An example of why the past cannot be ignored.
The youtube broadcast attached below describes one of the methods used to slant the 2016 US primary elections against Bernie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLuO1qDkoNg
I see this story as an example of a broader point: Until dangerous ideas are destroyed, they will continue. Does anyone think the same schemes won't be used in 2020 and beyond? I am especially frustrated that the US electorate in general, and many that I know personally, kid themselves that the ronaldreagan Revolution ended on 20 January 1989. It did not; it still controls ideas and policies. The objectives of modern policies include union-busting, employee-cheating, no legal protections for employees, no environmental regulations, and no taxes on the major businessman. Those goals are exactly the aims of ronaldreagan, and the eternal, undying whims of big businessmen and their Republican Party. Since the electorate still likes ronaldreagan, they can believe that its ideas must be right. For example, presidents still bomb/strike somewhere if they need a quick boost of popularity. The electorate of Ontario is seriously considering electing a Mike Harris clone (Mike Harris was a ronaldreagan clone and premier of Ontario 20 years ago). Like the mauling that ronaldreagan inflicted on US citizens, too much of Mike's damage has been left in place,instead of aggressively destroying his toxic legacy and enacting policies that could save his victims.
Either we destroy destructive paradigms, or they continue to harm,as was the intent of their advocates. One idea that we can all implement is reminding people that Donald Trump is only a symptom of the disease that is the on-going reagan Revolution. We can make known that Trump has done nothing that ronaldreagan would not endorse. The only exception is Trump's propensity to tell the truth sometimes, rather than always using coded language. Both were ordinary extremists advocating the Republican Party exists to do, which is simple, not sophisticated. They want to indulge the desire of the rich to have all the money. Their strategies are,(a)Steal the employees' earnings, (b) Cheat the consumer, (c) When profitable, rape the environment, and (c) Never pay their taxes.
Comments
Capitalism must die.
Until that happens, this will never end.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I had an uncle
who said capitalism is where they hand you a cup of piss, call it medicine and charge you a fortune for it.
And one more thing....
I'm sure there are wall hangings in some glassed-in corner office suite with exactly these points in gilt lettering.
By the way, I think you might have forgot item (d), Destroy the public schools.
privatize the profits, socialize the losses
The objective in every business plan.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Well said
That more people weren't upset that Hillary rigged the election against Bernie winning shows that it's not only the government that has lost all morality, but many of the electorate too. Same thing with the issues you discussed here. How can people trust that the next election will be fair to everyone running?
Adding on to travelerxxx's comment, this is what the PTB have in mind for the upcoming generation - part of the war on the not rich American people which is full effect.
The Corporate Plan to Groom U.S. Kids for Servitude by Wiping Out Public Schools
We know that the republicans are coming for our social security and other social programs because they are telling us that they don't have money for them. Not after they cut taxes on their upper class friends.
Cutting the budget for public schools might be the issue that gets people to see that there is a war on the working class and if they don't put a stop to it they too are going to be effected by what their government is doing to them. I'm hoping that this is the one issue that gets people to wake up to what is happening.
“When you think about what Americans think we have a right to, just by living here, it’s really pretty little. Most people don’t think you have a right to healthcare or a house. You don’t necessarily have a right to food and water. But people think you have a right to have your kids get a decent education.”
h/t joe
Good essay
Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.
bing. n/t
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Election fraud...more from Chris Hedges and Mark Miller
In the last 10 min or so they discuss the horrid state of US elections using Bernie's case as one of many examples. The entire show is a great conversation if you've got the 25 min or so...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec9uRsku4oA]
Greg Palast has also been doing good work on election fraud...
http://www.gregpalast.com/
This is an important topic that is largely ignored. Thanks for the essay.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thank you all for your
Thank you all for your important comments. You've added some valuable ideas. Certainly, the destruction of education in this country is subversive. The potential, and I would say probable, consequences for this country's future include poverty and vulnerability to malevolent foreign governments. A poorly-educated population would probably make that much difference. I also should have referred to neoliberalism as nothing more than another name for the reagan Revolution. I don't know of any appreciable differences between the two.
neoliberalism is nothing more than another name for reaganism
So true. Read where the red party in the house tried a slight of hand to 'balance the budget' by stealing the social security trust fund (a couple trillion). Fortunately, the blue party prevented their 2/3 majority to pass a constitutional amendment. Gotta watch those thieving bastids.
question everything
Little Bill
GREAT POST!You NAILED IT!Until this country rids itself of these Reagan policy's TOTALLY the middleclass is doomed.I am feeling a sense that this younger generation aint buying this trickledown bullshit and are questioning these fucked up Reagen plans.From the detail of this post leads me to believe you are a "greybeard"like myself,our generation blew it on Reagen we should have fought tooth and nail...but we rolled over and let the bastards destroy the middleclass.Again great post
DW
@LEFTYFRIZZLE Lefty -- Yes, if I had a
Lefty -- Yes, if I had a beard, it would be grey (1951). I wish our cohort had had as much sense as the older generation that they spurned. Old-timers and people from the "greatest generation" had lots of good and lots of lousy characteristics, but where I lived -- steel mill union city of Youngstown, Ohio, birthplace of Richard Wolff and the 1937 steel strike -- everybody was a New Dealer. I'm talking about the 1960s, so the ideas of the New Deal, just like those of ronaldreagan, were alive way beyond FDR himself. But our dopey cohorts from more privileged areas invented identity politics and embraced reagan at the same time. There is a sucker born every minute.