if you want to help the GOP and suppress Democratic voter turn out

[flyarm]

55. you are doing an excellent job of that all by yourself..feel good about it yet? eom

[NJmaverick]

62. So your claims that the Dems are fascists were intended to help the Democrats?

:crazy:

[Dr.Phool]

78. Who made that claim?

That's a flat out false accusation.

[NJmaverick]

Just look up thread

then issue me an apology

[defendandprotect]

142. "Corporate state is ...American-type fascism" --

The system of control is staggeringly dictatorial. It breaks new ground and innovates in ways no one in human history has ever innovated. You start in American history where these corporations have influence. Then they have lobbyists. Then they run candidates. Then they put their appointments in top government positions. Now, they are actually operating the government. Look at Halliburton and Blackwater. Yesterday someone in our office called the Office of Pipeline Safety apropos the San Bruno explosion in California. The press woman answered. The guy in our office saw on the screen that she had CTR next to her name. He said, ‘What is CTR?’ She said, ‘I am a contractor.’ He said, ‘This is the press office at the Department of Transportation. They contracted out the press office?’ ‘Yes,’ she said, ‘but that’s OK, I come to work here every day.’ ”

“The corporate state is the ultimate maturation of American-type fascism,” Nader said.

Corporatism is fascism --

[bertman]

26. Amen, Brother Chris!! Thanks for posting this, marmar. Rec. nt

[NJmaverick]

36. Yeah! Let's all work to suppress Democratic voter turn out!

[bertman]

56. I'll be turning out to vote for PROGRESSIVE/LIBERAL Democrats.

[NJmaverick]

60. No, it made no such distinction. The article ONLY discouraged Dems from voting

[defendandprotect]

144. The author and Nader are having an adult conversation ...

most of us understand the full value of what is being said --

and can also make up our own minds about all of this -- if we already haven't!

You're deep in fear based thinking -- take a break!

[flyarm]

57. three cheers for your bullying..you are suppressing with each post! eom

[NJmaverick]

61. Trying to help the Dems win in November is not "bullying"

rather it's what we ALL SHOULD BE WORKING TOWARD

[flyarm]

81. harrassing is bullying..I only followed your posts to point out how you were bullying and harrassing

if you can go through a thread and post the same thing over and over..so can I. What's fair is fair.

and I meant what I said.

[NJmaverick]

93. Guessing your GUILTY of bullying then

since you are guilty of harassing me.

[Warren Stupidity]

190. "ALL SHOULD BE WORKING TOWARD"

Really? That is it? There is nothing except 'our team wins, theirs loses'? That is all that this is about? Seriously?

[Jax]

214. You don't help dems nomad1776

You don't help Dems or Obama at all.

But isn't that your real point?

flyarm nailed you.

[RKP5637]

27. Thanks for posting this... I've passed it on to a number of people that

have wondered WTF. I think this article does the best job of describing what is going on of anything I've seen to date.

[NJmaverick]

37. How many people have you tried to discourage from voting?

[RKP5637]

39. They are voting and they are voting democratic, same as me. n/t

[NJmaverick]

42. If they are voting for the Dems why send an article that is trying to get Dems not to vote?

[RKP5637]

43. Awareness as to the various types of democrats under one large tent. I know

some democrats that were going to vote republican until I told them about various types of democrats. Now they know, they realize it is not the entire party and will vote democratic while also paying better attention in future primaries. Voters are confused. Some thought they were voting for FDR.

[NJmaverick]

44. This article only attempts to suppress the Democratic vote

it does nothing but discourage Democratic voters and tell them that it's not worth voting. I don't see how this article would educate them in any way, unless you want them to see what sort of tricks are being used against the Dems.

[RKP5637]

48. Thanks for your perspective on this, it's appreciated! n/t

[flyarm]

59. and you do it with nothing but bullying words..eom

[SteveM]

221. I don't see the "bullying." Progs are obsessed by bullies...

because the right knows how to do it. I don't agree with all of Maverick's assessments; in fact, I don't think voter suppression is the aim of the article. Some other posters have essentially said, go ahead and stay engaged, but cover your ass. I think this is a wise course of action. I have unplugged most of my life from the "grid" (not a youthful wide-eyed thing, being 62), consume less, gone cash, re-use, and holding land. I'll vote in the next elections, and won't vote GOP (never have), but increasingly, I am turning to other alternatives --some of which I am unaware.

[kentuck]

66. Why does it suppress the Democratic vote?

Is it that convincing of an article? Is it true or not true. People have a right to know. By saying it "suppresses" the vote and should be written or posted is the worst kind of suppression, in my opinion.

[NJmaverick]

104. As we learned with the GOP if you repeat a lie (in this case Dems=GOP) enough times

some people start to believe it.

[defendandprotect]

145. Think we're all aware that corporations aren't only buying GOP ...they're buying Dems ....

and that's nothing new --

Now if you can deny that -- welcome to it!

Corporate campaign finance $$ = bribery + pre-ownership

[Dr.Phool]

80. How many have you succeeded in discouraging?

If I ran a campaign, I wouldn't let you near a voter. They'd think we're crazy.

[flyarm]

82. + 10,000!! I wouldn't let this person near the campaigns I have worked hard on!

no way , no how!

Harrassment is not encouragement!

Bullying is not encouragement!

People will vote in spite of this kind of behavior...but it is pushing buttons others will have to work hard to undo!

[nashville_brook]

109. zing! so true.

[bvar22]

207. Agree!

Flailing around the Internet, Spamming threads with numerous insulting & demanding one liners,
INSISTING that EVERYBODY sees things MY way or they're stupid doesn't do a damn bit of good.
That methodology does NOT attract.
It offends, and pushes people away.
If someone behaved that way in my home, they would be asked to leave.

[Ignis]

220. Yeah, but there's NO point in speaking the truth.

Some posters have been granted carte blanche to harrass and bully other DUers.

Nothing we say or do is going to change that fact.

Nothing. :shrug:

[L0oniX]

28. The game is rigged and ignorance is bliss.

Gore Vidal: "Obama would have been better off focusing on educating the American people. His problem is being over-educated. He doesn’t realize how dim-witted and ignorant his audience is."

[raouldukelives]

29. K&R nt

[NJmaverick]

30. 41 recs for an ant-Dem voter suppression article

has this place been infiltrated by freepers?

[flyarm]

83. again, the only one I see suppressing is ..YOU! Please go read the constitution!

and know whatt our rights and obligations and responsibilites to our Nation and constitution are!

PSSSSS..we the people ..are the government!! Any politicians work for us! It is our obligation to know what is going on at all times...the good the bad and the ugly.

[NJmaverick]

97. Your comments don't make any sense

[marmar]

85. What a load of bollocks.

Not everyone loves corporatist DLC bullshit. Feast on it if you choose....

[NJmaverick]

101. More like not everyone likes helping the GOP win by suppressing the Dem vote

:eyes:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

38. Yeah! All those people who didn't bother voting in 2000 sure showed us!

We stopped being a capitalist/corporatist society and all was right with the world when GWB took the helm!

[defendandprotect]

147. Huge turn out in 2000 -- in fact, because Nader and Greens brought out voters ...

who would not have come out to vote --

they voted for Nader -- but then they voted for Democrats, as well --

something that wouldn't have happened without Nader's campaign.

Plus, 300,000 "Democrats" in Florida voted for Bush!

Gore won 2000 no matter how you count the votes -- that's the concensus of journalists

who did the recount.

3,000 plus votes were stolen by "butterfly ballot" for Buchanan --

Tens of thousands of other votes went to third parties other than Nader --

Socialists, Liberatarians, etal --


You may not also remember the GOP-sponsored fascist rally to stop the vote counting

in Miami-Dade County mandated by the Florida State Supreme Court -- it turned violent

and there was no police interference with it -- but it did STOP the vote counting!!


After that you might recall the right wing Gang of 5 on the Supreme Court who actually

put W in the White House?

[UrbScotty]

41. Nader? Really? (nt)

[NJmaverick]

102. Hey Nader screwed up the nation by giving us Bush in 2000 and now others

are trying to repeat that act

[lob1]

129. The Supreme Court gave us Bush.

[Raster]

133. Hear! Hear! Al Gore was NEVER going to be inagurated, even though he won.

I hate that patently false Amerimeme that Nader let bush* win. Poppycock! According to the Independent News Consortium: Gore won! Period.

And of course the "Nader made it close enough to steal" peeps are just waiting in the wings. No he didn't. Jeb Bush and Cruela de Harris made it close enough to steal.

And when all else failed or did not quite deliver, a brutally partisan, republican-controlled SCOTUS halted a lawful vote recount by the State of Florida.

It's called a "coup" people. Wake up and quite blaming Nader. Self-serving? Yes. Responsible for cheney*/bush*? No!

[defendandprotect]

148. Only a stolen election gave us W in 2000 . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9124943&mesg_id=9129739

[davidthegnome]

65. Unfortunately, I agree with this article

I don't believe this is meant to discourage voting - rather it is intended to nudge people to think outside the box. Most of our so called democrats in office are so right of center it's ridiculous. Those few who do speak up for the sake of things such as honesty and justice are laughed at and largely ignored by the media. (I.E. The Patriot Act, Illegal Wire Tapping, the torture of prisoners, etc.)

As far as health insurance (not treatment, or actual health care) is concerned, I believe the President delivered a hard earned gift to the insurance companies. It is a proposal very similar to what was accomplished by Romney in MA - ask the citizens there how well it worked out. Frankly I believe we had an opportunity for real reform that was squandered - and I do not believe that opportunity will come again any time in the near future.

I will be voting - I will almost definitely not be voting for any of the more popular names or faces on the left or right. Over the next few elections, it may very well prove futile to vote for those who have the best proposals and genuinely good ideas - considering that they usually come from third party candidates or democrats or republicans so obscure as to be invisible. But I will be voting for those I feel are the most capable and the most honest, I can no longer in good conscience bring myself to vote for what is simply the lesser of two evils.

In time, as the younger generations grow and see the mistakes of the past (and the present) I believe that third parties will gain a foothold and that democrats will be forced to move to the left or lose their position.

[ClarkJonathanKent]

68. Great read.

Highly recommended.

[fascisthunter]

69. Thank You for Stating What We Have Known for So Long

[NJmaverick]

99. Stating Dems should stay home so the GOP wins is not what needed to be said

nor is it what we have "known for so long"

[defendandprotect]

150. Agree --

and Nader has only been talking about corporations buying government for 40 years!!

The "Hamlet" complex works like gum on the shoe as far as doing anything different!

Fear does work!!

[laughingliberal]

76. K & R nt

[femrap]

77. marmar....

you always post the best stuff! Thanks. K and R.

[CrawlingChaos]

87. K&R - a MUST READ (nt)

[NJmaverick]

100. discouraging Dems to vote is "must read"?!?!

[Panaconda]

88. The main point of the article

has relatively little to do with "not voting for Dems" as some who wish to herd thoughts would suggest. What Hedges is really getting at, and frankly he's a little late to the game, is that the entire political process is owned lock, stock and barrel by the capitalist class. What Hedges is getting at is simply a description of who runs things in the real world not the caricature as presented by election spectacles and mass media.

As I wrote in an earlier post:

Once you understand the difference between the state and government you can understand how it is that policies carry forth for years and years. The state is the permanent collection of institutions that have entrenched power structures and interests. The government is made up of various politicians, politicians who in most cases have proven their allegiance to these vested interests.

It is the institutions of the state that hold the real power due to their permanence, not the representatives who come and go.

[CrawlingChaos]

90. Both Hedges & Nader have been saying this for a long time (nt)

[maryf]

111. I agree with you that Hedges

main point is the ownership of the political process by the capitalist class. I just wish he would have used the terms capitalists or capitalism in his article; using corporate power instead somehow veils it or disguises it, it seems to me? Maybe he feels people aren't ready to confront capitalism on its own terms?

[defendandprotect]

151. Exactly --

[tomp]

94. I hate it when people assert that the political parties are separate from....

....the corporate structure. they are not. they are part of the corporate structure, as are the media. all just business expenses.

[defendandprotect]

152. More true than ever . . . and more and more of Congress business is

being moved out of Congress and into back rooms where corporations are in charge!!

[tomp]

188. it has never been otherwise. nt

[TBF]

95. K&R nt

[kentuck]

103. The truth might set you free but....

..it will depress the hell out of you. Ignorance is bliss. Watch FOX!~

[NJmaverick]

120. The only truth is that this sort of false talking point anti-Dem article

hurts the Dem's chances and helps the GOP

[spanone]

105. 'the Republican Party, which may make huge inroads in the coming elections'

just keep repeating that shit chris

[NJmaverick]

117. OPs like this one will make just such a thing happen

[EFerrari]

143. Right. Because if Chris Hedges doesn't get posted here

no one will read him.

LOL

[DemReadingDU]

107. evening kick

[Kermitt Gribble]

108. Truth everyone needs to accept

before we'll get any real change in this country.

K&R

[NJmaverick]

119. Keep pushing the GOP=Dem meme and you will get plenty of change

just not the type I or many other DUers will like

[defendandprotect]

155. Are you at all aware of the corporate-wing of the Democratic Party... DLC???

Or that DLC-Rahm -- one of Obama's first pics -- is in the White House --

Or maybe you want to explain this "crowing" --- ???

Here is the quote: ”In a Thursday interview, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel argued that rather than recoiling against Obama, business leaders should be grateful for his support on at least a half-dozen counts: his advocacy of greater international trade and education reform open markets despite union skepticism; his rejection of calls from some quarters to nationalize banks during the financial meltdown; the rescue of the automobile industry; the fact that the overhaul of health care preserved the private delivery system; the fact that billions in the stimulus package benefited business with lucrative new contracts, and that financial regulation reform will take away the uncertainty that existed with a broken, pre-crash regulatory apparatus.

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=B2F85DDF-18...

Posted by another poster here at DU on 8/12/10

[bvar22]

200. !...Chamber of Commerce APPROVED!

The DLC New Team

(Screen Capped from the DLC Website)

http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?contentid=254886&kaid=86&subid=85

"By their works you will know them."

[defendandprotect]

211. Disgusting ....

and still so many who are depressed they didn't get to vote for Hillary!

Of course, Obama is a "New Dem" -- had I known even that I would not have

voted for him --

We need to recreate the Democratic Party OUTSIDE of the Democratic Party.

What do you think of what Howard Dean is doing with Democracy for America?

I'm also amused that those supporting Democrats here are so anxious to shut

up any criticism -- right wing thrives on criticism of left wing policy.

They love it when their "pro-life" activists and "pro-activists" are speaking out!

They love it when their "t-baggers" are active and critical of left wing politics.

And they should be because it helps move everything to the right!

We need to be making much more noise on the LEFT!!

And understand the value of it!!

[maryf]

112. K&R yet

When Hedges says "If we express the legitimate rage of the dispossessed working class as our own" I want to say to him, "We are all the working class, even you Chris Hedges!!" all of us but the biggest capitalist corporatist owners. I really like Hedges, but he has to get over his tiny elitist self that keeps peeking through at times. Just saying, and picking nits.

[leeroysphitz]

115. Please quit posting this negative information until after the election.

Is that too much to ask?

[NJmaverick]

118. Apparently it is, I guess we are not united in our desire to stop the GOP

[defendandprotect]

156. We are united in our desire to STOP corporatism/fascism ....wherever it rises ....

DLC-corporate wing of the Democratic Party

[bvar22]

225. There is no such thing as "negative information".

There is only information.
Restricting access to "information" in NOT the World I want to live in.
If the information has a BAD or Negative impact, we need to DEAL with it... not ignore it.

[leeroysphitz]

228. but we have a big election coming up and turn out will be a factor.

All I'm saying is that we should worry about winning before we spend all this effort giving

our party leadership such a hard time.

[girl gone mad]

116. What does he mean "we will descend into a technologically enhanced age of barbarism"?

We're halfway there already.

[defendandprotect]

157. Yep, but they're still working on new weapons . . .

and isn't Iran in the line up still of nations to attack?

Allegedly, there will be a pill you can give someone to torture them and the

torturers can just sit back and feel . . . innocent?

They also always use war to test new weapons -- Panama was horrific --

and evidently many of the woundings in Iraq aren't being discussed -- leave alone shown!

Think also our toll is 5,500 dead and 30,000 wounded?

30,000 wounded !!

As Sy Hersh has said, this is the most brutal and cruel military we've ever raised --

And, one day they'll come home .... !!!

[colsohlibgal]

123. Hedges Is Dead On

Obama talked much more progressively while he was running for president, they turned sharply right once in office. Now that democrats are up against it in the midterms he's talking a good game again. Why should we buy it again? The first time he hired foxes to guard the financial henhouse, he hired a chief of staff who has no use for the progressive base and made that clear by using a horrible slur.

Obama has been the last straw for me. The two party system is broken, at least as is. About all the democratic party is now is a party just a bit better than the republicans, who are right wing fanatics at this juncture. The baseline is so far right now that in many ways Eisenhower would be seen as a pinko.

A huge day of reckoning is coming, it's only a question of how far out it is. Our defense spending/empire building has bankrupted this country in more ways than one.

[begin_within]

124. It's a good article and I hope people all along the political spectrum read it.

[Cha]

125. I don't pity the Democrats..I pity attentionwhores like ralph nader.

[quiet.american]

132. + Infinity. nt

[Karmadillo]

126. But, but, but it's not the right time to speak the truth.

nt

[stopbush]

127. Sad to see how Hedges has fallen for Nader's BS.

Right on schedule - ie: two months before an election - Ralph Nader (net worth somewhere north of $5-million) comes out of his hide-y hole to see if he can siphon off a few votes from progressive/liberal/Dem candidates in November. While the Rs are busy using the energized crazy wing of their party (the tea baggers) to nominate ultra-conservatives as R candidates, Ralph's suggestion to progressives is that they drop out of the system NOW, forgo voting and let the RW crazies take over.

Ralph (again, net worth of over $5MM) decries the elitists who have taken over politics on both sides, and sez the solution is for progressives to remove themselves from the system and start from Square One. Well, golly geez, Ralph, is that the way that the elitists took over the system? By dropping out and attacking the system from the outside? Seems to me that they worked the system and gamed the system from the inside by engaging the system, not by mounting an attack from outside of the system.

Sadly, Ralph is joined in his delusion by the once-interesting Chris Hedges (net worth a bit less than Ralph) whose latest meme appears to be that the sky is falling and the best thing to do is for progressives to drop out, start over from Square One Minus Ten and let the Rs retake the government.

Ralph & Chris - two guys who rank in the top 3% of wage earners in the country, telling the rest of us how to fight the elitists. I guess it takes one to know one.

Just as gw bush helped to swell the coffers of comedy acts around the country, Ralph and Chris are looking for a resurgent right wing in the country to swell their coffers. After all, they have both made their fortunes railing against the RW in this country, and there's no greater threat to those fortunes shrinking than to have the RW trounced for a third election in a row.

And, Ralph - poor people don't organize? Ever heard of the civil rights movement?

I'm amazed at how many progressives buy into this doom's day crapola.

[EFerrari]

141. Right, because the Haiti-fication of America is just bs from Ralph Nader..

Man, how sad is that.

[quiet.american]

131. A-yep. Because Ralph Nader has really made a difference. -- No? Oh. nt

[AllyCat]

139. This idea of which "party" to vote for makes me nuts.

It doesn't work. The last 2 years show it doesn't work (for us). This whole system is completely broken and needs help.

[EFerrari]

140. K&R

[Recursion]

146. "No longer"

There are no longer any major institutions in American society, including the press, the educational system, the financial sector, labor unions, the arts, religious institutions and our dysfunctional political parties, which can be considered democratic.

And when was the alleged golden age when any of these met Mr. Hedges' definition of "democratic"?

[EFerrari]

149. You mean, like before the press was owned by four corporations

or before No Child Left Behind or before the deregulation of Wall Street or before Reagan killed labor?

He's obviously talking about America pre-Reagan and Raygun fall out. Maybe you're too young to remember when the press had some independence and when our schools weren't cash cows for DC insiders or before Wall Street could rampage all over us or when unions were the norm.

[Recursion]

153. So, the 70's, then?

We had even higher union membership in the 50's and 60's, but it would be hard to call that society "democratic", especially since unions, education, and the arts were all being used deliberately to discriminate against minorities for a lot of those decades.

[EFerrari]

159. You know, the WPA gave a huge boost to the Harlem Renaissance

by funding black artists and writers and performers. For a while, we had something going there. :)

Race is America's original sin, there's no denying that. And as far as I can tell, when elections here are stolen, they are stolen on the backs of black voters. So, whatever better time Hedges is talking about does, indeed, not mean a better time for people of color except in the sense that so many break throughs were being made. The years between Roosevelt and Carter were some productive years.

Raygun can be seen as the product of a white backlash against those gains, although I've never thought about him that way. It's probably true.

The thing is, Raygun kicked off his anti-democratic campaign (which foreshadowed his presidency) by deliberately opening in the county where those three civil rights workers were murdered. He did it absolutely on purpose. Racial discrimination and the kind of generalized oppression Hedges is talking about go hand in hand.

Bob Herbert wrote this column about Raygun's campaign kick off. That this man is celebrated in America should shame any conscious person.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html

[Recursion]

163. Exactly. FDR to Carter

A generation of living beyond our means. Reagan just changed the way we fake-financed it.

[EFerrari]

164. Actually, American workers relying on credit to make up for lagging wages

started under REAGAN, not Carter.

[Recursion]

168. Yes, that was what I meant by "changing the way we fake financed it"

The postwar-to-Carter prosperity was based on being the only capitalist economy still standing and having other countries' monetary systems pay in to ours (thank you, Bretton Woods). When Nixon killed that golden goose (and he had no choice; that wasn't some wild conservative plot) we either had to massively reduce consumption (Carter's plan) or go into personal and public debt to continue consuming (Reagan's plan).

[defendandprotect]

161. They say . . .

"the myth of a free press died with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy" --

[EFerrari]

166. But we knew it was dead when Poppy Bush

restricted the press from covering Gulf War 1. Remember that?

[defendandprotect]

169. Yes -- I remember the Pentagon on C-span day and night ... what farce!!

-- and the parading!!

Each "war" they have succeeded in further limiting any real news from escaping!!

Remember, the latest .... embedding NY Times reporter in with a military group?

What was her name ... the friend of the White House guy who leaked the Valerie Plame stuff?

NY Times reporter!!

Is this the USSR yet?

I guess we're close --

[EFerrari]

172. But Poppy Bush was the first one to restrict the press the way he did.

It's important that we remember the details. His Pentagon wouldn't let the press near Desert Storm without a pass. That was new.

[defendandprotect]

173. Yes . . . I recall ... and he got America over the "Vietnam syndrome" ... !!!

[Recursion]

174. Wait, what?

The US press was basically an arm of the Pentagon during World War II.

[defendandprotect]

176. Well . . . that was the "good war" -- !!!

Think we've generally got Vietnam in mind --

a war which the hawks continue to believe ended their glory days and warprofiteering

because of press intereference . . .

that is, they tried to tell a good bit of the truth about the horrors of Vietnam!!

[Recursion]

177. Yeah, that's kind of what I'm getting at

The article (and, frankly, a lot of DU sometimes) seems to be stuck in a 1960's mentality. And I don't know how relevant that is to the world today.

[defendandprotect]

178. TV certainly plays a large role in that .... the TV screen and "1984" ...

right wing propaganda does work --

I don't think ALL of the public yet understands the "bright shining lie" of Vietnam!!

What I do notice about DU'ers is that their BS-meters need to be turned up waaaaaay higher!!

:)

[SteveM]

222. Since the institutions the "1960s mentality" relied upon are...

essentially drying up, I would agree. Beyond that, we should be asking ourselves -- as Hedges does -- what we are really about and how we are going to effect what we are. I'm still waiting for a "contemporary mentality," since I have not seen it enunciated in any real detail. Do you have a notion?

[EFerrari]

199. Actually, the Pentagon was more like an arm of capital like the press was.

lol

[defendandprotect]

160. Before Clinton's trade agreements -- and ending 60 years of Welfare guarantees...!!

Times when something of the New Deal was left!!

[defendandprotect]

158. Hey, even the Vatican went not only democratic for a time -- but liberal--!!

Remember Vatican II --

Remember JFK --

and Khruschev -- ??

All around at the same time --

No one is saying it was ever enough -- but that we had a glimpse of it in the 1960's!!

And probably other times in the past --

[Recursion]

162. I'm leery of postwar golden-age-ism

The country was floating on a Bretton Woods-induced false prosperity that didn't even make it through the 1960's.

Remember Vatican II

I'm familiar with it (mass in the local language, etc.); being Protestant I guess it doesn't really mean much to me.

Remember JFK --

and Khruschev

The guys that came within seconds of blowing up the world?

[defendandprotect]

167. I am, too --

Nixon overturned the Bretton Woods Accords -- which enabled capital to fly away

in a manner which labor cannot do --

However, Vatican II should mean something to you -- it ended the dictatorship of the RCC

and replaced it with democracy -- it gave Catholicism a compassionate and humane face --

it acknowledged the right to personal conscience and free thought - even in deciding for

oneself whether or not to use birth control. Basically, it kicked Papal "infallibility"

in the ass. What you saw happening after that was a right wing coup on the Pope and

Vatican II. Probably a number of Popes after Pope John XXIII.

Liberation theology which began to change oppressed nations also took hold.

The Polish Pope ended that --

Rather it was Joint Chiefs and "Nuke 'em" Le May/CIA who came close to blowing up the world --

not JFK and Khruschev --

Next you'll be telling me you think Watergate was just a "third rate burgulary" -- !!???

:)

[Recursion]

170. A third-rate burgulary

I do think it's funny that of all the shit Nixon did, that's what brought him down.

But, sorry, the internal politics of the RCC don't really mean much to me.

[defendandprotect]

175. Well . . .think that's a bit short-sighted ....

since Vatican and organized patriarchal religion are certainly part of

"hierarchal" power -- and they're getting a lot of our tax dollars!

Overpopulation is quite an issue, as well, as we are now at 7 billion!

This is a male-supremacist church which effects the attitudes and behavior of

many billions -- and they seek to influence governments for their own benefit.


If you really believe that about Watergate, you've missed a lot of the story.

Night !

[Swamp Rat]

165. k&r

[defendandprotect]

171. Lot to be said about this article ...

local/community efforts will also be necessary to survive Peak Oil --

Let's stop dragging electricity across the country -- we have to get back

to local creation of electricity -- generators in buildings --

They say electricity is one of the easiest things to store!

And, my library is putting solar panels on the roof as of last week!!

Nature is ALl -- and I'm surprised that it wasn't mentioned -- maybe I missed it?

What we have to do is the OPPOSITE of capitalism -- the opposite of Manifest Destiny

and Man's Dominion Over Nature.

Evidently a lot of manhood still invested in killing and eating animals -- but UN

has asked asked world to go vegetarian -- and if we did that would have a fantastic

effect on hierarchies/corporate power --

Just that change alone could bring us into the driver's seat --

We cannot allow Democrats to go on with their pro-corporate agenda -- has to be stopped.

Either we pull this party back to where it should be or we recreate the party outside

of the party.

There are a few thousand ways to show unity and power without going to DC to march!

Lots of buttons, cars, TVs, telephones, ATM's that we can switch on and off or not--!!

And many other ideas for actions --

We have to provide our own leadership and unite ourselves -- no one is going to do it

for us --

We also have a "press" which has still not acknowledged our 50+ years of right wing

political violence -- and stolen elections.

And that right wing political violence continues on anytime a leader arises.

[bvar22]

202. I disagree with only one thing you said:

"electricity is one of the easiest things to store"

I have found that electricity is one of the hardest things to store.
Until we find an environmentally safe, inexpensive, and easy to build battery,
Solar Panels and Wind Generators are not going to solve our problems.
Selling Power back to the grid still requires a grid, but is preferable to on-site storage.

I lived on a Solar Powered Houseboat in Minnesota with a 750 watt array.
To make the whole thing work, I had 12 big Lead Acid Die Hards on the keel.
These batteries had about a 4 year life, weighed 1/2 ton, and were dangerous/explosive/toxic during the charging cycle. They required constant awareness and monitoring.

I would love to have a Solar/Wind array where I currently live (Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas), but I am not going to invest in toxic Battery Storage, and our rural power grid doesn't have the option to allow me to sell power to The Grid (and has no plans to provide one).
Until that time, Passive Energy Reduction Methods are the only viable/economic avenue available to us, but one that provides big rewards with minimal cost.

We are planing to install Solar Hot Water next.

The best thing about living on Solar Power is that it teaches one to be very frugal (miser) about Power Usage.
If everyone lived as if we were on Solar Power, we wouldn't need Solar Power.

[defendandprotect]

208. Granted . . it's a comment I read . . .

and obviously we should all know more about electricity -

how to produce it -- whatever. And, certainly not a subject I'm up on.

However, I think the idea is to move from batteries --

Again, also the idea of generators in buildings --

And presume you'd agree that it is for the convenience and profit of monopoly energy

companies that we're dragging electricity across the nation?


Presume that's your garden and that you are vegetarian --

[bvar22]

226. No...We're not religious vegetarians,

but we have decreased our consumption of meat in favor of fresh Veggies, Berries, and fruits.
We also raise chickens, eat the eggs daily, and will be butchering excess young roosters soon.

We sin occasionally:
*Five Star Italian Food (with meat)

*Top drawer Chinese Food

*Memphis BBQ

*New Orleans Seafood (current moratorium until more facts available) :cry:

*Five Alarm Tex/Mex Chili

*Good Mexican Food

*Poached or Smoked Wild Salmon

Too many of life's pleasures for us to be strict religious devotees to Vegetarianism, but we limit our intake.
We DO avoid Factory Farmed meats, and have a source for Free Range/Grass Fed Beef, Pork, Lamb.

Starkraven is an excellent cook.
She buys in bulk, and cooks from scratch using our produce when ever possible.
She also cans & freezes for Winter.
But we both truly enjoy those rare occasions when we Road Trip to a good restaurant (twice a year?).

[defendandprotect]

230. "Decreased consumption of meat' .... UN is asking world to go veggie, btw ...

Always thought of it as "spiritual" or "dedicated" -- not religious.

Religion is too often violent -- and there are those licenses for exploitation of nature --

"Manifest Destiny" and "Man's Dominion Over Nature" -- which have brought so much destruction

of nature.


Starkraven is an excellent cook.
She buys in bulk, and cooks from scratch using our produce when ever possible.
She also cans & freezes for Winter.
But we both truly enjoy those rare occasions when we Road Trip to a good restaurant (twice a year?).

I love to cook -- and especially to make soups -- don't make my own bread, though!

[defendandprotect]

179. goodnight kick --

[Meldread]

180. Just Delete

Ugh. Just delete. I've got better things to do than argue.

[BigBearJohn]

182. 100th rec

[JDPriestly]

186. Many of us are realizing what Chris Hedges is saying.

Democrats/Republicans = Republicans/Democrats = same thing in the end.

I do hope Elizabeth Warren is appointed, but if I were she, I would take a leave of absence from my current job and see how things go. I suspect that Obama is quite insincere in reaching out to her. We shall see.

[tiredtoo]

189. Good stuff here

I clipped just a line or two from original post.

"Do not pity Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. They will get what they deserve. They sold the citizens out for cash and power. They lied. They manipulated and deceived the public, from the bailouts to the abandonment of universal health care, to serve corporate interests. They refused to halt the wanton corporate destruction of the ecosystem on which all life depends. They betrayed the most basic ideals of democracy. And they, as much as the Republicans, are the problem."


We must regain power to the people from the corporations, their lobbyists and the uber-rich.
The teabaggers have the right idea, they are just misguided.
We all want our country back. Join me and others in Washington D.C. Oct. 2. to further this goal.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

191. stomach turning....

in its accuracy.

[RoccoR5955]

192. K & R Welcome to the Corporate States of Amerika! n/t

[xchrom]

193. Spot on. Nt

[disillusioned73]

194. ughhh., I feel ill..

with what we have to look forward to, I hope my gut feeling is wrong.... corporations are destroying this country and the vast majority of it's populace is so distracted that I fear we will be too far gone to turn things around.... again, I hope to be incorrect

[Odin2005]

195. Voting is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We need to chnage the system...

...before it destroys us and the planet. Capitalism is dead, the elites just don't know it, yet.

[defendandprotect]

209. Agree -- capitalism is dead . . .

but the walkways are paved with capitalism and unless we begin to pull up the planks

they are still in business!

We need to stop using these bank cards -- we're going out every day and earning money

for them -- money/interest on cards -- which increases the costs of everything else we

buy -- !!

Not unlike real estate agents getting involved in buying and selling homes --

years of interest rates piling up which have only profited huge real estate companies.

And many other similiar issies --

But, one of the biggest issues is food -- and the UN call for vegetarianism.

That would make the greatest immediate change re hierarchy and monopoly!

And health!

[SteveM]

223. ...and it smells that way. I think the corporate/capitalist distinction is valid...

Who says "capitalism" is the end of history? Capital means excess profit, re-invested into new productivity and wealth. Like it or not, that is NOT what the emerging corporate state is about: theirs is more akin to a giant finance, re-finance system we used to call a Ponzi scheme. There appears to be little effort (at least in proportion to what we term "wealth") to re-invest for greater productivity. Perhaps using the more doctrinaire "Capitalist" label is dated if not inaccurate. Despite the battles, struggles and abuses of working folks and minorities in our history, I cannot see the new corporate class enduring for one minute a huge demonstration or series of demonstrations, as old hat as that is, too. Their Ponzi position is too brittle.

[SoxFan]

196. A reminder

Do not pity Barack Obama and the Democratic Party. They will get what they deserve. They sold the citizens out for cash and power. They lied. They manipulated and deceived the public, from the bailouts to the abandonment of universal health care, to serve corporate interests. They refused to halt the wanton corporate destruction of the ecosystem on which all life depends. They betrayed the most basic ideals of democracy. And they, as much as the Republicans, are the problem.

Democratic Underground is an online community for Democrats and other progressives. Members are expected to be generally supportive of progressive ideals, and to support Democratic candidates for political office.

You are not permitted to use this message board to work for the defeat of the Democratic Party nominee for any political office. If you wish to work for the defeat of any Democratic candidate in any General Election, then you are welcome to use someone else's bandwidth on some other website.

Do not post broad-brush smears against Democrats or the Democratic Party.

But it seems the rules don't apply to some people.

[SteveM]

224. If we are merely an appendage of the Party, what is the "Underground?"

[Panaconda]

227. Tell me what you think of this

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9130371

Doesn't this prove Hedges point beyond a shadow of a doubt?

[paparush]

197. Who Owns our Government, by Industry

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9125339

$$ spent on lobbying, 1998 - 2010

Industry	                       Total
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products	       $1,956,898,643
Insurance	                       $1,427,862,637
Electric Utilities	               $1,345,479,505
Computers/Internet	               $1,080,849,699
Business Associations	               $1,068,462,638
Oil & Gas	                       $1,003,530,221
Education	                         $916,703,543
Misc Manufacturing & Distributing	 $875,229,711
Hospitals/Nursing Homes	                 $847,968,184
Real Estate	                         $829,993,587
Health Professionals	                 $761,595,958
Securities & Investment	                 $760,205,758
TV/Movies/Music	                         $755,069,734
Civil Servants/Public Officials	         $724,711,476
Air Transport	                         $715,990,983
Misc Issues	                         $645,148,729
Automotive	                         $599,158,576
Telephone Utilities	                 $597,709,366
Telecom Services & Equipment	         $574,579,915
Defense Aerospace	                 $504,475,101

[defendandprotect]

210. Makes quite clear why we don't have MEDICARE FOR ALL....

Obama and Baucus were highest on the list of those taking money from the

health care industry!

And Rahm has "crowed" about keeping the health care industry PRIVATIZED .....!!

[SteveM]

216. Corporate power: 'Dem boy in charge, ya hear?' ....

I have said for some time there are 2 truths which must be accepted in order to make sense of contemporary American politics:

(1) The nation is NOT polarized, since two or more poles are required for that dynamic;
(2) There is NO opposition to that which is in charge: The Right, the Far Right, the Crap-in-your-pants-and-go-to-heaven-Right.

Is this worth discussing further?

______

I have said for some time the biggest challenge facing contemporary American politics is:

The sense of political community, imperfectly held together by the "Big 3" networks, daily newspapers & mags, even the Top 40, is dead. We now have no "mass media." Social networking, or any other facet of internet communication, has yet to show an ability to establish community or even provide community platform. Hence, no one has any notion of what is a "cause" anymore, and wouldn't recognize one if it walked in front of them. (A handful of would-be Koran burners is as significant as a 20,000-person anti-war march.)

Community begets identity begets legitimacy begets action. This dynamic is no longer there.

Is this worth discussing further?

[KoKo]

229. Yes...I think what you say is discussing further, for sure. What you say is the biggest problem...

and I did think Obama's "Handlers" knew how bad our Media is and how it's worked against us. That was a mistake that I and others made. Obama's supporters have even less presence in our Mainstream Media than Clinton did during his Impeachment. This is how bad things have gotten.

That Obama appointed as head of FCC a guy who doesn't even seem to be able to defend "Net Nutrality" aside from the issues we Netroots brought up about the Manipulation of Media by Wealthy Owners and Think Tanks/Lobbyists says a lot about what he had as background before running for President.

He doesn't have a clue as to what we've been dealing with out there...and he and his advisors and the rest seem to ignore TV/Print Media as just "Noise."

How can we deal with that? If they don't listen or watch media...then they don't feel they need to defend themselves against "the Noise." And, the Lefty Dem Netroots they've already declared as their ENEMY....so what's left?

Who really has a VOICE anymore to deal with policies we see as wrong promoted by our Democratic President?

:shrug:

After the Mid-terms we will see what happens...I guess.