Friends I posted this diary back in July 2011. Please read it. I think it was incredibly prescient. The edits I made then were minor but I have not done ANY EDITING to it today. Enjoy. P.S. I don't know the powerball numbers so don't ask.
From Wikipedia: (edits, MINE)
The French Revolution (French: Révolution française; 1789–1799) New American Revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in French and European history American history. The absolute monarchy corporations, lobbyists and wealthy citizens that had ruled France America for centuries collapsed in three years. French American society underwent an epic transformation as feudal, aristocratic and religious privileges evaporated under a sustained assault from left-wing political groups and the masses on the streets. Old ideas about hierarchy and tradition succumbed to new Enlightenment principles of citizenship and inalienable rights.
Isn't this fun? Want more?
More from Wikipedia: (edits and exclamation points, MINE)
CAUSES
Economic factors included hunger and malnutrition in the most destitute segments of the population, due to rising bread food, gas and commodity prices after several years of poor grain harvests. Bad harvests (caused in part by extreme weather from El Niño climate change that had been predicted for years but largely ignored by the ruling classes, along with volcanic activity at Laki and Grímsvötn melting polar caps and disruption in oceanic ecosystems, rising food prices, and an inadequate transportation system increasing energy prices that hindered the shipment of bulk foods from rural areas to large population centers contributed greatly to the destabilization of French American society in the years leading up to the Revolution.
(having fun yet? Me too! Let's keep going, shall we?)
Another cause was the state's effective bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of previous wars, particularly the financial strain caused by French participation in the American Revolutionary War American's decade-long participation in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The national debt amounted to some 1,000–2,000 million livres$14 trillion. The social burdens caused by war included the huge war debt, made worse by the loss of France's colonial possessions in North America American manufacturing and jobs on the mainland and the growing commercial dominance of Great Britain China, India and some South American countries. France's America's inefficient and antiquated financial system was unable to manage the national debt, something which was both partially caused and exacerbated by the burden of an inadequate system of taxation.
(Gawd)
To obtain new money to head off default on the government's loans, (!) the king President called an Assembly of Notables in 1787 On Congress to get it done.
Meanwhile, the royal court at Versailles congress and other politicians were seen as being isolated from, and indifferent to, the hardships of the lower classes.
(Seriously, folks. Seriously. This is wiki with a just MINOR edits. I'm not making it up.)
While in theory King Louis XVI was an absolute monarch President Obama could make his case from the bully pulpit, in practice he was often indecisive and known to back down when faced with strong opposition. While he did reduce government expenditures, opponents in the parliaments congressional republicans successfully thwarted his attempts at enacting much needed reforms.
Those who were opposed to Louis' Obama's policies further undermined royal authority Presidential authority by distributing pamphlets (often reporting false or exaggerated information) that criticized the government and its officials, stirring up public opinion against the monarchy any democratic policy or idea.
(I'm going to take this home, folks)
Many other factors involved resentments and aspirations given focus by the rise of Enlightenment ideals progressive ideals. These included resentment of royal absolutism corporate domination and exceptionalism; resentment by peasants, laborers and the bourgeoisie 98 percent of the American population toward the traditional seigneurial privileges possessed by the nobility wealthiest 2 percent; resentment of the Church's influence over public policy and institutions; (!) aspirations for freedom of religion; resentment of aristocratic bishops hypocritical Christianists by the poorer rural clergy real followers of Christ; aspirations for social, political and economic equality, and (especially as the Revolution progressed) republicanism; (!) hatred of Queen Marie-Antoinette, who was falsely accused of being a spendthrift and an Austrian spy; and anger toward the King for firing finance minister Jacques Necker, among others, who were popularly seen as representatives of the people Wall Street, corporations that took jobs overseas and didn't pay taxes, wealthy citizens taxed at unfair rates, too-big-to-fail banks, the corruption of the supreme court, congressional inaction on unemployment measures and bizarre austerity fetishism in the midst of economic downturns.
_
I'd go on but really, I don't need to. This reads like yesterday's New York Times. So we can pretty much know what's coming next.
And I'd say, it's about that time. Don't you think? The French revolution lasted 10 years. Perhaps we are at the beginning of our own New American Revolution as the GOP and corporatist loyalists continue to show their true colors while the rest of us rot in hell. we are NOT even eating cake.
History seems to be trying desperately to repeat itself.
We could use it.