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You have a keen understanding of the problem--the deliberately hidden aspect of the ENORMOUS disorder in U.S. foreign policy--that the rest of the world is not going to put up with this any more. It is plain to see in Latin America--the most hidden region of all (nearly invisible in the corpo-fascist media)--if you are paying attention and vigorously pursue alternative information. And this is going to have grave consequences for "we the people" in this very troubled land. I totally agree with this assessment. And because you see it all so clearly, I want to say this to you.
Do not despair! Understand that the propaganda and the mechanisms of control are designed to make you and all of us despair.
This stat stands out to me. Nearly 60% of the American people opposed the Iraq War (Feb. '03, all polls). That is a remarkable fact, in view of the overwhelming war propaganda that was coming down, even from once respected news organizations like the New York Slimes. So how could the president go to war with that level of disapproval from the get-go? (Back in the Vietnam War, it took nearly a decade of war for anti-war sentiment to get above 50%).
Several months earlier, in Oct. '02, two things happened, the second one being the most important: The Anthrax Congress passed the "Iraq War Resolution," giving their power over war away to Bush Jr. And in the same month, they passed a $3.9 billion e-voting boondoggle, to fast-track electronic voting systems all over the country, run on 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY programming code, owned and controlled by a handful of private, rightwing-connected corporations, with absolutely no requirement for audit/recount controls. They did not require that the states buy these machines. But the $3.9 billion and heavy duty and very corrupt lobbying accomplished the task.
U.S. voting systems are now completely non-transparent, and largely (80%) controlled by ONE, private, far-rightwing connected corporations--ES&S (which just bought out Diebold).
I won't go into all of what I think this means--and has meant--as to far rightwing billionaires and corporate moguls directly controlling election results, except to say that this 'TRADE SECRET' control of the voting system is so powerful as to permit them to be SUBTLE--to play our system like a piano, with deep crescendos of fascism on the one end, and high twitters of mostly substanceless "liberalism" when it suits the "concerto" they are composing.
And there are three serious lessons to be learned from this:
1. They greatly fear the American people and have taken unusual measures to control us. If Americans were mostly stupid sheep or stupid fascists, they wouldn't have gone to such trouble. They wouldn't need to. IN THE SAME MONTH. They did it IN THE SAME MONTH as the "Iraq War Resolution"--fast-tracked an easily riggable vote counting system that could keep the war going FOREVER; a system that could easily override all our effort, all our donations, all our activism, all our commitment to peace and justice, all our common sense. It's a sort of left-handed compliment. Take heart!
2. What we SEE of our political system--its characters, its policies--is NOT a reflection of us (of "we, the people"--it barely resembles us); it is a reflection of THEM, of their characters and policies, and to some extent, it is a reflection of what they THINK of us (utter contempt). I have never ever bought that the American people are stupid sheep--not even at the height of Bushwhackism. But that's what the few fascist billionaires who are calling the shots want us to think of ourselves, or of our fellow and sister Americans. Stupid sheep, ignorant assholes, putrid bigot rednecks who re-elect an idiot like Bush Jr! We need to resist this portrait of America. It is very, very, VERY false.
3. We need to be as practical and strategic as are those who have nearly destroyed our democracy. We need to attend directly to the source of our power--our vote--and undo the damage to our vote counting system. Without transparent vote counting--vote counting that we can all see and understand, vote counting in the PUBLIC venue--we are powerless to begin reform. And this is still a DOABLE project. There is NO FEDERAL LAW that requires "TRADE SECRET' voting. It was all done by means of corruption (the $3.9 billion e-voting boondoggle, the heavy and corrupt lobbying at the state/local level). Control over choice of voting systems remains at the state/local level, where ordinary people have more potential influence than we do in Washington. It will take a widespread citizen movement--like the civil rights movement of the 1960s--but it is doable.
Our worst problem is demoralization. We are victims of a system that is aimed at our demoralization. And our second worst problem (or maybe our first) is that they have been successful at entirely black-holing the story of the private, corporate takeover of our vote counting system, and the entire loss of its transparency. And these two things are, of course, related. No matter how hard we work in the political sphere, we can EASILY, without detection, be overridden. And we have been, believe me.
True representatives of our people will always be a minority in Congress--mere tokens permitted to win because it maintains the delusion that has been foisted upon us--as long as we have the 'TRADE SECRET' vote tabulation system. The same in state legislatures and other bodies. Thus, even if an Obama is permitted to be elected to the White House (and I think he really was elected), he has little or no power. No "New Deal" Congress will ever be elected.
I think there are other ways that Obama has been curtailed, some of it perhaps by his own doing--deals he had to make. But the bottom line is, he can be yanked in 2012, whether he 'wins' at that time or not. And in both cases--2008 and likely in 2012 (if he is permitted to win)--his mandate is SHAVED (%'s deducted from his vote, further reducing his "bully power" for reform) and he is stuck with a very unrepresentative, pro-war profiteers, pro-corporate, Puke/"Blue Dog"-infested Congress.
There are, of course, other things going on, huge problems in our system--the corpo-fascist press and its hypnotizing narratives, and the utterly filthy campaign contribution system (now much worse than it ever was). But the end-stage control--and the bottom line of our ability to start turning things around--is the 'TRADE SECRET' voting system, and it is still fixable by us. It will take a lot of effort but it is DOABLE, and it is furthermore ESSENTIAL.
KNOW what they've done to you and to our people. Then get practical. How did they do it? "TRADE SECRET' vote counting screams manipulation. That is the actual mechanism of power. Voting is very nearly a definition of our sovereignty. And our votes are now blips on a screen in some far rightwing billionaire's nerd basement.
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