No Negotiating With Terrorists

 

"No negotiating with terrorists!"

Now that's something I can get behind.

A terrorist not only doesn't share the same goals as you and I, they also don't play by the same rules.  
Terrorists are the ultimate bullies.  They will lie, cheat, steal, even murder, in order to get their way.  The ends justify the means.  They're right, we're wrong.  Terrorists can't fathom compromise, so what is the point of negotiating?

We face terrorism on many fronts and at many levels because sociopathy and barbarism are not subtle or selective.  Perhaps they represent bad wiring in some small but wickedly destructive sub-class of humans, or maybe we all carry the defect, but it only rises up to preempt the better instincts among a minority of us.

In either case, if we don't want to be "terrorized" into submission, we must decisively stand our ground and entertain no compromise.

"No negotiating with terrorists!"

The United States has become a terrorist nation.

Not you and I as such . . . because regular folks like us are generally peaceful and sane.

Unfortunately, we no longer have any say in the decisions and direction of the country.

But there is a national agenda, driven on many fronts at many different levels, promoted in our names as citizens of the country, which has transformed the U.S. into the greatest scourge in the history of the planet.  We have unbridled power coupled with no coherent political philosophy, fueled by unchecked imperial ambition and delusions of world rule, unimpeded by considerations of morality or sensitivity to the value of human life.

U.S. terrorism expresses itself internationally as wars, regime changes, special operations missions, economic manipulation and interference, cyber and propaganda warfare, and is implemented with the forward-basing of troops, NGOs, embedded intelligence agents, foreign mercenaries, and often outright military occupation of over 140 countries.

All of this is conceived, planned, and coordinated from within our own borders.  Often it reflects official, if not always publicly-known, foreign policy.  Sometimes it grows out of legacy policies and practices, the product of a group-think world view which has a life of its own established over decades, one which embraces the unquestioned and until recently unchallenged role of the U.S. as the world's policeman and sole superpower.

While we can find fault in the workings of the loose collective of institutions which make up what is now called the Deep State, much direct blame for our terrorism can be assigned to the CIA.  This 70-year-old agency has become the main engine for projecting U.S power, providing the foot soldiers, technology and weaponry, for a vast majority of catastrophes we have precipitated over the past sixty years.  The list of sovereign nations the U.S. has illegally meddled and decisively interfered with -- compiled by the brilliant and highly-acclaimed historian and geopolitical analyst William Blum -- is as formidable as it is disgraceful (please note: *indicates the successful overthrow of a government):

• China 1949 to early 1960s
• Albania 1949-53
• East Germany 1950s
• Iran 1953 *
• Guatemala 1954 *
• Costa Rica mid-1950s
• Syria 1956-7
• Egypt 1957
• Indonesia 1957-8
• British Guiana 1953-64 *
• Iraq 1963 *
• North Vietnam 1945-73
• Cambodia 1955-70 *
• Laos 1958 *, 1959 *, 1960 *
• Ecuador 1960-63 *
• Congo 1960 *
• France 1965
• Brazil 1962-64 *
• Dominican Republic 1963 *
• Cuba 1959 to present
• Bolivia 1964 *
• Indonesia 1965 *
• Ghana 1966 *
• Chile 1964-73 *
• Greece 1967 *
• Costa Rica 1970-71
• Bolivia 1971 *
• Australia 1973-75 *
• Angola 1975, 1980s
• Zaire 1975
• Portugal 1974-76 *
• Jamaica 1976-80 *
• Seychelles 1979-81
• Chad 1981-82 *
• Grenada 1983 *
• South Yemen 1982-84
• Suriname 1982-84
• Fiji 1987 *
• Libya 1980s
• Nicaragua 1981-90 *
• Panama 1989 *
• Bulgaria 1990 *
• Albania 1991 *
• Iraq 1991
• Afghanistan 1980s *
• Somalia 1993
• Yugoslavia 1999-2000 *
• Ecuador 2000 *
• Afghanistan 2001 *
• Venezuela 2002 *
• Iraq 2003 *
• Haiti 2004 *
• Somalia 2007 to present
• Honduras 2009
• Libya 2011 *
• Syria 2012
• Ukraine 2014 *

Among these, at the urging and with the active partnering of the CIA, are 35 countries ruled by horrifyingly oppressive dictators, fascist regimes, drug lords, and jihadists.

This has not just dramatically, malignantly, affected the international order.  It has also created enormous resentment, and generated enemies where there were none before.  In that sense, it is a self-perpetuating reign of mayhem and chaos, keeping the world in flux and disarray, constantly producing even more threats to our country which then, in the adversarial and combative mindset of the CIA, requires further meddling and mayhem.

We have to be honest with ourselves and judiciously apply the same standards across the board when judging such anti-democratic, autocratic abusers of power.  If we've been able thus far to rationalize distressing signs that the CIA was slowly becoming a rogue security agency -- dismissing sordid leaks and disturbing discoveries as isolated rare instances of individual acts of overzealousness and insubordination -- the recent revelations provided by Wikileaks with the publication of their Vault 7 documents provides concrete proof that the CIA has been completely out-of-control for a very long time, and what should truly disturb us is that such behavior is not the exception but the rule.

With terrorist organizations like the ISIS, al Nusra, al Qaeda, and now our own CIA, it is impossible to integrate them with more tempered and balanced institutions, especially in what is portrayed as the institutional framework of a democracy.  These elements violate national and international law and treaties, arrogantly scoff at diplomatic protocol, are adverse to power-sharing, spurn the time-honored boundaries of common sense and decency, and are ruthlessly callous and amoral.

It's the way unchecked power evolves, how a parasite will ultimately kill its host.

We now have little choice.  The CIA and all traces of it must be eradicated, except for an archival installation in the Smithsonian Institute as a warning to future generations.

This is now a matter of survival for the U.S. and perhaps the human race.

We have inadvertently created a monster and lost control.  The CIA is incompatible with the survival of a free, open, just, democratic society.

Understandably, the CIA will plead the case for its own institutional survival.

But the case is closed.  There is nothing more to discuss.

"No negotiating with terrorists!"



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



No Negotiating With Terrorists

The Peace Movement in America: Status Report

 

What's that sound I hear?

Is it the masses of America demanding? . . .

Peace!  Peace Now!  We Want Peace!

Oops!  My mistake.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news . . .

It's actually a death rattle.  The low guttural burbling of a movement on its death bed.
The sad truth is that the peace movement in America is in a coma, just a whimper away from an inglorious burial in an unmarked grave behind the county dump.

When is the last time more than a few hundred showed up at a massive rally for peace?

Is there hope?

I'd like to think there is. 

But we have to be realistic.  If we're going to have a serious national conversation about peace, ending the senseless self-sabotaging wars, and taking America off permanent war footing, we must approach everyday citizens in language they understand, in terms they can embrace, in a way that is so powerful and over-the-top they can't possibly ignore it.

The Peace Dividend concept is just that.  It's so extreme and outside-the-box -- not that that discredits or invalidates it in the least -- it can only get traction from two sources.

Either a bold and charismatic politician makes it central to his public oratory and serious political agenda.  Obama, Sanders, and (I hate to admit it) Trump would all be capable of "selling" it.  Obama and Sanders both love war.  Trump is mentally challenged.  Maybe there's another MLK out there somewhere.  We can dream!

Or we must look to the second and more likely path, which is through citizen demand.

Yet another senseless war breaks out.  Body bags are piling up.  The national debt begins skyrocketing.  People have finally had it.  They are sick of empire building, endless wars, appalling waste.  This scenario could unfold sooner than we think.  We have a tough guy president who's just proposed a 10% increase in our already bloated military budget, we have both major parties screaming for war.  Major confrontation with Iran, China, Russia -- or all three -- is on the horizon.

Unfortunately, when that happens all chaos will be unleashed, the fog and frenzy of battle will roll over everyone like a toxic oil spill, the media will go into hyper-drive to "support our troops", the imbeciles who led us into the conflagration will be grandstanding and/or pointing fingers of blame at everyone else, and clearer heads will be lopped off in displays of fanatic super-patriotism as the media fills our eyes and ears with tales of valor, sacrifice, and super-human acts of heroism.  It will be a bullshit storm of epic proportions.

So we need to act . . . and we need to act now!

We should be sounding the alarm loud and clear:  People need to know about the "rip off" of their tax dollars and the grotesque lies being told to promote slaughter across the planet purely to stuff the coffers of the military corporations and their rich beneficiaries.

We could be doing this right now.  There already exists a phenomenal network of peace activism.  But these organizations are totally ineffective now because their message, 1) is not getting heard, 2) is not engaging, 3) is stale and boring.  I have contacted hundreds of these groups and their spokespersons.  No one is interested in new ideas.  These include a lot of very famous peace activists (you would definitely recognize most of the names).

So . . .

Either I'm crazy.

Or . . .

These peace creeps can't get their heads around the idea that for 40 years now, continuing right up to the present, they have completely failed.  The old methods and battle cries from the Vietnam War days haven't worked since the 70s.  These folks need a new paradigm.  They need new memes.  They need both a new message and better messaging.

Just look around.  We just had a Peace Prize president who dropped 26,171 bombs last year on countries we're not even at war with.  The U.S. has engaged in massive military aggression in eight countries since the peace dividend was originally promised in 1992.  We are now in an open-ended war on terror that is making us and the entire world less safe.  Our military is the scourge of the planet!

Is the current peace movement actually going to claim they're making progress?  That the demonstrations, petitions, bumper stickers are working?  [Insert Einstein's definition of insanity here.]

The Peace Dividend concept is not some impulse, some catchy phrase developed over a bowl of hashish.  It's a fully developed strategy.  I've outlined what the approach entails, how it can be effected, how it can be paid for.  This last point is the important.  The Peace Dividend refund, because of its scale and the way it's underwritten, drives a host of other progressive reforms.  It is a watershed for massive realignment of our priorities and use of financial resources.  Seems like that would be worth paying attention to.

If you know anyone working in the anti-war organizations, please tell them they absolutely must take a look at my plan.  Singing Give Peace A Chance doesn't cut it anymore.  Neither does getting a peace sign tattooed to your forehead.

The world is rushing headlong toward world war, risking nuclear annihilation and the end of the human race.  Eliminating geopolitical idiocy, imperial hubris, and monomaniacal delusions of conquest by challenging our warmongering elites with an effective plan of action should be what shapes and defines the struggle of those noble organizations attempting to abolish war and promote peace throughout the world. 

A strategy like the Peace Dividend must be the centerpiece giving focus to their efforts.

Otherwise, the next time I file an update, the response will be . . .

"What peace movement?"

---

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets.

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / UK . . . amzn.to/2cKXFsV
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl


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




The Peace Movement in America: Status Report

War On Terror = More Terrorism and More War = More Terrorism and More War = . . .

We can talk and talk, cite all sorts of statistics, construct marvelous narratives, collect anecdotes, offer incisive and powerful analysis.  But sometimes a few charts says it far better than any amount of verbiage.

Look at these and you tell me how the War On Terror is going.  See if you see the same obvious connection between America's military intervention and geopolitical meddling and the growing threat of terrorism.


I remember a truly idiotic joke from my youth.  Pathetically it seems relevant here.

"Why do you keep hitting yourself on the head with that hammer?"

"Because it feels so good when I stop!"

When are we going to stop, ladies and gentlemen?

When?

I've offered an extreme remedy to this madness.

It's one that is so wild and completely outside-the-box, it actually makes sense.

The Peace Dividend!

Or maybe we should keep pounding ourselves on the head with a hammer.

Let's really go for it.  You can borrow mine . . .





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



War On Terror = More Terrorism and More War = More Terrorism and More War = . . .

Paying For The Peace Dividend

Understandably, the first reaction I get when I tell people we're going to get the U.S. government to refund to its citizens $4,826,000,000,000 is:  "What?  We can't afford that.  Our government is already in hock over $19 trillion and every year since 2000, we've been running a deficit."

Aside from the fact that the deficit spending -- which has been the focus of overwrought debates, ultimatums, government shutdowns, and a celebrated hand grenade tossed back and forth in the political blame game -- is both unnecessary and entirely intentional, the ultimate impact of the Peace Dividend is actually to remedy such fiscal irresponsibility.  The Peace Dividend refund drives a whole host of fundamental reforms which will over time help to put our financial house in order.  However, that's a topic for another blog.

The Peace Dividend is paid out over three years.  Thus, each year we have to come up with a little over $1.6 trillion each fiscal year.

Here's how we do it.  Here's how we raise a minimum of $1.6 trillion dollars each year . . .

$200 billion . . . cut from the official DOD budget.
$83 billion . . . cut from future Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria war budgets.
$45 billion . . . cut from homeland security agency budgets.
$32 billion . . . cut from the black budgets of the NSA and CIA.
$102 billion . . . raised from closing tax loopholes and taxing offshored money.
$469 billion . . . ending unnecessary and counter-productive corporate welfare.
$103 billion . . . raised by making corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
$400 billion . . . raising income taxes on the wealthiest to what they were in 1975.
$177 billion. . . raised from financial transaction tax on public trading.
$250 billion . . . raised by issuing domestic-use-only Peace Dollars.
$250 billion . . . raised issuing Peace Bonds for investing in a peaceful future.

I better slow down!  I'm already way over $2 trillion!

Now, as you all know, I'm not an economic analyst, a statistician, a financial wizard of any ilk.  Yet, I was able in broad strokes to demonstrate how simple it is to make the necessary adjustments.  Granted, my plan will have to be fine-tuned by acclaimed and self-anointed experts.  But before the proselytizers and pretenders armed with skepticism and hatchets subject us to their pompous, pedantic and patronizing pruning, just bear this in mind . . . 

 

The Peace Dividend is a refund due to American citizens.  That is a given.  Read my book.  It's all there.  I didn't make this stuff up.  The facts are clear.  American citizens have been the victims of the greatest rip-off of tax money in the history of the world.  They deserve -- and should demand, no excuses, no negotiation, no compromise -- a full refund.  No analysis can alter this reality.

Yes, it may be unprecedented.  It most certainly is controversial.  Traditionalists and those who have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo -- because it keeps them wealthy and in the centers of power -- will declare it outrageous!  Insane!  Irresponsible!  Impossible!

But the the truth is, what is outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is to promote and pursue never-ending war, keep needlessly killing innocent people -- including our own fine young men and women in uniform -- continue to turn America into a pariah in the world community with the incessant bombing and support of terrorist proxies.  What's truly outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is spreading chaos, destruction and death, fomenting terrorist attacks and an unparalleled refugee crisis across the globe.  What's outrageous, insane, irresponsible, and impossible is the pursuit of a psychopathic agenda of imperial conquest, which has destroyed our democracy and imposed a vulgar, savage regime of fear here at home, in the form of the insidious and fraudulent War on Terror.  This madness must be stopped or America will crumble under the weight of its own hubris and delusions of grandeur.

The point here is a simple one.  What's not lacking here are the mechanics of finding and refunding the money.  What's lacking is the political will.  What's lacking is any sense of responsibility among our corrupt pay-for-play political leaders.  What's tragically lacking is the public awareness of how far out-of-control the situation is.  Were people to wake up to what's really going on with our military madness, imperial delusions of world empire, and ruthless oppression of everyday citizens under a systematic, propaganda-fueled, carefully crafted and entirely orchestrated regime of totalitarian control by a veritable handful of rich and powerful elites, heads would role! 

Maybe I'm naive, but I'm hoping it won't come to that.  With 300 million guns at hand, when things start getting violent, we can only expect a bloodbath to unfold.  My sincere hope is that the urgently required regime change is still possible non-violently.  We do this by replacing any uncooperative legislators with ones who understand that their obligations are first and foremost to their constituents, that being elected to represent us, implies that they actually will represent us, putting our welfare and the health of our families and communities ahead of all else.

I propose the Peace Dividend as a decisive test.  It's a line in the sand.

Either "they" are for it or against it.

It's how we decide who to vote for.  If a candidate won't support it -- by signing a legally binding contract to guarantee his or her support -- we find one who will.

The games are over.  The rich and powerful plutocrats have had a good run.  They've bled the country and its citizens dry.  Now it's payback time.

If the politicos who've created and perpetuated the mess we're in can't own up to the error of their way and fix the problem, beginning with proper redress in the form of a full refund of the money taken fraudulently from good, decent, hard-working Americans, then they are not serious about making the necessary changes, regardless of what they say.

Either they give us our money back, or they get their walking papers.

They do not deserve our support and will be removed -- unelected -- from office.

These soon-to-be ex-congressman and presidential hopefuls are very talented people.

I'm sure they'll do well on the comedy club circuit or selling time-shares in the Caribbean.


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


Paying For The Peace Dividend

Dealing With A Shark Attack

 

How do you deal with a shark attack in a swimming pool?

You drain the water and watch the shark suffocate.

The Peace Dividend strategy does exactly that.

It drains the pool of funds which our insane neocon-infested military establishment -- which includes the DOD, NSA, CIA, DHS, Congress, and the White House -- abuses with its never-ending wars and delusional monomaniacal pursuit of world empire.

We take back all of the money they've defrauded us out of for the past 24 years -- we could go back further but two-and-a-half decades is a good start -- then watch them desperately gasp and struggle as they try to persist in their aggressive bullying of the world. 

No money.  No more unnecessary wars. 

No money.  No more boondoggles like the F-35.

No money.  No more senseless waste like the trillion dollar upgrade of our nuclear arsenal.

No money.  America will start waging peace instead of waging war.

Peace is something we can actually afford.

The Peace Dividend, the pool of money totaling $4.82 trillion which was paid in taxes -- by you and I -- under false pretenses, collected on the basis of lies told us by our government  in support of wasteful D.O.D. extravagance and military aggression on no less than eight foreign countries since 1992, is money which will be distributed as a refund to each and every single American citizen.  It is our money, tax dollars paid in good faith by decent hard-working folks who trusted their government to put it to correct and proper use. 

We were fooled.

We were lied to.

We were conned. 

We were defrauded! 

We were callously ripped off!



The Peace Dividend refund comes to $14,952 for each and every living U.S. citizen, paid out over three years.

That comes to almost $60,000 for a family of four.

This is money which should have been ours to spend, and recovering it -- as is completely within our rights in a government of the people, by the people, for the people -- unlike the military madmen, we'll put it to good use.  We can buy some news clothes for the kids, pay down our credit cards, replace that car that's falling apart, take a long overdue vacation.

Am I crazy?

No . . . we are crazy if we don't stick up for ourselves.

We are crazy if we don't stop the abuse of power and hold our government accountable.

We are crazy if we don't reject and reverse this gross misappropriation of our tax dollars.

As victims of the worst crime in history -- the biggest tax rip-off ever -- we deserve full and immediate compensation.

Let's get started.

By the way, if anyone is tempted to ask me how a shark got into the swimming pool, I have a question for you . . .

How did so many homicidal, warmongering sociopaths get into the centers of power in Washington DC?

The Peace Dividend strategy is a direct attack on America’s systemic addiction to war by appealing to the self-interest of its citizens, literally INCENTIVIZING people to redirect their thinking and start WORKING FOR PEACE!

 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets . . .

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / UK . . . amzn.to/2cKXFsV
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl

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


Dealing With A Shark Attack

The Peace Dividend Concept . . . Now A Book

 

We each do what we can do.  That's all we can do.

As anyone who is familiar with my writings knows, for the past four years I've expressed my alarm at the systematic disempowerment of everyday citizens -- the 99% -- and the destruction of our democracy.  I'm never content to merely identify a problem without trying to identify a solution.  Thus my books Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy (June 2015) and Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve (September 2015) focused on ways to address these critical challenges, even given the shredding of our personal liberties and the sabotaging of normal mechanisms for implementing reform.

In developing the ideas for these books, at some point I realized that the militarization of our domestic police forces, our communities, our media, our foreign policy, in fact, just about every aspect of our lives and everything America now collectively does, was central to the control the oligarchy now has over the country and its citizens.  This militarization finds its most obvious expression in the constant wars and the insertion of U.S. troops all over the world, the open-ended and ubiquitous War on Terror, and the pursuit of world domination by any means necessary, all of which are steadily driving the country to its own cataclysmic unraveling.

But it also occurred to me that not only was this militarization the main mechanism for reshaping America into an imperial autocracy, it offered at the same time a phenomenal opportunity for its citizens to reclaim their country.  I believe that the war machine is its own Achilles heel -- at least until voting has been outlawed and we're all locked away in work slave camps -- in that its abuse of power is so ham-fisted, at core so contrary to the best social and political traditions of our nation, once the majority of citizens understand what is going on, the whole destructive regime of the warmongers can be taken down and replaced with one that serves the greater interests of all Americans.  Of course, the major challenge is finding a way to communicate it in a way that makes sense and guarantees a significant number of people will pay attention to it. 

This unfolds as my Peace Dividend concept, a historical and political analysis of endemic institutional corruption and abuse in the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, the NSA and other national security agencies, Congress and the White House, offering a strategy for challenging and ending the egregious violations of public trust.

The Peace Dividend concept originally appeared and is explored in summary form in both of the two books mentioned above.  With the publication of my new book, it now has its own dedicated volume with full explication, justification, and documentation . . . 

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World.

Here's the premise:  With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, American citizens were promised a "peace dividend", i.e. less money for war, more for peace and a good life for all. The U.S. military under misguided leadership has attacked eight countries since then. The defense budget has exploded, buying a lot of junk that doesn't work and military hardware we don't need.

American citizens have been grossly deceived about the real purpose and agenda of our military exploits throughout the world.  As I incontrovertibly establish, we have had over $4.82 trillion of our hard-earned tax dollars taken under false pretenses and wasted with cavalier abandon on unnecessary wars and unneeded weapons.  This transparent fraud on the American people has been perpetrated for two-and-a-half decades.

It's time to change all of that.  It's time for a fresh new narrative, and a vibrant national conversation.  It's time to start thinking and talking about peace again.  This book explains why and exactly how we begin.

The Peace Dividend strategy is a direct attack on America’s systemic addiction to war by appealing to the self-interest of its citizens, literally INCENTIVIZING citizens to redirect their thinking and start WORKING FOR PEACE!

The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at many of the usual outlets . . .

Amazon (Kindle) / US . . . amzn.to/2cpIRfQ
Amazon (Print) / US . . . amzn.to/2cEhnCb
Amazon (Kindle) / UK . . . amzn.to/2cKXFsV
Amazon (Kindle) / Canada . . . amzn.to/2ciZKdl
Amazon (Kindle) / Japan . . . amzn.to/2cbf3TO
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/2cWxvzd
Kobo (Indigo) . . . bit.ly/2cI8cB6
Apple iTunes . . . apple.co/2cqw7an
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/2cb6Cse
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/2c3mJsl


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



The Peace Dividend Concept . . . Now A Book

Thought Experiment

 

Let's say that you spend $20 on two fifths of whiskey, get so drunk that you have a horrible automobile accident, hitting a school bus, killing over fifty elementary students, causing serious injury to several others.  Three of the children who survived are now quadriplegics, two others have permanent brain damage, a number are disfigured because the bus caught on fire, and they couldn't get out in time.  Moreover, enraged by your clearly irresponsible behavior, several of the parents, solid members of the NRA -- thus well-equipped with assault weapons and handguns -- have vowed to avenge the death and crippling of their children.  You find yourself being hunted down and must be on the alert at all times for a potentially lethal attack.

Now let's imagine that through the magic of quantum theory and Einsteinian relativity, we could take you back to before this entire incident.  You have that same $20 in your hands.  You're given a choice.  You have full knowledge of what will happen if you buy the whiskey but you have an option:  You can walk up to a complete stranger and hand him the $20.

To make it interesting, let's say the stranger is a bum.  Let's say that from all appearances the guy is not employable, lives hand-to-mouth on what he can panhandle.  It is also easy to imagine he will spend the $20 on cigarettes and beer.

Knowing what will happen if you keep the $20 for yourself -- the whiskey, plowing into a school bus, mangling a bunch of innocent kids, creating enemies who now want to kill you -- would you hand the $20 to the bum?

Since all of the good people who visit my website are the most intelligent, rational, decent and sensible humans on the planet, I will assume to a person that all of you would opt to hand the $20 over to the bum.  Not only would you be sparing yourself a monumental amount of grief, and a stain on your conscience from which you might never recover, I have no doubt that the warm bubbles of Good Samaritanism would fill you with giddy abandon, a tactile bonanza for your good sense and generosity.  What a splendid feeling!  Why, it would be better than a kick-ass dose of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors!

So what if the guy is a bum.  A lot of people never find their groove.  That $20 will make him feel like he won the lottery.  He can spend it on whatever he likes.  It's really none of your business, right?  And it's not like you haven't made some bad choices at one time or another.  What about that time-share you bought in the Bahamas that turned out to be a shed for garden tools?  Let him buy some cigarettes, a Hustler magazine, and Wild Horse.

Alright.  Now through the magic of Blog World -- where anything can happen because the person writing the blog can make up whatever he wants and being somewhat disconnected from reality or just plain nuts is no barrier as long as he can afford the $27.95 a year for an internet domain -- let's say YOU are suddenly in charge of the entire federal budget.

Now you don't have just $20 to spend or giveaway.

You have $1.16 trillion dollars!  That's the total discretionary federal budget for 2016.

Here's the choice.  Do you continue to spend the majority of the money on defense, buying unnecessary junk, building and maintaining military bases -- the U.S. already has close to 1000 in 143 countries -- starting wars, bombing nations into complying with our agenda, killing tens of thousands of innocent people, spreading even more terrorism across the planet?  Do you inflict carnage and suffering on undeserving citizens in distant countries, blowing up not just school buses, but whole schools, hospitals, villages, whole cities?

Or do you give some aid and comfort to those who for one reason or another have fallen on hard times here in the U.S.?

Despite the putative recovery from the 2008 crash, despite America still being by far the wealthiest country in the world, despite having the largest economy in the world with a whopping GDP of $18.56 trillion, there are some 45 million Americans living below the poverty line.
There are over 500,000 homeless people in America!

Does that compute?  Over a half million human beings, many of them children, without a place to live in the richest nation in the history of the world?

Just considering the enormous amount of waste the direct result of Department of Defense incompetence and skewed priorities, it seems obvious something could be done about this.

The $1.5 trillion which is being spent on the biggest boondoggle in military history, the F-35 fighter jet, could push every single one of the 45 million poor above the poverty line for at least the next five years.

The $1.0 trillion which is being allocated to upgrade our already excessive nuclear arsenal, which currently has over 7,000 nuclear bombs -- enough to destroy the entire planet forty times over -- could put every homeless person in a $1,000,000 mansion and give them $50,000 to live on every year for the next twenty years.

Is this so outrageous?  The idea of "helicopter money" to the homeless?  Helping those folks who struggle every day to make ends meet pull even with the rest of us?

Finland is right now testing out the idea of a guaranteed minimum income for citizens who are now unemployed, a no-strings-attached, tax-free stipend of $630 per month.

Yeah, some of those homeless and poor people might not be employable.  And a few might buy beer and a Hustler magazine. 

But the truth is most of them will feed their kids and replace the bald tires on their car.

I'm not suggesting we give million-dollar mansions to every homeless person.

The point of this article is to put things in perspective.  We hear these figures bandied about all of the time.  $3 trillion for the Afghanistan war.  Another $4 trillion for the Iraq war.  Figures so mind-boggling, it's almost impossible to wrap our heads around them.

Can anyone out there say with a straight face we can't find some money in the vast wealth of the U.S. of A. so that everyone can have at bare minimum a decent life?  So that we can be proud of our country and the way it treats its citizens, especially its most vulnerable?

We can do whatever we decide to do.  That's what a democracy is, if we still have such a thing in America anymore.  It's a matter of getting over the brainwashing we have been subjected to all of our lives.  It's a matter of reconnecting with the values which allegedly are the foundations for our Christian nation.  Granted, Jesus wasn't a U.S. citizen but it seems a lot of people here claim to align with his teaching.  Does this sound familiar?

“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” - Matthew 25:34-36

So, returning to our "thought experiment" . . .

Does the comparison of America's leadership to an inebriated driver plowing into a school bus full of children hold up? 

Is there any doubt?

Our foreign policy has the U.S. military careening across the planet spreading death and destruction, chaos and fear, violence and terrorism.  The whole bunch -- Obama, Biden, Carter, Clinton, Power, Rice, Nuland, Kerry, Clapper -- are drunk on power.  Yes, they are drunk on their sense of entitlement and destiny.  They are drunk on psychopathic fantasies of conquest and empire.  They are drunk on delusions of becoming deities.

And a school bus of innocent maimed and dead school kids, however horrifying and tragic, is small potatoes compared to the tens of thousands murdered, mutilated, crippled, driven from their homes, subjected to the worst possible conditions, by U.S. military aggression over the past 15 years, with the fraudulent War on Terror, pursuit of regime change, and wholesale destruction of nations which posed no threat to the U.S. or its citizens.

Yes, these lunatics are DUI alright.  They are driving America and the world to the brink of destruction, under the influence of greed and profit-seeking by the defense industries and a fanatic loyalty to the bogus pseudo-ideology of neoconservatism, a brain-eating, morally debilitating virus spread by sociopaths like Robert Kagan and Paul Wolfowitz.

So there's the choice.  Help some people who need help.  Or continue to let the crazies get behind the wheel of the mightiest military machine in history so they can perpetuate the destructive rampage that makes the U.S. the greatest threat to peace in the world today.

I titled this piece Thought Experiment.  But in reality, this is no cerebral exercise at all.
Because when you step into the voting booth on November 8th, you will have this choice or some version of it staring you in the face.  Every decision you make is another iteration of this choice.  Who you choose as your congressman, who you select as your senator, who you vote for to become president.  Their priorities become your priorities.

No one who has read even a handful of my articles will have any doubt about where I stand on the election.  I believe everyone who has regularly breathed the toxic brew of cronyism, self-serving lies, and monomaniacal propaganda, which currently permeates our nation's capital, must go.  We cannot make progress without complete and total regime change in Washington DC.  A clean sweep!  But I'm extreme that way.  I keep thinking we can have a government which truly represents the people, looks out for their best interest, one which puts the enormous wealth and resources of the U.S. to proper use, promoting the general welfare of its citizens.  Realistically, for starters that would require kicking our addiction to war and then becoming the world's greatest purveyor of peace.  Without that, we can never escape the moral and financial bankruptcy which will inevitably destroy our nation, if not the entire world.

Just remember.  There's a reason why America is one of the most feared, and increasingly hated, reviled, and targeted nations in the world.  There's a reason why the world is in the screwed-up state it's in.  And if you return the same people to office who caused this mess, then you become part of the reason too.

It doesn't have to be this way.  We don't have to have perpetual war.  We don't have to live under the thumb of the rich and powerful.  We don't have to be the victims of grotesque wealth inequality.  We don't have to sit back and watch as our country is looted and our democracy becomes a standing joke.  We don't have to march to the constant beat of war drums and drink the Kool-Aid of ultra-nationalism and exceptionalism.

Which America will you choose?

November 8th.  Voting is not a thought experiment.  It's the real deal.

By the way, as noted in the fine print on the image at the head of this article, that is an unretouched photo of contiguous rich and not-so-rich neighborhoods in Santa Fe, NM.  Bernie Sanders made wealth inequality central to his recent presidential campaign.  People responded to his message for good reason.

It's not just embarrassing.  It's unacceptable.  It's immoral.  It's unconscionable.

It's un-American!

Maybe we can't all live in mansions.  But the poor and homeless certainly deserve better.

Let's spread the wealth around a bit, eh?  We begin that with peace in the world and peace right here at home.  Peace with one another.  Peace with our own souls.

Does this make me a socialist?  A hippie?  A peace-and-love Pollyanna?




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



Thought Experiment

Americans . . . GET A GRIP!

 

Since 9/11, a grand total of 45 Americans have been killed by terrorists.

45!

That's about 3 per year.

I'm not going to callously marginalize the tragedy of 45 deaths. All these were people who had families, friends, dreams about the future. Each one is a sad example of what it means to live in a dangerous world.

But think about it . . . only 45 people have been killed by terrorists in the last 14+ years.

Last year alone, there were 16,121 HOMICIDES.  11,208 of those were people killed by firearms!  That more than one gun killing PER HOUR!

Every 51 minutes in America, someone is killed by drunk driving.  Almost 11,000 a year!

Last year 1,658,370 new cancer cases were diagnosed.  589,430 people died of cancer! That's 1,615 A DAY!  67 people PER HOUR!

Over 102,000 people die every year from hospital associated infections -- by the time you finish reading my article, two people will have died from filthy medical facilities.

Get this:  Even greater numbers, meaning in excess of 216,000, die every year because of medical error!  Yes, you read that correctly.  Almost 600 people die EVERY DAY because of misdiagnosis or error in reading medical charts. "Golly gee. I'm sorry. It said 20.00 cc. I was sure it was 2000 cc. Oops! Can you notify the family of the deceased for me?"

I could go on and on.  But this offers some perspective:  Rare as it is to be electrocuted in a storm, you are seventeen times more likely to get killed by lightning than by a terrorist.

Let's cut to the chase . . .

Since 2001, the U.S. has spent over $3 trillion on the War on Terror.

That's $3 trillion with a 't'.

For $3 trillion we could have outfitted everyone with bulletproof vests, cured cancer, put breathalyzer shut-offs on every single car to keep drunks from getting behind the wheel, disinfected every hospital in America, outfitted every single American with a lighting rod, and probably had some money left over to train nurses and doctors how to read a chart.

What's going on in this country . . . home of the brave, land of the free?

Oh yes, indeed we are free.  Free to wake up frightened, go to bed frightened, live every moment frightened because . . . THERE ARE TERRORISTS LURKING EVERYWHERE!  They hate us, they hate our freedoms, they want to chop off our heads, rape our women!

I agree about one thing for sure . . .

We should be afraid!

We should be afraid that our priorities are completely whack and that our government is overrun by self-serving lunatics, at the beck and call of our out-of-control military!

Here are some questions we should ask ourselves . . .

How many of you have known a friend, relative or neighbor who has died of cancer?

How many of you have known someone who has a family member killed by a drunk driver?

How many of you live in a community where someone was murdered?

Contrast your answer with . . .

How many of you know someone who was attacked by a Muslim?

How many of you know someone who was killed by a terrorist?

Folks . . . the War On Terror is a fraud!

It's just a cash cow for our bloated military-industrial complex.

All I can suggest is this:  Every time one of the fear mongers come on TV and show you guys in ski masks and tell you to hide under your bed . . . GET A GRIP!

You are more likely to get hit by a bus while you're under your bed, than be attacked by a terrorist while standing at a bus stop.

Here, folks, is my prediction for each and every one of you for 2016.

Ready? 

You WILL NOT BE KILLED by ISIS or al Qaeda or al Nusra or by boko haram guerillas.

Actually, you're much more likely to be killed by your local police.


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


Americans . . . GET A GRIP!

Promises and Platitudes vs. Contractual Commitment

 

In my last posting, I proposed that we as voters demand that Bernie Sanders make a clear, firm commitment toward less military, less war, less imperial misadventure, less of much that goes on in the name of "defense of the homeland", specifically those items which are bankrupting our country and making the U.S. the enemy of the world.

Many of his supporters predictably rallied to his defense and directed me to a recent document which appears on the web site of the esteemed senator.

All well and good. I'm glad Bernie Sanders recognizes the need to "answer" to the people and explain where he stands on things.

Without getting into a lot of specifics here -- I may do that in a future posting -- his policy statement certainly leaves a lot of room for interpretation. It's intentionally vague. It is the kind of public relations-oriented piece which we've come to expect of other lesser men and women but is not at all flattering to a self-described socialist who has taken admirable stands on many other issues. It is fraught with the sort of sweeping, noble-sounding but non-committal declarations that allowed Mr. Sanders to vote, for example, against the War in Iraq but for funding that very same war in defense appropriations bills.

Maybe that's fine for some people but I think we should expect more.

If the country is not to be further bankrupted by endless war, then nice-sounding feel-good assurances will not cut it. We need specifics. We need details. We need accountability.

Among other things, we need to demand of Mr. Sanders and any candidate who claims to have the interests of the U.S. at heart: ending the illegal war crime of bombing countries with drones, which is just recruiting more terrorists and swelling the ranks of jihadists; closing most of the 900+ bases around the world; ending the confrontations with Russia and China; closing Guantanamo and all of the other "black sites" where we torture; firing the neocons who infect our government and foreign policy apparatus like a deadly plague; stopping all of our meddling in other countries; ending the policy of regime change which has produced anger and chaos across the globe, creating more enemies than we can ever possibly deal with; cutting the military budget by 40 or 50%, since we already spend more than 10 times what any other country in the world spends on defense.

And we need to demand it in writing using legally-binding contracts.

Or it simply won't get done.

My strategy is not designed to target Mr. Sanders or just defense policy. In fact, it applies across the board on a host of issues -- Social Security and Medicare which are both under attack, the minimum wage, debt and mortgage relief, affordable education, safer food and water, ending corporate welfare, are just some examples -- critical issues where there is a lot of talk and promises from politicians but no action. It applies across the board to every individual running for federal office, Democrat, Republican, Green, Libertarian, Tea Party.

If you look at many of these areas of citizen concern, you find enormous agreement, polls reflecting consensus numbers in the 60s, 70s, 80s, even 90% of the public.

72% of American voters want a federal minimum wage
of $10.00 per hour or more.

74% of American voters are for ending
oil industry subsidies.

75% of voters want fair trade agreements protecting jobs,
workers, the environment.

76% of voters want a cut back on military spending.

76% of voters want the U.S. completely out of Afghanistan.

79% of voters want no reductions in Social Security,
70% support expanding it.

79% of voters want no reductions in Medicare.

80% of voters oppose the Citizens United Supreme Court
decision, with 65% strongly opposing it.

68% of voters think taxes on the wealthy
should be increased.

71% of voters support massive infrastructure renewal.

93% of voters want GMO labeling on their food.

There is huge disagreement alright. It's between what the people want done and what our elected officials do!

All I'm saying is . . . this is not democracy!

Not by any stretch or any standard or any interpretation of our Constitution can you call it democracy when the people want one thing and our legislators deliver the opposite.

What I am pushing -- hoping people will stick up for themselves and regain some control of their country and their own futures -- is a specific method for guaranteeing on certain specific issues that our elected officials represent us and do what we want!

Is my plan radical?

At one time, the idea that America should chuck its bondage to the King of England and go it alone was radical. The suggestion we should free the slaves was radical. The outrageous idea that women should have the right to vote was radical.

My plan is no more radical that the Constitution itself. That hallowed document which everyone loves to point to but apparently very few bother to read, lays the foundation for self-government -- government of the people, by the people, for the people.

It doesn't say . . . "government for the rich and powerful and to hell with the rest of you."

No, the idea that people should have direct say in the running of this country is only radical right now because we as citizens have become convinced that we should just sit back and let the "experts" run things, that we are powerless and should just shut up. We've been convinced of this by a tiny elite of rich and powerful, anti-democratic plutocrats who love having complete control of our government and our legislative bodies, who literally now own our politicians, because it serves their agenda, keeps them rich, and makes sure that nothing stands in their way of total autocratic rule.

If you are as fed up as I am at the gridlock, the shutdowns, the broken promises, the back door deals, the endless excuses, the horrible waste of our hard-earned tax dollars which ends up lining the pockets of the already wealthy 1%, the Wall Street bankers, and the military-industrial complex -- which keeps the wars going because that keeps the profits flowing -- if you are as fed up as I am at we the people always being last on the list when it comes to fixing the problems we need to fix for America to meet its constitutional mandate to promote the general welfare and offer a good life for all Americans, not just the filthy rich, then at least . . . LOOK AT WHAT I'M PROPOSING.

It's different. It's unprecedented. But it's not very difficult and it certainly isn't radical.

It's a way to have REAL REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY in this country.

It's a way to have our elected officials serve us, take orders from us, get done at least some of the things we want done for a change.

My offer still stands. My strategy is explained in simple, readable language in two of my books. They are available for free. Just click on the "Contact Me" button on the right side of the page and send me a request.

If you wait for your next door neighbor and your next door neighbor waits for you and you both wait for someone else to start paying attention, we'll never get things straightened out and America will continue its sure steady decline. The rich and powerful will eat the meal, you and I will get the crumbs that fall off the table.

Just take a few minutes. We can have the country we want and a decent future to hand down to our children and their children.

Is this too much to ask?

---

 

"Candidate Contracts: Taking Back Our Democracy" is available from all the usual suspects . . .

Amazon (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1QJRiNZ
Apple (iBook) . . . apple.co/1BXnPcy
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1Cuq0du
Barnes & Noble . . . bit.ly/1GpTTLq
Smashwords . . . bit.ly/1B4DQCp
Direct from printer . . . bit.ly/1MGjDnN




"Fighting for the Democracy We Deserve" was published just a few weeks ago. But it is available both as a Kindle ebook and in print from Amazon . . .

Amazon US (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1VMf2Ft
Amazon CA (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1in513n
Amazon UK (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1KfjtQO
Amazon JP (Kindle) . . . amzn.to/1OMslBG
Amazon (Paperback) . . . amzn.to/1L9SdIC


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