Today, Tuesday, July 19, 2016, the U.S. is a corporate state oligarchy fast-transitioning into a full-blown fascist state. I don't make that declarative statement with the purpose of being hyperbolic, or dramatic, or to make any other point other than to state (what I believe to be) a fact.

As we once again go through the quadrennial election-year carnival (or freak show?), it pains me to once again see (many of) my fellow social justice activists get drawn into the drama, into the meaningless news cycles the corporate media serves us day in and day out.

I argue that unless social justice activists come to a full (and accurate) understanding of the true nature of the system, there will be no significant progress when it comes to being able to turn things around (towards justice, democracy, peace, and sustainability).

During the last 40-plus years (a good reference point would be the publication date of the "Powell Memo") the ruling elite ("Deep State") has been putting into place the legal and technological framework that would eventually turn the country into an oligarchy -- a condition which has already been fully implemented -- protected by a surveillance police state and a fascist ideology.

That process accelerated after 9/11 (the PATRIOT Act being a good reference point), when the (corporate-controlled) national security apparatus (and government) gave itself the right to deploy warrant-less surveillance on the entire population, detain American citizens indefinitely (without charge), and assassinate American citizens (and others) extra-judicially. That period marked the transitions into full-blown fascism (from the proto-fascist stage we've been on). In the aftermath of the coming election, we will likely transition into becoming an actual fascistic police state.

As to the nature of the ruling elite, of the "Deep State," it is important to understand that this "class of people" are as ruthless and despotic as any in the history of civilization. They view average citizens (the "precariat" as Chomsky says) as nothing more than vermin, animals that can be easily be disposed of at any time, abused, enslaved, manipulated, tortured, and killed. In the last 15-plus years alone this class of people (the US ruling elite) has been responsible for the killing of millions of innocent people. That of course doesn't count several previous decades when "their class" were responsible for the suppression of social justice movements in multiple countries (most notably in Latin America).

Again, I can't emphasize enough the true (evil) nature of this class of people: as brutal, sadistic, depraved, and despotic as any ruling elite throughout the history of civilization.

The only reason some folks still can't get that notion straight (in their heads) is because there is still a semblance of normalcy in everyday life, and we still haven't reached the point when jack-booted thugs (or militarized police forces) are knocking down doors and grabbing people to secret prisons, yet. But they are getting ready for that next step.

The other reason (I believe) people are confused is because many activists haven't fully realized that exposing oneself to ALL corporate media programming is tantamount to voluntarily subjecting oneself to psyops brainwashing, manipulation. I wish I could find words strong enough to get that message across. When you sit in front of the TV and watch MSNBC, CNN, FoxNews, ABC, CBS, NBC, you are being subjected to a powerful, mind-numbing psyops (cognitive) weapon.

Which brings me to the RNC circus. I'll jump to one issue here: you've heard about the thousand bikers who purport to be "Trump's security" detail? And you've heard about assorted right wing groups walking around with weapons? Well, let's get back to the "Deep State." During the last several years "business" organizations like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the NRA, gun lobby, and others, have been pushing cookie-cutter legislation in state after state allowing gun-owner to open carry, to "stand their ground," conceal-carry, to "carry-anywhere" including public building, parks, schools, theaters, universities. What these organizations (which are tools of the ruling elite) were doing was to set the conditions for the rise of a kind of proto-fascist first line of defense. Those who have read about the rise of Nazism would recognize these dynamics.

They were anticipating, thinking ahead, planning, as they (the deep state) always does. As the ravaging effects of neoliberalism became more obvious, they anticipated that social unrest would follow. And as "they've" done around the world (the Middle East, Latin America), there is nothing more effective for ruling elites than to exploit religious and ethnic divisions (divide and conquer) and manipulate citizens into turning against each other. That's often achieved through demagoguery that fans the flames of xenophobia, racism, fear, jingoism, religious fundamentalism, and ignorance.

There are actually leaked documents where high-placed analysts working for companies that provide services to national security agencies discuss these strategies of balkanization, sometimes arming several groups, and manipulating them into going at each other. This has been happening recently throughout the Middle East. Well, these strategies are now being deployed right here in the "homeland."

Everything else, including plagiarized speeches is just noise, (macabre) entertainment, news cycle BS.

Why do I write all this? Those familiar with my writing would know that this is something I've been "talking" about for long time. The reason is because the longer we (as a movement) take to come to grips with the true nature of the system, the longer is going to take to change it.

And also, I don't want people to confuse these things I'm saying with the promotion of fear, defeatist attitude, or hopelessness. To the contrary, (believe it or not) I'm a very optimistic person and I'm totally convinced that if the people unite under a common understanding (of the true nature of the system), and purpose, this whole corporate state oligarchy police state apparatus the ruling elite has built for itself, would collapse overnight, relatively speaking.

In other words, if people are under the spell of the lies, the propaganda, the cognitive infiltration, and somehow still believe we live in a functional democracy, then that gives the depraved ruling elite all they need: acceptance of the system the way it is.

Also, these struggles are nothing new in history. All civilizations have had to deal with these dynamics. The bottom line is that the only reason this condition exists is because we allow it to exist (even if unwittingly). Once we decide (in enough numbers) that we're done with this system, then is over, and we can begin something new, better.

I do have a number of suggestions about how to move forward, since my mantra is that aside from pointing what's wrong, we as social justice activists have a responsibility to imagine and think about what a decent society would look like. I'll write about that in my next essay.