"amurica" seems blind to the corruption. I don't get it at all. It's no longer about differing points of view it's all about money and power.
I'm not blind to it.
I remember with crystalline precision where I was when I heard that the Supreme Court had rendered its decision in the 'Citizens United' case.
I was so busy screaming in frustration at the radio, I almost rear-ended someone in a traffic slow-down on I-23, heading south from Ann Arbor to Toledo. Had to swerve onto the shoulder to keep from causing at least a 3-car pileup.
The funny part is, after a certain point more money and power are just uselss...
Agreed. But I'll also say this in addition: Tyler Derden's apocalyptic view of America's not-so distant future doesn't seem all that far-fetched any more. Why?
Because we've seen it played out countless times throughout history. I could name the most important events starting with the 20th c and chronicle them, uprising by uprising to Christ's time on Earth. The scene has always been the same:
When the rich and powerful take more than the system can maintain/sustain, the poor and disenfranchised rise up... and it's always ugly and bloody when they do. The R&P do all they can to suppress the movement, but they always end up at the end of a pike, or with their heads on a guillotine.
Reforms are enacted... and a new generation of money- and power-hungry greedmeisters start the process all over again.
Some years back, I tried to tell my Pops-In-Law that the current socioplitical situation in America that spawned the Tea Party Movement was also the impetus that spawned the rise of the Occupy wall Street movement.
His over-the-top reaction to my 'dog whistle' words "Occupy Wall Street" told me that he'd already been sucked into the propaganda mill that pitted conservatives against liberals... when they actually shared a common foe- the unholy marriage of corporate/Wall St."Military-industrial complex" money and Capitol Hill.
He yelled so loudly at me about hippies taking dumps on police cars, that he couldn't allow himself to hear my point that both groups were fighting (from different angles) against a common foe.
When the conversation broke down to that point, I knew I'd never be able to reach him... because in his mind, the equation was simple and straightforward:
Tea Party Patriots = Good.
Occupy Wall Street = Bad.
If a significant-enough percentage of the population sees things through the lens that focuses his world view, then the long-established power brokers have won... for now.
Because they've managed to pit various groups of Americans against one another in pointless side arguments, while they continue to amass power and influence over how this country runs.
It dangerous in the extreme because of this one (historically-proven) fact:
Being rich and powerful only makes you capable of making people (and counties, and states and nations) do what YOU want them to. It doesn't automatically make you smart enough to actually successfully RUN the institutions you've just commandeered.
And that's why ALL oligarchies have always fallen apart- on a historic and epic scale. Too much incest weakens the bloodline.
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America, of all the sociopolitical constructs we've seen in the last 2,000 years had the best chance of 'beating the odds'... by the tenets of her constitution, by the lofty ideals enunciated in her Bill Of Rights, and by the desire of her immigrant populace to buy into the ideals that spawned her.
Unfortunately even America's social construct can't keep people from being the flawed chunks of 98.6 they really are.
Leave it to People- those creatures so ennobled/castigated by Shakespeare when he said: "What a piece of work is Man..." to f*ck up the very best thing he's ever created for himself in over a thousand generations on this planet.
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Given my world view, it doesn't really surprise me that it now takes an ante of BILLIONS of dollars just to join the poker game.
THAT'S how far we have slid from what our Founding Fathers envisioned for us.
There's a reason why "Greed" has its spot in the list of "7 Deadly Sins."
Man's general nature has never changed. And America isn't immune to Man's failings.
Ugly s#1t is on our horizon... and another Clinton in office isn't going to change a damned thing. It's only going to accelerate the timeline to total collapse.
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I got my exit strategy already laid out. One day, I'll simply type:
"I'm out."
...and that's the last DT post you'll see from me.
.02,
Clemmy.
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