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Portents
of winter and the toothless chatter of flag-draped traitors vies with a fog
of lies spread by Koch Brother messenger boys, Reagan nostalgia hucksters,
suck-ups in office, Murdoch empire servlings,
Banker PR catamites, and Jesus terrorists to occupy the national mind-space
with a narcotic Jell-O of half-formed wish fulfillment scams. The nation is
hostage to a confederacy of racketeers. Banking. Big Pharma.
The Higher Ed / Loan nexus. GMO agri-biz. Fast
food. Mandatory motoring. You name it. What a disgrace we are, and the worst
of us are the least to know that.
This
winter will be the Occupy Movement's Valley Forge. An uneasy quiet may settle
across this land blanketed in frozen dishonesty while OWS goes to the ground.
Wait until next summer when the Occupiers head for the nominating
conventions. Chicago in 1968 was nothing compared to what might go down in
Charlotte, NC (Democrats) and Tampa, FLA (Republicans) in 2012. These two
giant, useless, political bucket shops need to be put out of business and
something else has to take their place. Who will be the new breed of genuine
patriots? It would be nice to suppose that something noble and intelligent
might emerge from the current miasma, a reality-based third party. But history isn't
so reassuring.
I
heard some rumors. Lawrence Kotlikoff at Boston
University - the only economist in the USA with a coherent plan for banking,
healthcare, tax, and entitlement reform - said on a podcast some weeks back
that he was advising an un-named national figure who intends to mount a third
party campaign. I didn't have a clue
who that might be.
Last
week in Virginia a professional political back-stager, who had worked for the
DNC during the Howard Dean days, told me that New York Mayor Michael
Bloomberg was stealthily hiring Hillary Clinton's old campaign staffers in
seeming preparation for... something. Well, Bloomberg wouldn't have to take
anybody else's money - and by "anybody" I mean especially the
corporations because, you know, corporations are people, with free speech
rights (and feelings!). It also happens that Bloomberg is neither
a Republican or a Democrat, but a registered independent. Will he go
to the ground, too, this winter like OWS, and wait for the public disgust to
mount toward criticality? Hey, sometimes your country calls (for help!) and
figures arise and they undertake what's necessary, even against type. Abe Lincoln, in 1859, was a railroad lawyer - the horror!
I
have no idea who else might be waiting in the background, someone tortured
with disgust by the leveraged buy-out of the American common good, someone
capable of articulating the terms of the convulsion we face in national life
if we don't start doing things differently. Surely in a population of 310
million you can find more than a few resolute personalities who refuse to
just sit back and watch the sickening spectacle of inept vacillation.
Of
course, the first order of business is to get corporate money out of
politics. Are we capable of doing that? Can we legislate
a redefinition of corporate "personhood?" After all, corporations
have no allegiance whatsoever to the public interest, only to their
shareholders and boards of directors. Who was the Supreme Court kidding when
they proposed in 2010 that corporations have a personal stake in politics. Corporations are sociopaths. They need to be tasered!
The
second order of business is to enforce the existing laws in money matters and
bring back laws (e.g. the Glass-Steagall act) that
were recklessly thrown away in the systematic bid to loot the working public;
then move beyond that to contest the web of rackets that make it impossible
for Americans to even take care of themselves.
The
third order of business is to shut down the war industry and close hundreds
of overseas military bases that are draining scarce public capital.
The
fourth order of business is to prepare the US public for the realities of the
post-Global economy and the post-cheap-energy way of life. Tell them the
truth: we don't have "a hundred years" of natural gas. We can't
drill-drill-drill our way to "energy independence." We have to get
more local, less complex, finer, and leaner. Give the American people a clear
sense of where circumstances are taking us, even if it is a tough assignment.
More
likely, nobody will step forward to take on the two major parties. In which
case, plan now to occupy the political conventions. Google-map your routes to
Tampa and Charlotte (Home of Bank of America!). Stake out the campsites and
cheap lodgings. Prepare to shame these organized grifters,
and to turn their self-serving jamborees upside-down.
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