Master of Puppets

Master of Puppets

Stick me in a confessional and ask the question: Sir, if you had the authority, would you forbid smoking in America? You'd get a solemn and contrite, Yes. Solemn because I would be violating my secular commitment to the free marketplace. Contrite, because my relative indifference to tobacco poison for so many years puts me in something of the position of the Zyklon B defendants after World War II.

These folk manufactured the special gas used in the death camps to genocidal ends. They pleaded, of course, that as far as they were concerned, they were simply technicians, putting together chemicals needed in wartime for fumigation. Some got away with that defense; others, not.

Those who fail to protest the free passage of tobacco smoke in the air come close to the Zyklon defendants in pleading ignorance.

William F. Buckley – My Smoking Confessional (12-3-07)

By J.M. Hamilton 6-25-2015

Finger tips don’t fail me now.

A lot has transpired in the last two weeks, since I wrote my last piece on the late – greatest - Muhammad Ali.   We now have the presumptive nominees for the two major parties, Mr. Trump and Mrs. Clinton; we’ve had another domestic terrorist utilize a weapon designed for war on the revelers at an Orlando gay nightclub.

Nearly eclipsing all this in real time, across the pond, the citizens in Britain told the elite establishment of the E.U. to go to hell.  The elite, of course, globally, have been telling the 99% to go to hell for years, in the form of:  bank bailouts; plutocratic bailouts (both largely funded by central bank debt & money printing); co-opting and owning, allegedly, democratic governments; co-opting and owning - and threatening w/ litigation - the fourth estate; exporting middle class jobs to third world hell holes – via free trade; and while pigging out at the government trough, largely via tax breaks, insisting upon austerity for the 99%.

The elite’s hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed; and so the brave citizens of Great Britain beat back the disinformation and fear campaign, conducted by the establishment and their tools – the political class, and told the U.K. and Euro-toffs to sell their tired act elsewhere.  The ripple effects of the referendum are just beginning to be felt in bourses around the world, to the tune of a hundred billion or more of equity blown away in the blink of an eye (for the 400 hundred world's wealthiest people, alone).  And coming soon, expect more European countries to abandon The Project, and w/ good reason, the EU/ECB has failed the citizens of Europe, while enriching an elite few.  (This doesn't mean the elite and the E.U. won't seek retribution against their former British subjects.)

But the elite don’t always lose, and they are used to both winning and having their way on nearly everything under the sun.  The chair of Chicago based CME Group (a commodities, derivatives & swaps bourse), Mr. Duffy, and his executive crew, rejoiced recently that the two U.S. lead nominees, Hills & Trump, will be perfect establishment tools, and, all campaign rhetoric to the contrary, will be highly useful to Wall Street and the U.S. financial sectors.  Mr. Duffy, some may remember, had the conjones to call out Mr. Obama a few years back.  The POTUS complained that CME, and speculators, jacked up the prices of commodities (food & fuel) on millions of Americans…. Essentially, obtaining a parasitic free ride off the staples of life.  Mr. Duffy didn’t take kindly to these facts.

The plutocracy, of course, is distrustful of any politician that their money cannot purchase, and so we find neocons, the business elite, and CME Group lining up behind Mrs. Clinton, the dream GOP candidate.  Mr. Trump is rougher around the edges (often saying things that many Republicans only say behind closed doors), and presents a challenge and independence that the robber barons don’t fancy; but as the The Donald is a product of the establishment, he too, is expected to fall into line, all campaign rhetoric notwithstanding.  The do-gooder, and truly independent, Senator Sanders, has been eliminated, under questionable primary circumstances (turns out the vote has not been fully counted in California, and some counties continue to flip Mr. Sanders way).  Given that much of the U.S. vote is now tallied by computers, and we’ve come to learn that computers are highly hackable and prone to human manipulation…. The electoral process in the U.S., sadly, becomes easy fodder for conspiracy theorist, and the rationale and the sane.  Not so in Britain, where the ballots for the aforementioned referendum were hand counted.  But I digress.

With the conservative business community, and war profiteers & jingoist, lining up behind Hillary, it does make one wonder, why are Dems and liberals attracted to Mrs. C?  Clearly, the Democratic party, under Clintonian policies and Obama’s stewardship, has lurched hard right, post-Reagan.  Tax havens for the wealthy, government service for the plutocracy, free trade agreements that usurp courts and national sovereignty, a mass incarceration & surveillance state (largely privatized), war w/out end…. Why the Dems have co-opted GOP policy, except for a thin veneer of social justice (which they generally have to be dragged, kicking & screaming, to adopt). 

If the business of America used to be business, under the current Washington environment, the business of American government is pandering to cartels, monopolies, lobbyist, and trade association’ diktats.

The GOP’s blind deference to trade association edicts was on full display in the wake of the Orlando gay nightclub shooting.  The GOP, which repeats NRA talking points, blamed the nightclub shooting on terrorism, and not the killing tool of the rampage, easily obtainable military grade assault rifles.  With dozens killed and maimed, the American public had to bear witness to the double-standard of Republican leadership praying solemnly for the victims (a group, gays, that the GOP largely disdains), while filling their pockets with NRA cash and campaign contributions.  If there ever was a lap dog to moneyed interests, these are the people:  The House Republicans.

The NRA, all pretense about representing the rights of gun owners aside, is another trade association.  Trade associations are entities that represent the economic and political interests of the various cartels and monopolies that, largely, make up the American economy.  If anyone in our government cared to enforce the Sherman Antitrust Act, or fight collusion and unfair trade practices, trade associations would be the place to start.  But the enforcement agencies and mechanisms are woefully underfunded by design, and the respective agencies’ leadership usually trips in from the revolving door.  The American public should not expect antitrust enforcement anytime soon, under either political party.  To his credit, President Obama's administration has tackled some of the larger mergers, as of late.

So the freak show the American public was treated to this week: the master of puppets, the NRA, calling the tune, while Congress dances on marionette strings.  Trade associations and corporate lobbyist own, operate, and often write the legislation for the Congress of the United States.   They provide the talking points for congresspersons, and yet, these associations are unelected, unassailable, and unaccountable to anyone, but the oligarchy.  Well known examples include, but certainly are not limited to:  the International Swaps & Derivatives Association; the now defunct, Tobacco Institute; the aforementioned, National Rifle Association; the American Petroleum Institute; and the National Cable & Telecommunications Association.  Master of government sock puppets, one and all.

What’s J.M. got against American business, my readers might ask? 

Absolutely nothing, when business is regulated to insure plenty of competition, and said business manufactures helpful and safe products & services.  And in particular, JMH appreciates businesses, and management teams, that respect government’s need to regulate and intervene in markets to protect the American public’s general welfare, and to eliminate and/or mitigate predatory monopolistic pricing behavior.  You know, the very behavior that Adam Smith and F.A. Hayek warned us about, and the concentrating behavior – if allowed unchecked – industries have a tendency to metastasize into, the creation of cartels and monopolies.

As it stands, however, we now have trade associations representing an oligarchy, that owns and operates our government for their own personal gain and interests, and in a manner that – in many instances – is entirely inimical to American society’s interests.  Some of these products, for example coal & petroleum, are as outdated as the buggy whip, while other products – military grade assault rifles – are as dangerous to the commonweal, as cigarettes.

Who profits from these dangerous and outdated products?  

Answer:  An elite few.

Who picks up the social costs for the mayhem that ensues? 

Answer:  Why the social costs are mopped up and suffered by the American taxpayer, or financed by the Fed’s printing presses.

Hence, the problem with allowing patients to proscribe their own medicine, or allowing inmates to run the asylum… or plutocrats to run our government: there are no checks and balances.  The commonweal is obliterated, and in some instances, the public rejects the nihilism wreaked upon them by the ownership class.  See Brexit.

Not to belabor the point, but Mr. Buckley’s analogy between the 20^th Century’s American tobacco industry, and I.G. Farben’s manufacturing of Zyclon B immediately comes to mind.   That is to say, there were a lot of “good” Nazis and their leadership, who were just following orders and manufacturing Zyclon B, while a race of men was put to death.  Likewise, a lot Americans, knowingly, were given a premature death sentence by the American Tobacco Institute, and the Congress of the United States – for many years – just stood by.

I.G. Farben and the Nazis attract particular derision and scorn, rightfully so, because of their singular attack upon a specific race of men.  But does the indiscriminate killing of men and women by Big Oil, Big Tobacco, and the gun industry make their horrific crimes on humanity any less catastrophic or repugnant?  Are the killings and premature deaths caused by these products any less galling, or are they more galling still, because they are driven by the profit motive and are highly preventable?

Ah, the perils of our crony U.S. government, bought and paid for by a ruling business oligarchy.  Will U.S. citizens be “good” Nazis, or like the British, will we stand up and fight for democracy, freedom, popular sovereignty, and the common good?  Judging from our current presidential nominees, it appears that we have chosen the former.

Stay tuned.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016

Ali

Ali

When he got in trouble in the ring, (Ali) imagined a door swung open and inside he could see neon, orange and green lights blinking, and bats blowing trumpets and alligators playing trombones, and he could hear snakes screaming.  Weird masks and actors’ clothes hung on the wall, and if he stepped across the sill and reached for them, he knew he was committing himself to destruction.

-       George Plimpton, Shadow Box – The Near Room

I am America.  I am the part you won’t recognize.  But get used to me.  Black, confident, cocky, my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get use to me.

-       Ali

That all you got, George?

-       Ali, in the Ring in w/ George Foreman, Zaire Africa, Circa 1974

By J.M. Hamilton (6-11-16)

If one entered my humble abode, you’d walk down a hallway and past a Bombay chest, before entering my living room.  Under the windows at the end of the room are stacks upon stacks of books, and in the middle of the floor is a Persian rug w/ more colors than Ken Kesey’s bus, Further.  To my right are two leather chairs, which face a sizable flat screen TV, located on my left.  The walls are minimalist to say the least.  Very little hangs on the walls of my apartment, a few pictures of my cherished and beloved son, except….   Right above the TV, at eye level if one is standing, is a famous framed poster of two fighters.  On the canvas lays Liston…. Above Liston, arms at his sides, stands Muhammad Ali (ne Cassius Clay).  This is prime Ali: cut to the bone, little or no body fat, sinew and muscle electrified, and the look on Muhammad’s face is one of defiance personified.  

It’s interesting…. As we age, what is important to us at one segment of our lives becomes less important later on; and what was once perceived as great about an individual perhaps fades and dims, and we recognize, later on, something entirely different about a person that may make them greater still.  For me, there will always be two Muhammad Alis:  The three-time world champion boxer, who I idolized in my youth; and the black revolutionary figure --- who defied the U.S. Federal government and the government’s ownership class, The White establishment --- that I came to know, read about, and appreciate even more as an adult.  If the two Alis were two separate men, they both would be great, but as they were one man, Muhammad Ali was The 20^th Century’s Greatest man.

As a child, I first became aware of Ali in the early 70s, watching his fights with my father.  Muhammad was hugely entertaining.  Not just because of his boxing prowess, but also because his mouth had a preternatural ability to speak as quickly as his brain thought.  Now, this ability – to speak rapidly – gets many of us in trouble.  With Ali, as a boxer – whether it be pre-fight confrontations with opponents, or verbal gymnastics with sportscaster, Howard Cosell - the Louisville Lip was pure unadulterated show, and it was wonderful to watch.

It was also, unbeknownst to me at the time, my first encounter with psychological warfare.

By the mid- seventies Ali was beginning to age.  What any tenured professional knows, or comes to learn if they are to last, is that as speed, reflex, agility and strength begin to fade, they have to be replaced by discipline, knowledge, preparation and strategy.  And Ali lasted, and he re-wrote the game and the science behind warfare between two men.  Ali, more than any other athlete or coach, reminds me most of General Sun Tzu and his book, The Art War.  The thesis behind Mr. Tzu’s book, and behind Ali’s boxing style, is that: Every battle is won or lost before it’s ever fought.

Ali crawled around inside his opponents' heads, he got under their skin, he f’ed w/ their minds…. Ali invaded their dreams and turned them into nightmares.  All this before the fight even began. 

Once in the ring, Muhammad might lean against the ropes for several rounds – completely and maddeningly unorthodox, as a younger, stronger, and more aggressive boxer blasted The Champ, seemingly, with a horrific pounding.  Ali often shifting almost imperceptibly, avoiding, and dodging the most damaging of blows, all the while verbally provoking and taunting his opponents.  Most heavy weight opponents, as the fight wore on, became frustrated, angered, and fearful that the destruction they thought they were wreaking upon Ali was coming to naught… and some simply began to break down with fatigue and wear out.  And that’s when Ali, the wolf, materialized.  With a blitzkrieg of blows and counter punches, Ali would lash out at an opponent, who only seconds earlier believed they were in command.  Muhammad’s victims were trapped, the tables turned, and suddenly found themselves on the canvas in a state of delirium – caused by Ali’s strategy and an acute beat down.  Lights out.  Game over. 

Next.

Like any great tale, Ali’s story can’t be told w/out the events surrounding his life.  The back drop of Ali’s rise as a professional fighter was American culture and society in the 60s and 70s.  A culture rife with racism, inequality, and extreme poverty, particularly among persons of color, and notably, one very nasty American war half a world away in Vietnam.  It was also a time of exceptional blowback against the establishment and their minions, the political class - a considerable amount of which was motivated by the draft or forced conscription.

If Ali’s words became weaponized w/in the ring, they became weapons of mass destruction within the black community and were ultimately, aimed at the American power establishment’s heart.  Ali was undoubtedly radicalized in his youth by his environment in Louisville, Kentucky, and via a racist and segregationist South.  Boxing and the fame it brought him became, as Muhammad acknowledged, a spring board for an exceptionally powerful voice in American culture.  With boxing and his championships as his platform, Ali called a great deal of attention to the gross inequality in our society, America’s racism, America’s segregation, Jim Crow, and U.S. colonialism and imperialism abroad.

At great personal risk to himself, his family, and his livelihood, in relatively short order, Ali:

·      Rejected his slave name, becoming Cassius X and then Muhammad Ali;

·      He revolted against Christianity, which had been perverted for millennium by Americans and Europeans to justify every evil under the sun – including slavery, crusades, and so, Ali became a Muslim;

·      Ali began to speak out on the injustice in American society, and fought for civil rights;

·      Muhammad was quoted by Dr. King, and was friends with Malcom X, who proscribed that the black man should obtain equality in America, by any means necessary;

·      And most defiantly, he rejected the war in Vietnam, all that it stood for (namely, America’s commercial empire), and refused to be drafted into the military.

Ironically, the U.S. military more than likely would have used Ali - not as a warrior – but a propaganda tool, a role model, and a morale builder for the U.S. troops, many of whom were black.

Ali was having none of it, and he was banned from his livelihood – during the prime of his career – for three to four long years, and threatened with prison.  For standing up for himself, the black community, and arguably all Americans against a horrific war, Ali received derision and scorn from many quarters.  Muhammad once said, the toughest battles in his life were – not fought in the ring - but with his first wife and the U.S. military.  The pressure to conform must have been enormous:  To go on making millions, to look the other way, and remain quiet about America’s perverted underbelly and long deeply exploitive history. 

Instead, Ali became a champion of words and of many black and brown communities throughout America, who had no voice.  

 

The iconoclast would ultimately become an icon.  And over time – over the span of decades – the radical would become co-opted and adopted by the establishment, itself. President George W. Bush would recognize Ali and award him the Medal of Freedom in 2005.  Of course, the establishment always attempts to sanitize and control the narrative surrounding the radicals it incorporates into the American story, for purposes of mass consumption.  MLK, late in life, began to recognize that there could be no civil rights in society w/out economic civil rights, particularly when he said: “This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor.”  Today, the message and veneration surrounding MLK is often neatly confined to his march for civil rights, and little is said about MLK’s advocacy for economic civil rights and his support for a guaranteed income provided by the state. 

In the same manner and over the span of time, the establishment will assuredly attempt to tone down the radicalism surrounding Muhammad Ali, and play up his abilities w/in the boxing arena.  The U.S. military also learned a valuable lesson, eventually did away with the draft, and went with an all voluntary military force.  The unfortunate results of the all voluntary force are seen today, in:  1) American warfare w/out end; 2) minorities and the poor serving in highly disproportionate numbers on the front lines of America’s wars; and 3) as they have no skin in the game, the general public pays little heed to U.S. foreign policy, the outrageous resources our military industrial complex consumes, and the atrocities America – directly and indirectly – participates in around the globe.

It was this brave and revolutionary Ali that I came to know and appreciate later in my own life, and it’s why his picture adorns my living room today.  Ali the prizefighter - phenomenal; Ali the revolutionary – the patriot, who stood up for his community – The Greatest!  What some white Americans fail to realize is that Ali’s message should resonate with them, as much as with the black community.  White Americans are presently dying off before their time, in large part due to wage and wealth inequality in this country, and economic oppression caused by free trade agreements.  For years, lower and middle class whites were made to feel good about themselves, because no matter how bad things got, at least they often had a job and could feel superior to their black and brown brothers.  But with A.I., globalization, outsourcing, automation, and the advent of the Monopoly Economy (brought to you – and financed - in large part by global central banks’ and the Federal Reserve’s policies), white Americans are no freer from economic and political tyranny than their black and brown brothers and sisters.  The vast majority of Americans, regardless of color, live one paycheck away from humility.

If you think I jest…. Take a look at the present rebellion w/in the Republican Party in the form of one Mr. Donald Trump, and how a socialist senator from Vermont, Mr. Bernie Sanders, damn near picked off Queen Hillary.  The key take away from this political primary season is that while Mr. Trump blames immigrants and people of color for America’s problems, Mr. Sanders blames the Robber Barons (aka The Ruling Oligarchy) for many of the problems confronting all Americans.  The former message is divisive, and coming from a billionaire – highly self-serving.  While the latter political message addresses the real problem:  the economic and political disenfranchisement of all Americans (regardless of race, color, or creed), and our democracy usurped and controlled by the Shadow State/Billionaire class.

Prime Ali would have had something to say about all this.

P.S.

The World’s Greatest offers another lesson for all of us, particularly the youth.  And that lesson is time is short.  The Goddess Almighty gives us all gifts and a limited amount of time to use them, so use both your time and your gifts wisely.  Some would argue Ali’s greatest gift was his fists, I would argue Ali’s greatest gift was his voice; but like a thief in the night, his voice was taken from him at a relatively early age, through Parkinson’s.  Perverse, isn’t it (?):  One of the greatest voices of a generation muted early, and trapped in silence.  Reminds me of Beethoven losing his hearing, prematurely.

Paradox wrapped in irony wrapped in an enigma, there’s no other way to describe why the Goddess does what she does.  We merely are thankful that we were allowed to have Ali in our lives for the limited time allotted.

Ali’s spirit of defiance and revolutionary drive lives on…. Today, some can see it in heroes, like Mr. Edward Snowden and Ms. Chelsea Manning (both of whom are fighting the state, and have done their utmost to educate Americans).  And to think, Ali’s journey into boxing, and his battles with American injustice, began when some neighborhood bully stole young Cassius’ red Schwinn bicycle.  We should find the kid who stole that bike – motivating the young Ali to take up the sport – and build a monument honoring him.  That thief set off a chain of events that produced the 20^th Century’s Greatest man.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2016