5 Hallmarks of the New American Order

[Ichingcarpenter]

1% Elections, The Privatization of the State, a Fourth Branch of Government, and the Demobilization of "We the People"


by Tom Engelhardt



Have you ever undertaken some task you felt less than qualified for, but knew that someone needed to do? Consider this piece my version of that, and let me put what I do understand about it in a nutshell: based on developments in our post-9/11 world, we could be watching the birth of a new American political system and way of governing for which, as yet, we have no name.

And here’s what I find strange: the evidence of this, however inchoate, is all around us and yet it’s as if we can’t bear to take it in or make sense of it or even say that it might be so.

Let me make my case, however minimally, based on five areas in which at least the faint outlines of that new system seem to be emerging: political campaigns and elections; the privatization of Washington through the marriage of the corporation and the state; the de-legitimization of our traditional system of governance; the empowerment of the national security state as an untouchable fourth branch of government; and the demobilization of “we the people.”

Whatever this may add up to, it seems to be based, at least in part, on the increasing concentration of wealth and power in a new plutocratic class and in that ever-expanding national security state. Certainly, something out of the ordinary is underway, and yet its birth pangs, while widely reported, are generally categorized as aspects of an exceedingly familiar American system somewhat in disarray.


now the five areas.............................

http://www.unz.com/tengelhardt/the-new-american-order/


http://m.thenation.com/article/201977-5-hallmarks-new-american-order




edited to add the nation link and title changed

[Fred Sanders]

1. Krugman's comments in the NYT should be front page, but the corporate media will not permit truth.

From Daily Kos blog:

"Thank you Dr. Krugman for putting in plain language what so much of the press closes their eyes to. The Republican Party is trying to run America the way a Slumlord runs an apartment building - but it goes even farther than that.

It's not just that the Republicans are busy transferring wealth upwards (so much for 'trickle-down fantasies) - it's that they're busy turning us against each other too. Blatant appeals to racism, sexism on steroids, xenophobia, endless fear and war-mongering, religious fanaticism; all of this intended to distract us from what they're doing to the country, and to keep us from uniting against them.

It's no coincidence that three of the GOP Presidential contenders - Walker, Christie, Perry - are the subject of criminal investigations. Mike Huckabee is peddling bogus medical cures to the gullible. Rick Scott is applying Putin-style censorship to Florida state employees who dare mention Climate Change in public.

The modern Republican Party has combined the worst aspects of a cult with those of organized crime. Dealing with them may prove a greater challenge than the Civil War or World War II. Between their economic chicanery, their divisiveness, and their refusal to face up to real threats to the world, their deliberate malice towards all and charity towards none may ultimately be the end of us all."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/03/20/1372134/-Paul-Krugman-is-a-Must-Read-Today-Again

[appalachiablue]

3. It is a War, on Democracy by a thousand cuts. This challenge is in fact as great as the Civil War

or WWII, and we are unorganized to fight it because of weakened government and many uneducated as to the great dangers to our welfare and security as a nation we face. Good Kos link. Krugman has the stature to be heard widely; his article should be NYT front page material if we had a national media of any worth.

[Electric Monk]

8. k&r

&u&g&m&a&n

[Faryn Balyncd]

2. Hugely important post!

Engelhardt nails it/

[truedelphi]

4. Now the police are militarized to the point that every week of the year,

SWAT teams arrive at the wrong address, throw toddlers to the floor, kill the dogs and then - "OOPS! We're at the wrong address - we are sure sorry about that!"

It is impossible to sue a bank, no matter the level of their wrong doing. So a California man has his home foreclosed for pre-paying his mortgage!

And on and on, while the people on the ballot, members of the One Percent, are all complicit with this.

[Enthusiast]

5. K&R! This post deserves hundreds of recommendations! Have you read this DUers?

Something out of the ordinary is underway.

Ya think?

This is why they allowed 9/11 to take place. It was the new Reichstag Fire.

[hifiguy]

6. Great article and must reading.

Kickety rec!!

[KoKo]

7. Recommend!