Does anyone remember Mr. Obama? The man who ran on a program of “change?” Who abhorred torture and Gitmo? Who kinda, sorta, hinted that he would end the endless wars in the Middle East? Does anybody know what happened to him? Where he went?
How did we wind up with another Cheney/Bush clone in the White House? Since his election, still more billions have been given to the banksters, the Wall Street speculators who caused the current melt-down, and above all to the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) and the Pentagon. Every piece of “Gone with the Wind” sized legislation is held up until every special interest, every bankster and insurance group is completely protected, at the expense of We the People.
The first act of the “new” administration was to widen the war in Afghanistan, and also to push it into the tribal regions of Pakistan. The buildups continue, with an even greater emphasis on robot, remote controlled killing machines to maximize casualties amongst the Afghans while minimizing danger to our own personnel.
We are now being told that Bush’s war was one of “choice” whereas Obama’s is a “war of necessity.” Look closely at this. He states that our personal survival in the United States consists in spending billions futilely chasing a handful of ex-CIA operatives (from an earlier war ) around the mountains, meanwhile firing Hellfire missiles into Afghan villages, killing innocent villagers, elderly, female, children, in hopes of killing some Pashtun carrying a rifle, which makes him an “insurgent.” In that part of the country, you are not properly clothed unless you have a weapon. When we blast a village and do manage to kill a man with a rifle, there are ten more to take his place; the friends and relatives of those killed and maimed by our attacks. For thousands of years, these people have been fighting off invaders and expelling occupiers of their land at tremendous personal cost. They don’t even care who or what the United States is, they simply want them, and any other invader, out of their country.
This would all seem to be insanity until you look at what is controlling this nation. Follow the money! If we keep escalating the wars, the MIC continues to make huge profits. It trades with both sides in weapons and intelligence, always at a profit. If we ever waged peace, the MIC would have to start making refrigerators and stoves. A guy buys a refrigerator, he keeps it for ten or fifteen years. Where is the profit in that? A guy buys a thousand pound bomb and BOOM! He has to buy another. Now there, my friends, is profit. And then, of course, there is the oil pipeline route.
We are looking at a government where the Fed Chairman tells Congress that to survive, we must promote austerity in the United States. Cut back on social services, education, Social Security, Medicare and other frills. At the same time, another three hundred billion is given to the Pentagon to promote their wars, and their research into still more draconian ways to control not only We the People, but the entire world.
A ten percent cut in the Pentagon’s budget would take care of most of our domestic problems,. We could feed the hungry, house the homeless, provide decent medical care and repair our crumbling infrastructure. That would still leave the bloated Pentagon giant spending several times more than all the rest of the world combined in “defense” spending. We are spending money on developing more robots, suborbital bombers, armed platforms in orbit that can rain death and destruction on anybody who refuses to obey us.
Over two centuries ago, a group of visionaries wrote a remarkable document to be the rule and guide of the new nation. Over the past couple of decades, but especially during the past nine years, that document, the Constitution of the United States, along with its first ten amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, has been effectively shredded, replaced by the misnamed Patriot Act in its various incarnations, the Military Commissions Act, the various Surveillance Acts and Executive Orders. The Executive is shielding the perpetrators of these crimes, and then there is the dismissing of habeas corpus, the repeal of Posse Comitatus and other protective legislation to leave us open to martial law and a military takeover.
I have sent four letters to Mr. Obama, certified, return receipt requested. At least three have been delivered. The only response, so far, was a preprinted card with a stamped signature from some guy who is the chairman of correspondence, or some such title.
In these letters, I have queried him as to why the Constitution is not being restored to the Halls of government and reminding him of the duties specified in the document. No answer.
I have asked him why he is escalating our wars and further impoverishing our nation with giveaways to the rich. Why no help is given to those who are being foreclosed on. No answer.
I sent him a copy of the Nuremberg Principles, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Constitution of the United States, including the Bill of Rights. I cited the fact that, under the Constitution, those are all part of the “Law of the Land,” as they are included in treaties that were ratified by the Senate. I asked him, “What part of the above documents have we not broken?” No answer.
I have sent off similar queries over the years to my alleged representatives in the House and Senate. No answer. Apparently, these subjects are now off limits as far as government officials are concerned. Perhaps they have truly shredded the Constitution and it is no more. I fear that the “Great Experiment” has come to an end, not with a bang, but with scarcely a whimper. Now, little seems to be left but for the somnolent American Sheeple to just follow the nice goat with the bell up the ramp, and though the doors into the abattoir. A sad end to a noble effort by our forefathers.
10 comments ↓
Fantastic post, Steve. I think plenty should be cut from the military. While I'm not really in favor of having that same imperial federal government take responsibility for the health and feeding of the people, it sure makes sense that IF the money is going to be spent, it should be spent on helping, not killing people
Nice article, Steve, though as I have told you before, I am not ready to give up yet. I have a teenage daughter and I feel an obligation to her — and indeed all current and future Americans — to do whatever I can to keep this "Great Experiment" alive.
Once you resolve in your mind as I have that over the past couple of centuries we have ruined the delicate system devised by our Founders, the answer will be crystal clear: fix it. How? We fix it ourselves with a constitutional convention, the final recourse given to the sovereign citizens by the Framers, who had the foresight 222 years ago to know that we might need it.
The engine needs an overhaul; the longer we delay rolling up our sleeves and opening the hood, the worse the problem will become. Then one day, it will sputter, cough and die. People cling to the hope that President Obama can fix wait ails America, as though our engine problems can be solved by switching to premium gas. There are no saviors, no shortcuts, no miracles. If we want to save our country, we have to get our hands dirty.
Great Post Steve. And dead on accurate.
We now have a Bush 2 Administration disguised as a Democratic Administration.
It was not a difficult mask to make , they're both the same -Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, both want your money and your vote, the rest of you can go to hell for all they care.
We need to change our Government. We can start by eliminating one of the twins. Ignore the Republican Party out of existence. The Dems will either repent and change or they will suffer the same fate as the Republicans.
The only thing needed to make this happen is for you and me to simply ignore the Republican Party and never again vote for a Republican Candidate. If we and many others like us who want to reform the Government will do this, the first head will roll within a couple of elections.
Never again vote for a Republican candidate for office.
Right you are, Cliff. For my part, I never intend to vote for either a Republican, or another Democrat, again. Hopefully, there will be a viable third party arising from the wreckage of our destroyed constitutional republic, or the various minor parties will have enough sense to band together and form a coalition that can take on the corrupt, two-backed beast.
I fear that, before that can happen, the Oligarchy will find some excuse, or manufacture one, that will result in martial law. The EO's are sitting on Mr. Obama's desk awaiting signature, and the Congress is writing still more restrictive legislation every day. (and the combat brigades are training in controlling "civil disorder."). The camps are staffed and ready.
Absolutely Michael.
But common sense seems to be on vacation these days. What is wrong with moral and ethical? The two beast government currently in Washington knows that if common sense is allowed to flourish, it most likely would signal the demise of their reign.
A viable third party capable of winning national elections is not possible in our floundering system.
Systemic problems cannot be hoped away. Fix the system or watch it die.
Hi Mike,
You are probably right, but to really understand the enemy and its tactics, you need to know the enemy. This link is to part five of a five part series. The previous four are listed just above the article. It is a long read, but is about the best analysis of what we are up against that I've run across.
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&...
If it is possible for a poker player to simultaneously hold four aces and a royal flush, these are the guys! Long, but well worth the read.
Steve,
Marshall's series is both insightful and frightening. I believe our opportunity for breaking the iron grip of the elite on the United States is soon to expire and with it, the last vestiges of the republic our Framers laid out in the constitution. In reality, the U.S.A. of the 21st century is but a hollow shell of that republic, but I still believe we can save it.
In part V of Msrshall's series, he states: "Power must be shared among all people, for the risk carried thus becomes a risk to all, and there is a greater degree of cooperation, support, and there is a more efficient and effective means through which everyone can act as a check against the abuse of power. "
This is the philosophical basis of the weak and divided federal government our Founders attempted to create. Diffused power prevents tyranny and demands compromise, but factions and the absence of civic virtue have effectively rendered our system ineffectual for the purposes of furthering the "general welfare" interests of our country.
Mass action to effect repairs to our system at the constitutional level is the only peaceful way to salvage our nation; the alternative is to submit to fate, to pray for Matshall's "rise of a truly peaceful world order; in which we see the triumphs of individualism merge with the interests of the majority; a people’s world order of peace for all."
Would it not be preferable to exert some measure of control over our own destiny?
A marvelous post sir….But I must reject your ending and ask that everyone that has not yet drank the kool-aid to stand together and not to let what our forefathers started,what so many have died for, be dismantled by those that feel like they are better then us.
Thanks for the strokes. I've been writing intensively since the appointment of der Bush by the Supremes, 5-4, thus disenfranchising all of We the People, regardless of party. Over a hundred articles, many of which are carried on this site ( http://www.populistamerica.com/steve_osborn ) and most were to awaken the American Sheeple to the danger we were in, before the cancer spread to the point where it was inoperable. I just fear we may have reached that point. I'm a lifelong Constitutionalist and Jeffersonian. Jefferson and most of the Founders of this nation were aware of the possible dangers, which was why the separation into three divisions to provide "checks and balances." I don't think even they realized that the Oligarchy would grow so rich that they would buy the entire government, though Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln and quite a few others warned about what would happen if the banks gained power and the ability to create fiat money. And so it has come to pass.
We are owned by a small group of infinitely greedy and power hungry people who own or control hundreds of billions, or trillions, of dollars, about 98% of the world's wealth. They must chuckle over their wine glasses as they watch 99% of the population scrabble to get some of the 2% that is left, to survive and feed their families. Meanwhile, they pick up any loose change and play nations and peoples off against each other.
I have no idea how to bring down even one reclusive billionaire with my dollar, and your dollar, and perhaps a few more people's dollars. Don Quixote had it easy with just windmills to joust.
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