When one looks at the motley bunch we refer to deferentially
as the Supreme Court, it should come as no surprise to anyone that our
illustrious Chief Justice has made it abundantly clear that he, too, is a member
of the plutocracy/oligarchy that has a stranglehold on our (ostensibly)
democratic form of government. Any
illusions about where they stand on the issues relative to the governed of this
country just flew out the window.
But, let’s face it.
This country and all we profess and delude ourselves into believing
about it being a “democracy” and the “land of the free” has just been proven
wrong once again. The villains who are
disparaged by all those in high places still reside within the ranks of the “working
class,” the “middle class,” and the “laborers.”
They are to be exploited and tolerated for the benefit of the greater
good to which we have entrusted the complete health, welfare and growth of this
country.
We, the people, must bear the brunt of the blame for where
we are. We have become a people of
“appearance,” rather than “substance,” and we are paying the price for it. The visceral pleasures of life and the
massive brainwashing that has led us to the Pollyanna style of life and hope we
covet has worked. We are now the product
of the entertainment industries, the bill of fare offered to us by television,
the numbness of our cranial tissue brought on by the myriad hand-held devices
that have transformed what used to be thinking human beings into numbed-down
automatons who have lost the ability to engage in original and critical
thought. Kaput! It is gone and we are all the happier for it.
Anyone who could honestly believe that NBC and MSNBC give us
anything but what is the bill of fare emanating from the halls of General
Electric is out of touch with reality.
Does anyone honestly think that Westinghouse is going to rely on CBS to
feed us anything that deviates from the company line? ABC never mentions its affiliation with
Disney Enterprises, but you can bet your next pay check that, behind the
scenes, Mickey Mouse and his cohorts are preparing and serving up to us what
they want us to believe, not what we need to know in order to be informed
citizens who can be trusted with the care of the greatest democracy in the
history of the world.
CNN and Fox News?
Well, I suspect they are in it more for the income generated by their
brand of notoriety than anything of substance and truth. Thanks to Al Jazeera there may still be hope
for a real news outlet. The downside to
that, of course, is who will bother to watch and listen to their
broadcasts. Don’t hold your breath.
Global warming? It
will never happen. After all, history
has shown us that this, too, shall pass and we will never feel the sting of all
we have brought down on our heads. The
entire history of our faux-rich class has proven that we are immune from the
realities of what lies ahead, created by their ingenuity and greed, and all we have
created by our own hand. We seem
incapable of operating from a base of principle. Rather, we readily succumb to pretext. That leaves nothing to move us to greater
heights and a genuine common concern for what is in the best interests of all
of us. Commitment and creativity come
cheap these days.
The next big joke we have to ponder is how much power and
control now rests with the massive monolith of agencies we call our Federal
Government. Who, in their right mind,
could actually believe there is a clean and genuinely concerned statesman among
them, excepting those few who stand on principle and honesty? The majority of them are much too preoccupied
with stealing and lying to the electorate in order to lace their pockets with
all they have come to believe is their rightful share of the pie for playing
politician. Who are their real
constituents? Need I even bother to ask
the question? The answer is self-evident
to any seriously concerned citizen of the Republic.
If one were to administer a means test to any of them, be it
the House, the Senate, the White House, or the Supreme Court, their attention
would automatically be drawn to Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Hollywood and all
of the other sprawling complexes dotting the country sides of Virginia and
Maryland where so much of the real wealth, power and influence lie.
I, also, cannot help but wonder why we have a sacrosanct
two-party political system? Who said we
can only vote for a Republican or a Democrat who has been duly vetted and
blessed by the political party with which they are affiliated? What have the Green Party, the Justice Party,
the Freedom Party and all the other minor annoyances played by fringe parties
done for us? What choice have we had to
participate in a real election because of their place on the ballots so
dutifully given to us when we venture in to go through the motions of really
voting? At best, it is a ritual, most of
which has been stolen from us by the actions of the Supreme Court and the money
machines of the oligarchs, plutocrats and corrupt benefactors that support the
main stream political machines. How much
longer are we going to support and feign belief in this charade? There is no grander form of deception than
that we inflict on ourselves by our own stupidity and naïveté.
Yeah, I know. Bill
Clinton is one of the greatest presidents in the history of the United States
and his wife is being pursued by the wide-eyed progressives and liberals who
just know in their hearts that she is the one who can give new meaning to the
Presidency, and show the world what a real woman can do in the White
House. I’ve got news for them. Move over Hillary. Elizabeth Warren has you beat by a country
mile and she is the real deal. Anyone
with half a brain and a modicum of decency knows that.
Clearly, the White House is up for sale to the highest
bidder and what has now become the cadre of oligarchic and plutocratic
benefactors for whom the cost of favors from that particular residence is
pocket change. What, for example, do
presidential advisers do for us other than negotiate the deal that will most
benefit those who now own our Federal Government and all its key players? Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both show signs
of having been accepted into the club that will only result in fewer jobs for
Americans and more money for those who own the offices and the occupants that
dutifully offer their best advice on behalf of those to whom they are actually beholden. Whoever may be the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania at any
given point in time is, I am sure, well paid for his exceptional performance as
the water boy for the super-rich and powerful to whom they owe their
loyalties.
I genuinely believe that our entire government apparatus and
structure is severely fractured and those who are so readily available to pick
up the pieces are benefiting the most.
It is certainly not the mainstream Americans who are more the victims
than the benefactors of their activities, ostensibly for the common welfare and
our collective behalf.
If we are to reclaim the heritage left to us by the Founding
Fathers and restore their intent for a healthy and long life for this nation,
there has to be some serious thought given to what we can and should do for our
collective welfare and this grand experiment of what is meant by
self-government by the people and for the people. It won’t be easy, but I am confident it can
and should be fixed by those who own it, not by those who have bought or stolen
it.
Every major political party has been co-opted by those who
claim a propriety right based on their membership and control of the party
apparatus. I see little real difference
in the Democrats and Republicans, save that contrived to deceive all of us into
believing they really give a damn about any of us and their every motive and
move is for our common and collective welfare.
Yes, and for those of you who may be interested, I have a great bridge
for sale at a bargain price.
We need a new political party that encompasses the majority
of working Americans, middle class Americans and all those who labor for an
honest living by the sweat of their brow.
We can no longer afford to acquiesce to those who are convinced of their
economic and social superiority, and their perceived Divine right to mete out
their wisdom to those of us who simply “labor” for a living. They have not earned the right to even stand
in the same room with the average person who has made this country great
throughout history. They are the social
and economic parasites of our time.
They are the ones who have sent their progeny off to Ivy League Schools and Military Academies
We need citizens who care about this country and all those
who labor in its service. We have had
enough of the deferential trips to Las Vegas, the Hamptons, and other environs of
wealth and power, reserved for billionaires, where obsequious parasites bow and
scrape before the most vile among us hoping a crumb will fall from the table so
they, in turn, can pursue their lesser pursuits at the expense of those who
have earned their place at the table.
Let us not forget that the word “public” refers to that
rightfully belonging to the public, not private enterprise. I have had enough of the epidemic of
“privatization” that has overtaken this country. Those who are making out like bandits from
their exploitation of what was, and should continue to be public services, are
costing this country and its citizens dearly in terms of a more efficient, healthier
and more responsive system for the average American. For starters, I refer to schools, parking
meters, and a whole host of public services that have served the people of this
country extraordinarily well.
One of the most egregious examples of the greed and creative
thievery set before us is the privatization of prisons, where vital services
and minor criminals are sold into what I regard as slavery by contracted “privatized”
prisons, aided and abetted by compromised judges and other officers of the
court in order to further lace the pockets of those who are just as much of a
criminal bent as those they sell into service for a fast buck. These are but a few examples of how our tax
dollars are being pirated from under our noses in order to simply feed the
rapacious greed of those who cannot earn it honesty, so resort to less honest means
and an aura of piety in order to convince those of us who have paid for those
services, and who rely on their value to us, that they can do the job better,
more efficiently and at less cost than can those we have retained to “work” and
represent the public to whom they are accountable.
The stench of the bull shit created by the “creative” minds
who seduce the rest of us is beginning to smell. It is time to revisit all those hollow
promises and get back to basics, at a fair price and for a reliable
service.
It is time to burnish the patina of labor unions and
organizations that represent the working people of this country. They deserve to have their place at the table
restored and to get the credit they deserve for doing what is right by this country. There is a hell of a lot of talent floating
around in the environs that does not require a “college” education in order to
prove their worth and value to the society of which they are a part. As a wise professor once said to his class,
“When you send a jackass to college all you have at the end of the process is
an educated jackass.” Those words convey
a fundamental fact to all of us. Native
wisdom and innate talent are worth something, even in today’s plastic and phony
world.
Isn't it about time we created a new political party that
subscribes to and supports a constituency of people dedicated to a country
governed by those who work for and labor in its service, rather than to massive
wealth, power and privilege that exploit it and hold themselves above the law?
Can we not create a party that fully supports the welfare of
all the people, not just those who only believe in and support a self-imposed
and false sense of superiority? Can we
not return to the fundamental prescription of “one nation, indivisible, with
freedom and justice for all?” Can we not
return to “a government of the people, by the people and for the people?” Can we not take it from the hands of those
who disdain the notion of the public good, and return it to fair and just
treatment for everyone? Can we not all
share in the burden of supporting this democracy that has, for so long, stood
as a beacon to the rest of the world?
Can we not all rediscover that basic sense of decency and honesty we
once knew? Can we not do with less and
give more? Can we not be good stewards
of this fragile planet on which we rely for life?
Can we not, once again, simply level the playing field for
all of us?
Can we not all simply restore a value system that says to us
and, indeed, to the entire world, there is a better way. We have been there, done that, and know what
we are talking about.
What is to be lost by trying it?
Cowboy Bob
The Sagebrush Philosopher
April 4, 2014
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