Failed State
A state can also fail if the government loses its legitimacy even if it is performing its functions properly. For a stable state, it is necessary for the government to enjoy both effectiveness and legitimacy. Likewise, when a nation weakens and its standard of living declines, it introduces the possibility of total governmental collapse. The Fund for Peace characterizes a failed state as having the following characteristics:
· Loss of control of its territory, or of the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force
· Erosion of legitimate authority to make collective decisions
· Inability to provide public services
· Inability to interact with other states as a full member of the international community
Common characteristics of a failing state include a central government so weak or ineffective that it has an inability to raise taxes or other support and has little practical control over much of its territory and hence there is a non-provision of public services. When this happens, widespread corruption and criminality, the intervention of state and non-state actors, the appearance of refugees and the involuntary movement of populations, sharp economic decline, and military intervention from both within and without the state in question can occur.[1]
By Gregg Wall (5-28-2022)
One word: Greed.
It was all the rage in the 80s. Reaganomics and the now infamous quip: Greed is good.
But someone forgot to tell the boomers it was only a movie, and certainly not a principle by which rule an economy, let alone a nation. Especially, a country that claimed to be a beacon of light, a Christian nation, a model democracy, and exceptional.
After the Texas massacre this week, and the Congress’ entirely predictable reaction, if this was once a Christian nation then Satan has won, along with his disciples and tools over at the GOP and the NRA.
In America, we now eat our young… and our teachers. But only after they make frantic calls for deliverance, the cops stand by – presumably blanketed in fear & sweat, and only after our babies are shot up and mutilated into unrecognizable pulp.
We eat some of our finest black citizens, too… and then, quickly forget them, as another blood-soaked, horror show grabs hold of the nation’s news cycle.
What a catastrophe… and all the politicians can do, the day traders in the Senate, is come up with excuses for the gun lobby & inaction, and raise campaign money on the division and terror. It’s so bad, republicans now say they are fearful that if they pass gun reform, they’ll be fired by the right-wing fanatics, and gun nuts, in their base of support. That’s cowardice pure and simple. And if republicans are that fearful for their lives & jobs -- from a base of support that party leadership has played no small part in radicalizing for political gain -- then it’s time to resign and question the extreme, nihilistic tangent the party has spun off into.
What could possibly make the people so angry, fearful, and prone to conspiracy theories … it couldn’t be the ruling ideology of libertarianism, an economy based solely on greed, the mentally defective oligarchy and senile politicians that run the nation (yes, it's true, America has a mental health problem... see her ruling elite), an economy and government that is sold out to the highest bidder and entirely rigged for billionaires? Nah.
Walk with me, let’s take a quick look into the abyss that America and her economy, presently, find herself in.
The once proud nation has been, hostilely, taken over by cartels and monopolies. So much so, that when a single TBTF company fails, like Abbott (with a market share greater than 45%), the nation goes into shock. Abbott, apparently, is too busy planning multi-billion-dollar stock buybacks, they have little time to manufacture their product safely, baby formula. This at a time when procreation and reproduction are rapidly falling out of reach for everyday Americans. And yet, the GOP, the party of pathetic white males, dictates to American women, that they surrender their bodies, as chattel and reproduction machines. Better have that baby, under penalty of law, but we are so sorry that you can’t feed your child… because of the greed - and failed libertarian ideology - surrounding the US economy and the baby formula utility, Abbott.
But don’t you worry, Biden has the US military flying formula in now.
I already mentioned the daily horror show of Americans watching their fellow citizens gunned down, massacred, and mutilated… why? Because greed and the gun lobby are more powerful than democracy and the majority of American people, who overwhelmingly support gun control, stronger background checks, and red flag laws. If Americans watched, or saw, the aftermath and carnage of the Uvalde classroom, they’d never want to see or hear about an automatic or semi-automatic weapon again, let alone permit civilian use. Meanwhile, Republicans come up with every excuse imaginable not to act, while the G7 looks on in wonder and amazement at America’s downward spiral.
Of course, our quick journey into the economic soul of America wouldn’t be complete if we didn’t stop by the gas pump. Big Oil is doing what big oil does… restrict supply just in time for the peak summer driving season. And Wall St is doing what Wall St does, pile into oil commodities to tack on an obscene and predatory tax. The congress – the day traders in congress – are doing what congress does, and that is cash in on the entire greed based project. And Americans – seven in ten, live hand to mouth – are doing what Americans do, max out their credit cards to stay alive. No wonder the nation’s birth rate is in decline. Americans are cutting back on the basics & babies, just to survive a tsunami of price gouging and record profit taking.
We could go on, and on, and on.
It’s a such a problem -- American corruption, systemic mismanagement of the economy, political dysfunction (i.e. rising authoritarianism), endemic racism & misogyny, right-wing propaganda networks masquerading as legitimate news organizations, and the entire malaise surrounding a greed based economy -- that some of our closest allies, their analysts and advisors, are taking a hard look at their ties to the United States.
As well they should.
From a billionaire welfare state and a ruling oligarchy…. to a failed two-party system that merely serves as a prop for democracy, all the way to an economy based solely upon greed…
… the United Stated, increasingly, looks like a banana republic and has many of the hallmarks of a failed state.
History doesn’t always repeat, but it often rhymes, and this is all very reminiscent of the Soviet Union’s collapse, back in the ‘the greed is good’ eighties and early nineties. When an overleveraged empire, an aging gerontocracy (that was unresponsive to the needs of its citizens), a failing economy, with a war in Afghanistan, and a nuclear superpower, no less… crumbled into dust. And was subsequently taken over by a dictator, who is presently the scourge of Europe.
Or perhaps, if you need another analogous historical example, there’s always Weimar Germany.
The irony can be lost on no one then, when Biden attempts to paint his shiny, new Cold War, a gravy train for US military contractors, as a courageous fight between democracy and authoritarians.
Who precisely is the authoritarian or bad guy, Mr. Biden… when the US federal government constantly acts against the American people’s very real interests & needs?
Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2022
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