The Problem Succinctly Conceptualized

So You Say You Aren't a Secessionist

What are You Going to Do About the Empire?

By THOMAS NAYLOR
Then what are you going to do about the Empire? More specifically, how will you deal with the following:
Governance

1. The complete loss of moral authority of a government owned, operated, and controlled by Wall Street, Corporate America, and the Israeli Lobby.
2. An empire which is economically, militarily, politically, morally, socially, and environmentally unsustainable because it is too big.
3. A nation governed by a single political party disguised as a two-party system.
4. Congressional gridlock – an ungovernable nation which is, therefore, unfixable.
5. The fantasy of campaign finance reform as a panacea for solving most of our problems.
6. A populace which still believes that only the U.S. government can solve all of our problems all of the time, failing to realize that the U.S. government is the problem.

Foreign Policy

1. A foreign policy based on full spectrum dominance, imperial overstretch, might makes right, and the proposition, just be like us.
2. The disproportionately large influence which the Israeli Lobby has on American foreign policy.
3. Our inflammatory policy towards Iran.
4. Our lack of commitment to an Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
5. The support we provide to dictators and authoritarian leaders in the Middle East, North Africa, and the rest of the world.
6. The Cuban embargo.
7. Our predisposition towards the use of the military option in resolving international conflicts.

Military Might

1. The never ending, highly racist war on terror (Islam).
2. Our immoral, illegal, undeclared wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Palestine (via Israel), and Yemen.
3. The 1.6 million American troops stationed at over 1,000 military bases in 153 countries.
4. The 80,000 American troops stationed in Europe, the 36,000 in Japan, and the 30,000 in Korea.
5. NATO, the 27-nation Cold War relic which has lost its way.
6. Ronald Reagan’s fantasy of a strategic missile defense system.
7. The American led proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
8. The unconditional military support provided to the right-wing Likud government of Israel.
9. America‘s unchallenged position as the world’s leading arms merchant.
10. American pilotless drone aircraft spreading death and destruction worldwide.
11. The outrageously expensive F-35 fighter jets which cost $115 million a pop.
12. The trillion-dollar plus military and national security budget.

Civil Liberties

1. The Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the proposed Detainee Security Act.
2. The highly intrusive, money-guzzling Department of Homeland Security.
3. Prisoner abuse and torture.
4. The rendition of terrorist suspects.
5. White House ordered assassinations.
6. The Guantanamo prison.
7. Citizen surveillance and the suppression of civil liberties.

The Economy

1. A moribund housing market.
2. An inability to create enough real jobs to compensate for those exported to China, India, and elsewhere over the past two decades.
3. Stagnant real incomes for all but the super-rich.
4. An ever widening income gap between the rich and the poor.
5. Increases in the number of people who find themselves to be among the poor, homeless, or uninsured (no health insurance).
6. A multi-trillion dollar national debt.
7. Increased dependence on China, Japan, and other foreign countries to finance our national debt.
8. A government which prints money as though it were going out of style.
9. Uncertainty about the future value of the U.S. dollar and the rate of inflation.
10. An unreliable system of public and private retirement pension systems.
11. Uncertainty over the sustainability of Social Security and Medicare.
12. A financial regulatory system which favors Wall Street mega-banks at the expense of ordinary citizens.
13. An organized labor movement which has been rendered impotent by two decades of hostile, anti-labor employers such as Wal-Mart.
14. An economy driven by our intense psychological need to fill our spiritual and emotional vacuum with more and more stuff and the illusion that the accumulation of wealth and material possessions can provide meaning to life. Whoever dies with the most toys, wins the game.
15. Wal-Mart with its seductive low prices and the promotion of the idea that what life is all about is unrestrained personal consumption.

Social Services

1. A health care system driven by fear of death on the demand side and greed on the supply side which is spiraling out of control.
2. Over two million people in prison.
3. An international war on drugs that is a complete failure.
4. A federal education program committed to a one-size-fits-all corporate model of education.
5. A social welfare net that is woefully inadequate.
6. Patronizing, racist programs of support for Native Americans, Native Hawaiians, Eskimos, and Inuits.

Energy and Environment

1. Unabated dependence on imported foreign oil and its inherent price fluctuations.
2. Under investment in alternative energy sources by government and private industry alike.
3. A failure to confront the problem of climate change.

Infrastructure

1. Widespread aging infrastructure including highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, dams, levees, and public water systems.
2. Obsolete air traffic control system.
3. Grossly inadequate railroad passenger train system.

Summary
A government that is too big, too centralized, too powerful, too undemocratic, too intrusive, too materialistic, too environmentally destructive, too racist, too violent, too militaristic, and too unresponsive to the needs of individual citizens and small communities.




This is an ugly, disturbing, and wholly accurate compilation of The Problem. The only way out of The Problem is not to participate in The Problem.



Starman

Thanks for posting this, John. To me, it is a fairly accurate description of the symptoms of the problem but leaves out the true cause, which I believe to be our fragmented human consciousness, our sense of powerlessness and disconnectedness (alienation from each other and from ourselves) - and our unconscious desire to have someone take care of us and that which seems beyond us (e.g., "the world").

This begins to describe the problem at its core (consumption as a form of self-distraction):

"An economy driven by our intense psychological need to fill our spiritual and emotional vacuum with more and more stuff and the illusion that the accumulation of wealth and material possessions can provide meaning to life. Whoever dies with the most toys, wins the game."

The government - and the corporations and other large institutions - are as they are because of the way we are and the way we live: by giving up our power and responsibility to others to manage things for us - to even provide many of our basic necessities. This has had the effect of creating enormous centralized power structures that give vast power to small numbers of people. Such positions of power will attract those who are addicted to power and who use deception and violence to increase and solidify their hold on power.

The real problem - as I see it - is within us, and it is the lack of communities that support us in reconnecting with ourselves, each other and the earth. I don't think secession will solve anything, because we'll bring the root of the problem with us. Many have experienced this in their involvement with intentional communities, most of which fail to provide the essential healing process (intra- and inter-personal reintegration) that needs to happen.


"Summary

A government that is too big, too centralized, too powerful, too undemocratic, too intrusive, too materialistic, too environmentally destructive, too racist, too violent, too militaristic, and too unresponsive to the needs of individual citizens and small communities."

Government - at least on the federal level - has always been these things. I get an image of a star that is nearing its end, that has expanded enormously, bloated outward by its loss of mass. It's become so vast and weak that it absorbs most of its own energy, giving off little useful light. It is on its way to collapsing in on itself, becoming a black hole that gobbles up anything that comes near it (this may not be astronomically accurate!).

Quote:

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Posted in reply to the post by Star Man:

So You Say You Aren't a Secessionist

What are You Going to Do About the Empire?

By THOMAS NAYLOR
Then what are you going to do about the Empire?

Summary
A government that is too big, too centralized, too powerful, too undemocratic, too intrusive, too materialistic, too environmentally destructive, too racist, too violent, too militaristic, and too unresponsive to the needs of individual citizens and small communities.



This is an ugly, disturbing, and wholly accurate compilation of The Problem. The only way out of The Problem is not to participate in The Problem.

Starman

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The problem succinctly conceptualized is the absence of the intimate knowledge of evolution and devolution.

That corporations are given person hood, is simply acknowledging the survival instincts of a system of order

When humans live in a system which is beyond a finite number, the evolution of the creature becomes secondary to the evolution of the organization.

At that point the organization begins to consume its individuals.

Humans arose out of small group format, and evolve that way. Whatever it takes to get back that way is good. When rats

grow too many in a cage they eat their babies.

Count all the dishes, pots and pans, extra space and extra stress and wonder how many can be provisioned by what lies

forgotten in your cupboards, closets, attics and garage

Look at the forces that will come upon you if you decide to stop the world and begin doing right in a significant strength to

match the need and you will meet the enemy, Law now strangles the beautiful hope.

Quote:

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Posted in reply to the post by CSummer:

Thanks for posting this, John. To me, it is a fairly accurate description of the symptoms of the problem but leaves out the true cause, which I believe to be our fragmented human consciousness, our sense of powerlessness and disconnectedness (alienation from each other and from ourselves) - and our unconscious desire to have someone take care of us and that which seems beyond us (e.g., "the world").

This begins to describe the problem at its core (consumption as a form of self-distraction):

"An economy driven by our intense psychological need to fill our spiritual and emotional vacuum with more and more stuff and the illusion that the accumulation of wealth and material possessions can provide meaning to life. Whoever dies with the most toys, wins the game."

The government - and the corporations and other large institutions - are as they are because of the way we are and the way we live: by giving up our power and responsibility to others to manage things for us - to even provide many of our basic necessities. This has had the effect of creating enormous centralized power structures that give vast power to small numbers of people. Such positions of power will attract those who are addicted to power and who use deception and violence to increase and solidify their hold on power.

The real problem - as I see it - is within us, and it is the lack of communities that support us in reconnecting with ourselves, each other and the earth. I don't think secession will solve anything, because we'll bring the root of the problem with us. Many have experienced this in their involvement with intentional communities, most of which fail to provide the essential healing process (intra- and inter-personal reintegration) that needs to happen.


"Summary

A government that is too big, too centralized, too powerful, too undemocratic, too intrusive, too materialistic, too environmentally destructive, too racist, too violent, too militaristic, and too unresponsive to the needs of individual citizens and small communities."

Government - at least on the federal level - has always been these things. I get an image of a star that is nearing its end, that has expanded enormously, bloated outward by its loss of mass. It's become so vast and weak that it absorbs most of its own energy, giving off little useful light. It is on its way to collapsing in on itself, becoming a black hole that gobbles up anything that comes near it (this may not be astronomically accurate!).

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