America - Banana Republic?

30 years ago, people who lived in Central America's banana republics warned (North) Americans that it was very dangerous to allow banana republics to exist. These dysfunctional systems were like a cancer. And the cancer would eventually spread everywhere.

But of course, we wanted our bananas cheap. We ignored them. It could never happen here. This is the United States. We have a Constitution. We have a balance of power. We are the home of the free... But we never stopped to ask; free to do what?

Wikipedia defines a banana republic as; “a country that is politically unstable, dependent on a limited agriculture (e.g. bananas), and ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique.”

Do we fit the definition?

Let's start with “dependent upon a limited agriculture.” America doesn't have a mono-agriculture. But we do have Monsanto. And Monsanto has been slowly taking over the seed market. They've patented every seed they can, and then sued anyone who wasn't paying them their cut. Even farmers who considered Monsanto's genetically modified organisms unwanted weeds were sued. Now that Monsanto has their “limited agriculture” monopoly, the price of seeds has skyrocketed.

OK. Now let's consider “politically unstable.” Almost everyone in this country is convinced that our government is “broken.” But amazingly, most people don't seem to be too bothered by that. It's as if we all know the America we have grown up with is almost finished, but we don't really find this important enough to fix. Our two party system consists of the perversely corrupt (Republicans) and the semi-corrupt (Democrats). (Clarification: Not that voters are corrupt, but elections are.) We've just accepted that an honest man can't get elected – like it's an acceptable condition. Our government is broken, and we don't have the will to fix it. We all feel it. And we all know the situation is getting critical. But hardly anybody is getting off their couch. America couldn't be more politically unstable.

One more condition; “ruled by a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique.” Damn!!! The corruption couldn't be much worse. Greed has become more important than the fate of humanity. Though New Orleans was destroyed by a massive hurricane and the Arctic is melting like a snowball in hell, we have climate change deniers running those States. This doesn't make any sense... unless you understand the obvious. Voters are gullible. And if enough money gets spent on manipulating their minds, they will vote against their own best interests. Face it: Big money wouldn't bother to spend so much on the mass media if it didn't have an effect.

We don't select our candidates, campaign contributors do. We don't vote on the issues, we vote on distractions. And if we don't vote as we're told, sometimes election results don't turn out the same as the exit polls.

Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election nationwide by over 150,000 votes. And yet, the “Supreme” Court declared Bush Jr. president before the Florida recount was complete. And now the “Supreme” Court has gutted a century of efforts to limit big money influence on elections. This clique has been fixing elections, stacking the Supreme Court, and forcing Congress to do their bidding (or lose the next election). They've been brainwashing Americans, and now they intend to kick it into high gear.

Why?

We've watched our 401k retirement funds disappear. Millions of people have been thrown from their homes. Our pay has steadily declined since the 1970s. And yet, many of the super-rich Americans are now richer than ever. We're now about to be robbed of our Social Security in the name of reducing the deficit (which those who want to rob us ran up by the trillions - for their own benefit). We were warned about this.

In case you didn't know; banana republics don't have functional health care systems. Banana republics have health profit systems. And if you don't have money, you can just die – they don't care.

In case you didn't know; banana republics don't have effective laws. Banana republics only have laws for the poor. Per capita, America has more (poor) people in prison than most any country in the world. And yet, a small, self-elected, wealthy, and corrupt clique can rape the environment, gut the economy, go on wars of conquest, not have to pay taxes, and lie to the rest of us – with impunity.

In case you didn't know; banana republics tend to collapse quickly. Eventually, there's nothing left to take. And then, conditions get worse for everyone.

We are probably witnessing how civilizations collapse.

Like an ill man with cancer, things just fall apart.