A Tyranny of Lies, The War Against Americans

A Tyranny of Lies, The War Against Americans

“When war is declared, the first casualty is the truth.”  - Phillip Snowden

“Death is better, a milder fate than tyranny.”  - Aeschylus

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”  - George Orwell

By J.M. Hamilton (10-19-2014)

We live in an era where the U.S. finds itself in perpetual warfare – an era where truth and honesty are in short supply.  Politicians, and in particular members of Congress, pedal deceit, dodge, duck, run for cover, campaign and raise money (call for studies and special committees)… anything but debate, govern, and solve problems.  Private enterprise (our monopolies and cartels), in many cases, is little better.  One cannot pick up the paper or turn to your favorite internet news site, without reading another story about how a major corporation is screwing over its customers and employees.  As such the U.S. appears on the brink of becoming just another European nation, or third world country, characterized: by corruption, cronyism, payoffs/bribes (legal and illegal), a paralyzed government, and a perfidious judiciary. 

The Congress has become so inept that we depend upon the Federal Reserve, SCOTUS, and executive orders from POTUS to keep the duct tape wound around our crumbling democracy (and to think these clowns are suing the President for doing his job).  Of the three branches of government, Congress has become the most useless appendage; in fact, Congress has become metaphorical gangrene, that threatens U.S. economic and fiscal health.  If the one hundred Senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives (all on the government dole) went missing tomorrow, the government and the nation would not miss a beat.  Quite the opposite, the government might actually function.  Congress’ and private enterprise’s, often, total lack of regard for the truth is not only a threat to the American people, the institutions we hold dear, but arguably, the Congress’ lack of accountability and honesty is a threat to our national security. 

Congress is a mere extension of the plutocracy; thanks to SCOTUS, Congress is owned by the plutocracy.  And the plutocracy, like bankers, lives in the shadows, away from sunlight (hence the untraceable and unfathomable campaign sums that flow through 501c’ or alleged, philanthropic enterprise).  The perpetual foreign wars our country now finds itself in are symptomatic of a total disregard for the truth, and the 99%.  These wars are a complete misdirection designed to keep the country fearful, distracted, and its attention focused away from real and necessary economic, tax, and political reform issues.

That we have been led into Middle-East wars, time and time again, through disassembling, half baked truths and lies… at a time of domestic energy abundance no less, shows just how powerful the elite have become, how marginalized democracy has become, and that once again, the first casualty of war is the truth.  As such the plutocracy is not only at war with the world for dominance and control (the U.S. has military bases in 130 countries around the world, has 900 foreign military bases, and spends more money on Offense than the G-20 combined), but it is at war with the American people.  The U.S. is under the yoke of a tyranny of lies, designed to perpetuate the elite’s hold on power, domestically and internationally.

If this sounds extreme than ask yourself why the government spies on American citizens 24/7 through the NSA and countless other intelligence services.  Per the Washington Post: “Some 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States.”  More importantly, ask yourself why the Congress has done nothing to stop the infringement upon your freedom, your civil rights, and your liberty?  This isn’t about your personal safety, this is about hegemonic power and the Elite’s absolute control over American citizens.

Think I’m paranoid… let’s quote Mr. Establishment himself, Mr. Warren Buffett, who said:  “Actually, there’s been class warfare going on for the last 20 years, and my class has won. We’re the ones that have gotten our tax rates reduced dramatically.”  The war on Americans, by the plutrocracy, doesn’t stop at tax policy: there’s been decades long wage suppression and a failure to address minimum wage; our citizen soldiers are badly abused during war time and the abuse continues when they return to our shores; globalization and M&A is encouraged by the Fed’s easy money policies, and erodes our jobs and tax base; the privatization of our government, means programs that should be cut (like the NSA and the MIC) – never end – at the expense of programs that need funding (like free college tuition); and cartels and monopolies now dominate the economic landscape.  These cartels and monopolies harm and crush consumers, creativity, innovation, improved services and products, labor, and do serious harm to the economy, itself.  Monopolies and cartels are the number one problem in the U.S. today, and they subvert our democracy.

Congress, owned by monopolies and cartels, stands by and obstructs, and caters to the interests that are destroying our economy, our government, and our way of life – for their personal gain.  Example after example of graft and corruption are easy enough to find; but it’s also highly instructive, to illustrate just how far off the rails our government has run, by visiting how the plutocracy maligns and threatens the few remaining U.S. Citizens, who exhibit the courage to tell the truth.  These are the proverbial canaries in the coalmine:

Joe Biden was recently forced to apologize to our so-called allies (UAE, Qatar, and Turkey) for pointing out that these terrorists/rogue nations provide comfort, aid, and financial support for the terrorist gang, ISIL/ISIS.  Of course, these nations, along with the Saudis, have been spreading radical Islam for years, and many are the wealthiest backers of terror in the world today.  Until we address the aid these nations provide terror groups, and work to bring about democracy to these dictatorships, the U.S. will find itself in war without end (which makes the MIC perfectly happy, and might explain why the Congress tolerates these regimes).  Mr. Biden has a long history of telling the truth over the years, including pushing President Obama to recognize LGBT civil rights.  For his efforts, he is often portrayed poorly in the press, as politically naïve, when the reality is the U.S. would be greatly served by more of the honesty Vice President Biden is serving up.  In direct contrast, we have to learn from Mr. Snowden’s document dump that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton believes the Saudi regime is one of the greatest funders of terrorism in our time, but nary a word from Mrs. Clinton in public.  Her reticence speaks volumes, and when she does speak, she is all too often incoherent.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, a known populist and a liberal, is really neither…. She’s just another rare breed of American, who deals in honesty, year in and year out.  Whether it’s creating a Federal Agency to protect ordinary Americans from predatory Wall Street banking tactics or calling attention to the malefactors, the bank management teams and boards, that caused our 2008 Economic Hiroshima and still deal in a rogue $700 trillion swaps and derivatives market (unwillingly back-stopped by the American people) - Senator Warren can always be counted on to tell the truth, the antithesis of our Congress.  She backs the return of a modern Glass-Steagall, and college tuition debt relief to our nation’s youth.  For her efforts, she has been kicked out of the “insiders club” (read economic and political elite), by none other than one, Mr. Lawerence Summers.  As President Obama has stated, Mrs. Warren makes the insiders/plutocracy "nervous."  So let’s put her into the White House tomorrow.  The only thing bad I can say about Senator Warren is she has yet to agree to run for President, so as to best challenge the ultimate insider, Clinton, Inc.

Mr. Snowden is a certifiable hero.  He sacrificed everything, so that Americans could know about the Surveillance Empire, in which all Americans now find themselves living within.  We used to live in a land of habeas corpus, due process, and the rule of law.  Now, in order to protect the plutocracy, we live in a land where we are all assumed to be guilty, until proven innocent.  Our Surveillance State, all too often outsourced and run by Big Business, deals in lies and subterfuge.  Witness Mr. James Clapper, who lied to the Senate without repercussion; witness the CIA who hacked into Senate computers.  And now our FBI Director, another liar (meant to say lawyer), is fuming that Apple and Google are moving forward with encryption.  That Google’s and Apple’s future profit model depends upon protecting the privacy and security of their customers, never seems to dawn on FBI Director, Comey.  To these rogues, it is all about the power of the state, and their megalomania for absolute control.  Because the one percent is engaged in known criminal conduct (that this "conduct" has often been made legal by our crony and compliant Congress is another matter), or arguably, terrorist activities, all Americans must surrender their rights and shred the constitution for specious, greater personal safety claims.  Meanwhile, our hero, Mr. Snowden, has had to flee to Russia to avoid tyranny and retribution from these Orwellian Agencies.   Proof once again, that no good deed goes unpunished. 

Justice Rakoff, that all too rare breed of judge and another American icon, who actually believes he’s supposed to stand for something more than being a rubber stamp for the crony deals worked out between The Banking cartel and the SEC.  Read about him here.

And then there’s that brave nurse, Brianna Acquire, who risked everything, by telling the world that her employer in Dallas (Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital), completely botched the first U.S. Ebola case.  She’s a hero, but like all truth telling heros, she’s likely to be persecuted and left without a job.

Look what we tell our children in our nation’s schools: play ball, keep quiet, don’t question authority, or we’ll medicate and/or expel you.  The tone for an authoritarian model is set immediately, starting at Pre-K through twelve.  There’s a reason why public schools look like prisons.

And is it any wonder?  Given that the plutocracy has only grown wealthier and more powerful , from President Reagan forward, why would they not be at war with anybody or anything that threatens their privileged status, like the American people or democracy itself.  Besides war is big business.  Any thing that threatens the status quo – especially the truth – must be crushed, put down, stigmatized, avoided, vilified, and incarcerated. 

Speaking from personal experience, an example must be made of anyone who dares tell the truth, insists upon social justice, or challenges the plutocracy.  The plutocracy’s smear campaign that ensues, against the truth teller, all too often has little to do with facts, truth or the issue at hand.  And if they cannot find dirt on the truth teller, the plutocracy often will just make it up.

Mr. Snowden made an excellent point in The Nation recently.  I paraphrase, Americans often confuse blind loyalty and allegiance to anything the State or plutocracy does with patriotism.  We are taught at a very early age not to question authority.  But in complying with what we have been taught, we have slowly but surely seen the erosion of our rights and liberties, our democracy, and our freedoms.  Mr. Snowden swore an oath against America’s enemies, both foreign and domestic. 

As much as JMH believes the U.S. government has the potential for tremendous good, and often conducts itself in that way, the power of the State and the plutocracy must be kept on a very short leash, indeed.

P.S.

Don’t be fooled by anti-socialist rhetoric.  It took a co-opted and purchased government to allow the wealthy to be become this powerful, and it will take government intervention to unwind and bring about economic, political, and social justice.  It took decades for the plutocracy to amass this power, and it will be a long and arduous journey to level the playing field.  The idea of a U.S. aristocracy is repugnant to the principles that our nation was founded upon.

 And finally, please meet Mr. Jean Tirole.  What?  You never heard of Mr. Tirole?  Mr. Tirole just won the Nobel in economics for his work on how to tame monopolies and cartels.  Now, you know why you have never heard of Mr. Tirole in America.  Hopefully, we'll all be hearing a great deal more from him, and in particular his ideas, in the future. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2014