Our democracy is dying, and voting for the 'right' candidate won't save it

[Clancy]

The following excerpts are from a larger piece here;
https://www.truthdig.com/report/item...ster_20101011/

by Chris Hedges

The ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes spent his life battling the assault on democracy by tyrants. It is disheartening to be reminded that he lost. But he understood that the hardest struggle for humankind is often stating and understanding the obvious...

The huge amount of taxpayer money doled out to Wall Street, investment banks, the oil and natural gas industry and the defense industry, along with the dismantling of our manufacturing sector, is why we are impoverished. It is why our houses are being foreclosed on. It is why some 45 million Americans are denied medical care. It is why our infrastructure, from public schools to bridges, is rotting. It is why many of us cannot find jobs. We are being fleeced. The flagrant theft of public funds and rise of an obscenely rich oligarchic class is masked by the tough talk of demagogues, themselves millionaires, who use fear and bombast to keep us afraid, confused and enslaved...

Aristophanes saw the same psychological and political manipulation undermine the democratic state in ancient Athens...

Our democracy, through years of war, theft and corruption, is also being diminished. But the example Aristophanes offers is not a hopeful one. He held up the same corruption to his fellow Greeks. He repeatedly chided them for not rising up and fighting back. He warned, ominously, that by the time most citizens awoke it would be too late. And he was right. The appearance of normality lulls us into a false hope and submission. Those who shout most loudly in defense of the ideals of the founding fathers, the sacredness of Constitution and the values of the Christian religion are those who most actively seek to subvert the principles they claim to champion. They hold up the icons and language of traditional patriotism, the rule of law and Christian charity to demolish the belief systems that give them cultural and political legitimacy. And those who should defend these beliefs are cowed and silent.

“For a considerable length of time the normality of the normal world is the most efficient protection against disclosure of totalitarian mass crimes,” Hannah Arendt wrote in “The Origins of Totalitarianism.” “Normal men don’t know that everything is possible, refuse to believe their eyes and ears in the face of the monstrous. ... The reason why the totalitarian regimes can get so far toward realizing a fictitious, topsy-turvy world is that the outside non-totalitarian world, which always comprises a great part of the population of the totalitarian country itself, indulges in wishful thinking and shirks reality in the face of real insanity. ...”

All ideological, theological and political debates with the representatives of the corporate state, including the feckless and weak Barack Obama, are useless. They cannot be reached. They do not want a dialogue. They care nothing for real reform or participatory democracy. They use the tricks and mirages of public relations to mask a steadily growing assault on our civil liberties, our inability to make a living and the loss of basic services from education to health care. Our gutless liberal class placates the enemies of democracy, hoping desperately to remain part of the ruling elite, rather than resist. And, in many ways, liberals, because they serve as a cover for these corporate extremists, are our greatest traitors.

The tragedy is that liberals and secularists, like Obama, are not viewed as competitors by the corporate forces that hold power, but as contaminates that must be eliminated. They have sought to work with forces that will never be placated. They have abandoned the most basic values of the liberal class to play a game that in the end will mean their political and cultural extinction. There will be no swastikas this time but seas of red, white and blue flags and Christian crosses. There will be no stiff-armed salutes, but recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance. There will be no brown shirts but nocturnal visits from Homeland Security. The fear, rage and hatred of our dispossessed and confused working class are being channeled into currents that are undermining the last vestiges of the democratic state. These dangerous emotions, directed against a liberal class that as in ancient Athens betrayed the population, have a strong appeal. And unless we adopt the radicalism held by Aristophanes, unless we begin to hinder the functioning of the corporate state through acts of civil disobedience, we are finished.

Let us not stand at the open gates of the city meekly waiting for the barbarians. They are coming. They are slouching towards Bethlehem. Let us, if nothing else, like Aristophanes, begin to call our tyranny by its name.

[someguy]

This is why you all should have a backup plan/place to go. Hedges is right, and its only a matter of time until this country becomes unbearable to live in. I hope you all figure this out soon.

[podfish]

This is why you all should have a backup plan/place to go. Hedges is right, and its only a matter of time until this country becomes unbearable to live in. I hope you all figure this out soon.

So how'd that work out for Aristophanes' descendants? You might as well draw out the historical analogy farther... did the freedom-loving Greeks setup idyllic escapes in Scythia? maybe they went to live with the Etruscans (doh! that didn't last...)

It seems like a fantasy to imagine running to some refuge. I can't imagine any part of the world that would welcome big chunks of persecuted Americans and offer them a more perfect society and government. I suppose, since by world standards many Americans are quite rich, you could go somewhere and buy into the elite (like some retirees do in parts of Mexico) and then you too could benefit from being in the ruling class. Russia might serve... Or, if you're on the other side of the political spectrum, maybe you imagine you could run off to the more enlightened Scandinavian countries? The language barrier would be a problem for many of us.
Sadly I think you're just going to have to stick around. The energy spent on finding and moving to some escape location would be better spent on actual political action.

[someguy]

Sadly I think you're just going to have to stick around. The energy spent on finding and moving to some escape location would be better spent on actual political action.

I'm not sticking around. Fortunately for me, I knew this was going to happen years ago and I took my own advice. I'll be long gone before what Hedges describes happening, happens. You see, I don't base my life on hope. I can see where this boat is headed, and I'm bailing while also trying to plant a seed in ya'lls minds so you too can come to realize what is actually taking place in our country right now.

These are some exciting times in South America my friend. You might be interested in watching Oliver Stones documentary: South of the Boarder. Exciting indeed. But regardless of the cool political scenarios unfolding, its not gonna last long.

Oh, and if your looking to live the life of an elitist, you'll probably be very, very disappointed no matter where in the world you live. This whole world is in for some real hard times. At least for me in South America I can afford some decent farm land and live a very simple life as far on the outskirts of war, tyranny, and elimination as possible. Plus, I could be doing what I love, without some fascist American fat-cat giving me the shaft.

[Tars]

Ah, the twenty-somethings, to be young and idealistic in a black & white world! {Canned Heat's "Goin' Up The Country" playing in the background}

[someguy]

Ah, the twenty-somethings, to be young and idealistic in a black & white world! {Canned Heat's "Goin' Up The Country" playing in the background}

Ahh those fifty-some odds, to be old and think you know it all....

[podfish]

Ahh those fifty-some odds, to be old and think you know it all....

I don't think there's much supporting evidence for the "think you know it all" claim.
Good luck in SA. they're taking in Boarders, eh? I agree that there's probably more excitement to be found there, too. I still think if you have any expectations that individuals will have more flexibility, freedom and control of their own destiny there than you do here, you'll give them up soon enough. There are lots of things you can't do here that no-one will stop you doing down there - but the reverse is equally true. And it's pretty hard to point at anywhere in SA where the tradition of rule-by-oligarchy is weaker than ours. Still it should be an adventure.

[Tars]

Ahh those fifty-some odds, to be old and think you know it all....

I don't know it all, I do know that. I don't know anyone in my age range who thinks that. However, life teaches patience and some wisdom if we allow ourselves to learn.

The part of your post about moving to South America made me laugh; not at you, at myself. When I was a twennysomthin I was planning to move to South America. I had a business down there waiting for me, and friends who wanted me to come along. Fortuitously as it turns out, love came along, and I decided to stay here instead. As I watched the turmoil, dictatorships, assassinations, persecutions, and general political instability there, I realized how lucky I had been in my choice to stay here.

Those who move someplace else to get away from the problems at home usually find equal or more difficult problems where they go. The more things seem different, the more they are the same.

[Valley Oak]

You should go to live in South America and realize your dreams. Don't betray yourself; you have only one life to live and this is it! Go, young man, go! South America is paradise and the US is a totalitarian, leftist hell. Your happiness and self-reliant fulfillment is awaiting you; your first and best destiny: a ranch in South America! Wow, that sounds so exciting that I'm going to start packing my bags right now!

And if you ever feel that some left wing government, like Allende's, threatens your fantasy, simply support another military dictatorship to torture and mass-murder the evil lefties there, just like we have done so many times in the past.

Edward

I'm not sticking around. Fortunately for me, I knew this was going to happen years ago and I took my own advice. I'll be long gone before what Hedges describes happening, happens. You see, I don't base my life on hope. I can see where this boat is headed, and I'm bailing while also trying to plant a seed in ya'lls minds so you too can come to realize what is actually taking place in our country right now.

These are some exciting times in South America my friend. You might be interested in watching Oliver Stones documentary: South of the Boarder. Exciting indeed. But regardless of the cool political scenarios unfolding, its not gonna last long.

Oh, and if your looking to live the life of an elitist, you'll probably be very, very disappointed no matter where in the world you live. This whole world is in for some real hard times. At least for me in South America I can afford some decent farm land and live a very simple life as far on the outskirts of war, tyranny, and elimination as possible. Plus, I could be doing what I love, without some fascist American fat-cat giving me the shaft.

[someguy]

You should go to live in South America and realize your dreams. Don't betray yourself; you have only one life to live and this is it! Go, young man, go! South America is paradise and the US is a totalitarian, leftist hell. Your happiness and self-reliant fulfillment is awaiting you; your first and best destiny: a ranch in South America! Wow, that sounds so exciting that I'm going to start packing my bags right now!

And if you ever feel that some left wing government, like Allende's, threatens your fantasy, simply support another military dictatorship to torture and mass-murder the evil lefties there, just like we have done so many times in the past.

Edward

It must be awesome to be you!