Our country is no longer controlled by, and for, We the People, but instead by, and on behalf of, international banking and multinational corporate interests. While the gradual, almost imperceptible takeover of our government by this corporate fascism has been evolving by design for many decades, it is a coup d'etat nonetheless and has been disastrous for the vast majority of Americans. This blog is an exploration and discussion of how this occurred, and the damage it has done to our democratic processes.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

The Discomfort of Thinking That, Yes, It Can Happen to Us. Watch This...

With all the closed door negotiations going on in Washington D.C. concerning the debt ceiling and the national budget, it's easy to side with your favorite political party of choice. As a matter of fact, it's easy simply because it's intentionally designed for you to do so. The co-mingling of terms, with divergent meaning, has purposely created confusion and anxiety within a population that looks for order and assurance and security. It's Sunday, two days before the presupposed deadline, and still no deal has been met with sufficient compromise. Each side has dug its heels into the ground, from what the media tell us, and it's going to be a fight to the finish. 

But consider the possibility that this is all for show. Consider for a moment that this run to an eleventh-hour agreement, which I'm betting will be the outcome, is all grandstanding and political spectacle. Is this is all street theater -- Wall Street theater -- carefully choreographed and acted out in order to extract more blood from a turnip, as the saying goes? Will the perpetrators congratulate themselves in canned and unauthentic somber impromptu speeches late Monday night, and claim a bipartisan effort pulled us back from the precipice of economic chaos, while the true congratulatory champagne cork-popping will be out of camera range when, unbeknownst to the American public, they'll exult with glee that they've bamboozled and duped us again?

Naomi Klein, the author of The Shock Doctrine, premised that "[f]rom Chile in the 1970s onward...right-wing ideologues have exploited crises to push through an agenda that has nothing to do with resolving those crises, and everything to do with imposing their vision of a harsher, more unequal, less democratic society." It can be argued, and the evidence supports the idea, that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was, and is, the latest example of "shock doctrinism" in play -- that is, before the methodology was let loose on the American people. Are we the Chile of 1973? Are we witnessing a complete privatization like the crumbling Soviet empire did in the 1990s? And, was Iraq only a dress rehearsal to ensure that all the details of the performance were prepared, refined, and coordinated -- before commencing with the biggest and most elaborate attempt to exploit a perceived fiscal crisis in this country's history? Is our economy being held hostage -- in order to destroy the last major counterbalance to the political power of corporations and the wealthy? You tell me.

If you haven't read The Shock Doctrine, you owe it to yourself to do so. There are few books that really help us understand the present. The Shock Doctrine is definitely one of those books. Even if you have read it, watch this embedded video of the film based upon the bestseller. At almost an hour-and-twenty minutes, it's a film, remember, not a short skit or flash-video, so get comfy and be ready to explore how shock doctrinism works, how it was conceived, and how the resultant predatory and mutant malignancy of disaster capitalism has been used over and over again to impose privatization over the commons and the lives of millions already. After viewing, ask yourself whether The Shock Doctrine has been unleashed on this unwitting nation, bit by bit, and think about whether this perceived crisis is just another step toward total privatization of everything. Tuesday's only two days away. It's my guess we'll be less a pound of flesh, if not more, by then, although the exact details may not be forthcoming for several weeks. Let's see.

14 comments:

Citizen Sane said...

Well said. I happen to think this outcome was probably planned, and the only way they could pull it off was by making it seem like some big crisis. Either that, or the dems are the most spineless, gutless sell-outs on the planet. Either way, we're screwed.

It's time for a revolution, a new constitutional convention. The political system we have now - the mindless adherence to the dicates of party dogma and the financial elites - is beyond reviving. It's corrupt and is not serving the people. It must be abolished, which is what Jefferson recommended.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

I agree with you, Anna, that this whole "crisis" was orchestrated and planned to assure a specific outcome. Democrats can't possibly roll over and play dead as often as they do. Rather, they've accepted their role as the subservient and willing partner to the more dominate and ruthless Republican wing of the Corporatist Party. Both wings have the same agenda; both serve the same corporate benefactors. That is one truth that can't be denied any longer.

The republic is badly broken, and I agree is probably beyond repair.

Twilight said...

Hadn't noticed that you'd posted a new piece until just now - and coincidentally I'd just been cobbling together a draft for tomorrow with much the same theme - that the debt ceiling kerfuffle was all "theater". The show finished right on cue too!

Sickening!

Good piece, J'sG. I will return to watch the video a bit later.

Jefferson's Guardian said...

Hi Twilight! Yeah, I've been layin' kinda low lately, but hope to get back to more posting than what I've been doing lately.

As I mentioned, if you haven't read Naomi Klein's book already, please be sure to at least watch the film. It's very profound in its interpretation of why we're seeing such an outbreak of "privatization-mania".

Thanks for not giving up on me. ;-) Stop by again...

Ellis D., Esq. said...

I read that book a while ago. It was hard to read without getting VERY pissed off. Amerika's imperialistic bullshit is exactly why there are terrorists who want to kill us. Amerika sticks its nose in where it doesn't belong to fulfill a greed driven agenda of world conquest. Why ?? Because our so called leaders are psychopathic idiots. I dare any psychologists worth their license to examine ANY of these D.C. politicians and not diagnose them as psychopathic. They have all the symptoms and indications of such mental illness. So really the answer to why things are as they are is simple....our leaders are mentally ill !! So it is no surprise that the shock doctrine is being used for domestic purposes. See when there aren't any more viable foreign countries to exploit the establishment turns on its own people like any Fascist nation would do. What we have in Amerika is a democracy problem. The majority is not represented in the government, only the elite have representation. So in effect we have a sham government with little or no accountability to the non-elite working people of Amerika.

Anonymous said...

"Hi Twilight! Yeah, I've been layin' kinda low lately, but hope to get back to more posting than what I've been doing lately."

lol jg, you have been hanging out on dave w's blog where free was ripping you and dave w new aholes!

Jefferson's Guardian said...

Anonymous, this is a very, very, good sign. When my adversaries go out of their way to attack and fight me, it means I'm getting under your skin. Here...

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi

Mo Rage said...

thanks for the post. I'm a big Naomi Kline fan but hadn't heard of this, her book or it's premise.

Dave Dubya said...

In a democacy the Shock Doctrine would be part of a public education.

I don't about “ripping” new aholes, but they seem to be multiplying from somewhere. :-)

Jefferson's Guardian said...

Yeah, Dave, I wholeheartedly agree with you. But, as you've pointed out very often on your own blog, our culture's and society's dumbing-down has resulted in less informed and educated citizens. It's affected our democratic values and the foundation of our republican democracy.

The trolls are multiplying and scattering across the screen -- just like cockroaches. I'm pretty sure most of them are funded and paid by different right-wing organizations. They're infiltrating everything. They have the power-of-the-purse (thanks to Citizens United). Case in point: The Heathen Republican. He's obviously a compensated troll. Who else has the time to conduct the sort of quasi analysis he delves into? I certainly don't; I'm sure you don't either.

Ellis D., Esq. said...

Hey look at it this way....paid trolls equal job creation !! Maybe these trolls are a result of TRICKLE DOWN economics !!! I wonder what the qualifications for a troll job are other than shit for brains ?? Don't forget to vote Woodstock Nation Party in 2012 Ellis D. and Gypsy B. we're worth the trip ( to the polls that is !! )

Jefferson's Guardian said...

Ellis, I think you're on to somethin'! That's the job creation the tea baggers kept promising prior to the last election!

Don't you worry -- even if the Woodstock Nation Party isn't on the ballot next year in Virginia, I'll definitely write it in. And I love your campaign slogan... ;-)

Paid Troll said...

"Hey look at it this way....paid trolls equal job creation !! Maybe these trolls are a result of TRICKLE DOWN economics !!! I wonder what the qualifications for a troll job are other than shit for brains ?? Don't forget to vote Woodstock Nation Party in 2012 Ellis D. and Gypsy B. we're worth the trip ( to the polls that is !! )"

sounds like you are smoking some killer dope again Ellis D!

maybe if Wavy Gravy and the Hog Farm are still around you can get them into your cabinet!

VJ said...

Job creation will come when Obama is gone. The job creators just aren't in the mood for creating - they will create for a price only - it will just cost America it's middle class.