People Power – Part 4: The Peace Dividend Strategy

The Peace Dividend strategy is a practical plan for achieving a very specific goal. That goal is regime change in Washington DC, i.e. replacing the pro-war, pro-Wall Street, anti-democratic, power-drunk megalomaniacs now in control, with individuals who reflect the real values and priorities of real people living real lives. It’s about getting rid of the lapdogs and liars and electing honest individuals who will answer to and serve the people who put them in office. 

Until WE THE PEOPLE seize power from those who now commandeer the machinery for setting foreign policy, who shape our military priorities and agenda, who view themselves as the indispensable, infallible rulers of the planet, until WE THE PEOPLE are able to decide the direction of our country, create a legal and economic framework which serves all of the people, not just the rich and powerful, the U.S. will continue to bully other countries, topple governments, kill innocent people for geopolitical advantage, create conflict and chaos, inflict untold misery and suffering on everyone on the planet (including increasingly its own citizens), and provoke Russia and China into a major, possibly human life-ending conflict. The rich will just get richer and our best and finest will be sent into battle to protect their portfolios.

Thus, the Peace Dividend strategy is about seizing power, putting it into the hands of a democratically-empowered citizenry, reversing the disastrous trajectory of our foreign policy and aggressive pursuit of world domination, and implementing peaceful solutions for the monumental problems confronting the world in these challenging, tumultuous times.

To lay a foundation for citizen participation and activism, the Peace Dividend strategy focuses on the abuse of political and military power from 1992 to the present. This time frame is chosen for a very specific reason. To achieve its stated goal, the Peace Dividend strategy lays out a carefully constructed but entirely truthful message which the general public, or at least 150-200 million of them, can grasp, appreciate, and embrace. The message is the impetus for very simple and achievable action.

Why take this approach?

Most peace messaging unfortunately is too abstract, too broad, too philosophical. It might seem noble and inspiring to those already in the peace movement, good folks dedicated to achieving a world without war. But to everyday citizens who are bogged down and preoccupied with the more practical pursuits of survival, raising a family, holding down a job, making it from one paycheck to the next, most of the appeals currently wielded by peace activists sound like hippie slogans and pie-in-the-sky pining. Often such activists are viewed as misfits who are out of touch with reality.

The reason is obvious. People can’t feel much empathy for cholera victims in Yemen or refugees in Syria, when members of their immediate family are suffering. Everyday folks can’t pay attention to our aggressions in the South China Sea and Russia’s borders, when they need to pay attention to keeping a job and food on the table.

The approach of the Peace Dividend strategy is simple and direct: Just tell the truth! Tell the truth about our endless wars and bloated DOD budgets! Expose the whole “defense industry” game for what it is: an enormous con, a rip-off, a massive fraud perpetrated on the American citizenry. The Afghanistan War was based on lies. The Iraq War was based on lies. Destroying Libya was based on lies. Attacking Syria was based on lies. The need to upgrade our nuclear weapons is a lie. The need for a Space Force is a lie. The need to go to war with Russia is a lie. The need to go to war with China is a lie. It goes on and on. Trillions and trillions of dollars wasted! Manufactured crises. Manufactured consent.

And then crucially, we connect all this fraud and waste to the rough times people are going through . . .

WAR IS MAKING US POOR!

People should be very angry. When they see what’s really happening, THEY WILL BE VERY ANGRY! Trillions of our taxpayer dollars have gone up in smoke. OUR MONEY has been squandered and our future mortgaged. The facts don’t lie. It’s even on the nightly news now! How $2.3 trillion was wasted in a 20-year war in Afghanistan, which to rub salt in our wounds WE LOST!

The Peace Dividend strategy doesn’t stop there. The war criminals and their puppets in Congress and the White House have stolen our money.

We want it back!

We want back at least some of the trillions taken from us as good, decent citizens under false pretenses, then used to fight unnecessary wars and buy military junk we never needed. Money which just ends up in the coffers of the defense industry, and ultimately in the bank accounts of wealthy investors who profit from the never-ending wars. It’s a pipeline right from the pocketbooks of everyday citizens and their meager family budgets, to the already incomprehensibly rich.

WE DEMAND OUR MONEY BACK!

The Peace Dividend refund currently totals $20,544 for each and every living U.S. citizen.

That’s over $82,000 for a family of four. Everybody gets the same amount. Warren Buffet and Jeff Bezos get the same as you and your 10-year-old kid, your grandma and the guy who picks up your trash.

And if you don’t think we can afford this, stop right there. See Paying For The Peace Dividend.

Understand something . . .

This is not helicopter money. It’s not Covid relief. It’s not UBI. It’s not a bribe. It’s not socialism.

IT’S A REFUND!

It’s everyday citizens getting back money which NEVER should have been taken from them in the first place, and putting that money back in their bank accounts where it belongs.

Our case is clear and our logic unassailable. The public for the past 30 years have been victims of the greatest rip-off in the history of the world!

Another way to look at this:  We are demanding “war reparations” in the form of a Peace Dividend Refund, for the war the power-drunk, war-crazed lunatics have been waging, not just on our alleged enemies, but on us, our families, our communities, our schools.

FOR THE WAR THEY’VE BEEN WAGING ON THE TRUTH!

Will our establishment politicians, now in the pockets of defense industry and Wall Street, beholden to the imperial fantasies of the neocon fanatics, go along with this?

Probably not. THAT’S THE POINT OF THIS STRATEGY. If they can’t serve the people, send them packing. They are fabulously talented. They can become an Amway distributor or a greeter at Walmart. Their phony smiles are perfect for any number of job opportunities.

Then again, maybe a few of the establishment politicians will come around. That’s fine. It’s entirely their choice: But either they commit in writing with the Peace Dividend candidate contract to GIVE US OUR MONEY BACK or . . . we don’t vote for them. We vote for someone who will. Then we’ll get a government that works for all of us and Walmart or Target will get a bubbly employee at the front entrance, just in time for Black Friday.

Is such an ultimatum really necessary?

YES! It’s come to this. The reason is simple. The war machine will continue to accelerate until we stop it.

However, there’s hope. There’s a very proven method for stopping our out-of-control government from further squandering. It’s a proven method! Works every time . . .

Empty the vault! No money. No money for military expansion. No money. No money for imperial wars.

This is exactly what the conservatives have done to us for years, only we’re turning the tables. THEY spend all the money on war and military. “Oh gosh, folks. We ran out of money. Sorry. We have to cut social programs. And there’s nothing now to fix our infrastructure.”

Ah hah! We see how this works! So . . .

We do exactly the same thing to them. THE REFUND (now we’re getting to the real reason for such an outrageous, drastic approach) EMPTIES THE VAULT. Refund $6.832 trillion to THE PEOPLE. No money for war. “Oh gosh, warmongers. We ran out of money. Sorry. You’ll have to close the bases. Start with Guantanamo and Okinawa. And we’ll have to cancel all that silly militarization of outer space. And the upgrading our nuclear weapons? Out of the question. Building more ships and tanks and missiles. FUHGEDDABOUDIT!”

Do you folks get this? This is so obvious. This could work!

But instead we flounder around talking about trimming this and trimming that. SCREW THE TRIMMING! Get people angry! Show them the LIES! The outrageous waste and fraud. Get people to DEMAND THEIR PEACE DIVIDEND REFUND … $20,544 for every single citizen! Spend the money on THE PEOPLE! No money for senseless wars!

How can the people get the power back?

How can we get our military, our economy, our government back on track?

ONLY VOTE FOR PEACE DIVIDEND CANDIDATES!

If we get a veto-proof majority in the House and the Senate, and these newly elected representatives go to DC and pass the Peace Dividend legislation, EVERYTHING CHANGES! Just sit back with a glass of your favorite evening comfort drink and think about it. EVERYTHING CHANGES … at least for now. People get a windfall. The DOD is stopped in its tracks. The MIC has to completely rethink and retool. And we can actually talk about things that matter to most Americans. The entire two-party duopoly gets turned on its head. Why? Because 99% of the establishment candidates from the two major parties will refuse to go along with this. They’ll fight it tooth, nail, cloak, dagger, go nuclear, go INSANE! I already know the kaka that they’ll be spewing. You do too. You hear it every time anybody wants to do something for THE PEOPLE of this country.

Listen, folks. We’ve got nothing to lose here. Here’s the worst case scenario . . .

Even if we don’t get our refund, if we got this in front of the public, if we got media to pay attention to this idea — and yes, if in 250 congressional races THIS was a big deal, it would be headline news on MSM —  for the first time in decades we’d be talking about the insanity and waste and lies surrounding the endless wars. We’d be talking about PEACE for a change! And maybe have a serious discussion about how truly screwed up the priorities are right now.

Please keep this thought front and center at all times: The Peace Dividend Project has a very specific goal. Stop the war machine before it destroys the country and possibly all life on the planet. Of course, I feel horrible for the people in Yemen, Ukraine, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and all the other victims of U.S. military aggression and twisted foreign policies. But none of them are HERE in the belly of this horrible beast. None of them can vote. We start here and if we can stop the hate and lies inside our borders, we can start spreading the love and truth outside our borders. Maybe the world will forgive us our sins and we can get a fresh start.

By the way, if you want to participate in the Peace Dividend Project, please sign up here . . .

Join us in making the world safer and more peaceful.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

People Power – Part 4: The Peace Dividend Strategy | John Rachel

Are you pro-choice?

Are you pro-choice?

I know I am.

And while I believe a woman has the right to make decisions about her own body, that’s not what I’m talking about here.

Let me offer a recent and extremely important example.

When in December of 2021, when Russia notified the US and its allies that it was very concerned about the troops, missiles, bases, and other military assets deployed against its borders, it offered a draft treaty which would cool tensions and promote peace in Europe. The US and NATO refused to even look at the treaty. Were we the people given a choice in the matter? Were we properly and accurately informed about what the treaty contained, its pros and cons? Of course not. Because had citizens looked at it objectively, with complete disclosure as to its intent and effect, they would have most likely thought it was reasonable and constructive, and opted for it. We are now living the nightmare resulting from the snub of the Russian proposal. The entire Ukraine mess didn’t have to happen. But it did because of the choice of a tiny number of short-sighted, war-obsessed policy makers, sans any democratic approval by the vast majority of citizens, who now must deal with the consequences.

Since that war broke out, the U.S. has allocated at least $65 billion — some put the figure at over $100 billion and counting — in military and economic assistance to the regime in Kiev. Were we given a choice in THAT? Did Biden, Blinken or any of the warmongers in Congress ask: “Should we send more weapons to Ukraine to further exacerbate the war, further intimidate Russia, OR should we spend that money on improving our schools, infrastructure, OR MAYBE provide relief to Americans who have been hard hit by the disastrous economy, loss of jobs, the Covid-19 lockdowns?” I don’t remember hearing THAT choice being aired to the public.

I’m pro-choice, alright. In the much broader sense of having choice as a citizen about what is done in my name with the tax dollars and immense resources of the United States.

I’m talking about America’s decisions to go around the world killing people, destroying nations, imposing its imperial agenda on other allegedly sovereign nations. I’m talking about the heavy hand of our government deciding what version of the “truth” citizens get in the news and from their elected officials. I’m talking about critical choices made about America’s place in the world, our relationships with every other nation, who is our friend, who is designated as our enemy; deciding the kind of country we now live in and will hand off to future generations; directing what opportunities and basic services will be available to us; determining what guarantees are in place to make sure our legal system works to the benefit of every citizen equally; writing and enforcing the regulations and laws which prevent the abuse of power by our government officials, those elected and otherwise; determining how our system works to hold those in power accountable, what is done to prevent corruption, graft and cronyism; instituting and maintaining electoral procedures and mechanisms which protect the constitutional voting privileges of every citizen, fully guaranteeing free and fair elections. Yes, I’m talking about the way government functions, how well it functions. How the enormous revenue stream gets allocated, what gets funded, who benefits. I’m talking about free and full access to official communication, information and documentation, full transparency about what goes on in those offices and buildings. After all, we’re paying for all of it. We should have complete disclosure as well as final decision-making power on how our money is being spent.

Finally and certainly most importantly, since our survival on the planet is being seriously threatened by horrible decisions in this arena, WE THE PEOPLE should have final say on putting our nation and economy on a war footing, militarily confronting other countries, and most certainly the ultimate decision — a responsibility that now even our pathetic Congress spinelessly avoids — MAKING THE CHOICE TO GO TO WAR.

All of these decisions are being made — often behind closed doors or a smoke-screen of propaganda, lies and rationalizations — and we as citizens have no say in any of it.

No choice!

So yeah, I’M PRO-CHOICE!

The voice of the people has been totally silenced. We no longer can even ask simple, obvious questions about most critical matters which impact our daily existence, which determine the quality of our lives, which define the kind of country we now and future generations will live in. If we don’t stay inside the safe, approved boundaries of the official narratives, we are marginalized, often ridiculed, if not completely censored. Which might be tolerable if the country was in good shape and on a solid path of improvement and progress. I don’t have to point out how totally screwed up everything is now.

I’m for having a decisive say in the way things run. Recognize, this is hardly a weird or controversial demand. It’s the very essence of SELF-GOVERNMENT — which is what I have always been told is the defining feature of our democracy, the great experiment in self-rule. No kings, no dukes, no emperors, no dictators, no pouty paranoid bureaucrats. Just us, we the people!

This means WE THE PEOPLE taking back the power which has been usurped by a class of self-anointed control freaks, influence peddlers, power brokers, professional politicos who have decided that we regular folks are a bunch of clueless children and they know what’s best for us.

Enough is enough. Tyranny under the smiley-face of fake democracy must be stopped IMMEDIATELY!

This is non-negotiable . . .

WE THE PEOPLE MUST HAVE A CHOICE — the decisive choice — whenever anything of consequence affecting our nation comes up for consideration.

So yes, I can say without qualification or equivocation, I’M PRO-CHOICE!

And you should be too.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Are you pro-choice? | John Rachel

People Power – Part 2: Focus and Unite

Distractions divide us and guarantee we’ll never talk about essential core challenges. The egregious, central obstacles to “promoting the general welfare” are never mentioned by the talking heads, the pundits or politicians, to whom we look for guidance and leadership.

Distract and divide promises catastrophe, even to those who use it to further their sinister agenda. It’s astonishing how myopic most of the people at the top are, eh?

The control of everything by a tiny, short-sighted ruling elite is now total and the consequences are apocalyptic. We helplessly watch as their pursuit of wealth and consolidation of power has resulted in a merciless war being waged against the 99.999%, the trashing of the ecosystem, and destruction of any prospects for humans ever living in harmony with either — that is, co-existing cooperatively and constructively with one another and living sustainably on the only planet we can call home.

There are three major battlefields for this amoral and sociopathic assault and we rarely have meaningful discussions about them, are forced to wade through a swamp of deceit and disinformation to even identify and try to address them, or are consigned to having non-sensical discussions which have no possible impact on outcomes.

Wealth Inequality:  The funneling of wealth upwards has accelerated and long ago passed the threshold of irreversibility. 24,000 people die a day from starvation, while guys like Bezos, Gates and Musk have so much money they couldn’t spend it all in a million lifetimes. Corporations continue to consolidate and a handful of investment firms literally own everything. The system rewards monomaniacal pursuit of obscene levels of riches and opulence, the media lionizes self-aggrandizement. Every major religion has posted the warnings. Maybe they’re onto something.

War and Peace:  War has become a religion and ‘peace’ an expletive. The U.S. economy is now built around and defended by endless wars and requires world conquest to continue satisfying its rapacious appetite. Arrogance and hubris have replaced civility and common sense. We are now confronting two major nuclear powers at the same time, Russia and China. The U.S. won’t back off and Russia and China will not bow down. Total war would be the last chapter in human history. No need to return the book to the library. Books and libraries would be radioactive dust.

Ecological Destruction: Notice I didn’t say ‘climate change’ and this is intentional. Because this exemplifies precisely how the cabal uses a worthy topic to defeat any hope for real reform. Climate change is one component of a war on the entire ecosystem which supports all life, which includes ocean depletion, toxicity of air and water, species extinction, soil depletion, desertification, deforestation, promotion of monoculture, not to mention the assault on the human organism with poorly tested medicinal drugs, chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, food additives, industrial and agricultural pollution, manmade radiation, the intensification of exposure to electromagnetic waves, gene “therapies” and genetic modification of foods, on and on. We are directed to focus all of our attention on climate change, a battle we might at best win — likely will not win at all — over the next five decades, at the expense of all other perilous policies and undertakings, working in sync to compromise and probably destroy the prospects for survival of life on Earth. Pretty clever, eh?

Distract and divide assures that these three destructive trends work synergistically. Wealth inequality is created and sustained by war, war itself makes the rich richer, the military is the number one institutional source of ecological destruction, ecological destruction drives desperation and creates the conditions for war over resources and resource-rich territory, wealth inequality puts the decisions about the health of ecosystems in the hands of those who are incentivized to externalize the damages their pursuit of wealth creates — dumping it in the laps of the 99.999% — likewise with the decisions to go to war. It’s an endless, accelerating, self-reinforcing, negative feedback loop — a race to the bottom in terms of quality of life and a hopeful or even survivable future for the masses of humanity. We are too distracted to assess and discuss them rationally and constructively, too divided to put up even a weak fight.

All three of these globalized pathologies likewise reinforce political control, as power is in parallel funneled and concentrated upwards.

Reversing any and all of this can only be achieved with focus and unity by a huge percentage of the global population: unwavering focus and unassailable unity directly targeting those responsible for the unfolding catastrophe.

There are two courses of action with the potential to break and defeat this skewed, oppressive, top-heavy, hierarchical system.

1) Imprisoning or killing the rich and powerful.

. . . and/or . . .

2) Vanquishing their control of all private and government institutions, then restructuring the entire system.

Neither is pleasant or easy. It seems, however, these two options are still on the table.

But let’s be clear. They won’t be for very long. Historical opportunity never arrives at a convenient time or when we expect it to. And it can disappear in a flash.

Moreover, while totalitarianism, oppression, abuse of power, class warfare, enslavement certainly never arrive at a convenient time, even a superficial glance at human history tells us these are what we can always expect.

Google ‘sociopaths’.

History also teaches us that the more ennobling, inspiring periods of history, those occasional surges that we deem progress, result from substantial numbers of people focusing on the challenges and uniting their energies, dedication, determination, creativity and time.

Focus and unite . . . the only solution.

Of course, often there have been violent revolutions — refer to #1 above — which create the conditions for comprehensive legal, systemic reform and restructuring — refer to #2 above. While nothing dictates that they are inseparable, again referring to history, we usually see them conjoined when the battle is in full swing.

I regret having to conclude with this, but there is a third possible course, the product of unprecedented technological advances, the direct result of humankind’s incredible ingenuity. Both our capacity to 1) generate life-terminating levels of toxicity in the environment and 2) produce weapons of war with total lethality for life on earth, puts the ultimate spanner in the works. We are in a race against time. If we continue to poison the planet and/or unleash the fury of nuclear war, other options become moot considerations. The end of the end game will be the end. Period. No sequel. No do overs.

Focus and unite . . . the only sane and possible solution.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

People Power – Part 2: Focus and Unite | John Rachel

People Power – Part 1: The Only Possible Path to Peace

Here’s the premise. If anyone can find a flaw in this logic, please let me know . . .

• The majority of US citizens want an end to war and reduced military spending.

• The defense budget can and must come way down.

• The DOD is not going to defund itself.

• Congress is not going to defund the DOD.

• The wealthy ruling elite makes huge amounts of money from war.

• As a captive of big money politics, Congress exclusively serves the ruling elite.

• Thus, Congress and their wealthy patrons will never willingly reduce defense spending.

• Only THE PEOPLE will take the initiative to shrink defense spending and end the wars.

• Current elected representatives are not listening and will never listen to THE PEOPLE.

• We must replace those now in office with ones who listen to and serve THE PEOPLE.

• So, the only path to peace is WE THE PEOPLE uniting politically and demanding it.

• We only vote for candidates who make an ironclad commitment to peace and diplomacy.

If there’s something missing or out of place here, please give us some helpful assistance. We’re always looking to improve our thinking.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

People Power – Part 1: The Only Possible Path to Peace | John Rachel

 

War is over if . . . | John Rachel

John Lennon was idealistic and inspiring. His lovely, if somewhat naive Imagine, embodied the hope and vision most of us share for a better, more peaceful world.

Personally, I appreciate Lennon’s genius even more listening to the background vocals and out-chorus of his phenomenal Christmas ode, Happy Xmas (War Is Over) . . .

The beautifully sung line that really catches my ear and fires my imagination is . . .

John and Yoko certainly had the right idea. It’s an idea most of us want to believe in!

At the same time, despite how good I genuinely feel entertaining such a thought, I see a problem here. That sentiment probably wasn’t true back in 1971 when the song was released, and it certainly is not true in today’s world.

The vast majority of people in the U.S. and across the globe want an end to the wars. But given the current configuration of political power, the realities of who decides where and when the next conflict will take place, what we the people think is completely irrelevant.

We everyday, sane, decent, peace-loving folks CANNOT stop the endless wars for a simple and obvious reason.

We are powerless!

I mean that literally, not figuratively.

WE HAVE NO POWER!

And the people who do have all of the power to make peace or wage war have no desire, have zero motivation to end their aggression, to stop creating more enemies, to reduce tensions, to once and forever retire war as the main mechanism of foreign policy.

In fact, all of the rewards and incentives for those now in power — the ruling elite and their lapdogs in government — are to escalate conflict and confrontation, beat the war drums louder and louder, increase misunderstanding, promote fear and mistrust, and accelerate the march into battle. The threat of war, preparation for war, and starting wars will be endlessly recycled until there is a complete, game-changing, paradigm-shifting challenge to the policies which define the way our government now deals with the rest of the world.

War is among the most profitable investments in play. And the turmoil and chaos resulting from war keeps the current batch of warmongers in power. They make money — enormous sums of money — and lock themselves in a position to make even more money.

Why would they lift a finger to seek peace?

Why would they care whether we want peace or not?

Why would they even pay attention to us when we question them?

Why would those who exclusively benefit and enrich themselves selling war, promoting war, manufacturing and marketing weapons, creating more justifications for more lethal fighting machinery, pushing for endless military expansion, why would these amoral, money-hungry, power-drunk empire builders and imperial plunderers declare ‘war is over’ JUST BECAUSE WE WANT IT?

No, as poignant and beautiful as John Lennon’s inspired and inspiring lyric line is, reality demands we reconfigure it. Maybe it doesn’t sing quite as well or create as warm and fuzzy a feeling in us as his original line. But this is the only way things will change . . .

That is the truth about peace in our time . . . or I should say, perpetual war in our time.

It’s up to us to change the disastrous trajectory that we’re on. It won’t be easy. “They” have the money, control of Congress, the federal bureaucracy, the media, most of academia and the think tanks. “They” have been building a permanent war economy from the 1950s, which even President Dwight Eisenhower tried to warn us about way back when.

On the other hand, we have the numbers. In fact, we vastly outnumber the warrior-class empire builders, and if we are unified, determined, focused, and have a solid plan, we can turn the country around and create the conditions for a world at peace.

It’s entirely up to us. Please get involved!

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

War is over if . . . | John Rachel

Whose Money Is It? | John Rachel

Let me throw out some very basic propositions. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Starting with a question: In a democratic country — government of the people, by the people, for the people — who “owns” the government’s money?

Either money is privately owned (people, companies, corporations, investment banks, etc) or it’s publicly owned.

If through taxes, bonds, borrowing, printing, digital creation, money is deposited in the U.S. Treasury for later disbursement, whose money is it? Who actually OWNS that money before it’s sent on its way to pay the bills?

Yes, Congress has the power and responsibility to decide where the money goes. The President has some discretion about spending money, as long as such disbursements are “legal”, that is, authorized by laws which specify the allocation of said monies and they are not in violation of the Constitution.

But Joe Biden doesn’t own it. Neither does Nancy Pelosi or Mitch McConnell or Chuck Schumer. It’s not their money.

Make no mistake about it, our leaders act as if it’s theirs. I mean this in both senses. Sometimes out of some misplaced sense of entitlement and sheer arrogance, these folks do act like the trillions that pass through the U.S. Treasury is their personal slush fund to do as they see fit.

The other is the strictly legal sense. In specific legal terms, government officials, regardless of how highly placed, are only empowered to act as trustees, to direct the disbursement of those funds, with the general understanding that such spending ultimately serves to “promote the general welfare” and to enable the functioning of the government, all of the foregoing ON BEHALF OF THE CITIZENRY.

In neither case, however, is the money actually theirs. As when we deposit money in a bank, the bank may have physical possession of it — whatever that means in a world of digital transactions and bookkeeping — but it’s still our money.

So who owns the money the government at any given time has in its coffers?

We could ask a similar question about public property and infrastructure. This might offer some guidance. Who owns the interstate highway system? Who owns the roads, ramps, bridges?

Yes, the obvious answer is the government. But as a democracy, as active participants in a system of self-government, aren’t WE the government?

I think there’s a basic but valid and useful understanding which we can insist on here.

Acknowledging that some have asserted via The Act of 1871 there has been a corporate framework, a legal entity — a legalistic sham — set up to accommodate the necessity of our federal government machinery having status and standing in the vast economic environs which we call domestically the national economy, which then participates in the vaster economic environment known as the world economy, I still think the best understanding of “ownership” when it comes to the commons is that WE THE PEOPLE collectively own the physical and financial assets of the United States of America. The CITIZENS. Not those charged with representing the needs, wants and priorities of the citizens, not those doing what needs to be done to realize in real terms what we democratically decide needs to be done — i.e. the Pelosis, McConnells, and Bidens in positions of power. It is WE THE PEOPLE who confer to them the power to act on our behalf, to protect, develop, expand those assets, ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE, serving our interests individually and collectively. That assignment of power is not without conditions; assumes transparency and full accountability; is not permanent in the sense that officials of government are not permanent fixtures (bureaucrats tend to be more enduring but certainly elected officials have fixed terms of service); can be withdrawn or withheld, though admittedly this is a cumbersome process; is not unlimited but reflects constitutional as well as statutory limitations, and whatever limits WE THE PEOPLE decide to impose.

It is WE THE PEOPLE who have original and overriding control — ownership? — of what passes through the Treasury and where that money goes. After all, it is OUR tax dollars which are collected and pooled to fund the government, it is in OUR name that bonds are floated and it is us who are directly obligated to repay at some future time the money borrowed to fund the government. It seems reasonable to conclude that until that money is disbursed for whatever reason and is on its way to creditors or the states or government contractors or paid as salaried to federal employees or sent to anyone who has a legitimate claim for payment, the money which is in the vaults and accounts of OUR government is OURS.

In an important sense, that money is collectivized, is subject to joint and collective ownership, before it is collected, as it’s collected, when it’s collected and finally sitting in the bank.

This applies to infrastructure and physical assets as well. Granted, we individually have no right to claim a chunk of asphalt from an interstate highway or one of the fingers from the statue of Abraham Lincoln overlooking the Capitol Mall. We collectively own such items and consent to leave it in trust so that we collectively can enjoy our common property, whatever its agreed purpose.

Why would we look at the hard cold cash inside the Treasury vaults or Fort Knox any differently?

On occasion we do, but we merely hint at the idea that it’s “our money”. Usually as submissive supplicants, grateful for some token generosity by our elected officials. For example, with the lockdowns, shutdowns, and shutouts incurred by the overreaction to the Covid-19 “pandemic”, it was decided by THOSE WE SENT TO WASHINGTON DC TO REPRESENT OUR INTERESTS — not by them as kings or princesses or queens or Führers — that we would get some Covid-19 relief checks. They were paltry but an example of WE THE PEOPLE benefitting individually as citizens, members of the collective whole, by having some of OUR MONEY SENT BACK TO US from the pool of collectively-owned money in the Treasury, in order to help us through the crisis.

What is my point?

Citizens cower before the federal government. Yes, it’s an awesome and frightening institution. It is massive in size and an imposing, all-encompassing presence in every aspect of our lives. And around the world. The overwhelming temptation is to see it 1) as some frightening, unapproachable, all-powerful, omnipotent behemoth, and 2) as an adversary, a separate entity, a force to be reckoned with.

It is not necessarily either. It’s only humbling, intimidating, incapacitating, oppressive, tyrannical, if we view it that way. To consider our government, at least within the theoretical framework of even our highly-compromised democracy, as “them” and we citizens as “us” is a self-fulfilling, self-sabotaging prophecy and a guarantee that those we do assign stewardship of our public affairs to, most certainly WILL misuse their power, WILL abuse us, WILL act like they “own it”, and DO A LOT OF THINGS which are contrary to our interests, if not ultimately destructive to the historic promise made to the world with the founding of our experiment in “self-rule”.

Does this sound like I’m talking some abstract principle? The stuff of academic or high-sounding rhetoric but not of the real world?

In practice, the impact of ignoring this idea is far from abstract. There are many very severe real world consequences.

Our timidity and imagined powerlessness has created the monster the federal government has become. Our accepting the false narrative of a two-party system has all but destroyed democracy. Our letting our leaders feed us lies without retribution, in fact our REWARDING our leaders for misleading and abusing us, is putting nails in our own coffins. Our letting the DOD use us as an ATM machine for endless wars and shopping sprees is bankrupting the country. Our sitting by idly while the Fed prints trillions of dollars and feeds it directly into accounts of the already appallingly rich, our accepting and swallowing the idiotic fairy tales of Make America Great Again and Build Back Better when these phony grand visions are just more vehicles for the strip mining of our economy and the destruction of the middle class, is immersing us in crippling delusions and willful ignorance. Our electing officials who enable and incentivize the ruin of our industrial and manufacturing base, and subsidize the export of good jobs is hiring criminals to rob us. Our willful ignorance about the havoc the U.S. wreaks around the world, creating the immigrant crisis we now face is poisoning us with racist nonsense and blinding us to the class war being waged on us. These and many more habits of laziness, cowardice, and neglect are coming home to roost. The mess we see ourselves in right now with the meltdown of the economy, the health crises (and there are many more beyond Covid-19), and the coming major conflicts with Russia and China, are just previews of coming attractions. This is not going to end well for ‘we the people’.

It’s our money.

It’s our country.

We better start acting like it.

[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]

Whose Money Is It? | John Rachel

Public Shaming

 

Many folks actually believe our elected "representatives" -- quotation marks are warranted since they don't in fact represent us at all -- listen to us.  To put it mildly, this is a bit naive.  The simple truth is, it's completely refuted by the facts.

Granted, these professional politicos put on a good show.  They all have at their disposal the best handlers, who tell them how to gesture and when to smile. They have the best speech writers money can buy, who twist words into incomprehensible but delightful-sounding gobbly-gook, smearing just the right among of cake frosting on often the most insidious acts of blatant treachery.  We buy into this three-ring circus because we foolishly trust these clowns.

We think that if we call their offices enough times, routed into the digital black hole of automated message machines; that if we attend the rare town hall meeting when he/she has found time between lunches with lobbyists, and fundraisers blessed by deep-pocketed corporate benefactors; if we sign online petitions, that add to the growing pile of tens of thousands of similar petitions; if we organize rallies and protests which while unreported by the media we're sure will attract some attention; if we write letters to the editor of our hometown newspapers, which in all probability won't get published but whose message will, we believe, still somehow magically get communicated; surely all of this effort will make a difference and we'll see some good, positive changes take place.

Talk about a disconnect!  Talk about willful denial!  Talk about delusional thinking!

Look around, folks.  Could it get worse for those of us with some humanity and decency?  Look at all levels of government. We have a card-carrying member of the .1% in the White House, lapdog puppets of the rich and powerful in control of both chambers of Congress, Republican majorities in all of the state legislatures, and Republicans also as governors of the majority of the states.

What does this mean?  What can we expect? 

Aristocrats and their pay-for-play toadies in high places are elitist and anti-democratic to the core, they are relentlessly greedy and insatiable, and will use their power to further enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

How will this end?

The ultra-rich have been and will continue to plunder our nation until there's nothing left to plunder, then they'll move on to other countries -- it's quite evident that the process is already well underway throughout Europe and Asia, funneling vast amounts of wealth to the already ultra-wealthy via hyper-capitalism and the neoliberal juggernaut.

Here's the straight talk, though it's not what you want to hear.

None of what we're doing works because . . .

The people we vote into office are not listening.  Not to you and I, the everyday citizen.

It's that simple.  We don't need to analyze this any further.  Sometimes it's just exactly what it appears to be.  If someone is laying in the middle of the street with six bullet holes in their head, brains scattered across the pavement, and a note pinned to their back which says, "I told you to stop hitting on my wife", we don't need an autopsy to see if maybe what the poor slob had for lunch caused his death.  Or whether maybe he's allergic to his new wristwatch band.

Our legislators are serving the rich and powerful and ignoring the needs of everyday folks like you and I.  Period!  It's right smack in front of our eyes.  This is not a rumor or a piece of conjecture.  The Princeton study by Professor Martin Gilens and Professor Benjamin Page in 2014 was unequivocal in its findings.

"Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organised groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on US government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence."

This means we are now forced to take DRASTIC ACTION.

I happen to know something that works.  Because it works with all public figures -- movie stars, pundits, sports celebrities, priests, ministers, rabbis, military leaders, pillars of the community -- and always works especially well on politicians.

Public shaming!

Some folks might be squeamish about humiliating so-called respectable and responsible men and women devoted to public service.  Don't they deserve better?

No, they don't!

They've sold out themselves and our political parties to a ruling class elite which is selfish, heartless, ruthless.  They made their own bed of nails, now let them sleep in it.  They made a bargain with the Devil.  They chose to align themselves with evil over selfless and honest service to the people who elected them to their wonderfully cushy jobs in Washington DC.  IT IS OUR PUBLIC DUTY TO CALL THESE PEOPLE OUT ON THEIR TREACHERY!

So . . .
Here is how we shame them, how we make it clear that we are fed up with the games, the deceptions, the double talk, the con.  This contract reflects what polls tell us by impressive margins what the vast majority of Americans want done.  And we put it to our politicos straight:  Will you sign or will you refuse to sign this contract before the next election?Dare any elected representatives stonewall us?  Refuse to sign?  Him-and-haw and make all sorts of ridiculous excuses about why they don't want to raise the minimum wage?  Say they can't get behind fair tax policies and closing tax loopholes?  Balk at providing decent health care to every U.S. citizen, refuse to cover the 35 million people now who currently without coverage?  Opt for having the elderly slip into poverty and hardship because fixing social security and Medicare might upset Wall Street hedge fund managers?  Insist that more young men and women should come home in body bags so we can protect oil, gas, and mineral interests in Afghanistan, Syria, every other place we've bombed recently?  Take the position that our electoral system is just dandy the way it is, that the evisceration of the democratic process by Citizens United and the corrupting influence of big money is just the way things have to be?  Declare climate change a lost cause and suggest that our children's children will just have to adjust to mass starvation, resource wars, and all of our coastal cities joining the Lost Continent of Atlantis, because some of our politicians were too dumb to make it through high school science class?

Here's what I say . . .

If our current congressman can't step up to the plate and play their very best game for the home team, they should be shamed, booed, reviled, scorned, humiliated, vilified, mocked, ridiculed, condemned, excoriated, burned if effigy!  That's if we're in a good mood.

Let them stew in the cauldron of the bad publicity they heap on themselves, then rot in a big foul steaming pile of their own wickedness, when we haul the garbage to the dump!

Now not everybody will agree with everything in the contract I've offered here.  There will be individuals who don't buy into every single item.  This is a work in progress and not written in stone. But the simple fact is, reputable polls tell us . . .

Most people buy into most of it.

Thus we have here the perfect device for drawing a line in the sand and asking candidates who are looking for our votes . . .

Are you on our side or not?  Will you sign this before the election in 2018?

Of course, the ultimatum inherent in this approach doesn't stop here.

Actually . . . it starts here.

This is the starting point for us everyday citizens taking control of the narrative, making a bold decisive claim on power that rightfully and constitutionally is ours in the first place, and putting all the smooth-talking, double-dealing incumbents on notice -- we can call it 'electoral probation' . . .

We've had it with the games.  We're watching your every move.  Shape up or ship out!

In my next posting, I'll explore how the above candidate contract will either get our elected officials to clean up their act, or if it looks like that won't be happening, will be used in the coming election to flush them out of Congress.


[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]



Public Shaming