Showing posts with label ruling elite. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ruling elite. Show all posts
Monday, February 3, 2025
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
‘Meggie’ Taylor Performs “War Is Making Us Poo
Rapper “Meggie” Megaton Taylor recorded my new anti-war song.
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]
Monday, January 13, 2025
War is making us poor?
Since 2006, I’ve been in 35 countries. Total over my lifetime is 44. I’ve been in extremely wealthy countries with sky-high standards of living — Sweden, Norway, Monaco, Switzerland, Austria — and been personally immersed in extreme poverty — Uganda, Kenya, Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Myanmar, Nepal. When I was in Kenya, I lived in a community called Mbita, that had no running water, no electricity, and we went to the bathroom in a hole in the ground. I bathed with the locals in Lake Victoria. All I had to bring was a bar of soap and a towel. But we had to be on guard. The local hippos were temperamental and often very aggressive.
Granted, compared to the extreme poverty in Kenya and other 3rd World countries, for most people life in the US is luxurious.
So . . . how can ‘war be making us poor’?
‘Poor’ is a relative term. The US constantly trumpets itself as the richest country in the world, the richest country in history! And via carefully compiled spread sheets prepared by neoliberal economists, we can find strong evidence for the claim.
However, facts on the ground for millions of American citizens, tell a different story.
The simple truth is that, yes, there are a handful of Americans who are doing incomprehensibly well. They have vast piles of money, huge stock and property portfolios, accounts in tax haven countries bulging at the seams. But this is at the very top of the economic ladder. This opulence and affluence is not shared with 99.9% of the rest of us. The brutal truth is, wealth inequality has become so extreme, it has gutted our economy of vitality, undermined what used to be a diverse and robust manufacturing base, inaugurated “casino capitalism”, i.e. rabid financialization and speculation, and stranded ordinary citizens without what many other countries consider the “basics” of a healthy functioning society. For everyday people, while they may not have to bathe in local streams and lakes, these changes — which only benefit the wealthy elite — have made life increasingly difficult. Opportunities are disappearing and for the middle and working classes, just surviving and maintaining an acceptable living standard has become an increasingly daunting challenge.
Travelers from America, gone for extended periods of time and traveling in some of the better-off countries — including, by the way, Russia and China — report being shocked when they return to the US . . . shocked at the condition of our basic infrastructure, by the filth of our cities, by the level of homelessness, by the general quality of life they see. They are shocked and appalled by the level of anxiety, depression, and often anger and hostility which has become the norm. People are anxious, confused, frustrated, often frightened.
I’m not going to compare the US with Bangladesh or Haiti. Or Monaco or Switzerland. But I think it’s realistic to contrast what the US has become, first, to what it claims to be; and second, what it, as the “richest country in the world”, by its own reckoning should be.
I suggest you read my book. It’s very eye-opening. It’s not just a catalog of misery. It both takes aim at the primary cause of our economic malaise and decline — endless war, unnecessary and accelerating militarization of our society — and points the way for citizens to directly intervene and reverse the disintegration, before the US can no longer function as a nation.
The decline is almost imperceptibly gradual but there’s no doubt about what’s happening: War is bankrupting the US politically, spiritually, socially, and economically.
We can do better.
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]
Friday, December 30, 2022
Brainwashing Is Not a Form of Personal Hygiene
BRAINWASHING IS NOT A FORM OF PERSONAL HYGIENE.
Nor is being brainwashed a guarantee of personal bliss, though it’s becoming apparent that there are many who swear by it.
It’s like reverence for innocence. Well, yes, kids sure are sweet, unsullied, open, positive, vibrant, curious. They wear their innocence well and we all envy their abandon. But we’re protecting them. So we bear all the risks and potential for endangerment. They play. We watch the playground to make sure there are no perverts, rabid dogs, or kidnappers.
As adults, it’s a different story. ‘Ignorance is bliss’ and ‘What you don’t know won’t hurt you’ work for a while . . . until the axe falls. Or the bill comes due. Or the door is kicked down in the middle of the night. Being stupidly innocent as an adult can bring heartache and tragedy, in fact, typically does. While embracing wholesome open-mindedness and holistic trust, so as to not preclude learning and discovery, we are also well-advised to maintain a wary eye for the sham, the con, the manipulation, the lie, the entire range of possible mischief humans are capable of.
From what I now see reported on the news, such prudence is no longer at all possible. Evidence would suggest that a dam has been breached. A tsunami of misinformation, disinformation, fake news, deep fakes, propaganda, calculated deceptions, accompanied by a bottomless barrel of salacious scandals and mindless trivia, has flooded the once-habitable terrain of public discourse and understanding. We are drowning in bullshit.
It shows. People are becoming confused, erratic, and increasingly desperate. We’re being constantly bombarded with bad news, rendering us numb, dumb, wary and increasingly frightened. It seems that folks are stressed out to the max. We have the firing squad of 24/7 if-it-bleeds-it-leads news coming at us from every direction. We’re surrounded by crises, personal, political, national, international. It’s beyond overwhelming.
This makes us hunger for both relief and anything that will make sense out of the chaos.
Which renders many, if not most people, vulnerable to brainwashing.
I recently saw a compilation of talking heads relentlessly hammering home completely vaporous, frankly ridiculous but engaging, arresting, highly charged, and clearly effective memes. I presume that a majority of citizens, already reeling and punch drunk from years of propaganda, hearts and minds filled with hatred and fear, stumbling about in the house of mirrors that media has become, react to a frightening degree by buying into what these people are saying. Repetition is like kickboxing. Or like kneading dough. It’s just a matter of time before the target succumbs to persistence and becomes a subdued and unresisting lump, next to be carted off on a stretcher or put in the oven. Or in the case of the TV/smart phone-addicted public, put in a coma-like trance, a hypnotic stupor, an obedient oblivion. Cut to KFC commercial or ad for a miracle age spots remedy. Launch the cruise missiles.
Here’s the video (if you can handle epic levels of tedious repetition).
Seriously? We are fine with media messaging that’s like Chinese water torture? To have our brainwaves flat-lined by nonsensical, hyperventilating, Orwellian vapor. This is not news reporting. To think so is like mistaking a metronome for a symphony orchestra.
But that’s where we’re at.
To suggest for even a moment that somehow this state of mental paralysis came about organically, the result of societal entropy or personal devolution — as if random impulse, modernity, complexity, technology, solar flares, pollen, coronavirus, climate change, over-the-counter drugs, 5G, GMOs, aspartame, and ozone depletion, randomly interacted and the default became wholesale stupidity — is both foolhardy and extremely dangerous. It didn’t just happen. It is part of a plan. That plan is about control and oppression, gross manipulation and enslavement.
Let’s give credit where it’s due. Our manipulators, our oppressors, our autocratic puppet masters, are phenomenal at what they do. They’re organized; they’ve got the bucks; they’ve gained a total monopoly over the seats of power and the social/political levers of control; they are unencumbered by ambivalence, morals, common decency; they are merciless, ruthless, focused.
For just a single but highly representative example, read this article about how the lunatic power elite work to shape the entire narrative about the conflict in Ukraine.
Now, take that level of calculated deceit, cold manipulation, audacity, unscrupulousness, ruthlessness, arrogance, pernicious intent, disdain for we the people, and scornful sense of entitlement, then replicate it over the entire spectrum of social/political ills, crises, and dysfunction — the things we whine about and debate constantly: the economy, wealth inequality, corporate welfare, socialism for corporations and Wall Street, our deteriorating education system, our crumbling infrastructure, our fake democracy, the ruling elite-controlled two-party duopoly, Covid-19 “pandemic”, our entire shameful health care system, the destruction of labor unions, the criminalizing of dissent, the marginalization and disempowerment of minorities, the Fed, the CDC, the FDA, the FCC, censorship, citizen surveillance, our two-tier justice system, and perhaps the worst and most egregious of them all, the expanding militarization of our country and its foolhardy, suicidal pursuit of world conquest.
Yes, just imagine all of this contention as the product of sociopaths and power-drunk bullies, who have no sense of duty to country, or responsibility to you and I normal everyday citizens, smug self-anointed sociopathic despots who are incapable of conceiving of, inaugurating, and promoting anything which doesn’t serve the narrow agenda of an ultra-wealthy ruling aristocratic class — truly sinister malefactors who live and breathe to humiliate and subjugate others, abuse their power and privilege, gain advantage and mount incomprehensible piles of money and affluence, regardless of the harm and suffering it causes everyone else.
Yes, imagine that!
But wait! . . . you don’t have to imagine it after all. You just have to look around you.
Because that is exactly what is going on.
This is what we end up with when WE THE PEOPLE lose control of our country.
This is what we end up with when self-serving oligarchs control the narrative.
This is what we end up with when fed a 24/7 diet of lies and propaganda.
Now the question is: What can we do?
The answer couldn’t be simpler. Or more difficult.
This is where improbable teams up with impossible. Because the only way to stop this is through individual responsibility — everyday citizens taking charge, both of their own lives and our government. The existing private and public institutions which have engineered this juggernaut of blind ignorance and social control surely are not going to change. The puppets of the oligarchy we dutifully “elect” to represent we the people know who butters their bread. They and their ruling elite sponsors reap huge rewards from keeping us dumb and misinformed. So if anything is going to reverse this disastrous course, it will be us as individuals, hopefully working collectively to provide support and reinforcement, wielding the power of ‘NO’.
Obviously, this is a very tall order, as epic in scale as apocalyptic it is to be on the present course. We have to be honest. Perhaps it’s impossible. Old habits die hard. For most of our lives, we everyday folks, busy with their personal lives and trusting by nature, have relied on what we thought were worthy, reliable government spokespersons, TV news anchors, elected representatives, thought leaders, even celebrities, for the honest scoop on the specific events going on across our nation, more generally for our broad understanding of the world out there beyond our immediate reach. But slowly, imperceptibly, they turned on us. They increasingly recited from a intentionally faulty script, designed to hide the truth and substitute a fabricated reality. This was calculated — correctly so — to make us easily manipulable, often voting and behaving against our own interests. They fooled us so many times, we lost count and became completely detached from reality. Evidence? Look at what we put up with as citizens. We are treated abysmally, our government no longer works for us, and somehow we maintain pride in a nation which regards us as some necessary evil it needs to patronize with hollow promises and fairy tales about exceptionalism and greatness.
Most Americans now are totally brainwashed. We everyday citizens have no idea that those who we were certain we could trust are now lying to us with every breath they take. Any resemblance between what we are told and reality is a coincidence, or a convenience because it just happens to fit with the web of lies which surrounds it.
That’s hard for anyone to swallow. It’s depressing, demoralizing, unsettling, infuriating. Worse, “staying informed” has always been and still is so convenient. Just flip on the News at 6, read Time or Newsweek or USA Today. Scroll through Yahoo News on a smartphone. These wonderful trusted sources look and feel as they always have. But now they’re all streams of toxic misinformation and propaganda. And most people have no clue.
So quite honestly, I’m not very optimistic.
But of one thing I’m sure. We can stop this. We know what to do.
The only question is: Will we develop the presence of mind and resolve to . . . ?
STOP DRINKING THE KOOL-AID!
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]
Monday, September 26, 2022
The Ultimate Wedge Issue Test
One of my recent articles prompted a brief but revealing exchange.
This person accurately pointed out that my proposed electoral strategy required an enormous amount of work.
Why should this come as a surprise? The ruling elite has over five decades contributed millions of dollars, tens of thousands of hours, gone to great lengths to take our democracy apart, skew the laws to maximize their profits, marginalize and silence opposition, reduce the voice of everyday citizens to a pathetic whimper, perhaps worst of all, promoted war and ecological destruction, bringing us face-to-face to possible human extinction. And we should expect to undo all of this with an article here and there, a few comments, and some Twitter and Facebook posts?
I don’t mean to criticize or mock anyone. But I get this all of the time and every time I’m truly astounded that well-meaning, concerned progressives think there’s some quick and easy defense to the wrecking ball taken to the building blocks of our “democracy” and the value system that underpins it, and to repair the colossal damage already done by the oligarchs to our current quality of life and potential for a decent and harmonious future.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen and everything in between, there’s a lot of work to be done. And with some reservations, I’m inspired by the enormous amount of energy and time devoted by the few sane activists among us.
Unfortunately, almost all of that energy and time is completely wasted. It isn’t going anywhere and never will without some serious rethinking and creative strategizing.
Change is impossible without “the people” and the vast majority of people are pretty much left scratching their heads at BLM, woke, cancel culture, Antifa, QAnon, Proud Boys, build back better, and especially the incapacitating, binary weaponizing of everything into left vs. right, Republican vs. Democrat, and all related iterations: liberal vs. conservative, Trump vs. Biden/Sanders/Clinton.
Here’s the main problem as I see it. People vote against their own interests because they’re overwhelmed, confused, misdirected, brainwashed. They step into the voting booth thinking they’re voting for one thing and end up getting the opposite. The science of messing with people’s minds has surpassed quantum physics in sophistication. Soon we’ll all be implanted with neural interfaces and directly turned into clueless, obedient drones. But that’s for another article.
What I try to do is introduce issue-by-issue some genuine clarity. Remove any possible ambiguity or misinterpretation. If you want this, then do that. To the point of this article, if you want to know if the candidate you’re voting for is truly on your side, then perform a simple, straightforward, sensible test. You can and will know. The result will be a clear and unambiguous ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
That in a nutshell is the whole idea behind the electoral strategy I’ve been talking about for ten years. Another topic for yet another piece, as if I hadn’t already written three books and hundreds of such articles already. But for now let me quickly reiterate, the candidate contract electoral strategy represents issue-by-issue clarity and real choice. A candidate is either for the proposed change, or against it. He or she signs on the dotted line making their commitment crystal clear. If they sign, we know where they stand. If they don’t sign we know where they stand. In either case, we as voters know exactly what to do.
Why don’t current activist demands for real change ever make a difference?
Two reasons . . .
FIRST: They are directed at the wrong people. They are directed at those in power who are not listening, will not act, will never listen, will never act favorably. We only need to look at the record to know this is true. Very legitimate, extremely popular reforms simply NEVER GET DONE. Do I need to mention a few?
• Decent good-paying jobs
• Fair, equitable, livable wages
• Health care reform (Medicare4all)
• Serious attention to climate change
• Election reform (getting $$s out of politics)
• Law enforcement and comprehensive prison reform
• Ending the wars (reversing military expansion)
• Comprehensive immigration reform
Mind you, there are huge consensuses on these and similar issues. How do we know what these areas of agreements are? There’s no mystery. Poll after poll, year after year, point to pretty much the same things. Without exception, concerns about the economy are at the top of the list. People now more than ever are struggling. The American Dream is fading and prospects for the future are becoming increasingly bleak.
SECOND: Many activists are personally committed to a cause, feel enormous passion for that cause, can’t imagine a world without it, can’t imagine any decent, aware human being being opposed to that cause.
Unfortunately, they’re often wrong and despite their best efforts, nothing changes, nor will it ever change. Either the object of their devotion is unpopular and/or it simply doesn’t even get noticed. There’s not sufficient public awareness, perhaps little enthusiasm, for whatever they’re promoting. Such niche issues are important and can be addressed when we have a Congress and White House listening to and on the side of the people. But until we put in power who actually represent the interests of the vast majority of citizens — NOT those of the ruling elite, Wall Street, the MIC, big banks and big corporations — NOTHING WILL GET DONE for the people. PERIOD!
These two undercurrents are intertwined and synergistic . . . in the worst possible way. Making impassioned pleas to our elected officials when they’re not listening is a non-starter and enormous waste of energy and resources. Focusing on issues which have little popular support ends up discrediting activists and knee-capping more promising activism, all too often turning the majority of citizens off. This not only drives away support, but infects the citizenry with cynicism about anything positive ever getting done. Predictably, resignation and apathy sets in. Just look around. Look at the comments we see on articles like this. Hopelessness is growing. Surrender is the new pandemic.
The system is rigged … AGAINST US, WE THE PEOPLE.
It’s certainly foolhardy to think that the people who benefit from the rigging are going to unrig it. They will continue to do what they’ve been doing. Serving themselves. Ignoring us. They will thrive. We will suffer.
Maybe naively I believe we can refocus, unite, change things. Maybe foolishly I believe we can rock the boat enough to get the scoundrels on board into the drink, without sinking the ship.
But I don’t think so.
We can fight this but we have to work together.
So what do we do?
First, we apply the Ultimate Wedge Issue Test. What is that? There are certain issues which are crucial to the survival of our nation as a democracy which “promotes the general welfare.” The test determines who is in favor of a nation that works for everyone, not just a privileged elite, and who is too selfish, myopic or misinformed to want what is the foundation of our society … equality, justice, peace, harmony, opportunity.
This is the wedge. Either you’re for working together as a society . . . or you’re for continuing on the road to oligarchy, tyranny, fascism. This applies both to citizen voters and candidates for office.
I sincerely believe that the majority of citizens want a country that works for everybody.
Issue-by-issue we find out what we as citizens think is important, then issue-by-issue we see which candidates are willing to commit to getting the job done.
We only vote for those candidates who are on the side of the vast majority of Americans.
No excuses. No compromise. No exceptions.
While applying the “wedge test”, we always keep in mind, this has nothing to do with party or label or ideology. It’s strictly about where candidates come down on those items which the vast majority of citizens have targeted as essential — in most cases things we’ve needed all along — things across the board that haven’t been getting done.
As I said, we all already know what these issues are. And we know those now in office have not nor will they ever support us in promoting and instituting the necessary reforms, such that WE THE PEOPLE get what’s long overdue . . . a fair stake in the vast wealth, blessings, and opportunities of the allegedly richest country in history.
WE ONLY VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO GUARANTEE RESULTS.
Not just talk about it. Not just say pretty words and make empty campaign promises. Not just continue to spew out sound bites and pleasant-sounding word salad so we will again trust them, fall for their shallow rhetoric, and vote these hypocrites back into office.
Enough is enough!
ONLY VOTE FOR CANDIDATES WHO GUARANTEE THEY WILL LISTEN TO AND SERVE THE NEEDS OF EVERYDAY CITIZENS.
It’s that simple. I didn’t say easy. No way will this be easy. But it’s certainly simple.
It starts with us no longer being gullible fools. Those in power will continue to lie to us, continue rigging the system in their favor and that of their patrons, the privileged elite, if we let them.
But we can stop this right now. By getting serious about installing a government of the people, by the people, for the people. By electing “people’s candidates” who have proven themselves worthy of our vote.
No negotiation. No compromise. No fear.
It’s our future. It’s up to us.
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]
Friday, July 15, 2022
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 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 ]
Wednesday, July 13, 2022
“Daddy is a drunk!”
I’ve spent at least ten years talking about “regime change in Washington DC”, trying to explain exactly what that entails, and why it’s necessary for the survival of our nation.
Here’s my last go at it. Daddy is a drunk! It’s an allegory.
Before I start with this heartwarming story about a dad who’s a drunk, let me just make one qualifier. When I advocate regime change in our nation’s capitol, I’m not suggesting a violent revolution. In fact, the idea is to AVOID that, because if there is a violent overthrow of authorities here in the U.S., I have no doubt it will be the bloodiest, most horrifying one in history. We as a citizenry are armed to the teeth, are obsessed with and glorify violence in our myths about ourselves as people and as a nation. Even those who claim to abhor violence seem inexplicably tolerant, with all sorts of rationalizations for never getting serious about eliminating guns or attempting to refashion a culture which is predicated on less adversity, competition, and confrontation. I’m not here to argue any of that. I’m just stating the obvious. If there’s another civil war, it will be a bloodbath.
Regime change, from my perhaps naive perspective — and I do mean total regime change — can be accomplished peacefully, humanely, and legally. But understand what I mean is truly, in fact, without qualification or compromise: REGIME CHANGE. It is removing every single person now holding public office from power and replacing them with qualified public officials who will actually serve the citizens of the country.
Today’s message is directed to the hugely vast majority of fellow citizens, who to my utter and complete astonishment, don’t see any need to replace ALL OF THEM. They don’t see that there are times in life, when things can’t be repaired. Something is so broken, it simply has to be tossed in the trash and replaced.
On to the most touching story you’ll read in the next several minutes.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Daddy Is A Drunk!
Daddy in his twenties was pretty much like most guys his age. He liked to go out and have a good time with his buddies. Have a few beers. Cheer the home team at a sports bar.
When he married mom, they’d occasionally share wine with the meal at a nice restaurant, or even once or twice a month have cocktails with their friends or other young couples.
Twenty years later, daddy was a different human being. The kids were in high school, he worked very hard and since he’d been very successful at his job, he didn’t “hang out” with his personal buddies anymore, but spent a lot of time socializing with colleagues from the corporation he worked at, and VIPs from the international customer base they serviced. Lots of travel now. High pressure and high stakes. But he got paid very well for it.
There was one problem. Now he drank constantly. Morning to night. He literally started the day with two stiff tumblers of bourbon, either of which would put most people on their tushies. Drinks at lunch. Drinks at happy hour. As soon as he arrived at home, he’d pour large glasses of whiskey, drink through dinner, then cap the night off with a few “sweet dreams” shots of liqueur before collapsing in a sloppy stupor on their king-size bed.
Daddy was a drunk.
But it wasn’t just his problem. It was a problem for every member of the family, for the few friends he and mommy still had, sometimes even for neighbors. Like when he drove his new Porsche onto the lawn of the neighbors next door, and wiped out $3000 of their professionally-landscaped lawn and garden.
Daddy had changed from a affable, well-liked, often funny, always entertaining young man into a ego-maniacal, self-possessed, graceless, humorless prick. Oh yes, he could still pour on the charm, even be funny, and in his own self-aggrandizing way be entertaining, nice, sympathetic, affable, whatever the occasion might call for. But the Mr. Fun Guy act would eventually fall apart, and behind the scenes he’d again become Mr. Hyde. Life at home was unbearable. He ranted. He paced. Appeared angry most of the time. Never took any real joy or satisfaction out of being there with his wife and kids.
It was tearing the family apart. Correction. Since this had been going on for three years — it started right when their oldest boy started high school — it had already torn the family apart. There was nothing left to salvage. The kids hated daddy. The wife hated daddy.
Over the three years, there had been five sessions of marriage counseling. Daddy had even agreed on and off to get psychiatric help. At least six times Daddy had been in and out of Alcoholics Anonymous. He’d even been to a hypnotist. Except for very brief periods off the bottle — only days, not weeks — it was the same story. And getting worse by the day.
Within the family — at least at first — they’d talk to daddy, plead with him, try to reason with him. They said all the right things. They thought what they said was persuasive and would make a difference: Daddy, you’re destroying yourself. Daddy, when you drink, you’re not the same person we know and love . Daddy, we just want to be with you and want what’s best for you. Daddy, you’ll be a much happier person — we’d all be happier — if you stop drinking. Daddy, you’re going to die if you keep this up. Please, daddy!
Through it all, with the rare glimpses of the pain and havoc he was creating in their lives, with a fleeting awareness that he had a serious problem, that he was hurting himself and those he who loved him, daddy would listen and apologize, promise to do better and claim he really appreciated their concern and help. He would do what was best for all of them and quit. Of course, that never happened. After only a few days off the bottle, when he went back, it seemed like he even drank more.
And so the family was — and still is — facing one stark, disheartening, unavoidable reality.
Daddy is a drunk.
Mommy can’t take it anymore. The verbal abuse. No affection. Nothing resembling companionship. No possibility of communication. Nothing could be done to fix things.
It was time for a drastic solution.
Daddy had to go. He had to be removed from the family before he did any more harm.
Mommy filed for and won a divorce. Daddy was gone.
If life was generous, mommy would find another man to love, to love her, and be the father to the kids they deserved.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
What’s the moral of the story? Sometimes things get so bad, there’s so much damage and bad history, you have to start all over.
That’s where we are at with our government, with the elected officials now in office, who time and again, over and over, make it clear they do not and will not serve the people who elected them to do just that. They are beholden to their deep-pocketed patrons, both major parties serve the ruling class. The connection between WE THE PEOPLE and those who are chosen — not by us but by the pay-for-play insiders of the Democratic and Republican parties — for us to vote for on election day, exists as a figment of fantasy, the product of very effective and very deceptive messaging. Regardless of what these puppets say during their money-drenched electoral campaigns, they are not on the side of the people.
We can’t take this anymore. We should be mad as hell!
The abuse of power. No loyalty to the voting public. They sidle up to us when they want our votes, then disappear inside the Washington DC bubble. They talk at us. They don’t listen. The iron grip of the rich and powerful on our current elected officials is absolute. There’s no fixing anything with those now in office.
It’s time for drastic action.
These lapdogs of the rich and powerful need to go. They must be removed before they do anymore damage. Examples: More looting of the Treasury to serve Wall Street and the big investment banks. More stalling on climate change, minimum wage, health care, abortion, criminal justice reform, election reform, infrastructure. None of it will get done. What will get done is privatizing social security, more tax breaks for corporations and the rich . . . MORE WAR!
Throw these bums out! You could randomly go through a telephone directory and select names and come up with a better Congress and White House than this circus of clowns who now pose as our national leaders. No . . . I’m not being funny. I’m dead serious!
And you should be too.
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . https://jdrachel.com ]
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He’s a big guy with a big voice!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcsmULNyt7E