American Privilege

Submitted by joe shikspack on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:05am

Caitlyn Johnstone has been writing some pretty good articles lately. Today she hit one out of the park.

Her framing of the issue in this article is just a masterpiece - and if it catches on, it just might be a way to fight back against the warmonger Democrats in the public mind.

I'll post an excerpt below the fold, but it is really worth clicking the link to read this article in full.

Democrats Have A Nasty Case Of American Privilege

I was chatting with an Armenian American clear-eyed rebel yesterday who said something that summed up so much of what’s wrong with the average rank-and-file Democrat in just two simple words, and I think it’d be awesome if those two words caught on. She shared her experience of telling her liberal friends how she couldn’t support Clinton because Clinton is an interventionist, and was she was told by her friends that interventionist is “just a word.” Same with warmongering; they honestly saw it as just an empty term that has no relevance to them or their fears and values.

“That’s American privilege,” my friend said.

Boom. That’s it right there, isn’t it? Two words: American privilege. Democrats will gleefully accuse their political opposition of white privilege, male privilege, straight and cis privilege in their attempts to hand the government over to politicians who want to topple governments and drop cluster munitions on cities overseas, because the alternative might make things a little uncomfortable for them at home. How many of my readers were accused of “white privilege” for their decision to back Jill Stein over Hillary Clinton in the general election? Quite a few I’d imagine. They’d rather have elected a President with an extensive history of supporting disastrous military intervention after disastrous military intervention, who was promising to shoot down Russian military planes over Syria and provide “military responses” for Russian “cyber attacks”, than fight the political system that forces them into voting for World War 3 in a pants suit. All because the orange guy said he’d build a wall. ...

Destroyed nations, hundreds of thousands killed, millions displaced, terrorist factions arising in the midst of the suffering and chaos and being armed to the teeth to help them topple more regimes, children ripped to shreds by cluster munitions, all that’s fine as long as it’s happening in someone else’s backyard and I get to keep my Obamacare. That’s an extreme abuse of American privilege right there, and Democrats are the very worst offenders.

Tags:

american privilege

privilege

War

Democrats

warmongers

Hillary Clinton

World War III

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Comments

Submitted by kharma on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:19am

So true

Destroyed nations, hundreds of thousands killed, millions displaced, terrorist factions arising in the midst of the suffering and chaos and being armed to the teeth to help them topple more regimes, children ripped to shreds by cluster munitions, all that’s fine as long as it’s happening in someone else’s backyard and I get to keep my Obamacare.

The Democratic party is just as filthy as the rest. They may wash their hands occasionally, but the rest of their body is completely soiled like the Republicants.

—

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties.. This...is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.--John Adams

Submitted by Bollox Ref on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:39am

You couldn't describe a certain orange locale better...

Well done Caitlyn!

—

Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

Submitted by Lookout on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:48am

Good article...

Thanks for the heads up Joe. What drives me nuts is we manifest our privilege with arrogance...you know American exceptionalism. We are exceptional...exceptionally ignorant.

I liked this truth (and graphic) -

The ultimate backing of the US dollar is not gold, nor is it oil, nor even plutocratic fiats; ultimately, the US dollar is backed by the might of the US military.

World military spending.gif

Imagine the good we could do if we redirected half of that money for helping instead of killing people. Oooh the humanity (or lack there of).

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by UntimelyRippd on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:07am

jesus, china is really ramping it up.

@Lookout a few years, ago, we spent more than the top fifty (or some such large number).

the chinese are evidently prepping their own imperial adventure, with which they will, in 50 years or so, bankrupt their newfound prosperity.

plus ca change.

—

The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.

Submitted by MichaelSF on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:41am

@UntimelyRippd The Chinese already

@UntimelyRippd The Chinese already have a beautiful wall, so they won't have to divert funds to build one!

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:54am

Ironically, they are tearing parts of it down.

@MichaelSF

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:56am

@UntimelyRippd

@UntimelyRippd

Actually, China will be very sensibly preparing for self-defense against the US military threats being uttered, the US military impingement into their area and the US military plans for nuking of multiple countries capable of fending off and answering conventional US military attack and invasion (generally home-invading smaller, poorer countries seen as easy prey for bullies although still unable to subdue people fighting to defend themselves/their countries against a worse fascist global take-over threat than was formed by Hitler,) which plans include China.

Only global fascist monsters are concerned with draining the world to supply the world's biggest military and spy network against citizens around the world in order to crush global resistance everywhere - but logically, defenders will do what they can to try to save themselves from this. The latter being a sane response to an insane situation and the PTB creating it.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by Sunspots on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:13am

Or preparing to defend themselves against us

@UntimelyRippd

They see what we do to countries that can't defend themselves, and we've colonized their country (divided it up with European countries) and forced opium on them in the fairly recent past.

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:05pm

opium

@Sunspots

we've colonized their country (divided it up with European countries) and forced opium on them in the fairly recent past.

Umm, we're not Britain. Not since 1776, anyway. The "tea and opium" thing was British, all the way.

IIRC, our objection to not getting a "slice" of the Euro-divvy in 19th Century China (and what we did about that) was a major factor in China's friendly disposition towards us in the first half of the 20th.

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:39pm

Actually, China can't be colonized.

@Sunspots

The Mongols came closest (hence the Great Wall), but they were eventually assimilated. The Chinese are the smartest guy in the room, always. The West had custom houses in the port cities, especially Shanghai. That's about as far as they got. And, they managed to lease Hong Kong. Temporarily.

Most important, the Middle Kingdom, the oldest continuous civilization on the planet, is not interested in colonizing others. Never have been. That's something they have in common with Iran, the second smartest guy in the the room.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:56pm

@Sunspots

@Sunspots

I don't know anything about these specific sites, but I do know that there's a highly pathological history here and that other countries are right not to trust the Psychopaths That Be running America over the dead bodies they continually produce, at home and abroad.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/338909

US Cold War plans for 'full nuclear response' revealed

By Brett Wilkins Dec 12, 2012 in World

Washington - The United States had secret plans to launch a simultaneous "full nuclear attack" against both the Soviet Union and China in the event that the president was killed or disappeared during an attack on America.

This all-out nuclear war would be launched against the two communist giants regardless of who was responsible for the attack on the US and regardless of whether only conventional weapons were used, or if it the attack was merely an accident. This protocol, which if ever initiated would have almost certainly resulted in global thermonuclear annihilation, remained in place until 1968, when the Lyndon B. Johnson administration ordered a more measured response in an attempt to avoid a disastrous situation. This shocking Cold War plan, codenamed Furtherance, was revealed on Wednesday by the National Security Archive. The new information is documented in an October 1968 meeting between President Johnson and his top national security advisers, at which both military and civilian officials unanimously recommended revising Furtherance in order to reduce the risk of nuclear war. The advisers called for three major changes to Furtherance. First, they recommended targeting only the USSR or China, not both, for nuclear attack in the event that the US came under attack. "We do not recommend full attack at all times," the memo from the meeting reads. "This would permit a limited response." Second, the implementation of an implicit "no first-use" policy that ordered nuclear commanders to respond to a conventional attack with conventional weapons was recommended. Third, two documents of instruction rather than one were recommended. The significance of this is not made clear by the memo. "We think it is an essential change," National Security Adviser Walt Rostow wrote of the suggested changes. "This was dangerous," he said of Furtherance. The record of the meeting, marked 'Eyes Only for the President,' was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University last month after a Mandatory Declassification Review appeal to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) nine years after a request was originally filed. The policy of launching a nuclear war against nations that attack or threaten the US with conventional weapons has been around since the birth of the atomic age. ...

... Even after the Cold War ended, the United States drew up plans for preemptive nuclear, chemical and biological attacks against countries that did not possess nuclear weapons. In 1992, Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and his deputy Scooter Libby, two neoconservative luminaries who would go on to play important-- and notorious-- roles in the George W. Bush administration, authored a strategy plan called 'Defense Planning Guidance' that called for global US domination and the use of weapons of mass destruction against countries that potentially posed threats to American hegemony. Eight years later, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative group founded and staffed by many prominent Bush administration figures including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz and Jeb Bush (almost none of whom had any military experience), released a plan called "Rebuilding America's Defenses." RAD advanced the ideas contained in the 1992 Wolfowitz doctrine, calling for regime change throughout the Middle East and even China, a permanent global US military presence, enlargement of conventional and nuclear arsenals, the militarization of outer space and the development and use of biological warfare capabilities. US nuclear first-strike policy continues to this very day. President Barack Obama's latest Nuclear Posture Review, announced in October, maintains the long-standing threat to use nukes, even against non-nuclear nations.

http://www.oilempire.us/pnac.html

...

www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm

How We Got Into This Imperial Pickle:
A PNAC Primer Bernard Weiner
Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers
May 26, 2003

Recently, I was the guest on a radio talk-show hosted by a thoroughly decent far-right Republican. I got verbally battered, but returned fire and, I think, held my own. Toward the end of the hour, I mentioned that the National Security Strategy -- promulgated by the Bush Administration in September 2002 -- now included attacking possible future competitors first, assuming regional hegemony by force of arms, controlling energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent-war strategy, etc.
"I'm not making up this stuff," I said. "It's all talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the Project for the New American Century -- who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy -- and published as official U.S. doctrine in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America."
The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demonstrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004."
Two things became apparent in that exchange: 1) Even a well-educated, intelligent radio commentator was unaware of some of this information; and, 2) Once presented with it, this conservative icon understood immediately the implications of what would happen if the American voting public found out about these policies.
...

So, Bush was cheated in - and this selectoral procedure has now become standard in the US.

Links to the rest of the original:

http://www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm

...
Setting Up PNAC

To prepare the ground for the PNAC-like ideas that were circulating in the HardRight, various wealthy individuals and corporations helped set up far-right think-tanks, and bought up various media outlets -- newspapers, magazines, TV networks, radio talk shows, cable channels, etc. -- in support of that day when all the political tumblers would click into place and the PNAC cabal and their supporters could assume control.

This happened with the Supreme Court's selection of George W. Bush in 2000. The "outsiders" from PNAC were now powerful "insiders," placed in important positions from which they could exert maximum pressure on U.S. policy: Cheney is Vice President, Rumsfeld is Defense Secretary, Wolfowitz is Deputy Defense Secretary, I. Lewis Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff, Elliot Abrams is in charge of Middle East policy at the National Security Council, Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department, John Bolton is Undersecretary of State, Richard Perle is chair of the Defense Policy advisory board at the Pentagon, former CIA director James Woolsey is on that panel as well, etc. etc. (PNAC's chairman, Bill Kristol, is the editor of The Weekly Standard.) In short, PNAC had a lock on military policy-creation in the Bush Administration.

But, in order to unleash their foreign/military campaigns without taking all sorts of flak from the traditional wing of the conservative GOP -- which was more isolationist, more opposed to expanding the role of the federal government, more opposed to military adventurism abroad -- they needed a context that would permit them free rein. The events of 9/11 rode to their rescue. (In one of their major reports, written in 2000, they noted that "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor.")

The Bush Administration used those acts of terrorism -- and the fear generated in the general populace -- as their cover for enacting all sorts of draconian measures domestically (the Patriot Act, drafted earlier, was rushed through Congress in the days following 9/11; few members even read it) and as their rationalization for launching military campaigns abroad. ...

The Domestic Ramifications

Even today, the Bush manipulators, led by Karl Rove, continue to utilize fear and hyped-up patriotism and a permanent war on terrorism as the basis for their policy agenda, the top item of which, at this juncture, consists of getting Bush elected in 2004. This, in order to continue to fulfill their primary objectives, not the least of which domestically is to roll back and, where possible, decimate and eliminate social programs that the far-right has hated since the New Deal/Great Society days.

By and large, these long-established programs are popular with Americans, so Bush&Co. can't attack them frontally -- but if all the monies are tied up in wars, defense, tax cuts, etc., they can go to the public and, in effect, say: "We'd love to continue to fund Head Start and education and environmental protection and drugs for the elderly through Medicare, but you see there's simply no extra money left over after we go after the bad guys. It's not our fault."

So far, that stealth strategy has worked. The Bush&Co. hope is that the public won't catch on to their real agenda -- to seek wealth and power at the expense of average citizens -- until after a 2004 victory, and maybe not even then. Just keep blaming the terrorists, the French, the Dixie Chicks, peaceniks, fried potatoes, whatever. ...

So, now we've all been globally Trumped with more of the same old, same old which has finally gotten too old to work on much of the public - but China, Russia and others on the long-standing nut-case nuke-first list would really rather not have that scenario fulfilled...

Maybe they're just funny about not wanting to be nuked (and have Earth life perish along with them) and would prefer to make it evident that they will not tamely be bullied into awaiting the slaughterhouse by Greeds conning themselves into thinking a nuclear war-crime somehow limited, perhaps only to their acts against others via implanted infections of their defense/nuclear systems to make them helpless to a one-way mass murder making the atrocities committed in Japan look relatively minor, would be survivable for them.

Or maybe The Psychopaths That Be don't mind dying themselves in their War Against The World, as long as they can take the world out with them?

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:10pm

Really great compilation. It might help

@Ellen North

…explain why some of us are single-issue voters. I vote for anyone who promises to demolish the Neocons. But no one else.

It's the one promise I could not get out of Bernie.

#3.1.3 I don't know anything about these specific sites, but I do know that there's a highly pathological history here and that other countries are right not to trust the Psychopaths That Be running America over the dead bodies they continually produce, at home and abroad. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/338909 US Cold War plans for 'full nuclear response' revealed By Brett Wilkins Dec 12, 2012 in World Washington - The United States had secret plans to launch a simultaneous "full nuclear attack" against both the Soviet Union and China in the event that the president was killed or disappeared during an attack on America. This all-out nuclear war would be launched against the two communist giants regardless of who was responsible for the attack on the US and regardless of whether only conventional weapons were used, or if it the attack was merely an accident. This protocol, which if ever initiated would have almost certainly resulted in global thermonuclear annihilation, remained in place until 1968, when the Lyndon B. Johnson administration ordered a more measured response in an attempt to avoid a disastrous situation. This shocking Cold War plan, codenamed Furtherance, was revealed on Wednesday by the National Security Archive. The new information is documented in an October 1968 meeting between President Johnson and his top national security advisers, at which both military and civilian officials unanimously recommended revising Furtherance in order to reduce the risk of nuclear war. The advisers called for three major changes to Furtherance. First, they recommended targeting only the USSR or China, not both, for nuclear attack in the event that the US came under attack. "We do not recommend full attack at all times," the memo from the meeting reads. "This would permit a limited response." Second, the implementation of an implicit "no first-use" policy that ordered nuclear commanders to respond to a conventional attack with conventional weapons was recommended. Third, two documents of instruction rather than one were recommended. The significance of this is not made clear by the memo. "We think it is an essential change," National Security Adviser Walt Rostow wrote of the suggested changes. "This was dangerous," he said of Furtherance. The record of the meeting, marked 'Eyes Only for the President,' was obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University last month after a Mandatory Declassification Review appeal to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP) nine years after a request was originally filed. The policy of launching a nuclear war against nations that attack or threaten the US with conventional weapons has been around since the birth of the atomic age. ... ... Even after the Cold War ended, the United States drew up plans for preemptive nuclear, chemical and biological attacks against countries that did not possess nuclear weapons. In 1992, Undersecretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and his deputy Scooter Libby, two neoconservative luminaries who would go on to play important-- and notorious-- roles in the George W. Bush administration, authored a strategy plan called 'Defense Planning Guidance' that called for global US domination and the use of weapons of mass destruction against countries that potentially posed threats to American hegemony. Eight years later, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC), a neoconservative group founded and staffed by many prominent Bush administration figures including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, John Bolton, Elliot Abrams, Scooter Libby, Paul Wolfowitz and Jeb Bush (almost none of whom had any military experience), released a plan called "Rebuilding America's Defenses." RAD advanced the ideas contained in the 1992 Wolfowitz doctrine, calling for regime change throughout the Middle East and even China, a permanent global US military presence, enlargement of conventional and nuclear arsenals, the militarization of outer space and the development and use of biological warfare capabilities. US nuclear first-strike policy continues to this very day. President Barack Obama's latest Nuclear Posture Review, announced in October, maintains the long-standing threat to use nukes, even against non-nuclear nations. http://www.oilempire.us/pnac.html ... www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm How We Got Into This Imperial Pickle: A PNAC Primer Bernard Weiner Co-Editor, The Crisis Papers May 26, 2003 Recently, I was the guest on a radio talk-show hosted by a thoroughly decent far-right Republican. I got verbally battered, but returned fire and, I think, held my own. Toward the end of the hour, I mentioned that the National Security Strategy -- promulgated by the Bush Administration in September 2002 -- now included attacking possible future competitors first, assuming regional hegemony by force of arms, controlling energy resources around the globe, maintaining a permanent-war strategy, etc. "I'm not making up this stuff," I said. "It's all talked about openly by the neo-conservatives of the Project for the New American Century -- who now are in charge of America's military and foreign policy -- and published as official U.S. doctrine in the National Security Strategy of the United States of America." The talk-show host seemed to gulp, and then replied: "If you really can demonstrate all that, you probably can deny George Bush a second term in 2004." Two things became apparent in that exchange: 1) Even a well-educated, intelligent radio commentator was unaware of some of this information; and, 2) Once presented with it, this conservative icon understood immediately the implications of what would happen if the American voting public found out about these policies. ... So, Bush was cheated in - and this selectoral procedure has now become standard in the US. Links to the rest of the original: http://www.crisispapers.org/Editorials/PNAC-Primer.htm ... Setting Up PNAC To prepare the ground for the PNAC-like ideas that were circulating in the HardRight, various wealthy individuals and corporations helped set up far-right think-tanks, and bought up various media outlets -- newspapers, magazines, TV networks, radio talk shows, cable channels, etc. -- in support of that day when all the political tumblers would click into place and the PNAC cabal and their supporters could assume control. This happened with the Supreme Court's selection of George W. Bush in 2000. The "outsiders" from PNAC were now powerful "insiders," placed in important positions from which they could exert maximum pressure on U.S. policy: Cheney is Vice President, Rumsfeld is Defense Secretary, Wolfowitz is Deputy Defense Secretary, I. Lewis Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff, Elliot Abrams is in charge of Middle East policy at the National Security Council, Dov Zakheim is comptroller for the Defense Department, John Bolton is Undersecretary of State, Richard Perle is chair of the Defense Policy advisory board at the Pentagon, former CIA director James Woolsey is on that panel as well, etc. etc. (PNAC's chairman, Bill Kristol, is the editor of The Weekly Standard.) In short, PNAC had a lock on military policy-creation in the Bush Administration. But, in order to unleash their foreign/military campaigns without taking all sorts of flak from the traditional wing of the conservative GOP -- which was more isolationist, more opposed to expanding the role of the federal government, more opposed to military adventurism abroad -- they needed a context that would permit them free rein. The events of 9/11 rode to their rescue. (In one of their major reports, written in 2000, they noted that "the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor.") The Bush Administration used those acts of terrorism -- and the fear generated in the general populace -- as their cover for enacting all sorts of draconian measures domestically (the Patriot Act, drafted earlier, was rushed through Congress in the days following 9/11; few members even read it) and as their rationalization for launching military campaigns abroad. ... The Domestic Ramifications Even today, the Bush manipulators, led by Karl Rove, continue to utilize fear and hyped-up patriotism and a permanent war on terrorism as the basis for their policy agenda, the top item of which, at this juncture, consists of getting Bush elected in 2004. This, in order to continue to fulfill their primary objectives, not the least of which domestically is to roll back and, where possible, decimate and eliminate social programs that the far-right has hated since the New Deal/Great Society days. By and large, these long-established programs are popular with Americans, so Bush&Co. can't attack them frontally -- but if all the monies are tied up in wars, defense, tax cuts, etc., they can go to the public and, in effect, say: "We'd love to continue to fund Head Start and education and environmental protection and drugs for the elderly through Medicare, but you see there's simply no extra money left over after we go after the bad guys. It's not our fault." So far, that stealth strategy has worked. The Bush&Co. hope is that the public won't catch on to their real agenda -- to seek wealth and power at the expense of average citizens -- until after a 2004 victory, and maybe not even then. Just keep blaming the terrorists, the French, the Dixie Chicks, peaceniks, fried potatoes, whatever. ... So, now we've all been globally Trumped with more of the same old, same old which has finally gotten too old to work on much of the public - but China, Russia and others on the long-standing nut-case nuke-first list would really rather not have that scenario fulfilled... Maybe they're just funny about not wanting to be nuked (and have Earth life perish along with them) and would prefer to make it evident that they will not tamely be bullied into awaiting the slaughterhouse by Greeds conning themselves into thinking a nuclear war-crime somehow limited, perhaps only to their acts against others via implanted infections of their defense/nuclear systems to make them helpless to a one-way mass murder making the atrocities committed in Japan look relatively minor, would be survivable for them. Or maybe The Psychopaths That Be don't mind dying themselves in their War Against The World, as long as they can take the world out with them?

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by edg on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:49am

Ramping it up...

@UntimelyRippd with our money. Our $500 billion annual trade deficit with China is funding their military buildup. We need to remind people of that the next time they moan that making things in the US would mean more expensive iPhones and TV sets.

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:23pm

YES!

@edg So true!

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:10pm

more expensive

@edg

Our $500 billion annual trade deficit with China is funding their military buildup. We need to remind people of that the next time they moan that making things in the US would mean more expensive iPhones and TV sets.

By a big whopping $5.00 - $10.00 or so per unit. And that's at full American union wages.

Our dependency on Chinese manufacturing is far more for the benefit of the investor class than it is for consumers. In fact, it hurts the latter, as our ability to give custom to manufacturers depends on how much we are paid as manufacturing labor. (Henry Ford got that right!)

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by gustogirl on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:40pm

It also harms the environment

@thanatokephaloides
because distribution from such distances has a heavy carbon footprint.

This is just one of many reasons to check a source before purchasing and to get as local as possible.

Submitted by Big Al on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:56am

American privilege, I suppose that could sum up how

people can excuse the actions of their government leaders. I call people like Obama and Clinton warmongers and murderers but most people honestly do not see it that way. They can't equate killing children in a drone attack with murder, not when the U.S. government does it. A big part of that is the propaganda, the lies. Without that, American privilege would fall apart. Maybe it's more like American illusion or delusion.
Calling Clinton an interventionist is like calling Ted Bundy a criminal instead of a serial killer, it just doesn't seem to capture the essence.

Submitted by duckpin on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:20am

It is not civilized behavior. The human rights

@Big Al charter of the United Nations Organization is a pretty good basis for international relations and the USA is a signatory to the pact that began the UN. I would say we violate both the intent and spirit of the pact as much or more than any other country.

I also think that the more militarized our country has become, the more of our rights, as enunciated in the Bill of Rights, we have lost.

The fact is, in my view, the opinions of the ordinary citizens just plain don't count to our political and judicial classes. What counts is the imperatives of global financial capitalism where accumulation counts and people and a habitable planet don't count.

—

"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:52am

The US abandoned the Human Rights it once championed.

@duckpin

As Jimmy Carter wrote in the NYT, the US is the last place you would look for Human Rights. And the entire world knows America's shame. It's not a secret.

A Cruel and Unusual Record

Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended. This development began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has been sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public. As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues.

While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the past. With leadership from the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 as “the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” This was a bold and clear commitment that power would no longer serve as a cover to oppress or injure people, and it established equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal protection of the law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or forced exile.

The declaration has been invoked by human rights activists and the international community to replace most of the world’s dictatorships with democracies and to promote the rule of law in domestic and global affairs. It is disturbing that, instead of strengthening these principles, our government’s counterterrorism policies are now clearly violating at least 10 of the declaration’s 30 articles, including the prohibition against “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or “associated forces,” a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress (the law is currently being blocked by a federal judge). This law violates the right to freedom of expression and to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, two other rights enshrined in the declaration.

In addition to American citizens’ being targeted for assassination or indefinite detention, recent laws have canceled the restraints in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to allow unprecedented violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless wiretapping and government mining of our electronic communications. Popular state laws permit detaining individuals because of their appearance, where they worship or with whom they associate.

Read on….

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by duckpin on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:20pm

Many Thanks for this

@Pluto's Republic Good for Jimmy Carter, a decent human being and deserving of admiration for all he's done since he left office.

#4.1 As Jimmy Carter wrote in the NYT, the US is the last place you would look for Human Rights. And the entire world knows America's shame. It's not a secret. A Cruel and Unusual Record Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended. This development began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has been sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public. As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues. While the country has made mistakes in the past, the widespread abuse of human rights over the last decade has been a dramatic change from the past. With leadership from the United States, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted in 1948 as “the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.” This was a bold and clear commitment that power would no longer serve as a cover to oppress or injure people, and it established equal rights of all people to life, liberty, security of person, equal protection of the law and freedom from torture, arbitrary detention or forced exile. The declaration has been invoked by human rights activists and the international community to replace most of the world’s dictatorships with democracies and to promote the rule of law in domestic and global affairs. It is disturbing that, instead of strengthening these principles, our government’s counterterrorism policies are now clearly violating at least 10 of the declaration’s 30 articles, including the prohibition against “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” Recent legislation has made legal the president’s right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or “associated forces,” a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress (the law is currently being blocked by a federal judge). This law violates the right to freedom of expression and to be presumed innocent until proved guilty, two other rights enshrined in the declaration. In addition to American citizens’ being targeted for assassination or indefinite detention, recent laws have canceled the restraints in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 to allow unprecedented violations of our rights to privacy through warrantless wiretapping and government mining of our electronic communications. Popular state laws permit detaining individuals because of their appearance, where they worship or with whom they associate. Read on….

—

"The justness of individual land right is not justifiable to those to whom the land by right of first claim collectively belonged"

Submitted by Strife Delivery on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:27pm

Come on Al

@Big Al Ted Bundy isn't a serial killer or criminal.

That is 30 years of Right wing propaganda and Russian influence that has you believing the lies. Bundy devoted his life to helping women and children.

Submitted by riverlover on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:57am

She is on fire now.

And I am an admirer of words placed correctly. Wake up! This system needs a do-over, now.

—

Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

Submitted by dkmich on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:17am

I see it as class privilege and entitlement.

It isn't them or their kid(s) dying in wars, in debt, uneducated, without health care, inadequately housed, or paying disproportionate ratio of taxes to income. They sit in their gilded mansions in their gated communities with their children in private schools and legacy admittance to Harvard waiting for them to finish their gap year traveling Europe. War is a business. Taxes are for people who can't afford accountants. Justice is for criminals - not rich people who make mistakes.

There are a lot of Americans who disagree with Democrats. And a lot of Republicans who see their privilege just like Democrats.

—

"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon

Submitted by BoberFett on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 5:13pm

Class is the most important privilege

@dkmich I've said it before many times, class is the elephant in the room that's routinely ignored by identity politics. There's a vocal contingent of the left (the Social Justice Warrior types) who love telling people to check their privilege. These people are often upper-class whites attending expensive colleges on mommy and daddy's dime. They focus on race, religion and every other privilege except for class. It's Almost like they're trying to distract from the real problem...

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 6:58pm

class privilege

@BoberFett

There's a vocal contingent of the left (the Social Justice Warrior types) who love telling people to check their privilege. These people are often upper-class whites attending expensive colleges on mommy and daddy's dime.

Or tenured professors at those colleges, whose paycheck is paid through those dimes. Often these are "Persons Of Color" wanting to look all "liberal" and "PC" while continuing to crush the aspirations of ordinary working-class folks of every gender and hue.

And, just so you know: a more correct term for all these types is "Injustice Collector". This makes it clearer that we're talking about the douchebags, and emphatically not the folks who are actually trying to make this a better world to live in.

(Read the linked Comment!)

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by the_poorly_educated on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:30am

Two words that come to my mind are "Reserve Currency"

Follow the money.

—

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:01pm

That is precisely what I watch in all of this.

@the_poorly_educated @the_poorly_educated

Taking down the bogus Dollar Reserve is the key to flattening the US. I thought we would surely be there by now. Every day, every nation better positions itself to pull that trigger. Because the US won't slink off the global stage into the shadows where it belongs.

The death throes of wannabe empires are just so tedious.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:52pm

Or, as Caitlin Johnstone expressed this concept:

@Pluto's Republic

The ultimate backing of the US dollar is not gold, nor is it oil, nor even plutocratic fiats; ultimately, the US dollar is backed by the might of the US military. You could basically imagine America as a guy with a really big gun, pointing the gun at his neighbors and demanding that they treat the pieces of paper in his wallet as though they’re worth a certain amount of purchasing power. Without the gun, it’s just paper. Without using the carrot of military alliance and the stick of military retaliation to force OPEC nations to sell oil in US dollars and bully other countries into submitting to the hegemony of its currency, the whole scheme necessarily falls apart, and a new kind of American economy will have to be constructed.

If this happens, Americans will be freed from the tyranny of the oligarchs, the world will be freed from the tyranny of the US military, and humanity will be free to start relating in a sane and collaborative manner with itself and with its ecosystem.

@Pluto's Republic

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by the_poorly_educated on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:03pm

Libya bombing about gold vs dollar. Nothing else.

@Pluto's Republic Libya was about Qaddafi wanting to get Libya on the gold standard and off the dollar with respect to it's oil trade. Clinton is just so corrupt. Thank God she is history.

—

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho

Submitted by travelerxxx on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:04pm

Reserve currency is it

@the_poorly_educated

Any country that starts a new day by announcing they will start trading (especially oil) in some currency other than Yankee Dollars will see bomb craters appearing before nightfall.

Submitted by solublefish on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:14pm

@travelerxxx You mean, like Iraq?

@travelerxxx You mean, like Iraq?

Submitted by travelerxxx on Fri, 02/10/2017 - 4:14am

Yep

@solublefish

Yes, exactly like Iraq ... and Libya.

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:35am

It made me sad that Maxine Waters was the example of

our party-line spouting Democrats. IIRC she opposed the second Iraq War when everyone was falling in line. What happened to her?

The oligarchs keep us distracted with minutiae so that we miss the central issue: we are being played for suckers.

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by Emmet on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:31pm

Waters got the Iraq war vote right, BUT

@Lily O Lady the interview Johnstone mentions is typical of her. She's incoherent, not thoughtful to say the least, narrow minded, vindictive, and corrupt -- a typical entrenched American politician. She's also a solid Dem vote, for what that's worth.

—

Emmet

Submitted by CB on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:38pm

Maxine Waters was one of the more sane members of the House

@Lily O Lady
What has happened to her? Floor statement in 2007.
https://web.archive.org/web/20080531123707/http://www.house.gov/apps/lis...

The media is partly to blame for this, but the consumers of the media take some responsibility as well. Without new sensational stories to run, war coverage becomes monotonous, and we can be desensitized to the depictions of war. But it is the media's ethical responsibility to focus on the issues that matter the most rather than what sells the most papers and boosts ratings.

In the absence of the required number of votes needed to override an inevitable Bush veto on any Iraq-related legislation, we in Congress must do a better job of challenging the administration's false rhetoric about the Iraq war. While the war in Iraq is disappearing from the newspapers, problems in Pakistan, Turkey and Iran are sure getting a lot of attention.

Why aren't we making the connection between the problems in these countries with the problems we have created in Iraq? An enduring foreign military presence will destabilize any region. An enormous endless American military presence in the heart of the Middle East is a recipe for disaster.

She's now 78 years old. Is she losing her grip on reality?

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 7:48pm

Good question.

@CB But it doesn't seem likely that she's losing her grip. It seems more likely that there's so much money in the Party that keeps her pulpit available, that she has to tow the party line in order to be present, and that she and so many others like her feel they can do more good incrementally pushing for change than in being thrown out of their positions of power.

Submitted by Azazello on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 10:59am

Privilege is never having to know

what you're talking about.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ul3wR5TCGoA width:500 height:300]

—

We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:05am

@Azazello

@Azazello

And apparently Trump is the only US President to 'supply bombs killing the innocent'? Or just the only one to be held accountable? I lack words, other than 'swears'...

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by shaharazade on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:10pm

'Wrapping his arms around Putin'

@Azazello @Azazello Holy shit lady get a grip. None of these pols are worth listening to. What's she doing up on the stage with these fake progressives and assorted criminal psycho killer's? She's sword rattling and war mongering with the best of them. I think the Demorat's are going to to let Trump rip unimpeded and that will teach people to not consent to the Democratic version of fascism, auterity and endless bloody war. USA! USA! USA! This pisses me off way more then Trump! I have always known what the Republicans are about and now I know the full extent of the Demorat's complicity. Totally irredeemable.

Wake up! These Democratic puppet pols are playing the Trump card for all it's worth. They should have used the remedy prescribed by the constitution and impeached Bush2 and his puppet master Cheney. But noooo they took it off the table. None of the Demorat's should have voted for the AUFM, the odious Patriot Act or FISA. Last week I read a Reuters article in which Nancy Pelosi said that to obstruct Trump and the Republican majority would be irresponsible.

Who believes this political posturing bs.? They will not do a damn thing to obstruct the Repugs as they believe that people will be driven by irrational trumped up fear and support their traitorous asses in 2018. A pox on both of their houses. Complicit rat bastards who cannot even manage to put on a be convincing show. We have no government. All this farce is nothing but really bad political theater. When the government, the whole system of checks and balances, separation of powers and the rule of law, is nothing but political posturing and they are all complicit? This is not what democracy looks like.

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:04pm

Early onset dementia

@shaharazade

I recognized it in her little laugh at the end.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:15pm

Preach it sister!

@shaharazade my thoughts exactly - these Democrats will simply roll over for most of Trump's agenda, and when he's fully gutted everything, why they'll swoop back in to "save us" but they will "change" very little. They'll tell us once again that this is the best they can do, we're really sorry about that SS and Medicare but what CAN we do? We're really sorry about that additional war or two, but what COULD we do? And why yes, climate change is creating some problems but once again, what CAN we do? Now we simply have to play this game out to it's end, and if you little people have to suffer a bit, why just know you're doing that for America the Great. USA, USA, USA!!!!!

NONE of my friends like that kinda talk out of me right now but I feel exactly that way. We've been played and we're going to continue to be played off one against the other until there's no one left to fight against or until we're too damned exhausted from starvation to do shit about it.

—

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 6:11pm

Well stated

@shaharazade great comment!

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 7:54pm

AMEN to all of this!

@shaharazade

This pisses me off way more then Trump!

And THIS!

Complicit rat bastards who cannot even manage to put on a be convincing show. We have no government. All this farce is nothing but really bad political theater. When the government, the whole system of checks and balances, separation of powers and the rule of law, is nothing but political posturing and they are all complicit? This is not what democracy looks like.

Beautifully said. Thank you!

Submitted by Raggedy Ann on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:03am

Great article, joe.

I'm sharing it far and wide and have added that definition to my sig line.

—

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 11:58am

Thanks, Joe. Too, too true. There's also the willful ignorance

that it was always thus: we have always tortured, we have always been interventionist, colonial, imperialist, brutal, murdering, etc., etc. It is not an aberration or temporary state of affairs, it is a way of life, a way of being.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:20pm

way of being

@enhydra lutris

it was always thus: we have always tortured, we have always been interventionist, colonial, imperialist, brutal, murdering, etc., etc. It is not an aberration or temporary state of affairs, it is a way of life, a way of being.

For every state. Ours included, of course. But all states do it, or have done it at one time or another.

If you're a state, it's what you do. There's no sovereignty without it. Anywhere. Ever.

To rid ourselves (as the human race) of these ills, we need to evolve beyond the requirement for bosses. Everywhere.

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by solublefish on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 9:17pm

Every state?

@thanatokephaloides Ahh, yes, Switzerland, the scourge of all Europe.

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 7:08pm

Switzerland

@solublefish @solublefish

Switzerland, the scourge of all Europe.

John Calvin of Geneva? Damn right, the scourge of all Europe (and the rest of Christendom as well!)

(Michael Servetus' body lies a-moulderin' in the grave, his spirit marches on!)

Food for thought.....

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:24pm

The Great Wall coming down?

@Lily O Lady

As something of a sinophile, I've not heard of China's Wall being torn down (except by tourists who walk off with the bricks).

The last I heard, China was building the world's largest supercollider at the foot of the Great Wall, where the future of particle physics will now be conducted.

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by Linda Wood on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:33pm

AMEN!

AMEN! AMEN!

Submitted by Not Henry Kissinger on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 12:49pm

I can't keep up.

One minute the Dems are complaining that Trump is a warmongering fascist and the next they're complaining he isn't doing enough warmongering.

The Dems are flailing, and without any coherent agenda of their own are resorting to the tried and ~~true~~ false Rovian tactic of flinging any and all poo and hope something sticks, when what they are really flinging is their own credibility.

...at least in the eyes of potential voters that is, if not those of their MIC paymasters.

—

The current working assumption appears to be that our Shroedinger's Cat system is still alive. But what if we all suspect it's not, and the real problem is we just can't bring ourselves to open the box?

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 2:12pm

@Not Henry Kissinger

@Not Henry Kissinger

Good secondary point I'm assuming you deliberately made - the very notion of Dem 'credibility' certainly is poo.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by native on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:00pm

Hard to understand. People who think of themselves

as liberals, and yet support a political Party that endorses and facilitates never-ending war. No apparent comprehension of what demonizing and threatening Russia will lead to. Utterly blind to D Party support for Syrian jihadis, collusion with Saudi massacres in Yemen, continuing failures in Afahanistan, the ruination of Libya, and on and on. None of this seems important to American Democrats, or the "liberals" who keep voting for them. Hard to understand.

—

native

Submitted by Pluto's Republic on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:20pm

Can you imagine another election

@native

…where those dingbat Democrats have a base? A Party that people take seriously? I feel certain that those rotting politicians have betrayed their last Americans. They're done. Either there will be an entirely fresh and responsive Democratic Party determined to represent the will of the American people, or there will be a ship of fools crying, "USA! USA! USA!"

—

____________________

The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:27pm

ship of fools

@Pluto's Republic

["...] there will be a ship of fools crying, "USA! USA! USA!"

"I won't slave for beggar's pay, likewise gold and jewels; but I would slave to learn the way to sink your ship of fools."
-- J. Garcia

[video:https://youtu.be/7HTcet_BgYM width:480 height:270]

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by MrWebster on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 4:11am

I write no ban, no bombs. I was accused of voting for Trump.

@native Amazing how many democrats don't see or refuse to see the direct connection between refugees and the bombs we drop on their countries.

Submitted by Creosote. on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 6:53am

Well there's nothing about all that

@MrWebster
in the papers, so everything must be fine.

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:22pm

very good article, it reminded me of the title

of a book about Baltimore: "Not in my neighborhood". American privilege is dropping bombs and intervening, err training and keeping military basis in all the neighboring countries, but their own. As long bombs drop not on their own soil, it's a okay to drop it elsewhere. Just not in 'my neighborhood' so to speak.

It's a shame that I started to become aware of the Clinton legacies (Bill's) only after 2001. The late eighties and nineties just didn't sink into my conscious horizon and I regret it and feel I have so much to learn about it. I didn't seem to have the same 'ignorance' about GWB and Obama or Hillary Clinton as a Sac. of State. There was no way to fall for them longer than six months.

I remember well how people tried to mock Jimmy Carter, when he was President and remember not understanding why they did that. I was still in Germany at that time and had never lived in the US.

I also remember having met someone working for the State Department on a Meet-Up of kossacks. He told us that he used to be an ovserver and "watch" elections in African countries. I didn't say anything but thought: ... "and do you watch out over US elections as well?".

As Pluto said above in a comment about Jimmy Carter's article in the NYT in 2012

And the entire world knows America's shame. It's not a secret.

Yes, that's one of the things we Germans have in common with the Americans, the entire world knows about Germany's shame. May be ours is deeper and far more difficult to 'distract from and excuse', as America kills smarter and not that intentionally as Hitler did. In that we Germans have not a "German privilege", but I fear it's on its way and coming. What a messy world.

Submitted by travelerxxx on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:25pm

Carter interview in Der Spiegel

@mimi

Mimi, I've wanted to bring this up to you, as it seems you may be fluent in German...

There was a Der Spiegel interview with Jimmy Carter published (only in German) in 2013. In the interview, President Carter stated, "'Amerika hat derzeit keine funktionierende Demokratie', sagte Carter am Dienstag bei einer Veranstaltung der 'Atlantik-Brücke' in Atlanta." My auto-translation has this as "American does not currently have a functioning Democracy."

Does this seem to be an accurate translation?

Submitted by mimi on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:29pm

yes, accurate /nt

@travelerxxx

Submitted by joe shikspack on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 4:02pm

afternoon mimi...

@mimi

American privilege is dropping bombs and intervening, err training and keeping military basis in all the neighboring countries, but their own. As long bombs drop not on their own soil, it's a okay to drop it elsewhere. Just not in 'my neighborhood' so to speak.

that's the way that empires work. send the troops out to rape, pillage, plunder and subjugate - then collect tribute.

I remember well how people tried to mock Jimmy Carter, when he was President and remember not understanding why they did that. I was still in Germany at that time and had never lived in the US.

carter did not deserve mockery, but he did deserve opposition at times.

carter was the first neoliberal president. he started the deregulation movement. his domestic economic policies were atrocious. nominating volcker to run the fed was possibly the biggest mistake of carter's presidency.

carter inherited an awful economy which was the result of richard nixon's efforts to get re-elected. nixon persuaded the fed chief, arthur burns, to keep rates artificially low through the election to promote the illusion of broad prosperity. after the election, predictably, inflation got out of control. carter brought in paul volcker who applied shock therapy to the economy. (if this sort of thing interests you, the best book that i've ever found about this is william greider's "secrets of the temple.")

volcker's shock therapy was particularly hard on the lower and middle classes, which made carter somewhat less than popular and arguably largely accounts for his being a one-term president.

well, there's more, but that's enough for one comment.

Yes, that's one of the things we Germans have in common with the Americans, the entire world knows about Germany's shame.

yes, but the germans are aware of what they should be ashamed of and that all the world sees them as being to blame for shameful things. americans generally are aware of neither of those things.

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 4:26pm

@joe shikspack

@joe shikspack

And the Germans had the excuse of not having seen this sort of thing happening in the same manner before, when they thought that 'this could never happen to our democracy'.

Yet so many are still concerned that 'America might be nearing a police/fascist state' and quite certain that it's not there yet, no matter how obvious the facts might be and therefore cannot deal with the realities of the situation, which doesn't bode well for global survival.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by mimi on Thu, 02/09/2017 - 12:40pm

oops, I saw this comment only now, thank you,

@joe shikspack
can't believe how many more books I will have to read in the future. But your comments are so informative and as such inspiring to me that I plan to add some more. Sigh. Thank You, Joe.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 6:22pm

The American people who have stayed silent on the

@mimi never ending wars, the drone strikes that hit wedding parties and the people who come to help them (double tap) and all the other atrocities that this country has done around the world is no different from what the Germany people did with Hitler.
You made a great point there.
One article I read stated that since 1945 the USA is responsible for 1.3 billion deaths.
The wars, sanctions, coups and training other country's military to commit atrocities.
The Never Again is a bullshit statement because of what is happening all over the Middle East and elsewhere.

—

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

Submitted by native on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 1:58pm

A lot will depend on whether

Trump blunders us into another war or not. At the moment that's anyone's guess. It's very hard for me to get a read on Trump.

—

native

Submitted by Ellen North on Wed, 02/08/2017 - 3:55pm

@native

@native

On top of the already-planned ones? Doesn't leave much, but any thoughts of escaping to Australia, New Zealand, Canada or Norway might no longer be a good idea...

Just kidding! Once the nukes start flying, the entire globe is doomed, so don't worry,be happy and live until you die. That, and boycott all criminal corporations, even if you still have money to buy anything.

—

Psychopathy is not a political position, whether labeled 'conservatism', 'centrism' or 'left'.

A tin labeled 'coffee' may be a can of worms or pathology identified by a lack of empathy/willingness to harm others to achieve personal desires.

Submitted by solublefish on Sat, 02/11/2017 - 9:58am

I hear you. But it was the

I hear you. But it was the Calvinists who gave us the "right of resistance", eventually to appear as Locke's right of rebellion.
But on the whole, no, 'every state' does not act like an imperial bully, though I do not doubt there may be structural pressures for them to do so, especially under capitalism.