Americans start the year facing seven deadly absurdities, but they also have the knowledge in how to overcome them. Yet, it is likely that they will end 2009 holding on to the same absurdities which they now face as 2008 fades into history; as they succumb to “more of the same” instead of adopting, once and for all, change. FULL ARTICLE

In American political culture, and world political culture too, the divide concerns in what way the state’s power should be expanded. The Left has a laundry list and the Right does too. Both represent a grave threat to the only political position that is truly beneficial to the world and its inhabitants: liberty. What is the state? It is the group within society that claims for itself the exclusive right to rule everyone under a special set of laws that permit it to do to others what everyone else is rightly prohibited from doing, namely aggressing against person and property.  FULL ARTICLE

The Republican Inner Circle is astutely aware of the diminished strength of the Republican Party. I quote a statement made by one segment of the party, “Rebuildtheparty”:

The Republican Party can no longer survive in a modern era if we resist this new reality. With our power in Washington waning, our grassroots are the source of our greatest strength — not a problem to be managed. To revitalize ourselves, we must invite the crowd back in and tap their energy and creativity.

This group is trying to repair the severe damage brought by the policies and behaviors of the Bush Administration and sadly endorsed by the Party faithful. Continue reading →

Government has become so adept at selling political favors that scholarly treatises have been written about a veritable science of “political extortion.” A case in point would be the book Money for Nothing: Politicians, Rent Extraction, and Political Extortion, by Fred S. McChesney (Harvard University Press, 1997). Much has been written about governments granting favors to businesses in return for “campaign contributions” or outright kickbacks, but McChesney focuses on an even more insidious phenomenon: politicians threatening to impose menacing costs on businesses or entire industries with regulation and taxation as “a form of political extortion or blackmail.” FULL ARTICLE

Rod Blagojevich, America’s newest political bad boy, now subject of impeachment by Illinois’ lawmakers intent on vanquishing him from the governor’s post, is an overt and crude example of how politics function in this nation. Overt this time, in the tradition of dirty, in your face, defiant politics that have forever, it seems, accosted Illinois, and more specifically, Chicago. FULL ARTICLE

You never know when as President you will need to eavesdrop on American citizen’s e-mail, and telephone contacts. You never know when you will need to arrest and hold an American citizen indefinitely without charge, without access to legal counsel, without the benefit of habeas corpus in a hidden floating brig. You never know when the President will need to authorize his underlings to break longstanding international agreements and treaties such as the Geneva Convention.  FULL ARTICLE

These are questions, concerning the Populist Party of America, that have been directed to me by researchers in political science. My responses to the queries are below.

Russell Cole:

What were your goals/strategies with respect to the 2008 general election (presidential/congressional/local/etc.)? To what extent were these goals accomplished?

At this stage in our development, we see ourselves mainly as advocates for specific policies and reforms. Therefore, we did not endorse any candidates; although many candidates sought our endorsement. I should mention that we had a strong working relationship with the Ron Paul Campaign organizers as well as Ron Paul, himself, who has authored a number of articles that we have published for him using the populistamerica.com website.

We refuse to endorse candidates because we feel that it would detract from our specific agenda, which consists of the democratization of American society. Therefore, since no major candidate will ever take up democratization as his or her sole advocacy, we feel obliged to not offer endorsements to politicians.

We, essentially, see ourselves as working outside of the normative grid constituting American politics proper. We want to fundamentally change the political system. Therefore, we do not want to take any steps that would lead to our assimilation into the current sociopolitical establishment. Continue reading →

Will Barack Obama find the courage and integrity as president to honor the US Constitution and restore American democracy? Will he be the president the nation really needs? Or will he be the cautious, pragmatic and typical politician focused mostly on addressing our crises and getting a second term? Here are three tests for him.

….read the rest of the article at:

www.associatedcontent.com/article/1266116/three_tests_for_our_new_president.html

The Arrogance of the Bush Administration, the unyielding support of the Republican Party for this morally bankrupt Administration, the absolute refusal of the Republican Party to make any effort to attend the needs of the people of America when it required a repudiation of some policy or desire of this failed Presidency, has led a strong rejection of a once Grand Old Party, once renowned for its moral and ethical base.  Today’s Republican Party is no longer relevant as a moral and ethical voice for the American people.  The Republican Party now owes its allegiance to special interests. FULL ARTICLE

If a dystopian nightmare of the totalitarian state finally arrives in the United States, it will be the result of a compromise, and there will be people around until the very end who will insist that we should be grateful because it could be much worse. FULL ARTICLE