I am part of a private group of like-minded people on Facebook. I am reposting a post that I think says it all, plus I am still coming off a heated discussion with a lady last night - smart woman with so much ignorance as to how things really work. It truly saddens me the direction of this country.
Please follow me over the fold for Max and Mike's discussion with careful attention to Mike's response. Smart, to the point and scary and so right, well, I mean correct.
Over the hump on hump day please.
This is a discussion that was had in another group between two very respected, Liberal friends of mine. I felt I should share it here because at times some of us feel like we're fighting a losing battle that folks don't 'get it' . . . There ARE others like us out there. :-)
"Current Danger - 5/29/2012
Mike:
You may be aware of my constant pronouncements that conservatism is a mental illness. I stand by that. They are driven by fear, not intellect. They cannot think outside the box, and fear any and all who can. They cannot change, because change is the thing they fear most. They are trapped by their own inability to exercise critical thinking skills.
Max:
I agree that the fear of change is what drives present-day conservatives. Conservative thinking used to mean that change should take place in measured steps ... but that point has been lost. In fact, the Republicans and their wealthy promoters are actually reactionaries; they are advocating a return to the unfettered laissez-faire capitalism of the1800's and early 1900's. I'm curious why these points aren't driven home in the constant barrage of 24/7 commentators.
(Pay special attention to the extended response from 'Mike')
Mike:
The answer might simply be the collusion between those who own the media empires and the ones who control the pocket books of those same entities. The loss of a free press is all part of what I suspect is a very large and complex plan to completely suborn the voting public in a mammoth program to institutionalize oligarchical control.
The US has for almost its entirety been the product of patrician control by the ruling elite. In the times of an agrarian society the effects were not at obvious as they have become over the last century. When you factor in the complicity of the Supreme Court, the duplicity of one particular party, and the complacency of the other to combat these forces, it becomes clear that a very small group of individuals not only own the United States but they have also purchased the very political system we rely on to protect us.
Only by removing the taint of money from our political system, will this country have any chance of avoiding (d)evolving into a Banana Republic. If you want to see the America of the future, simply visit the India of today. Mexico is ruled and has been ruled by approximately 100 Families. America is now ruled by approximately 600 families and corporations. Americans simply do not know the truth, and unless something is done soon to rip power from their hands of these oligarchs, we may well be too late.
Between the new mercenary military model, the corruption of our political system, and the wholesale purchase of our judicial system, there is very little to feel good about. Mitt Romney is a classic example of the future. He is a man who views America as a factory to produce wealth for the few at the cost of the many. It is not socialism that they fear, but that a social conscience would undo their plan.
When Hitler took Germany from the people, he did it with less than 10% majority of the voters. With half of this nation, represented by the voting public, people [are] aiding and abetting, even unknowingly, this march to the right. Those who feel they are fighting socialism, are in fact supporting fascism, in the childlike belief that they are the defenders of freedom.
Xenophobia, paranoia and internecine struggles against each other are mothers' milk to these people, who are in fact the complete opposite of what they claim to be. Patrician, oligarch, plutocrat ... and democracy cannot co-exist.
This is why I get so angry at [anybody] who, in their ignorance, have opened the gates to the true enemy of the people. [Discounting the Civil War], Americans [have not revolted against their government since its early years], and because they do not revolt they are self-extinguishing. Greed has replaced reason, and ignorance has triumphed over knowledge.
It will not be Republicans or Democrats who save us, but citizens. And with each passing day, citizenship means less and less, and money means more and more. America was not founded on money; it was founded on principle, and we have sold that principle to the highest bidder - and, they will not [surrender it voluntarily]. It will have to be taken back, and I see no stomach for that. Bread, wine and circus [worked to distract the citizens in Rome]; it worked once, and it will work again, I am afraid."
Wow! :-(
So, I wrote of my experience last night and how this piece hit me.
I literally want to post this on my Facebook page for ALL to see, especially after a visit with friends last night that for me, got political.
We had a couple over, well, more friends of my husband's. Mary Beth and I somehow got onto the subject of education and that led to Politics.
Diehard Republicans. The ignorance from a CPA who just retired from Exxon overwhelmed me. I was calm (as could be) and tried to explain so many things. She insisted that Obama had cut her parent's Social Security. No, he didn't, I'm on SSDI and my mother collects SS, first hand experience here.
Then I explained that Bush started 3 wars (Terror, Afghanistan and Iraq) without a war tax but a tax cut that benefited the wealthiest Americans. I told her that the Medicare Drug Benefit, I saw that first hand and it pissed me off that he did not pay for it with a tax and that I must go through a health insurance company to get my benefits and how many times they TELL me what I can have filled, not to mention the new MSRP price of these drugs.
Then we spoke of the Prisons. I said I was absolutely against Prisons for Profit. We agreed with that one. Pot should be legalized somehow, the cost of prohibition is just too much on the taxpayers.
We talked about the terrible state of the media today. She prefers the Wall Street Journal, claims it is balanced. Um, not as much since Rupert bought it out and WOW, has it lost its' respect.
The Republicans are NOT at all happy about Romney but will come out in droves to oust Obama.
OK.... had to let some steam off. But what Mike wrote above hits the nail on the coffin. I'm watching this country go the way not only the British Empire but also that of Germany. Look what 19 hijackers accomplished in this country - just 19 men with a plan. Think what a few hundred plutocrats/oligarchs can and are doing.
The fabric of this once great nation is being systemically destroyed. We are just pawns in the game of chess.